EPSOM SCHOOL BOARD
MINUTES OF MEETING
Present:
Board Members: Bill Yeaton,
Brian McCormack, Andrew Turnbull (chair), Gordon Ellis, Barbara Doughty
David
Dziura - Assistant Superintendent of SAU 53 Schools
Patrick
Connors – ECS Principal
Richard
Dougherty – ECS Vice Principal
Tracey
Miner - secretary
Citizen/Staff: Tami Preve, Patty Willis, Becky Saulnier,
Judy Snell, Don Harty, Mary Beth Magan, Alison Graichen, Brian Nase, Diane
Lewis, Irene Webb, Karen Goulet, Lisa Bauer, Charles Yeaton, Kristen Rhoades,
Karen Keeler, Lisa Bryant
Agenda Item 1. Call
to Order – Andrew Turnbull at
Agenda Item 2. Pledge
of Allegiance – lead by Gordon Ellis
Gordon
announced that there would be an official flag burning ceremony at the American
Legion Hall at
Andrew
then turned the floor over to Brian McCormack who announced his resignation
from the Epsom School Board, in pursuit of his Associates Degree in Physical
Therapy. Brian thanked the board for the
opportunity to have served, and offered his help to the board when needed.
Agenda Item 3. Review
of the Minutes of Previous Meetings
Immediate Business
Agenda Item 4A. Agenda Review
4E
Parent Request was removed from the
Agenda.
Agenda Item 4B. Citizens’/Staff Comments
There
were no Citizens’/Staff Comments
Agenda Item 4C. Administrators’ Report
Patrick
Connors discussed student enrollment. As
of
The
server is up and running with a fan installed in the server closet. ECS is currently fully staffed. The athletic director is Lisa Strano. Jack McGourty will be coaching fall
soccer. Patrick discussed NWEA Training for
certified staff on August 29th. Testing for
the students will be September 12 -30.
Andrew strongly encouraged the school board members to come in and take
the test to become familiar with it.
Patrick spoke about teaching the very young grades computer skills –
K-2. They learn how to use the mouse,
and how to put their fingers on the keyboard.
Patrick said that a committee is being formed for the reading buddy
program.
Constitution/Citizenship
Day is September 19th. The
possible conflict between Picture Day and Constitution Day was brought up. Patrick pointed out that the time to take
pictures was quite short (approximately 20 minutes) for each class, and that
this should not be a conflicting issue for Constitution Day.
N.E.C.A.P.
Testing, October 3 – 25th – grades 3, 4 and 6, 7 students have three math
tests, each up to 90 minutes long, and three reading tests, each up to 90
minutes long. Grades 5 and 8 students
have three math tests, each up to 90 minutes long; three reading tests, each up
to 90 minutes long; and, two writing tests, each up to 90 minutes long.
To
see sample questions for the test, you can find these on the web at: http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/curriculum/Assessment.htm
Dates
for all ECS Events can be found on the ECS website at: http://sau53.org/net
then click on “Epsom Central School
Event Calendar”.
Brian
Nase is a physical education teacher at ECS.
He presented the idea to write for a grant for an indoor rock climbing
wall. There would be no up front cost to
the school. Subsequently, it would cost
a few hundred dollars a year for upkeep, like new ropes. Brian said that he has been a phys/ed teacher
for almost 15 years, and feels that this is a very safe apparatus. Other schools in the area, like
Agenda Item 4D.
Don
Harty spoke about the Building Project. Don
asked the board where they stand on project?
He mentioned that Frank Catanese had resigned from the committee, because
he felt that the board no longer supported the project. The Building Committee had not met since May
2005. They are waiting to see if the
School Board is behind the project.
Individually, each board member expressed their commitment to the
project. Bill spoke of the disappointment
of having to regenerate the effort for this project year after year. Barbara mentioned all the hard work that had
been done by the Building Committee, but said that it is a hard to sell to the
voters. She also believed that the use
of a construction manager is a good idea.
Gordon believed that the project is causing major concern to voters,
because of tax increases from the recent housing reassessment by the town. Andrew summarized in saying that the most
difficult hurdle is selling the idea of the Building Project to the voters of
Epsom.
The
bond issue was raised. Dave Dziura said
that we can get a bond quote at any time, but need to be closer to the bond
sale time, to get an accurate rate. It
would be best to wait until we were closer to the date of the deliberative
session. We must reapply for a
preliminary approval from the state. It
was noted that we did not have to use the bond bank, that we could also go to a
regular bank.
The
subject was raised that there is no school board member on the Building
Committee. Don’s response was that the
Committee really needs to have a board member on it, mostly for better/faster
communication purposes, and to show support to the community. Don mentioned that, most likely, the number
of “No” votes is not what will change the next time that this is voted on. The real goal is to get the number of “Yes”
votes raised by perhaps 100 - 150. Bill Yeaton
is on the Building Committee. The
minutes that listed the members of the committees had not yet been approved, so
no one had seen that there was a board member (with a designated alternate) on
the Building Committee.
Agenda Item 4F. Special Education Program
Patty
Willis, Special Education Director for SAU 53, and Tammy Preve, Special
Education Coordinator at ECS, gave an oral, informational presentation of the
Special Education program at ECS. Patty
handed out an outline, and first discussed the IDEA – Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. It IDEA
started out in the 1970’s as a public law.
This was when the first movement began to bring to light the realization
that students with special needs were being placed in much less than acceptable
conditions. The movement tried to get
the students into an acceptable school environment. In 1990, the IDEA was born, where people with
disabilities, ages 3 – 21, were guaranteed the right to a free and appropriate
public education from the school district.
Early Intervention programs (state sponsored) handle children ages 0 – 3
years. In June 1997, an IDEA Amendment was
written that focused on discipline and behavior. In December of 2004, the authorization of
IDEA was signed by the President. The federal
government now provides guidelines for interpreting this law. The guidelines will be out by February of
2006. Those will then be interpreted by
NH, and NH will come up with their rules.
One of the major changes is that IDEA must be aligned with NCLB (no
child left behind).
What
does the SAU do – cases manages. They represent
all spec. ed. kids in court. They
provide spec. ed. transportation and attend meetings to help represent the
school in difficult situations with families, etc. SAU represents the school at due process
hearings. SAU coordinates the Medicaid
program, secures court money for placements, updates budgets monthly, coordinates
placements in different schools and secures IDEA grants.
What
does the school do – provide related services to the students. The school coordinates with regular teachers
and writes IEP’s (Individualized Education Plan), which are done annually. IEP’s are group determined by spec ed
teachers, regular teachers, parents and the student. Guidelines are state mandated. Policy is written by the federal
government. Any student that comes in that
is recommended for assessment, the team will do the assessment. Only about ½ of the students assessed
actually are found to need services.
There
are difficulties in implementation. The
federal government is supposed to fund 40%, but they are only doing about 10 –
11%. Due Process hearings themselves are
2 days, and that does not include preparation.
This is time taken away from the teachers and SAU. Out of district placements are difficult
mostly due to a lack of availability of facilities. Many of the public misunderstandings of
special education were discussed. The Spec
Ed program tries to integrate the kids into the regular classrooms. Unfunded mandates are another problem. Approximately 9% of ECS students are
receiving special education services.
ECS has 3 case managers that cover K–2, 3-5, and 6-8, respectively. Every 5 years there is on-site visit by the
Department of Education. This year, ECS
is being reviewed. Measurements of
progress are objective.
Patrick
Connors discussed Special Education expenditures. On average, the annual increase in raw
dollars for the Epsom school budget, due to special education expenses is only
½ that of any of the other schools in the SAU.
For the 2003/2004 school year, through the budgeted 2005/2006 school
year, the percentage of the school budget spent on special education has
remained level at approximately 16% +/- of the budget.
Tammy
and Patty were asked about the range of disabilities of children receiving
services. An example of a student receiving
the most services is wheelchair bound, non-communicative, has no purposeful
functioning of their hands, needs to be changed, and has a feeding tube. An example of a student receiving the least
amount of services would be a pre-schooler who perhaps has an articulation
problem forming letters with their mouths.
Barbara asked about the 504 Plan.
This provides accommodations only and not specialized instruction. This is also a protection that every building
must provide. i.e., the entire school
must be handicap accessible. Gordon
asked about one-on-one instruction.
Patrick said that we have 9 one-on-ones.
There are 9 special education paraprofessionals.
Old/Unfinished
Business
Agenda Item 5A. 2005/06 Bus Routes
At
the last school board meeting, this agenda item was added for this meeting, in
case bus routes needed to be discussed.
It was determined that there were no issues with the bus routes. Bill brought up discussion as to whether or
not the recent hike in fuel prices would change the bus rates. It was determined that there is nothing in
the contract to cause rates to increase due to increased fuel costs. However, the board members realize that if
the bus company had to request an increase in order to stay in business, then
that issue would need serious consideration.
The question was raised as to whether the high school bus was full. Diane Lewis indicated that the high school
pay to ride bus is pretty much full in the morning. Afternoon bus is pretty much empty, due to
after school activities.
Agenda Item 5B. 2005/06 School Board Goals
The
timeline for implementing goals was discussed.
The Timelines and Evaluations were filled in by the staff and the
administration. Much of the discussion
focused on one of the goals that was written to span two years, instead of just
one. Dave Dziura said that board goals
should be one-year goals, whereas the multi-year goals usually appear in the
local educational improvement plan. Goal
12. was changed to read: “Develop program descriptions for advanced
achievement classes in math, ELA (English Language Arts) and science by the end
of the school year.” by May 2006. Also,
the Evaluation for this should probably have 2 criteria: 1) in Oct/Nov, have a discussion with
admin/staff/bd about what the expectations should be, and 2) in May 2006, the program
description, presented by the administration, could be reviewed by the Board. Patrick did ask the Board to consider the
impact to regular teaching schedules and student scheduling for any goals that
they may set concerning Advanced Achievement Classes.
Goal
10. There is no baseline to show
improvement of 50%, as this is the first year of the N.E.C.A.P. testing. That would have to be a 2-year goal. Better to change the baseline to be
“established on current year tests”. Data
from this year’s testing should be ready in February 2006.
Vouchers
were discussed. It was decided that this
was not something that should be pursued inside of the goals.
The
SAU will go ahead and make the changes to the goals and post them on the ECS website.
New
Business
Agenda Item 6A. 2006/07 Budget Development
A deliberative
session date was set for Wednesday, February 8th at
Agenda Item 6B. Policy Review/Development
Several
new policy proposals were handed out by Dave Dziura, for review by the
Board. Dave said that they come about
through state and federal laws that have been instituted, and by the change in
the minimum standards that the state effected this past spring. They are:
Admission of Homeless Students, Student Absences and Excuses,
Student Absences – Procedures and Daily Physical Activity Policy
Admission
of Homeless Students - One particular
issue of contention on this policy is the mandate to provide transportation to
homeless students, in all grades in the school district. This means that we are not required to
transport “homed” high school kids, but we are required to transport homeless
high school kids. This could also mean
that we have to transport them to other districts, if this is what is decided
on between the two districts involved in the housing transition. This policy was held to be placed on the
agenda and to be voted on next month, in order for the board to give this new
policy some thought.
The Daily
Physical Activity Policy was discussed at length. The overall feeling was that the policy was
not necessary, and made unfunded mandates.
This policy was held to be placed on the agenda and voted on next month,
in order for the board to give this new policy some thought.
Andrew Turnbull made a motion to adopt the Student Absence
and Excuses policy and the Students Absences – Procedures policy as
presented to us tonight.
2nd Barbara.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 1
Gordon
Ellis – no
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
A
fifth new policy was handed out at the meeting called the Epsom School
District Computer Purchase Agreement.
This makes available to the employees of the district(s) the opportunity
to purchase computers and a bulk discount purchase price, via payroll
deductions over the course of the year.
This would be coordinated by the SAU.
Gordon Ellis made a motion to adopt the Computer
Purchase Agreement for the
Bill 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis – aye
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
A
sixth new policy was handed out at the meeting called the Compensation
Annualize Pay Agreement. This was a new
option for paraprofessionals this year.
The current policy defaults to 26 paychecks per year. This option has been available to teachers
for a number of years. If it is to be
changed, it isn’t something that we can change.
It has to be changed through the school board’s agreement, and be
approved by the president of the teacher’s union. The union has already agreed with the change
for anyone that wants to make it at this time.
11 people did not respond to this question on their contracts. 7 of the 11 want to switch to 21 weeks of
paychecks. The SAU recommends changing
the default to 21 pay periods. It was
further recommended that both teachers and paraprofessionals are handled the
same way. Should be consistent. That SAU agreed that they would take the
steps necessary to implement corrections based on the change, on this one-time
basis.
Andrew Turnbull made a motion to authorize the SAU to
enact the changes requested by ESSA with regard to the annualized pay issue on
a one-time non-precedent setting basis.
Barbara 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 1
Gordon
Ellis – no
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Other
Business
Agenda Item 7A. Administrative Report on Kindergarten/Non-kindergarten
Students
Patrick
Connors did some research on the results of NWEA testing data for junior high
students, comparing kids that had attended kindergarten at ECS, versus kids
that had attended kindergarten at other locations, or had never attended
kindergarten. This comparative analysis
was performed to establish the value of attending kindergarten as it relates to
achievement at higher grade levels. This
analysis, based on this small sample
size, shows that, on average, there is
somewhere between ½ a year and a year’s worth of improvement in math and
reading test results for those children that attended kindergarten.
The
Board looked at results for Epsom Honor Roll.
This is a report that would be made available to the Board at each
grading period.
Gordon
requested that Community Service for 6-8 grade be placed on the agenda for next
time, along with part-time help on a custodial level at the school. Gordon also requested that vouchers be added
to the October Board Meeting. The Board
was reminded that EYAA had requested that the Board have a representative at
their meeting in the library on September 28, Wednesday at 7PM. Bill would like to see a milk dispenser
machine in the school, just as there are juice machines. He will do the leg work and bring in the
figures to next month’s meeting. Patrick
will do the leg work and find out how much money the current juice machine is
making.
Brian’s
vacancy on the ETA Negotiations Committee was filled by Barbara Doughty.
Gordon
mentioned that more help is needed with the fields. He has also requested that Constitution Day put
on the school sign out front.
Agenda Item 7B. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Diane
Lewis talked about the PTO yard sale on Saturday, September 10th. Seven people had signed up for tables. Playground funds will go in a CD for the
year. Every fund raiser for this school
year will be used to support the teachers.
PTO had a float at Old Home Days which won 2nd place. There were children’s activities. PTO will be having the Haunted House again
this year. PTO is also planning on
helping out with the dissemination of information for the Building Committee.
Alison
Graichen said that 12 kids from the chorus sang the National Anthem at Old Home
Days. She wanted to thank those kids for
coming out.
Lisa
Bauer said that there would be a poster of the presidents, laminated, to be
hung on the wall.
Mary
Beth Magan expressed her gratitude for the board adding advanced placement work
to the goals, but worried that kindergarten will be sacrificed. Mary Beth felt that to perform a
comprehensive study of the impact of attending kindergarten on future test
scores, the Board would need to consult the SAU for valid numbers. She also recommended consulting other towns
and resources.
Gordon
then requested that the catch basin issue be placed on next month’s
agenda. It needs to be cleaned. Gordon will have a price for that at that
next meeting. He also mentioned that the
pump is still in the mud, and this too needs to be on the agenda for next month
with the intent to make a decision. Dave
said that he will put Facility Issues on the next agenda. Whoever goes to the EYAA meeting – ask them
to attend our next meeting to discuss this from their perspective.
Patrick
Connors said that the coach of another team for cheerleading wants to use the facilities
here. Our policy has eight categories
for classes of users to use the facility.
This would fall under “Other Private Groups”. Thirteen children are on the squad, two of
which are Epsom children. The team is
the Hooksett Hurricanes. The coach did
not show up for this meeting to discuss this request. It was decided to do nothing with the request
at this time.
Agenda Item 8. Adjournment
Andrew Turnbull made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
2nd Barbara.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis – aye
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Meeting
was adjourned at 9:33PM
Next
Scheduled Meeting is October 5th 2005.