Tuesday, August 9, 2005 – 7:00 PM
CMS Library
PRESENT: Patty Lovejoy, Robin Scott, Lucy Cushman, Kim Casey,
Greg Kann, Roy Morrisette,
Sally Oxnard and Kris Magnusson
ABSENT: Ray Trueman
ADMINISTRATION: Arthur Hanson, Nathan Lunney and Richard Wendell
1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Chair Lovejoy called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: Deferred until the end of the meeting.
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC INPUT: Ida Keir from Exeter read a letter regarding the top ten students at EHS and unweighted grades (see Attachment #1-pdf). Chair Lovejoy thanked her for her comments and noted the matter would be referred to the Curriculum and Philosophy Committee.
4. CHAIR’S REPORT
4.1 Issue Committee Meeting Dates: Chair issued and explained the dates and asked the board members to notify Sally if there are any corrections that need to be made.
4.2 School Board Retreat: Chair Lovejoy gave an overview of the retreat held on July 30, 2005. Points that were highlighted:
· Linden Street Re-Use Committee Report
· Squamscott Community Commons Presentation
· EHS Transition Committee: Chair appointed board members Robin Scott and Roy Morrisette to represent the board.
· Update on Seniors Attending Post Secondary Education
· Goals Developed by the Committee – to be finalized at the ERCSD October 2006 board meeting
· Teacher Negotiations – to commence on August 11, 2006
· New Hampshire Board of Education’s Changes in the NHDOE Minimum Standards
5. SUPERINTENDENT/ADMINISTRATION REPORT
5.1 Maintenance Projects – Dick Wendell: Dick Wendell, Director of Operations gave an overview of what the maintenance and custodial crews have accomplished this summer. He also announced that Al Dean, custodian at CMS, is retiring effective August 12, 2005. Dick lauded the excellent work and public relations that Al has brought to the job. He also announced that Jeanne Pierce has been hired as the new ERCSD Food Director effective August 15, 2005 for filling the vacancy left by Audrey Eastman.
5.2 Administrative Retreat: The superintendent gave an overview of the Administrative Retreat that will take place on August 16th and 17th with the concentration being on Data Strategies.
5.3
Principals’ Reports: Both principals were at the HOPE Institute and the
superintendent reviewed the
July 20, 2005 letter regarding the five year progress report of Exeter High School
from NEASC, Inc. The NEASC Commission voted to continue the school’s
accreditation while the school remains on warning status until all concerns
with the school’s facilities have been satisfactorily resolved. The commission
commended EHS for mitigating facility issues during the on-going building
project. Some of the issues that were addressed include: increasing the print
holdings in the library; clearly delineating expectations for student learning;
for developing rubrics in order to define academic expectations and to measure
the level of student achievement; and the creation of grades 6-12 curriculum
coordinator, technology coordinator and school improvement facilitator.
5.4 Nominations and Resignations: On a motion by Greg Kann, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted to approve the professional staff as presented in the packet (see Attachment #2). On a motion by Greg Kann, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted to approve the nominations and resignations list as presented in the board packet (see Attachment #3).
6. COMMITTEE REPORTS
6.1 Personnel, Policy and Communication: No meeting.
6.2 Facilities: Chair Cushman handed out the committee’s minutes from their August 2, 2005 meeting, discussed the committee’s goals that continue to be worked on and spoke about the Linden Street recommendation and bringing this recommendation in some form to the voters. All board members felt that the Squamscott Community Commons presents a terrific opportunity for all six SAU communities and Kris Magnusson made the point that it has to be an “open competitive process” for this site. Chair Cushman thanked Dick Wendell and his crew for the outstanding maintenance job, particularly how well the Cooperative Middle School looks after seven years of use.
6.3 Curriculum and Philosophy: Chair Lovejoy reported that the committee informally met with several Adult Education graduates to find out some of the reasons why they dropped out of their high schools. The students mentioned that they believe that schools need more counselors, more personalization, and that many students in their situations have a lot of anxieties about their schools.
6.4 Finance: No meeting.
6.5 Technology: No meeting.
6.6 Transportation: This committee has not met, but Nathan related to the board how First Student, Nat Perry and he have been looking at various bus routes throughout the SAU to try and make them more efficient. He thought we might be able to shorten the bus rides in East Kingston and that the 2005-06 bus routes will be posted on the Website beginning the week of August 15th and will also be in the Exeter News Letter and the Foster’s Daily Democrat. Additionally, he mentioned that the Seacoast Learning Collaborative will assume the transportation needs for students needs SPED transportation and that on August 26, 2005, the 6th and 9th grade orientations will be a half day only. The buses that day will transfer the students to orientation.
6.7 SAU Chairs: No meeting.
6.8 SST: Chair Lovejoy noted there needed to be a motion to appoint Kim Casey as the board representative to SST Governance. Motion by Robin Scott, seconded by Lucy Cushman and unanimously board voted to have Kim Casey as the board representative to the SST Governance Board.
6.9 NCLB Committee: No meeting.
6.10 Great Bay eLearning Charter School: No meeting.
6.11 SAU Policy Committee: Motion by Greg Kann, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted to approve the following policies: BDD & BDD-R – Board-Superintendent Relationship; BGF – Suspension of Policies; BIA – New Board Member Orientation; DH – Bonded Employees; IC – School Year; ICA – School Calendar; IKA – Grading System; JFABB & JFABB-R – Foreign Exchange Students; JIH & JIH-R – Student Searches; and JJF – Student Activities Fund Management. Patty also mentioned that the new education minimum standards will require some significant policy changes and the SAU Policy Committee will be quite active again.
7. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
7.1 June 14, 2005 – Board Meeting: Motion by Kris Magnusson, seconded by Sally Oxnard and unanimously voted to approve the minutes of June 14, 2005.
7.2 July 24, 2005 – Special Public and Non-Public Meeting: Kris Magnusson requested that the July 24, 2005 public and non public meeting minutes be deferred for further discussion.
7.3 July 30, 2005 – Board Retreat and Non-Public Meeting: Motion by Kris Magnusson, seconded by Sally Oxnard and unanimously voted to approve the minutes of July 30, 2005.
8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: At 8:10 PM on a motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Roy Morrisette and unanimously voted by roll call vote, the board entered into non-public session under RSA 91A: 3II, c.
The board returned from non-public session. On a motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Robin Scott and board voted 7-1 (Magnusson) to approve the July 24, 2005 public and non-public minutes.
9. ADJOURNMENT: On a motion by Roy Morrisette, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted to adjourn at 8:23 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Arthur L. Hanson
Superintendent of Schools