Approved
minutes
Board
Meeting Minutes
Monadnock Regional Middle/High School
Library,
����������������������
Present:
Colline Dreyfuss, Jonathan Kenyon, Gene White, Karen Cota, Tim Peloquin,
Kenneth Colby, Susan Oerman, Phyllis Peterson, Gerald Mazza, Tim Aho and James
Carnie. Absent: Charles Johnson,
William Felton and Jason Hill.
Also present:
K. Dassau, Superintendent, D. Hodgdon, Assistant Superintendent, K. Chambers,
Business Manager and Tom Warner, Director of Computer Technology.� Principals: B. Tatro and J. Smith.
�
1. CONSENT
AGENDA: MOTION: K. Cota MOVED to accept the
2.�
CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: K. Dassau wished everyone a happy and healthy New Year.
���� He reminded that Board of the Budget Committee Joint Meeting on
���� C. Dreyfuss had received a card from the Support Staff wishing
the Board Happy Holidays.
J. Carnie explained that he had been in contact with the DRA
about Article Two. He read the letter to the Board. C. Dreyfuss explained that
this is later on the agenda.
3.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT REPORT:
4. Public
Comments: R. Bauries commented that
he was disappointed that the Budget Committee has not received the 3rd
draft of the warrant. He agreed with the comments made by J. Carnie regarding
Article Two. He questioned the language on Article Three and Article Four. He
commented that Article Six has a hidden cost of $80,000.00 for architectural
work when the public voted that down last year. He said that he is not happy
that the Board is hiding it from the public. He commented that as the president
of the Tax Payers Assoc. he would not support any contract that had early
retirement in it.
5. Curriculum
Report: D. Hodgdon asked that the
Board to accept a competency based assessment grant in the amount of $8,900.00.
He explained that this grant would help the school improvement plan as well as
help the teachers write the assessments for the students. MOTION: K. Cota. MOVED that
the Board accept the Competency Based Assessment Grant in the amount of $8,900.00.
SECOND: P. Peterson DISCUSSION: T. Aho asked why the
teachers we have put through the special or added degrees or training do not
seem to have a positive effect on our low scoring on NCLB. We are showing 90%.
We need to look into the colleges and schools and who are trained or why do we
not have a more positive effect. (The
previous information from T. Aho was hand written and asked to have it in the
minutes.) T. Aho did comment on the lane changes and asked if the wrong
people are getting trained. He asked if there is grant money to look at what is
going wrong. D. Hodgdon explained that the school improvement plan is focusing
on the specific needs of the teachers in order to assess the needs of the
children. In terms of the right people being trained he can not speak to that.
He explained that this is required to be done by 2009 so with the grant it
would be $8,900.00 less. J. Mazza asked who would develop the curriculum. D.
Hodgdon explained that the high school teachers would be working on this which
would be on their own time. The grant is to support their efforts. VOTE: 10.877/0/0/4.123. Motion passes.
K. Cota voiced her concerns about eliminating the 9th
and 10th grade Honors Programs. J. Smith explained that he relied on
the English Dept. for their recommendation. The Board has requested a
presentation from the English Dept. on this issue at the next meeting. P. Peterson asked for the criteria for being
chosen to the honors program. S. Oerman suggested that the 8th grade
teachers attend as well. K. Cota would like to see the number from the past
three years and how many would attend next year. T. Peloquin commented that the
number of students that did not pass should also be discussed.
6. NEW
BUSINESS: MRSD Audit Report: D.
Clukay explained the report that was in the Board Packets. He said that there
were no findings and it was smooth sailing. D. Clukay explained that
non-budgetary deficit, which is the result of the early retirement if it was to
be paid today. S. Oerman asked if the student activity account balance was too
large to be in one account. D. Clukay answered no. K. Chambers explained that
the early retirement amount was for about 15 people now with a 35 person
maximum plus any exceptions. J. Carnie asked when the public was informed about
the early retirement issue. K. Dassau said that Attorney Apple does not have
the decision on this issue but should on
7. SCHOOL BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS:
1.
Community Relations Committee: K. Colby reported that the committee would be
scheduling a meeting. TBA.
2.
Facilities Committee: K. Cota reported that the committee did not meet.
They had received 3 bids per policy for the stage curtains for the Middle/High
School. K. Chambers explained that the funds would come out of the Carlton
Trust Fund when approved by the Trustees, which are the principal and two
teachers. The students are having a production on
3. Finance
Committee: MOTION: J. Carnie reported that the committee met earlier this
evening. They discussed the expense revenues, status of assets and the grants.
They also questioned the indirect costs in the MRPSOC Grant and the interest on
the Student Activity Account. The committee never got to the letter from
4.
Policy Committee: The Policy Committee would be meeting on
5.
Budget Committee: J. Kenyon reported that the Budget Committee would be meeting on
6.
The
7.
Surry Withdrawal Committee: T. Peloquin reported that the committee would be
meeting on
8.
Old Business:
Budget Development 2007-2008: K.
Chambers reported that there is only $50,000.00 in the Special Ed. Expendable
Trust. She explained that Warrant Three and Warrant Four are boilerplates and
the language would be changed to fit the agreement. She reported that the
opinion on early retirement should be received shortly. K. Chambers informed
the Board that they had approved the new language on article Two. S. Rourke
from the DRA explained that the word “weighted” at the very least had to be
removed. MOTION: J. Carnie MOVED to rescind the action we took at
the last meeting on Article Two. SECOND:
P. Peterson DISCUSSION: J.
Carnie said that he would then make a motion to go with the statutory language
as proposed by the DRA. VOTE: 10.877/0/0/4.123.
Motion passes. MOTION: J. Carnie MOVED to use the language stipulated in
the RSA for Article Two. SECOND: J.
Kenyon. DISCUSSION: K. Chambers
explained that Hinsdale and
2.
“SRO” M.O.U.-K.
Chambers explained that she brought the issue to the attention of the Town of
3. District
Clerk: K. Chambers informed the Board
that the Secretary of State okayed K. Cota doing the clerk position. J. Carnie
explained that he felt it was a conflict. He had coached tennis and could not
take the money being on the Board. MOTION:
T. Aho MOVED to hire K. Cota to
the District Clerk position. SECOND: G.
White. VOTE: 9.509/0/1.368/4.123. Motion passes.
9. Action on the Manifest: MOTION: S. Oerman MOVED
the manifest in the amount of $1,216,858.36.
SECOND: P. Peterson. DISCUSSION: The Upton and Hatfield
charge was for an opinion on the disclosing of certain information. The opinion
was that it is the discretion of the employer. K. Dassau commented that the
issue was brought up and the employer took no action. Cheshire Medical charge
was for Spec. Ed. and LGC was workers compensation insurance. VOTE: 10.877/0/0/4.123. Motion passes. MOTION: T. Aho MOVED to have the health care in the
line items as they did last year. SECOND:
J. Carnie. DISCUSSION: K. Dassau
explained that the
10. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT: K. Dassau informed the Board that there has been a
request from the negotiating team on regular retirement. J. Mazza asked if the
language takes into consideration the number of years someone was in the
service prior to employment. C. Kahn said no. J. Carnie asked why this was
being discussed in public session. T. Aho asked what the teachers were going to
trade. This issue is tabled for the non-meeting.
11. BOARD CHAIR REPORT:
12. SETTING
NEXT MEETINGS AGENDA:
1.
Calendar
2.
Curriculum
English
3.
Warrant
Articles
13. SECOND
PUBLIC COMMENTS: P. Bauries commented
that it is the responsibility of the CRC to get the information out to the
public concerning the upcoming Deliberative Session and help organize the
session. She suggested that the CRC help K. Cota. P. Bauries asked D. Hodgdon
for an official report on the results of the grant over the past summer.
14.
Adjournment: MOTION: K. Colby MOVED to adjourn the meeting at
15. Return to
Meeting: MOTION: At
MOTION: J. Kenyon MOVED to accept the support staff
proposed with the addition of the phrase “or less” in the final statement.
(“Third, the proposed contract holds the increase in wages and health insurance
costs for both years to 6% or less. . .”) SECOND:
16. Adjournment:
MOTION: K. Colby MOVED to
adjourn the meeting at
Respectfully submitted,
Laura L. Aivaliotis
MRSD Recording Secretary