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: Lewis and Irmina Bond, Ray Trueman, Jack Shaw, Reuben Howe, Chris Hutchins, Barbara Clark, Beth Cargill
1 Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m.
2 Non-public Session – held after visitors were announced
Jan Trueman made a motion to enter into non-public session under Chapter 91A:3II, A, at 6:15 p.m.. Seconded by Mike Grant. All in favor.
Topic: Request exception to policy JEB and admit son into 1st grade
Present: Board Members: Jan Trueman, Mark Bouzianis, Mike Grant
Administration: Steve Kossakoski, Dennis Dobe
Mark Bouzianis made a motion to grant exception and admit son to grade 1. Mike Grant second. All in favor.
Mike Grant request a motion to end non-public session at 6:40 p.m. and Mark Bouzianis second. All in favor.
3 Approval Of The Minutes
3.1 There is one amendment to the May 10, 2004 minutes.
i. In section 13.2 Mike Bouzianis should be corrected to be Mark Bouzianis
Jan Trueman made a motion to accept the minutes as amended from May 10, 2004. Mike Grant second. All in favor.
4 Visitors-
4.1. Jack Shaw spoke for the Building and Facilitations Committee who are responsible for town facilities and organization of space and assessment of expansion of space. Other members of the committee include Reuben Howe, Ray Truman, Chris Hutchins and Larry Heath. There are several public space constraints in town including Town Hall, police department, fire station and the post office. The committee wanted to present to the NES School Board the possibility of expanding the current fire station to include space for the police station. This would align with how other local towns are set up. The police department would be located at the back end of the fire station and it would be necessary to use a portion of land that belongs to the NES School. There would still be limited space between the fire station and the NES School. The committee is assessing how much room they would need. The Battles property is directly behind the fire station. The committee is researching a town easement so that both the police department and the NES School can mutually benefit. This is projected to satisfy the growth potential for the police department up to ten years based on town expansion projections. There are currently three different town meeting spaces; upstairs in the fire station, upstairs in town hall and the school auditorium. Mark Bouzianis mentioned that timing is great due to the current town funded study, which creates a parking lot and recommends moving the flow of traffic to the other side of the NES school building and away from the firehouse. The School Board is amiable to the Building and Facilities Committee idea but want to hear more information once they have it. The parking lot plans will be complete in July and will be provided to the committee for review.
4.2. Barbara Clark – Barbara wanted to recommend a change to NES bus route. Steve Kossakoski recommended that Barbara contact Natalie Perry in the central office to assist her with this request.
5 Business And Financial –
5.1 Monthly financial report - Maggie Doane stated that the cash on hand is $284,012.46. The School Build ing fund and School Building Maintenance Fund balances will be reported on in the next meeting.
5.2. Proposed encumbrances – Since the last board, meeting Dennis worked with Ed Oddo to finalize the estimates of work to be done to the school in the summer and the amount necessary for additional Everyday Math materials. The board reviewed the list of items and Mark Bouzianis motioned to approve the encumbrances as they are listed below. Mike Grant second. All in favor.
· Cooperative Maintenance Service not to exceed $ 6,565
· SRA McGraw Hill not to exceed $1,515
· Hartman Oil not to exceed $ 8,000
· Eastern Propane not to exceed $ 6,500
Of the $29,746 encumbrance balance, this leaves $7,166 remaining. The Cooperative Maintenance Service amount of $ 6,565 includes reworking the roof, repairing the fascia board and steps to the old building, painting the exterior fascia and trim and cleaning and reworking the chimney and installing a chimney cap.
5.3 GASB 34 – Mike Grant made a motion not to abide by the new rules for GASB 34. Mark Bouzianis second. All in favor.
5.4 Auditor for 2004-2005 - NES needs to choose a new auditor. There are estimates from two firms, Dumais & Fernald for $4,000 and Plopzik Sanderson for $3,200. Dumais has worked with Newfields in the past and has received good references. Board agrees to move forward with using Dumais & Fernald.
6 Curriculum
6.1 Kindergarten Program/Enrollment Update- Mr. Dobe stated there are 22 registered kindergarten students committed for September 2004 enrollment.
6.2 Curriculum and Assessment update- Mr. Dobe passed out a draft of the SAU-16 Social Studies Curriculum. There is a handwriting curriculum that was also handed out and approved by NES faculty; this will move the program from Denialian to Handwriting without Tears. The 4&5 testing and results have been received but have only been reviewed preliminary. These tests will be administered again in the spring so that growth can be reviewed.
7 Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent Report
7.1 SAU Update- There is a new funding form this year. The NES budget anticipated losing money in revenue but according to initial estimates there is an expected increase in revenue of $183,000. This is still an estimate, not a final number by the NH School Board Associations.
7.2 Enrollment update - Enrollment is the same as May. Total of 177 students, as of the 1st of June.
7.3 Permission to hire - School needs the Board’s permission to hire a special education teacher replacement. Mark Bouzianis motion to give permission to hire, Mike Grant second, all in favor.
8 Principal’s Report
8.1 School activities:
List of recent school events:
Board made a special note of the quality of the Spring Concert this year! Thanks to all involved!
9 General Correspondence-
9.1 None
10 Personnel
10.1 Renewal of Principal’s contract - Steve Kossaloski made a motion to approve the renewal of the principal, Dennis Dobe’s contract. Motion to accept by Mark Bouzianis, second Mike Grant, all in favor.
10.2 Special Education Teacher search – Dennis Dobe has begun the search for a Special Education teacher. There is a good candidate and NES is working with Kensington since NES is looking for someone for 60% and they are looking for someone for 40%. The current candidate is very well qualified and within budget.
10.3 Library assistant resignation and search - Janet Szarmach has given her resignation, she is seeking a full time professional library position. Search has not been activated but will be in a month to two months.
10.4 Lead teacher for 2004-2005 - Thank you to Linda VanderEls who was the Lead teacher for 2003-2004. Linda VanderEls was nominated by the NES staff to be extended again for 2004-2005.
10.5 Grade two long-term substitute acknowledgement - Melissa Brockelbank has done a great job and provided a seamless transition for the second grade. Dennis Dobe and the Board want to thank her for her contributions to our school this spring and wish her well.
11 Building and Grounds
11.1 NES Beautification Committee - Kelly Corson has headed up a volunteer Beautification Committee who has done an excellent job cleaning up the school’s appearance by cleaning out the flowerbeds, pruning trees and planting new shrubs and flowers. Mr. Dobe and the Board extend their thanks to the Beautification Committee for all of their hard work.
11.2 Summer projects – all discussed in the approved encumbrances in section 5.2.
11.3 Memorial Planting – Jan Trueman recommend a memorial planting for Maureen Hackett at the school. The Board was in favor of looking into this.
11.4 Other - Mrs. Mikulich, the gym teacher, would like to offer a summer jump rope camp. The Board did not have enough information to come to a conclusion and did not know if there would be insurance liability concerns. This may be a possibility for next year.
12 Pupil Related Matters-
12.1 Newfields Jumpstars Awards
Dennis Dobe read the list of winners and participants in the recent jumpstar competition, NES is very proud of them!!
12.2 Other – End of the year awards
12.2.1 Dennis Dobe noted that the NES Alumnus Craig Favara was nominated for the NPTO scholarship award.
12.2.2 President’s Academic Excellence Awards were given to the following students: Quinn Conner, Tyler Doherty, Georgia Eastman, Scott Hiller, Benjamin Keach, Molly Klemarczk, Jenny Mae Martin, William Medley, Justyn Sterritt, Marshall Price and Parker Woodard. The Top Students were Tyler Doherty and Quinn Conner. Congratulations to these children and their achievements!
13 Board Reports/ Policy-
13.1 SAU 16 Chairs meeting update – There are discussions about the ways to bring the SAU boards together more productively. The intent is for these boards to grow together instead of separate. There may be professional negotiators available to provide services for teacher contract negotiations. There are discussions about the necessity of any additional joint board meetings.
13.2 Teacher contract negotiations – (non-public session after the meeting)
13.3 Newfields/SAU Policy Manual – Board to review
14 Old Business-
14.1 Parking Lot – Mark Bouzianis plans to have plan revisions in July. Depending on grading, plan to make the driveway wider, which could incorporate the handicapped parking. Mark will plan to get landscaping and lighting recommendations with different options to evaluate. Once these plans are reviewed and agreed upon, they can be brought to the town planning board for review.
15 New Business - None
16 Next Meeting - Monday, August 9, 2004, 5:30 PM.
17 Adjournment- The meeting was adjourned at 8:18 pm. Jan Trueman motioned to adjourn first, Mark Grant second. All in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Bellisio