Board Approved at 11/9/2010 Board Meeting
Chapter 220 Planning Council
Central Administrative Offices Conference Room #173
October 26, 2010
Present: Allgaier, Gehl, Jones, Lambert (left at 5:45 pm), Wartman, Wilson,
and Ziegler; Gibson and Collins
Also: Brightman and Hedstrom
The meeting was called to order by President Tom Gehl at 5:02 p.m. according to Wis. Stats. 19.85. Motion by Bob Ziegler to approve the agenda. Seconded by Kathryn Wilson and carried on a voice vote.
The October 16, 2009 Chapter 220 Planning Council minutes were provided for information. The minutes were approved by the Board on November 27, 2009. A substantive change of Board member name in attendance from Steve Schwei to Jean Lambert and two grammatical changes were made in the minutes. The revised minutes were published on the District website.
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Christine Hedstrom reviewed background on the current status of the Chapter 220 and Open Enrollment nonresident programs in the District and budgetary information. The administration considered the following when providing a recommendation to the Board of Education: The process used by the Enrollment Management Study Team (EMST) and its financially based recommendation to discontinue accepting new Chapter 220 students and convert existing Chapter 220 students to open enrollment at exit grade levels of 5th and 8th with an estimated financial impact of closing the budget gap by approximately $231,000; results gathered from the response forms from the superintendent chats on the EMST recommendations where 63 percent supported phasing out Chapter 220 and converting existing Chapter 220 students to open enrollment at exit grade levels of 5th and 8th; and discussion among Board members at the October 12 Board meeting in response to the proposed recommendation for continuing the Chapter 220 program that included allowing current students to remain in the Chapter 220 program but not opening additional seats for the 2011-2012 school year.
Discussion included: 1) Regardless of the Board's decision of whether to admit new Milwaukee students or not, Milwaukee Public Schools could choose to continue to accept new Elmbrook students into their program; 2) If siblings are not accepted into new seats will this impact families of current students; 3) If the Board would ask Chapter 220 students to convert to open enrollment and transportation would be offered from a specific location, i.e. 124th Street, would all Open Enrollment students need to be offered transportation; 4) Could a sibling of a Chapter 220 student could be given priority under Open Enrollment; 5) Should Chapter 220 Seats be determined prior to consideration of all of the EMST recommendations as a whole; 6) A Chapter 220 Planning Council (all districts participating in Chapter 220) meeting is scheduled on November 3 when the District will be asked to provide the number of seats for 2011-2012; 7) EMST had limited discussion on conversion of Chapter 220 students to Open Enrollment as this was one component a subcommittee brought to the entire team for consideration of closing the entire gap; 8) Quiana Collins asked that the Council consider allowing current students in the Chapter 220 program to complete their education in Elmbrook.
Motionby Meg Wartman that the Board of Education opens no new seats in the Chapter 220 program for the 2011-2012 school year and that the Board commits to guaranteeing currently attending chapter 220 students continued access to Elmbrook Schools through the Chapter 220 program without reapplication at exit grade levels in 2011-2012. Seconded by Gary Jones. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Motion by Kathryn Wilson to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Bob Ziegler and carried on a voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 5:51 p.m.
/s/Thomas D. Gehl, President
