Great Bay eLearning Charter School Minutes

August 26, 2004 – 4:00 PM

Great Bay eLearning Charter School

56 Linden Street (EHS Annex) – Exeter

 

PRESENT:            Roy Morrisette, Lucy Cushman, Tom Wisbey, Peter Stackhouse, Linda

                                Henderson, Tony Baldasaro, Jerry Gittlein, Steve Kossakoski, Kent Chamberlin

                                Skip Hanson, Steve Kossakoski, Jennifer Kinsey and Kathy Bailey – Exeter Newsletter

 

1.     CALL TO ORDER:  In Superintendent Hanson’s absence, Chair Roy Morrisette called the meeting to order at 5:05 PM.

1.1   Introductions: Everyone introduced themselves and Tony gave everyone a tour of the facilities.

1.2   Acceptance of Appointment by new members: New trustees, Kent Chamberlin and Tom Wisbey acknowledged that they accepted their appointments as trustees.

 

2.     NON-PUBLIC SESSION: No action taken.

 

3.     APPROVAL OF MINUTES

3.1   June 2, 2004: Motion by Linda Henderson seconded by Tom Wisbey and unanimously voted with no further discussion to accept the June 2, 2004 minutes as presented.

 

4.     VISITORS: None

5.     GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE: None

6.     SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT               

6.1   2004-2005 GBeCS Calendar Adoption: Motion by Tom Wisbey, seconded by Linda Henderson and unanimously voted with no further discussion to accept the 2004-2005 GBeCS calendar as presented (see Attachment #1).

 

7.     GBeCS ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM REPORT   

7.1   Start-up timeline: Tony passed out a Plan of Action and Timeline of Events Update – see Attachment #2. Tony reviewed all the items on the sheet   Superintendent Hanson arrived.

7.2   GBeCS student application: Tony passed around the Application for Admission – see Attachment #3) and would like to get approved by the trustees to be a part of the application kit.  Discussion followed that each questionnaire will be filled out independently (student/parent/teacher) and have an envelope for each person to send their response in separately and that on the short essay you might get better feedback if the student described one successful learning experience and one not successful learning experience as this would then give you a concrete example you could talk to the student about in the interview process.  Assistant Superintendent Kossakoski arrived.  On a motion by Linda Henderson, seconded by Tom Wisbey and unanimously voted with no further discussion to give initial approval to the Application for Admission with any suggestions discussed today to be taken into account as your work on this form.

 

8.     EMPLOYEES

8.1   Nomination of professional staff: Superintendent explained would like to nominate Jerry Gittlein as a part-time teacher and Jennifer Kinsey as a community outreach coordinator.  He asked both to give a little background on themselves.  Motion by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Linda Henderson and unanimously voted with no further discussion to accept Jerry Gittlein and Jennifer Kinsey as part of the GBeCS professional staff.

8.2   Support position hiring: No action at this time.  

9.     BOARD REPORTS/ POLICY

9.1   Review of policies and second reading: Superintendent asked if there were any questions on these policies and if not, he would recommend them for a second reading and adoption.  Recommendation by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Kent Chamberlin and unanimously voted with no further discussion to accept as presented the following policies for the GBeCS:

BAAA - Board of Trustees Policies and Administrative Procedures

BB - Board of Trustees Legal Status

BBA - Board of Trustees Powers and Duties

BBAA - Board Member Authority

BBBC - Board Member Resignation

BCA - Statement of Ethics

BCB - Board Member Conflict of Interest

BDA - Organizational Meeting

BDB - Board Officers

BDDD - Quorum

BEA - Regular Board Meetings

BEC - Non-Public Meetings

BEDB - Agenda Preparation and Dissemination

BEDH - Public Participation at Board Meetings

BFE - Administration in Policy Absence

BG - Board Policy Development

10.   CURRICULUM

10.1 Curriculum plan:

A.    Guiding principles: Steve would like approval of the guiding principles, which were in your board packet and are a part of the Student handbook and Guiding Principles 2004-2005 (see Attachment #4 (pdf))for the charter school.  These principles are a part of the work we initiated this summer and will guide us in what we do. 

B.    Curriculum domains: Discussed credits and transferring a student from the charter school back into EHS; possible use of Oralog for language programs; noted that school will stay with only allowing Spanish as their foreign language.

C.    Essential questions: Discussed what the essential question does for guiding the student.

D.    Academic divisions: Will not use grade divisions, but academic divisions by looking at standards, not necessarily grades or seat time; want students to be able to move ahead if they are capable and are looking to move student forward overall versus just by a particular subject; visualize that by Division 3 (senior year), students would be participating in many internships, college courses, etc.  A year from now will be when we will decide if we are going to offer grades 11 and 12 at the school.

E.     Assessment of academic progress: Reviewed that the school would be looking to mostly grade with “a” and “b” grades; any work that does not meet the standards of an “a” or “b”, does not get recorded – rare “c”; no time restrictions in achieving that grade; does  school needed to have grades which Steve noted since we are pushing a lot of non-traditional things here, we still are going to want to hang our hats on something; when you only have “a” and “b” grades will have to have standards and portfolios to back this up; also what of the students who passes the standard the first time versus the student who has to take the test 12 times; reading Glasser might help you understand this thought process; homework will be meaningful versus specific amounts per night; just the advisors will be working on the individual learning plan with the students; extracurricular activities – they are still a part of EHS; with regard to internships, Steve sees most intense ones at the senior level; envisions 3-4 students bussed together for a short internship; also would like internships where people come here;  Tony noted that one thing that will not be a limiting factor will be our schedule – for five weeks every Tuesday for 3 hours they will do a seminar on the Seacoast water study; Website with all this information on it but have not made it public until the trustees could understand this and approve it;

10.2         Adoption of curriculum plan by Trustees:  Motion by Linda Henderson, seconded by Peter Stackhouse and unanimously voted with no further discussion to adopt the Student Handbook and Guiding Principles 2004-2005 with the understanding that this is a flexible document.

 

11.   BUILDING AND GROUNDS

11.1 Facility progress to date:  Steve thanked Dick Wendell who has spearheaded all this renovation work and has come in under budget in addition to all his other duties.  Plan to schedule as many meetings here by other groups so they can see the facility; furniture scheduled to arrive mid-September.

 

12.   PUPIL RELATED MATTERS: Tony passed around and reviewed the latest version of the Great Bay Pollution Study (see Attachment #5) noting the final document will come from Chris Moresh.  He explained that the social studies piece is missing from this and he will be talking with Jerry Frew about incorporating that piece.  Discussion followed on not giving the students a predetermined conclusion before they begin the study so students can come up with their own conclusions.  Carol Dawson arrived and discussed incorporating English into a study such as this.  This will be a primary project with other smaller projects.  Foreign language may have to stand on its own if it does not fit into a project.  Steve discussed Chris Moresh’s LOTI Project and Chris would like the GBeCS  School to be a LOTI Project school.  Now eight in country and none in New England. Kent noted that NH schools are being evaluated through LOTI standards.

13.   OLD BUSINESS: None at this time.

14.   NEW BUSINESS:

14.1 Next Trustees Meeting: First Thursday of each month beginning with October 7, 2004 at 4:00 PM.

 

15.   BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL: None at this time

16.   ADJOURNMENT:  Motion by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Kent Chamberlin and unanimously approved with no discussion to adjourn at 5:59 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Sally Boyd, Secretary