MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Meeting Minutes

                                               July 13, 2004

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

 

Present: Chair Robin Marra, Richard Thackston, Winston Wright, Bruce Tatro, Jeff Friedman, Karen Cota, Alan Gross and Sam Johnson, Tim Aho, Gene White and John Morin. Absent: Dixie Gurian, Marianne Mathis, Colline Dreyfuss, William Felton

Also present: C. Cardine, Supt.; K. Dassau, Asst. Supt.; D. Most, Asst. Business Manager; and D. Hodgdon, Curriculum Dir. T. Warner, Dir. of Technology.  Principals: D. Mousette, K. Craig, S. Rashid, 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:

Minutes of June 15, 2004 Board Meeting, Non-Public minutes of June 15 and June 1. 2004. MOTION: R. Thackston MOVED to approve the minutes. SECOND: J. Friedman. DISCUSSION: Edit page 3 to read “Honeywell has limited operations in this area…” VOTE: 7.175/0/2.358/6.646. Motion passes.

 

2.         CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

C. Cardine told the Board of a letter commending Fitzwilliam students for collecting funds to aide our troops in humanitarian efforts for Iraqi children.

 

C. Cardine distributed two articles. One on web-based assessment by Postlewait and Garland, the other on small schools (300-400 enrollment) titled “Big Benefits of Small Schools” by D. Meier. He distributed information on the Global Information Systems Grant written by D. Hodgdon. Schools of Choice information folders.

 

C. Cardine reported on the CMH foundation’s donation to the high school gym floor fund.  Phase one of the donation, $5000 was received.

 

C. Cardine read a letter from D. Mousette on the increase in kindergarten enrollment in the Northern Schools.

 

R. Marra informed the Board that a court date had been set in September regarding the Wilcox property.

 

3.         STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: No report.

 

4.         PUBLIC COMMENTS:

N. Moriarty asked about the summer school fee for the high school. The administration will follow-up.

 

D. Connell inquired why the pine trees surrounding the tennis court where being taken down. C. Cardine to follow-up.

 

N. Moriarty asked for the monthly detailed budget reports. C. Cardine will make them available.

 

R. Bauries encouraged the board to have the SAU sub-committee recommend the SAU budget be placed on the district ballots.

 

5.  Other School Board Business:

 

A.     Board Committee Reports:  

1.Community Relations Committee: No report.

 

2.Facilities Committee: B. Tatro reported that the next committee meeting will be on July 16, 2004. The committee is working on a Capital Improvement Plan. MOTION: B. Tatro  MOVED authorize the purchase of a trailer for the re-location of the Gilsum Behavior Support Program. Such purchase to be taken from the district special education accounts not to exceed $40,000. SECOND: R. Thackston. DISCUSSION: R. Thackston spoke in favor of the motion. B. Tatro asked the superintendent to comment. C. Cardine reiterated the need to re-locate the program given the changes within Cutler and Gilsum elementary schools to allow for an expansion of the program.  VOTE: 9.533/0/0/5.467 Motion passes.

 

3. Finance Committee: W. Wright reported the committee met on June 25, 2004.

The commitee reviewed two grantss and will be recommending the acceptance of each.  He reported on the increase of the Title I and Tilte II grants.  Internal accounts are being monitored which project a positive fund balance. W.Wright announced D. Gurian’s resignation as the Board member representative to the Budget Committee.  Chair Marra wil be appointing a new representative.  MOTION: W. Wright MOVED to accept the Work Force Opportunity grant and the Global Systems Information grant . SECOND: R. Thackston. VOTE: 9.533/0/0/5.467. Motion passes.  

R. Thackston asked about the food service accounts and the action taken if a family is unable to pay. R. Marra has asked the Policy Committee to review the issue of non-payment of lunch money.

 

4. Policy Committee: The next policy committee meeting is July 27, 2007 at 5:45 in the MRJr/HS Teacher’s Room.

 

5. Ad Hoc Advisory Committee: R. Marra reported that the committee met on June 21, 2004. Since there was no quorum the meeting will be rescheduled.

 

The SAU sub-committee is meeting on July 21 in the Monadnock High School

 

  B. New Business:

 

1. August Board Date: R. Marra explained that he and the Supt. would be out of town on August 10, 2004, which is the Board’s scheduled meeting and asked to change the date to August 17 MOTION: R. Thackston MOVED to set the next Board meeting date for  August 17 at 7PM. SECOND: W. Wright. VOTE: 8.419/1.114/0/5.467.

2. Board Goals and Objectives: C. Cardine referenced the administrative team’s work on the board’s revised goals and objectives. Supt. Cardine will schedule a working session for the Board and administrators in September to discuss the changes.

3. Fall Celebration: A series of events during Homecoming September 24 and 25 will be scheduled to publicly showcase the newly surfaced running track and its dedication. This will be an on-going agenda item.

 

   C. Old Business:

 

1. Unsealing Records Report: R. Marra distributed a memo concerning the unsealing of the non-public minutes from the 2000-01 and 1999–2000 school years.  This completes the unsealing record to when the Board adopted the practice. Three records pertaining to student hearing remained sealed – December 19, 2000, December 5, 2000, and September 5, 2000. R. Marra will review these records with the Board in non-public session. MOTION: B. Tatro  MOVED to unseal the non-public minutes as presented by the committee except for the noted portions of the December 19, 2000, December 5, 2000, and September 5, 2000. minutes. SECOND: W. Wright. VOTE: 9.533/0/0/5.467. Motion passes.

 

2. Letter From Swanzey Selectmen. Nancy Carlson, Distirct Treasurer will meet with the Swanzey Selectmen on August 4, 2004. She will be scheduling meetings with the other town selectmen as well. She encouraged Board members to meet periodically with their respective town selectmen to communicate personally regarding school operations.

 

D. Curriculum Report: No report.

 

 E. 21^st Century Report:

1. Mentoring at MC². Kim Carter, Director of the Monadnock Community Connections School played a DVD of mentoring experiences at MC² and responded to questions from the Board and the public.  The DVD was produced by students at MC².

 

   F. Action on the Manifest: MOTION: B. Tatro MOVED the manifest in the amount of $808,087.79 SECOND: J. Morin. Discussion. T. Aho asked several questions.  VOTE: 9.533/0/0/5.467. Motion passes.

 

6. Superintendent’s Report:

 

7. Public Comments:

 

N. Moriarty commented on the district treasurer’s meeting with selectmen. He further commented on the number of cases of paper stored in the high school.

 

J. Smith introduced Lynne Bleier. She replaces J. Barth as assistant principal.  It is an interim position.

 

8. Board Chair Report: R. Marra reported he was “tanned, rested, and ready.” 

 

9. SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:

1.      Committee Reports

2.      Principal Search Committee

3.      Update on A-Team meetings July 20 and 21.

4.      Curriculum Report /State Testing(other items)

        

10. NON PUBLIC SESSION 9:40 PM. R. Marra MOVED to enter into non-public session to look at the 3 sealed minutes on the list, personnel RSA 91 A 3II (a), and an ongoing grievance RSA 91 A  SECOND: W. Wright. VOTE: 10.440/0/0/4.560. Motion passes. Roll call vote was taken.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Kenneth R. Dassau

Assistant Superintendent