EPSOM SCHOOL BOARD
MINUTES OF MEETING
Present:
Board Members: Bill Yeaton,
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: Mary Beth Magan, Tony Cacciola, Diane Lewis,
Karen Goulet, Lisa Bauer, Margaret White, Shannon Bentzler, Bobbie Aversa, Jan
Santosuosso, Darcy May, Amy Beauchene, Linda Elliott
Agenda Item 1. Call
to Order – by Andrew Turnbull at
Agenda Item 2. Pledge
of Allegiance – lead by Gordon Ellis
Agenda Item 3. Review
of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting
–
Immediate Business
Agenda Item 4A Agenda Review
No
changes.
Agenda Item 4B. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Lisa
Bauer shared a very positive experience of the 7th grade kids’ 4-day
stay at Camp Mi-Te-Na. “Mi-Te-Na” means
“crescent moon”. Lisa showed the
journals that the kids made. Both
Barbara Doughty and Bill Yeaton spent time at the camp, and both relayed a positive
experience, and thanked Lisa Bauer for her hard work on the program.
Agenda Item 4C. Administrators’ Report
Patrick
Connors spoke about the excellent turnout at the Grandparent lunch. About 150 grandparents came. NWEA exams are complete. NECAP testing is now under way. The two open houses were well attended. The magazine drive for grades 5-7 raised
approximately $4,000, which is mostly used to differ the cost of the science
camp for Mi-Te-Na. The catalog
fundraiser is next week. The proceeds
from that will go into the school building.
Junior High progress reports will be coming home next week. Multiple activities took place for
Constitution and Citizenship Day on the 19th.
Agenda Item 4D2. Facility Issues - Catch Basin Problem
Gordon
and his crew fixed the catch basin problems.
Need to put money in the budget for regular maintenance. The purpose is to catch the dirt and
sand. The ones in the parking lot need
to be done every year. There are five of
those. The ones on the field are done as
needed. They are vacuumed out. It costs $75 to clear out each basin.
Agenda Item 4D1. Facility Issues - Water Source for Athletic Fields
Gordon
put forth two choices. A well can be
drilled, right next to pump house, and would cost approximately $7,000, or we
can put electricity down to the Quonset hut, and do a dug well. The cost would be about the same. The well seems to be the way to go, as
opposed to sucking water out of the pond.
The pump is still stuck in the pond.
EYAA has funds to help support the program. EYAA also wants a well. We should put a phone down there. If we don’t do the phone, it would cost $600
per pole plus the cost of rental of the poles.
If we put a phone in, the poles are free. Looking at the time frame for completion, the
water is usually not turned on until very end of May. Rain takes care of the fields until then. The first step is to get the power put
in. Gordon is working on this. The power issue can be addressed before it is
decided if a the well will be drilled or dug.
Bill Yeaton made a motion to have Gordon
Ellis look into getting the telephone pole and power down to the Quonset hut,
and have prices for it next month.
Barbara 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Tony
Cacciola brought up an idea from EYAA of putting advertising signs up on the
fences. This could generate upwards of $20,000
($500 per sign, 20 signs, 2 sides of the fence). Half of the revenue would go to the school for
athletics. The Board does have to
approve any signs that are put up. Dave Dziura
will check further into any rules about advertising. The signs would be vinyl signs. Other school districts are doing this. This issue will be put on the School Board
November agenda.
Agenda Item 4E. Substance Abuse Presentation
Bobbie
Aversa (who works in administrative for public health) requested that the School
Board allow for a presentation on drugs and alcohol in the Junior High
School. The presentation would be a
collaborative effort between the Department of Health and Human Services, Michelle
Ricco, a program manager with the Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug program, Eddie
Edwards from the New Hampshire State Liquor Commission and the state and local
police. Epsom police has no drug
officer. Epsom relies on the state
police. The presentation would focus on
parental, teacher and student awareness.
Bobbie is looking at a January time frame for this presentation. The Board requested that Bobbie give the
Board a more detailed agenda about the presentation for the Board’s review.
Agenda Item 4F1. School Board Goals - Length of School Day/School Year
Discussion
There
is a new RSA (Revised Statutes Annotated) for the school year – RSA 306.18. Each board has options for how to fulfill the
requirements of the school year. The
school year can be based on 180 days, or 945 hours, or RSA 306.20 offers an Alternative
School-Year Scheduling Pattern. There
was much discussion about the pros and cons of even investigating options. The Board decided to form an exploratory
committee, headed by Barbara Doughty, that is charged to take a look at the
options available. Patrick will send out
a flyer to the students’ families requesting support for the committee.
Agenda Item 4F2. School Board Goals - Advanced Achievement Class Parameters
Patrick
Connors and Richard Dougherty met with teacher groups to get their input. Discussion with the teachers looked at ways
in which advanced achievement was already being addressed in the school. The AR program addresses reading student
needs at all levels. 7th and
8th graders have different levels of math to address the varying
levels of student abilities. A major
concern is how to structure an Advanced Achievement program, based on current
staffing and schedules. In order for the
school to assess the need for Advanced Achievement Classes, the NWEA scores can
be used. This testing is completed. Some children are certainly way above other
students in their class, but if they are improving, then they are already being
challenged. The Board decided to take a
look at the NWEA testing results, and further discuss this issue at the next
Board meeting.
Agenda Item 4F3. School Board Goals - PA Program
The
Board has a goal where one of the objectives is to select appropriate data to
be received from
Old/Unfinished Business
Agenda Item 5A. Voucher/Scholarship
Proposal
Andrew
Turnbull presented a draft Voucher/Scholarship Proposal to the Board. Epsom doesn’t pay tuition for kids that are
attending different schools, so we’re sharing 67% of the savings with these
students, if they maintain at least a B average. The proposal has been written to help parents
and students put education first, instead of cost first. This could also help with the over-population
problem at PA. At the AREA meeting, the
thought was that when the 2nd high school is built, they would need
those students, so there was a lack of support for the idea. The Board requested that the SAU submit the
proposal to the attorney, and let them know if it presents any conflict with
state or federal law, or any conflict with the contract with AREA. Dave Dziura mentioned that this most likely
will be something that the Board can’t decide, as he didn’t believe that the
school board has the power to use taxpayers’ money to give scholarships.
Agenda Item 5B. Policy/Review Development
Dave Dziura explained to the
Board that everything that the SAU wrote in the draft policies was the law, and
that those policies describe what the administration is currently doing.
Barbara Doughty made a motion to accept the Daily
Physical Activity Policy, as it is presented to us, with reluctance.
Bill 2nd
THE
MOTION DID
Andrew
Turnbull – no
Andrew Turnbull made a motion to adopt a
Daily Physical Activity Policy that consists of the 1st sentence of
the draft policy as it is presented to us.
Gordon 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis – aye
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
There
was much discussion on the Homeless Student policy.
Dave
Dziura wants it made clear and put in the minutes that the SAU will continue to
do what is written in the draft Homeless Student policy as presented, because
they will not break the law.
Andrew Turnbull made a motion to adopt the Admission
of Homeless Students policy limited strictly to the first sentence of the draft
policy as provided to us.
Gordon 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis – aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
New Business
Agenda Item 6A. Grades 6-8 Community Service
Gordon
Ellis made a proposal for making community service part of the school year for
6 – 8 graders. The expectation would be
that students perform the number of hours of service equal to two times their
grade level. For example, a 6th
grader would do 12 hours for the school year.
There was much discussion about whether or not this would be mandatory,
or just recommended. A reward system was
discussed.
Gordon
Ellis made a motion that we adopt a community service plan for grades 6 – 8 at
ECS, with the number of service hours at two times their grade level.
There
was much discussion about how to over-see the program, and who would keep track
of the hours.
Bentzler
explained how it was tracked in the upper grades at PA. The Board withdrew the motion so that they
would have time to consider how the program would be implemented. This issue will be placed on next months
agenda.
Agenda Item 6B. P/T Custodial Help
Gordon
Ellis brought up the fact that we become short-handed for custodial help, at
certain times. The idea of calling in temporary
help was discussed. It was stated that the
more difficult problem may be getting someone that is willing to come
on-call. The Board asked the SAU to see
if they can find someone that is interested in being available for custodial duties
on an on-call basis.
Agenda Item 6C. Cafeteria Milk Dispenser
Bill
Yeaton called the Granite State Dairy commission, as they used to have a grant
for milk dispensers in school. He is
waiting to hear from them. The board
discussed the variety of milk that is currently available and the pros and cons
of having a machine installed. One of
the reasons that this is being addressed is to have a more healthy option
available, as opposed to sugar-filled drinks.
Richard Dougherty distributed a hand-out concerning product, pricing and
profit on the current drink machines.
The profits from the machines are currently used to offset the cost of
producing the yearbooks, as they cost $27 per book to produce, and are sold for
only $20 a book. Bill Yeaton will
continue to pursue the grant information.
Other Business
Soccer Tryouts
The
board discussed the possibility of having school team soccer tryouts prior to
the school year starting. Most schools
do that anyway. It was discussed that
the coaches would need to give their input on this, however the coach can change
year to year. Epsom is becoming more competitive,
and this will allow them to get more practice time in. Also, this will help EYAA to have more time
to setup teams. Some kids didn’t get
into EYAA, as they had tried out for the school team and didn’t make it, but
had not signed up for EYAA. Kids coming
in later in the school year was discussed, and what considerations would be
given. It was decided that notices of
the change would be publicized, so that the word was out that the tryout dates
are changing. The possibility to play
for Suncook was also brought up. They
have programs available for kids up to U16.
Barbara Doughty made a motion to have boys and girls
soccer tryouts in August, prior to the start of school.
Gordon 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 1
Gordon
Ellis – aye
Bill
Yeaton - no
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Agenda Item 7A. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Lisa
Bauer had been asked to see what “Mi-Te-Na” meant. She said that it is Indian for “Crescent
Moon”.
Diane
Lewis spoke about the upcoming PTO haunted house. There will be two different things going on –
the haunted house for the older kids, and a scavenger hunt for the younger kids: It will be Friday night (before Halloween) from
Bobbie
Aversa volunteered to be on the committee to discuss the length of school day/school
year issue. She wants to look at
percentages of kids at top of their classes versus the kids that are at risk. She wondered whether our money would be
better spent supporting programs (such as Advanced Placement) that better
challenge the kids in the top of their class, or if the money would be better
spent helping the at risk children. Bobbie
would be very interested in getting info on what Gordon talked about with the
PA program, seeing how the Epsom students compare to the students coming from
other schools in the area. She expressed
her concern to the school board for taking on a liability by not accepting 100%
of what was given to them in the draft policies. She said that Epsom would be better served to
spend a few extra dollars and do what the law mandates, than to have to come up
with the money to fight one of these issues in court. Bobbie also made a suggestion that perhaps
the Physical Activity policy could be incorporated with the Community Service
requirement.
Gordon
Ellis gave some meeting dates to the board.
The Deliberative Session would be held on February 4th, with
a snow date of February 11th.
He mentioned to the administration that the gym needs to be free on
those days.
Mary
Beth Magan thanked the board for changing the soccer tryout dates. This allowed other options for the kids that
did not make the school teams.
The
2nd meeting in November will be on Monday, November 21st
at
Agenda Item 8. Adjournment
Motion
to adjourn by the Chair, Andrew Turnbull at
Agenda Item 9. Informational Items