Board
Meeting Minutes
Present: Tim
Aho, Karen Cota, Kenneth Colby, Colline Dreyfuss, Jeff Friedman, Alan Gross,
Jason Hill, Charles Johnson, Jonathan Kenyon, Robin Marra, Bruce Tatro, Richard
Thackston, Gene White. Absent: James Carnie and Bruce
McCulley.
Also present:
K. Dassau, Superintendent of Schools; D. Hodgdon, Assistant Superintendent for
Curriculum & Instruction; L. Biron, Business Manager; and T. Warner,
Director of Technology. Principals: D.
Dahl, D. Mousette, and B. Tatro.
R.
Thackston called the meeting to order at
1. CONSENT
AGENDA:
Minutes of February 14 meeting. MOTION: A. Gross MOVED
to approve the minutes of
2. CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: No correspondence or announcements were brought before
the school board.
3.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT REPORT: No representative was present.
4.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: In the capacity of a citizen, K. Cota read an email about athletics at
the high school and the pay-to-play concept.
This topic was scheduled to be discussed later in the meeting.
5.
OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business at this meeting.
6. SCHOOL BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Community Relations Report: A. Gross indicated that the community relations
committee had not met since the last meeting.
He highlighted the MRSD School District Bulletin
composed by D. Hodgdon and the letters to the editor about the warrant articles.
B. Facilities
Report: C. Dreyfuss said that the
facilities committee met on February 15, reviewed the F. Marinace invoices, and
discussed the letters to the editor pertaining to warrant articles relating to
the facilities. The next meeting was scheduled for March 15 at
C. Finance
Committee: The finance committee had
not met since the previous meeting.
D. Policy
Committee: G. White informed the
Board that the policy committee was scheduled to meet before the board meeting,
but didn’t have a quorum for a good portion of the meeting. He highlighted the work required of the new
policy committee and distributed a sample policy on competency-based
assessments for the members to peruse.
E. Budget
Committee: K. Cota explained that the
budget committee had not met since the last meeting. The next meeting was scheduled for March 28.
F.
G. SAU Search
Committee: R. Marra indicated that the committee had met with two finalists for
the business manager position the evening before the school board meeting and
two more the following evening. He explained that the process was consistent
with the procedures listed in the SAU manual. In response to an inquiry at the
previous meeting, R. Marra explained that a SAU board meeting is not required
to establish a search committee. The Superintendent has the authority to set up
the committee and its composition.
6. OTHER
SCHOOL BOARD BUSINESS:
A. New Business: Athletics Program: K. Dassau reminded the board
that members had requested a presentation on athletics. E. Cronin agreed to attend the meeting to
answer the board member’s questions. In
response to questions, she indicated that she was not aware of any team that
practiced seven days a week; the cheerleaders use the gym on Sunday for
practice during the winter because of space issues during the week, but they don’t
practice one or two days during the week; at the middle school level, all
interested students have a chance to play; at the JV level, everybody plays at
some point; at the varsity level the opportunity to play is competitive. She
explained that the only team that had bought uniforms was the hockey team,
because the boosters purchased them when the team was a club. If a student needs
a uniform, it will be purchased using school funds. Students on the swim team practice early in
the morning in order to take advantage of the generosity of Keene State
College, which doesn’t charge the district for the use of its pool. The district paid only $216 this past
year. K. Cota asked how much it would
cost to get better hours for practice.
E. Cronin did not know, but could check on the price.
A. Gross commented on the
value of sports to motivate students. He
talked about the importance of getting more space for athletics, physical
education, and intramurals. He expressed
his concern about Sunday sports and commented on the quality of the teams and
individual players. D. Thackston
emphasized the value of wrestling. E.
Cronin explained that space was the main reason not to offer this sport. She highlighted D. Stockwell’s having to turn
down a gift of a mat for this purpose because of space issues. P. Bauries proposed the use of the
Use of Funds Potentially Available If Insurance is Lower Than
Anticipated: T. Aho MOVED
that, when the district gets the exact figure for insurance, if the figure is
lower than the estimate, there be an accounting of where the additional money
is spent. SECOND: J. Kenyon. K. Dassau
explained that the school board will be notified of all accounts through the
business manager’s monthly expense reports. In addition the budget oversight
committee, a subcommittee of the budget committee, would be monitoring such
expenditures. G. White expressed concern
that the motion suggests that something dishonest would be occurring with the
additional funds. VOTE:
3.316/9.542/0/2.214. Vote failed.
C. Curriculum Report: D.
Hodgdon indicated that no curriculum report was planned.
D. Action
on the manifest: MOTION: A. Gross MOVED
the manifest in the amount of $1,038,286.75.
SECOND: R. Marra. DISCUSSION: Members asked about
7.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT:
K.
Dassau informed the board that there was the need for a non-public session
regarding a student issue. He also
mentioned the power outage the previous Friday; and the request from Bruce
Bohannon, Swanzey’s Emergency Management Director, to use the high school as an
emergency location, if needed. K. Dassau complimented the work of B. Bohannon
and the value of engaging in the process of planning if an emergency were
declared in the future. He also distributed data on the
ratio of administrators to students for each school in the district, since the
budget committee had quoted figures on administrator-to-student ratios included
on the state website.
8.
BOARD CHAIR REPORT:
R. Thackston thanked A. Gross and R. Marra for their service to the
board. He also asked if the board wanted
another meeting before voting day. The
consensus was to not to add another meeting before March 21.
9. SETTING UP THE NEXT MEETING’S AGENDA:
1.
Committee
Reports
2.
Election of
Officers
3.
Adoption of
Calendar
4.
Transportation
Negotiations
5.
Review of
Vote
10. SECOND PUBLIC COMMENTS: R. Marra thanked D. Thackston for his gracious
remarks. He talked about the challenging
year and underscored no regrets at serving on the board. One of his proudest accomplishments was
helping to shepherd the middle school in the district. He wished the board the best of luck during
the upcoming year.
11. Non-public Session. MOTION: C. Dreyfuss MOVED
to enter into non-public session for the purpose of a student issue under
RSA 91 A:3 II ©. SECOND: J. Kenyon. Roll call: T. Aho, K. Cota, K. Colby,
C. Dreyfuss, J. Friedman, A. Gross, J. Hill, C. Johnson, J. Kenyon, R. Marra,
B. Tatro, R. Thackston, Gene White. VOTE: 12.858/0/0/2.142. Motion passes.
12. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION: J. Kenyon MOVED
to adjourn at
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. David G. Hodgdon
Acting MRSD Secretary