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: Barbara Clark
1. Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 5:34 p.m.
2. Non-public Session – none
3. Approval of Minutes
3.1 December 13, 2004 School Board minutes – Mark Bouzianis made a motion to approve, Mike Grant seconded. All in favor.
3.2 January 10, 2005 School Board minutes - There are two amendments to the January 10th minutes. In Section 4.2 under Parking lot estimates, ‘this is only one estimate’ is replaced with ‘Ed’s estimate was based off of two contractor bids that were incomplete,’ In the second to last sentence of this paragraph, ‘acceleration lane’ should be revised to ‘deceleration lane’. Mark Bouzianis made a motion to approve the January 10th School Board minutes as amended, Mike Grant seconded. All in favor.
3.3 January 10, 2005 Budget Workshop minutes - Mark Bouzianis made a motion to approve, Mike Grant seconded. All in favor.
3.4 January 15, 2005 Public Hearing minutes - Mark Bouzianis made a motion to approve, Mike Grant seconded. All in favor.
3.5 January 15, 2005 School Board minutes - Mark Bouzianis made a motion to approve, Mike Grant seconded. All in favor.
4. Visitors-
4.1. None
5. Business And Financial –
5.1 Monthly financial report – Maggie Doane provided the financial information. The October end of the month figures that were received and reported in the November minutes were incorrect. The correct figures are $4,793.27 for the School Building Maintenance Fund and $6,853.65 for the School Building Fund. The balances at the end of December 2004 are $4,804.44 for the School Building Maintenance Fund and $11, 872.47 for the School Building Fund. The cash on hand to date is $308,681.97.
5.2 Budget Summary Sheet – Balance is $34,555.69 which is a healthy place to be at this time of year.
5.3 Non-resident tuition update – A small claim has been filed to recover outstanding tuition funds.
6. Curriculum
6.1 Everyday Math/NEAP GLA Study – There was a standards outline to look at grade level expectations compared to Everyday Math. The study ran for a day. The outcome was document/reports that have been shared at the SAU level which will help to make sure that the school knows what they need to focus on for the NECAP. Mike Grant noted that Brainwaves, an educational store in Hampton, offers tutoring to help with Everyday Math materials and asked whether we would provide tutoring as well. Dennis would need to see if there was a demand enough to offer this type of service. During the early years of this program there is a transition for children and parents.
6.2 NAEP administered the test and the testing went well and the children were well behaved while taking the test. The sections taken by each student was randomly selected.
7. Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent Report
7.1 SAU Update – The new principal, Victor Sokul will be starting on July 1, 2005. He has completed a military career and has worked in Stratham and Keane High school.
The results of the survey on the high school has been received with a return rate of 60%. This was an anonymous survey with a random sampling of 600 families out of 3,000 enrolled students. If a similar survey were done for a small community like Newfields, this would include sending a survey to each family.
7.2 Enrollment update – Dr. Kossakoski reported that school enrollment has remained the same at 177. No change in any grade.
8. Principal’s Report
8.1 School activities:
· Hosted a visit by Philips Exeter Academy outreach program. 12 children from around the world came to classrooms and shared artifacts from other countries with the children.
· Friday, Feb 11th was the annual NES spelling bee. Three children from each class for grades 3-5 participated to represent their class.
· Valentine’s Day parties hosted in the classroom.
· Officer Phil, which is sponsored by Newfields Police Department, will come on Feb 16th. This is to discuss Stranger Danger and Firearm Awareness.
· Hobby Night and Science Fair is on Feb 16th– Displaying student art work. Student classes visit during the day.
· Field trip to the Newfields Town Library, Feb 17th and Mar 3rd.
· Red Cross blood drive, February 21st
· Read Across America will be held from Feb 28th – Mar 4th . Thea Burgess is organizing the event this year.
· Escape to Italy is on March 12th, the Enrichment committee has met to plan the auction on March 12th
9. General Correspondence
9.1 Received a letter from attorney that there is an easement deed verifying that the NYAA land is for use by the NES school. This was registered as of September 20, 1995.
10. Personnel
10.1 Barbara Clark asked about Mrs. Bromley maternity leave plans. Mr. Dobe noted that Mrs. Bromley has announced that she is planning to take vacation and maternity leave until the first quarter of 2006. Therefore there will be a need for a long term substitute for the fall of 2005. Carolyn Bellisio asked whether there were plans to make changes to the teacher assignments, based on Mrs. Bromley’s leave and the announcement of Mr. Bennett and Ms. Halpern’s engagement. Mr. Dobe responded that they are not prepared to make a determination of those assignments at this time.
11. Building and Grounds
11.1 Acknowledgement of Mr. Jack and Mr. Knipstein – Mr. Dobe wanted to acknowledge the additional effort of the janitors for all their work an extra effort of taking care of the school building. Mr. Knipstein is the road agent for Newfields and the roadways and school driveways have been clear. The grounds have been well tended and we have Mr. Jack and Mr. Knipstein to thank for it.
11.2 Parking Lot Update – The board has already made the decision to remove the asbestos during the summer and use the Building Maintenance Fund to complete this project. Mr. Dobe noted that having the doors closed to meet fire code, has caused the school to feel more closed down and would like to have the electronic door devices installed. The board has asked Mr. Dobe to request that Mr. Oddo receive some additional competitive bids to complete the work and move forward with the best bid and not wait for the next school board meeting. Mark Bouziansis made a motion that the board approves for Mr. Dobe and Mr. Oddo to use the best competitive bid to move forward to have the installation of the magnetic door locks. This would be paid for by the School Building Maintenance Fund. Mike Grant second. All in favor.
12. Pupil Related Matters
12.1. ‘Kids Helping Kids’ Tsunami Relief Project – Mr. Dobe reported that our students created a plan which raised $2,227.21 which was given to Save the Children. This fund met the goals of the children, which was to have the most amount of the money go to the children. For the size of our school, this was a wonderful sum of money and showed a tremendous amount of caring and effort.
12.2. Spelling Bee - Sean Meier (5th grade) and Stephen Bouzianis (4th grade) competed in the school spelling bee. The champion was Stephen Bouzianis and both students did a great job. Stephen will represent our school at a regional competition on Sunday, March 13th.
13. Board Reports/ Policy
13.1 Board newsletter – Mike Grant will e-mail newsletter and the impact on the town.
13.2 SAU 16 Chairs meeting update – The last meeting was on January 19th and the group opted not to have a February meeting. Two points to be noted from the meeting; First, there will be a special SAU joint board meeting on Monday, February 28th at 7pm for the sole purpose of discussing the Superintendent evaluation. Jan would like at least one school board member to attend. Second, Nate Luney who works in Walter Pierce’s office discussed bulk buying of utilities. Some schools are using PSNH and some are using Exeter Service Electric. The SAU will take on the responsibility of creating a committee to research this type of bulk purchase.
13.3 Newfields Policy Manual: First Reading – Mark Bouzianis had a question regarding 13.3.7, the second sentence is confusing, he would like it to be revised to state ‘parents shall register new resident students as early as possible’. Mike Grant made a motion to approve all of the policies listed below except JFAA. Mark Bouzianis seconded. All in favor. Mike Grant is still waiting for further information on prior request on GBG.
13.3.1 GBGA Staff Health
13.3.2 GBJ Personnel Records
13.3.3 GBJ-R Personnel Records
13.3.4 GCQC Resignation of Instructional Staff Member
13.3.5 GCQE Retirement of Professional Staff Member
13.3.6 JEB Age of Entrance
13.3.7 JFAA Admission of Resident Students
13.3.8 JFAB Admission/Attendance of Non-Resident Students
13.3.9 JH Student Absences and Excuses
13.3.10 JHC Student Release Precautions
14. Old Business – None
15. New Business – Jan Trueman presented Mike Grant an appreciation award for his dedication to NES and the NES School Board.
16. Next Meeting - Monday, March 14, 2005, 5:30 PM.
17. Adjournment- The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 pm. Mike Grant motioned to adjourn first, Mark Bouzianis second. All in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Bellisio