ROCKINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT
School Board Meeting
June 15, 2009
Present: Joseph Brissette, Timothy Doherty, Michael Empey, Charlie Jarras, James McAuliffe
Also Present: Johanna Harpster, Christopher Kibbe, Sharon Reynolds, Andrea Allbee, Bruce Downer, Cheryl McDaniel-Thomas, David Lesser, Tracy Binet-Perrin, Jennifer Wolfe, FACT-TV
MINUTES
Charlie Jarras, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7 PM.
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Tim Doherty.
Review Warrants: Charlie asked the Board to review the warrants during the meeting if they so wished.
Adjustments to the Agenda: 11a. Approve Application for Vermont Community Preschool Collaborative Grant moved to 6b; Andrea added approval of a loan application to finish this school year under New Business as new 11a; also under New Business Mike Empey’s letter for the Board as 11b.
Review and Approve Minutes of May 26 and June 1, 2009: Jim moved to approve the Minutes as printed; Mike seconded and the motion carried.
Visitors: Two Bellows Falls Middle School 8th grade students, Colin Johnson and Emily Vaccaro, were introduced by Cherie and were selected to read the essays they had written as part of the Middle School moving-up ceremony.
Early Education Outreach Report – Tracy Binet-Perrin and Jennifer Wolfe were introduced by Chris. Tracy spoke of the activities of the Outreach Coordinator and the VCPC Grant.
Approve Application for Vermont Community Preschool Collaborative Grant: Chris requested that the Board approve the application and Tracy and Jennifer answered questions. Joe moved to approve the grant application; Jim seconded and the motion carried.
Ken Dufort of Grafton said he came to talk about the options for high school for Grafton students. They have formed a committee and came to solicit feedback from the Board were they to decide to withdraw from the union. Charlie said the Board would put together some questions and asked their Committee to do the same for a future meeting.
Communications – Chair: None.
Committees and Other Projects: Tim reported on the Article 6 Study Committee meeting held prior to this meeting, and had copies of the engineer’s report on the Middle School available. The next meeting is August 3rd at 5:30 PM at the Middle School.
Reports:
Financial: Andrea said the deficit has fallen slightly and talked about budget revenue. She assured Jim the budget expense format will look the same going forward. Andrea reviewed changes in these reports, and the notes payable summary. Chris and Andrea will look into Jim’s concerns and questions. Some monies are already encumbered for 2010.
Superintendent:
Johanna handed out a summary of expenses that took us from $100,000 to $260,000 in deficit spending. The deficit figure should come down as Andrea gets more information from the Principals.
Parks Place: Johanna handed out a memo from Barbara Ternes of Parks Place giving the chronology of the relationship between the District and Parks Place.
Johanna said there are two paraprofessionals working in the District and it will not cost the District anything.
Johanna called Bernie Sanders’ office re the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program and received an e-mail address of the appropriate person to correspond with. Chris is also working on it.
The summer lunch program is starting on June 29th for children of the greater Bellows Falls area and will be held at Central Elementary School with the food prepared there.
Chris said some answers to the deficit were found in the summer pays of health insurance, making a difference of about $160,000 to the good.
Principals: The reports are in the packet. Bruce said CES held a volunteers' assembly Thursday. David handed out the annual school report for SRES and talked about their mission statement. Mike moved to endorse Saxtons River Elementary School’s mission statement and slogan. Joe seconded and the motion carried.
WNESU Unapproved 5/27/09 Minutes: Enclosed.
Unfinished Business:
NECAP – Bruce Downer: Bruce gave his presentation concerning students’ needs and answered questions from the Board.
New Business:
Approve Loan Application to Finish School Year: Andrea said the four summer pays will be given out before June 30th as a lump sum, and she anticipates an approximate $100,000 shortage of cash. She asked for authorization to take out a loan if needed, and discussion followed. Mike moved to authorize a revenue anticipation note in the amount of $100,000 between now and June 30, 2010, and to authorize the Board Chair to sign. Tim seconded and the motion carried with Jim abstaining.
Andrea will look into obtaining a line of credit. Tim moved to approve the refinancing of the revenue anticipation note for $1,000,000 and to explore the possibility of refinancing it through a line of credit. Mike seconded for discussion purposes. Tim amended his motion to state “or explore a line of credit”. The motion carried.
Mike Empey’s Letter for the Board: Mike presented a draft letter to the youth sports leagues concerning incentive for kids to make good grades and thereby be eligible to play sports. Mike asked for input by the next meeting, and it will be on the agenda.
Action Items: Mike reviewed and updated the list. Jim talked to the Principals about volunteerism.
13. Appointments and/or Resignations:
Mike moved to appoint the five 21st Century Grant Program Teachers: Cristal Farnsworth, Josh Ferenc, Joan LaClair, Mary Lou Massucco and Stacey Libby; Tim seconded and the motion carried.
Mike moved to appoint Debra Davis as Tutor. Jim seconded and the motion carried.
Mike moved to appoint Richard Schuhmann as .5Custodian/.5 Maintenance Director; Tim seconded and the motion carried.
Johanna listed three more appointments: Tim Eno .4 Family and Consumer Science Teacher: Postponed until after executive session. Emily Graves, Librarian at BFMS and Laura Lober, School Nurse for next year. Jim moved to appoint both; Mike seconded and the motion carried.
Directors’ Comments: Jim read the letter sent to Priscilla Lambert by the Rockingham School Board accepting her offer of a fundraising effort in response to the request for a 1% salary contribution. Jim then talked about the construction at the two elementary schools and the oil spill; the contract supplied by the contractor is unacceptable and should have been looked at more closely. This is being noted so it won’t happen again. Also, our insurance denied our claim and alternatives for better coverage need to be pursued.
Joe thanked the visitors tonight – the two students as well as Tracy and Jennifer for their Early Education report.
Mike agreed with Jim on the insurance issue and wants to bring it to the VSBA conference. He is going to be late on Monday nights for the rest of the summer. He is sorry he couldn’t make it to the 8th Grade moving-up ceremony.
Tim received a call concerning the Central Elementary School playground with dogs running loose and with littering. He will ask Rick Schuhmann for some “no dogs allowed” signs to be posted.
Charlie said the Wells Street Playground renovation is very special and looks great.
The next meeting will be July 6, 2009 at the SU. Summer hours for the Board will be on the next agenda.
Executive Session: a. Contract Matters: Jim moved to go into executive session at 9:50 PM; Tim seconded and the motion carried. The Board came out of executive session at 10:25 PM.
Joe moved to hire Tim Eno as Family and Consumer Science teacher for a .4 contract for the next school year; Mike seconded. There were three “yes” votes and one “no” vote (McAuliffe) with the Chair not voting.
The Board instructed the Superintendent to make a counter offer to Erin Shaw for the school year we have just completed.
Adjournment: Tim moved to adjourn at 10:30 PM; Joe seconded and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Timothy Doherty, Clerk
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