KENTUCKY DIRECTORS OF PUPIL PERSONNEL
Board Meeting
March 9, 2007
State Board Room – Frankfort, Kentucky
Members Present: Rita Byrd (Ford Thomas Independent), Karen Kirby (Fleming Co.), Chuck Stallard (Danville), Robert Stafford (Owen Co.), Chuck Green (Daviess Co.), Skip Johnson (Estill Co.), Jennifer Smith (Graves Co.), Anthony Little (Leslie Co.), Gary Wiseman (Fayette Co.), Jon Lawson (Bowling Green Independent), Kristina Springer (Floyd Co.), Brenda Mann (Adair Co.), Bill Burke (Carter Co.), Steve Harrison (Jefferson Co.), Gerald Turner (Kenton Co.), Betty Luckett (Woodford Co.), Pam Greene (Bell Co.), Robin Wright (Knox Co.), Denise Perry (Henry Co.)
Guests Present: Karen Wirth, Yvette Perry, Michelle Sutton, Garnetta Barnett, LaTonya Bell, Tracy Browning, Karen Erwin (KDE); Sherri Faulkner (Owen Co.); Mike Ford (Boone Co.)
Call to Order: President Rita Byrd called the meeting to order at 9:30 am in the State Board Room of the Capital Plaza Tower.
Minutes Approval: Gary Wiseman moved to approve the minutes as distributed. After a second by Betty Luckett, the motion carried.
Officer Reports: Treasurer Pam Greene presented the treasurer’s report. Skip Johnson moved to approve the report, and Jon Lawson seconded the motion which carried.
Legislative Report:
Wayne Young presented a legislative update. He stated that with only three days remaining in the session, time was short; however, some last minute happenings could occur. He distributed the Capitol Connection with the KASA position and his understanding of the status of pieces of legislation of interest to the group.
KDE Reports:
Yvette Perry reported that there is not much additional information on the Dropout Report. There will be a recalculation of the numbers, but the 05-06 state data is being requested in the exact format. There was no language during the legislative session about the issue. There has been limited feedback from the original report.
Karen Erwin stated that KDE and local districts are being requested to cooperate with the Public Health Department in planning for a pandemic flu outbreak. Due to the potential for the deaths of children and the necessity of school closings, there will be another round of sessions around the state including schools addressing the issue.
Karen reminded the group about the importance that appropriate health information is recorded correctly. The health information required this year will be contained in 3 reports: immunizations and screenings, health conditions, and health alerts.
Michelle Sutton, Division Director of Data Management, and LaTonya Bell explained that the field staff has been divided with 4 staff members doing audits and 4 providing support. Information about the 2007-08 calendar guidelines should be on the KDE website by the first week of April. Concerns were raised about districts needing this information earlier, but the department wanted to make sure that there would be no legislative changes. Board members requested that info be shared as early as possible since some districts are now preparing calendars two years in advance. Yvette Perry reminded everyone that the calendar for 2007-08 must include 2 more days than the total of six-hour days from the 2005-06 calendar.
Kay Kennedy, KDE Director of District Operations, and Charlie Kratsch, Founder and CEO of Infinite Campus, presented an overview of the new student information system. Charlie demonstrated the web-based program and many of the features and capabilities of it.
Advantages to the new system are the ability to access it from anywhere via the web, hardware and software will be managed by the company freeing up district resources, and rollover wizard will allow multiple years of information to be easily accessed. For districts with fewer than 3,000 students, the application will be hosted in Frankfort at the Commonwealth Data Center. All that districts will need is workstations with Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. For systems of more than 3,000 students, the hardware will be housed at the district and they will provide rack mounting space, cooling, and other technical needs like now. Network availability must be maintained. The hardware and software are part of the contract. Districts will not pay for, repair, or perform updates. The cost for districts is the personnel resource and training that will be involved. Additional modules for food service and voice messaging, as well as optional services, are available for purchase. The system will require internet functionality. State enrollment information will be exchanged throughout the process.
Through the projected three years of implementation, KDE will cover costs. The final wave of three groups of districts should be ready to go by the 2009-10 school year. KDE intends to seek a budget appropriation for the on-going maintenance costs after that period. At this time, the focus for districts should preparation for conversion by getting their existing data cleaned up based on information shared by KDE and adhering to data standards. After converting, Infinite Campus will be the data system of record as soon as the switch occurs. Nineteen pilot districts are currently in place to begin and will be running in the first half of the year. KDE will support these districts; and the help desk will be providing services from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Staff can watch the project portal for further descriptions and additional information. Additional groups will move forward as things progress and contacts will be made to identify districts to join the groups. Website demonstrations will be scheduled for personnel to roll out the new system. Trainings will be held on a just-in-time basis as needed.
Kay requested that directors pass along the information regarding the RFP for individuals to help provide support for districts until Infinite Campus is fully implemented. Up to three people will be hired on personal service contracts to help support for the next two to three years.
Member Reports:
Rita Byrd reminded everyone that the conference will be held on September 19-21, 2007, at Embassy Suites with the board meeting held on the evening of September 19. Updated information will be out before the end of the school year. To obtain the conference rate for the blocked rooms, reservations must be made by the deadline which will be in August.
High Attendance Day awards for this year are being distributed. We previously voted to continue the contest; however due to some logistic concerns, refinements are necessary. Jennifer Smith reported that each region must identify their winners so that at the state level only 17 schools will have to be considered at each level and that guidelines are followed. The prizes might need to be distributed to the local DPP for awarding. The matter will be tabled until the next meeting for final decisions.
The next meeting is scheduled for May 18, 2007, at 9:30 in the State Board Room.
The meeting adjourned at 12:35 p.m. by general consent.
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Denise Perry, Secretary