Deerfield School Board

Deerfield Community School

Deerfield, New Hampshire

Tuesday, February 21, 2008   

 

MINUTES OF MEETING   

 

PRESENT:  John Harrington, Bonnie Beaubien, Kevin Webber, Kevin Barry, Don Gorman, Paul Yergeau, Peter Warburton, Tom Haley, Kandy Davitt  

 

 

1.  Call To Order-Mr. Harrington    

 

The February 21st, 2008 DCS Board meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Chairman John Harrington.  

  

2. Pledge of Allegiance   

 

Mr. Harrington led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.  

 

3.  Minutes of Previous Meetings    

 

A motion was made by Kevin Webber to accept the minutes of February 7, 2008

 as corrected, seconded by Kevin Barry.

 

All In Favor

Motion Carried

 

4.  Immediate Business   

 

A.  Agenda Review   

 

No Changes

B. Citizens’/ Staff Comments  

 

None Made

 

C.  Energy Study Report-Grade Seven Students

 

 The following students participated in researching and presenting the S.T.E.M.report to the DCS Board: 

Jennifer Bailey, Allison Barnes, Aidan Beausoleil, Jake Carozza, Maddi Diaz, Kelsey Hanson, Brien, Catherine Zarakotas, Juleah Heath, Josselyn Jackman, Lindsey Langdon, Mahra Lawrence, Austin Morgan, Rachel Murphy, D.J. O’

At the end of the presentations the following recommendations were made to the board members:

v     Add solar panels to heat the hot water tank. Not only will this save the school money, but students and the community could be educated on using alternative energy.     

v     Insulate the hot water tank.

v     Turn thermostat down to 50° F at night when building is not in use.

v     Build vestibules to all outside exits or entrances to keep heat in.   

v     Take advantage of natural light. 

v     Instruct personnel to close blinds and curtains to reduce night heat loss in winter.                               Repair or replace existing blinds and/or curtains.

v     Consider implementing a school project to make quilted blinds in each class with students.                            

v     Reset thermostats to correct settings. 

v     Install timer or energy management system to adjust  temperature appropriately   

v     Regularly check the efficiency of the boiler and service and when needed.                                                    Post signs to remind occupants to turn off lights when they leave the room.                                            Rewire light switches, so lights can be turned on separately.                                                  

v      During our audit we found out that the roof only has three quarters of an inch of insulation. In addition the roof is leaking in some places. Consider better insulation should the roof need to be replaced.               

 

The members of the board thanked Mrs. O’Donnell and the S.T.E.M. Committee for their presentation and stated that they would review the report and discussed how the recommendations could be implemented.

 

D.  N.C.L.B. -Mr. Gorman, Mr. Yergeau

 

No comments or reports were made at the meeting.

 

E.  Wetlands Plan-Mr. Gorman

 

Mr. Gorman stated that he had spoken to Mr. McGary about the wetlands and if any further progress had been made such as reviewing the proposal to the state.  Mr. Gorman stated the Mr. McGary was hoping to make it to the meeting tonight but was unsure of his availability.

It was noted that if Mr. McGary came to tonight’s meeting the board would revisit the issue.

 

F.      Budget/Deliberative Session Review-Mr. Harrington, Ms. Beaubien

 

Board members agreed that the questions that were asked by the Deerfield citizens at the Deliberative Session were substantive.  Mr. Gorman noted that most of the discussion was focused on the proposed Charter School.  Members agreed that it was important to inform the public that the warrant article did not support the specific charter school that is being proposed but to open the town of Deerfield to all Charter Schools.

 

G.     Action Items- Kevin Webber

 

Action Items were reviewed.  It was noted that the water concerns listed be reviewed by Paul Yergeau and Peter Warburton.                              

Added items were:

Thank you letters to the 7th grade students who participated in the S.T.E.M program.

 

5. Old/Unfinished Business  

 

A. Policy Review-Mr. Harrington

 

A motion was made by Kevin Barry to rescind the High School Transportation Reimbursement Policy, seconded by Kevin Webber.

 

All In Favor

Motion Carried

 

A motion was made by Don Gorman to reaffirm the Agenda Preparation and Dissemination Policy, seconded by Bonnie Beaubien.

 

All In Favor

Motion Carried

 

6.  New Business

 

A.  Review of comments from Deerfield Staff on February 7th, 08 -Mr. Harrington

 

The board discussed the following items that were brought forward by the teachers at the previous Feb. 7th School Board Meeting.

1.      Paving of the parking lot

2.      Custodial Issues

Kindergarten Rugs, vacuums, air filters on the exchange units

The board discussed if the school should replace carpeting at the end of the year or clean them.  Mr. Yergeau stated that this issue has been a discussed at length.  Many staff are concerned with the impact on the environment if the rugs are discarded every year.  Mr. Yergeau will continue to monitor the situation.

The board members requested that the filters be cleaned more often and suggested that on a weekly basis the filters should be checked. 

The board addressed the sanding concerns of the staff.  It was determined that due to the timing of the storms it has not always been easy to get the parking lot sanded, before the staff begins to arrive for the school day.  Mr. Barry informed the board that the road agent brought the front loader to DCS to push back the snow banks.

 

A motion was made to take $1,000  from the Maintenance by Kevin Webber, to reimburse the Town of Deerfield for the front loader/sanding, seconded by Don Gorman.

 

All In Favor

Motion Carried

 

 

7.  Other Business

 

A. Informational Items-Administrators and Board Members

 

John Harrington passed out a letter written by Kathy Matthews to the members of the board.  Mrs. Matthews discussed in her letter her concerns about landscaping at DCS.

 

Don Gorman-brought forward to the board the idea of starting a trust fund dedicated to the paving of the parking lot.  Mr. Gorman stated that the sand coming into the building makes it difficult to keep the building clean.  Mr. Gorman also stated that by paving the parking lot it would allow spaces to be painted and make more room for parking.  A trust fund would add 3 cents/$1000 on the tax rate.

Kevin Webber supported Mr. Gorman’s idea and felt that it was a good way to accomplish something that has been put off for so many years.

Bonnie Beaubien stated that she had nothing against the paving but would rather see monies used for books, etc that have been asked for but not purchased.

 

Paul Yergeau-informed the members of the board that the Dept. Of Ed. has rescheduled their visit to April 1st.

The phase II of the DINI report has been passed in.

 

The board reviewed the Energy presentation that was made earlier by the 7th grade students and stated that several of the items could be done without much effort such as:  insulating the water heater.

The board members decided to continue discussing the recommendations and to have priority list made.

Mr. Haley informed the board that Pembroke is working with Honeywell which is going throughout the Academy addressing energy concerns.    The board placed this item on the Action List.

 

B.  Agenda Preparation

 

Election results

Agenda Items

 

C. Citizens’/Staff Comments

None were made


8.  Adjournment


At  7:45  P.M. a motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Kevin Barry seconded by

Kevin Webber.

 

 

All In Favor

Motion Carried

 

The next scheduled Deerfield School Board meeting will be Tuesday, March 20, 2008 at 6:30 P.M.