Wednesday, January 25, 2023 School Board Begins Meeting at 7:00pm right after Oversite Bond Committee Meeting at 6:00pm - Alsea School Board Meeting

Discussion:  The Bond Oversight meeting was cancelled due to GMP unavailable.

Discussion:  Approval of the Agenda - approval with amendment adding item 5a, to the discussion item. Ryan
VanLeuven motioned to approve, Deb Lindberg 2nd, all in favor yea.

Discussion:  Superintendent Report
Sean Gallagher
a. Bond GMP update - Alsea has secured Integrity Management Solutions as a project management
for the Bond project. Updated quotes have been submitted from CB Construction and Straightline
architects. Mr Giggy received all updated quotes for everything except electrical. Mr. Giggy will
obtain bids from subcontractors for the electrical work. A final bid due date needs to be
established.
b. RIF - reduction in force proposal. The district is facing a significant reduction of ADM for the
2023-24 school year will be about half of what the enrollment is for this current school year. This
will be a significant decrease in revenue for the school district. State law requires the district to
submit a balanced budget by June 30th each year. Lower enrollment is due to cutting of programs
as well as a decrease in Learn at Home enrollment. This is something that all online programs are
seeing across the state. We need LaHO to decrease their enrollment even more for next year in
order to be in compliance with ODE for the district to remain a non-virtual school status. Mr.
Gallagher recommended a two stage process, mid year and prior to July 2023, stage two going
into place on July 1st. Freeze on spending only purchasing needed items, nothing extra. A hiring
freeze has been in place since October of this year. This is going to be a difficult process. Both
looking at the school, staff and community effects. The state does not provide enough funding to
pay for the staffing positions adequately. If we continue to make these changes we can survive
and not have to close the schools doors. Looking hard into reaching out to other more inexpensive
but still highly effective services. Questions from the board: Debra Lindberg realizes that this
RIF has to happen to survive. Clarified that this is not just against the LaHO staff it is district
wide.LaHO is as equally staffed as the building staff as well. She requested that Superintendent
Gallagher will bring his recommendations to the board for approval prior to any action being
taken. With resignations starting to come in what will happen? Sean Gallagher said that it
depends on the position, if it is essential we will continue to hire from within or distribute duties.
Risteen Follett had the following questions to clarify the two part reduction. What is the reduction
goal for the first phase as well as what is the goal for the second phase? Ryan VanLeuven asked
if we continue with this process will we for sure be able to keep the doors open? Will we for sure
have to close the doors to the school if the board and Mr. Gallagher does not continue to move
forward.
Risteen Follett asked for clarification on the numbers presented to the board. Mr. Gallagher
reiterated that the numbers put before the board in the supplementary budget are the numbers
from the state. We need to be very careful who we have to let go as students have relationships
with teachers. Sean Gallagher stated the majority of the staff will be let go late spring for next
year. The Board is just being asked to approve Mr Gallagher to continue with the RIF process.

Discussion:  Discussion
a. Resignation of School Board member - effective immediately Robert Webb has resigned his
position. Questions from the board: Ryan VanLueven asked, "do we have anyone who is
interested in filling the spot for the short term? What are the pros and cons of appointing
someone this late in the school year? By the time we secure someone the year will be almost
over. Risteen Follett will consult with Vince Adams to see what he feels would be the best since
we are in the process of hiring a Superintendent. Risteen Follett will look into the policy for
guidance around a four person school board.
b. Local Service Plan 2023-2025 - ESD packet. Given to the board ahead of time so that you have a
chance to look at it. Sean Gallagher said Alsea School District will have Tonja Everest, ESD
Superintendent, come and do a presentation to the board in March or April. Alsea is currently
working at a tier 4 level with ESD.
c. Bond Project Manager IMS - Sean Gallagher as stated earlier Alsea has secured IMS for the bond
management. Nancy Giggy will be helping with the communication piece, getting information
out to the community via Sara Cash.
d. Resolution to terminate Paradigm Learning Systems - current learning platform, looking into
another platform. By evaluating each and every contract that the school district has we have been
able to secure a less expensive platform.

Discussion:  Patron Comments: In the room first: Joni Olsen - over the past few weeks bombarded with information.
She has repeatedly asked for information regarding financials and other documentation from the Board to
see more clearly how they came to their HR reset to justify their decision. She will give the board the
sheet she has put together as to what she is requesting. She realizes she has put the board in the spotlight.
Although coming on strong she respects the board decision. It initially felt like a lose lose situation but
has come to feel like it is more of a win win situation. With being transparent with the RIF situation.
Steve Boynton - spoke to the partnership with Alsea. He spoke to the board on behalf of LaHO staff and
approximately 250 Learn at Home families requesting that the board step in and intervene and stop
leadership from performing education malpractice. He asked the board to stop the mid year change which
will cause undue stress on staff as well as students. Mr Boynton feels that will be losing at least 100
families due to the change. Mr Boynton stated that LaHO has been sabotaged from the beginning of this
school year.
Keenan Elbers, regarding the RIF. If an employee deals with the same job as the person who resigns, will
seniority take place in the RIF conversation. Risteen Follett felt that information would be useful to the
board as well. If this person leaves then the next person in line then steps up in the seniority process.
Ms Wilson asked, for positions that open up due to a resignation will that position then be opened up to
the internal staff allowing them to apply for the open position or will they just be reassigned to current
staff? Mr Gallagher said that he will send a follow up communication email clarifying both Mr Elbers and
Ms Wilson’s questions.
Bart positive comment, he wanted to thank the staff and community for the support of the wrestling
tournament this past weekend. It could have not been done without the many people who helped run it.
17 teams were represented by schools around the state to create a very successful event.

Discussion:  Board Comments - No comments to add.

Discussion:  Action Items:
a. Seesaw Curriculum Approval - Heather Shunk, very well attended meeting with families last
week, students will be able to upload work, teachers will be able to evaluate students. LaHO staff
and families are very excited. She has been receiving emails from parents who are very excited
about the new program. Teachers are very excited about the resources that will now be available

to them to use. Debra Lindberg made a motion to approve the Seesaw program. Ryan
VanLeuven seconded. Debra Lindberg asked how many platforms needed to be used. Access to
books of different levels that can be embedded into the Seesaw program. There is a cost to use
Seesaw. Seesaw is one of the three adoptions with all three costing the district $59k per year.
Risteen Follett asked Ms Shunk about the collaboration capability using Seesaw. How does this
program work with mentoring among teachers? Heather Shunk is looking forward to
collaborating with the Alsea brick and mortar staff in the future by moving to this program.
Administrators will be able to provide feedback as well as they can also see what students upload.
For existing families this is very important because they are online, they do not have the contact
with students in a regular classroom so this adds even more support for them. Risteen Follett
stated when she looked at the Seesaw cap of 400 could this program be used for brick and mortar
students to access as well for student intervention? The answer is yes. LaHO has been ‘folded
into’ the program that already exists for the district. Heather Shunk spoke about feedback from
parents and the ability to adjust for students who need to have curriculum adjusted if they are
struggling as well as students who need more of a challenge. Debra Lindberg motioned to
approve with the additional information. Ryan VanLeuven seconded. All in favor yea.
b. RIF Approval - Risteen Follett motioned to approve the process to proceed. Debra Lindberg
seconded. Ryan VanLeuven requested a guideline with lots of information. Risteen Follett
amends that the board is requesting an addendum to the board prior to any action being done.
Superintendent Gallagher reiterated that tonight is just for the board’s approval to move forward.
Risteen Follett asked that this be done just to ensure that the doors remain open and nothing else.
Discussion is to move forward. All in favor yea.
c. Approval to terminate Paradigm Learning Systems - memo in the attachments, Ryan Vanleuven
motioned to approve the termination of the contract with Paradigm Learning Systems, Debra
Lindberg seconded. Risteen Follett wants to verify that the 45 day notification is within legal
boundaries, as well as reviewed by the Alsea legal counsel. All in favor yea.
d. Superintendent salary reduction plan - reduction contract memo. Superintendent Gallagher with
all reductions he wanted to let the staff know that he is a part of the team. He is donating 10 days
back to the district upon his termination June 30th. Motion to accept the donation of Sean
Gallagher to donate the 10 days back to the district. Deb Lindberg motioned to accept
Superintendent Gallagher’s donation of 10 days back to the district. Ryan Van Leuven seconded.
No further discussion. All in favor yea.

Discussion:  Executive Session: 2023

Discussion:  Return to Open Session: 2052

Discussion:  Adjourn - 2052