Minutes 04/22/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

WEDNESDAY~ APRll, 22, 1998 creative and resourceful teachers, an Employee Suggestion Award Program with awards of up to $500 for cost saving suggestions, and a Tuition Scholarship Program for Teacher' s Aids and other staff seeking to further their professional development. Dr. Trollinger stated that 16 of the Tuition Grants had been awarded in the fu'st of three cycles this year. Council Member Haskell asked if there was any requirement that such recipients commit to work for the School System for a specified period in order to receive such grants, and was told that there was not. Mayor Adams stated that he felt this was a very positive program. Dr. Trollinger went on to describe actions to spread additional funds within the System to enhance Standards of Learning performance, and noted that teachers were being encouraged to work together to share their most effective efforts with each other. He finished by mentioning additional expenditures for more current maps and globes, and partial funding provided for a regional Alternative Education Program, and then stopped to entertain questions from the Council. Council Member Teague asked Dr. Trollinger whether he had prepared a list of capital items that had been completed. He responded in the affirmative and proceeded to hand out copies of the list. Council Member Haskell asked Dr. Trollinger to discuss the School System's copier acquisition progran~ and Dr. Trollinger related that the primary change had been to lease rather than purchase copiers. He related that the copiers used are paid for essentially on a cost per copy basis and that the service is excellent since there is an incentive for the vendor to keep them operational as much as possible. He also emphasized that debt had been avoided by using this approacl~ stating that there had been significant savings overall, and characterized the program as a tremendous success. Mr. Teague asked why the copier costs at the High School had been so much greater than anticipated, and was told that they had had to replace a copier unexpectedly. Mrs. Haskell then inquired about the Capital Improvement Program, asking how much of the $1 million provided in the FY97-98 Budget had been spent. Dr. Trollinger stated that about half had been spent, and that they expected to spend about $850,000 by September of 1998, characterizing these expenditures as more time consuming than technology expenditures, due to the bid out requirements of such work. Mr. Teague then asked about progress on getting Internet access for the schools. Dr. Trollinger stated that although the process for this had been delayed it was a result of their attempts to