The Wrangell School Board met last Monday evening, Dec. 16, for several important topics. Two of the topics covered in the meeting were a look at the district's 2021 budget assumptions, and a formative evaluation of Superintendent Debbe Lancaster.
The FY 2021 budget will be based on 316 students, according to information attached to the meeting's agenda. For the next budget the district is expecting flat funding from the state, as well as the same local contribution from the city as FY 2020. They are also predicting increases to their health insurance and property insurance costs, about 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Some good news, that Board Member Patty Gilbert pointed out, is that their carryover from this budget year to the next is higher than they had originally expected. A projected carryover of $538,756 is less than ideal, said Board Member Aaron Angerman, but it is still good. There was also some good news Gilbert brought to the school board, regarding Secure Rural Schools funds.
"Our borough lobbyist told us that in this week's appropriation bill, we hope it's passed this week, SRS will be extended for two more years," she said. "So a two-year extension is a load off of everyone."
The board will be given a draft budget for FY 2021 to review next January, according to a timeline for organizing the next budget. This draft will go through several workshops and reviews in coming months before the board will see a final draft in March 2020. This will then be sent to the City and Borough of Wrangell for review in April 2020, before being sent to the state in May 2020.
Near the end of the meeting, the school board also held a formative evaluation of Superintendent Lancaster. Lancaster is going on her second year as superintendent of the Wrangell School District, selected by the school board out of a pool of candidates in April of 2018 and beginning her job in July of that year. She had requested that the evaluation be done publicly, so the board did not break into an executive session.
The board graded Lancaster on several topics, to determine if her actions have been in line with the district's mission, strategic goals, and values.
In general, Lancaster was found to be between "Developing" and "Proficient" on several of the topics discussed. "Developing" meant that Lancaster was showing lots of improvement in an area they were evaluating her on, but that there was still room to grow. "Proficient" meant that Lancaster was doing a good job in this area, but still room for constructive criticism. Board Member Gilbert found Lancaster to be proficient in the area of stakeholder satisfaction, to which the board generally agreed. She was found to be showing improvement in providing employees with development opportunities, and was proficient in ensuring the integrity and sustainability of the district's administrative support systems. They also found her to be a very accountable superintendent and felt she had effective and creative leadership. The board also agreed that she maintained a strong and open relationship with the school board and communicated with them regularly.
"I think the school climate is positive," Gilbert said, discussing the topic of improving the schools' climates. "I think there's action taken on reducing bullying, the school climate is certainly sensitive to these alarming trends that you may be seeing in the community. The superintendent and the principals have acted quickly."
One area that the board agreed Lancaster needed to work on was that of fiscal responsibility. There were comments on the board saying Lancaster's performance in this area was "developing" as well as "unsatisfactory." Board Member David Wilson said that the district needed more oversight in general when it came to their finances. Board Member Beth Heller agreed, saying that she felt there could be more transparency.
A summative evaluation of the superintendent will be scheduled for sometime in the near future, according to the meeting's agenda. Other items covered in the meeting include adopting a resolution against illegal substance abuse, acceptance of two grants, and approval of the superintendent's FY 2020 travel plans.
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