DMPS School Board Meeting 04/01/2008 (cont.)

At the April 1, 2008, meetring of the Des Moines Public Schools School Board, there were a few items in the consent agenda related to Schools First building renovations and construction.  Rochon Corporation of Iowa beat out three other bidders for the general contract bid on the Wallace-Homestead project with a base bid of $1,124,000. Final payment to The Waldinger Corp. was approved for mechanical renovations at Lincoln High school. The contracted amount was $6,358,445.

Board President Dick Murphy had several comments to make during the chair’s report. The Iowa Association of School Boards held a training session on school boards and advocacy. It was attended by DMPS Board Members Ginny Strong, Connie Boesen, Jeanette Woods, and Patty Link. Murphy also commented that copies of high school newspapers are provided in board members’ packets. He noted an article in one recent paper about students who get their younger siblings off to school, attend classes themselves, then go home and prepare dinner.

Murphy noted that a petition has been circulating in the city to elect school board members geographically by using city council ward boundaries. Murphy said he was not advocating for or against the idea but he noted the diversity on the school board, in terms of gender, ethnicity, and location, and compared it to the 6 white men and 1 white woman on the city council.

There was also a request for a discussion on April 8th to expand the policy and procedure for DMPS staff on use of the district’s computer system to the school board. Board Member Teree Caldwell Johnson asked that the administrative staff prepare a policy so that the discussion centers around a specific action item rather than general argument. The impetus for this request was a mass e-mail sent to district staff by Narcisse in March. (In the consent agenda, Board Vice President Ginny Strong was appointed as board liaison to the administrative policy/procedure committee.)

Separate agenda items for the meeting moved fairly quickly. There were no public or board comments regarding a locker room for Grandview College’s football team at East High School and the item was approved by the board 7-0. There were a few points of discussion on the proposed 2009 budget, but the only change requested was to move childcare/Metro Kids to reflect that it goes through sixth grade and students are helped with their homework. Bob Mickle was the sole member of the public offering comment on the budget. He repeated previously-stated concerns about the slowing economy and potential impacts upon the budget.

Watching the meeting on Channel 12 allowed a better view of facial expressions and other body language than I could see in the board room. The verbal barbs came through just as clearly. The novelist in me was excited by the juicy words and drama. The journalist in me consolidated all the action and dialogue into background information. Despite the quantity of comments, there was nothing of new value to report.

M.R. Field covers school board meetings for AroundDesMoines.com.