GOVERNOR WENTWORTH REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
Region #9 Vocational-Technical Education
Center
Monday, September 8, 2008
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Chair James Rines.
Members Present: Ernest Brown, Diane Drelick, Sheri Joy, Dr. James B. Manning, Donald Meader, Charlene Seibel, Stacy Trites and John Widmer.
Others Present: Superintendent of Schools John B. Robertson, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kathleen C. McCabe, Business Administrator Mary Patry, Heather Terragni, reporter for the Granite State News, Peter Pijoan who videotaped the meeting, as well as interested citizens.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
There were no changes to the agenda.
IV. ACCEPTANCE
OF MINUTES
Motion: To accept the minutes of the board meeting of August 18, 2008, as presented.
Moved by: Mr. Widmer Seconded by: Dr. Manning
Vote: Seven voted in favor, including the Chair. Mr. Brown and Ms. Seibel abstained.
Mrs. Drelick thanked Joanne for her work on the minutes of August 18th. She knew it was a long difficult meeting and said the minutes captured the public’s opinions.
V. PUBLIC
INPUT
Dr. Seibel said he
wanted to congratulate the School Board for thinking about the schedule changes
in the calendar and I wanted to encourage you to proceed. He realized these
changes have a great impact on the public because the school calendar pretty
much determines life for many in each town.
There will be an effect but that effect is something the public can and
ought to weather. He said there are some
really big changes he believes are great and would like to see them implemented
right now but realizes that it probably can’t be done. He wanted to encourage
the Board to make what scheduling changes can be made to save energy now. The big ones can be put off for a year so
the public will have a chance to know what you are going to do. He was very much in favor of the 4-day school
week, but understands that there are some big impacts on the families so how
about adopting that for next year and give the parents, grandparents and the
bosses a chance to know what is coming.
He just wanted to encourage the Board to go on, keep it up. He commended Jack for his great ideas.
VI. STUDENT
REPRESENTATIVE REPORT
Mr. Rines welcomed
Conner back. Conner stated it was great
to be back in his corner seat at the table. He reported that sports has already
begun, some started mid-August. Fall sports is up and running. The boys’ soccer
team and football teams won. The Kingswood Football team now has a mascot that
was donated by last year’s senior class – a Knight Suit. He also remarked that attendance at the games
has been really good. Jumpstart Day was
on August 27th with 40 student leaders who came to help out incoming
freshmen. The day ended with the
administrators cooking a barbeque for
the students. It was really great. He
thanked Ms. Crane who did a lot of work organizing the event. On September 2nd everyone returned
to school and everything went well. The
school building was sparkling clean, with some new paint in various places. He
thanked everyone who worked hard to make the first day and the atmosphere nice.
Conner reported that
senior Chris Mancuso has attained the status of finalist for the 2009 National
Merit Scholarship Competition. Kingswood
now has an Energy Committee that was formed to have general discussions about
how to cut back on the use of energy in the building. Freshman Elections are coming up. He wished all the candidates good luck. At the Vocational Center everything seemed to
be going well with 15 students from Moultonborough and 35 from Prospect
Mountain High School. The Agriculture
Students participated in community service by helping dismantle the Great Waters
Tent at Brewster. He also reported the
Construction Trades is working on a design to build a storage shed for the
Drama Department to house their props.
Conner reported the Community Back to School Night is to take place this
week on September 11th. He
urged parents to come to see what a typical day is like for their
students.
Conner asked to shift
gears to share his story about “What I did over the summer vacation.” He said he was approached by Mr. Meyers to
participate in a program called, “Boys State” that is funded by the American
Legion. It is a leadership, government,
and boot camp sort of experience. He
said he really enjoyed it. He was
informed on Graduation Night (applause from the School Board) that he had been
chosen to participate in Boys Nation. He
stated the American Legion sent him to Washington, D.C. where he participated
in a mock senate with 98 other students.
He toured Washington, D.C., met many incredible kids. For Show & Tell, Conner brought the two
shirts he was given to wear along with his certificate of participation. During the tour he had the chance to meet
with Senator Sununu and Senator Gregg.
Conner wanted to publically thank the American Legion for paying for his
trip for which he was forever grateful.
All the Board members congratulated him for
his participation in Boys State and Boys Nation and complimented him on his
attire.
Ms. Seibel asked Conner
about the status of the plaque to commemorate Mr. Gibson. Conner reported he had written to the Alumni
Association to let them know about the request.
They recently sent him a letter informing him they encourage and accept
plans to commemorate Mr. Gibson. Conner reported now that school is back in
session, the next step would be to work with Mr. MacMillan to arrange a service
and have the plaque made.
VII. SUPERINTENDENT’S
REPORT
A. Update
on Opening of School
Mr. Robertson reviewed
the opening schools schedule that began with new staff day on Monday, August
25th with the mentoring program that went very well and was coordinated by Dawn
Alexander-Tapper and Jamie Meyers.
Normally all staff day is held on the Tuesday but this year Mr.
Robertson had a chance to speak to a well known author, Jodi Picoult, who is a
resident of Hanover, NH. He convinced her
to come to speak to the faculty and staff. That took place on Thursday, August
28th. The Pledge of
Allegiance was led by two seniors, Carolyn Merrell and Megan Libby who each
gave a few remarks followed by Jack Widmer who represented the School Board in
Jim’s absence. Kathy McCabe spoke,
followed by Mr. Robertson and then Krista Abear, President of GWEA spoke to the
staff. Jodi Picoult has had several
books on the NY Best Sellers list. Mr. Robertson reported the book, Nineteen Minutes, was made
available to every employee in the district to read over the summer. Jodi came and spoke to the group about her
book. She stayed for 90 minutes talking
and answering questions from the audience. We were delighted when she stayed
another hour signing books for those who brought them. Her message was you can never stop bullying
from the top down, it must come from the kids.
We heard nothing but praise for the speaker who did a terrific job. We also heard the staff members like the new
schedule so they could spend Tuesday and Wednesday working at their schools and
then come to the Opening Day event at the high school. The schedule will be the same next year. Dr. McCabe reported the opening of schools
went very well. Mrs. Joy suggested a
thank you note on behalf of the Board be sent.
Mr. Robertson stated he had already done that and Dr. McCabe noted she
was presented with a nice flower arrangement.
Mr. Robertson reported
on enrollment figures for opening of schools 2008-2009 which shows the numbers
are down about 25 students over last year’s numbers.
B. Draft Calendar 2008-2009
Dr. McCabe distributed
a “Draft 3” calendar. The Board had
directed the administration to come back with some changes. The proposed changes were in red print. September remains the same as the current
calendar. October 13th was
the holiday, Columbus/Discovery Day but now will be a full day in school. That
holiday has been traded for Monday, November 10th. Because Tuesday,
is Veterans’ Day a required holiday and allows the schools to be shut down for
4 consecutive days. The current calendar
shows November 6th as an early dismissal for elementary schools for
afternoon parent/conferences and the 7th was an in-service day for
parent/conferences. Dr. McCabe stated
they propose having them be full school days.
On the 24th of November will be an in-service day that was
taken from the March 30th in-service day so 11/24/08 will be a
no-school day. The 1st half
of the day for elementary level would be in-service the afternoon and the
following day would be for conferences.
It will be a regular in-service day on the 24th for the
secondary schools followed by conferences on the 25th and it allows
us to operate the buildings at cooler temperatures for an entire week. At the
last meeting the Board discussed making the two days before the Christmas break
non-school days so schools can be closed for the entire week. January and February would remain the
same. The only change in March would be
the 30th as a full day in session.
April and May would remain the same.
June would have make up days as the 18th, 19th, 23rd,
24th & 25th with a proposed graduation date of June
13th. Dr. McCabe reported
she and Mr. Robertson tried to figure out a way to extend the February vacation
another full week, however, doing that creates some contractual issues. It ended up negating any potential savings in
energy. At the bottom of the calendar it
no longer states 180 days, it states the number of instructional hours
instead. Dr. McCabe wanted the Board to
understand this proposal has not gone before the Commissioner for approval
yet.
Mr. Rines asked if the
Board took action on this calendar how long would it take for the Commissioner
to act on it. Dr. McCabe didn’t think it
would be long at all because it did not require the State Board’s
approval. She stated the Commissioner
understands there is some need for expedience.
Motion: To approve the revised 2008-2009 calendar
marked “Draft 3” as presented.
Moved by: Mr. Widmer Seconded
by: Dr. Manning
The Board embarked on
an extensive discussion with one another regarding the calendar. Some of the
topics discussed included eliminating April vacation, a pre-arranged trip to
Costa Rica that would cause possibly 22 students to miss school, the Music Dept.
trip to NYC, trip insurance, blanket excused absences, making accommodations
for those who have already made travel plans, the current practice of family
vacation requests and significant changes for parents. Mr. Rines noted he had
already made deposits for two children to go on independent trips during April
vacation.
Mr. Robertson reported
the first calendar proposed at the August 18th meeting offered a
potential savings of $210,000, while this calendar offered about
$30,000-$35,000 in savings. Mr. Widmer stated all the ideas mentioned were
valid but not appropriate for this year.
He stated the Board had a responsibility to live with the current
calendar considering there are 50 or so students who are sent by neighboring
districts and would be missing school.
It might save some money but there are other people to consider.
Vote: Seven voted yes, including the Chair. Mrs. Drelick and Ms. Seibel opposed.
Motion: To
commit to implementing a calendar for next year that reflects four day school
weeks during the coldest part of the winter.
Moved by: Ms. Seibel Seconded
by: Mrs. Drelick
After some discussion,
Ms. Seibel withdrew her motion and restated it as follows:
Motion: This
Board will strongly encourage the Administration to create the necessary changes
including but not limited to a four-day school week to save energy for the
taxpayers.
Moved by: Ms. Seibel Seconded
by: Mrs. Drelick
Vote: Six voted no, including the Chair. Mrs. Drelick, Mrs. Joy & Ms. Seibel voted
in favor. The Motion failed.
C. Substitute Pay
Mr. Robertson reported
the rate of pay for substitutes is reviewed at the start of each year. He did not recommend any changes after
surveying area school districts to see what rates they were paying their subs. Mr. Brown inquired about the amount of
absences in the district. Dr. McCabe
said they would try to have that information at the next board meeting.
D. Policy Review – Roadmap #16
Mrs. Trites reviewed
the proposed changes for the policies as listed for a 2nd reading.
BCA School Board Member Ethics – Revised, the
regulation was eliminated and statements
incorporated into the policy.
BCA-R Eliminated.
BHE School Board Use of E-Mail – New policy.
JCA Change of School or Assignment – New
policy, required.
JICD Student Conduct, Discipline and Due
Process – Revised with new paragraph added.
JJE Student Fund Raising Activities – New
policy
JJE-R Sales and Solicitations (Name changed; new
paragraph added)
JJF Student Activities Fund Management –
New policy
JJF-R Student Activities Fund Management – New
regulation
JJG Non-School Sponsored Contests for
Students – Revised
JJIB Inter-scholastics Athletics –
Reaffirmed
JJIBA Credit for Participation in
Inter-Scholastics Athletics – Recoded was JJIF
JJIBB New Athletic Teams – Reaffirmed
JJID Student Physicals for School Athletics –
Reaffirmed
JJJ Extra-Curricular Activity Eligibility
JKA Corporal Punishment – Revised
There was some
discussion about the policy BCA before the final vote was taken. Dr. McCabe
noted while this Board has always worked very well together, it must realize
the current membership will not be here forever. Therefore, the expectations
should be carefully spelled out.
Policies are constantly in review in an effort to be more succinct.
Motion: To approve Policy Roadmap #16 as presented.
Moved by: Mr. Widmer Seconded
by: Mr. Brown
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
E. Authorization to Suspend and Assurances for
Grants
Mr. Robertson reviewed
the authorizations that are renewed each school year.
Motion: The Governor Wentworth Regional School Board
recognizes John B. Robertson, Superintendent of Schools, and Kathleen C.
McCabe, PhD, Assistant Superintendent, as our representatives and authorizes
them to suspend students from school for up to ten days in accordance with RSA
193:13-I(b).
Moved by: Mr. Meader Seconded
by: Mrs. Drelick
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
Motion: The Governor Wentworth Regional School Board
recognizes Kathleen C. McCabe, PhD, Assistant Superintendent of Schools and
Superintendent’s designee, as our representative and authorizes her to suspend
students from school for up to ten days according to State Statutes.
Moved by: Mr. Meader Seconded
by: Mrs. Drelick
Voted: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
Motion: The GWRSB authorizes Superintendent John B.
Robertson, Kathleen C. McCabe, PhD and/or Mary Patry to sign the assurances for
all grants.
Moved by: Mr. Meader Seconded
by: Mrs. Drelick
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
F. Late Bus
Mr. Robertson spoke
about the need to support parents while maintaining energy conservation. The late bus has been a reoccurring dilemma
that needs to be reviewed. It is understood
that the middle school needs are a little different from the high school
needs. Starting today the late bus is
going to leave the Kingswood Complex at 5:00 PM rather than 4:30 PM. He reported that the high school was pleased
to learn of this trial while the middle school was not. There was some discussion about the half-hour
gap at the middle school and supervising students. Ms. Seibel suggested that half-hour gap might
be a great opportunity for an adult to initiate age appropriate teachable
moments to work on relationships in an effort to reduce bullying. Dr. Manning
stated it was great to see the bus pass through Brookfield with more students
onboard. He also noted there were more
parking spaces available at the complex which was an indication that fewer
students are driving their cars to school.
Mr. Robertson will report back at the next Board meeting on how the time
change on the late bus is working out.
VIII. CHAIRMAN’S
REPORT
A. Correspondence
Mr. Rines reported
there was no correspondence.
IX. COMMITTEE REPORT
A. Academic Affairs
Mrs. Trites reported the Committee’s next meeting is on September 22, 2008 at 5:30 PM following the New Staff Reception. The Committee will focus on academics and policy review and an opportunity to meet Heather Cummings.
B. Building & Maintenance
Mr. Brown thanked those who covered for him during his recent absence. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM at the SAU Office.
Finance
Mr. Widmer had nothing to report at this time.
C. Public Information
Mrs. Joy stated the Committee plans to meet on September 10, 2008 at noon at the SAU Office. Future meeting dates will be determined at that time.
D. School Human Resources
Mr. Widmer had nothing to report at this time.
X. CLOSING ACTIVITIES
A. Advanced Planning
Mr. Rines reported the
next Board meeting will be on September 22, 2008 at 7:00 PM here at the
Vocational Center with the New Staff Reception beginning at 4:00 PM.
B. Public Input
Michelle Chamberlain was present and said she was the person who spoke at the last Board meeting about working at IGA downtown and expecting high school students to come after school to fill afternoon positions. She stated she was under the impression that questions raised at that meeting would be answered at this meeting. She wanted to know about the availability of federal grant monies to help offset the cost of energy. What would be the tax increase to home owners if you did nothing with the calendar? Michelle referenced Cynthia White’s question at the August meeting on whether or not the Parks and Recreation department was going to step in and help with some programs. She had come to this meeting hoping to get answers to some of those questions. Mr. Rines responded he had come away from the last meeting with the idea the Board requested the administration to come back with another calendar that contained lesser modifications. Dr. McCabe stated there were no untapped federal resources for grants. The district has always actively applied for all grant monies.
C. Closing Comments
Conner MacIver – His experiences with the School Board have given him valuable knowledge of parliamentary procedures which he used during his participation in Boys’ State. He commended the Board for running effective meetings. Today was the first day for late bus and I can see that is a very good thing at the high school level. Practice starts at 3:00 PM and some students have to start leaving at 4:05 PM in order to change and meet the bus that leaves at 4:30 PM. That leaves only an hour of practice. Today I heard that everyone was very happy with the later time.
Ernie Brown – He said he was looking forward to Conner’s Energy Committee report. He congratulated Kathy & Jack for hitting a homerun when they invited Jodi Picoult to speak on opening day. They took an important subject and put it out into the whole school community. Jim, thank you for keeping us focused on tax payer support for next March, we are sure going to need it. Charlene, I think everyone here wants to look for an aggressive schedule for next year. We will get to it, it just wasn’t going to be tonight.
Stacy Trites - She congratulated Conner on his involvement with Boys’ State. She was happy to see members of the public come to the board meetings two meetings in a row. It is good to see faces in the audience.
Sheri Joy – Thank you, Conner for your reports, it is good to see you back again.
Charlene Seibel – Welcome back to all our students and staff and I also very much appreciate the thoughtfulness to make the necessary changes to save tax payers money and certainly hope to mitigate many of the sacrifices and inconveniences that we are all going to have to accept. I hope we are able to rally everyone to do the right thing and support the bond. We will hopefully have some ways to save energy, getting away from electric heat, install energy efficient light bulbs and look at ways to conserve water with newer plumbing fixtures.
Diane Drelick – Thank you Conner for sharing your summer experiences with us. I was a little disappointed with the Board tonight. The whole idea of changing the calendar that did not come from the Board, it came from our Superintendent who told us about the problem and provided us with a solution which we felt at the time we couldn’t do right at the start of school. Our motions in the minutes reflect our intention of not extending the school day for at least the first semester. We wanted to give the public enough time to adapt. Change is difficult but it would inconvenience a few family vacations. Sadly we get caught up in the little details just as legislative bodies become caught up and become ineffective in getting things done.
Don Meader – I wanted to invite Charlene to visit his restaurant to see the water conservative bathroom fixtures because he felt she would be duly impressed.
Jim Manning – Welcome back Conner and you do look well dressed!
Jack Widmer – Welcome back, Conner and thank you for your reports. To address Diane’s comments, perhaps the Board was remiss in not meeting this summer. We could have acted sooner on the calendar. We got the calendar back in June to take a look at it. Everyone at the beach was buzzing about it; maybe we should have taken the bull by the horn and done something about it. We are to blame for not forcing the issue early on. It is what it is now and we should move forward to look at a calendar for next year to see that it works well for everyone involved.
Jim Rines – Welcome back, Conner and if you have any tips for running a meeting any better I would enjoy hearing from you.
XI. NON-PUBLIC SESSION
Motion: To go into non-public session in accordance with RSA 91 A:3, Subparagraph 11B and 11E at 9:20PM.
Moved by: Mr. Meader Seconded by: Mr. Widmer
Vote: Mr. Brown – yes; Mrs. Drelick – yes; Mrs. Joy – yes; Dr. Manning – yes; Mr. Meader – yes; Mr. Rines – yes; Ms. Seibel – yes; Mrs. Trites – yes; and Mr. Widmer – yes.
Mr. Robertson informed the Board of a legal matter, no actions taken.
Mr. Robertson informed the Board of student matters, no action taken.
Mr. Robertson informed the Board of a contractual item, no action taken.
Mr. Robertson informed the Board of a personnel matter, no action taken.
XII. END OF NON-PUBLIC SESSION
Motion: To come out of non-public session at 9:50 PM
Moved by: Mr. Meader Seconded by: Mrs. Drelick
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
XIII. ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 9:51 PM.
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
Respectfully submitted,
Joanne K. Fiorini
School Board Secretary
GOVERNOR WENTWORTH REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
Region #9 Vocational-Technical Education
Center
Monday, September 22, 2008
I.
NON-PUBLIC
SESSION
Motion: To go into non-public session in accordance with RSA 91 A:3, Subparagraph 11B and 11E at 6:20 PM.
Moved by: Mrs. Drelick Seconded by: Mr. Brown
Vote: Mr. Brown – yes; Mrs. Drelick – yes; Mrs. Joy – yes; Dr. Manning – yes; Mr. Meader – yes; Ms. Seibel – yes; Mrs. Trites – yes; and Mr. Widmer – yes.
The Board reviewed the Superintendent’s evaluation. No actions were taken.
II.
END
OF NON-PUBLIC SESSION
Motion: To come out of non-public session at 6:53 PM.
Moved by: Mrs. Drelick Seconded by: Mr. Brown
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
III.
CALL
TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM by Vice-Chair John Widmer
Members Present: Ernest Brown, Diane Drelick, Sheri Joy, Dr. James B. Manning, Donald Meader, Charlene Seibel, and Stacy Trites.
Members Absent: James Rines
Others Present: Superintendent of Schools John B. Robertson, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kathleen C. McCabe, Business Administrator Mary Patry, Heather Terragni, reporter for the Granite State News, Peter Pijoan who videotaped the meeting, as well as an interested citizen.
IV.
PLEDGE
OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
V.
AGENDA
REVIEW
Mr. Robertson added two items under his report: Calendar and Staff E-Mail and the Energy Conservation Contest was added under the Chairman’s report.
VI.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES
Motion: To accept the minutes of the board meeting of
September 8, 2008, as amended.
Moved by: Mrs. Drelick Seconded by: Mr. Brown
During the discussion after the motion was on the floor, another motion was made before taking the final vote to approve the minutes.
Motion: To include in the minutes on page 3394, under the discussion about the calendar, a statement Mr. Rines made about having made deposits for his two children who were participating in independent field trips during the April vacation.
Moved by: Ms. Seibel Seconded by: Mrs. Drelick
Vote: Six voted yes. Mr. Widmer and Mr. Meader voted no. The motion passed.
A call for a vote on the motion already on the floor to approve the Minutes of 9/8/08 as amended:
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Chair.
VII.
PUBLIC INPUT
There was no public
input at this time.
VIII.
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE REPORT
Conner MacIver reported
on events taking place at the start of the new school year. He thanked the
National Honor Society members who served as guides during Community Back to
School Night. He reviewed the freshman
election results: President – Andrew Martino; Vice-President – Sam Mason; Secretary
– Sebastian Salgado; Treasurer – Trevor Murray.
Homecoming Week started today with several events planned. The football
game is Friday and the dance is Saturday.
Conner reported all the
bleachers have been renovated. This past
weekend about 25-30 1968 Kingswood Alumni came to a reunion and visited the
school. The Skylight Dining room is
scheduled to open to the public on October 7th. The Agricultural students are traveling to
the Deerfield Fair on Friday for a competition. The construction trades
students are busy with projects both around town and on the premises and the
School Store has opened for business.
The Board noted
Conner’s 18th birthday is on Tuesday, and presented him with a small
cake and card as well as some birthday wishes.
IX.
SUPERINTENDENT’S
REPORT
A. Revision to Board Meeting Schedule
Mrs. Patry requested
the Board add another meeting date on January 5, 2009 in order to make the
final budget adoption and be in accordance with state statutes.
Mr. Robertson also
noted the locations of Board meetings for November 3rd and December
8th would be switched. Now
November 3rd would be at Tuftonboro Central School and December 8th
would be at Carpenter School.
Motion: To
approve the revisions to the Governor Wentworth Regional School Board meeting
schedule for 2008-2009.
Moved by: Ms. Seibel Seconded
by: Mr. Brown
Vote: All voted in favor, including the Vice-Chair.
B. NECAP Science Testing
Dr. McCabe reported on
the results of the Science NECAP tests that were administered for the first time
last spring to students in Grades 4, 8 & 11. This was a baseline test and the results were
just released last week. Grade 4 in the
Governor Wentworth School did exceptionally well with 63% of our students
attaining the proficient level while the state average was 49%. Dr. McCabe
reported everyone in the state was probably very disappointed in the Grade 11
results with only 21% of the students in the State of NH attaining the
proficient level. 20% of our Grade 11
students reached the proficient level.
Dr. McCabe asked Conner what he thought about the test. Conner said it was the hardest test he had
ever taken and found so many of the questions related to Astronomy which was
not a required course here. Dr. McCabe
reported that was found across the state of NH where the Earth & Space
Science thread was the lowest of all the threads and our students here take
that in middle school and then are tested in 11th grade. The district will be looking at that in terms
of curriculum.
Mr. Meader wanted to
know why they would test on material that wasn’t mandatory. Dr. McCabe reminded
everyone that this test is given to students in NH, VT and RI so NH’s
curriculum may be different from the other two states and that is always an
issue of give and take. Also there are
only so many things you can do in terms of life sciences, earth and space
science. They are trying to make sure
there is a well rounded curriculum and maybe next year there might not be so
many of those types of questions. We
must be careful not to over-react. 26%
of Grade 8 students across the State of NH reached the proficient level while
31% of our grade 8 students reached the proficient level.
Dr. McCabe was pleased
to report in Ossipee there were no 4th graders who scored 4 or 1
which is exceptional. Only 3
students in grade 4 across this district
scored a 1 which is significantly below proficient. That is exceptional.
C. NHSBA
Resolutions
Mr. Robertson asked the
Board to review the proposed resolutions and decide if the Board wanted to submit
a resolution. A decision was not needed
today. It was noted a delegate would be appointed at the next school board
meeting.
D. Policy Review – Roadmap #16
Mrs. Trites reviewed
the proposed changes for the policies as listed on Roadmap #17 for a 1st
reading.
EGAA Governor Wentworth Staff Email
(New Policy)
GCAA Highly Qualified Teachers (New
policy)
GCCA-E Leave of Absence –
Exhibit (Revised to provide clarity)
AC Non-Discrimination
(Revised)
JKD Suspension and Expulsion
(Deleted)
JKD-R Suspension and Expulsion
Guidelines for Modification for Modification
(Deleted – covered in JICD & JICD-R)
JKD-R2 Suspension and Expulsion:
Guidelines for Class Placement
(Deleted – covered in JD which was new
in 2008)
JICD-R Student Conduct, Discipline and
Due process (Revised to include reference
to RSA 193:13)
JLC School Health Services
(New, required)
JLCA Physical Examinations of
Students (Reaffirmed)
JLCB Immunizations and Tests
(Revised to include reference to RSA)
JLCC Communicable Diseases (Revised)
JLCCA HIV/AID Policy (Reaffirmed)
Mrs. Trites noted the
second reading would take place at the Board’s October 6th meeting.
E. NHSAA/NHIAA
Mr. Robertson provided
a copy of a proposed resolution regarding Inter-Scholastic Scheduling that has been
submitted by four school districts in the Upper Valley. The purpose was to
limit spending on escalating energy costs.
The resolution proposes to: 1)
reduce the number of athletic contests in each sport; 2) allow schools to
schedule more games close to home in each sport and; 3) encourage open
tournaments to facilitate the first two actions. The Board members engaged in a lengthy
discussion. No actions were taken.
F. Catastrophic Aid
Mr. Robertson brought
this topic to the Board as an information item. Local school districts pay 3½
times the average per pupil cost before it is eligible for aid then the state
reimburses 80% of the districts’ total cost.
When the district’s total cost is 10 times the per pupil cost, then it
is eligible for 100% reimbursement. Mr. Robertson reported the State has
encountered a shortfall of CAT Aid dollars so school districts can now expect
about 85-90% of the entitlement. For
some years, the State calculated transportation costs but other years they have
not. The legislature has never voted in the extra dollars needed for CAT Aid.
This district could lose $60,000 to $70,000 of expected revenue.
G. Calendar
Mr. Robertson met with
the Commissioner very briefly last week and explained the issues facing this
district. He distributed copies of the
approval letter from the Commissioner and the newly revised calendar.
H. Staff E-Mail – New Policy
Mr. Robertson
distributed a copy of a new policy EGAA regarding email use for staff. The plan is to provide every employee with a
district email address, a location to which all official email communication
will be sent, including but not limited to payroll notifications, professional
development opportunities and reports, and grade level communications. This move would reduce paper and eliminate
the need for the Acceptable Use of the Internet form signed by employees each
year. The only people who might have
difficulty would be bus drivers and food service personnel. No school business
will be sent to private email accounts.
Mr. Robertson asked that this be considered a first reading of this new
policy.
X.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
A.<