ROCKINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT
School Board Meeting
July 20, 2009
Present: Joseph Brissette, Timothy Doherty, Michael Empey, Charlie Jarras, James McAuliffe
Also Present: Sharon Reynolds, Andrea Allbee, Cheryl McDaniel-Thomas, David Lesser, Priscilla Lambert, Kari Fletcher, Lynne Raymond-Empey, Matthew McAuliffe,
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MINUTES
Charlie Jarras, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7 PM.
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Tim Doherty.
Review Warrants: The warrants are made available for Board review during the meeting if they wish.
Adjustments to the Agenda: Add 5a, a short executive session for a personnel matter; under New Business add Middle School Line Items; add 15a executive session on personnel.
Review and Approve Minutes of July 6, 2009: Jim moved to accept the July 6, 2009 Minutes as printed; Joe seconded and the motion carried.
Priscilla Lambert, Grievance Chair for the Association, asked the Board for a response to their denial of the Association’s grievance, prior to taking it to arbitration.
Priscilla also responded to the Board’s letter to her concerning fundraising, and will begin the effort by asking for community involvement.
5a. Executive Session: Jim moved to go into executive session at 7:05 PM for a personnel matter. Joe seconded and the motion carried. The Board came out of executive session at 7:10 PM. Jim moved to approve the agreement presented to the Board in executive session. Tim seconded and the motion carried.
Visitors: Kari Fletcher – Greater Falls Prevention Coalition Presentation: Kari is the coordinator of the substance abuse prevention coalition which serves the towns in this district. She introduced Lynne Raymond-Empey, who was involved in getting the coalition started six years ago. Substance abuse in our area is higher than state and national standards. Kari gave a slide presentation followed by a question and answer period. She left cards, buttons and pamphlets for anyone interested in participating in the coalition.
Jim introduced his son, Matthew McAuliffe, who is visiting from Indiana.
Communications – Chair: None.
8. Committees and Other Projects:
WNESU Executive Committee 7/8/09 Minutes are enclosed. Charlie thinks the Executive Committee should meet more often and the last meeting was a very positive one. They are open to the public.
Reports:
Superintendent: Johanna had to leave work early and Chris is on vacation; the Brad James memo is in the packet. Joe inquired about stimulus money, and Charlie suggested inviting Michael Obuchowski and Carolyn Partridge to come and speak to the Board. Andrea reported on a grant application process which Admin is doing.
Principals: David reported that Saxtons River Elementary was awarded the Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Grant and he thinks Central was as well. There was a walk-through at Saxtons River by Trumbull-Nelson and some progress was made. David will make sure things get done by the start of the school year and keep the Board informed. Joe moved to put the SRES Kindergarten floor on the agenda for action at the next meeting.
Cheryl attended a course at Antioch on “critical friends” and will train teachers in her school on it. Cheryl reported on a letter which went home with students concerning grades required to participate in extra-curricular activities. Mike talked about the misconceptions caused among parents by the Brattleboro Reformer article on the subject after the last meeting.
WNESU Unapproved 6/24/09 Minutes are enclosed.
Unfinished Business:
BFMS Security System: Cheryl handed out information in addition to Rick Schuhmann’s memo in the packet. There is no insurance rate reduction. There was discussion of a motion detection system versus video surveillance, and the Board asked Cheryl to come back with a proposal for what she needs, including a dollar amount.
New Business:
BFMS Field Trip Request to Washington, DC (8th Grade): This trip is still in the planning stages, but there will definitely be an 8th grade field trip somewhere. Mike moved to give tentative approval for fundraising for an 8th grade trip in 2009-2010. Jim seconded and the motion carried.
Set Dates for Principals’ Reports to School Board on Staff Evaluations: Jim explained this was requested to give the Board an overview that the evaluations are being done, and he would like a 15-minute verbal presentation from each Principal. Sharon suggested that the Board ask Johanna for a summary of the Principals’ work in this area on a regular basis. Cheryl expressed her frustration and concern that it is very time-consuming. Jim moved (because it was discovered last year that the Middle School and CES hadn’t had any evaluations) that at three successive meetings a 10-, 15- or 20-minute presentation be made by each of the three Principals of the teacher and staff evaluation process for the 2008-2009 school year. Mike seconded for discussion. Tim said VSBA
tells us this is not the Board’s job, that through chain of command the Principals should report to Johanna and Johanna to the Board. Charlie thinks it’s important to the voters to let them know the Board is working hard to change the perception of the schools. Mike would support the motion if it were less adversarial, but it is the Board’s job to know there is a process in place for evaluation. Joe wants to support Cheryl. The motion carried. David will go first after discussion with Johanna and his colleagues.
Middle School Line Items: Cheryl asked for advice on line item transfers that are needed versus over-spending on some items. Jim advised her to just report the variances and stick with the original budget, and that is the consensus of the Board.
Action Items: Mike moved some item dates to the next meeting when Johanna and Chris will be back. The oil spill will be discussed at the next meeting.
13. Appointments and/or Resignations:
Appointments:
Comstock, Erica – Elementary at Central
McAllister, Jane – CFG Math at BFMS
Sanderson, Carmen – Math at BFMS
Boyington, Carla – Librarian (.7 at CES/.3 at SRES)
Ellis, Diane – Assistant Principal at BFMS
Reappoint Lisa Holderness at .4 Science/.4 Health at BFMS
Mike moved to appoint 13a.1-4 and 13b. with correction from the agenda of 13b. to .4/.4. Tim seconded and the motion carried. There was discussion of the hiring of Diane Ellis as Assistant Principal at BFMS with a one-year contract. Tim moved to appoint 13a5. Jim seconded and the motion carried.
Directors’ Comments: Jim received a new telephone directory at home and the school department’s telephone listings are “gibberish”. Can’t somebody review this and make sure there is a listing for each school as a matter of safety? Charlie asked him to bring it up at the next SU meeting.
Joe thanked the Middle School student who planted outside the building and said it looks great.
Mike talked about signing a contract for an employee which provides funds for professional development without guarantee that the employee will stay longer than one year. Discussion followed.
Tim suggested putting this discussion on the agenda for the next meeting.
The next meeting will be August 3, 2009 at 7 PM at WNESU Central Office.
Jim moved to go into executive session at 9:30 PM for a personnel matter. The motion carried. There was no action taken as a result of the executive session.
Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 9:58 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Timothy Doherty, Clerk
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