Approved Minutes

MONADNOCK REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

SCHOOL BOARD AGENDA

February 3, 2009

Monadnock Regional Middle/High School, Swanzey, NH

 

Present: Gene White, Jane Fortson, Phyllis Peterson, James Carnie, Robert Smith, Eric Stanley, Ed Jacod, William Felton, Bruce Barlow, and Winston Wright. Absent: Doug Lyman, Tim Aho and Susan Oerman. 

Also Present: K. Dassau, Superintendent, D. Hodgdon, Assistant Superintendent and E. Wammack, Business Manager. Principals: J. Smith, L. Sutton, D. Mousette, D. Dahl, B. Pickering and B. Tatro.

 

Meeting Started at 7:15 p.m.

 

G. White read resignation of Sue Oerman.  MOTION: J. Fortson, SECOND: E. Jacod.  VOTE:  10.053/0/0/4.947.   J. Carnie asked when the resignation was dated.

 

1.      CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION: J. Fortson   MOVED to accept the January 20, 2009 Public minutes. SECOND: W. Felton. Discussion:  None.  VOTE: 8.874/0/1.179/4.947. Motion passes.

 

2.      STUDENT GOVERNMENT REPORT: R. Skrocki stated that the student government had finalized what privileges were to be available to students in various clubs, not just the Honor Society.  He stated that 2 student representatives would be serving on the mission statement committee, and spoke about the National Youth League Advisory Council public forum being held Friday February 6th in the MRMS/HS auditorium at 6:30 pm where house and senate bills of interest to students will be discussed such as HB 489 requiring non-voting student representatives as members on school boards.

 

7:21 p.m. B. Barlow arrives

 

3.   CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: K. Dassau spoke to the open seats on the school board and budget committee and announced that the Deliberative session will be held in the auditorium at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, the 7th of February.  B. Pickering received a letter from a graduated student thanking her teachers for doing so much for her; this has been included in the board packets.  J. Smith announced that the Mt. Caesar and Cutler PTO would be sponsoring Kung Fu Panda spaghetti dinner and a movie on Friday the 13th in the cafeteria annex at the high school. He also stated that 15 pairs of snow shoes for students and 2 adult pairs were purchased from the grant obtained and that a rack to store them in was going to be built.

 

4.   PUBLIC COMMENTS: Jeannine Leclerc, a teacher at Mt. Caesar and Susan Norton, a teacher at Cutler are members of the Student Learning Task Force.  They addressed the board regarding the elimination of the School To Career Task Force Leader (a letter was handed out to the board).  They voiced their concerns regarding losing such a valuable resource and such a strong connection to the community.

 

5.   NEW BUSINESS:

1.      Drawing for determination of candidate order – on the ballot.  B. Barlow selected “V” first draw, “U” second drawing and “W” for the third drawing.

2.      Rental of voting machines – K. Dassau explained that last year the district rented 4 voting machines and asked if we wanted to do that again this year.   P Peterson made the MOTION to rent the four voting machines.  SECOND: by J. Fortson.  VOTE: 11.232/0/0/3.768

3.      2009/2010 School Calendar – K. Dassau asked to postpone.

6.      OLD BUSINESS:

1.      2009/2010 Budget /Warrant-Article One and Article Two:  A MOTION based on the recommendation of the Finance Committee to consider a reduction to the proposed budget amount by $245,000 bringing it to $31,980,610 was made by J. Fortson.  SECOND:  R. Smith.   Discussion:  J. Fortson detailed the suggested reductions as follows:  $45,000 for a truck, $18,000 for Technology travel, $10,000 in the contracted services account, $19,000 for vehicle supplies, $60,000 for aides, $18,000 for benefits for a position previously removed and $75,000 for the resetting of retiring teachers salaries back to an average salary amount (for the new hire(s)). VOTE: 7.753/3.479/0/3.768.

 

G. White stated that he would move warrant article 1.  He asked whether J. Fortson would make the school board’s recommended amendment after that.  She will.  Warrant 2 will be read by J. Carnie, Warrant 3 by R. Smith, Warrant 4 by W. Felton, Warrant 5 by J. Fortson, Warrant 6 by E. Stanley, Warrant 7 by E. Jacod, Warrant 8 by P. Peterson, Warrant 9 by W. Wright, and Warrant 10 by B. Barlow.    The Moderator is considering having the school board and budget committee sit in the audience.  W. Wright feels board belongs up front and should be visible.  E. Jacod wanted to be clear as to what article 7 means.  It was explained that Swanzey’s total vote weight would not be less; just that it is spread between fewer people.  J. Carnie feels both the board and budget committee should be up front.  N. Moriarty feels it should stay the same.  J. Carnie MOVES:  To have the school board and budget committee be seated down front.  SECOND: E. Jacod.  VOTE: 10.053/0/1.179/3.768

7.      CURRICULUM REPORT:

NEASC Report: B. Pickering handed out information about Yarmouth High School in response to a request by E. Jacod from a previous meeting.  He stated that we have received our two-year progress report from NEASC and recommended that it be included in the next meeting’s board packet for discussion at that time, so that he may have time to adequately review it for presentation to the board.

AYP Report: D. Hodgdon explained the history of the Monadnock Regional School District NECAP scores by grade.  A Fall 2005 – Fall 2008 worksheet was handed out.  D. Hodgdon explained that he uses “Teaching” year data as opposed to “Testing year” data.  He explained that testing year data includes students that took test although they may not have been at Monadnock the year before.  Teaching Year data relates to students actually taught by Monadnock the previous year.  D. Hodgdon explained the worksheets to the board.  B. Pickering felt good about the progress, he stated that they learned from the spring exam and used the information to prepare for the fall exams.  They will be using the results as a tool to determine where we’re strong, where we’re weak and where we need to go.  J. Fortson thanked E. Weber and H. Gigliello for their letter to the editor that clarified the results for the High School, as she was confused and dismayed at the way the Sentinel had presented the results.  E. Stanley asked about whether we talked to the Sentinel about taking a second look.  B. Barlow asked what could be attributed to the NEASC process.  D. Hodgdon stated that they are focused on drilling down into the data to see what we need to do.

8.   SCHOOL BOARD COMMITTEE REPORT:

            1.  Community Relations Committee: Email was sent from B. Barlow to the School Board.  He has shot the video explaining the maintenance warrant articles with the help of R. Smith, which he hopes to have on Cheshire TV and loaded to the website and possibly Utube.  He spoke of doing a Letter campaign and the mailing of a green sheet explaining the warrant articles.  The next meeting is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. just before the school board meeting.

            2.   Facilities Committee: Will meet tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. conference room

                        a. BeTTYS Subcommittee: Will join the PTO in co-sponsoring a Dr. Seuss breakfast at Applebee’s in Keene on March 14th.  They will also be doing a breakfast on February 14th at Applebee’s and sponsoring a Rock-in, Lock-in at the MS/HS on February 17th from 3pm to 6pm. 

3.   Finance Committee: Discussed earlier tonight.  Next meeting 8:45 a.m. February 12th.

4.   Policy Committee: Next meeting February 9, 2009 at 5:30 p.m.  W. Wright will now chair. 

5.   Budget Committee Rep.: Next meeting is the Deliberative Session on Saturday, the 7th.

6.   Cheshire Career Center: W. Wright reported that there will be a 5:30 p.m. supper meeting for the Friends of the Career Center, he is planning to attend. 

7.   Education Committee: discussion was held regarding the testing results.  Discussion about MC2 and the Sullivan school and the costs and education were briefly discussed.  A public citizen commented on the mission statement wording re: global citizenry, he would like to see it changed.  The Education Committee has made a wording change recommendation for the mission statement committee.  The next meeting is February 12, at 10:00 a.m. after the Finance meeting.

9.   Action on the Manifest: MOTION: J. Fortson MOVED to accept the manifest in the amount of  $1,945,689.75. SECOND: B. Barlow. VOTE: 10.053/0/1.179/3.768. Motion passes.  

 

10. Superintendent’s Report: Retirement – Teresa Majoy (23 years of service) is a teacher at Emerson who would like to retire in June 2010.  MOTION: to accept, J. Fortson SECOND R. Smith.  VOTE: 11.232/0/0/3.768.  K. Dassau reported Bill Parkman sent a flag and certificate to the SAU.  Attorney Apple will be present at the Deliberative Session on Saturday and has left Upton and Hatfield and will now servicing our needs from Drummond Woodsum law firm in Portsmouth.  K Dassau informed the board that there is a petitioned warrant in Hinsdale to withdraw from SAU #38.  Met with Jeremy Miller who is currently undergoing an evaluation process for the project. The Program is required to document student growth.

 

11. BOARD CHAIR REPORT: None

 

12. SETTING NEXT MEETING AGENDA

1.      Calendar

2.      NEASC Results

3.      Warrants

13. Public Comments: N. Moriarty congratulated H. Gigliello and E. Weber for their letter and the progress at the high school, but also stated that there is a sense of urgency regarding the scores.

 

14. Non-Public Session: MOTION: R. Smith MOVED to enter non-public session under RSA 91-A:3 (e) Current Litigation. SECOND: B. Barlow. VOTE: 10.053/0/0/3.768 Motion passes. W. Felton was not present for vote.

15. Return to public session:  MOTION: E. Jacod to seal the nonpublic minutes until litigation is concluded. SECOND: R. Smith.  VOTE:  11.232/0/0/3.768.

16. Motion to adjourn: MOTION: E. Stanley MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 9:44 p.m. PM. SECOND: R. Smith. VOTE: unanimous. Motion passes.

 

Respectfully submitted,

J. Fortson