APPROVED MINUTES
NEWFIELDS SCHOOL BOARD
April 9, 2007 — 5:30PM
NEWFIELDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
In Attendance: Carolyn Bellisio, Joe Army, Michael Price
Administration: Steve Kossakoski, Dennis Dobe
Treasurer: Maggie Doane
Secretary: Dennis Dobe
Visitors: Jan Trueman, Ed Oddo, Nathan Lunney
Newly elected Newfields School Board member, Michael Price, was sworn in to office by Carolyn Bellisio-Kelly prior to the beginning of this school board meeting.
At the beginning of this school board meeting, the Newfields School board had no school board chairperson, thus, Dr. Steven Kossakoski served as the acting school board chairman until one could be officially elected by the board.
3.1 March 5, 2007 Board Meeting (Approved as written: Motion— Carolyn Bellisio, Second—Michael Price; Unanimous)
3.2 February 6, 2007 Deliberative Session (Approved as written: Motion— Carolyn Bellisio, Second—Michael Price; Unanimous)
4. Visitors
4.1 Jan Trueman
A. Mrs. Trueman thanked the school board members for their service to the
community of newfields, congratulated Michael Price for his recent election to the board, and turned her master key for the school in to Mr. Dobe for assignment to Mr. Price. The school board restated their gratitude to Mrs. Trueman for her 20 years of service to the Town of Newfields as a school board member.
4.2 Ed Oddo
A. NES Capital Improvement Plan – In process of updating, will present at upcoming school board meeting.
B. Summer Projects – Discussion of summer window replacement project. It is anticipated that the project will cost approximately $14,000, which will come from our building maintenance trust fund.
C. Parking Lot Project – Discussion of a proposal by a volunteer group of Newfields residents to construct a simple parking lot on the Janeway-Monahan properties. There is a motivated and skilled group who can come to our site with necessary earth-moving and other equipment necessary for completion of the project. The only concern raised involved liability concerns for those volunteers working on the project. Nathan Lunney offered his perspective based on his experience serving as the lead contact for SAU 16 with Primex, the SAU liability insurance company. Dennis Dobe was tasked (Motion— Michael Price, Second— Joe Army; Unanimous) to meet with Mr. Wes Moore (project organizer and Newfields Town Selectman) to show Mr. Moore the Board’s most recent plans for the parking lot project and attempt to find out what the group could do to help the Board toward the completion of that project.
4.3 Nathan Lunney
A. GASBE 34 – Mr. Lunney informs the board that GASBE 34 is an accounting and
auditing standard that seeks to have government agency financial accounting practices more like those used in other industry. Essentially, Mr. Lunney stated, our financial documents need to include more information, especially in the areas of asset determination and asset depreciation. This accounting move will help to better represent what the school district is worth in financial terms according to the value of fixed capital assets. GASBE is a standard, not law, but the federal government is expected to allow certain benefits, privileges, and monies to entities only if they are GASBE-compliant. Mr. Lunney states plainly that it would benefit the school to be ahead of necessity and make the move to GASBE compliance soon. He also states that the Newfields School District receives an ‘adverse opinion’ from our school auditors every year because we are not GASBE compliant. To become compliant, the school system will need to inventory all assets worth more than $5,000, and show depreciation for them. The school should inventory all qualifying assets, report debt service on those assets, and then develop a financial analysis (depreciation) for them. It is anticipated that the charge for this service by our school district auditors will be $1,600. Joe Army states that: 1. he does not like unclean opinions from auditors, 2. would like to show the value of the school as an asset, and 3. becoming GASBE 34 compliant would improve the school board’s case for future reinvestment in the school facility. The school board asked Mr. Lunney to approach our current school auditor and negotiate an appropriate fee for the accounting services necessary for NES to become GASBE 34 compliant.
The school board took a brief intermission of the meeting agenda to elect a chairman of the school board for the coming year, commencing with this meeting. After a brief discussion, Carolyn Bellisio nominated Joe Army for the position of Chairman of the Newfields School board. Mr. Army accepted the nomination. (Motion— Carolyn Bellisio, Second—Michael Price; Unanimous)
5. Business and Financial
5.1 Monthly Financial Report
Mrs. Doane stated that the Newfields School District had $260,956.90 cash on hand at the end of March. Additionally, Mrs. Doane reported the following fund balances: Maintenance Account--$7,389.71, Parking Lot--$6,755.31. Mr. Army asked Dr. Kossakoski for the language that governs how the parking lot fund may be expended. Steve will bring necessary documents to the May school board meeting.
6. Curriculum
6.1 Writing Program Update – Mr. Dobe reported that the NES teaching staff has concluded its writing program study and will elect to employ two programs that embrace the ‘Six Traits’ approach to writing instruction. Teachers at each grade level will draw from both a Heinemann Publisher series developed by Lucy Caulkins (leading expert on elementary school writing instruction), and the ‘Write Source’ program developed by GreatSource Publishers. These programs embody the writing instruction practices that the teachers have been studying with our consultant from Tufts university, researching from the study of several titles on the subject of writing instruction made available to NES teachers over the past year, and the work of teachers in N, KES, & EKES who participated in grade-level study group meetings on writing instruction over the several months.
6.2 Sargent Camp – Mr. Dobe announced that NES 5th Graders made their way to Boston University’s sergeant Center earlier in the day to begin their week-long environmental camp experience along with the 5th Graders from KES, EKES, and SCS. The children were excited and well-packed for their upcoming outdoor adventures which involve hikes, outdoor skills, ecology instruction, team building activities, a ropes course, and much more.
6.3 Spring Assessment Schedule -- Dennis informed the board of the dates for the upcoming spring time standardized assessments. First and Second Graders will be taking the Gates-MacGinitie Test of Reading between April 13 and April 30. Students in Grades 3-5 will be taking the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress in reading, math, and language usage. Fourth and Fifth Graders will also be taking test of science competencies. The NWEA tests will be administered between May 7 and May.25
6.4 NH Standards Compliance -- Mr. Dobe shared a document that outlined how NES meets standards of NH Ed306 as they relate to the NHDOE Commissioner’s educational accountability program entitled “Follow the Child”. Dennis also led a discussion of other components of Follow the Child and how the school will meet those standards, along with other SAU 16 schools, in the time to come. Most significant will be the establishment of ‘Digital portfolios’ for every child attending NES. The project is currently in development, and should be well underway by the Fall of 2007.
7. Superintendent / Assistant Superintendent Report
7.1 SAU Update – There were no particular notes or statements for this item.
7.2 Enrollment Update – Dr. Kossakoski reported that our enrollment remains stable at 166
students.
7.3 Review of March 13 Voting Results – the Board discussed the size of the voter turnout and the margin of support for the school budget and other school warrant articles. It was determined that contact should be made with newly elected School District Auditor, John Crisp. Joe Army indicated that he would contact Mr. Crisp, as well as the write-in candidates (tie) for School District Clerk (Robin Gray – 2 votes, and Jan Trueman – 2 votes). Dr. Kossakoski shared an analysis of school voting patterns in Newfields over the last several years.
8. Principal’s Report
8.1 Emergency Notifiaction Chart – Mr. Dobe shared a chart he developed that showed the
communication path in the event of several types of emergencies or situations at school that the Central Office and School Board should be be apprised of.
8.2 Enrichment Auction -- Dennis reported that the NES Enrichment Benefit Auction
‘Escape to Italy’ event held on Saturday, March 23, was an enormous success. The evening’s activities were well-attended and raised $11,930 to fund our school-wide enrichment program at NES.
8.3 School Activities – Mr. Dobe shared information on future school activities to include
the upcoming dates for early releases to facilitate parent-teacher conferences (4/11 & 4/18), and ‘Earth Week’ activities scheduled for the week of April 16th.
9. General Correspondence
9.1 Residency Policy Waiver Request -- Ms. Bellisio received a letter outlining a request for a student to continue schooling through the balance of the school year. Dr. Kossakoski will send a letter to the parent on behalf of the board outlining the current policy on this matter. By policy, the student will be allowed to remain at NES for the remainder of the 2006-2007 school year.
10. Personnel
10.1 Professional Staff Nominations for 2007-2008 -- Dr.Kossakoski notified the Board that they will need to go into non-public session to discuss necessary personnel matters. The Board also discussed projected student numbers for kindergarten and Grade One next year. Some of the various scenarios to address the declining student population at NES were also discussed.
11. Building and Grounds
11.1 Building Use Requests -- Mr. Dobe presented new building use requests for the Board
to consider. Requests to use the MPR for softball practices and a jump rope workshop were approved, as was a request to use the library for a sports organization meeting.
11.2Playground Mulch -- Dennis reported that new playground mulch was recently applied
to the playground in critical safety areas as well as to renew covering around the perimeter of the playground which is located on higher ground that the rest of the playground.
11.3 Project ‘Curb Appeal’ -- Mr. dobe indicated that there was extensive work and some
financial support needed to support an upcoming school grounds beautification project. The school board has long discussed the need to improve the school’s curb appeal, and with the recent stall in the progress of the parking lot project, the time had come to begin an outdoor appearance project for the school. It was suggested by Michael Price that the Newfields Garden Club be contacted to enlist their expertise in developing the project.
12. Pupil-Related Matters (There were no pupil-related matters reported.)
13. Board Reports / Policy
13.1 Joint Board Chairs Meeting
Carolyn Bellisio shared the minutes of the last Joint Board Chairs Meeting. She discussed information about the SAU 16 Superintendent search process. The next Joint board chairs meeting will be on May 21st..
13.2 Communication and Public Outreach Plan -- This item was tabled by the Board.
13.3 SAU 16 Policy Committee Update -- There was no policy Committee Update given.
13.4 Policies: First Reading
13.4.1 JLCH Do Not Resuscitate -- The Board discussed this policy but took not
action.
13.5 Policies: Second Reading [All of the following policies were approved by the Board: Motion to Approve by Carolyn Bellisio, Second by Michael Price, All in Favor.]
13.5.1 BG Board Policy Development
13.5.2 EGA Appropriate and Acceptable Computer, Network, and Internet Use
13.5.3 EGAD Copyright Compliance
13.5.4 EHAA Computer Security, E-Mail, and Internet Communications
13.5.5 KDC Website Publishing Policy
13.5.6 KDC-R Website Publishing Policy
14. Old Business (There was no discussion of Old Business.)
15. New Business
15.1 School Board Committee Assignments -- The following committee assignments were made.
15.1.1 Transportation -- This committee has been disbanded since its work to
negotiate a new transportation contract was concluded.
15.1.2 Policy Committee -- Michael Price
15.1.3 Superintendent Evaluation -- Carolyn Bellisio
15.1.4 Teacher Negotiations – All Newfields School Board members will participate on this committee.
16. Next Meeting
16.1 Board Meeting: May , at 5:30PM
17. Adjournment – 8:00PM
Ms. Bellisio made a motion to adjourn the school board meeting, second by Mr. Price, all in favor.