MRSD School Board minutes

MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Board Meeting Minutes

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Monadnock Regional Middle/High School, Swanzey, NH

Present: Richard Thackston, Colline Dreyfuss, Jonathan Kenyon, Gene White, Bruce Tatro, Charles Johnson, Jeff Friedman, Karen Cota, Robin Marra, Alan Gross, Bruce McCulley, Tim Aho and James Carnie. Absent: John Morin and Jason Hill.ï¿½ï¿½

Also present: K. Dassau, Superintendent, D. Hodgdon, Asst. Supt. of Curriculum, T. Warner, Dir. of Technology and L. Biron, Business Manager.ï¿½ Principals: B. Tatro, S. Rashid, J. Smith, D. Dahl, Kim Carter, D. Mousette, K. Craig and M. Young.

R. Thackston called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.

1.ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ CONSENT AGENDA:

Minutes of December 1, 2005 Non-Public Minutes and December 6, 2005 Board Meeting Minutes. MOTION: C. Dreyfuss MOVED to approve the

December 1, 2005 and December 6, 2005 minutes. SECOND: T. Aho. DISCUSSION: K. Cota would like the minutes to reflect that the funds that are now in the Emergency Maintenance Expendable Trust Fund are designated for partial payment for the new septic system at Monadnock Middle/High School. ï¿½VOTE on amended motion: 9.235/1.114/2.358/2.293. Motion passes.

2. CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: MOTION: K. Carter announced that Miss Julie Bressett has successfully completed her Graduation Exhibition and is the second student graduating from the MC2 Program. Congratulations Miss Julie Bressett.ï¿½ Invitations will be sent to Board members and others to celebrate Julieï¿½s success. Miss Bressett has plans to work at Sea World after graduation and her employer will be paying for her college education.ï¿½

STUDENT GOVERNMENT REPORT: J. Smith informed the Board that the Student Government met and came up with a plan to address the overcrowding. The plan was unanimously received by the staff. It was decided that the honor roll students would not have to congregate in the hallway. C. Dreyfuss asked why it is based on grades. J. Smith said that it was an incentive. K. Cota asked if it is a fire and safety issue. J. Smith commented that it is not officially documented as such. J. Smith said that they would visit the proposal again if it does not work. R. Thackston commented on the Students Government saying laws. J. Smith informed them that it should say bi-laws. R. Thackston asked if the Student Government rep. would be attending the meetings. J. Smith said that they would like more time to talk about it.ï¿½

ï¿½

Public Comments: No comments.

3. Old Business:

a. Warrant Articles Draft: L. Biron explained that the information passed out was the 7^th draft. He explained that they changed Article Three and rewrote Article Nine because it had already been established. B. Tatro asked about Article Thirteen needing to be Article One. L. Biron said that informational items belong at the end. The warrant places the larger articles typically before the smaller article. C. Dreyfuss asked about Article Nine and asked if it was the Board’s job to come up with a public relations plan to inform the public about the master plan. K. Cota asked about a line stating that this article would raise no new taxes. L. Biron stated that that Sandra Rourke from the Dept of Revenue Administration does not like that line in there. L. Biron said that he added Article Five and Article Seven just in case the agreements are voted down. A. Gross asked how the Facilities Committee came up with the figure in Article Eight. C. Dreyfuss said that they prioritized a list of projects. K. Cota said that the figure could be changed at the deliberative session. L. Biron said that the Budget Committee’s Public Hearing is on Jan.12, 2006 at 7:00 PM. G. White asked if there was a number for Article One. L. Biron said that it is the Budget Committee’s number.

b. 2006/2007 Budget: L. Biron explained that the budget is 89 pages long with a cover page. The information is a result of the Budget Committee’s meeting. The budget is 6.7% over this year’s budget. The total is $30,464,014.00. T. Aho commented that he would have liked to have received the budget prior to the meeting in the packets. K. Cota asked if the SAU roof was the one she spotted in the budget. L. Biron said that he did not see any minutes that said to take the roof out. K. Cota commented on the English teacher and said that it does not reflect the actual benefits. L. Biron said that it does. C. Dreyfuss asked if cutting the English teacher would affect the English Dept. J. Smith said that the English Dept. has the lowest student per teacher ratio. K. Dassau asked the Board if they would like to hear the process of how the administration met the Budget Committee’s request. K. Dassau passed out the three sheets to the Board describing the proposed reductions that were made to get the budget to within 6.7%. K. Cota wanted to clarify if the Board would need to approve the individual cuts now. K. Dassau said that the Board needs to come to some kind of agreement. K. Cota said that the actual items are not set in stone and the Board has the right to pick and choose. K. Dassau agreed but asked that the Board be respectful of the work done by the Budget Committee and the administration. K. Cota said that she is asking why the Board is going through the process if they are not going to do the cuts. B. McCulley informed the Board that the Finance Committee had an extensive discussion about this item. K. Dassau asked the Board to consider the proposal to move the MC2 Program to the Surry School and there may be a savings. It was asked about the rent paid to Antioch. A. Gross commented that the Surry School would not be convenient for the internships and the fact that a group of people would like to have a charter school in the Surry School. K. Dassau disagreed with the comment on convenience and that is not the opinion of the administrative team. The charter school would be an action of the Board. K. Cota said that she would like to have more time to digest the cuts. She said that she added up every stipend and came up with a total of $209,000.00. She would like to have the administration look at that. She would like to know how many students are affected by people receiving the stipends. C. Dreyfuss asked if reducing the aides time was negotiated. K. Dassau explained that it would not reduce the retirement and benefits. R. Thackston commented that it is a lot of information for the Board to digest. L. Biron said that he would like to know what would be going in column 6 of the MS27. R. Thackston said that it is still not set. L. Biron said that you could change it at the deliberative session or at the public hearing but he needs a number. MOTION: K. Cota MOVED to accept the same numbers as the Budget Committee accepted. SECOND: C. Dreyfuss. DISCUSSION: K. Dassau said that the Budget Committee asked for three levels. He said that when the Budget Committee voted on the 6.7% everyone voted yes except three budget committee members. J. Kenyon said that he is concerned that the public would not respond favorably. The NEASC comes this year. K. Cota commented that the Budget Committee and the School Board recommending this is better off to get it approved. The Budget Committee has spent hours on the budget. The budget could be changed at the deliberative session or at the public hearing. B. McCulley commented that the Budget Committee has done their work and this budget can run the district. A. Gross asked if the cuts on the cover sheet been taken out. L. Biron answered no. G. White asked if there was a default number yet. J. Fortson said that she is waiting for two final numbers. The default is up 6.34%. J. Fortson said that they needed to be clear about the new equipment and the replacement equipment. G. White commented on how close the default was to the 6.7%. T. Aho asked if the deficit was in either the default or the proposed budget. L. Biron said no. K. Cota and C. Dreyfuss withdraw their motion. MOTION: K. Cota. MOVED to approve the figure to be filled in by the Board in the amount of $30,464,014.00 on the MS27. SECOND: C. Dreyfuss. VOTE: 7.716/4.991/0/2.293. Motion passes.

c. Tuition waiver per citizen concern (12/6/05): R. Thackston said to pass over this until non-public.

d. Allocations of District Funds in the Budget: Pass over this item.

e. City Watch/Reverse 911 Discussion-Mr. Moriarty/Dr. Dassau: N. Moriarty informed the Board about the City Watch /Reverse 911 system. He said that he feels it is a good system and said that he could petition this but chose not to. He felt that it was the Board’s call. He explained the system and answered the questions that the Board and principals had at the last meeting. C. Dreyfuss asked if N. Moriarty had received three bids. N. Moriarty said that he did not but if it was passed in March he would have three bids by Sept. B. McCulley commented that he was commenting on an article in the Keene Sentinel. N. Moriarty said that he spoke to local people and they said that it would not be free. B. McCulley said that it is a good concept but he is not sure that it is the best way of using the funds. R. Thackston said that he was concerned that there would be too many articles on the ballot. He said that personally he does not buy that. B. Tatro asked how much of an effort on the schools part. N. Moriarty said that the towns would be responsible for their own lists. He said that anyone that passed typing could do this and then another person to check. B. Tatro asked if the list could be amended. N. Moriarty said yes. K. Craig commented that she would prefer to speak to parents. It was commented that out of 10,000 calls there might be a 1 % margin of error. R. Thackston said that this is a proactive and a reasonable step. T. Warner explained that he has been talking to vendors and getting quotes. He explained that Hinsdale uses a similar system. D. Gurian commented that some schools use this system to inform parents of what is going on. R. Thackston said that they could use that. T. Warner said that a group email would do the same for information to the parents. MOTION: B. Tatro MOVED to add a warrant article to create an expendable trust fund for the purpose of an Emergency Notification System in the amount of $12,000.00. SECOND: B. McCulley. DISCUSSION: K. Cota asked what article it would be. L. Biron said that it would be at the end. A. Gross commented on the fact that T. Warner would like to do more research. It was commented that the article does not say City Watch it alerts the public that it is a town and school function together. B. McCulley commented that the article does not mention town use. B. McCulley asked about the cost. K. Dassau would be in charge of the system. N. Moriarty said that it would be prorated and the towns would pay exactly the same. K. Craig was concerned with the 1000 minutes and the fact that there are 2500 students each phone call being over 30 second long. C. Johnson asked how the administration felt about the system. K. Dassau said that the response from the administrators is mixed. It would require a test period. The phone messages would go out simultaneously. The list would need to be updated because they get a new student every day. Betty Tatro commented that even after the calls are made there would be lots of call backs. K. Dassau commented that some schools are not comfortable with it and others would not use it. S. Rashid said that he has mixed feelings and would like to explore it. R. Thackston asked the Board if they would like to see this on the warrant. B. McCulley said that he felt it is a bad idea. R. Thackston said that the Board does not need to go on with the grinding details. B. McCulley withdraw his second on the motion. K. Cota second the motion. K. Cota asked if you need money to explore. N. Moriarty said that you could not write the procedures. K. Dassau said that vendors have contacted the administration to make a presentation. VOTE: 8.552/2.358/1.797/2.293. Motion passes.

6. SCHOOL BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Board Committee Reports:

1. SAU Board Report-Dr. Marra: R. Marra informed the Board that the SAU Board had approved the administration’s reorganization proposal. The SAU Board also approved the addition of 3% to be added to the SAU budget for a pool of money for raises or additional money for new positions. The funds are to be distributed by the Superintendent. The next meeting will be held in May 2006.

2. Community Relations Committee-Mr. Gross: The committee has not met. They will be meeting on Jan. 5, 2006.

3. Facilities Committee-Mrs. Dreyfuss: The committee has not met. They will be meeting on Jan. 11, 2006.

4. Finance Committee-Mr. McCulley: He reported that the committee met at 6:00 PM this evening and went over the current balance sheets. The cash assets after the manifest were $89,383.85. The next meeting will be on Jan. 3, 2006 at 6:00 PM.

5. Policy Committee- Mr. White: G. White reported that the committee is finishing work on a few policies in which they hope to present at the January Board Meeting. The next meeting will be on Jan. 10, 2006.

6. Budget Committee- Ms. Cota: K. Cota said that K. Dassau pretty much said everything she was going to say. The next meeting will be on Jan. 11, 2006 at 9:30 AM.

7. The Cheshire Career Center-Mr. Gross: A. Gross asked if the Board could choose a date to have W. Cotton present the agreement and answer any questions. C. Dreyfuss asked if he would be bringing the contract. A. Gross said yes. She asked who writes the contract. A. Gross said that he does and any changes are made by the state.

7. New Business:

a. Monadnock Marauders Football Club contract agreement: L. Biron informed the Board that the Marauders are asking for a three year contract. He said that they would be in charge of the concession. This contract gives the District $5,000.00 a year. MOTION: J. Kenyon. MOVED accept the three year contract for the Marauders. SECOND: A. Gross. DISCUSSION: A. Gross commented on what a nice job and a nice fixture to the region. VOTE: 11.684/0/1.023/2.293. Motion passes.

b. Teacher Personnel list-Mr. Aho-T. Aho explained to the Board that he does not know how many teachers are actually employed by the school district. He said that he has received different numbers and would like to know if K. Dassau could figure out the correct number. T. Aho said that the Board needs the list of teachers and the steps that they are on. K. Dassau will prepare a document that will let the Board know the positions and which positions are grant funded.

8. Curriculum Report: No report.

9. Action on the Manifest: MOTION: T. Aho MOVED the manifest in the amount of $1,251,170.74. SECOND: C. Dreyfuss. DISCUSSION: The Board asked about a payment to Catamount Environmental. L. Biron said that it was for asbestos removal at Emerson. There was a question on a payment to Amer Electric. L. Biron said that he would check with maintenance. There was a question on a payment to H.L. Turner. L. Biron said that he would ask Sharon. A payment to Stromgren Plumbing in the amount of $7662.00 was in question. A payment to Kajenn Controls was questioned. A payment to Harrisville School was for a sub to cover a teacher going through the aspiring principal’s program. The district would be getting paid back. T. Aho asked about the $300,000.00 difference of the cash on hand and the manifest. B. McCulley said that they have $89,000.00 over the manifest. VOTE: 10.507/0/1.021/3.472.Motion passes.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT: K. Dassau informed the Board that there would be at three non-public sessions. K. Dassau informed the Board that the boiler at Emerson is not working correctly. K. Craig reported that the hallways and the offices are freezing. The students are in the classrooms and they have heat. They would be fixing the boiler but they are in need of a new boiler. L. Biron reported on the boiler. L. Biron reported that the flooding in the basement at Emerson is covered by FEMA except for the $1000.00 deductible which is covered by the insurance. FEMA would also be submitting the foundation and drain claims.

11. BOARD CHAIR REPORT: No report.

12. SETTING NEXT MEETINGS AGENDA:

1. Minutes

2. Teacher Personnel List

3. Draft 2006-2007 Calendar

4. CCC-W. Cotton

13. SECOND PUBLIC COMMENTS: W. Imon commented on the fact that the Board and the School Board should stand unified together on the number to be presented to the taxpayers. He also commented on the fact that at the Dec. 3, 2005 meeting there were not enough Board Members but felt that this issue is an important one.

K. Cota commented that the administration is paid to do this work on student cost and she feels that they should come back with a number for the Budget Committee and the School Board. A. Gross would agree with her as well as C. Johnson agreeing. J. Kenyon does not disagree with the Budget Committee but felt that the Board should review the numbers.

C. Dreyfuss reported that the Varsity Cheerleading squad volunteered at the Community Kitchen.

M. Imon commented on the repair and replacement in the default budget. A. Gross commented that the Board had received a survey from the NEASC.

Five minute recess.

R. Marra leaves at 10:02 PM.

14. 10:09 PM Non Public Session. MOTION: C. Dreyfuss MOVED to enter non-public session for the purpose of a leave under RSA 91 A: 3 11©. SECOND: J. Kenyon. Roll call: T. Aho, C. Johnson, J. Kenyon, C. Dreyfuss, J. Carnie, B. McCulley, G. White, K. Cota, J. Friedman, B. Tatro A. Gross and R. Thackston. VOTE: 11.593/0/0/3.407. Motion passes.

15. 10:16 PM Non Public Session. MOTION: B. McCulley MOVED to enter into non-public session for the purpose of compensation under RSA 91 A: 3 2 (a). SECOND: C. Dreyfuss. Roll call: T. Aho, C. Johnson, J. Kenyon, C. Dreyfuss, J. Carnie, B.McCulley, G. White, K. Cota, J. Friedman, B. Tatro, A. Gross and R. Thackston. VOTE: 11.593/0/0/3.407. Motion passes.

16. 10:28 PM Non Public Session. MOTION: C. Johnson MOVED to enter into non-public session for the purpose of a student issue under RSA 91 A 2 ©. SECOND: J. Kenyon. Roll call: T.Aho, C. Johnson, J. Kenyon, J. Carnie, B. McCulley, G. White, J. Friedman, B. Tatro, A. Gross and R. Thackston. VOTE: 10.167/0/0/4.833. Motion passes.

17. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION: T. Aho MOVED to adjourn at 11:25 PM. SECOND: B. McCulley. VOTE: 10.167/0/0/4.833. Motion passes.

Respectfully submitted,

Laura L. Aivaliotis

MRSD Secretary

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