Board Meeting Minutes
Monadnock Regional Junior and Senior High School Library
7:10 PM CALL TO ORDER
Present: Don Arguin, Winston Wright, Chairman,
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
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
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 “
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
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
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.
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-
D. Arguin informed the
Board that the next Policy Meeting would be on
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.
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
D. Thackston commented on his daughter’s
participation at
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