EPSOM SCHOOL BOARD

EPSOM CENTRAL SCHOOL

EPSOM, NEW HAMPSHIRE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007

MINUTES OF MEETINGS

 

PRESENT

 

Board Members:       Barbara Doughty (Chair), Gordon Ellis, Dave Goulet, Bill Yeaton

Superintendent of Schools:  Tom Haley

Principal:  Patrick Connors

Assistant Principal:  Brian Beaverstock

Board Secretary: 

Citizens/Staff:       Carolyn Puffer, Barbara Nelson, Carolyn Ortisi, Tom Rouillard, Claire Flannery, Paula Stroberg, Kate Figliolini, Susan Anderson, Jennifer Buff, Carl Swain, Teish McDonald, Karen Dail, Diane LaFrance, Melanie Gates, Cerina Yeaton, Becky Saulnier, Judy Snell, Lisa Bauer, Tony Cacciola

 

  1. Call to Order

 

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M. by Barbara Doughty

 

  1. Pledge of Allegiance

 

Gordon Ellis led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

  1. Minutes of Previous Meeting

 

The August 1st, 2007, minutes were discussed. A change in the minutes was brought to attention.  Money from the NEA NH was deposited into the ETA account, not the ECS account.

 

A motion was made by David Goulet,  seconded by Bill Yeaton, to approve the August 1, 2007 minutes as revised.

 

BARBARA DOUGHTY        AYE

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   3-0

 

The August 13th, 2007, minutes were discussed. Several changes were brought to attention.  Item 4F Oil Proposals, was not to exceed $2,299; Item 4D, after the word “exception”, should be added “and is not considered a child rearing leave”;  Add that two ECS Staff were present: Scott Lee and Linda Elliot.

 

A motion was made by David Goulet, seconded by Gordon Ellis, to approve the August 13th, 2007 minutes as revised.

 

BARBARA DOUGHTY        AYE

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   4-0

 

 

  1. Immediate Business

 

A.                 Agenda Review

Chair Barbara Doughty reviewed the agenda.  Item7C is not to be discussed tonight, and the Principals report will be after Library policy.

 

B.                 Citizens’/Staff Comments Diane LaFrance spoke about the Spanish Class issue of some students having Spanish and others do not.  Mrs. LaFrance stated that some students have been told by their teacher that they can’t take Spanish because they can’t handle it.  Patrick Connors explained how the new schedule is working and why some students may not be in Spanish class, ie. additional work load, results of NWEA data and teacher recommendations. Mr. Connors agreed that if any student was talking about other students, he would treat it as a student teasing issue.   Melanie Gates spoke about how her daughter was told that the Spanish teacher told the students that kids who did well in Spanish were taking Spanish and those that didn’t were not.  It was brought to attention by Mrs. Gates that as recent as today, the Spanish teacher asked the students why they were talking about other students who were not taking Spanish.  David Goulet suggested writing an additional letter to parents explaining why or why not students are in Spanish.  Mrs. Doughty suggested that Mr. Connors speak with the Spanish teacher about the issue again and speak with the entire 7th grade about the issue.  Mr. Connors agreed to address the 6th-8th grade teams.  Gordon Ellis suggested giving the option to parents to allow their children to bow out of Spanish or they can take it on, but it would be extra work.

 

 

            Lego League Club – Pat Connors introduced Cerina Yeaton to talk about the Lego Competition.  There are different challenges every year with a report included with the robot designed.  This year the challenge is Energy.  There are different competition locations throughout the state.  Teams consist of 3-10 students.  Robots are programmed by the teams to perform on 4 different fields.  The board wished best of luck to Mrs. Yeaton and the team.        

 

 

C.                 Library Policy  - ECS Librarian Carolyn Ortisi described the history of the last library policy, which was written 20 years ago, and why it was updated.  Sections of the policy were read and presented by Mrs. Ortisi.  The policy was written by the SAU librarians and it can cover the entire SAU system.  David Goulet pointed out many places where some typos and alignments were needed.  Mrs. Ortisi explained that after all the board adopts the policy, a final version would be published with the format changes suggested.  It was suggested that Appendix 3 should be moved up just past the Introduction and the introduction kept to one page.

 

      A motion was made by Gordon Ellis, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve the Library Policy as it will be amended and revised to be perfect in form.

 

BARBARA DOUGHTY        AYE

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   4-0

 

 

D.                Principal’s Report – Patrick Connors presented his report about the smooth opening to school.  The numbers of students enrolled have dropped due to the large 8th grade graduating and a smaller kindergarten class.  Mr. Connors spoke of one of the trees that block the view of the school by the front circle.  The board approved of the tree being cut down.  Mr. Connors also informed the board of the Cross Country team being available for 5th graders as well.  Additionally, band and chorus will be available for 4th-8th graders.  Open house will be on Sept. 11th for intermediate grades, Sept. 18th for primary grades.  Mr. Ellis volunteered to be a chaperone for the Mi-Te-Na 7th grade trip.   

 

 

E.                 Negotiations with Support Staff Update  - The Board discussed who would represent the board during discussions.  It was decided to discuss further during non-public session.

 

 

F.                  Certified Soil Specialist – Gordon Ellis presented proposal by the specialists detailing what would be done to be able to reconstruct the ball fields damaged during flooding.  Tom Rouillard distributed the proposals and helped answer questions. Mr. Ellis notified the Board that they have around $31,000 to spend from FEMA to help repair the fields.  EYAA had already paid for the $275 electrical pumping part of the project.  $15, 865 is needed to complete the proposal by SEC. There was discussion of the trench needed including how much it would cost.

 

A motion was made by Barbara Doughty, seconded by David Goulet, to spend the $15, 865 for SEC out of the FEMA funds for all the work.

 

BARBARA DOUGHTY        AYE

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   4-0

 

 

  1. Old/Unfinished Business

 

A.     Budget Review – Tom Haley addressed the concern of the board regarding the decrease in funding from the state.  Mr. Haley distributed revenue projections by the budget.  The high school bus was not passed by the town and is not in the budget.  There were other items that balance out the amount lost in the decrease from the state that Mr. Haley presented.  Mr. Haley informed the board that we are actually in the same financial situation as we were in March of 2007.  Mr. Haley informed the board that therefore no cuts to the budget are currently needed to make up for the decrease in funding.  Additionally, $2.225 is the current price for oil that we are being charged.   

 

 

B.                 Policy Review  The Promotion and Retention of Students policy was combined to one policy.  Gordon Ellis discussed the February date in the policy that the school must notify parents in the case of retention.  Retention Procedures one and two will include the word “should” instead of “must”.     

 

A motion was made by David Goulet, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve the IKE/IKE-R as combined.  Barbara Doughty withdrew her second.  David Goulet withdrew his motion. 

 

A motion was made by Gordon Ellis, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve the IKE/IKE-R policy as combined and revised to replace the word should and replace with the word must in all areas except Number 7.

 

DAVE GOULET                    NAY

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   2-1

 

Tom Haley presented the new policies IC, ICA, IF, IJ, IJO, ILBA, and IMAH that are required by the new state minimum standards that we are already doing but do not have in policy form.

 

A motion was made by David Goulet, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve IC policy.

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   3-0

 

A motion was made by Bill Yeaton, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve the ICA policy on School Calendar.

 

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  NAY

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   2-1

 

A motion was made by Barbara Doughty, seconded by Bill Yeaton, to approve the IF policy on Instruction Approach.  The motion and second were withdrawn.

 

A motion was made by Barbara Doughty, seconded by Gordon Ellis, to approve the IF policy with only the first sentence remaining.

 

DAVE GOULET                    NAY

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   2-1

 

A motion was made by Gordon Ellis, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve the IJ policy on Instructional Materials to include only the first paragraph with a period after the word students and the last paragraph.

 

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      NAY

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   2-1

 

A motion was made by Bill Yeaton, seconded by Barbara Doughty, to approve the IJO policy on Community Resources with a capital P for the word principal.

 

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   3-0

 

A motion was made by Barbara Doughty, seconded by David Goulet, to approve the IL policy on Evaluation of Instructional Programs with a capital P for principal and the word S/he to be replaced by the words “The Principal”.

 

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  ABSTAIN

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   2-0

 

A motion was made by Gordon Ellis, seconded by Bill Yeaton, to approve the JLCG/IMAH policy on Daily Physical Activity to match the same wording as the previous approved policy on Wellness.

 

DAVE GOULET                    NAY

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   2-1

 

A motion was made by Gordon Ellis, seconded by Gordon Ellis, to approve the ILBA policy on Assessment to include just the first paragraph with a capital P for the word Principal.

 

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   3-0

 

 

  1. New Business

 

Parent Request – A parent planning to occupy a house under construction in Epsom in December requests enrollment of his daughter at Pembroke Academy in advance.  The parent is willing to pay the tuition for his child to attend PA.

 

A motion was made by David Goulet, seconded by Barbara Doughty , to accept the offer of Kevin Wareing to pay $42.65 per day for his child to attend PA prior to living in Epsom and for Mr. Wareing to pay each month 30 days in advance beginning in October 2007.

 

DAVE GOULET                    AYE

GORDON ELLIS                  AYE

BILL YEATON                      AYE

THE MOTION CARRIED ON A VOTE OF   3-0

 

  1. Other Business

 

    1.  Agenda Preparation - New policy reviews, the trench work to be done on the back fields, and a variety show.

 

David Goulet asked Patrick Connors about the AYP status of the school.  Mr. Connors and Tom Haley explained the procedures for the state testing and how AYP status is determined. 

 

    1. Citizens’/Staff Comments – Lisa Bauer informed the Board that she is attending a state meeting the following day regarding how AYP is determined.

 

  1. Adjournment

 

Barbara Doughty adjourned the meeting at 6:59 P.M.