Exeter Region Cooperative School Board Meeting Minutes
June 3, 2004
SST Culinary Arts Dining Room
5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MEMBERS PRESENT: Kim Casey, Patty Lovejoy, Ralph Adler, Robin Scott, Lucy Cushman, Linda Henderson, Roy Morrisette and Greg Kann
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ray Trueman
ADMINISTRATION: Arthur Hanson, Jerry Frew, Walter Pierce, Nathan Lunney, Gary Heald, Peter Stackhouse and
Tom O’Malley
1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Chair Casey called the meeting to order at 5:03 PM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC INPUT: None at this time.
3. CHAIR’S REPORT
3.1 Introduction of the Meeting: Kim explained a “Board Agreement” that she received at the NH School Boards’ Association.
Board Agreement: 1) The board will focus on the primary work of the board, which is to clarify district purpose, direction and goals. 2) As trustee for the community, the board is committed to an on-going, two-way conversation with constituents about their aspirations for the education of the district’s students. 3) The board has one employee – the superintendent. The board and superintendent work together to fulfill their mutually complementary roles. Trust combined with open and honest communication is our intent. The board does not provide direction or oversight of other school district staff. 4) The board expects the staff to develop the means to accomplish district goals. Respecting the staff’s role and obligation to determine means, the board will refrain from doing staff work and will not second-guess staff decisions. 5) As the board establishes goals, it assures that there is agreement on how the goals will be measured. The board determines the kinds of date it needs to monitor progress toward goals and compliance with its written policies. 6) The board commits itself individually and collectively to stand by its code of conduct, to “speak with one voice,” to maintain a positive culture and orderly decision-making processes, and to do it work openly.
4. Superintendent/Administration Report
4.1 2003 – 2004 Goals: Skip, Peter, Gary and Tom reviewed the 2003-2004 ERCSD Goals.
If the infusion level of technology is 20%, the question was asked if 50% infusion as a goal for next year would be realistic. Discussion followed that every teacher should be using email and checking their email each day. Weighted grades have been looked at by EHS and Peter reported on the findings to date. Board suggested that before the school looks at whether or not they want to do away with the weighted grades, that it is important to get community input and to share the information the school has received from colleges on how they view weighed grades before any decision is made. This data will be presented to the PP&C Committee for their review. Jerry handed out a sheet showing the various assessments being done across all the grade levels (see Attachment #1).
5. Goal Training 101 – Greg Kann: Greg reviewed his handout on “Make Success Measurable” that explained how to set goals.
6. Committee Assignments and Election of Committee Chairs for 2004 – 2005 – Kimberly Casey: Sally read the present committee lists and members chose the committees they would like to serve on:
Curriculum and Philosophy – Linda, Kim, Roy, Ralph and Robin; Facilities – Lucy, Kim Patty, Roy and Ray; Finance – Patty, Greg and Ray; PP&C – Greg, Linda, Robin and Ralph; Linden Street Re-Use – Linda; SAU Bus Safety/Transportation Committee – Patty; SST – Linda and Kim; SAU Policy – Patty; and NCLB – Roy and Linda.
7. Break – 15 minutes: The break ended at 7:10 PM. Walter spoke to his recent meeting with the church regarding the Pickard property. He is looking for a subcommittee to assist him reviewing the various issues and pros and cons and to be a sounding board. It was decided that Greg, Patty and Lucy will work on this with Skip and Walter.
8. Identify Challenges for 2004 – 2005 – Board & AdministratioN: Suggested Topics for Goals 2004-2005: Assessment; Differentiated Instruction; Freshman Transition; Communications (PTO, Parent Nights, Math Nights, etc); Data Driven Decision Making; Reading & Writing Across All Content Areas; Curriculum Alignment. Discussion of the importance of communication came up – inclusion of more community; staff/teachers; more visioning sessions; not losing the parents that have always supported us; need to have a rubric where we can articulate our goals; CMS does not have parent conferences; need to be better at communicating realistically how good our schools are – administrators get put in defensive positions; guidance at EHS has a brochure that shows SAT scores, etc. but how do we pull it together as a forum not only as the Coop but as an SAU; goal to create a structure to ensure we are always on top of our initiatives and to be able to address public questions/concerns. Each board member was then asked to voice goals they would like to see for 2004-2005.
Robin: educating the public on differentiated instruction – what is it; how are you going to make it work and how do we prove to everyone it is working; make sure assessments are common and that everyone is doing it the right way so the data reflected in it is true; how are you going to get feedback; teacher able to communicate this to the parents; making sure parents understand the system and that we do not have loopholes in the system.
Ralph: if what we are going to do at CMS is going to work, then make sure we share with parents how it is going to happen; if the direction we are taking at CMS is not going to work then we need to explain to parents how we will change it; looking at foreign language as an SAU initiative (beginning the same language in all SAU elementary schools).
Patty: commonality in the pods at the middle school (curriculum is the same; homework; give same tests, etc.) which does not seem to be happening now; also see commonality at EHS; and the curbing our drop out rate.
Linda: long term goal to be reported back to us next year is that we take a hard look at our expectations for EHS students such as prepare every student for post secondary education – 4 year math; 4 year science requirement; raise our expectations for all students; have AP classes; not offering any non-college prep classes except maybe photography, etc.; when 10th graders are about to slip, pull them out and do intensive instruction and monitoring and then put them back to insure they graduate – take the responsibility away from the parent, but if when they graduate and want to go to NH Tech College they can; let students know we expect them to do the work and see the opportunities that exist for all of them; more emphasis on the math and sciences; increasing assessment test scores; numbers of students taking the SATs; discussion about grades and what do they mean; Coop board, given the feedback from the summit, would ask the chairs to form a committee that would study having a K-6 common foreign language.
Lucy: facilities issues – middle school and expansion needs; CMS curriculum and what we are offering is it the most appropriate and best use of the space that we have; need to concentrate on core issues; need to do the same thing at EHS and look at the curriculum; look at what we are teaching and make sure we are teaching what we want in the best way we can for students; best use of space and resources – establish instructional priorities;
Greg: possibly look at ethics as a school district/board.
Roy: drugs and alcohol – community perception that we have different rules for different students; raise community awareness.
Kim: to create a 21st century high school that will be housed at the new building using best practices – smaller learning communities, schools within schools; Ralph agreed that it was not too soon to be thinking what that school could look like; community input for educational goals for that new building; parent teacher conferences at CMS; goals/accomplishments of the board/administration over the last 5 years and level of work and the assessment, and committee work; etc.
9. Develop Outcome Goals – ERCSD Committees: Skip will take this list from the board and with Kim will place the goals in the appropriate committees and bring to the June 15th board meeting for further review and discussion.
10. Report From ERCSD Committees – Committee Chairs: None.
11. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: None
12. ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Linda Henderson, seconded by Ralph Adler and unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:03 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Boyd
Secretary