Pembroke School Board
PRESENT: Tom Haley, Rick Mitchell, Clint Hanson, Gerry Fleury, Tom Serafin, Mona Kraus, Susanne Whitbeck, Sandy Valine (recording secretary), Ry Weisiger,
Julie Heon, Jeanne Johnston, Mark McLaughlin, Linda Beaudoin,
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Clint Hanson called the meeting to order at
2. MINUTES OF
PREVIOUS MEETING
A motion to accept the minutes of the
ALL IN FAVOR
THE MOTION CARRIED
3. IMMEDIATE BUSINESS
A. CITIZENS’ COMMENTS None at this time
B. PROGRAM REPORT AP OFFERINGS
Advanced Program is a nationally recognized program that
allows kids to take rigorous course work similar to college study. The core of the term is that kids take a
standardized test at the conclusion of the course, graded holistically by
trained scorers. Credits can be obtained
at the college level for students who score at a set level. Some AP courses at
Teachers met last year to determine what other courses might be included and which current courses would continue to be offered to students.
The point of taking AP courses was not going to be related to the test itself. The faculty wanted to open it to more students for them to get the experience and ideals of the courses. Administration and teachers met with the classes at PA. With motivation and support the number of students participating in AP courses has grown considerably.
During the 2004-05 year 36 students participated. This year there are now currently 80+ students enrolled in AP level courses.
What happens in the classes and what are some of the goals/outcomes of the courses.
Mr. Denslow- has been working on developing an AP US History course for 5 years in a couple of districts. It’s a skills based test with a breadth of content. Multiple choice questions and essays make up the test.
Last year 8 students enrolled and this year there are 22 in the course. The course fosters long range thinking.
High expectations of students and teach the students to hold and meet high expectations for themselves.
Mr. Reardon complimented Mr. Denslow on the program that has developed.
Jeanne Johnson (6 years at the AP level). Ms. Johnson does a great job with the department and the math foundation of the district. She gave a presentation using the computer to demonstrate what types of activities are taught in the Calculus class. The students are excited about calculus!
Mark McLaughlin: AP Biology Mr. McLaughlin has taught it about 5 years, although new to Pembroke this year. He has taught undergraduates and now focuses on the Undergraduates-to-be. 13 students are enrolled.
The students learn from and use process experiments. Usually one exam question is lab based. How science evolves is a key concept.
Prime source articles are key to helping making connections between the science and real world.
Scores from last year were discussed.
Three outstanding teachers are present tonight and have done a great job encouraging and teaching students.
Julie Heon has done an outstanding job in pushing forward the curriculum. She is on every committee and has the respect of everyone in the building.
Can’t echo the remarks of Mr. Reardon enough. These are exceptional teachers; however there are other AP teachers in the district who also should be acknowledged.
Harry Grover, Kyle Reynolds, Becky Hanson are also exceptional teachers who have worked hard to improve and develop the AP courses.
Trainings have been very helpful. Meet with colleagues to collaborate with regarding their course work and discovering additional techniques to improve the performance of students on the test as well as developing the overall AP program.
Three
In the future, the school hopes to include more AP history, independent study of European study, and there is a great deal of interest in other things. Scheduling will be an area of topic discussion to move forward. Government is an interest as is computer programming.
Recognize top-achieving students and provide course work that will challenge them while benefiting them.
In terms of opening the program to many students, how are the students who might not traditionally be a part of an AP class handling it? They are doing just fine. There are built in supports to help them be as successful as they can be. The skills are worth all of the work even if the scores on the AP Test aren’t as high as they might have liked.
A good AP program builds their expectation for where they need to be going to take those types of classes at the college level.
It’s about the experience. Encouraging each other is one of the positive outcomes.
Kids are motivated.
The history of the course is an important component. Feeder programs are also helpful. Some newer courses will take more time to develop the skills and program itself including the resources.
Having kids more ready with their foreign language experiences would need to begin earlier. Many of the districts who score higher in languages often have a much stronger and earlier program.
Pre AP courses are going to be discussed. Personnel factors are critical to the program’s success.
There is not a feeder system in place throughout the district. It is a program that allows kids to see what it is like to take college level classes.
How students are identified as eligible or well suited to participate? Once that is decided, is there some type of safety net in place for them? There are things in place. Extra help is available. Adjustments to schedules will be made if necessary.
These students are strong role models for all of
To what extent are we victims of a political system due to the disconnect between our middle school and high school curriculums? It is also a personnel issue.
Thanks for supporting our programs.
C. CONSENT AGENDA
Two items on the consent agenda:
A motion to approve the additional bus stop at
There are a number of nearby stops: The current stops are as follows:
402 Nadine (1/10 of mile from this home)
432 Michol (2/10 of mile from this home)
17 Melissa (3/10 of mile from this home)
How many other requests could be made for similar
families? There could be many. Mrs. Beaudoin has already received one. There
has never been a stop on
FOUR IN OPPOSITION
ONE ABSTENTION
THE MOTION FAILED.
There was discussion regarding the board’s policy of approving sabbatical requests and the dates as outlined in the Master Agreement.
A motion to approve the sabbatical request was made by Mr. Fleury and seconded by Mr. Weisiger.
FOUR IN FAVOR
ONE ABSTENTION
THE MOTION CARRIED
If the money does not get earmarked for a sabbatical, is there a way that the district could establish a trust fund ie. Sabbatical Trust? A trust could potentially be set up.
4. OLD/UNFINISHED
BUSINESS
A. MBC UPDATE
Meetings have begun.
Town budget requests are scheduled for November and December. A working draft for the School Budget has
been requested prior to the
January 5, 12, 19 are the proposed dates for school presentations. There may not be a need to have all 3 dates available for meetings.
The week of December 5th may work as a budget preparation day. If it is not possible during the week it will be scheduled for a weekend.
B. CIP COMMITTEE UPDATE
First CIP meeting lasted 4-5 hours, accepted school CIP as an advisory, until the end of the meeting when they suggested that there be another meeting to specifically review the School CIP plan.
The locker rooms at
Mr. Serafin requested any additional information or perspective regarding any item on the CIP be made available to him as soon as possible.
C. POLICY REVIEW
Mr. Hanson requested that this policy be reviewed due to phone calls received recently.
As part of the review there may need to be some additional restrictions placed on how and when the sign can be used. Each school may need to be encouraged to publicize more school related events.
5. NEW BUSINESS
A. LONG-RANGE HIGH SCHOOL STUDY
A committee of representatives from the AREA to investigate and study a long range plan to address high school space. We need to plan ahead. Begin as soon as possible.
Enrollment projections done professionally for all of the sending schools were requested. Allenstown has already begun to look at this issue. Mr. Haley has started to contact officials and to determine the costs associated with such a study.
A motion to approve the authorization of up to $1750 to cover the costs associated with this type of enrollment projection was made by Mr. Weisiger and seconded by Mr. Mitchell.
ALL IN FAVOR
THE MOTION CARRIED
B. SCHOOLHOUSE LEASE/REPAIR
The last lease was done in 1995. The building is currently used by the Pembroke Grange. There have been several 10 year leases.
There are some major repair issues for this building that have been coming up. Perhaps the Instructional Trades Program might be able to assist with some of the repairs too.
A motion to approve the lease for another 10 years was made by Mr. Mitchell and seconded by Mr. Serafin.
ALL IN FAVOR
THE MOTION CARRIED
The lease has been reviewed by counsel.
The board authorizes the superintendent to move forward with the board’s sentiment.
6. OTHER BUSINESS
A Modular building is located between TRS and PA. That building is in considerable disrepair. Destruction/Disposal funds had been put in the budget. Mr. Burnham suggested that the building is not worth our repair, although there are materials/supplies that will need to be relocated.
A motion to authorize the maintenance director to pursue the disposal/relocation of the building and supplies was made by Mr. Serafin and seconded by Mr. Fleury.
Mr. Haley will investigate the possibilities of any legal issues prior to the action of the motion.
ALL IN FAVOR
THE MOTION CARRIED
7. ADJOURNMENT
NEXT SCHEDULED MEETINGS
AREA advisory
SAU dinner
mtg.
School Board
SAU Executive
Board,
School Board
School Board
School Board
8. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
Public Works estimate to repair
Mr. Haley presented information related to proposed tax rates to the board.
Mr. Fleury reported on the Status on Cable TV Committee. The first meeting with Comcast was held last week. It appears that Comcast is not willing to compromise, doesn’t look too promising regarding some of the issues addressed.
Committee is looking at access to a PEG channel. Ability to initiate programming in the district would be part of this channel.
Next public hearing includes representatives from Comcast is
A motion to adjourn at
ALL IN FAVOR
THE MOTION CARRIED