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: Tim Riel, Tamy Anderson, Lori Bryant, Mary
Yeaton, Steven Patterson, Vicki Naugle, Kali Naugle, Lauren Naugle, Mary Beth
Magan, Diane Lewis, Lisa Bauer, Maranda Phillips, Carolyn Ortisi, Joy Rousseau,
Nicholas Brown
Agenda Item 1. Call
to Order – by Andrew Turnbull at
Agenda Item 2. Pledge
of Allegiance – lead by Gordon Ellis
Andrew
Turnbull congratulated the Epsom boys and girls soccer teams for their
championship victory in the southeast league.
Agenda Item 3. Review
of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting –
Gordon Ellis made a motion to accept the
minutes as presented.
Barbara 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Immediate Business
Agenda Item 4A. Agenda
Review
No
changes to the agenda were requested.
Agenda Item 4B. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Diane
Lewis PTO president shared information on recent PTO activities. The haunted house brought in $1200. Catalog sales brought in over $1500 which is
being donated to school for bus trips. The
next event is the new and improved craft fair “Santa’s Workshop” on November 19th.
Steven
Patterson, 8th grade social studies teacher, said that he is
encouraging his students to come to the school board meetings. Several of his students were in attendance at
the meeting. He requested that the board
provide a signature to confirm their attendance at the meeting, and also
encourage the kids to keep coming.
Mary
Beth Magan asked about the open slot on the school board. Andrew Turnbull shared that the board will
most likely wait until the elections in March, as the board is so very busy
right now with budget review and negotiations.
There is insufficient time to do a proper search for a replacement. Mary Beth asked if there legal precedence for
this? Dave Dziura said that the RSA does
say that the school board will appoint to a vacancy. There is no time limit set for when this
should take place. Andrew added that
even if the seat were filled, the spot would still be up for reelection in
March.
Agenda Item 4C. Administrators’ Report
Patrick
Connors spoke about AR Literacy Nights on October 25 and November 2 for the
primary/intermediate students and parents. On October 27th, TIGER (Theatre
Integrating Guidance Education & Responsibility), a theatre company from
Richard
Dougherty spoke about Fiesta Night that was done by the 7th grade
students. Barbara Doughty added that
this was a really nice event, and she complimented Mrs. Bauer on her work with
this. Patrick talked about the upcoming
Book Fair. Gordon Ellis asked about
current student enrollment. Patrick said
that they are currently at 469 students as of
Agenda Item 4D. Staff Issues
HQT
- Highly Qualified Teachers
There
was much discussion about new requirements concerning HQT - Highly Qualified
Teachers. Dave Dziura explained that in
August, the state was formally notified by the federal government that the
state was not in compliance with NCLB (No Child Left Behind), regarding HQT for
middle and high school social studies, and for elementary teachers. The state does not separately certify in the
various parts of social studies, including:
history, geography, civics/government and economics. For elementary school teachers, the U.S.
Department of Education indicated that more evidence is needed of adequate
teacher content preparation in math, science, English/language arts and social
studies than the current NH certification provides. The state would have to give evidence that these
teachers are HQT. The Praxis I and II
tests for teachers were generally discussed, and how they would/could be used
to meet the HQT requirement.
Dave
Dziura explained that there are two ways that teachers can gain the HQT
status. They can 1) sign up and take Praxis
II test which assesses content preparedness, or they can 2) put together a
HOUSSE plan. HOUSSE (High Objective
Uniform State Standard of Evaluation ) is where the building administrator and
the teacher get together to create a portfolio that contains transcripts from
the teacher’s past courses and experiences.
The HOUSSE plan would also present a strategy to shore up any weaknesses
in any areas.
Patrick
Connors said that ECS is paying for the practice books, workshops and testing
from Title II funds. Testing fees are $40
per test session (day), and $75 for each test.
Some of the professional development time will now be geared toward
this. With the
Seniority
Negotiation
Mary
Yeaton asked SAU to review her years of service. Mary was hired by Epsom on
Gordon Ellis made a motion to make Mary Yeaton’s
time of service continuous beginning
Barbara 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Agenda Item 4E. NWEA Testing Analysis
Patrick
Connors presented to the board some grade specific test results from the NWEA
testing. The tables he presented showed
the number of students: at one grade
below grade level, at two grades below grade level, in the 95-97% range, and in
the 98-100% range. The thrust of the analysis
is to see if programs of support are needed in the area of the gifted students
or in the area of students that are falling below grade level. The board will review the data and share any
conclusions that are drawn at a future date.
Old/Unfinished Business
Agenda Item 5A. Teen Substance Abuse Parent Forum
No
one was in attendance to discuss this agenda item. This will be moved to a future agenda.
Agenda Item 5B. Well for Athletic Fields
Gordon
Ellis discussed the issues with the well.
We will get poles set for free. The
telephone will be installed, he just has to talk to UNITIL. The well will be a dug well, as opposed to a
drilled well. Major focus now is on
getting the power connected. EYAA was
not present to discuss the water issue.
The water usage history was discussed.
It was determined that the past bills would not necessarily be
indicative of future use. Tim Riel said that the pump was still submerged. He and Gordon are going to pull it out, so
that it may be used for the new well.
Agenda Item 5C Voucher/Scholarship Proposal
The
board members took time to review the attorney’s written opinion on the
voucher/scholarship proposal. The
proposal was found by the attorneys: to
violate the district’s obligations under its AREA agreement; to be
unconstitutional, because it does not prevent the application of funds to
sectarian uses; to exceed the district’s authority by providing funds for
post-secondary education. The board asked
the SAU to request a meeting with the attorneys, so that they could ask them questions
regarding their assessment of the scholarship proposal. Dave Dziura suggested that the board meet in
non-session to get legal advice.
Agenda Item 5D. ECS Cafeteria Milk Dispenser
Bill
Yeaton said that the idea is to have this dispenser in addition to the milk
served at lunch time. Bill is waiting on
a call back about grant money to help fund the machine. Bill is going to follow up on this grant
information. This item will be placed on
the agenda again when more information is available.
Agenda Item 5E. Community Service Proposal
Gordon
Ellis expressed his concern about the implementation of a community service
program, without further burdening the teachers with the administration aspect
of such a program. This item will be
placed on the agenda at a future date when more information is available.
New Business
Agenda Item 6A. Ident-A-Kid Program
Lorne
Boulet presented information for the Ident-A-Kid Program. His program creates no work for the school
staff in order to be implemented. Posters
are put up the week before to identify the program. In addition to a regular card, there is also a
pre-driver ID card available, which is intended to have the child carry the
card on them at all times. Cost is $6
for 1 ID/$12 for 4 ID’s. The process
takes less than a minute to take the picture and get the students fingerprints,
so that there is a minimal interruption for any student to have this done
during the school day. Patrick Connors
felt that this could be arranged during school hours with minimal interruption
to the school day, for those families that want their children to
participate. The database of the
child’s data is placed on a non-networked computer at Lorne’s home that is programmed
to destroy all data after 60 days, so there is virtually no risk of the child’s
data being compromised. Patrick Connors said
that parents have contacted the school about this program, that they want
it. Diane Lewis said that 20 – 25 people
did it last year.
Barbara Doughty made a motion to adopt the Ident-A-Kid
program at the school.
Bill 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Agenda Item 6B. 2006/07 Budget Development
Dave
Dziura handed out budget packets to the School Board, including the Budget
Development Timeline, the Board Goals and the Itemized Budget. The meeting for budget discussion is Monday, November 21st at
Some
of the enrollment projections indicate 42 Kindergarten students and 48 first
grade students. Staff count will remain
the same. Currently, there are 233 Epsom
students at
The
town just recently set the tax rate for Epsom.
The local school tax rate is $8.59.
The state education tax rate is $2.01.
The total school district tax rate is $10.60. For the proposed school budget for next year,
with the increase that it includes, this would be a tax rate of $11.63, for a
$1.03 increase.
Other Business
Agenda Item 7A. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Lisa
Bauer – concerning HQT – teachers are up in arms about this. Two years ago when this requirement was being
formulated, Jane Fargo met with all people effected and encouraged them to be
proactive. Based on the knowledge
available at the time, Lisa was told that she was HQT. Now, based on this “audit” by the federal
government, they have now changed their mind, and she is no longer HQT. She is frustrated because no one has come
into her classroom, or observed what she’s done for the past 19 years, but
because the federal government says so, she is not HQT. The only comfort to be found in this is
knowing that she is not alone. Lisa also
offered her support for the community service proposal by Gordon Ellis.
Steve
Patterson also offered his support for community service by the students. Class discussion revealed that 1/3 to ½ of
his class is currently involved in some sort of community service.
Robert
Topik raised his concern about problems with the school building, such as the boiler
and air quality. He wants the board to
consider this with the budget discussions.
Bill Yeaton said that at the last building committee meeting, there was
only one other person there beside Patrick and himself. The building committee is waiting for the new
tax rate before they meet again. Dave
Dziura said that Don Harty indicated that the next meeting will be on November
17th. The information from that meeting
can be incorporated into the budget discussion on the 21st.
Gordon
Ellis requested that mini courses and the science fair be put on the agenda for
the December 7th meeting. He asked that
a thank you to the Veterans be placed on the bulletin board. Gordon mentioned that the flag was not up
today. Patrick explained that there was
a miscommunication between the two students that were supposed to raise
it. They were spoken to about this
issue.
Gordon
Ellis said that the selectman were very upset that we are not following proper
protocol in scheduling payments. Andrew
suggested that the board spend some time at the beginning of the meeting on the
21st to discuss this with Peter and the treasurer.
Agenda Item 7B. A.R.E.A. Update
Gordon
Ellis said that Allenstown hired a firm to do a survey on projected enrollment. Their surveys have been right on, and the
A.R.E.A. Board suggested that we (ECS) should do this, too.
Agenda Item 7C. Negotiations Issues
At
Bill 2nd
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Present in non-public session
were: Andrew Turnbull, Barbara Doughty,
Bill Yeaton, Gordon Ellis, Dave Dziura, Patrick Connors, and Richard Dougherty.
At
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Bill
Yeaton - aye
Barbara
Doughty - aye
Andrew
Turnbull - aye
Board Chairman, Andrew Turnbull announced that the
School Board had taken no action while in non-public session.
Agenda Item 8. Adjournment
At
Next
Scheduled Meeting is Dec. 7th @
Agenda Item 9. Informational Items