NOT APPROVED
Newfields School Board Meeting –Minutes
In Attendance:
Board Members: Jan Trueman, Mark Bouzianis, Mike Grant
Administration: Steve Kossakoski, Dennis Dobe
Board Officers: Carolyn Bellisio Kelly, Maggie Doane
Visitors: Ed Oddo, Michael Woodworth
1. Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 5:47 p.m.
2. Non-public Session – none
3. Approval Of The Minutes
3.1 Mark Bouzianis made a motion to accept the budget workshop minutes from October 19, 2004. Seconded by Jan Trueman. All in favor.
3.2 November 15, 2004 school board minutes amended to change Section 11.4 to say ‘Capital improvement update was addressed in Section 4.1 above.’ Mark Bouzianis made a motion to accept the minutes as amended from November 15 , 2004. Seconded by Jan Trueman. All in favor.
3.3 Mark Bouzianis made a motion to accept the budget workshop minutes from November 15 , 2004. Seconded by Jan Trueman. All in favor.
3.4 Mark Bouzianis made a motion to accept the November 29, 2004 school board minutes with Superintendent Hanson. Seconded by Jan Trueman. All in favor.
4. Visitors-
4.1. Ed Oddo- NES Capital Improvement Plan -
Ed returned to address the school board regarding his research in regards to asbestos abatement when a new floor was put down over the existing floor. This was difficult to research as the room numbers now are not the same as they were during the renovation. There was no mention of the asbestos in the fittings in the ceiling. Mr. Oddo recommends that the school try to address the removal of this asbestos within the next year. The board has requested that Mr. Oddo provide the board with revised pricing before January 10th.
5. Business And Financial –
5.1 Monthly financial report - Maggie Doane provided the financial information. The cash on hand to date is $206,542.72. The School Building Fund balance is $4,687.17 and the School Building Maintenance Fund balance is $6,713.18
5.2 Non-resident tuition update – The attorney who is working on the outstanding tuition collection for the school gave the family 30 days to respond to a written request for payment and no response has been made. The attorney will file suit and send an avadavat. The deposit of $150 was made and the attorney is entitled to receive 1/3 of the amount recovered.
5.3 Transportation Committee update – There are two items to note from the committee meeting:
· The first is that there are safety issues regarding the number of students on buses in some of the schools. In some cases, all of the seats on the buses for the middle school and high school have three children to a seat, which constitutes safety issues as the isles can be blocked. This has been presented to the SAU joint board and where necessary they will try to add additional buses to ensure that for larger runs and field trip there are only two to a seat.
· The second items is regarding that there are no seat belts on the buses and some feel that there should be. There is research to prove that there are advantages and disadvantages to having seat belts. The disadvantage is that if there is a rollover or fire or the bus is immersed in water that not all of the children would be able to release themselves to exit the bus.
Both items were brought up to the board in December for a vote. The bus transportation contract will roll over when Exeter High School opens next year. The contract is for five years with an option for six. The recommendations from the Transportation office is to opt for the six years to give the high school time to define the routes. After this year, they can receive bids for new contracts.
6. Curriculum
6.1 In-service Training and early release update – at beginning of month there was an early release. Raina Chick from the New Hampshire Department of Education and The College of Lifelong Learning visited to review and give updates on Special Education Law and its implementation and conduct an educational session.
6.2 SAU 16 Instructional Council update – chaired by Jerry Frew last Wednesday, December 8. A number of task forces were set up for the SAU in order to refine their curriculum areas. The new committee was Adolescent Health with nurses and medical professional to approach how to handle adolescent health. There will be assessment plans for the elementary schools in the SAU; Mr. Dobe feels that NES is on the right track.
7. Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent Report
7.1 SAU Update - Joint chair meeting on Wednesday, December 15th at 5:00 p.m., changes to the evaluation process of the Superintendent is planned to be discussed. Joint Board Meeting Monday, December 20th at 5:00 p.m. At the Chair meeting on Wednesday, November 17th, reports from the New England School Development Council were received. This council estimates future enrollment trends. Dr. Kossakoski reported that there is a possible Foreign Language grant for K-5 curriculum. It is being discussed how this can be integrated if the grant funds are made available. Great Bay e-learning Charter School has had over 100 people who have attended information sessions and as of November 9th has received 50 Applications. The Highschool principal search is still ongoing.
7.2 Enrollment update – Dr. Kossakoski reported that school enrollment is increased to 177. There was a one student increase to grades 3 and 5.
8. Principal’s Report
8.1 School activities:
§ Scholastic book fair was successfully held in December.
§ Kyle Averill, a NES fifth grader, organized a book drive at the school, post office and town hall. Kyle will be distributing the books by the end of the week to school districts and give families books that do not have them at home. The board officially thanks Kyle Averill for his work on this book drive and his outstanding resourcefulness and initiative to help others!
§ Holiday concert at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 16. There will be instrumental and choral performances.
§ Red Cross Blood Drive on December 27th.
9. General Correspondence
9.1 None
10 Personnel
10.1 Teacher contract negotiations – met with Newfield’s bargaining unit and should be ready shortly.
11. Building and Grounds
11.1 Parking Lot Update – The parking lot will be discussed at the Planning Board meeting. Dr. Kossakoski will check the payment schedule for 5-year bonding and the different bonding options for the January meeting. A warrant can be filled out with all of the options and than the one which makes the most sense can be officially adopted and voted on at a bond hearing. The board would also like some quotes on basic landscaping. Mark Bouzianis requested having Ed Oddo assist in getting refined quotes on both of these items.
11.2 Asbestos Abatement Update – see section 4.1 above
11.3 Ball field maintenance NYAA – Mr. Dobe has spoken with Steve Mikulich, from the NYAA, to request that a NYAA representative present to the board the maintenance agreement for the fields and expectation of spending for 2005 at the next board meeting.
12 Pupil Related Matters
12.1 Newfields Jumpstars – Newfields Jumpstars season has started and the children are excited. Dennis thanked the board for their support of this program.
13 Board Reports/ Policy
13.1 SAU 16 Chairs meeting update – Jan Trueman stated that the meeting will be held on Wednesday, December. 15 at 5:00 p.m... .
13.2 Newfield’s/SAU Policy Manual – Mark Bouzianis wants to recommend that GBG be revised to include liability coverage of the school board members and their officers. Mike Grant will research this request.
14 Old Business –
14.1 Defibrillator – no new information on the defibrillator except that Phillips can provide training. The cost of this training needs to be researched.
15 New Business – None
16 Next Meeting - Monday, January 10, 2004, 5:30 PM. Public Hearing on the budget is Saturday, January 15th at 9:00 a.m..
17 Adjournment- The meeting was adjourned at 6:46 pm. Mike Grant motioned to adjourn first, Mark Bouzianis second. All in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Bellisio