MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

                                                    Board Meeting Minutes

                                                           November 19, 2002

                       Monadnock Regional Junior and Senior High School Library

 

7:10 PM CALL TO ORDER

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

Also present: C. Cardine, Supt., K. Dassau, Asst. Supt., T. Warner, Dir. of Technology, B. Fowler, Dir. of Grounds and Maintenance. Principals: D. Dahl, K. Craig, D. Stockwell and B. Tatro. Student Council Representative B. Dahl and B. Young.

 

1.         CONSENT AGENDA:

Minutes of November 5, 2002 MOTION: L. Colby MOVED to approve the minutes.  SECOND D. Gurian DISCUSSION: P. Smith informed the Board that J. Hartwell is from Surry not Sullivan as stated in the minutes.  VOTE: 11.54/0/0/3.46 Motion Passes.

           

2.                CITIZENS CONCERNS: Richard Bauries from Swanzey asked

the Board about the proposed new school. W. Wright informed R. Bauries that the Board would be discussing this issue under new business.

 

3.               STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: B. Young informed the Board that the students would hold a coat drive which will benefit the Salvation Army on Nov. 22, 2002.  The time to bring the coats will be from 6:00 AM- 9:00 AM. On Nov. 22, 2002 the Student Council will hold a dance.  Reduced admission will be given to the students that bring in a canned good for needy families.

 

4.        CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: C. Cardine reported to the Keene Sentinel had an article about B. Dahl and E. Lavigne for being volunteers of the year. They both did an outstanding job. Congratulations Beth and Emily!

 

C. Cardine said he had received an excellent report on Ellen’s Walk. The Walk raised over $42,000.00 which will be used to help fight ALS. K. Craig mentioned that the money raised would go directly to the doctors who are treating Ellen.

 

C. Cardine passed out the newsletter “Charlotte’s Web” from the Media Generalist to the Board.

 

R. Marra informed the Board that student Rhiannon Killeen won an essay contest on “Why you should vote”. Congratulations Rhiannon!

 

5.        OTHER SCHOOL BOARD BUSINESS:

A.  Board Committee Reports:

1.      Policy Committee: D. Arguin explained that at the last meeting the charge of the Policy Committee was to review Policy BBA, “School Board Powers and Duties” and to report back to the Board with a recommendation. Rather than a recommendation D. Arguin read the opinion of the committee. D. Arguin will send the full statement from the Policy Committee to the Board Members. G. Lerandeau asked D. Arguin if he is asking for a vote. D. Arguin responded by saying that the Policy Committee does not recommend a change to Policy BBA. R. Thackston asked if this is an interpretation as once the question is brought up it can never be brought up again. R. Marra mentioned that the Board instructed the Administrative Team to prepare a warrant article to be voted on first by the Board. This is an ongoing discussion. This topic will be on the agenda at each meeting. W. Felton commented that he did not think that the Board shut off discussion they just instructed the administration to write the warrant article. G. Lerandeau suggested that when a vote is taken it should read “Unanimous for those present.” A. Gross explained that he has learned that when we make decisions as a Board we are a richer Board. He says that the Board needs to come up with a process to inform the Board Members that cannot be in attendance. R. Marra informed the Board that there was a process on how the present members at the retreat would contact and inform the other Board Members on what had happened.

 

2.    Communications Committee.  A. Gross commented on ways the Communications Committee will try to sell the new high school. They plan to work with the PTCs, arrange tours at different times of the day and have community forums to let the public express their concerns. D. Gurian said weekly tours are planned. She will be discussing this with D. Stockwell, B. Dahl, and B. Young. G. White is talking to the alumni. D. Gurian passed around a flier prepared by C. Cardine.  Parents are helping with a video of the school. The next meeting will be on Thurs. Nov. 21, 2002 at 5:45 PM in the Wilcox Building. D. Gurian said that they would be receiving 2 more quotes on the communications position.

 

3.    Facilities Committee: G. Lerandeau requested that the Board Chair appoint two new members to this committee. W. Wright informed the Board that R. Marra and S. Mettling have volunteered to fill the positions. R. Thackston has resigned and G. Fifield has not been attending. G. Lerandeau said that the committee has been discussing the capitol improvement and deferred maintenance and would like to recommend a warrant article be placed on the ballot. As requested the committee is going through the process of contacting architects about the conceptual plans. B. Fowler informed the Board that 26 notices to firms were sent out and 12 came back. The information will include references and project work. The letters of reference are due to come back by Friday the 22nd. On Monday the 25th of Nov. at 8:30 AM in the Maintenance Building the Facilities Committee will start looking at the 12 companies that replied. The 12 companies will be narrowed down to 5 companies. The companies will be notified and interviews will be done hopefully by Dec. 6, 2002.

 

D. Arguin informed the Board that a vote needed to be taken on the appointments to the Facilities Committee. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept the appointments of R. Marra and S. Mettling to the Facilities Committee by the Chair SECOND: A. Gross VOTE: 10.16/0/1.38/3.46. Motion Passes. L. Colby would like to thank R. Thackston for his service on the committee. G. Lerandeau mentioned to the Board that the committee is not bringing an architect and a full set of plans. The committee is looking at the engineering.

 

4.      Cheshire Career Center (CCC) Report: A. Gross asked B. Young who attends the CCC to discuss his experiences. B. Young explained that he is in the EMT Program at the CCC. He attends the Cheshire Medical Center and works with the Fire and Ambulance during class. He explained that the EMT Program can be transferred to a college and the student will receive three college credits. B. Young said that this is a valuable course. C. Cardine would like to work on getting more students to attend the CCC. C. Cardine has a meeting with Phil McCormack to discuss the CCC and the option of the grant to raise the enrollment for the MRHS Students. C. Cardine attended the NH Auto Tech Summit on Nov. 18, 2002 and found out that they require more credit time for the new equipment.

 

B. New Business: C. Cardine informed the Board that under direction of the Board a

Warrant article is in the process.

 

C. Cardine informed the Board that 3 years ago he updated the applied formula from 1962 projections it has not been done since. To update the projections C. Cardine he will look at 42 years of the population of the towns and use the information to make decisions about the new high school.

 

C. Cardine commented that the flier that was passed around was done on a home computer and has no numbers.

 

W. Felton asked C. Cardine if it will be difficult to project the population of students based on the births because of the number of people that come into the district. S. Mettling suggested that when making projections employment tends to drive the projections. D. Arguin said that the people want to know how the new high school would effect the tax rate. He commented that the future population should not be the sole issue. The fact that the building was built for 900 students and 1300 attend the school now. And that the 7th and 12th  graders need to be separated. Curriculum and the lack of space are also items of importance. R. Thackston agreed with D. Arguin. The 7th graders and the 8th graders need to be separate from the high school and the facilities are tired. R. Thackston said that the growth in the schools lags behind the population. R. Thackston said that it is 193% increase in the district and 144% increase in the high school. C. Cardine said that R. Thackston was absolutely correct in the percentages. P. Smith agreed with D. Arguin and said that the Board should deal with the issues of importance. She commented that 7th and 8th grade students are only able to have a ¼ year P.E.  class. The school cannot provide what the students needs. A. Gross said that having the 7th and the 12th graders together is not a good idea. The students need to be separated. R. Marra commented on a letter to the editor that appeared in the Keene Sentinel (Nov. 7), noting the inaccuracies and misrepresentations of the Building Into the Future (BITF) process.  The 360 people mentioned in the letter were invited to the Monadnock in the 21st Century visioning session; of those 161 attended.  The BITF committee grew out of that process.  Rather than consisting of 60 members (as stated in the letter to the Sentinel), there were never more than 25 people involved after the first meeting.  The combination of the district's deficit and the subsequent defeat of a $50,000 warrant article for architectural fees greatly demoralized committee members such that plans for either a new high school or middle school seemed out of the question.  When the BITF committee met in October and November 2001, there were fewer than 10 members in attendance and no formal vote was taken.  The renovation and expansion of the high school on a pay-as-you-go basis ("Option C") became the recommendation by default.  R. Marra also noted that the Board never voted to dissolve the BITF Committee.

 

R. Bauries expressed his concerns about the effect of the budget on the taxpayer.  He also spoke about the condition (cleanliness) of the bathrooms. L. Colby stated that the meeting in which the vote was taken was in Gilsum and that the Board directed the administrative team to prepare a warrant article. He stated that the process now is to gather information. A. Gross commented that it is the duty of the Board to provide a safe education. B. Young expressed that it was very difficult for him to sit and listen to comments solely on the effect on the taxpayers. He would like people to go into the school, walk the hallways, observe the conditions first-hand, and then try to explain that a new school is not needed.

 

C. Old Business: C. Cardine told the Board that they will be sticking to the Budget schedule as posted on the timeline.

C. Cardine reported that he has a request from the committee working on Project Graduation. They would like to make a calendar titled “Dads of Grads” and they have asked C. Cardine to premiere on the cover in his weight lifting outfit.  K. Craig informed the Board that it is a Project Graduation idea for the high school.  This was informational..

 

G. White had a concern about the article in the paper that states Craig Benson said that the school districts should expect less state aid. He was wondering if it would be appropriate to instruct C. Cardine to write a letter of concern. C. Cardine said that at the next meeting he will bring the numbers on funding the district should receive the hardest hit will be Swanzey about a $400,000.00 difference. G. Lerandeau suggested that the local legislators be invited to attend an upcoming meeting.

 

C. Cardine informed the Board that the District had received $2,500.00 from Kingsbury for rental costs for the MC² Program. D. Dahl has also received a Cheshire County Incentive Grant in the amount of $8,000.00. MOTION: G. Lerandeau MOVED to accept $2500.00 from Kingsbury and $8000.00 from the Cheshire County Incentive Grant. SECOND: R. Marra. VOTE: 11.54/0/0/3.46.

 

D. Curriculum Report. Hodgdon reviewed the 2002 state test scores that he had recently received for grades 3, 6, and 10. When he receives the results, he compiles a preliminary breakdown of the results for each school to begin the process of using them for the improvement of instruction. He follows these preliminary results with a more detailed analysis, which he offers to the schools when he leads discussions with the teachers and principals at the schools on the results.

D. Hodgdon briefly highlighted the district results to the board members.  He mentioned that the sixth-grade language arts results were not as strong as the previous year; however, the grade 10 scores improved from the 2001 scores. D. Hodgdon commented on a variety of patterns among the three grades in which students were tested. 
 

He then continued to tell the Board about the additional data from the state tests provided by the state and likely prompted by the new federal legislation. He said that the state is breaking down the information in sub-groups using a variety of variables.  Information like the data forwarded from the state must be published in an annual report required by the federal legislation.  

As an example of the data provided, D. Hodgdon had the results regarding the gender of the students and their performance on the 2002 state assessments. Overall, it confirmed the nation-wide pattern of declining scores for girls in math and science as they move through the grades. R. Marra asked if any female-only math classes have been considered. D. Hodgdon said not as of yet and D. Stockwell confirmed this assessment.  D. Hodgdon pointed out that a data-driven model in the district could help us to break down data using a variety of variables to help us to identify potential problems and make decisions to remedy them. 
With the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, the state will require that grades 3-8 and 10 be tested. The results of these tests will be the basis of determining whether or not a school will be identified as one in need of improvement.  All of the schools in the country must show annual incremental progress toward 100% proficiency on high standards by the year 2012.  The level of proficiency has not been defined by the state and approved by the federal government at this point, although the state has committees working on this requirement (among numerous others).  

All of the forums and communiques from the state and federal government underscore that the challenges of the new legislation are real and cannot be escaped or ignored. D. Arguin asked D. Hodgdon if one year's poor performance on the state assessment may result in a school becoming one in need of improvement. D. Hodgdon replied that any school could be designated in that way.  Many (if not most) schools will end up as schools needing improvement, according to a variety of prognosticators. Teachers and administrators will be feeling a lot of pressure.

In conjunction with the testing under the new legislation, the Terra Nova test, he explained, can be used as a process of improving instruction by using it as a diagnostic assessment during the fall.  He pointed out that testing companies are advocating this approach, because of the amount of state testing required by the federal government in the spring. 
A. Gross asked if all students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 would all receive the testing. D. Hodgdon said everyone throughout the country would be assessed in these grades. P. Smith asked if it was going to be harder for teachers to be creative, since they will need to focus so intentionally on the tests. D. Hodgdon commented that the ability to be creative in the classroom is already a subject of debate and the pressures to approach instruction in a particular way will be even greater when the testing is more high stakes than it currently is.  He did believe that schools and teachers would find ways to explore different options for students in spite of the pressures of the testing.

W. Felton asked if any federal mandates come with financial incentives. D. Hodgdon highlighted the funding available, but commented that most of them have not yet been fully funded.  The funding from the federal government will probably not cover the entire cost of the requirements in the legislation, but the funds in grants are supposed to increase over the next several years.

 

E. 21st Century Report: None

 

F.  Action on the Manifest: G. Lerandeau MOVED to approve the manifest in the amount of $1,322,250.96 SECOND: A. Gross VOTE: 11.54/0/0/3.46.

 

6.    SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT: C. Cardine informed the Board that he will be reporting at each Board Meeting the suspensions, the withdrawal and dropout numbers. From Nov. 5-Nov. 18, 2002 4-7th and 8th graders were suspended, 12-9th and 10th graders were suspended and 2-11th and 12th graders were suspended. He said that 5 were repeat offenders and 4 were siblings. He reported that it would calculate to 1.2% of the population. D. Gurian asked C. Cardine if the information could be in written form from now on. C. Cardine explained the procedure with the parents and the fact that if a parent wishes they may appeal a decision. Usually the suspension could be anywhere from 1-3 days depending on the severity of the incident.

 

D. Arguin informed the Board that the next Policy Meeting would be on Nov. 20, 2002 at 5:45 PM in the Wilcox Building.

 

W. Felton commented on the procedure of discussing the budget with the Budget Committee. He felt that going through the whole budget together from the onset is working out.

 

7.   SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:

1.      Policy Committee

2.      Communications Committee

3.      Facilities Committee

4.      Finance Committee

5.      CCC Report

6.      MRHS New Project Report

9:10 PM Chair  Wright declares a recess.

 

8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION

9:20 PM G. White MOVED to enter into non-public session to discuss a legal issue. SECOND: G. Lerandeau. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.

9:45 PM G. Lerandeau MOVED to return to public session and to seal this portion of the non-public minutes indefinitely. SECOND: P. Smith. VOTE: Unanimous.

9:45 PM L. Colby MOVED to enter into non-public session to discuss personnel. SECOND: G. Lerandeau. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.

9:49 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 for those present.

9:49 PM D. Gurian MOVED to enter into non-public session to discuss a student issue. SECOND: S. Mettling. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.

9:54 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.

 

Public Session

L. Biron reported that the Budget Committee will meet on December 11 and December 18 should any School Board members want to attend.  Mr. Hasbrouck has been advised that L. Biron would be at a previously scheduled meeting at Hinsdale.  He was agreeable to having Mr. Fowler present the deferred and capital projects.

 D. Thackston commented on his daughter’s participation at Washington DC forum. The issue chosen by the students was school choice and vouchers. 

R. Marra congratulated board member L. Colby for being selected to participate on the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Men.

 

9.  Motion to Adjourn.

9:58 PM A. Gross MOVED to adjourn. SECOND: S. Mettling. VOTE: Unanimous.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Laura Aivaliotis

MRSD Board Secretary