School board agenda loaded

September 5, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - The Mat-Su School Board has a full plate Wednesday night for its regular meeting.

Board members are set to discuss agenda items that would affect funding allotments for correspondence students and enrollment guidelines for foreign exchange students. In addition to several other items, the board will also discuss how to proceed with a search for a new district superintendent to replace retiring chief school administrator Bob Doyle. The meeting is set to begin at 6 p.m. at Palmer High School, following a self-evaluation work

session by the school board members.

Cost-saving superintendent search recommended

In a memo sent to school board members, Doyle recommended a cost-saving strategy to search for a new superintendent to replace him after the current school year.

&#8220Because the board has expressed reluctance to spend money on a search, I have taken the liberty to propose an option similar to past searches,” Doyle stated in the memo. &#8220I have received input from the Parent Advisory Council indicating they would like an opportunity to gather input from schools and submit parent priorities to the board.”

Doyle's recommendation suggests using district staff to develop recruitment brochures, issue announcements, receive applications and work with the school board to set up interviews.

Grant would fund

surveillance system

Palmer High School is requesting permission from the school board to accept a grant worth $150,000 to install a security surveillance system and replace outside bleachers.

According to a board memo, the goal of the surveillance project is to improve the &#8220safety and security of the school, students and staff,” while reducing the incidence of disciplinary events occurring in hallways and public areas of the school.

Safety is also cited as the reason for replacing the outside bleachers.

Flexibility sought

for foreign students

The school board is set to consider changing its policy regarding enrollment of foreign students. The proposed changes would extend the application deadline for foreign students from June 15 to Aug. 1, prior to the start of the new school year.

Increase in home-school allotments considered

The Alaska State Board of Education set a maximum of $807 that correspondence (public home school) students can use to pay for arts, music and physical education. The total state allotment for correspondence students, however, is $2,000.

In a response to several home-school families that wish to use more of their allotments for art, music and physical education, Doyle submitted a revised board policy that would accommodate this desire.

&#8220Some of our home-schoolers wish to use all of the $2,000 allotment for electives rather than core courses in language arts and math,” he stated in a memo to school board members. &#8220If the board revises its policy, parents could use 100 percent of the allotment for electives, and the district regulation would be rewritten accordingly.”

Doyle's recommendation does not explicitly support or oppose changing the policy.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@ frontiersman.com.