Approved

MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Meeting Minutes

                                                     November 18, 2003

   Monadnock Regional Junior and Senior High School Library, Swanzey, N.H.

 

Present: Don Arguin, Dixie Gurian, Chair Robin Marra, Sam Johnson, Winston Wright,  Alan Gross, Larry Colby, Karen Cota, Gus Lerandeau, William Felton, Richard Thackston, Bruce Tatro, Patricia Smith, William Felton and John Morin.

Also present: C. Cardine, Supt., K. Dassau, Asst. Supt., L. Biron, Business Manager and Dir. of Curriculum, D. Hodgdon. Principals: B. Tatro, D. Stockwell, S. Rashid and D. Mousette.  

 

1.         CONSENT AGENDA:

Minutes of November 4, 2003 Board Meeting. MOTION: W. Felton MOVED to approve the minutes. SECOND: L. Colby  VOTE:  Motion Passes.

 

2.     CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: C. Cardine announced that Craig Shield, a math teacher from Monadnock has been featured in The Mathematics League’s journal.

 

C. Cardine mentioned what a wonderful job that is being done by the Cutler Chronicle.

 

C. Cardine informed that Board on the Career Association induction ceremony and commented on Mr. Castor’s speech to the students.

 

C. Cardine complimented the Football Team on a wonderful season. The Monadnock Cheerleaders had a great season and won the State Championship.

 

C. Cardine further complimented B. Pickering for his work within the school with  the students with educational disabilities.  Members of the football team work with the handicapped students in the gym during their study halls and breaks. 

 

3. STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: The representative is currently on the American Heritage Tour. R. Marra asked the administration to consider having  two representatives as in the past.

 

4.    PUBLIC COMMENTS: R. Bauries of Swanzey spoke to several concerns he has with the building proposal process and believes the school board has not listened to the voters.

 

Neil Moriarty read a proposal to the board regarding a change to the formula based on actual costs of each student and towns paying for their own elementary schools.

 

Stacia Castonguay told the Board that she had a petition signed by 32 students who believe that there is not sufficient security at the high school.

 

Ken Castonguay that what the Keene Sentinel wrote regarding his position was not accurate. He said that the plan in place is okay for 20 years ago but the security  plan should be updated. R. Marra commented that a security tour has been set for tonight.

 

James Carnie asked the Board when the next SAU Meeting was.  R. Marra responded Dec. 3 in Winchester. He asked who the current representatives were and who attends. D. Arguin responded that every Board Member can attend but three members have been selected as representatives from each district. R. Marra said that a report of the November SAU Board Meeting is on the agenda. C. Cardine said he would be giving a report during the Superintendent’s Report of the agenda.

 

Dan Connell said that the voters are angry at the increase of the budget. R. Marra responded that the budget for 2004-2005 has not been set and that the Facilities Committee has not made a recommendation to the Board on a building proposal.

 

5.  Other School Board Business:

 

A.      Board Committee Reports:  

1.      Community Relations Committee: D. Gurian passed out information on a Teacher meeting and public forum. The meeting will be held on Nov. 20, 2003 at 4:00 in the MRHS Library. The next meeting with information from the Board on the building project will be on Dec. 4, 2003 at 7:00 PM in the MRHS Auditorium. She reported that at the last meeting they did not have a quorum. She reported that the committee is discussing ads in the Keene Sentinel and the Shopper.

 

CCC Report: A. Gross reported that the CCC Center is still under renovations and they should be completed in August of 2004. He mentioned that the number of students from Monadnock has doubled since last year. C. Cardine reported that 53 students from Monadnock attend the CCC Center and that the grant is paying for an Automotive Certification Program for next year.

 

2.   Facilities Committee: G. Lerandeau reported that the next meeting would be on Nov. 24, 2003 at 8:45 AM.  The committee has met with the architect twice. A full evaluation of the building, electrical and mechanical is needed. He was here this past Friday and looked at the firewalls.  The firewalls need to be brought up to code. The cafeteria space needs to be increased. He said that they are looking at the entire building first. No formal vote had been taken on any building project. L. Biron reported that only $25,000.00 of the $60,000.00 has been committed to date. D. Arguin expressed concern with the way information to the voters is being twisted by those opposed to any building. He said that renovation and building projects are two different issues. He said that the Facilities Committee is looking at a five-year plan and will be making a recommendation at the next meeting.

 

3.  Finance Committee: R. Marra reported that he has filled the chair on the Finance Committee. He said the group discussed the Surry School and the Northern Schools. MOTION: D. Gurian MOVED to accept the $5,000.00 Kids and Company Grant. SECOND: W. Felton. VOTE: 15/0/0/0. R. Mara commented that  the entire 15 board members have attended two meetings in a row.

 

  The Finance and Facilities Committees will meet on Dec. 1, 2003 and Dec. 15, 2003 at 8:45 AM in the conference room.

 

Treasurers Report: District Treasurer N. Carlson handed out the report to the Board Members. She explained that some towns are a little behind in getting their payments to the school.

 

         4.  Policy Committee: MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IHAMA

Teaching About Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco as presented. SECOND: L. Colby.

DISCUSSION: K. Cota asked why abuse was crossed out and who now deals with that. J. Morin commented that it was redundant. VOTE: 15/0/0/0. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IHAMB Family Life and Sex Education as presented. SECOND: W. Felton. DISCUSSION: K. Cota asked why the third requirement was crossed out.  R. Marra said that it was redundant, it is in another policy. P. Smith made a friendly amendment and D. Arguin agreed to add an “s” to student in the second paragraph. A. Gross asked if the parents are notified when they are taught about sex education. C. Cardine said that the parents are notified 2 weeks ahead of time.  VOTE: 15/0/0/0. 

MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to delete Policy IGBFA English as a Second Language. SECOND: L. Colby DISCUSSION: This is stated someplace else in the policy book. VOTE: 15/0/0/0. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy IHBBA and IHBBA-R Limited English Proficiency Instruction. SECOND: W. Felton. DISCUSSION: W. Felton explained that this has been reviewed by the ESL teacher. VOTE: 15/0/0/0.

MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept Policy JFABD Admission of Homeless Students as presented. SECOND: W. Felton DISCUSSION: P. Smith asked why we need this for the No Child Left Behind Legislature. K. Dassau explained that the state residency law had some areas of conflicts with the homeless act.  L. Colby asked if a student was to find housing in another district would that child be able to finish school where he was already placed.  K. Dassau answered yes. VOTE: 15/0/0/0. D. Arguin reported that the next meeting would be on Tues Dec. 9, 2003 at 5:45 PM.

 

  SAU #38 Report: R. Marra reported that the SAU Board met on Nov. 5, 2003 in Hinsdale. They saw a “tour” of the Virtual High School on-line program. There was a vacancy for the treasurer and R. Thackston was promoted to that position. He will fill the spot until Feb. 29, 2004.  A Representative from Winchester raised the issue of should their portion of the payment to the SAU be reduced due to the fact that the high school students will be attending Keene. L. Colby asked how many students from Thayer now go to Keene. L. Biron reported 61 students. J. Carnie asked if they are asking about reducing their payment are they also willing to reduce their representation on the SAU Board.

 

Superintendent’s Report:  C. Cardine explained that the increase on the SAU Budget was 2.1% last year and that the increase for 2004-05 is 4% plus. C. Cardine commented on the number of grants the office is taking in and that they are now in excess of $4 M.  He also pointed out the exponential growth of revenue brought in by the SAU for all of the districts.  These included the Medicaid additions and the tuition increases that are flowing through the office.   

 

B.  New Business: HB 608: C. Cardine commented on the letter in which he would like the Board’s support. MOTION: W. Wright MOVED to endorse the letter presented with a rewrite by C. Cardine. SECOND: G. Lerandeau. DISCUSSION: L. Colby wanted to have the letter rewritten and then come back to the Board. R. Marra commented that there is a deadline.  R. Thackston was concerned with the utilities in the letter. W. Felton asked whom the letter was from. C. Cardine explained that the letter was from the town and the NHSBA. R. Thackston said he could not support this letter because he is not sure how utilities are proportioned.  VOTE: 13.276/1.021/.703/0 Motion passes.

 

C.  Old Business: Set Meeting in Surry with Community: C. Cardine reported that the meeting will be on Dec. 1, 2003 at 7:30 PM in the Surry Town Hall. C. Cardine said it would be posted as a Board Meeting. W. Wright asked if a recommendation would be made. C. Cardine said he would not recommend that. The Facilities and the Finance Committees will then meet on Dec. 15, 2003 and make a recommendation about Surry on Dec. 16, 2003. D. Arguin cautioned that a vote could be taken at a posted meeting.

 

NHSBA Delegate Assembly: A. Gross and B.Tatro did attend the conference. The speaker talked about ways students can receive alternative credit. A. Gross feels that with the MC2 Program that the District is ahead of the game. He said they discussed length of the school day, adequacy, ABC’s of School Construction and changes in building aid. They talked about Board goal setting. They reported that they did leave the meeting early because of the Monadnock Football game.

 

K. Cota would suggest that the Board incorporate N. Moriarty’s proposal in the Facilities and Finance Committee Meetings. She feels that what he stated should be incorporated into the study. MOTION: K. Cota MOVED to incorporate N. Moriarty’s ideas in the discussion with the Finance and the Facilities Committees with all the schools. SECOND: L. Colby DISCUSSION: G. Lerandeau suggested that we get the legal aspect of the proposal. N. Moriarty commented that he does not want it to die. D. Gurian asked if it could go to the Finance Committee. R. Marra commented that the motion incorporated it in the discussion. R. Marra said if you vote yes, it will be in the discussion. W. Felton feels that it needs to be reviewed more. VOTE: 6.893/5.11/1.882/0. Motion passes.

 

MRHS Security Tour: D. Stockwell walked the Board through the MRHS and explained the concerns in which he had and the security measures that have been put in place. He said that while he could not say that the building is secure they are doing the best that they can. He commented on the three exits that are open all day long. He has concerns with the classrooms that are outside the main building.

 

D. Curriculum Report: Report on AYP: D. Hodgdon explained to the Board that the Adequate Yearly Progress is to ensure accountability and to move 100% towards proficiency. He explained that a majority of the schools did not meet the AYP because of the special education population. He ensured that Board that this is not saying our schools are failing. He explained the three ways in which the results are measured. They are as follows: Reach performance target, confidence interval and 10% rule, if you don’t make the performance target or confidence interval within 10% you will need to demonstrate graduation rate or attendance rate. He commented that MRHS and Cutler did not make it because of the Spec. Ed. Problem. C. Cardine commented that MRHS is one of the top 10 high schools in the state. He explained that they are looking at every group that is why this is happening. The administration will take the results and use them to improve. L. Colby commented that we did not fail because of the Spec. Ed. Population it failed because of the program or the teachers. He said because you are poor does not mean you do not know how to learn. R. Marra explained that D. Hodgdon would be giving a long presentation on the NCLB between Feb. and March. He would like to reserve 4 to 5 hours for the presentation. MOTION: R. Thackston MOVED to extend the Board Meeting past 10:00 PM. SECOND: G. Lerandeau. VOTE: 15/0/0/0. Motion passes. P. Smith asked why they are trying to put the students that need extra help together. D. Hodgdon explained that the Spec. Ed. Students need to be challenged as well as the other students. She explained that the tests do not allow for modification. The students with the most severe problems have alternatives. If a school continues to fail the state will step in and possibly change staff, teacher, principals and so on. D. Hodgdon explained that it is all tied to funding.

 

E.     21^st Century Report: None.

 

F.      Action on the Manifest: G. Lerandeau MOVED to approve the manifest in the amount of $961,594.72 SECOND: W. Wright. VOTE: 15/0/0/0. Motion passes.

 

6.  Superintendent’s Report: C. Cardine gave report during Policy.

 

7.   PUBLIC COMMENTS: N. Moriarty commented that noone entering the building tonight signed in. He believes that no one ever signs out.

 

8. SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:

 

1.      Committee Reports

2.      Recommendation Finance Food Service

3.      Expendable Trust Fund

4.      C. Cardine info on HB608 Taxes by town

5.      21^st MC2

6.      Budget

7.      Facility recommend capacity-needs

8.      Money for safety form $60,000.00

9.      Board evaluation

10.  SAU discussion

 

 

9.  NON-PUBLIC SESSION

10:25 PM G. Lerandeau MOVED to enter into non-public session for the purpose of approving the minutes of the non-public session on November 4, 2003, and a legal issue. SECOND: L. Colby  VOTE: Unanimous for those present.

 

11:25  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.

 

 

10. Adjournment

11:26 PM Wm. Felton  MOVED to return to adjourn. SECOND: A.Gross. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Laura Aivaliotis

MRSD Board Secretary