EPSOM SCHOOL BOARD
EPSOM CENTRAL SCHOOL
MINUTES OF MEETING
Present:
Board
Members: 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
Excused – Bill
Yeaton
Citizen/Staff: Tony
Cacciola, Lisa Strano, Janet Allen, Carol Verity, Darlene Roy, Diane Lewis, Jon
Harwood, Jr., Lee L. Bird, Bianca Bird, Lauren Naugle, Vicki Naugle, Shannon
Bentzler, Lynne Lesieur, Jan Santosuosso, Chelsea Jarest, Amanda Taillon,
Colleen Steinbeiser, Carolyn Steinbeiser, Molly Todd, Mary Beth Magan, David
Goulet, Don Harty, Tamy Anderson
Agenda Item 1. Call to Order
– by Andrew Turnbull at
Agenda Item 2. Pledge of
Allegiance – lead by Gordon Ellis
Agenda Item 3. Minutes of Previous Meeting –
Gordon Ellis made a motion to accept the
minutes as revised.
Barbara 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Immediate Business
Agenda Item 4A. Agenda Review
Agenda will be followed as written.
Agenda Item 4B. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Janet
Allen relayed a message from Lisa Bauer to thank the board and the administration
for their hard work with the new HQT requirements for the teachers..
Agenda Item 4C. Administrators’ Report
Patrick
Connors handed out an Administrator’s Report, which he discussed. Wreath sales helped defrayed a large portion
of the Mi_Te_Na costs. The PTO held a successful
Santa’s Workshop and a week-long Book Fair.
Drama Club has started signups for auditions for Aladdin and His
Wonderful, Magical Lamp. Patrick
discussed the Math-a-thon, organized by Ms. Strano. The school has started a Respect and Behavior
Recognition Program with eagles to be placed in the hallway. Patrick discussed the uniforms for cheerleading,
which will cost about $460, which includes lettering. Patrick spoke with Michelle Ricco from the drug
alcohol and tobacco program. They are ready
to present to the school and parents in January. Two donations were made to the school. (Discussion about these is later in the
minutes.) The Geography Bee will be open
to the public. Gordon Ellis asked if new
wax needs to be purchased for the new machines.
Agenda Item 4D.
No
one was yet in attendance for this. This
agenda item will be moved to later in the meeting, as it is known that Mr.
Harty will be attending the meeting tonight.
Agenda Item 4E. Mini-courses and Science Fair
Lynne
Lesieur handed out the Mini-courses signup forms. “You’re Fired” and Archery are new this
year. Gordon Ellis asked how many
children signed up for each course, and Lynne read off the numbers for the
board. Lynne said that the way that the
signups were done this year was much more efficient, as more courses were
available in both the AM and the PM sessions.
Everyone student got something from their first through third
choices. Lynne wanted to also thank her
volunteers who worked so hard getting the names assigned: Michelle Pinsonneault, Sharon Gelinas and
Sharon Streeter. Andrew Turnbull asked
how children were being transported to the courses that were not held at the
school. Lynne said that the busses are
being paid for through the BOXTOPS program.
$1300 was turned in from spring and fall.
Carol
Verity discussed the 6th grade science fair, which will be separate
from the 7th and 8th grade fairs, as they would spend
more time working on the process.
Students were given a list of twelve topics to choose from, with a
maximum of three students choosing each topic.
She is going to coordinate with the English teachers for the public
speaking part of reports. Children are
expected to do this as an individual effort, no teams. Parents can help, but the end result has to
be the child’s effort.
Darlene
Roy discussed the 7th and 8th grade science fair. They present their projects in the
classroom. They also set up in the gym,
and present to the whole school, and in the evening, they present to the public. The students have been asked to choose a
topic that has an experimental component to it, as that is part of the overall
SAU 53 rubric that was developed as a guidance for science fairs. Fifteen of the strongest presenters will go
to PA. Barbara Doughty asked what
prevents kids from reusing last year’s project.
Darlene explained that the teachers do track that. However, a student can do a variation or a
continuance of what they did previously.
The English department will help with the presentation aspect of the
project.
Darlene
Roy has been involved with a group of teachers to revise the science curriculum
to align it with the upcoming state science standards. This has been a three-year process. The group wants to share this with the school
board. Barbara Doughty asked that this
be placed on the agenda for January.
Gordon
Ellis asked if there was any thought about having the whole school do the
science fair. Darlene Roy said that the
level of effort to produce the type of work that is required by the science
fair was geared to the upper grade levels, but she certainly didn’t see why the
lower grade levels could not have something along the lines of a “Science
Share” where they could work on areas that younger children could be excited
about.
Agenda Item 4F. Donation to School
Patrick Connors read a letter, making a donation of $50 for purchasing children’s books in the name of Robert Mantone, whose grandchildren, Ryan and Jacob McDonald attend the school. Patrick also presented a donation from the Martial Arts School of Tae Kwan Do of two gift certificates for $149.
Barbara Doughty made a motion to accept
the Robert Mantone donation on behalf of the McDonald children.
Gordon 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Gordon Ellis made a motion to accept the
gift certificates from the martial arts school to be managed by the
administration.
Barbara 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Agenda Item 4D.
Dan Harty spoke for the Building Advisory Committee which met last week. In May/June the committee wanted to go forward with the 8-room addition and renovations. Enrollment expectations were supposed to be the same, or go up. The committee asked the school board for updated enrollment projections. Projections from last year showed that over the next 10 years, enrollment would go up to the 620 – 630 range. Enrollment at the beginning of the school year this year was about 469. The School Board Association put a projection together that shows that future enrollment is actually going to start dropping.
Depending on which study you look at, enrollment ten years from now will be in the 460 – 470 range, or as low as 400. Therefore, the Building Advisory Committee voted to recommend to the school board that they not go forward with the proposal we had last year for an 8-room expansion and renovations.
Much discussion was held about the existing building problems and how to resolved them. It was noted that, since the proposal was an addition, the state supplemented us, including the renovations. Now, since there is no addition, the town would have to foot the whole bill. David Goulet spoke to the advantages and/or disadvantages of having the needed repairs and renovations placed in the budget or in a warrant article. Gordon Ellis suggested that the school board charge the committee again next spring. Andrew Turnbull thanked the Building Committee for their help.
Old/Unfinished Business
Agenda Item 5A.
Patrick
Connors said that Mary Wagner expressed interest in the position. Gordon Ellis spoke to Linda Martel, who felt
that she could jump in and take it over, but she did not want to run for the
position in March. Dave Dzirua said that
the position needs to be filled by January 1st.
The school board felt that they would be able to have the position
filled within a few weeks.
Agenda Item 5B. School Board Stipends
Dave
Dziura explained that school board stipends are paid semi-annually. All other districts’ stipends have already
been paid. Some Epsom school board
members had expressed that they wanted their stipend returned to the school
budget. Partial school board terms,
relative to stipends, were discussed.
Dave said that the SAU had no precedence from Epsom for handling partial
stipends, or stipends that are returned to the school budget. The board decided that this would be
discussed at the next meeting, when all members would be in attendance.
Agenda Item 5C. 2006/07 Budget Development
Dave Dziura talked about a new health insurance
proposal for 06/07 school year from HealthTrust, a service of the
The board discussed the difficulties of filling
substitute teaching positions, and the impact to the budget and the school,
especially when this results in pulling a paraprofessional or an aid from
another room. Dave Dziura mentioned that
if this were a problem, it would have come up, because it would have shown up
in a state audit. Rich Dougherty indicated
that approximately 10 – 15% of the time we’re pulling someone from another area
to cover, rather than getting a sub, as a sub is not available.
Barbara Doughty asked if there was money in the budget
for assisting the teachers with the Praxis II for those that want to take it? Patrick Connors said that based on recent
news as to HQT status for Epsom teachers, there was only a handful of people left
that need to be funded, and that an additional $1500 would cover the cost. This should be added to the inservice
training line item. A lot of money has
already been spent out of Title II funds for this. Anyone that will be newly hired must already
be HQT, so this won’t come up for any new hires.
The board decided to raise the treasurer’s salary line
item from $1000 to $1500.
Dave Dziura presented a quote from Dail for one bus at
$32,535, but if we have more students than one bus holds, then you have to put
on another bus. The board discussed the
issue, as it related to the budget, safety, parking and crowding. It was the consensus to put this in a warrant
article at $65,070 for two busses.
Dave Dziura distributed a hand-out showing the new
Epsom tax rates. There was a lengthy
discussion as to the impact from the new property assessment and the tax
rates. Because of the great percentage
increase in property evaluations, there was a significant decrease in the tax
rate.
The board then discussed the need to fix the boiler. It was requested that Patrick Connors get a
revised quote to fix the boiler. Last
year’s quote was between $50,000 – 55,000.
The SAU will add the new quoted amount to the proper line item when the
quote comes in.
The board discussed the new phone system, and if that
was going to come out of this year’s budget or next year’s budget. The board decided to go ahead with the update
to the phone system from this year’s budget.
This would put a phone in each classroom. The phones would also be part of the intercom
system. This was especially important
for the modular classrooms that don’t have any phone lines in them. Quotes would be obtained, and the work
scheduled for the spring time, when the budget surplus would be more
certain. It was believed that the cost
would be approximately $40,000.
Budget initiatives were discussed. There were seven initiatives that were
brought forward. The results of
discussion of these initiatives are as follows:
1 - Additional Special Education case manager –
$51,782.
Added into budget.
2 – Kindergarten teacher from Grant to Fund 1 –
$56,668
Added into the budget.
3 – Stipend for School Chorus – $756
Added into the budget.
4 – Cross Country Team – $1,700
Added into the budget.
5 – Sub custodial service – $2,880
Added into the budget.
6 – Tractor/Lawnmower - $7,000
Added into the budget.
7 – Asbestos Abatement - $81,327
Not added to the budget. Dave Dziura explained that a few years ago,
an environmental firm came into the school to find out what parts of the school
had asbestos. This was the amount of the
quote for a complete replacement of everything that was asbestos. However, there is currently nothing that is
exposed, so there is no current need for this work.
Dave Dziura brought up the issue of expendable trust
warrant articles. The two most common
things that they are used for are building repairs and special education,
because this impact could easily put a budget into deficit. For an expendable trust, the school board can
be named as the agent to expend, but this requires a majority vote of the
board, and a public hearing.
Dick Fowler shared some views and concerns about the
board’s use of surplus money during a default budget year, and how the voters
view that. Dave Dziura added that the
thing that is helpful with the expendable trust is that a warrant article could
fund an expendable trust out of a budget surplus, so that when a future deficit
budget situation happens, there is a means for offsetting that deficit. However, the purpose of the money must be
stated.
New Business
Dave
Dziura distributed the Epsom Capital Improvements Program 2005 – 2010 that was
done last year for the town. A request
was received to update this by December 14th.
The following edits were made to the list:
Agenda Item 6A. Assistant Superintendent Search