Board Meeting Minutes
Troy Elementary School,
7:00 PM CALL TO ORDER
Present: Don Arguin, Dixie Gurian, Gene White, Alan Gross, John Morin, Chair
Robin Marra, Sam Johnson, L. Colby, W. Wright, Patricia Smith, Gus Lerandeau
and Richard Thackston. Absent: Stephen
Mettling, William Felton and Geordie Fifield.
Also present: C. Cardine, Supt., K. Dassau, Asst. Supt., L. Biron, Business Manager,
D. Hodgdon, Dir. of Curriculum and D. Lafleur, Special Services Coordinator.
Principals: D. Stockwell, D. Mousette, D. Dahl, S. Rashid, and B. Tatro. Student Council Representative: B.
Dahl.
1. CONSENT AGENDA:
Minutes of April 15,
2003. MOTION: D. Gurian. MOVED
to approve the minutes. SECOND: L. Colby. VOTE:
7.46/0/3.07/4.47 Motion Passes.
2.
CORRESPONDENCE AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS: C. Cardine passed out a list
of the Board
Member’s phone numbers and email addresses. Members of the Board have been
asking for them. A copy of the upcoming events was also passed out to the
Board. A copy of Choice Matters was handed to the Board Members.
C. Cardine
informed the Board that Raymond Perry’s magazine self-portrait has been chosen
as the first piece to be framed for the permanent Cutler Art Gallery.
C. Cardine read
a letter from Ernie and Susan Vose complimenting the students and staff for
their work on the play Dear Abby-A
Musical Look at America’s First Ladies which was presented by the Cutler 5th
graders. A copy of this letter went to the Keene Sentinel.
D. Mousette
sent a letter to M. Henry, P. Saunders and S. Mousette for the fine job that
they did with the power point presentation at the Spring Show.
R. Marra
informed the Board and the audience of the Board’s e-mail address. The address
is as follows: board@mrsd.org.
R. Marra said that he has received two test messages and 2 messages from
Nigeria.
R. Marra
reminded the Board of the SAU Board meeting which will be on Wed. May 7, 2003
at Emerson.
R. Marra
informed the Board that he had received the resignation of S. Mettling. R.
Marra told the Board that even though he had a .25 vote he had a loud voice and
passion for the school and the children. He will be missed. R. Marra asked C.
Cardine to place an ad for the position. MOTION:
L. Colby MOVED to accept the
resignation of S. Mettling. SECOND: G.
Lerandeau VOTE: 7.20/3.47/1.11/3.31 Motion passes. R. Marra explained that
the new member would fill the Board position until March and then the position
will be open for the voters to decide.
3.
STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: B. Dahl passed out the
schedules for the spring sporting events. She told the Board the prom had been
this past Saturday at KSC and went very well. The upcoming spring concerts will
be on May 13 and 14 tickets are still available.
4.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: R. Bauries asked the Board
why there were no minutes of the retreat. R. Marra informed R. Bauries that K.
Dassau had taken notes and minutes will be available to the public.
N.
Moriarty asked about the budget process for the next school year. He said that
the process should start sooner. C. Cardine informed N. Moriarty that the
process has started with the A-Team.
5. OTHER
SCHOOL BOARD BUSINESS:
A.
Board Committee Reports:
1.
Policy Committee: D. Arguin presented policies
to the Board as a first reading. MOTION:
D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy
IB Academic Freedom as a first reading. SECOND:
G. Lerandeau. DISCUSSION: P.
Smith had a problem with the first paragraph of that policy. MOTION: R. Thackston MOVED to amend the policy as follows:
The teacher is entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing his/her
subject and should be careful not to introduce into teaching any controversial
matter which is not within the curriculum established by the School Board. SECOND: L. Colby VOTE: 9.46/1.11/1.11/2.61. Motion
passes. MOTION: G. White MOVED to
amend the amended motion to read as follows: The teacher is entitled to freedom
in the classroom in discussing his/her subject and should use care when
introducing any controversial matter which is not within the curriculum
established by the School Board. The teacher should strive to be accurate,
should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinion of
others, and should make every effort to indicate that he/ she is not an
institutional spokesperson. SECOND: P.
Smith. VOTE: 11.28/0/1.1/2.61. Motion passes. VOTE on the main motion: 11.28/0/1.11/2.61.
Motion passes. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IC/ICA, School
Year/School Calendar as a first reading. SECOND:
G. Lerandeau VOTE: 11.28/0/1.11/2.61.
Motion passes. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IGA, Curriculum
Development as a first reading. SECOND: G.
Lerandeau. DISCUSSION: P. Smith
commented that it had grammatical errors. R. Marra said that it would be
cleaned up for the next reading. VOTE: 11.28/0/1.11/2.61.
Motion passes. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IGD, Curriculum
Adoption as a first reading. SECOND: G.
Lerandeau DISCUSSION: A general
updating of the policy. VOTE: 11.28/0/1.11/2.61. Motion passes. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IGE, Curriculum
Guides and Course Outlines. SECOND: G.
Lerandeau. DISCUSSION: R. Thackston
was curious why the committee eliminated all the guidelines. D. Hodgdon explained
that there are varying approaches and this policy did not always accurately
streamline the process. VOTE: 11.28/0/1.11/2.61.
Motion passes. D. Arguin explained
that he would like to postpone the first reading of Policy IHAL, Teaching About
Religion. C. Cardine to add reference to appropriate legislation.
2.
Finance Committee: W. Wright reported that the
committee met last Friday morning to review the budget. There is 17% of the
budget remaining. The committee discussed the uncollected debt from the lunch
program, which is about $5,000. R. Thackston asked if that figure was for just
1 year. L. Biron said it is accumulated. L. Biron reported that the district
would have services from the Bank of Boston through the Bank of NH. The
employees asking for sabbatical leave will be discussed at the next meeting.
The committee also discussed the MRPSC Grant. The next policy meeting would be
Monday June 2, 2003 at 8:45 AM.
3.
Community Relations
Committee: D.
Gurian passed out the minutes of the Community Relations Committee meeting. D.
Gurian was named chair of the committee. The committee asked the opinion of the
Board about allowing the community members on the committee to vote. The
committee is also asking the Board’s opinion about allowing the committee to have
a community vice chair instead of a Board Member. L. Colby was named secretary.
The committee will hold regularly scheduled meetings on the 2nd and
4th Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM. The meetings will be at the
Wilcox Building and everyone is welcome. R. Thackston said that he is concerned
about the committee. The committee reviewed the goals of the committee and they
will be finalized on May 13, 2003. D. Arguin commented that the Board Chair
appoints the members to the committee they are then voted on by the Board. He
continued to say that the community members should be heard but when a proposal
is presented it should be based on the Board Members on the committee. R.
Thackston would like the Board to seek legal council on this issue. L. Colby
said that there is no policy on this issue. He also said that at no time would
the community members be able to out vote the Board Members. It is a
suggestion. The full Board will make the final decisions. P. Smith asked how
you would know what members would be able to vote. D. Gurian said that there
are a certain number of community members and Board Members. R. Marra would
like C. Cardine to seek legal council on this issue.
4.
Facilities Committee: P. Smith reported that the
minutes are available by email. P. Smith was named chair and G. Lerandeau was
named vice chair. The next meeting will possibly be May 19, 2003.
5.
SAU Committee: R. Marra asked if the Board
Members could meet between the dinner and the meeting for organizational
purposes.
C. Cardine mentioned that at
the SAU meeting on May 7, 2003 the members would be receiving a grant report.
L. Biron commented that the members will be receiving this report quarterly.
Cardine reported that the district has received 40 grants totaling 2 million
dollars and private grants in the amount of $75,000.00. He says that the
District has basically doubled the amount of grants. Dealing with the default
and reducing the deficit came from the additional revenue and grants. C.
Cardine said that D. Hodgdon and K. Carter have successfully written grants for
the District.
B.
New Business: No new business.
C. Old
Business: Dissolution of Building Into The Future
Committee: MOTION: J. Morin MOVED to dissolve the Building Into the
Future Committee. SECOND: R.
Thackston. DISCUSSION: A. Gross
would like to thank the members for the wonderful job they did for the
community. VOTE: unanimous
Report from Board Retreat: R. Marra commented that the Goals and the minutes
prepared by K. Dassau would be available with the minutes of the next meeting.
Budget Item: C. Cardine explained that for the administration to get to the default
number the A-Team needed to cut an additional $13,700.00. Since then several
teachers have left which saved the District $56,000.00 and the dental insurance
saved the District about $7,000.00. The late buses and the midday buses can now
be restored. B. Tatro said that she had done a survey on her kindergarten
parents registering for next year and without the buses 25 students would be
able to attend, 14 student’s parents said it did not matter and 14 said that
their child would not be able to attend. She commented that this is not a good
recommendation. The School-to-Career Program will stay as well as the
Alternative Credit Program. The School-to-Career Program salaries will be
covered but there will be no money for the materials. D. Stockwell will be
using field trip money for this purpose. C. Cardine commented that the
decisions that the A-Team made were not ones that they wanted to do but would
effect the least amount of students. C. Cardine explained what would be
happening in the Northern Schools as far as staff positions and programs. A special education program will be housed in
Gilsum. The Kindergarten would be housed in Surry and the 5th and 6th
grades from Surry would go to Gilsum. The current Kindergarten teacher will
fill a half-time art position. Bill O’Connell would be going to the Gilsum
school with the 5th and 6th graders. L. Colby commented
that the road time for the students should be considered. K. Dassau introduced
Dr. D. LaFluer the Special Services Coordinator. K. Dassau proposed to have a
special education program housed at the Gilsum School and the Wilcox Building.
Wilcox would have the 7th and 8th graders and the Gilsum
School would have the 3-6 grade students. The staff ratio would be 1 adult to
every two students. P. Smith asked how many interactions there would be with
the other students. Dr. D. LaFleur explained that it would depend on the
student socially and behaviorally. C. Cardine said that bringing the students
in from private placements would save the District about $100,000.00. A. Gross
asked if the children will be mainstreamed into a regular classroom. Dr. D.
Lafleur said that it would depend on the child. K. Dassau explained that if a
child is not successful at their existing placement the District would not
bring him/her back just to save money. W. Wright asked if the Wilcox Building
would meet code requirements. L. Biron said that some money would need to be
spent to update the building. C. Cardine commented on the Auto Shop. The A-Team
decided to keep the program. C. Cardine asked the Board to approve the
decisions made by the A-Team. L. Colby asked if the administration is asking
for both the Wilcox and the Gilsum Elementary School as special education
sites. C. Cardine responded yes. MOTION:
R. Thackston MOVED to accept the
proposed budget cuts and arrangements made by the A-Team and the SAU Staff
concerning the default budget. SECOND: J.
Morin DISCUSSION: A. Gross commented
that there are a lot of changes. W. Wright asked if they would go into affect
in the fall. C. Cardine said that the changes would take place this fall. C.
Cardine said that he has been trying to get the special education children back
in the district since he became Superintendent. They were just waiting for the
room. D. Gurian commented that it is a lot to digest and wold like to vote at
another meeting. C. Cardine explained that scheduling needs to take place. L.
Biron explained that contracts and maintenance need to move ahead. C. Cardine
commented on the fact that the staff has been very helpful. W. Wright would
like to commend the staff, the A-Team and the SAU office but he is concerned
that there are children slipping through the cracks. L. Colby commented that
the Board has had two weeks to think about some of the changes and he would
vote in favor of the motion. D. Gurian commented that the Wilcox Building would
be the issue. VOTE: 12.39/?????.
Motion passes. Round of applause was
given for the Northern School Staff.
D. Curriculum Report:
D. Hodgdon distributed information and discussed the highlights. D. Hodgdon
informed the Board that the teachers who worked on the performance-based
assessments had been published in Unwrapping the Standards. He would like to
have Charlotte Lesser come and speak to the Board about her work on information
literacy. He mentioned that the curriculum brochures are the same as last year.
The next batch will have significant changes and go through the 8th grade,
because the state is developing grade-level expectations for grades 3 through 8
to inform the grade-level tests. He is planning 6 series of meetings, including
focuses on language arts and math to focus on the grade-level expectations and
their effects on the district curricula they were involved in developing.
D. Hodgdon explained the Tech Prep Grant
awarded to the District for grades 9-12.
The concept of Tech Prep was established a number of years ago; it was
geared toward the jr. and sr. students to help them move toward the choice of
at least a 2-year college. This competetive grant that Dr. Hodgdon wrote was
awarded for a number of reasons, but especially because it was intended to be a
uniquely Monadnock Program focusing on law, public safety, and security. Sue
Kessler is the Tech Prep Coordinator, whose job will be to get the teachers
involved. A powerpoint presentation has been drafted and will be presented to
the staff. The grant is for $18,000.00, a portion of which will be awarded
through June 30 and the remainder awarded through June 30, 2004, if progress is
shown through June of 2003. This money will pay for professional development,
stipends, books, and forensic equipment. D. Hodgdon commented that students are
very interested in the law and forensic areas. MOTION: G. White MOVED to accept
the Tech Prep Grant in the amount of $18,000.00. SECOND: R. Thackston. VOTE:
Unanimous.
E. 21st Century
Report: MC2 Update: 21st Century Report: MC2 Update: K. Carter of the MC˛ Program
began by expressing her thanks to the administration and fellow administrators
for their support. J. Butterfield recently came to MC˛ and did a presentation
on Robotics, as has Richard Mays. She thanked K. Dassau and D. Hodgdon for
their assistance. Presently there are 24
students. There are 6 female students in the program. She explained that this
program is not for students that do not want to learn. The students and the
parents need to be committed TO THE PROGRAM. This year there are three
categories for application criteria, accepted, recommended not to attend and
conditional acceptance. The applicants have been asked to visit the school to
get a better feel. The Board is more than welcome to visit the school but
should schedule. The students are not always at Antioch. G. White asked why a
couple of students dropped out of the program and why the program does not plan
to double in size. C. Cardine explained that the budget cuts also affected MC2
and would not cover the extra students and staffing for the program. G. White
commented that he thought the program was paid for by grants. C. Cardine
responded by saying that some of the staff was covered by the district budget.
He explained that the first year was the planning stage and two staff members
were covered by the grant. K. Carter, a teacher and supplies are out of the
budget. K. Carter explained to G. White that the two students left because of
the following: one was for behavior issues and one student moved. R. Thackston
said that he was very much in favor of this program and enjoyed coming to the
meetings to hear about the program. His question for K. Carter is if there are
15 applicants and 10 other students are not accepted to make the 25 is the
program not being pushing and are we letting it die. C. Cardine explained that the
program took a $100,000.00 budget cut. K. Carter explained that it limits how
the program can grow but it would be dangerous not being able to sustain it. K.
Carter explained that it is a Monadnock program and then the students from
Keene, Winchester and Hinsdale may apply. R. Thackston commented that the
students from other schools pay tuition. K. Carter said slots are guaranteed
for Monadnock students and several slots through the School Choice Grant for
the other students. L. Colby asked if any of the students go through the
summer. K. Carter said that some of the students are interning and possibly
their interns will become paying jobs. Academically there is no program per se.
Some students will be working on The Odyssey on line. L. Colby asked if there
was a date to make the decision on the acceptance. K. Carter explained that she
will have interviews in the middle of May and decisions will be made at the end
of May. W. Wright commented that the budget for the program is $320,000.00 and
that is how much the District is spending for 25 students. C. Cardine explained
that tuition offsets the appropriation and also he has increased the tuition
line for next year by $80,000.00 to reflect this also next year there will be
more than 25 Monadnock Students. D. Arguin commented that there are only 8
students currently applying for next year from Monadnock. He explained that
back to day one there were 25 slots for Monadnock students if you take other
students from other districts it would not be a Monadnock program. K. Carter
explained that the Monadnock student enrollment is low because of what the
program is perceived as. The referrals
are coming from the counselors. D. Arguin is concerned with the grading process
when reentering a public school or college. K. Carter said that she also had
concerns and has been working with the guidance counselors. The grading is aligned with the Monadnock
curriculum. G. White said that he apologized about not being very elegant about
the educational language. He asked if someone from Winchester, Hinsdale or
Keene was accepted into this program, would the Choice Grant pay for the
tuition. C. Cardine reminded the Board
that because Winchester was sending students to Keene an English teacher had to
be hired and the grant paid for that. K.
Carter commented that there were so many questions and she would be more than
happy to attend the Board meetings on a regular basis. She said that she would
love to be in a situation where the program has too many applicants but because
of budgeting she did not do recruiting. R. Marra would like the MC2 Program on
the agenda once a month.
High School Update (Building Project): MOTION: P. Smith MOVED to
engage the services of an architect to look at plans that have been proposed or
discussed to solve the school building issue with funding from Warrant Article
#8. The plans as currently known include:
1.
Add/renovate/rearrange the existing Jr/Sr High building as necessary
and to break out middle school aged students from the more senior students.
2.
Remove middle school students from the Jr/Sr High building and move to
a separate location and renovate elementary schools as necessary.
3.
Revisit the Building in to the Future plans of November 2001 for
modifying the Jr/Sr High School that separates the middle school students.
4.
Modifying the $28 million dollar proposal rejected by the voter in
March 2003 by scaling down the project or doing it in phases. SECOND: G. Lerandeau DISCUSSION: G. Lerandeau explained that
the Facilities Committee
felt that an architect was needed for
the process. Then with public opinion and meetings the committee could come up
with a specific number. D. Gurian asked how much it would be for the architect.
G. Lerandeau explained that the $60,000.00 was already in the article. R. Thackston
commented that it is a good motion and it is a place tobegin. R. Marra
commented that the amended article is in the minutes of the Deliberative
Session. G. White commented that he doubts the voters voted to spend
$60,000.00. D. Gurian explained that she was not in favor of the motion. W.
Wright commented that the article does not mention the $60,000.00. L. Biron
said that it was amended at the Deliberative Session. G. Lerandeau explained
that the Facilities Committee is not looking for an amount right now but a way
to get started. R. Marra asked for the time frame. Possibly May 20, 2003. VOTE: 10.16/1.12/1.11/2.61.
Motion passes. (MOTION:
J. Morin MOVED to extend the
Board meeting beyond 10:00 PM. SECOND:
W. Wright. VOTE: 11.28/1.11/0/2.61. Motion passes.)
F. Action on the Manifest: G. Lerandeau MOVED to approve the manifest in the
amount of $1,401,212.47 SECOND: W.
Wright DISCUSSION: J. Morin asked
about the $15,000.00 for glass repair. L. Biron explained that it was for new
doors in the building. G. White asked about the $28,000.00 to Antioch. C.
Cardine explained it was for the grant’s project manager and assistant project
manager/counselor. VOTE: 12.39/0/0/2.61 Motion
passes.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT: C. Cardine explained the process for staff and
principal evaluations. He is interested
in having the Monadnock Board do his evaluation using a similar process. R.
Marra would like the Policy Committee to
review the policy on evaluations and take a look at the SAU Board policy
on evaluations.
MOTION: W. Wright MOVED to allow the
afternoon of June 20, 2003 to be a workshop day for the teachers as well as
their last day of school. SECOND: R.
Thackston. VOTE: 9.48/0/0/2.91. Motion passes.
CITIZENS CONCERNS: None.
On behalf of the Board, R.
Marra commended B. Tatro for “attending all the School Board meetings and
staying until the bitter end.”
7. SETTING UP
THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:
1.
Policy Committee
2.
Community Relations
3.
Facilities Committee
4.
Finance Committee
5.
Service Learning mentoring
6.
Standard Committees
7.
Board Retreat
8.
Student Resource Officer
8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION
10:15 PM D. Gurian MOVED to
enter into non-public session for the purpose of discussing personnel. SECOND: G. White. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.
10:55 PM G. Lerandeau MOVED to return to public session and to seal this portion of the non-public minutes indefinitely. SECOND: S. Johnson. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Aivaliotis
MRSD Board Secretary