EPSOM
SCHOOL BOARD
EPSOM CENTRAL SCHOOL
MINUTES
OF MEETING
Present:
Board Members: Andrew
Turnbull (chair), Barbara Doughty, Bill Yeaton, Gordon Ellis
David Dziura - Assistant
Superintendent of SAU 53 Schools
Patrick Connors – ECS
Principal
Richard Dougherty - ECS
Vice Principal
Tracey Miner - secretary
Citizen/Staff: Lauren
Naugle, Bianca Bird, Lee L. Bird, Paul Gagnon, Tony Cacciola, Lisa Bauer, Lisa
Strano, Bill Wallace, Denise Pettigrew, Trish McDonald, Maranda Phillips,
Heather Cummings, Chelsea Jarest, Amanda Taillon, Molly Todd, Megan Todd,
Shannon Bentzler.
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 Meetings
The minutes of the
The minutes of the
Immediate
Business
Agenda Item 4A. Agenda Review
Move
Agenda Item 5A to after 4B
Move
Agenda Item 5D to after 4C
Agenda Item 4B. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Lisa
Bauer mentioned that the hall of Presidents is completed. She wanted to especially recognize Brianna
Bosiak and Alex Topham who stayed after school to help complete it.
Trish
McDonald gave the Board the minutes from the deliberative session.
Agenda Item 5A. EYAA Advertising Request
The
Board received a memo from attorney Gordon Graham. This opinion was requested by the Board at
last month’s meeting, based on a request by EYAA to sell advertising space at
the fields, in the form of placing signs on the fencing. The memo suggested to the Board that they
would benefit from adopting a content-based restriction to allow only
commercial speech. The memo also
suggested certain content restrictions, which the Board discussed. Based on this Memo, the Board asked the SAU to prepare a policy for
advertising on District-owned fields.
EYAA
contacted Eames and had them send ECS a copy of the EYAA insurance policy,
which needs to be forwarded to Peter. Tony
Cacciola mentioned that field cleanup day is Saturday, April 29th in
the afternoon from
Barbara Doughty made a motion to approve
the advertising program presented by EYAA.
All funds raised, after expenses, will be split between EYAA and the
school’s athletic department to be spent on school athletics.
Gordon 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 3 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
Agenda Item 4C. Administrators’ Report
Patrick
Connors handed out an Administrator’s Report, which he discussed. TIGER Teen Theatre performers came in to
perform for the junior high. The Title I
information session held on February 21st was very well
attended. The PTO read-a-thon fundraiser
raised approximately $1,200 for books.
The Junior High dance was postponed due to weather and is rescheduled to
March 10.
Both
basketball teams have worked hard all season.
The girls team made it to the playoffs, but were defeated by
Strafford. The boys team made it to the
final game, but were defeated by
Numerous
upcoming events were discussed. Read
Across America is going on this week. Also
in school this week, someone from the school reads part of a book. The students have to guess who is reading the
book, and the title. Door Decorating is
currently being done.
The Science
Fair at ECS is March 23rd from
The
lockdown drill went very smoothly. For
this one, the teachers knew it was coming.
Subsequent drills will be unannounced, but as they occur, they will be
identified as a drill. Bill Yeaton was
at the school for the drill. He was very
impressed with how well the children did during the drill. The drill was very well managed by the
school.
Agenda Item 5D. ECS Phone System
Paul
Gagnon contacted and received a quote from Canfield Systems who installed the
ECS intercom system. They install phone
systems, and specialize in schools. Paul
feels that they are the vendor that best meets our current and future
needs. They are going to replace our phone
system with an all digital system, with voice mail. The system can accommodate 400+ phones in the
building. The computer/controller for
the system will be installed in the server closet. They will upgrade our intercom system to a digital/analog
intercom system that integrates with the phones. The intercom can be accessed from any phone. They will add an intercom to the bus pickup
area, the junior high side of the building and the ball fields. Cabling will be CAT 6, and they will run a 2nd
line to every classroom. This will allow
for a phone and a communions port (internet) in each classroom.
They
will training staff in-house on how to move lines and adjust the patch panel to
meet our needs. The bells will then be
run through the intercom. The bells can
be programmed for various tones. The
total cost will be $42,000, which does include one digital phone in each
classroom. This price falls in between
the quotes from the other two companies (TDS and Williams), but neither of the
other two quotes included anything to correct the problems with the intercom
system.
They
can start installing the cabling during the April vacation, and will finish the
installation in June. There is a one-year
guarantee on the system. The quote also
includes one year of training/programming, so that if we get setup and want to
make changes, that is all included. The
contract includes one year of software upgrades. The phone system can be accessed from their
office, so there is no need for a person to come to the school to access our
system.
The
system will be configured to handle eight incoming phone lines (from the road
to the school). Several of these will be
dedicated as classroom lines, although all phone lines will be routed through
the office. There are currently four
lines running from the road into the school.
One is currently dedicated as a FAX line. The cost for additional lines would only include
the additional monthly fees. Another
feature of the system is the Call Attendant that can automatically answer and
route incoming calls. This feature can
be easily enabled or disabled as needed.
Barbara made a motion to go forth with
the proposal and specifications, as presented by Paul Gagnon, from Canfield Systems
to install and upgrade the telephone and intercom system of the school, in the
amount of $42,000.
Gordon 2nd.
Patrick
asked about the timing of the work. The
Board agreed that Patrick would handle the scheduling of the work, as would be most
compatible with the school schedule.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
Gordon made a motion to authorize the
administration of the school to have the phone company run additional phone
lines to the school, for a total of eight phone lines. When the new phone/intercom system is
installed, these lines will be activated.
Barbara 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
The
Board thanked Paul Gagnon for his hard work getting the quotes and coming to
the Board with the best decision for now and the future.
Agenda Item 4D. ECS Student Reporting Periods
The
Board discussed the advantages and disadvantages of quarterly versus trimester
based reporting periods. The junior high
reporting period was previously changed to trimesters, and it is working very
well. The problem with quarterly grading
periods is that grades have to be stopped one week before the end of the
grading period. With students that have
areas needing improvement, there was not a lot of time between grading period
to make improvements. Patrick spoke to
the teachers and he has requested that if the marking period is changed to
trimesters, he expects the teachers to make calls to parents concerning needs
for student improvement or positive recognition. This would translate to 8-10 calls per
teacher per month. Patrick felt that the
new phone system would help accommodate this request.
Patrick
is recommending going to trimesters. Rich
Dougherty also supported switching to trimesters. Rich mentioned that the grading period can
drive how material is presented in the classroom. Since the trimester allows more time between
grading periods, teachers have less restriction in how material is presented.
Bill Yeaton made a motion to convert the
entire school’s marking period to trimesters.
Barbara 2nd.
Gordon
thought that this should be revisited in a year to see if it’s working. The Board asked that this be put on the
agenda for April 2007.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
Old/Unfinished
Business
Agenda Item 5B. 2006/07 School Calendar
There
was a lengthy discussion on the school calendar for next year. The calendar start and end dates; required
versus non-required holidays; the impact of changing which holidays will be off
school days; testing that is done at the beginning of the school year; and, the
number of days that are off school days in the second half of the year, versus
the first half of the year, were discussed.
Andrew Turnbull made a motion to adopt “Calendar
A”, as presented by the administration with the following modifications: the two teacher days at the start of the year
will occur on Wednesday and Thursday, August 30 and 31; students will begin the
school year on Tuesday, September 5; and, September 29th (Deerfield Fair) and January
15 (Civil Rights Day) will be school days.
The end date will be adjusted to fulfill the criteria to complete the school
year.
Gordon 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
Agenda Item 5C. 2005/06 Budget Review
Dave
Dziura handed out a spreadsheet titled Epsom Projection Report, which
details the yearly ECS expenditures for each line item of the budget, budgeted
amounts, YTD expenditures, encumbrances, remaining balance, projected expenditures
and surplus/deficit. As of February 24,
2006, the report showed a $259,969 surplus.
Dave also handed out a Summary of Changes to the 2005/06 Budget
Projections. There will be some
expenditures that the Board will make before the end of the fiscal year (e.g.
the phone system). It appears that there
is going to be a surplus at the end of the year. Each month, the SAU will report if there is
anything that is going to change regarding that surplus.
Agenda Item 5E. Administrative Search Process
Patrick
talked about the finalization of the Assistant Superintendent search
process. There are three finalists. There will be another interview on Monday
evening (3/13) at 4:00PM.
For
the Assistant Principal position, interviews were done before the school vacation,
and the candidates have been narrowed down to two people. However, two additional candidates are going
to be interviewed on Monday, 3/13 at 1:00PM.
At
the next school board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, March 21 at 6:00PM, finalists
for the administrative positions will be recommended to the Board.
New Business
Agenda Item
6A. School Name
Item moved to the April meeting.
Agenda Item
6B. Paraprofessional Job Descriptions
Patrick Connors distributed three paraprofessional job
descriptions: one was for Special
Education, one for General Education, and one for Shared Education and One-on-One. These will be discussed in April.
Other
Business
Agenda Item
7A. Citizens’/Staff Comments
Lisa Bauer expressed her concern about the calendar as
it was voted on, specifically concerning the start of the school year and not
having Civil Rights Day off. Lisa
expressed that not having Civil Rights Day off will make for a very long month
in January.
Lisa Bauer recognized tonight as School Board
Chairman, Andrew Turnbull’s last school board meeting, and thanked him for his
six years of service, and for a job very well done.
Gordon asked about the boilers, whether that work can
be done for this school year, since it looks like we will have a surplus to the
budget available. Gordon asked that this
be put that on the April meeting agenda.
Agenda Item
7B. Certified Staff Reviews [Non-public
Session under RSA 91-A:3II(a)]
At 8:47PM, Andrew Turnbull made a motion
to go into non-public session under RSA 91-A:3II(a).
Gordon 2nd.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
At 11:25 P.M. Gordon Ellis made a motion to
end the non-public session. Barbara
Doughty seconded the motion.
THE
MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF 4 - 0
Gordon
Ellis - aye
Barbara
Doughty – aye
Andrew
Turnbull – aye
Bill
Yeaton – aye
School Board
Chairman, Andrew Turnbull, announced that the Board had taken no action while
in non-public session.
Agenda Item
7C. Certified Nominations/Elections
Dave Dziura, on behalf of the Superintendent of Schools, placed in nomination the following names of certified staff to be offered contracts for the 2006/07 school year:
ALLEN, JANET GRAICHEN, ALISON SNELL, JUDITH
BAUER, LISA LEE, SCOTT STRANO, LISA
BEAUCHESNE, AMY LESIEUR, LYNNE TEUNE, JOANN
BRYANT, LORI MARTIN, PAUL VALLEY, LINDA
CATO, HEATHER MAY, DARCY VERITY, CAROL
CONWAY, KATHLEEN MONDELLO, ROSS YOUNG, SHEREE
DAMELIO, CYNTHIA NASE, BRIAN GRENIER, DEBBIE
DONOVAN, ROBIN ORTISI, JENNIFER ROUSSEAU, JOY
DOUGHERTY, RICHARD PATTERSON, STEVEN SANTOSUOSSO, JAN
ELLIOTT, LINDA RIEGER, MARIE SNAIR, CYNTHIA
FARGO, JANE ROWE, FRANCINE PUFFER, CAROLYN
GALLAGHER, JENNIFER ROY, DARLENE POZNER, JOAN
GOULET, KAREN SAULNIER, REBECCA ORTISI, CAROLYN
BENTZLER, SHANNON
SHARICH, KELLY (pending certification)
DELORIE, JACQUELINE (part-time)
PREVE, TAMI
Following the
nomination of certified staff, Andrew Turnbull made a motion that the School
Board vote to elect the certified staff members nominated by the
Superintendent. Bill Yeaton seconded the
motion.
THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF
3 AYES TO 0 NAYES
Bill
Yeaton aye
Barbara
Doughty aye
Andrew
Turnbull aye
Agenda Item 8. Adjournment
At 11:27 P.M., Gordon
Ellis made a motion to adjourn that was seconded by Bill Yeaton.
THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF
4 AYES TO 0 NAYES
Next Scheduled Meeting will be on Tuesday, March 21 at
6:00PM.