Georgia Elementary & Middle School

Georgia, VT

March 16, 2004

These minutes are not approved until accepted by the School Directors at their next meeting.

Present

Georgia Board Members: Doug Bergstrom, Chair; Alice Sturgeon, Ron King, & Dan Harvey

Administrators: Phil Higgins, Superintendent; David Young, Elementary School Principal; Frank Calano, Middle School Principal; & Chris Sumner, Business Manager

Channel 16 Technician: Matt Wohl

Transcriptionist: Candy Granger

1. Doug Bergstrom called the School Board Meeting to order at 6:04pm.

2. Approve Minutes:

March 9^th - Re-Organizational Meeting:

Alice Sturgeon made a motion to approve the March 9^th Re-Organizational Meeting Minutes. Dan Harvey seconded. Motion passed, unanimously.

3. Review Correspondence:

There was no Correspondence.

4. Public Comments:

There were no Public Comments.

5. Reports:

Principals’ Report:

David:

- Early Education Presentation will happen at a later date

- New Standards Reference Exams to be completed soon in Fourth Grade in Math and Language Arts

- Ellie Bilodeau Fund presentation took place today. Ellie was a long time paraeducator. All of her family was here today. There were 25 books awarded to students and a duplicate book was left for the library.

- Proposed Kindergarten count still at about 55 at this time

Frank:

- Marking period ended on Friday, so just 1 marking period left

- Conferences start soon

- NSRE was given to 8^th graders already

- The PASS Exams will be given soon

- In April will be the last round of testing in Science

- On Monday, the 1^st Nutritional meeting took place

Financial Report – Chris:

- At this point we look to be about $35,000 over budget.

Superintendent Report – Phil:

- Paraeducators Negotiations at 4pm on March 23^rd

- Franklin West Meeting is now March 31^st

- Meeting with the communications committee next Tuesday night

- There won’t be a FY’05 Calendar to approve at this time.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Student Issue at 6:30pm.

6. Executive Session:

Exited Executive Session at 7:00pm.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Personnel Issue at 7:00pm.

Exited Executive Session at 8:05pm.

No Action Taken.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Student Issue at 8:10pm

Exited Executive Session at 8:25pm.

Action: Dan Harvey moves to accept recommendation from John Rowell on fund expenditures for Special Education and 504 students.

Seconded by Alice Sturgeon.

Unanimously Accepted.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Personnel Issue at 8:26pm

Exited Executive Session at 8:45pm.

Action: Ron King moved to advertise and permanently fill an open para-professional position after evaluating in house coverage possibilities.

Seconded by Dan Harvey.

Unanimously Approved.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Personnel Issue at 8:47pm

Exited Executive Session at 9:20pm.

Action: Alice Sturgeon moved to give the Superintendent permission to move forward with consolidation of Business Services in the Supervisory Union. The final plan will need approval from the Georgia Board.

Seconded by Dan Harvey.

Unanimously Approved.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Student Issue at 9:22pm

Exited Executive Session at 9:45pm.

Action: Ron King moved to support the Administrators disciplinary recommendation for an elementary male student with a review on Monday the 22^nd of March to determine if student is able to return to class. Student is to be off the bus and have backpack and pockets checked daily.

Seconded by Dan Harvey.

Unanimously Approved.

Entered Executive Session to discuss a Personnel Issue at 9:50pm

Exited Executive Session at 10:40pm.

Action: Dan Harvey moved to support the Administrators decisions at steps 1 and 2 of the grievance procedure in reference to the grievance presented by the Georgia Education Association.

Seconded by Alice Sturgeon.

Motion passed, 3 voted supporting motion and Ron King abstained.

Dan Harvey moved to adjourn meeting at 10:45pm.

Unanimously Approved.