MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Meeting Minutes

June 1, 2004

Richmond Veteran’s Hall, Richmond NH

 

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

Also present: C. Cardine, Supt., K. Dassau, Asst. Supt. L. Biron, Business Manager, and D. Hodgdon, Curriculum Director.  Principals: D. Mousette and B. Tatro.

 

R. Marra reminded the Board they are here to strive for the best education of every child.

 

1.         CONSENT AGENDA:

Minutes of May 18, 2004 Board Meeting. MOTION: W. Felton MOVED to approve the minutes. SECOND: C. Dreyfuss. DISCUSSION: D. Gurian informed the Board that the Community Relations Meeting will be on June 16, 2004 not June 8, 2004 as noted on the second page of the agenda.  VOTE: 10.756/0/1.021/4.402. Motion passes.

 

2.         CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENT:

C. Cardine passed out a flier to the Board from Charlotte Lesser who had received the Fulbright Scholarship to Japan and was presenting in Keene, NH.

 

C. Cardine informed the Board that the 14th Annual Band Gathering would take place on June 5, 2004 at 5:00 PM.

 

The Board received an invitation to the Service Learning Fair on Thursday.

 

C. Cardine received a letter from W. Bartels thanking the Monadnock Regional School District Maintenance Dept. for their help on the shed that was built.

 

A thank you letter was received from the NH Fish and Game thanking M. Morrison and his students for helping to stock the Atlantic salmon.

 

Letters went out to parents whose students are not reading at grade level to let them know that a summer program would be made available to their child. The program will be paid for through the MRPSOC Grant as well as transportation.

 

C. Cardine informed the Board that a bus accident had taken place in Swanzey. He invited Hyla Smith from Laidlaw Transportation to inform the Board on the accident. Hyla described the accident and explained that the process of communication with authorities, emergency personnel, administration and parents had been contacted.  

[J. Morin arrives.] The Board had no questions. C. Cardine explained that he was very pleased with the process after the accident.

 

C. Dreyfuss reported that a week ago the Spring Concert was held. The concert raised $1400.00 and was a huge success.

 

R. Marra informed the Board that the Monadnock Board had been invited by the Winchester Chair to attend a meeting on Thursday at 7:00 PM in the Winchester Elementary Library. The quest speaker will be Mike Asselin from the Coalition for Adequate Education Funding.

 

The chair noted that a perfect game was pitched by Monadnock Regional Junior and Senior High School student Tom Cote.

 

3.         STUDENT COUNCIL CONCERNS: A. Dreyfuss and K. Conboy are the representatives to the School Board. The students handed R. Marra the Final Election Results from the Student Council. The students informed the Board that the prices of the dances have increased due to the separation of the junior high and high school students. R. Marra welcomed the new representatives. 

 

4.         PUBLIC COMMENTS: N. Moriarty thanked the Board for the summer reading program and commented that it was money well spent. He added that he would like to see this done in the math and writing areas and for more years as kids fall behind and never catch up. N. Moriarty commented on the fact that the School Board should approve any new programs, even if they are paid for through a grant. He thought that the School Board should have a Curriculum Committee.

 

5.        Other School Board Business:

 

A.      Board Committee Reports:  

1.           Community Relations Committee: D. Gurian reported that W. Felton was elected as the legislative representative. The committee has invited C. Dreyfuss and K. Cota to talk about the Informer at their next meeting. On June 16, 2004 the Committee will be setting their annual committee goals.

 

2.           Facilities Committee: B. Tatro reported that the committee met on May 21, 2004 with a full agenda. The committee received a facilities update. They received a report on the power outage at Mt. Caesar, progress on the cafeteria and the Wilcox oil burner repair. The committee discussed the mold problem at Cutler and the questionnaire for the building principals on their building needs. They are setting up appointments to visit the schools to review the facilities and see the needs at each school. The capital improvement program is in progress and the committee is working with the Finance Committee on how they will pay for the improvements. The next meeting will be on June 11, 2004 at 9:00 AM.

 

3.           Finance Committee: W. Wright reported that the committee met on May 28, 2004 and discussed the budget. It is recommended by the committee to keep the timeline to review the budget the same as the present. They have been discussing the capitol improvements with the Facilities Committee. They are in the present stages of prioritizing the improvements but are not sure how the improvements will be financed. The committee has recommended increasing the treasurer’s salary from $3,000.00 to $3,500.00. The committee will recommend accepting a $12,000.00 First Amendment Grant each year for three years to the Board. The committee will recommend accepting a $4,500.00 Community Development Grant for Fitzwilliam to the Board. The Finance Committee has received a Challenge Grant for the high school gym floor. The Hanrahan Fund has donated $15,000.00, The employees of the Century 21 Office of R. Thackston have donated $5,000.00 and C. Cardine has donated $500.00. The committee will recommend that the Board accept these amounts of the Challenge Grant. The committee would recommend the authorization of using the maintenance van for the steel drum bands equipment. The Maintenance Dept. will use a trailer to store the items that were in the van. The committee will recommend that the Board approve $9,200.00 to allow Amer Electric to work on the security systems of the district. The next meeting will be on June 25, 2004 at 8:45 AM.

 

4.           Policy Committee: W. Felton reported that the committee met on May 17, 2004 and will be meeting on June 7, 2004 at 5:45 PM. He informed the Board that the committee is working on Section I to the Board Members.

 

5.           Budget Committee Report: D. Gurian reported that the committee met on May 26, 2004 and created teams to visit the various schools. The groups consist of 3 members. The members will call ahead before the visits. She reported that K. Dassau and Dr. D. Lafleur gave a presentation about the Spec. needs Children of the District. The committee meets the 4th Tuesday of every month.

 

6.           AdHoc Committee: R. Marra reported that the committee met on May 26, 2004 and were asked to think of a process to address the Northern Schools situation.

 

              G. White said that he is interested in a tutoring program throughout the year by members of the community. D. Hodgdon will look into the idea. The committee will meet next on June 21, 2004.

 

              MOTION: D. Gurian MOVED to accept the following committee assignments: J. Morin is resigning from the Community Relations Committee and being added to the Negotiations Committee, M. Mathis will become a member of the Community Relations Committee, the SAU Committee and J. Morin will become the Board’s representative to the MC2 Advisory Committee. SECOND: R. Thackston. VOTE: 12.956/0/0/2.044. Motion passes.

 

              R. Marra informed the Board that the SAU Board made a motion to form a committee to look at the petitioned warrant article in question. R. Thackston and W. Wright have volunteered for this committee. MOTION: D. Gurian MOVED to accept R. Thackston and W. Wright to this new committee. SECOND: C. Dreyfuss VOTE: 12.956/0/0/2.044. Motion passes.

 

  1. New Business:

        Administrator’s Agreement Change on Insurance: C. Cardine informed the Board that the SAU administrators had decided to change their health benefits by changing to Blue Choice, the savings to the SAU was $22,488.00.  The principals of the Monadnock Regional School District decided that this was something that they wanted to do also.  This resulted in a saving of $26,277.00.to the district.  C. Cardine informed the Board that this was a voluntary process on the part of the administrators to contain costs for the district and SAU.

 

MOTION: W. Wright MOVED to accept the recommendation of the Finance Committee and increase the treasurer’s salary to $3,500.00. SECOND: B. Tatro. DISCUSSION: C. Cardine explained that she was a key factor for helping to correct the past problems the district had.  W. Felton called for a point of order. He commented that usually the Board receives notification ahead of time in writing before the Board will take action. He says that the Board needs to be consistent.  MOTION: W. Felton MOVED to postpone the decision until June 15, 2004. R. Thackston commented that the Board had already discussed this issue. R R. Thackston commented that C. Cardine brought it to the Board and the Board passed it to the Finance Committee. W. Felton said that it should be to the Board 48 hours before the meeting in writing.  VOTE: 5.467/6.375/1.114/2.044. The motion to postpone fails. DISCUSSION on the main motion:  D. Gurian suggested if something like this comes up again the members could be e-mailed. VOTE: 11.777/1.179/0/2.044. Motion to increase the treasurer’s salary passes.

 

MOTION: W. Wright MOVED to accept the Finance Committee’s recommendation and accept the First Amendment School Project Grant in the amount of $12,000.00. SECOND: B. Tatro. DISCUSSION: R. Marra noted that K. Carter discussed this at the May 18, 2004 meeting. VOTE: 12.956/0/0/2.044. Motion passes.

 

R. Marra commented that the Challenge Grant, the Developmental Grant, the vans from the maintenance dept. and possibly the Amer Electric recommendations would be on the next agenda.    

 

C.    Old Business: None. 

 

D.    Curriculum Report: C. Cardine informed the board about the new Dance Course at the high school. He would like the Policy Committee to look at the policies concerning the adoption of new curriculum and come back to the Board with a recommendation.

 

C. Cardine informed the Board that additional staff would be hired for the guidance dept. at the high school. The MRPSOC grant will be paying the salary better. The nomination will be heard in non-public.

 

B. Tatro asked if the District was going ahead with the Modern Dance Curriculum without approval from the Board. C. Cardine informed the Board that he was informing the Board of the new course consistent with current practice.  R. Marra commented that the Board needs to align the policy with practice.

 

E.     21st Century Report: None

 

F.      Action on the Manifest: MOTION: J. Morin MOVED the manifest in the amount of $1,506,971.47. SECOND: D. Gurian. DISCUSSION: J. Morin asked about a payment of $26,125.00 to a contracting firm was for. L. Biron reported that it was one of four payments for the running track. R. Thackston commented that F. Marinace and asked what was done. L. Biron responded him that the blueprints for the cafeteria are in his office and they are excellent plans. Mr. Marinace completed the mechanical, electrical, constructural and utilization reports. He has also made student capacity recommendations to the Board.  B. Tatro asked what the charges to Conval were for $8,269.20 and $21,913.38. C. Cardine informed the Board that they are foster placements of special needs children and we pay that district that they attend in.  R. Thackston asked if there was a code used in accounting that would inform someone of the type of payment. C. Cardine explained that each invoice is coded and if you were auditing expenses you would be able to follow the codes.  VOTE: 12.147/0/.809/2.044.Motion passes.  

 

6.        Superintendent’s Report: C. Cardine reported that he has no further report tonight.  He suggested that the Board send a thank you note to the principals and the SAU staff concerning the health benefits. R. Marra informed the Board that he would be glad to do that.  

 

7.        PUBLIC COMMENTS: N. Moriarty asked if D. Gurian should be voting on anything concerning the MC2 because he believes she may directly or indirectly benefits from it. D. Gurian commented that she had asked for a legal opinion before she accepted the position at Antioch New England Institute as project director of the MRPSOC grant.

 

J. Carnie commented that the non-public minutes from K. Dassau should have been available in 72 hours after the original meeting. R. Marra commented that he and C. Dreyfuss will be going back 6 month increments and reviewing the non-public minutes to see which documents could be unsealed.  J. Carnie asked what is a reasonable time to have the minutes complete for the past five years. C. Cardine asked if there were any specific dates and they would look at those minutes first. J. Carnie would like to know when the lawyer’s opinion was made concerning D. Gurian’s position. C. Cardine believes that the question was asked during public session. J. Carnie commented on the procedure of adopting curriculum.  C. Cardine corrected a comment by J. Carnie saying that previous superintendents had used this practice to accept courses. He said that board always votes to accept grants.  R. Marra explained that when the Board finds something that needs to be corrected the Board would take immediate action.  R. Marra said that the committee will go through the non-public minutes as fast as possible.  

 

8.         Board Chair Report: No report.

 

9.        SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:

1.      Committees

2.      Development Grant Emerson

3.      Challenge Grant

4.      Middle School Recommendation

5.      $9200.00 Amer Electric (possibly)

6.       R. Marra materials on Middle School by D. Hodgdon would be sent to all Board Members.   

 

10.       NON PUBLIC SESSION

8:45 PM A. Gross MOVED to enter into non-public session in accordance with RSA 91-A:3 for the purpose of discussing  personnel, and approving the non-public minutes of May 18, 2004.  SECOND: R. Thackston. VOTE: Unanimous. Motion passes

 

9:04 MOTION: R. Thackston MOVED to return to public session. SECOND: A. Gross. VOTE: Unanimous for those present. Motion Passes.

 

11.       Adjournment

9:05 G. White MOVED to adjourn. SECOND: C. Dreyfuss. VOTE: Unanimous for those present. Motion Passes

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Laura L. Aivaliotis

MRSD Secretary