Georgia Board of School Directors

January 8, 2008

Georgia School Library

Regular Meeting at 6:00 PM

MINUTES

Board Present: Casey Hager, Ron King, Doug Bergstrom, Irene Bonin

Administrators: Flora Hurteau, Frank Calano, Armando Vilaseca

Others: Chris Sumner

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:10 PM.

II. Public Comment – None.

III. Consent Agenda

● Minutes

● Reports

● Correspondence

● Other

ACTION: Motion by Ron King to approve the Minutes with a minor change dated

December 18, 2007, seconded by Casey Hager, approved unanimously.

IV. Executive Session – Motion by Irene Bonin to enter into Executive Session, seconded

by Casey Hager, approved unanimously. Entered at 6:15 PM, exited 6:55 PM.

ACTION: Motion by Irene Bonin to accept Pat Chamberlain, Marcy Hancox and

Diane Ladens’ choice to participate in the early retirement incentive, seconded by

Jennifer Petrie, approved unanimously.

V. Old Business

● Continued Budget Discussion – NISBET decreased the budget by $11,000. The Town has increased the snowplowing fee to $7,000. Doug suggested that we put the snowplowing out to bid. Armando suggested we put the bid out for next year’s budget. Special Education tuition has increased. Transportation contract came in at a 3.8% increase. The budget was presented at a 4.54% increase. Chris distributed numbers regarding specific increases tied to a dollar amount and the percentage change to the budget. Foreign language is at 60% which will cover all 7th and 8^th graders. This will enable the students be enter high school at a level 2 for a foreign language. Ron inquired if offering a foreign language is necessary at this point, looking at it from a budget standpoint. Frank stated that it will give the students an opportunity to decide if it is something that they would consider pursuing. Doug asked if Frank could obtain the percentage of our students that take a foreign language in high school. During the summer there will be a technology course offered for the teachers to learn to integrate technology into the classroom. The Board decided not to the increase the computer technology teacher, 5 wall-mounted computers were added to the budget for a .085% increase bringing the budget increase to 4.625%. Chris will bring an updated budget to the next meeting.

VI. Policies

● Drug, Alcohol & Substance Abuse Policy

ACTION: Motion by Ron King to approve the Drug, Alcohol & Substance Abuse

Policy as presented, seconded by Casey Hager, approved unanimously.

VII. Other – Casey mentioned the last year’s budget that passed by three votes. There has been a drive to register new voters. The PTA is doing an informational newsletter out to the residents regarding absentee ballots, registering to vote, voter turnout and other issues surrounding voting in Georgia. Room mothers will also be contacting the parents from each classroom around voting time to remind parents to vote. Frank said that they are in the process of putting together a letter to be sent home to obtain numbers, etc. from parents to be input into the AlertNow system. The hope is that the AlertNow system will be operating by February vacation. Irene inquired whether the school has ever surveyed our students who are now in high school. Armando stated that we currently have 1,000 free responses at Survey Monkey. These issues will be revisited

after budget time.

VIII. Upcoming Meetings

A. Next Regular Meeting: January 15th at 6:00 PM, Georgia School Library