MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Meeting Minutes

                                               August 17, 2004

     Monadnock Regional Junior and Senior High School Library, Swanzey, NH

 

Present: Chair Robin Marra, Dixie Gurian, Richard Thackston, Bruce Tatro, Karen Cota, Alan Gross and Sam Johnson, Tim Aho, Gene White, Colline Dreyfuss (7:30 P.M.), John Morin (8:50)

Absent: Jeff Friedman, Winston Wright, Marianne Mathis, William Felton

Also present: C. Cardine, Supt.; K. Dassau, Asst. Supt.; L. Biron, Business Manager; and D. Hodgdon, Curriculum Dir. T. Warner, Dir. of Technology, D. Most, Asst. Bus. Manager.  Principals: D. Mousette, K. Craig, A. Noel, D. Dahl, E. Tatro, J. Smith, L. Bleier

 

R. Marra reminded the Board of its mission statement: to provide the best education for every child.

 

1.         CONSENT AGENDA:

B. Tatro  MOVED to approve the public and non-public minutes of the July 13, 2004 Board Meeting. SECOND: K. Cota. No Discussion. VOTE: 5.156/00/3.321/6.63. Motion passes.

 

2.         CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

C. Cardine made available to the board information from Laidlaw Transportation’s Focus magazine. 

Noting the absence of the board’s recording secretary - R. Marra announced the birth of her baby boy Owen.  Congratulations to Laura Aivaliotis and her family.

 

3.         STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: No report.

 

4.         PUBLIC COMMENTS:

R. Bauries questioned the board’s authority to remove the pine trees surrounding the track and tennis courts.

N. Moriarty stated that the board is not required to  provide Hepatitis – B vaccinations to staff.

 

5.  Other School Board Business:

 

A.     Board Committee Reports:  

1.Community Relations Committee: D. Gurian distributed a flyer describing  the planned Fall Celebration scheduled during Homecoming weekend Friday and Saturday September 24 and 25.

 

2. Facilities Committee: B. Tatro reported that the next committee meeting will be on Friday August 27, 2004 at 8 a.m in Rm 49. The committee continues to dicuss various construction activities. B. Tatro reported that the culling of the trees was done to prepare the site as recommended by the forester. The operation will provide some revenue to the district as well. T. Aho asked what the “overage” would be. B. Tatro will provide the answer. B. Tatro reported that other construction work is being delayed by deliveries of steel. K. Cota commented the renovated track is beautiful and thanked the administrators and persons involved.

 

3. Finance Committee: R. Marra reported that a joint meeting with the Facilities Committee was held.  The next scheduled Finance Committee meeting is for Thursday, Sept. 2 at 9:00 A.M in room 49.

 

  B. New Business:

 

1.      Principal Search Committee. C. Cardine announced the formation of a search committee for the position of the senior high school principal.  He further asked the board to consider hiring a middle school principal. He distributed a financial sheet to indicate how this might be done through reallocating   existing funds and changing the use of the present assistant principal and department head structure. The board asked several questions. C. Cardine responded that a separate search for the position would be held.  No action was taken by the board.  Item to be added to next meeting agenda. C. Cardine appointed K. Dassau, assistant superintendent,  to chair the high school search committee.

 

2. Board Goals and Objectives: C. Cardine reported on the administrative team’s  work on the district goals. A working session for the Board and administrators was set for Saturday, September 11.

 

   C. Old Business:

1. SAU Sub-Committee. T. Aho asked about the SAU sub committee. R. Thackston  responded that a meeting was scheduled for August 25 at 6:30 PM in Winchester in the Ford Building.

 

D. Curriculum Report: Director of Curriculum Dr. David Hodgdon reported on the  NH Educational Improvement and Assessment Program (NHEIAP). He reported that all schools met the standard of annual yearly progress (AYP).  He also shared the testing results for the district and each school and explained the changes in the current assessment, which does not include a writing sample and has eliminated assessments of science and social studies.  The testing last May, according to Dr. Hodgdon, will likely be the last NHEIAP assessment, since the three states in the New England Compact are asking the US Department of Education to allow them to forego the assessment in the spring of 2005, since all students in grades 3 through 8 will be assessed in the fall of 2005.  The pilot for the assessment will be administered to students this October.  Grade 10 students will take the NHEIAP in the spring of 2005 and will be administered a new assessment for the first time in the fall of 2006 during grade 11.

 

 E. 21st Century Report:

1.  Emerson Request. Due to an increase in enrollment at the Emerson School C. Cardine requested that an additional teacher hire be done. R. Thackston MOVED to approve the hire of an additional teacher at the Emerson Elementary School. SECOND: A. Gross. Discussion. G. White asked about the enrollment of the other elementary schools. C. Cardine to provide the information at the next board meeting.  T. Aho asked if this was a budget constraint. C. Cardine responded due to other changes in staffing he did not believe so. VOTE: 5.211/00/4.805/4.984. Motion passes.

 

2. Northern School Request. C. Cardine reported that the Northern Schools have had an increase of 10 students in the Kindergarten class and requested that the Board consider hiring a full-time person to teach a morning and afternoon session. Presently the position is half-time. R. Thackston MOVED to approve a full-time kindergarten teacher at the Gilsum Elementary School using existing staff. SECOND: A. Gross. Discussion. B. Tatro asked why this information and the previous information was not included in the Board packet. C. Cardine explained it was the timing of the information and his being out of the district due to his doctoral work. The administration discussed the information in late July and decided make sure the numbers held into August.  D. Mousette responded to Board questions. The position would move a part-time tutor/teacher to a full-time teacher. Additional staff would not be hired. G. White commented that he hoped the lack of communication could be avoided next year.  R. Thackston commented on the housing market during summer months and described the opening day enrollment as “a crap-shoot.”  K. Cota expressed concern with the overall district and not just individual schools.  C. Cardine explained that the final information for opening will be available at the September meeting. VOTE: 7.569/00/2.447/4.984. Motion passes.

 

3. Principal Intern. K. Craig introduced Adrienne Noel to the Board. A. Noel will be doing a principal internship with K. Craig at the Emerson School.  This is paid for through the MRPSOC Grant.

             

              [J. Morin arrives 8:50]

             

F. Action on the Manifest: MOTION: B. Tatro MOVED the manifest in the amount of  $2,285,672.62. SECOND: A. Gross. Discussion: T. Aho asked several questions.  VOTE: 10.016/00/1.179/3.805. Motion passes.

 

6. Superintendent’s Report: No further report.

 

7. Public Comments:

J. Carnie stated that the July meeting of the SAU sub committee was not posted in Winchester.  He also commented that committee meetings should not be held outside the district.

N. Moriarty thanked the Facilities Committee for drafting a 5-Year Plan.

 

8. Board Chair Report: R. Marra noted  two recent reports. One on minimum standards. The other titled “Plumbing the Numbers Volume.”   All SAU 29 and SAU 38 board members are invited to an information meeting on the Monadnock Regional Public School of Choice to be held at Camp Takodah on Monday evening, September 13.  The September 21 board meeting is scheduled to be held at the MC˛ School in Keene.

 

9. SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:

1.      Committee Reports

2.      Principal Search Committee

3.      PE Program and use of tennis courts

        

10. NON PUBLIC SESSION

9:07 PM. R. Marra requested a motion to enter into non-public session to discuss  personnel per RSA 91 A 3II (a).  R. Thackston MOVED.   B. Tatro SECOND.  

VOTE: 11.195/00/00/3.805. Motion passes.  A roll call vote was taken.

9:30 PM  A. Gross  MOVED to return to public session. SECOND: B. Tatro. VOTE: Unanimous for those present.  Motion passes.  Non-approved meeting minutes attached.

 

Public Session: S. Johnson asked if it would be possible for the Board to receive information on the scheduling of students for the use of the tennis courts.  Discussion of PE and nutrition. C. Cardine to invite B. Pickering to the next Board meeting.

 

11. Adjournment

9:45 AM A. Gross MOVED to adjourn. SECOND: T. Aho. VOTE: Unanimous for those present. Motion Passes

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Kenneth R. Dassau

Assistant Superintendent