Facilities referendum on school board agenda

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:44 PM CST

Discussion on a facilities referendum is among the topics planned for the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education regular meeting Thursday at 7 p.m.

Designing a facilities plan that meets the needs of the district's children now and in the future, that will be supported by voters, is one of the school board's goals this year.

By the end of November the board is planning to develop and implement a facilities referendum schedule designed to facilitate the process for seeking public input, public information and referendum planning. A design and comprehensive facilities plan that outlines specific building needs for the future in the district is planned to be prepared by the end of March 2008. Another goal is to prepare alternative facility plans to present to district residents by the end of May 2008.

Also, the board will discuss the Skyward Student Management System, a new student database for the district. The district's current student database system includes data on each student such as phone numbers, attendance and grades. Administrators have been looking into different systems to replace the current one and have found the Skyward Student Management System.

Student field trips are on the agenda for approval by the board. Field trips include approval for the Marine Biology Club to travel to the Florida Keys, Fla., Feb. 27-March 5, 2008; high school band and orchestra to travel to New York, N.Y., for clinics, live performance, and touring on March 26-30, 2008; high school baseball team to travel to Cocoa Beach, Fla., on March 23-29, 2008.

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A resolution to approve a Guatemala Service Learning field trip is also up for approval. Board members will hear an overview of the trip at the beginning of the meeting. The request is for 13 students to travel to Matazuesuuntla, Guatemala, July 8-22, 2008.

A number of resolutions will be brought to the board for approval including personnel appointments, resignations. Those resolutions include:

- The retirement of Jacquelyn Walsch, supervisor of nutrition services at the high school.

- The hiring of Helene Gaarder, Douglas School fifth-grade limited term; Diane Strege, Lincoln School second-grade limited term; James Kreitzer, baseball varsity assistant coach; Kyle Krueger, basketball freshmen boys coach; Joseph Zammit, wrestling varsity assistant coach.