A proposal to create a shared alternative high school program with HLV was shelved for this year and the 2009-10 high school student handbook was not approved during a special meeting of the Belle Plaine Board of Education Monday night.

The board met in a work session to discuss several matters with its attorney, Brett Nitzchke, then went into a special regular meeting to consider several items, including approval of the handbook and approval of an alternative high school. Both items had been tabled from an earlier meeting for further review.

Perhaps the most dramatic discussion centered on the alternative school proposal. Called the “BP/HLV Success Center,” the school would have been housed in a classroom at the Lee Gym level at Central Elementary School. It was proposed to begin by Oct. 1, pending the hiring of a teacher and would have served 10-15 students the first year. It would have served students in danger of dropping out of the traditional high school setting because of academic difficulty or life changes. It would have eventually included a work study component, where students would be taught in the classroom during the morning and then allowed to leave for a job in the afternoon, for which they could earn up to 18 hours of credit toward high school graduation.

Board member Mike Bachelder questioned whether the possible granting of up to 18 hours credit for work study might be excessive. He recalled that when the district had a similar program years ago, much less emphasis was placed on the work component.

Lisa Daily, the district guidance counselor and an instructor at Kirkwood Community College, was asked what Kirkwood offers to at risk students. She said there were three programs offered locally that could lead to either a GED, Kirkwood High School diploma or Belle Plaine diploma.

Board member Marie Stratford said she would oppose the proposal at this time. She said that due to the programs offered by the local Kirkwood campus, the Belle Plaine district should devote more resources to students seeking college prep courses.

At the last meeting, board members questioned where the alternative school would be housed in the district and were concerned that the older students not interact with the elementary students at Central. They were assured by administrators that there would be a separate entrance for the alternative school. At Monday’s meeting, with the impending shift from the Central site to the enlarged Longfellow Elementary building next school year, Bachelder wondered where the alternative school would be headquartered after the current school year.

It was suggested that the current junior high building would become vacant with the move by the junior high to the high school site. But while this might be a good alternative, the board has not yet addressed the future of that building.

At the end of the discussion, board members Don McKinney and Jim Pierce voted in favor of proceeding with the alternative school this year. Bachelder and Stratford voted “no.” That left it up to board president Joyce Livermore. She said the district needs to wait for further review and she cast the deciding vote against the proposal for this year.

The board also voted to table action on the 2009-10 high school student handbook after several board members voiced concerns over some apparent contradictions in the language of what will be allowed and what won’t. One specific area of concern was the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in the schools.

Principal Dennis Phelps said the principal needs to have a little leeway in enforcement of the rules to match the situation, while making the handbook as simple and clear to understand as possible. Superintendent Bill Lynch told the board that the students need to have a handbook in place to know what is allowed.

Livermore suggested that the language in the handbook needs to match board policy and much of the board policy must be revised.

In the end, the board directed the administration to use the 2008-09 handbook until the new one can be revised.

Personnel

In other matters, the board approved several personnel assignments. Tammi Cook, a teacher associate, had her hours increased from 3.5 to seven hours per day. She was assigned to the kindergarten classes. The contract of Connie Rhodes, teacher associate at the prep-kindergarten level, was increased from two to four hours per day. Cindy Felton was transferred to a kindergarten associate position and Brenda Harting was appointed junior high student council sponsor.

The board also approved payment for teachers Andy Dahlquist and Mark Tegeler, who attended advanced placement training this summer. They will be paid at the substitute teacher per diem rate.

Work session

At a work session before the special meeting, the board discussed the district’s good conduct code, open meetings law, use of electronic devices by students and personnel issues with the district’s attorney, Brett Nitzchke.

The good conduct code discussion reviewed an incident this summer, where several high school students were involved in a beer party in Iowa County. All were given breath tests and some were cited by Iowa County Sheriff’s deputies for underage drinking.

Nitzchke told the board that it could adopt a “mere presence rule,” in which a student present at a function where underage drinking was happening could be subject to penalties regarding extracurricular school participation regardless of whether he or she was drinking. Exceptions would be made at family functions, such as weddings, graduations and anniversary parties, where alcohol was served but adults were present, he said.

He urged the district to set a policy and stick to it, saying that it would be a “big mistake not to follow your own process.”

The board discussed whether students should be allowed to have cell phones, Ipods, MP3 players and similar devices in the school. McKinney, a retired teacher, said he doesn’t think they are needed in school, adding that “it would keep kids from being on task.”

While Pierce said he thinks “we’ve got enough on our plate now without worrying about electronic devices,” he also said that the technology exists where students could conceivably watch movies, even pornography, on their cell phone devices. More and more students have laptop computers and in many communities, they are allowed to bring them to class to take notes. Wireless internet is also now available throughout the high school.

Board members were concerned with the potential misuse of some electronic devices, saying some students have the ability to send text messages without even looking at their screen. This could be a problem during testing time, they said.

While some board members wondered if cell phones would be valuable in the event of a catastrophe such as the Columbine massacre, Nitzchke told the board that a recent study indicated that in that case, it was determined that student use of the cell phones bogged down the system, perhaps delaying emergency response. The same was true during the 911 crisis in New York, where thousands were attempting to use the system at the same time.

Board members also had several questions for the attorney on the superintendent’s ability to sign contracts with non-certified staff. There is no apparent conflict with how the system is working now, but they asked for some clarification on the legality of the current procedure.