Georgia Elementary & Middle School

Georgia, VT

September 2, 2003

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

 Present

Georgia Board Members:  Ken Minck, Ron Hesson, Teresa Stebbins, Chris Mitiguy, & Doug Bergstrom

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

 Channel 16 Technician:  Kiffany Francis

Transcriptionist:  Candy Granger

 1.      Ken Minck called the School Board Meeting to order at 6:06 pm.

 2.      Approve Minutes:  August 19, 2003

Chris Mitiguy made a motion to approve the August 19, 2003 Regular School Board Meeting Minutes with 2 corrections.  Teresa Stebbins seconded.  Motion passed, unanimously.

3.      Review Correspondence:

There was no correspondence.

4.      Public Comments:

There were no public comments.

5.      Reports – Administrative:

  1. Principals’ Reports:

David:

-          September 25th at 5:45 – 6:30 pm open house for Elementary School

-          Preschool orientation tomorrow

-          September 18th at 5:45 – 7:30 pm open house for Middle School

-          Some bus routes have changed due to a large amount of Students in Grade 4 moving to Grade 5.   We did not communicate the changes and should develop a better way in the future. 

-          Teachers are working hard and seem to be off to a positive start.  Now feeding 4 classrooms in the bottom of lower B, this frees up some space in the cafeteria.  It seems to be helping. 

-          Everything in the Building is still going great, thanks to Tod Granger’s attention and his staff.

  1. Financial Report – Chris:

-          The Financial Report is done at the second Board Meeting of the month. 

  1. Superintendent’s Report – Phil:

-          Inservice kick off last Monday in Fairfax

-          Gina Meigs is now working in the Superintendent’s Office 4 days/week and Su Sawyer has reduced her hours to 4 days/week.  Gina is doing wonderful, please stop in and say hello to her.

-          September 24th is FW Board Meeting @ 7pm

-          Everyday Math Program is going well

  1. Board Reports:

There were no Board reports.

6.      Old Business:

A.     Restrictive Behavioral Intervention Policy–1st Reading:

This is the first reading of this Policy.

B.     Review Letter on Harrison Development:

The Board made some changes specifying that the Milton road maybe used as a turnaround.   The Board asked Phil to send the letter to the Harrison Development once these changes are made.

C.     Bus Liability Issue:

Chris Sumner will contact our Insurance Company regarding what the costs would be to the GEMS insurance policy if our bus company only had $5 million liability insurance.

 

Teresa Stebbins contacted St. Albans School; they require the bus contractor to maintain $5 million in coverage; then the school’s umbrella would kick in.           

Frank Calano arrived at 6:32pm.

D.     School Treasurer Update:

Phil Higgins thinks that the Town Treasurer needs to be a Georgia resident as far as he could tell.  The full Town must vote for a School Treasurer other than the Town Treasurer.

E.      Sprinkler System Update:

David Young spoke with Chris Boyd at the State of Vermont and informed him that a letter would be coming with the bid that the Buildings and Grounds committee chose.

7.      New Business:

  1. Budget Timeline:

Chris Sumner handed out information from herself and Adrienne regarding the outcome of the Special Education zero based budget meetings.  She also distributed the prior year’s budget process.  Teresa Stebbins brought up the fact that both Teacher and Paraeducator negotiations should start up soon to help determine salaries for FY’05.  There was much discussion regarding the amount of time that it will take to do a zero based budget for each function and the information that comes out of the meetings.  It will be a Board decision to change any programs once the Budget Committee informs the Board of its findings.   Chris Sumner suggested to review Regular Education (1100) next, and if time permits some of the smaller functions maybe be reviewed as well.  Phil Higgins suggested to have the Budget Committee update the School Board at the Board Meeting throughout the zero based budget process.  Chris Sumner suggested that the Board decide by the next Board meeting if they want to do a bulk mailing or personal invites for the community forum typically held in October.

  1. Channel 16 – Appoint Representative:

Eric Hadd has volunteered to be the Channel 16 School Representative.  Teresa Stebbins made a motion to appoint Eric Hadd as the Channel 16 School Representative.  Motion passed, unanimously.  

Frank Calano’s Report:

-          Conferences are October 6th-10th

-          Teachers thought that the beginning of the year transition went very well

8.      Confirm Meeting Dates:

  1. Re-Scheduled Board Retreat  - September 9, 2003 @ 6pm in GEMS Library
  2. Regular Board Meeting – September 16, 2003 @ 6pm in GEMS Library
  3. FWSU Board Meeting – September 24, 2003 @ 7pm in GEMS Library

9.      Executive Session - if needed:

There were no Executive Session items.

Ken Minck adjourned the Meeting at 7:25 pm.