Tuesday, March 21, 2006 – 7:00 PM
CMS Library
PRESENT: Greg
Kann, Patty Lovejoy, Robin Scott, Kim Casey, Lucy Cushman
Sally Oxnard, Hannah Caporello and Brad Kelly
ABSENT: Townley Chisholm, Ray Trueman and Kris Magnusson
ADMINISTRATION: Arthur Hanson, Nathan Lunney, Richard Wendell, Tom O’Malley
and Victor Sokul
1. CALL TO ORDER: Since this is the organizational meeting the Superintendent opened the meeting at 7:02 PM and reading ERCSD Policy BDA (The School Board shall organize annually at its first meeting following the adjournment of the annual District meeting. Every member shall be notified of the meeting for organization, in accord with RSA 91-A:2. This meeting shall be called to order by the Superintendent or designee, who shall preside during and until the election of a chairperson.) followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC INPUT: None
3. OATHS OF OFFICE, ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR: Superintendent explained that ERCSD Moderator Charles Tucker was present to swear in re-elected board member Patty Lovejoy. He further noted Ray Trueman and Townley Chisholm were not present this evening to be sworn in. The superintendent then asked for nominations for chair. Motion by Lucy Cushman with a second by Kim Casey to nominate Greg Kann as chair. Superintendent asked for other nominations and since there were none, Lucy spoke to her nomination of Greg as chair explaining prior conversations she had with Robin who was vice chair and Greg regarding if he was interested in being nominated. Board voted unanimously 6-0 in favor of Greg as chair. The superintendent turned the meeting over to Greg who thanked the board for their vote and asked for nominations for vice chair. Motion by Patty Lovejoy with a second by Kim Casey to nominate Lucy Cushman as vice chair. Greg asked if there were any other nominations and since there were not, he noted that he felt Lucy was an excellent choice and called for a vote: unanimous vote 6-0 in favor of Lucy Cushman as vice chair.
4. CHAIR’S REPORT
4.1 March 14, 2006 Voting Results: Greg reported that all warrant articles supported by the board passed and that we had a turnover in board personnel with Townley Chisholm as a new board member representing Exeter. Greg then spoke about losing Roy Morrisette as a board member who will definitely be missed and he hopes to see him again on the board. Roy served on the Exeter and Coop boards for a total of 28 years. Lucy shared background information on how she and Roy initially began working together when the Cooperative Board was founded in July 1997 and how she came to develop a very great and respected working relationship with Roy even though their beginnings were controversial. She would also hope this board through its latest controversies, can also come to have a good working relationship. Sally spoke that she has had the most contact with Roy on a board and appreciates all his efforts. Brad Kelly and Hannah Caporello also spoke to Roy’s long term commitment with EHS student senate and explained that because they can have a community member as part of the senate, he will be asked to continue to come to their meetings. Kim additionally added that given Roy’s 28 years as a board member, he has been a wonderful resource for the board and will greatly be missed.
4.2 Appointment to ERCSD Committees: Greg explained that for now Townley will be on the same committees Roy was on – Curriculum and Philosophy and Finance and Patty will take Greg’s place on the Finance and PP&C Committees. Sally Boyd will notify Townley of his committees and at the board retreat, we can look to reorganize the committees if needed.
4.3 School Board Retreat Date (June 17th or June 24th): Greg explained that this retreat is an important day for setting the board goals and the board members agreed that June 24th is the retreat date.
4.4 Student Board Representatives’ Report: Brad and Hannah gave their reports on activities at EHS.
5. SUPERINTENDENT/ADMINISTRATION REPORT
5.1 Principals’ Reports: Principal Sokul updated board that he had given his
staff three criteria to consider in selecting their rooms at the new high
school: that the set up must be student friendly; staff should look for natural
connections; and look for curriculum integration. Vic will them review what
the staff has submitted and administration will make the final approval of the
rooms. The staff’s preliminary plans are coming in tomorrow. Additionally, EHS
administration were at CMS on February 23rd to speak to middle
school parents regarding class scheduling process at EHS and also on March 7th
at CMS meeting with students on the course selection process for next year. Currently
working with an Assistant Principal Selection Committee and have met a couple
of times. Patty Lovejoy is the board representative. Are having a meeting this
Thursday night and hope to select the final candidates for the interview
process. Lastly, we have an exchange program with nine Japanese students presently
visiting EHS. No questions.
Principal O’Malley reported on the NECAP scores the school just received and
shared a brief presentation with the board on these results (see Attachment #1
pdf).
Noted these are preliminary rankings. Tom reviewed the differences in NHEIAP
and NECAP with regard to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. The
NECAP tests involved all grades at CMS. Noted that the sixth grade scores
really indicate knowledge these students acquired from their sending elementary
schools. CMS is considered a school with more than 400 students per grade. Tom
extended congratulations to the teachers, staff, superintendent and school
board for their success on these tests. Superintendent congratulated Principal
O’Malley and his staff and noted he would like to look at these scores in more
detail at the next Curriculum and Philosophy Committee meeting next week, to
which Sally Oxnard chair of the committee agreed, and then plan at the April
board meeting to review the results in more detail. Want to look at this over
3-4 year period and to see what areas we can improve in. Tom also thanked
Peter Stackhouse and Esther Asbell for all their hard work on this data. Patty
asked when will we know the SINI status and was told in either April or May.
Tom reminded the board that NCLB requires us to dig into the subgroup data
(students with IEP’s) and CMS may not have made adequate yearly progress. Given
these scores, Sally questioned if the emphasis CMS has put on literacy may be
overlooking other areas that we need to be working on given how well the
students seem to be doing in literacy. Superintendent reminded Sally that the
literacy lab was an initiative that began last year, not this year and was
probably a contributor to these good scores. Tom reiterated that the CMS staff
felt that adding reading to the 7th grade curriculum a year ago was
beneficial in the student achievements we have just heard.
5.2 Parent Group Email: Superintendent explained about the parent group email information on MySpace.com that was enclosed in your board packet, noting this was the first attempt to contact parents via the email addresses we have collected through our school records. We have not received much feedback to date from these emails we sent out. Hope to use this method as another means to communicate with parents. Currently K-5 schools are collecting their parent email addresses that will in conjunction with our PowerSource school software for next year. We see having parents email addresses as an important communication tool down the road. Noted that if you see an email from “cmsinfo@sau16.org or ehsinfo@sau16.org” that the email is from this initiative. Through school newsletters, will also ask that parents keep us abreast of their current email addresses. No questions.
5.3 Nominations and Resignations: Superintendent would recommend the board accept the resignation of CMS Science teacher Dawn Bowden who has been on maternity leave and has chosen to stay home. Motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Sally Oxnard and unanimously board voted with no further discussion to accept, with regrets and best of luck wishes with the new baby, the resignation of CMS Science teacher Dawn Bowden.
6. COMMITTEE REPORTS
6.1 Personnel, Policy and Communication: In Kris’ absence, Greg reviewed the regular meeting
minutes that were passed out this evening (see Attachments #2
and #3), noting
there are a couple of recommendations from the committee that the board needs
to vote on this evening. Having reviewed the number of “hits” to the Website
on video streaming, the PP&C recommends that the video streaming be
continued through the end of the school year and evaluate the proposal in
June. Motion by Sally Oxnard, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board
voted 6-0 with no discussion to continue the video streaming through the June
2006 board meeting. Greg also reported that the committee would like to
recommend the board purchase the text analysis software for $600 in order to
assist our IT department in submitting a communications survey very similar to
the one done by Bodi. This software will enable us to compile the text part of
the survey and by doing the survey through IT, reduce the overall cost of
administering the survey. Motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Sally Oxnard and
unanimously board voted 6-0 with no further discussion to purchase text
analysis software for approximately $600.00. Next meeting is April 19th
at
6:30 PM.
6.2 Facilities: Lucy
reported that they met this evening at 5:30
PM. Discussed new high school library
and the concern of the placement of the library stacks in relation to the beautiful
new windows in the library. One of architects was also present and everyone came
to a compromise on the new stacks. She is also bringing forward Change Orders
#7 and #8 (see Attachment
#4 pdf) explaining that all board members present were at
the Facilities meeting and heard the explanation for the change orders. Change
Order #7 is for $29,314.79 and #8 is for $202,097.70 and includes the A/C for
two classrooms that have no outside windows and the outside patio pavers for
$180,140.49. Lucy would ask for the board’s permission on these. Motion by
Patty Lovejoy and seconded by Kim Casey to approve Change Order #7 for
$29,314.79 and Change Order #8 for $202,097.70. Discussion – Patty added that
with these change orders, we hope to come in with a balance of around $675,000
still in the contingency that includes about $475,000 for the stadium that we
have yet to spend. With two months to go on the project, Walter feels we are
in good shape with the $200,000 contingency balance we will have. No further
discussion. Vote: unanimous 6-0 in favor of motion. Lucy further
reported that she will ask to go into non-public session under section “d” at
the end of the meeting to continue a discussion on property. Lastly, she and
Walter met with Carol Aten and Don Briselden of Squamscott Community Commons to
discuss where we go from here and have tentatively set a Special Facilities
Committee meeting for
March 30th at 7:00 AM at the SAU Office for next steps for the appraisal.
Next regular meeting will be at 6:00 PM before April 11th board meeting.
6.3 Curriculum and Philosophy: Sally reviewed the minutes of their last meeting on February 21, 2006 (see Attachment #5). With regards to the many testing dates booked and many pilots, she reminded the board that going forward they need to be clear on decisions that are to be made on testing for next year. Next meeting is this Tuesday, March 28th at 7:00 PM at SAU Office to look at NECAP data.
6.4 Finance: Greg reported that the committee met on March 8, 2006 (see Attachment #6) and noted the next meeting is April 4th at 5:00 PM.
6.5 Technology: Greg reported the whole committee has not met since last board meeting as they are meeting informally in groups to work on the SAU Technology Plan that will be going to May Joint Board meeting.
6.6 Transportation: No meetings.
6.7 SAU Chairs: Superintendent reported they are scheduled to meet March 29th at 5:00 PM.
6.8 SST: Kim noted the Governance Committee is meeting Monday, March 27th at 5:00 PM.
6.9 NCLB: No report since board representative Kris is absent.
6.10 Great Bay eLearning Charter School: Lucy updated the board on the meeting of March 16, 2006 (see Attachment #7) and explained that since she is one of the two board trustees and that Roy Morrisette was the other board trustee that the GBeCS trustees voted to ask Roy to continue as the business representative from Rockingham County.
6.11 SAU Policy Committee: Patty reported that the committee met on Wednesday,
March 8th and spent the entire time working on the SAU Wellness
Policy that will be coming forward. One of the decisions the committee is reviewing
is whether or not the policy will address limiting food choices to just the
school day or to include after school activities. Superintendent added that
having the Coop group email accessibility to parents, may give us another avenue
to keep parents informed on school initiatives such as this policy. Patty
explained that there will be no additional new policies coming forward at this
point.
7. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
7.1 February 9, 2006 – Board Meeting: Motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted with no discussion to accept the February 9, 2006 and February 14, 2006 minutes as presented.
7.2 February 14, 2006 – Board Meeting: Motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted with no discussion to accept the February 9, 2006 and February 14, 2006 minutes as presented.
8. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: Motion by Patty Lovejoy, seconded by Kim Casey, to go into non-public session under RSA 91 –A:3 II.(d) at 8:25 PM. Roll call vote taken with everyone answering in the affirmative.
9. ADJOURNMENT: On a motion by Kim Casey, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously board voted with no discussion to adjourn at 8:41 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Boyd, Secretary