Cooperative Planning Committee
Gorham Middle/High School – Library
Attendees
D. Goodrich – chairperson
L. Guay – Gorham
M. Waddell – Gorham
K. Parent – Principal,
Gorham MS/HS
C. Brown –
R. Leclerc –
D.
W. Niskanen – Shelburne
Others
P. Plourde – Business
Administrator, SAU #20
J. Tetreault – Curriculum
Coordinator Admin. Assist., SAU 20
(recording secretary)
Members of the public
Members of the press
This meeting was of the
Cooperative Planning Committee was called to order by the chairperson, D.
Goodrich, at
Multiple handouts were
presented to members in attendance, including a final version of House Bill
75-FN-Local, examples of statement of purpose and proposed articles of
agreement, the projected fiscal 2004 budget, etc.
With regards to the
statement of purpose, the committee agreed that it should be more cohesive, and
include the role of the cooperative planning board in relation to the school
board, and include the importance of all school boards. After some discussion regarding how the
cooperative board wanted other school boards to find out information, it was
agreed that a synopsis of each meeting should be sent home with students, and
that the ‘tool’ of the minutes should be used to complete that synopsis. Ms. Tetreault was charged with completing the
minutes as soon as possible, so members could email each other regarding
completing the statement of purpose.
Members in attendance made
mention that it is important to preserve the school system as it is known, and
that the cooperative planning board’s job entails more than just a ‘facility’,
but the future of the facilities, accreditation issues, and meeting student
needs. The viability of the school
depends on the other towns.
In the composition of a
mission statement, members agreed that just the towns of Gorham, Randolph and
Shelburne should be included, but that the mission statement should not just
talk about money, and to ‘get pass’ the money issue.
Ms. Plourde briefed the
committee regarding the projected fiscal budget that had been compiled by her
for 2004. Some costs would change such
as the memberships to NHSBA (would change from single districts to
cooperative), and other various costs.
Other issues such as voting rights and such would be divided out
differently as well. Ms. Plourde also
informed the committee what the ADM (Average Daily Membership) rate is now, and
what it would be in a cooperative school setting. She also shared information regarding the new
building aid formula, and other issues of a possible bond, when building aid
would start, when principal and interest would be paid, etc.
Ms. Plourde had been in touch
with the school districts of Berlin, White Mountains Regional, and Telstar
Regional with regards to finding out information as to if they could possibly
accept students from the Gorham School District.
Time check requested by chairperson –
The committee began to work
on the articles of agreement.
Article #1 – Composition and
Name – It was agreed that a contest could possibly held to come up with a name
for the school district, which would compromise Gorham, Randolph, and
Shelburne.
Article #2 – Grade Levels – It
was agreed to by the members in attendance that the cooperative school district
should be comprised of grades K-12.
Article #3 – Governance –
Mention was made of all members being voted ‘at large’ and that there should be
some equality in a pre-existing formula.
It was noted that should a cooperative be formed, that there will be one
set of financial books, one district, one school meeting, etc. The annual meeting may have to be rotated
from town to town, even though many members commented that there was actually
only one structure that could hold members from all three towns.
Members in attendance did
agree that the monthly board meetings would rotate through the member towns.
Article #4 – Lease Agreement
– Discussion was held regarding what may be done with the high school
building. It was requested to have an
attorney present at one of the upcoming cooperative district meetings to ask
some questions regarding proportionality sharing. This is in conjunction with #5.
Article #6 – Method of
appropriating expenses – Ms. Plourde commented that everything will be under
one district.
The committee mentioned that
they would like to have a lawyer present during a future meeting to answer some
specific questions. It was agreed to by
the members in attendance to finish going through the articles of agreement,
and then complete the list of questions.
It was also suggested that finance and facilities subcommittees may be
beneficial in the near future.
No public comments were
shared. The next Cooperative Planning
Meeting, scheduled for
The following agenda was
drafted for the next meeting:
Cooperative Planning Committee Meeting
Gorham Middle/High School – Library
I. Call to
Order
a. introduction of
new Shelburne member: Tim Collia
II. Approval
of minutes from
III. Review
of work session – September 24th
IV. Statement
of Purpose – vote
V. Continuation
of Articles of Agreement
a. list of specific
questions for legal counsel
b. formation of
subcommittees
VI. New
Business
VII. Next
Meeting/Agenda
VIII. Public
Comments
IX. Adjourn (
The meeting of the
Cooperative Planning Committee was unanimously adjourned at
Respectfully submitted
Jacqueline J. Tetreault
Curr. Coord. Adm.
Assist./Recording Secretary
SAU #20