October 2, 2007
Georgia School Library
Board Present: Ron King,
Jennifer Petrie, Doug Bergstrom, Casey
Hager, Irene Bonin
Administrators: Flora Hurteau, Frank Calano,
Armando Vilaseca
Others: Chris Sumner
I. Call
to Order
Executive Session was called to order at 5:45 PM
II. Anticipated
Executive Session
A. Negotiations
B. Student Issue
Executive
Session exited at 6:30 PM, no action taken.
III. Consent
Agenda
A. Minutes The minutes are not yet
available.
B. Reports Doug has added this section for comments from the various departments/committees.
a. Principals
Flora distributed a new breakdown of numbers of students for both the
elementary and middle schools. There
will be three fourth grade and four third grade teachers.
b. Superintendent
c. Business
Manager None.
d. Committee
ACTION: Motion by Ron King to accept the Consent
Agenda, seconded by Casey Hager, approved unanimously.
V. Old Business
A. Committee
Assignments: Facilities and
Transportation Committee Ron King and Jen Petrie; Tech, Health and Nutrition
Committee Irene Bonin and Casey Hager; Franklin West Supervisory Committee
Ron King, Jen Petrie and Doug Bergstrom; Negotiations Committee committee
dissolved until next year; Community Relations Committee Irene Bonin; Policy
Committee Irene Bonin and Casey Hager (Committee will review the policy
binder and update policies as needed); Town/School Relations Committee Casey
Hager; Emergency Planning Committee Ron King
B. Telephone
Response System Frank discussed the rapid response system. This is a communication system with many
capabilities. The school would look at
it for emergency purposes and/or school closings. It can deliver a message via e-mail, telephone, pagers, etc. It can reach 40,000 numbers at one
time. If the line is busy it will wait
30 seconds and retry 5 times. Each
student could have up to 5 numbers. It
costs $3/student or $2,100 for the school per year. It could be a great tool for communication between school and
parents. Title 4 money is available for
this system. Doug asked if the school
evacuation plan is public. Flora stated
that it is not public.
ACTION: Motion by Irene Bonin to start
the process for obtaining the Alert Now System, to be funded through Title 4,
seconded by Jen Petrie, approved unanimously.
VI. New Business
A. Transit
Network Gary Champey was present from Transit Network to discuss some needs
of the school. Gary stated that Transit
Network was getting calls from parents to pick up students and bring them to
and from school. Gary stated this was
not possible because they are funded by FTA.
Gary has a bus that with a lift which could transport disabled children
that he would be willing to sell to the school at a minimal price. If the bus route is fixed and open to the
public it would not pose a problem for Transit Network. Transit Networks hourly rate is
$56/hour. Gary suggested CIDER
transportation which falls under E&D and Medicaid and is not involved with
the FTA.
B. School
Board Meeting Last year it was decided to go to one meeting per month. Doug stated that he does not feel that the
Board is not fulfilling its obligation.
He stated that he thought it was more successful when there were two
meetings, one working meeting, one decision-making meeting. Armando passed out copies of the past years
agendas to show that during some meetings there was not a lot of items. Armando distributed a hand out stating the
law and the roles of boards.
ACTION: Motion by Ron King to have two
board meetings a month, the first and third Tuesday of each month, seconded by
Casey Hager, approved unanimously.
C. Supervisory
Union Change The topic of changing supervisory unions has been
discussed. There have been studies done
regarding changing supervisory unions.
Doug would like to get the process started. Armando suggested hiring an outside person to do the leg work of
changing supervisory unions. Armando
will look for a couple of names to give to the Board at the next meeting.
D. Parent/Teacher
Communication Doug brought up the K12 Planet system that BFA-St. Albans
uses. The website provides students and
parents each students grades, homework assignments, etc. Doug spoke to Power School which does
websites like K12 Planet. Power School
would replace the A+ system that is currently in place. Doug would like to find out prices, etc. for
presentation at budget time.
E. Budget
Timeline Armando distributed a draft budget timeline. There will be a community input night on
Tuesday, October 16th at 7 PM in the Georgia School Library. A postcard will be sent out to the
community. The community school
volunteer spoke with Flora and they noted that they were going to make phone
calls to remind people to vote. There
will be a voter registration night. The
owner of the Georgia Market has ordered a sign for the front of his store and
he has stated that one side can be used for community events. Flora contacted Terricel about using magnet
signs for the buses to remind people to vote and they agreed to it.
VII. Policies
A. Employment
of 12-Month Personnel Policy 1st Reading The Board discussed
some changes regarding vacation time.
VIII. Other BFA St. Albans
had sent a handout regarding ads in their year book. The Board agreed to do a half page ad for $125. Flora mentioned the music teacher receiving
a grant from the North Country Federal Credit Union to purchase chimes. Jackie Curley, reading specialist, recently
received a grant from North Country Federal Credit Union to purchase supplies.
IX. Upcoming Meetings
A. FWSU
Quarterly Meeting: October 3rd
at 7:00 PM, Fairfax Community Library
B. Next Regular Meeting: October 16th at 6:00 PM, Georgia
School Library