Georgia Elementary & Middle School

Georgia, VT

April 6, 2004

 

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

 

Present

Georgia Board Members:  Doug Bergstrom, Chair;  Chris Mitiguy, Clerk;   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 6:11pm.

 

2.      Executive Session – Personnel:

This item will be reviewed at the end of the meeting with the other Executive Session items.

 

Chris Mitiguy informed Phil Higgins that Executive Session items couldn’t be scheduled on the agenda.  They can be listed as “Executive Session – If Necessary”. 

 

3.      Approve Minutes: 

  1. Special Budget Meeting – January 15th:

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the January 15th Special Budget Meeting Minutes.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

  1. Regular Meeting – February 3rd:

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the February 3rd Regular Meeting Minutes.   Motion passed, unanimously.

 

  1. Special Meeting (Executive Session) – March 1st:

Dan Harvey made a motion to approve the March 1st Special Meeting Minutes.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

  1. Regular Meeting – March 16th:

Dan Harvey made a motion to approve the March 16th Regular Meeting Minutes.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

  1. Special Meeting – March 23rd:

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the March 23rd Special Meeting Minutes with 2 corrections as noted.  Dan Harvey seconded.   Motion passed, unanimously.

 

Sue Tougas, Joyce Alspach, Linda Rowell, Diane Schook, Pat Chamberlain, & Rachel Fightlin arrived at 6:15pm.

 

4.      Review Correspondence:

Doug Bergstrom:

-          A letter from Sue Kreps informing the Board of her retirement at the end of this School Year

-          Board Members’ informational meeting on April 26th at the Hampton Inn in Colchester.   Both Alice Sturgeon and Doug Bergstrom plan on attending.

 

Chris Sumner:

-          Gave the Board a request from the Abbey to increase milk prices

-          Letter from the State of Vermont, stating that we did not get the Hot Lunch Equipment Grant

 

Phil Higgins:

-          Has some Teacher items to discuss later

 

5.      Public Comments:

There were no Public Comments.     

 

(skipped to)

7.       New Business:

A.     Early Education Presentation:

Rachel Fightlin:

-          Reviewed GEMS’ Umbrella of Services for Preschool, Kindergarten, etc.

 

            Pat Chamberlain:

-          Reviewed the current preschool programs

 

Linda Rowell:

-          Informed the Board of the number of children in Kindergarten and the

number of sessions

 

            Diane Schook:

-          Reviewed the Provisions of Senate Bill 166, such as increased hours of attendance

 

Pat Chamberlain:

-          Reviewed the Senate Bill 166 Impact on Preschool, such as increased personnel due to the requirement of increased attendance hours

 

Linda Rowell:

-          Reviewed the impact on Kindergarten.  The staffing for Kindergarten would need to double and so would the classroom space.

 

      Pat Chamberlain informed the Board that GEMS is in the process of becoming a

National Accredited Preschool Program which would ultimately create more

options for grant funding.

 

Rachel Fightlin gave each Board Member a copy of Senate Bill 166 information.

 

Sue Tougas, Joyce Alspach, Linda Rowell, Diane Schook, Pat Chamberlain, & Rachel Fightlin departed at 7:20pm.

 

(returned to)

6.      Reports:

  1. Principals’ Report:

Frank:

-          Governor’s fit and daylight savings challenge is in progress, to promote fitness and healthy eating

-          The Governor is coming on Thursday to see what is happening here at GEMS

-          Will be reviewing resumes for the open 5/6 Teaching position on Thursday

-          Hot Lunch Committee met on Monday.  Hot lunch bids will be going out soon.  The Committee will be meeting again on Monday, April 26th.

-          Stanford Tests occurring in Grades 5th, 6th, & 7th

-          Recognition assembly taking place on Thursday

-          Commissioner Cate was here last Thursday and visited with the enrichment group to learn more about that program.

 

David:

-          Informed the Board of Shawn Allard’s fitness challenge that he has been doing since the start of school

-          Conferences have ended, we had a high percentage of parents attending

-          Busing drop-offs at the School is still a problem.  They are working on fixing this problem, but probably won’t have a new solution until next school year.

-          Joan Nye has been doing a lot of work on the idea of an all day Kindergarten.  And she will come and present her findings to the Board.  This is part of her Master’s Program.

-          Stat 9 Testing will be coming up soon for Grades 3,5,6, and 7

-          There was a power outage on Tuesday due to a dump truck hitting the power line.  Some of our electric motors were damaged in the building.  Tod Granger is looking into fixing them and coming up with a solution so this will not happen again.

-          Amy Rider was recognized by Channel 5 as a 5 Star Teacher.

 

  1. Superintendent Report – Phil:

-          All contracts have been returned.  Phil asked the Board for their wishes for contracts that weren’t returned on time for next year.  Ron King made a motion to inform the Teachers that unless an extension has been requested and granted prior to the contract deadline due date, any positions that did have the contracts returned, will be considered open.  Alice Sturgeon seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously. 

-          GEMS is entitled to approximately $20,000 to $25,000 from the FWSU surplus, which the GEMS School Board can elect to receive either this fiscal year or next fiscal year.  Chris Mitiguy made a motion to accept these funds from FWSU this fiscal year.  Dan Harvey seconded.   Motion passed,  unanimously.

-          The communication team got information back to strategic planning committee when they met last week.  The board made some changes to the questionnaire going out.

-          Strategic planning committee will summarize this with the Board and they would like to do whatever they can to help the Board.  They will come and present, and get action from Board on what they can do to help.

-          The Board agreed to move the next Board Meeting to April 27th since April 20th falls during School vacation.

-          Reviewed information about the Resource Director from VT School Boards

 

  1. Board Reports:

There were no Board Reports.

 

  1. Building & Grounds Committee:

Ron King informed the Board that there is approximately $10,000 left over from this year from the approved sprinkler work.  Due to School being in session, the sprinkler work can’t be completed until School is out for the summer.   He suggested using the $10,000 to do the air conditioning work in the computer lab in this Fiscal Year.  So we would swap projects for the fiscal years, since the funds are available.

    

Ron King recommends purchasing one air conditioning unit and to try to channel the warm air into the hallway and spend $100 to purchase floor tiles for replacement in the kitchen.   They also would like to look into different options instead of tile for the flooring such as a poured floor.

     

Alice Sturgeon made a motion to purchase one air conditioning unit suggested by Tod Granger and to have Advanced Systems do the installation, with the total cost not to exceed $11,000.  Dan Harvey seconded.   Motion failed, unanimously.

 

Ron King made a motion to purchase one air conditioning unit suggested by Tod Granger with the total cost not to exceed $11,000.  Dan Harvey seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously. 

 

Dan Harvey would like to thank Ron King for all his hard work and knowledge regarding the air conditioning project for the computer lab. 

 

The Board would like to have the building tour that Tod Granger offered, to be put on an upcoming Board agenda.   

 

7.      New Business:

B.     School Calendar 2004-2005 – ACTION:

Ron King made a motion to approve the 2004-2005 School Calendar.  Dan Harvey seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously. 

 

C.     Assessment Overview:

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to table the Assessment Overview until the next Board meeting.   Dan Harvey seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

D.     Business Services Restructuring – ACTION:

Dan Harvey made a motion to approve the Business Services Restructuring.  Chris Mitiguy seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

Chris Sumner also asked to have her salary and work hours reduced to approximately a 60% employee instead of the 75% employee that she is now.  Due to the budget being frozen, she is not quite as busy as during a usual year.  The Board agreed.  Chris Mitiguy also thanked Chris Sumner for bringing this to the Board’s attention.

 

8.      Policy Review:

A.     Resignations Policy – ACTION:

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the Resignations Policy.   Alice Sturgeon seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

B.     Student Publications Policy – ACTION:

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the Student Publications Policy.  Dan Harvey seconded.   Motion passed, unanimously. 

 

C.     Interscholastic Sports Policy – 2nd Reading:

This policy was read for the 2nd time.

 

D.     Public Solicitation/Advertising in School Policy – 2nd Reading:

This policy was read for the 2nd time.

           

E.      Student Activities Policy (Secondary) – 1st Reading:

 This policy was read for the 1st time.

         

9.      Other:

Ron King made a motion to increase the milk prices from $.35 to $.40 beginning after April vacation and to re-evaluate at the beginning of the school year.   Dan Harvey seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

Alice Sturgeon:

-          Thanked all the people who are using both sides of the paper

-          Would like some way of registering high school students at town clerk’s office to make sure that we’re aware of GEMS Students  that we will need to pay tuition for

-          Wished for a state wide calendar

-          Consider selective grant writing, so once grants are used up, schools don’t need to absorb the cost to continue funding

-          Suggested for something to be done for Sue Kreps since she is retiring

-          Suggested sending letters to Teresa Stebbins, Ken Minck, and Richard Benoit for their work on the School Board

 

The Board would like a meet and greet with all of the GEMS staff on Tuesday, May 25th at 3:30pm in the GEMS library.  The School Board Members will take care of the snacks and refreshments.

 

Ron King made a motion to not grant a second extension for the SLP contract.  Chris Mitiguy seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.  The Board agreed to advertise an anticipated SLP position opening.

 

The Board verified that no disability deductions were to be processed by the Business Office.

 

Chris Sumner informed the Board that there needs to be a reduction in force of 1.5 paraeducators due to compensatory education services.

          

10.  Confirm Meeting Dates:

  1. Regular Board Meeting – April 27, 2004 @ 6pm in GEMS Library

 

11.  Executive Session – Administrative Contracts/Personnel:

 

Dan Harvey made a motion to enter Executive Session at 9:45pm.   Alice Sturgeon seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

Exited Executive Session at 9:55pm.

Action:   Dan Harvey moved to terminate Leona Brown’s employment effective immediately.  Chris Mitiguy seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to enter Executive Session at 9:55pm.   Alice Sturgeon seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

Exited Executive Session at 9:55pm.

Action:   Ron King moved a 1.5-day unpaid leave to Deb Bovie to attend a family matter.  Dan Harvey seconded.   Motion passed, unanimously.

 

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to enter Executive Session at 10:05pm.   Alice Sturgeon seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

Exited Executive Session at 10:05pm.

Action:   Ron King made a motion to provide 3 hours of tutoring per day to a MS male student with further considerations made at the next Board meeting in regards to the student evaluation.  Dan Harvey seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

 

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to enter Executive Session at 10:20pm.   Alice Sturgeon seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

Exited Executive Session at 10:45pm.

Action:   Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the Side letter of agreement to the Georgia Education Association correcting the clerical errors in the final document.  Ron King seconded.   Vote in favor of motion with 2 abstentions, Dan Harvey and Alice Sturgeon recused themselves from discussion and voting. 

 

Doug Bergstrom adjourned the School Board Meeting at 10:46pm.