Georgia
Board of School Directors
January 10, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Regular Meeting Minutes
Board Present: Doug Bergstrom, Dan Harvey, Ron King, Alice Sturgeon
Administrators: Phil
Higgins, Frank Calano, Flora Hurteau
Others:
Wendy Larose,
Transcriptionist; Cyndie Bourgea, Videographer
1.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:08.
2.
Consent Agenda
:: Minutes:
Minutes
from the November 15 and December 20 meetings were presented.
::
Reports: No
reports were submitted for this meeting.
::
ACTION: Alice
Sturgeon moved to approve the minutes and reports, seconded by Dan
Harvey.
Dan Harvey noted a change in one of the motions. After this change was made, the
motion
was approved unanimously.
3. General Public
Comments
::
Andrew Crocker, Phil Seiler and Matt Crawford were present to represent
the Arrowhead Lake Village Owners Association.
Residents were notified recently that bus service within the development
would cease January 3, 2006 and pickup of the children will be at the entrance
to 104A. The homeowners are
requesting the board reconsider the transportation policy as written to allow
the bus to continue in the development the way it historically has for the past
eight years. Two members from
the Georgia Select Board were present and said they supported the school’s
policy. These select board members
recommended if the service to Arrowhead continues, that it be grandfathered in
under the previous policy and not an exception to the new policy.
Doug said the policy would be discussed later in the meeting and their
input would be considered.
::
Carolyn Branagan attended to give an overview on the legislature with
respect to school taxes. It is
likely the tax will lower $.01 to $.98. There
is some discussion on income sensitivity. There
is lots of discussion about what to do about school taxes, as they are too high.
The education fund is raising too much money and ideas are floating on
how to deal with escalating real estate values and too much money in the
education fund.
4.
Old Business
a. FY2007
Budget Presentation
Phil
Higgins passed out an updated budget with an amount of $10,582,838 to approve.
The budget is going from $1.95 to
almost $2.08 on the tax rate. We
are back to where we
were when Act 68 went into effect,
but with the CLA the rate comes in higher.
::
ACTION:
Dan
Harvey moved to approve the
budget as presented, seconded by Ron King.
Motion
passed unanimously.
5.
New Business
a.
Membership in Franklin West SU
In light of Phil Higgins announcement, changing supervisory unions was discussed. Phil gave a financial overview of how this would affect Georgia. There could potentially be an additional $36,000 cost to change. The main purpose would be to get better information from St. Albans. Dan Harvey noted for the record there should be no action and we should stay in the current supervisory union. A couple of commissioners said the time frame was too short to make such an important decision and the cost didn’t justify switching for better information. No action was taken and the item was removed from further discussion.
b. School Board Vacancies
There will be one three year and two one-year openings. Two of the commissioners are planning to run for one year.
c. Approve School Budget Warning
Phil passed out the school budget warning.
::
ACTION:
Dan
Harvey moved to approve the 2006 public warning as presented, seconded
by Alice Sturgeon.
Motion passed unanimously.
6.
Policies
a.
Transportation Policy
::
ACTION:
Ron
King
moved
to approve the transportation policy with changes, seconded by
Alice Sturgeon.
:: DISCUSSION: Dan Harvey noted there was a loophole in section D. Raised the issue around “or other roads” in this section. Dan would like to see some more discussion around this policy. Doug’s issue was how they could make an exception for this road. He was also concerned about the safety of the children as it relates to maintenance of the road. There was an incident of a Fairfax bus sliding off the road in that development. Alice recalled that on a past board the bus company requested driving through the development as it made more sense. She also suggested it be tabled for another week.
:: ACTION:
Ron King moved to approve the policy with changes, seconded by Dan
Harvey.
Motion denied
unanimously.
:: ACTION:
Ron King moved to table the policy, seconded by Alice Sturgeon.
Motion passed unanimously.
::
ACTION: Dan Harvey moved to accept the Health Insurance Portability
& Accountability Act Policy as presented, seconded by Alice Sturgeon.
Motion passed unanimously.
School Programs & Activities Policy as written, seconded by Dan Harvey. Motion passed unanimously.
:: No changes to date.
::
Doug Bergstrom commented there are no exceptions to the rule.
There was much discussion around whether there should be any gray area to
this policy. She recommended not
adding a gray area. It will be
discussed at the next meeting.
7.
Other
::
Doug received an email how the Town report should list the stipend for
the board. If you choose not to
take the stipend, you don’t get listed in the Town report.
This also goes for other people who choose to donate their stipend.
It was suggested that a side note could be done for those people who
declined payment.
:: Flora Hurteau distributed the principal’s report. She and Frank Calano gave an overview of the report.
8.
Upcoming Meetings
a.
Next Regular Meeting: January 17, 2006 at 6:00 PM, Georgia School Library
9.
Adjournment
::
ACTION: Dan Harvey moved to adjourn, seconded by Alice Sturgeon.
The motion was approved unanimously.