August 30, 2007 at Chow Bella
Board Present: Ron King,
Jennifer Petrie, Doug Bergstrom, Irene
Bonin (arrived at 4:30PM)
Administrators: Flora Hurteau, Frank Calano,
Armando Vilaseca, Adrienne Fisher
Others:
I. Call
to Order
The meeting was called to order at 4:15 PM
II. Public Comment – None.
III. Consent
Agenda
A. Minutes
ACTION: Motion by Ron King to approve the minutes of
the Regular Meeting on June 5, 2007 and Special Meeting on June 19, 2007, with
minor changes, Budget Status Report dated June 30, 2007 and hiring for the
health position and ELL position, seconded by Jennifer Petrie, approved
unanimously.
B. Requests for Tuition Waiver
ACTION: Motion by Jennifer Petrie to waive the
tuition fees through December for the Knight family, seconded by Ron King,
approved unanimously.
C. Leave of Absence Request
ACTION: Motion by Ron King to deny the leave of
absence request for Kathy Leach, seconded by Jennifer Petrie, approved
unanimously.
D. Principals’
Report – Frank Calano and Flora Hurteau handed out the Principals’ Report which
was an overview of completed projects such as window replacements, gym floor
for the “A” gym, security updates, etc.
The remaining projects are the softball, baseball, soccer fields and
building “C” heating and ventilation.
Flora Hurteau discussed the in-service professional development with
Karen Kurzman. The teachers completed
five days of in-service training. Frank
discussed Orientation for the 5th graders which took place on
8/27/07. Kindergarten students and
parents rode the bus, visited classrooms, met the principal, etc. on
8/28/07. Grade 1 and 2 classrooms held
individual open houses. Pre-school is
holding two open houses on 8/29 and 9/30.
There are two student teacher from Johnson State College this year. One in the art room and one in grade 4. School started this week for K-8 and
pre-school begins 9/4/07. There has
been two new hires. Mary Anderson as an
Administrative Assistant. Ray Johnson
has been hired as the Tuesday through Saturday maintenance/custodian.
IV. Old Business
A. Review
Playground Funding Protocols – Armando suggested that the project should have
been reviewed by the Facilities Committee.
Doug recognized that the funding may have been done out of the norm
because of time constraints, etc. There
will be some guidelines in place for future projects. All grades have been invited to use the new playground. The children are being trained how to use
the new structure.
B. Domestic
Partners – Armando circulated the law regarding Domestic Partners to be
discussed at a later date. The school
does not recognize it at this time.
V. New Business
A. New
School Board Vacancy – There have been three letters of interest for the
vacancy. Doug distributed them for
review. Armando distributed a memo
regarding the process of choosing a new school board member. Doug suggested that the interested parties
attend the next board meeting.
B. Appointments
for Joint School Board/Select Board Committees – Tabled until the vacant board
position is filled.
VI. Policies
A. Travel
Reimbursement Policy
ACTION: Motion by Ron King to approve
the Travel Reimbursement Policy with the change to specify Georgia, seconded by
Jennifer Petrie, approved unanimously.
B. Student Placement Policy -
Armando discussed the policy and his professional opinion that this should be a
building based decision, not the boards’.
Doug suggested that the board should be able to make the final decision.
ACTION:
Motion by Ron King to
table the Student Placement Policy, seconded by Doug Bergstrom, approved
unanimously.
VII. Executive Session
(Transportation, Negotiations)
VIII. Upcoming Meetings
A. Next Regular Meeting: September 4th at 6:30 PM, Georgia
School Library
B. FWSU
Quarterly Meeting: September 26th
at 7:00 PM, Fairfax Community Library
August 30, 2007 at Chow Bella
The
object of the Board Retreat is to establish goals for the upcoming year. The Board would like to discuss Budget
communication, administrator spending and governance control.
The
first topic discussed was communication with the Town of Georgia regarding the
school budget. Some ideas mentioned
were:
·
Jennifer Petrie
suggested using the emergency response chain
·
Frank Calano mentioned
the Alert Now system that St. Albans Town currently uses. This system notifies every parent at every
number provided simultaneously. The
cost would be approximately $7.00 per student.
·
PTA members should be
invited to attend early budget meetings to become familiar with the process.
·
Sending postcards to
the entire community to remind them to vote.
·
Ron King suggested
using the school buses to provide rides for voting.
·
Armando suggested that
we try to communicate with the Town at times other than budget time. Possibly by circulating a quarterly
newsletter to keep the Town abreast of the School Board’s progress.
·
A suggestion was made
to have a presentation when the seniors are having a luncheon at the school.
·
It would be helpful for
the voters to provide them with a list of what is required of schools now
compared to 10, 20 and 30 years ago.
The meeting ended and the additional topics are to be
discussed at the Regular Meeting on September 4, 2007.