NOT APPROVED
NEWFIELDS SCHOOL BOARD
February 11th, 2008 — 5:30PM
NEWFIELDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
In Attendance: Carolyn Bellisio, Joe Army, Michael Price
Administration: Nathan Lunney, Dennis Dobe
Treasurer: None
Secretary: Dennis Dobe
Visitors: Pam Abbott, Ed Oddo
3.1 January 12th, 2008 Board Meeting (Approved as written: Motion— Carolyn Bellisio, Second—Michael Price; Unanimous)
4. Visitors
4.1 Pam Abbott – Maureen Hackett Shakespeare Trust Fund
Mrs. Abbott spoke on behalf of the trustees of the Maureen Hackett Shakespeare Trust
Fund, expressing concern over the school district’s proper withdrawal of funds from the
Maureen Hackett Trust. It appears that there is no mechanism to ensure that funds are
withdrawn on an annual basis as agreed to in the letter establishing the fund in 2005.
Further, Mrs. Abbott expressed concern that no funds were requested last year, and that
no Shakespeare programming was scheduled for the 2006-2007 school year. Mr. Dobe
indicated that it is true that NES did not entertain a Shakespeare program last year and
provided an explanation accordingly. Mr. Dobe also outlined several Shakespeare
enrichment programs that have been provided for NES students over recent years, and
pledged to continue scheduling Shakespeare and/or dramatic arts residencies for NES 4th
and/or 5th Graders when possible in the years to come and to continue to schedule
dramatic arts performances for the entire student body as often as practicable. Mr. Dobe
also agreed to write a letter to Dr. Thomas Hackett of the Board of Trustees to outline
past and current programming related to William Shakespeare and dramatic arts
education, as well as to pledge good faith in expending funds from the trust as outlined
in the letter of agreement between the Board of Trustees and the Newfields School
Board. Nathan Lunney agreed to look into an automatic mechanism for transferring
funds from the Trust to the NES Deferred Enrichment Accounts.
4.2 Ed Oddo – Capital Improvement Plan
Mr. Oddo presented the updated Capital Improvement Plan for NES, highlighting
completed projects as well as the priority of projects yet to be completed. The School
Board discussed plans for the expenditure of funds still available in the School
Maintenance Trust Fund as well as those the school district may receive if Article 4 on
this year’s Newfields School District Warrant is approved by the Newfields electorate on
March 11th. It was determined that work on the school roof would take precedence this
year over other proposed and necessary projects. A roof drain will need to be repaired in
one zone of the roof where frequent ponding is a problem, and significant
improvements/renovation will be necessary in another zone of the roof that has shown a
tendency for ponding and leaking.
5. Business and Financial
5.1 Monthly Financial Report
School District Treasurer, Maggie Doane, was not present at this meeting, but sent a report of fund balances to the school administration for presentation at this school board meeting. The report stated that the Newfields School District had $422,903.07 cash on hand at the end of January. Mrs. Doane’s report also stated the following account balances: Maintenance -- $3,968.26, Parking Lot Planning -- $7,038.75. There was also some discussion between the school board and school administration over the current balance on the 2007-2008 school budget. Mr. Lunney indicated that he believed the school would have sufficient funds left to complete the school year, and should have a balance left at the close of the school year – though not nearly as significant a surplus as at the close of last year (which was a definite anomaly).
6. Curriculum
6.1 Literacy Mapping Project
Dennis Dobe reported to the Board regarding plans to complete this year’s literacy mapping project. The NES staff recently heard a presentation from a representative of Performance Pathways, the company that developed Performance Tracker (a software suite purchased by the State of New Hampshire Department of Education to assist schools in their analysis of NECAP and other assessment data), and TechPaths (a curriculum mapping software package that links with Performance Tracker and the NH curriculum standards to provide a comprehensive, wrap-around opportunity for school principals and teachers to analyze their curriculum and student performance on standardized tests such as NECAP and NWEA). The school will likely acquire access to TechPaths for its literacy curriculum mapping project, the work for which will most likely occur at the close of the school year, late in June. This project is expected to be funded in large part with funds from NES Title IIA and Title V grant appropriations.
6.2 2007 NECAP Results
Mr. Dobe provided a brief presentation on this year’s NECAP test results for students in
Grades 3-6 (grades for which NES is responsible under NECAP testing structure). Dennis’
observations were that NES continues to perform above state averages across the board
(grade levels and subject areas) and that our performance was consistent with those of our
sister schools in SAU 16 (one of the very highest performing SAUs in the state). Overall,
NES students demonstrate increased rates of success as they move through their grade levels
at NES – which is a strong achievement. However, expectations for performance under ‘No
Child Left Behind’ also continue to increase. So for as well as NES students and staff
performed on these important tests, NES will be very close to not making Adequate Yearly
Progress under NCLB. Further test data analysis is scheduled for NES staff using both
traditional methods and the new analysis tool: Performance Tracker. Mr. Dobe expects to
provide the board with further, more in-depth analysis reports at a later time.
7. Superintendent / Assistant Superintendent Report
7.1 SAU Update
Nathan Lunney announced that SAU 16 has appointed a new Superintendent for the coming
year. Michael Morgan, current Superintendent for the Barrington, NH, school system has
agreed to terms with SAU 16 and has signed his new employment contract. Mr. Morgan
will assume SAU 16 Superintendent of Schools responsibilities effective July 1st, but has
and will continue to meet with Dr. Skip Hanson to help facilitate his transition to SAU 16.
Mr. Lunney also updated the Board on the SAU 16 Superintendent and Assistant
Superintendent evaluation process. Nathan also spoke to the Board about discussions being
held regarding the Assistant Superintendent position to be vacated by Dr. Stephen
Kossakoski effective June 30th. The last item from Mr. Lunney as part of the SAU Update
involved an invitation to join a lawsuit initiated by the NH School Boards Association to
require the State to fund the shortfall in the NH Retirement System, rather than place
responsibility for making up that critical shortfall upon local municipalities. Joe Army made
a motion to table this matter to an upcoming meeting (Second by Michael Price, All in
Favor).
7.2 Enrollment Update & Projection
Nathan Lunney reported that the current NES enrollment has remained stable at 164
students since last month. Mr. Dobe then discussed anticipated enrollment figures at NES
over the next few years (reduced enrollment anticipated) and introduced some
programming, staffing, and staff assignment possibilities that the School Board may wish
to consider over the coming months before summer.
8. Principal’s Report
8.1 January Early Release Inservice Activities
Mr. Dobe shared the agenda for the recently held January 30th early release inservice day.
He indicated that the NES staff makes very good use of early release and full staff
inservice days to make progress toward stated school and SAU goals as well as other
matters related to curriculum, instruction, assessment, technology, etc.
8.2 School Activities
Mr. Dobe informed the Board about upcoming and recent NES activities to include:
the NES Spelling Bee on 1/30, the Incoming Kindergarten Parent Information Night held
on 1/31, Newfields School District Deliberative Session on 2/5 at 7PM, an physical
science enrichment program with ‘Jeff Danger Science Ranger’ on 2/13, the NPTO
Father-Daughter Dance on 2/16 at 6PM, Black History Month presentations all day on
2/20 sponsored by the Newfields Town Library, and the annual NES Hobby Night activity
on 2/20 at 7PM.
9. General Correspondence
There were no correspondence items for the School Board this month.
10. Personnel
10.1 Anticipated Leave Request
Mr. Dobe informed the Board of an anticipated maternity leave request that would run
through the beginning of the coming school year.
11. Building and Grounds
11.1 Building Use Requests
There were no building use requests for the Board to review.
11.2 Facility & Grounds
Mr. Dobe reported that recent facility projects included: a significant amount of snow
clearing off our road and walkways, and a roof contractor visit to evaluate our school
roofing needs. Dennis also indicated that he anticipated work to be done in the school
kitchen (sink spraying apparatus) and would suggest the school consider investing in a
new phone system in the future, if possible. Mr. Lunney indicated that he’d get SAU
Technology Services out to NES soon to evaluate our current telephone system and our
future telecommunication needs.
12. Pupil-Related Matters
12.1 NES Spelling Bee Results
Mr. Dobe informed the Board that NES has a new spelling bee champion: Maggie Stark
from Mrs. DuPont’s Grade 5 Class. The NES 1st Runner-Up was Sam Kalish from Mrs.
Bromley’s Grade 4 Class. Dennis indicated the school staff was very proud of all of the
NES class champions, and relayed that all students in the school-wide spelling bee did a
very nice job. School Spelling Bee Champion Maggie Stark will represent NES at the
regional spelling bee held in Portsmouth in March. Mr. Army asked Mr. Dobe to extend
theSchool Board’s congratulations to Maggie and Sam for their accomplishments.
13. Board Reports / Policy
13.1 SAU 16 Superintendent Search Update
Mrs. Bellisio reiterated Mr. Lunney’s previous announcement that the Superintendent search had concluded successfully, and that SAU 16 has appointed a new School Superintendent who is scheduled to assume his new duties on July 1st.
13.2 Policies – The Schooll Board tabled the following policies to the February meeting.
13.2.1. IHBF Homebound Instruction (Second Reading) – No discussion.
13.2.2. JRA Student Records and Access (Final Reading) -- Discussion continued on the
military access to student records portion of the proposed policy. No action was
taken on the policy during this meeting.
14. Old Business
The School Board considered whether to include school board recommendation language to
two articles on the School District Warrant for 2008-2009. The Board elected to add the
recommendation language for Article 5, but not for Article 3 (Motion by Michael Price, Second
by Carolyn Bellisio, All in Favor).
15. New Business -- There were a no matters of new business discussed by the Board this evening.
16. Next Meeting
16.1 Board Meeting: March 10th, 2008, at 5:30PM.
17. Adjournment – 8:08PM
Ms. Bellisio made a motion to adjourn the school board meeting, second by Mr. Price. All in
favor.