Tuesday, June 13, 2006 – 7:00 PM
CMS Library
PRESENT: Greg
Kann, Lucy Cushman, Patty Lovejoy, Robin Scott, Kim Casey, Sally Oxnard,
Ray Trueman, Kris Magnusson and Townley Chisholm
ABSENT: All present
ADMINISTRATION: Arthur Hanson, Walter Pierce, Nathan Lunney, Richard Wendell, Jim Daley and Tom O’Malley
1. CALL TO ORDER: Chair Kann called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM followed by Pledge of Allegiance. Board members introduced themselves.
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC INPUT: Jim Johnson – Brentwood: Handed out information
on CMS Parent survey and wanted to show there are different ways to look at a
survey; asked to be on agenda for September; and told Superintendent would like
to purchase copy of communication audit from July 2005 meeting and was told to
let the SAU Office know and the document would be provided at the appropriate
copying cost.
Motion by Kris Magnusson and seconded by Ray Trueman to allow Mr. Johnson to
return in September for set amount of time to ask board questions on whatever
issues he has. Discussion followed on protocol for Mr. Johnson if he were
allowed to be on the agenda; concern with September being such a busy agenda
month; possibly limiting the discussion to a certain amount of minutes; question
on whether the board has the authority under RSA to dictate to the chair that
they can set the agenda. Discussion continued on RSA’s specifics and that Mr.
Johnson is to present his questions to the board prior to the meeting. Board
members noted where they stood on this motion. Kim suggested maybe revisiting
this issue in August and withdrawing the motion. Since there was no more
discussion, Chair Kann called for the Vote: 7-2 (Lovejoy, Casey). Motion
passed.
3. CHAIR’S REPORT
3.1 Close Up Student Report – Norma McGarr: Superintendent explained that due to exams, the students will present in September.
3.2 Student Board Representatives’ Report: Noted that the board representatives are not present due to finals.
3.3 ERCSD Retreat – June 24, 2006 @ 8:00 AM: Chair passed out the retreat agenda and noted the meeting will include lunch.
3.4 Goal Completion by Committee Chairs: Chair explained that the committee chairs should be completing these sheets for the retreat. Kris reminded everyone that she feels the back-up information of each goal should be included.
4. SUPERINTENDENT/ADMINISTRATION REPORT
4.1 Principals’ Reports: Superintendent informed the board that EHS Assistant Principal Daley is present since tonight is Senior Scholarship night and Mr. Sokul is presenting. Mr. Daley updated everyone on graduation exercises; moving to new high school with tours beginning on July 6th that will be posted in newspaper; stadium dedication is September 8th; and new school dedication on September 24th. Mr. O’Malley updated the board on activities at CMS explaining that he had a big announcement - before the week is over, all CMS students will know what team they will be placed on for next year and this is a very student centered initiative the school has worked very hard to achieve.
4.2 Nominations and Resignations: Superintendent would recommend following resignations with deepest regrets as these are two outstanding teachers: CMS Josh Frost – Math and Mike Olson – Science; new hires: at CMS Kristen Hinz - Science; Samuel Hyun - Math and Lauren McGrath - Science; at EHS Mark Tobey – Math Lab and Rachel Thibodeau – Art; at SST Bill Emerson – Pre-Engineering; and ERCSD transfer of Peter Stackhouse 50% position of curriculum coordinator to GBeCS 50% principal position. Motion by Kris Magnusson, seconded by Sally Oxnard to accept the superintendent’s recommendations. Discussion on whether or not we have exit interviews with staff to give this board feedback on why teachers are leaving. Superintendent noted that there is no official exit interview, but if someone requests it, we could accommodate it. It is up to the individual if their exit information is shared with the board. With no further discussion, the chair called for a vote: 9-0. Motion passes. Superintendent explained that he will bring a plan forward to board in September of how we will address the 50% loss of curriculum coordinator and shared how Peter Stackhouse will segway to GBeCS.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS
5.1 Personnel, Policy and Communication: Chair Magnusson reviewed her minutes of May 24, 2006 (see Attachment 1 pdf). The committee is bringing forward three EHS trips to France, Mexico and Puerto Rico and 1 CMS trip for the Wind Ensemble to go to NYC. Motion by Patty Lovejoy, seconded by Kim Casey and unanimously voted to approve all four trips. Superintendent is to discuss traffic controls with Stratham Police and get back to board regarding having an SRO at CMS. No June meeting since the board retreat will occur on June 24th.
5.2 Facilities: Chair Cushman reported committee met this evening. SST Principal Nancy Pierce was present to discuss 2008 renovation funding from State since they have a July 1, 2006 deadline to get information out on their proposed renovations. Mrs. Pierce shared preliminary plans for the renovations with the committee: adding few new spaces onto SST; renovating a few; new Building Trades area that will be built by their Building Trades students; the plan is still being finalized. The renovation will cost $8.5 million with 75% of funding supported by state monies and the 25% that is not grant eligible, per Walter, is eligible at 55% for our building aid. The committee voted in favor of this renovation and it has also been approved the SST Governance Board as well as the Building Committee of SST. Motion by Sally Oxnard, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously voted with enthusiasm to approve the SST Renovations. The committee is also bringing forward Change Orders #10 and #11 that were in your packets and we have discussed these previously (see Attachments #2 & #3 pdf). Two items on #10 that board needs to approve are the Science Labs-Return Duck Dampers $10,298,04 and the Visitor Side Grandstand $170,789.07 minus the Electric Service Credit of ($90,377.23) and the Additional Electrical costs credit of ($1,342.94) and the Elevator Shaft Modifications of $1,902.10 that Walter has the authority to approve (since it is under $5000) for a total on that change order of $91,269.04. On #11, the board only needs to approve the one item over the $5000 that is the Additional Irrigation for $21,761.80. Lucy added that the amount left in the contingency after these change orders is $273,000 allowing for more furniture, moving and traffic lights. Motion by Patty Lovejoy with a second by Sally Oxnard. Discussion on why there were scratch outs on #11 and Walter explained he was waiting for board’s approval before finalizing the copy and that irrigation is for around the building, to which Kris stated she does think is needed. With no further discussion, the chair called for a Vote: 7-2 Trueman and Magnusson . The committee has also approved the one (1) year lease for the Seacoast Charter School that will be reviewed again next year. Board had a generic vote to allow administration to bring tenants into the Tuck Learning Center (TLC) if they were educational or culturally related so no motion needed on this lease. Discussed update on move info and school getting ready. Big challenge is still the site work and weather has been an issue. Patty shared information on cross country trail. Lucy has sent the Facilities goals to everyone and asks that her subcommittee members review them prior to the retreat. No meeting until August. Ray asked how much original stadium cost was and how much we have spent to date. Walter responded that $1.2-$1.5 million was in the allowance for the stadium, and we will spend about $2.6. Lastly, Lucy noted that she would ask for a non-public session at the end of the meeting under “d”.
5.3 Curriculum and Philosophy: Chair Oxnard reported that the committee met on
May 30th (see Attachment #4
pdf) and reviewed her minutes. Discussion by
board on NWEA data presented by Mr. Stackhouse and decision to go with
MathScapes at CMS. Kris read a motion made by Ralph Adler on the 5/11/05
meeting (see Attachment #5
pdf, page 3) noting she does not feel the board has
followed up on this motion, that NWEA was purchased to help evaluate how well
students were achieving these goals per Mr. O’Malley’s comments; like to see as
soon as possible how these 7th graders are doing at the end of the 2nd
year since results with NWEA are suppose to be very quick to see; asked if
board comfortable that you have looked at this data in a rigorous way as the
results show that overall 43% of our students did not make adequate growth; the
students now moving into 8th grade will be with teachers using mixed
ability teaching for the first time and this will be the third year these
students have been used as an experiment with ability grouping and would make
the following motion. Motion by Kris Magnusson, with a second by Townley
Chisholm to not change this incoming CMS 8th grade class to mixed
ability grouping as was planned. Discussion on motion: consequences this
decision could have; chaos that will occur in the building; had very
inconsistent levels of classes in past; changes way you schedule classes; at
this late date, this is a huge request; this is micromanaging in the
worst way; noted that these groups that you are looking at are not of equal
size and that should be taken into account; NWEA data not given to board until
asked for even though it was given to the administration three days after test
occurred; not micromanaging, but “saving” 8th grade teachers from
doing what they have not done previously; do not feel being imprudent or presumptuous
but think we are making the best decision we can at this time; this is one
piece of data and that NECAP is an additional piece of data; basing on
data point is inappropriate at this time; little too early in process with
regard to the amount of data to make quick changes to our curriculum; do have
general data that is available to us quickly; asking a lot since only three
days left of school year and as was just announced, pods already set for next
year; this is a surprise motion and we have not heard from CMS administration
on this, much less the 8th grade teachers who would be impacted by
this; all teachers, leveled or not, use Best Practices and they teach to upper,
middle and lower if they are good teachers; who are we at this time of the
year, to decide to do this, but now you are asking your teachers, without any
input, to make a change and this is micromanaging. Superintendent spoke to the
fact that the board could be looking to make a decision that could mean radical
change without hearing any recommendations from either the administration or
the teachers at CMS. This is a policy decision, but you need to first get
feedback from the teachers and administration. The motion was moved and Chair
Kann called for a vote: 3-6 (Kann, Cushman, Lovejoy, Oxnard,
Scott, Casey). Motion failed.
Lastly, chair announced there will not be a Curriculum and Philosophy committee
meeting in June.
5.4
Finance: Chair Lovejoy reported that the committee met on June
6th (see
Attachment #6
pdf) and discussed the recommendations for
encumbrances from the committee that need board approval: 1) EHS Nature/Fitness
Trail and are asking for an encumbrance of $30,000 for this; 2) Repair and Improvements
to the Ropes Course at the Tuck Learning Campus for $20,000; and 3) taking
Walter’s salary of $110,000 and moving into budget for a total of $160,000.
Expected balance after these encumbrances to be about
$1 million to return to taxpayers. No warrant article regarding surplus this
year. GASB 34 was discussed and Nathan noted that the lending community in NH
does not have a concern about why you should meeting GASB 34 standards and our
auditor has confirmed that assessment by the NH lending community. Kris asked
about getting a price to have an audit of new high school (Harvey Construction)
project to which it was noted that you might do this if you did not have Walter
Pierce as our project manager who is overseeing on a daily basis what is going
on financially and otherwise at the project. If we did not have Walter on the
project, this would be an important concern. Nathan will look into the cost
for this. Decided to have two motions on the encumbrances. Motion by Kim
Casey with a second by Robin Scott to approve encumbrances for the EHS
Nature/Fitness Trail for $30,000 and the Repair and improvements to the Ropes
Course at TLS for $20,000. Discussion. Ray asked why money is not coming
from high school bond and Patty explained that these items were not a part of
original budget on new high school and it does not matter where money comes
from because anything left over goes back to taxpayers. We are viewing these
encumbrances as new items, but could be done from the HS bond, just did not
look at it. Ray asked why we are not asking for additional monies fro the move
to the new high school and it was noted that Dick Wendell has put the cost of
the move into his budget. Ray asked why not set aside a few dollars to save
for running the three facilities we now have? Nathan explained that we have locked
in electricity for next year and health insurance costs have come in under our
first estimates and feels we can meet these needs with our current budget and we
do not want to be guilty of drawing on trust reserves if we do not need to. He
also discussed how the Nature Trail project could grow down the line and sees
it as a multi-year endeavor. Since there was no further discussion, chair
called for a vote on the motion: unanimous vote 9-0. Motion by Robin Scott
with a second by Kim Casey to transfer Walter Pierce’s salary $110,000 and
benefits from project to operating budget as we have done for the last two
years. Discussion to clarify that the project did not pay for Walter’s
salary. Walter’s salary for the 2006-07 year and how it was budgeted was
discussed. Since there was no more discussion, chair called for a vote: Vote:
9-0 unanimous.
5.5 Technology: Greg reported the committee met June 9th and he was not in attendance, but they are getting ready for summer IT work.
5.6 Transportation: Nathan hopes to have a meeting before end of month.
5.7 SAU Chairs: Chair Kann reported no May meeting and there will not be meetings in June or July. Next meeting will be in August.
5.8 SST: Board representative Casey noted that the meeting scheduled for last night did not have a quorum so the meeting has been moved to Wednesday, June 21st at 8:30 AM at SST.
5.9 NCLB: Board representative Magnusson noted no meeting.
5.10 Great Bay eLearning Charter School: Board representative Cushman reported that the trustees met on June 8th (see Attachment #7 pdf) and discussed the meeting. Lucy noted that at some point we need to have a trustee to come to board to discuss future funding for GBeCS as grants do run out and need to discuss our commitment to them for continuation since those are our students. Also, Patty has been appointed by the trustees to be second board representative on board and Peter Stackhouse has resigned the 50% Curriculum Coordinator position since he will be 50% principal at GBeCS.
5.11 SAU Policy Committee – Approval: Patty reminded board that the two polices up for approval were both presented at the SAU Joint Board meeting on 5-22-06 for a first reading. With Policy EEAJ- Video and Audio Recording on School Buses, a new state law requires we have a policy on this. Motion by Robin Scott, seconded by Kim Casey and unanimously board voted (9-0) to adopt EEAJ- Video and Audio Recording on School Buses. Patty discussed JLCF - Wellness, Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy and feedback the Policy Committee had received from four EHS students and from the sau16wellness site. The WAC will have student reps on this committee, which will review this policy as the year goes on. See it as a policy that may have changes as we go forward. Motion by Sally Oxnard to accept this policy and thanked the SAU Policy Committee for all their hard work on this. Second by Robin Scott. Discussion on why policy only references physical activity for elementary students and not for middle and high school students. Patty explained that the WAC or Curriculum Committee or individual boards would discuss this, as the SAU Policy would not be the appropriate committee to do this as that is a curriculum initiative. Chair called for vote: unanimous (9-0).
6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
7.1 May 9, 2006 – Board Meeting and Non-Public Minutes: Sally Oxnard would like to amend minutes on page 3 at top that “contention” should be content. Second amendment of 4.3 Title I funds, should say “…will be cut by 30% so he is asking you reallocate those funds…”; also on page 1, 2.0, line 2 should say “…fair treatment of board…” and on 5.9 line 5 should be “Superintendent” not Kris Magnusson made statement. Motion by Sally Oxnard, seconded by Kris Magnusson and unanimously board voted to approve the May 9, 2006 minutes as amended.
7.2 May 24, 2006 – Special Board Meeting: Motion by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Robin Scott and unanimously voted with no discussion to approve the May 24, 2006 minutes as presented.
7. NON-PUBLIC SESSION – Chapter 91-A:3II, a,d. Motion by Patty Lovejoy, to go into non-public session under RSA 91-A:3II, a and d at 9:37 PM. Roll call vote with all members answering in the affirmative.
8. ADJOURNMENT: On a motion by Patty Lovejoy, seconded by Lucy Cushman and unanimously voted to adjourn at 10:03 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Boyd, Secretary