MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Meeting Minutes

                                                        February 18, 2003

                                         Mount Caesar Elementary School

 

7:00 PM CALL TO ORDER

Present: Don Arguin, Winston Wright, Chairman, Dixie Gurian, Stephen Mettling, Gene White, Alan Gross, William Felton, John Morin, Robin Marra, Patricia Smith, Gus Lerandeau, Richard Thackston, Geordie Fifield, Jonathan Kirstein and Larry Colby

Also present: C. Cardine, Supt., K. Dassau, Asst. Supt., L. Biron, Business Manager and D. Hodgdon, Curriculum Coordinator.  Principals: Asst. Principal Gagne and B. Tatro

 

1.            CONSENT AGENDA:

Minutes of February 4, 2003 MOTION: W. Felton MOVED to approve the minutes.  SECOND R. Thackston DISCUSSION: G.White clarified the fact that he and A. Gross will be composing individual letters to the Editor of the Keene Sentinel.  VOTE: Unanimous Motion Passes.

 

2.         CITIZEN COMMENTS: None.

 

3.                STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: None

 

4.                CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: C. Cardine comment on the recent MRSH Hockey Game vs. Portsmouth he attended. He was very impressed with the players.  To date their record is 11 –2. They are in second place.

 

C. Cardine commented on the wonderful job being done by the Jazz Band. Six of the members are from Troy. They put on an outstanding show.

 

5.            OTHER SCHOOL BOARD BUSINESS:

      A.  Board Committee Reports: 

1.        Policy Committee: D. Arguin passed a hand out to the Board Members. D. Arguin explained that the Policy Committee has reviewed Section B.  He commented that the existing Board will have this meeting and then one more before possibly a new Board begins to organize. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept the proposed amendments to Policy BBA, School Board Powers and Duties as a first reading.  SECOND: R. Thackston. DISCUSSION: D. Arguin said that the committee edited the policy for  clarification. W. Wright explained that this is the vote on the first reading and the second reading will be put on the agenda as policy requires two reads. The second reading will be on March 4, 2003. VOTE: 12.80/0/2.20/0. Motion passes.

 

MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept the proposed amendments to Policy BBB-R, Weighted Vote Charts: Monadnock Regional School District Towns as a first reading. SECOND: J. Morin. DISCUSSION: D. Arguin explained that the committee realized that the population has changed from the census and the information needed to be updated on the policy. VOTE: Unanimous. Motion passes.

 

MOTION: R. Thackston MOVED to accept the proposed amendments to Policy BCA-R, School Board Ethics as a first reading. SECOND: G. Lerandeau. DISCUSSION: D. Arguin explained that the change on this policy is that the committee added the name of the town where the Board Members are to sign their name in agreement of this policy. R.Thackston asked what would happen if you refused to sign. D. Arguin said that his personal interpretation is that this policy gives the Board guidelines. R. Marra acknowledged the interpretation that the Board Member would have acted unethically. R. Thackston commented that if the policy cannot be enforced a member would not need to sign. W. Felton commented that the Board is empowered to establish it’s own group of sanctions. R. Thackston responded by saying that was different from his understanding. W. Wright said that policies protect the Board and back us up. R. Thackston commented that it was his understanding that the School Board Members have the same protection as the legislature. There are no restraints. W. Felton said that the Board would have to look into that. VOTE: Unanimous. Motion passes.

 

MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept the proposed amendments to Policy BDE, Committees and Delegates as a first reading. SECOND: R. Marra DISCUSSION: D. Arguin explained that policy committee decided to combine the committees into 6 standing committees. He explained that page two of the packet clarifies the arrangement. The policy committee felt more people on committees would spread the workload and have more advantages. He commented that every Board Member is a member of the SAU Board. G. Lerandeau commented that this process is to get the policy on the floor for the next meeting. D. Arguin said that he would like comments at this meeting and then go back and possibly massage the problems with the committee to return next time resolved. G. Lerandeau commented that bus stop and bus route should be in the Negotiation Standing Committee not the Facilities Standing Committee. L. Colby agrees with G. Lerandeau that it belongs in the Negotiation Standing Committee. D. Arguin said he would move the committee to negotiations. R. Thackston commented on a wonderful job done by the Policy Committee to combine the committees and clean things up. He said he supports the motion whole heartily now and at the next meeting. D. Arguin commented that the second reading would be at the March 4, 2003 Board Meeting. VOTE: Unanimous. Motion passes. D. Arguin thanked the Board for listening and thanked the members of the committee for all their work 

 

2.        Communications Committee: D. Gurian explained that last night’s meeting

was cancelled because of snow. The committee has been very busy focusing on the new high school project. The committee has been making presentations. The next one will be tomorrow at the MRHS for the teachers then again at night for the general public.  A presentation in Troy is scheduled for Thursday. The committee has been doing phone-a-thons. B. Tatro and a volunteer will make phone calls to the parents of the students in the district. They will help to inform the parents if they are not registered voters, how they can do so. D. Gurian said that there are buttons and green ribbons in support of the new high school. The funds for this project are from donations, no district funds are used. There will be an ad campaign of articles in the Keene Sentinel titled Monadnock Facts. No district funds are used for this purpose. D. Gurian said that there will be one or two full page ads that will allow the area businesses to show their support of the project. The Monadnock Shopper will have an ad with a list of the individuals that support the project. Vice- Chair R. Marra and Superintendent Cardine will be on the radio discussing the project on Wednesday at 8:00 AM on 1290 AM.  Charlotte Lesser has constructed an informational web page accessible through mrsd.org.  A. Gross and G. White are doing a writing campaign. G. Lerandeau commented on what a nice job the committee was doing and added that if there is a problem with the town clerk, the person should contact the Secretary of State. A. Gross commented that he is embarrassed that the group has not agreed upon a letter to the editor in support of this project. R. Marra said he was going to write one as a citizen. W. Felton explained that the Board can write individual letters but the same person has to wait two weeks before his next letter. A. Gross asked if W. Wright would be willing to write a letter. He said he would write a letter to the editor. A. Gross asked if anyone would be interested in attending sporting events to distribute information.  He asked if anyone was interested in pairing up with him let him know.

 

3.  Facilities Committee: G. Lerandeau reported the next meeting will be on  March 3, 2003.

 

4        Cheshire Vocational Center: A. Gross reported that the meeting had been cancelled because of the snow. The meeting has not been rescheduled.

 

B. New Business: None

 

C.     Old Business:

            Letter to the Legislature: G. White stated no letter is drafted yet.

 

School Resource Officer  Report: Wayne Kassotis, School Resource Officer, gave his annual report. He has been the officer for the past 4 years. He reports the growing acceptance of the program by the students. The students respect their school more.  If something happens in the building, such as vandalism the students are apt to report it to him. This was true in the recent bomb scare. He said there are student issues within the school and so he supports a new high school. He said that he is working with K. Dassau on the emergency response plan. He will coach high school football next season. P. Smith asked why he thought we needed a new high school. He said that he thought the school was extremely crowded and 12 year olds are around 18 year olds. Eight years ago he supported the middle school. The staff does well to separate the students but they are not able to do it all the time. There are safety issues in the school and the environment is not conducive to learning. W. Wright asked if one officer for both schools would be practical. W.Kassotis said that one officer for the middle school and one for the high school would be preferable. R. Marra commented on the fact that when they visited a school designed by the architect the evacuation plan was color coded. He asked if there where similar plans within our school. W. Kassotis responded he is working on it. A. Gross asked about surveillance cameras. W. Kassotis said that the school does not have cameras in the school. He commented that he would like them for the outside grounds. Supt. Cardine said it was taken out of the budget last year and was one of the cuts this year. D. Arguin asked if he wore his uniform every day. He said that he wears it about 3 out of the 5 school days. He believes he receives the same respect either way. D. Arguin asked if the jr. high students have some kind of presentation before entering the high school. W. Kassotis said that he attends the field day at the beginning of the year and is introduced to the students. He said that he is more visible in the Junior High. He would like to thank the Board for their support on this program.

 

 D. Curriculum Report: None.

 

E. 21st Century Report: C.Cardine explained that K. Carter was stuck in Arizona because of the storm and was not able to attend the meeting. He said that the MC2 Program is in the Antioch building and they are in the process of furnishing the room. He has good news from Senator Gregg but is waiting for more details.. The program has three non-district students in attendance. They contribute $28,000 to the district. Supt. Cardine would like to schedule an upcoming Board Meeting at the MC2 School at Antioch. R. Marra commented that he is a member of the Advisory Board and attended a potluck dinner. He commented on what a great group of kids were in attendance. Every parent was thankful to the Board for the opportunities their children now have.

 

F.  Action on the Manifest: G. Lerandeau MOVED to approve the manifest in the amount of $901,482.02 SECOND: A. Gross VOTE: Unanimous.  Motion passes.

 

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT: C.Cardine said that he has not had time to set up the meeting for the 21st Century reunion to be held in April.  He will schedule the meeting for this fall.

 

A vision-to-action meeting around the Federal School Choice Grant will take place in April or May. This will be a gathering of citizens from the towns that are part of the grant.

 

Charlotte Lesser has been doing a great job on the district web page.

 

7.   SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:

1.         Policy Committee

2.         Communications Committee

3.         Facilities Committee

4.         CCC

5.   Finance

6.   Letter to Legislature

7. Suspension Report

8. Second reading of policies

9. MC2 make up report

 

 

8.         8:25 PM    G. Lerandeau MOVED to enter into non-public sssion for the purpose of  discussing a student issue. SECOND: D. Gurian. VOTE: Unanimous.

8:35  PM D. Gurian  MOVED to return to public session and to seal this portion of the non-public minutes indefinitely. SECOND: P. Smith. VOTE: Unanimous.

8:35 PM     G. Lerandeau MOVED to enter into non-public sssion for the purpose of discussing a personnel issue. SECOND: J. Morin. VOTE: Unanimous.

8:40  PM J. Morin MOVED to return to public session and to seal this portion of the non-public minutes indefinitely. SECOND: P. Smith. VOTE: Unanimous.

8:40 PM     G. Lerandeau MOVED to enter into non-public sssion for the purpose of discussing a legal issue. SECOND: W. Felton. VOTE: Unanimous.

8:55  PM R. Marra  MOVED to return to public session and to seal this portion of the non-public minutes indefinitely. SECOND: J. Morin. VOTE: Unanimous.

 

 

9.  Motion to Adjourn.

  8:55 PM G. Lerandeau MOVED to adjourn. SECOND: R. Marra. VOTE: Unanimous.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Laura Aivaliotis

MRSD Board Secretary