This page contains submissions to the Battle Ground School Board that we requested be available to the public. Unfortunately we don’t know if they are. A search of the Battlegroundps.org web site doesn’t show a location for public documents. So, we are going to put them here so there is a record for those who want to look.
To assure the comments are available they are posted here for all to access. Newest on top and oldest at the bottom. We will attempt to share all interactions. Should you have some of your own and want to provide them to us for sharing here we are happy to provide you that ability.
In this article we chronicle the refusals of the BGSB to answer a Yes or No question: (May 2017) – https://swweducation.org?p=3966
Here are a series of updates on what we’ve presented to the BG School Board:
Mark Hottowe 2015 Performance Review comments to the school board (they never responded): Mark Hottowe 2015-2016 Signed Evaluation+DR_Comments_06212016
Mark Hottowe 2016 Contrat revision comments to the school board (they never responded): Mark Hottowe 2016-2019 Signed Contract_DR_Comments_6212016
Request for school board to create a new policy requiring they respond to the public within 30 days like the district and state. This was submitted in July 2016; Nov 2016 and Jan 2017. They have chosen NOT to act – BGSD_Board_Policy_Qs_July_2016_resubmitted_Jan92017_3rd time
This is a list of questions posed to the school board about the 2016/2017 annual budget: 2016_2017_BGSD_Proposed_Budget_Qs_Rylander
On Monday May 9, 2016 the Battle Ground School Board met. Here is feedback we sent each of the Directors following the meeting:
May_10_2016_BGSB_Feedback_Notes
January 5, 2016 – Battle Ground School Board President, Monty Anderson, responded to my email exchange in December. In this he states that he follows the Superintendents lead. For your reading pleasure:
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January 4, 2016 – Response from Superintendent Hottowe to my email of December 29th
Hottowes_response_email_Jan_4_2016
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It’s now December 29th 2015. Over the past week we sent email’s to the Battle Ground School Board members as well as to the Superintendent Mark Hottowe offering to provide them a copy of a book titled “Drilling through the Core”. We asked only that they agree to read the introduction (93 pages) within 30 days of receiving the book. We got email’s from Monty Anderson the School Board President and from the Superintendent both declining and commenting on why. Today we responded to each of them. Attached are the two documents which contain, verbatim, the email content on both. We offer these for the record for those who are interested.
Letter_M_Anderson_Email_Exchange_Dec_2015_Book_Offer
Ltr_M_Hottowe_Email_Exchange_Dec_2015_Book-Offer
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FIT+Strategic Goals + Executive Session – We offer some thoughts and ask some questions. No response from the board on any of the items.
Comments_FIT_StratGoals_ExecSession_BGSB_Dec_13_2015
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BGSD Strategic Plan + Comments: We provided comments and suggestions on their plan but received no response so no idea if they used anything.
2015BGPSStrategicPlan_Draft_Comments_Nov_30_2015
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T.P.E.P. Letter to the Board – T.P.E.P. stands for Teacher and Principal Evaluation Program. This is the system for the annual performance reviews. We went though the system and were appalled at the poor construction and system. In our letter to the Board we site some of the concerns. We never got a response to our letter. Below is a link to our Dropbox folder in case you want to download the T.P.E.P. file with our comments.
TPEP_Letter_to_BGSB_Nov_22_2015
https://www.dropbox.com/s/87h6cdk6uwzkdwf/TPEP%20Evaluation%20Handbook_DR_Comments.pdf?dl=0
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BGSD Improvement Plan – This is the plan proposed with our comments. There was no response so we have no idea if they used any of the suggestions.
2015-2015_BGSD_School Plan_Improvement_Plan_Review_Nov_8_2015
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WSSB Legislative Proposals – The boards legislative representative (Ms. Nickels), at the school board meeting on the Monday night prior to the annual Washington State School Board Directors Meeting that she still didn’t have any feedback from ANY of the board members. So, we downloaded the document, read all 60+ proposals and commented back to Ms. Nickles on Thursday of that week. She said she didn’t know how to open the PDF file and read the comments. We never received ANY response from the board. Here is the document and comments.
Legislative Assembly Proposals 2015_WEB_DR
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Failing Students – We asked the BGSD for information on how many students “fail” each year and are NOT promoted to the next grade. They said that “no one fails” and they didn’t have any data. Read the original questions and their response. Is this what you want or expect from the school district?
BGSD_Failing_Students_Ltr_9_23-15
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The Crossings – In September the Board received a request from a developer asking that his project “The Crossing” which would house ~60 senior citizens be exempt from development fees of $6,000+ per unit on the basis that no children would be allowed to live there. The total amount at stake was just shy of $400,000. The board asked for nothing and agreed to the exemption. We followed up with a written request to reconsider their decision and explained why they should NOT have approved the request. We never got a single comment or response. Here is the letter we submitted.
The Crossings Decision Sept142015
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Retained Students – This is the districts response to our request for retention data.
BGSD_student_retention data 14_15
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Local Staffing vs. State Paid Staffing – The State of Washington has a formula for determining how many FTE’s (Full Time Equivalents) a district needs. Any additional employees beyond that are paid for through local levy funds. The BGSD has the largest percent of extra (unpaid by the State) employees. Take a look at this comparison to other SD’s in the SWW area. We also sent a letter to the Board on the topic. We never received any response.
SWW_SDs_staffing_vs_state_funded_2014-2015
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Policy 2410 – Comments and feedback provided. No response from the board
Draft Policy 2410-BGSD-Aug_2015
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BGSB – We requested they add or alternate another day for board meetings (other than Monday’s). They did respond and said it never made a difference so they saw no need to change.
BGSD Board Meeting Date Addition Jul2015
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BGSD Superintendent Performance Review – We wondered what the performance review system looked like and how Mr. Hottowe performed in his first year. Take a look. We added our own comments as well.
BGSD_Superintendent_Performance_Review_Commentary_July292015
Hottowe eval 2014-2015_Comments_Added
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BGSB Letter asking two questions: Taxes and Common Core
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WAKids Letter to the BGSD – We have a section on this site that addresses WAKids. We provided a letter to the district citing our concerns. The district did acknowledge receipt and that our concerns were heard but that the State required the program and there is nothing they can do about it.
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BGSB Recommendations – We raised a number of topics and asked the board to review and consider. They never responded one way or the other.
BGSD Board Recommendations Apr52013
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Student Transfer Data – One of Common Core’s prime tenants is the importance of consistency across all education no matter where a family moves. Here is data from the BGSD. When you reviwe it you will see that such a small percent of students move that the importance of cross consistency is minimal at best.
BGSD Student Transfer_2014-2015