Great Bay eLearning Charter School

May 5, 2005 – 4:00 PM

GBeCS

 

PRESENT:     Lucy Cushman, Kent Chamberlin, Sara Baer-Sinnott, Peter Stackhouse, Linda Henderson, Roy Morrisette, Ben Hillyard, Tom Wisbey and Andrew Weeks

 

ABSENT: None

 

ADMINISTRATION:  Arthur Hanson, Steve Kossakoski, Tony Baldasaro, Cheryl McDonough and Nathan Lunney

 

1.   CALL TO ORDER: Chair Morrisette called the meeting to order at 4:08 PM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

1.1 Introductions: Trustees and administration introduced themselves.  Trustees moved to agenda item 10.1 to see a video conferencing demonstration.

      1.2 Nomination of Trustees: None at this time.

 

2.   NON-PUBLIC SESSION: Moved to the last agenda item.

 

3.   APPROVAL OF MINUTES

      3.1 April 7, 2005: Motion by Kent Chamberlin, seconded by Lucy Cushman to approve the minutes of April 7, 2005.  Discussion followed that under item 7.1 the student that transferred in was from a “private” school, not a “charter” school.  The trustees unanimously voted to approve the minutes as amended.

 

4.   VISITORS: None at this time

 

5.   BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL

5.1  Financial Report – Nathan Lunney, Treasurer: Handout on finances; will make sure end dates are on subsequent reports since were inadvertently left off after Lucy requested they be added; reviewed that as treasurer, to date, is still not handling any monies at this time and reviewed the funding to date.  This report is an outflow of the federal grant funds received to date.  Discussion followed on issues at state level concerning federal monies being made available to assist charter schools.

5.2 Funding for 2005-2006 – Skip/Nathan: Latest issue from state is that they are not going to continue funding of charter schools; meeting Monday, May 9^th with Undersecretary of Education Mike Sentance and have invited the NH Commissioner of Education Tracy to also attend this meeting.  Our intent to appeal to these individuals that if state is going to turn back on charter schools, then need federal assistance to continue.

 

6.   GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE: None at this time.

 

7.   SUPERINTENDENTS/ADMINISTRATION’S REPORT

7.1 Enrollment Report – Steve: Currently have 48 students which was same as last month; grades 9 and 10 will be capped at 80; right now have accepted 25 so we can take additional seven students.  Do not know right now how many of this year’s 9^th graders will go on to 10^th.  This year’s 9^th graders will have until the end of the summer to note they will not return.

7.2 Report of Lead Teachers – Tony: Tony gave an update on Spanish program; Nathan left the meeting; have started a book club; students engaged this week with the Great Bay Pollution Study; Cheryl reported that tonight is first parent group meeting to help provide some social interaction for the students; also hope to talk to parents about planning for next year and being a part of instruction and curriculum; discussion on how charter students are both integrating with EHS students and separating from them; now have a library from paperback books everyone is bringing from home; tomorrow having lunch for students because it is National Charter School Week and trustees are invited to attend.  Tony reported that Grade Reports went home for the third quarter and they are more than a piece of paper with just grades.  Each report notes how the student is meeting the NH grade level expectations/frameworks along with a very comprehensive narrative on the student which includes goals going forward.

 

Non-Public list given out and errors noted and Sally will re-send the corrected list electronically to everyone.

 

8.   EMPLOYEES

      8.1 Nomination of professional staff: None at this time.

      8.2 Support Position Hiring: None at this time.

      8.3 Transfer of Staff: None at this time.

      8.4 Staffing for 2005-2006: None at this time.

 

9.   BOARD REPORTS/POLICY

9.1 Review of Policies – First Reading: The following policies were presented for a first reading: EHB – Records Retention; GBJ – Personnel Records; GBJ-R – Personnel Records; JHC – Student Release Precautions; JICE – Student Publications; JKA – Corporal Punishment; JKB – Detention of Students; JLF – Reporting Child Abuse; JQ – Care of School Property by Students; and JRA – Student Records and Access.  Send any comments you have on these to Sally so we will have a second reading at the next meeting.

 

10. CURRICULUM

      10.1 Video Conferencing Demonstration: Given at the beginning of the meeting.

 

11. BUILDING AND GROUNDS: None at this time.

 

12. PUPIL RELATED MATTERS: None at this time.

 

13. OLD BUSINESS: None at this time.

 

14. NEW BUSINESS

      14.1 Next Trustees Meeting – June 2, 2005

 

15. NON PUBLIC SESSION: Tom Wisbey left.  Motion by Linda Henderson, seconded by Sara Baer-Sinnott to go into Non Public Session under RSA 91-A:3 II.(a) at 5:14 PM followed by roll call vote with all voting in the affirmative except for Wisbey who had left meeting.

 

      The trustees returned to public session at 5:32 PM noting that the trustees unanimously voted to seal the minutes of the non-public session.

 

15. ADJOURNMENT: Motion by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Kent Chamberlin and unanimously voted to adjourn at 5:33 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sally S. Boyd, Secretary