From the meeting of

October 2, 2003

After some general houskeeping (approval of minutes from 8/28 and review of notes on work session of 9/18), Tim Collia (new Shelburne member) was welcomed to the Board. Thereafter, the Board continued their work on Articles of Agreement. Tentative consensus included the following:

· Gorham, Randolph, and Shelburne will combine to form the Cooperative School District (CSD) Possible names for the CSD were discussed.

· CSD will be responsible for grades k-12.

· The Board agreed that governance should be kept as close as possible to the status quo, but further discussion on the issue was deferred until legal council can be obtained on the meaning of « one man one vote. »

· The Board agreed that the Articles of Agreement should set out a process for solving facility issues (appointment of a building committee etc.). Further discussion on facilities was deferred until questions could be answered by a Deprtment of Education representative and legal council.

· Specific discussion about methods for apportioning operating and capital expenses was deferred. The Board agreed to work with formulas based upon combinations of ADM (average daily membership) and property elavuations. Charles Brown agreed to work with Pauline Plourde to create a spreadsheet which would address a variety of scenarios.

· Date of operating responsibility (when the CSD would become a functioning entity) was determined to be July 1, 2004.

There was some discussion about the process of appraising the value of existing school districts’ property in preparation for possible purchase of such property by the CSD. A list of legal questions was reviewed, and Steve Welford agreed to arrange for visits from legal counsel and Department of Education representatives at subsequent meeetings.

Wave: If you have input but cannot attend a meeting, please send e-mail to the Interim Superintendent, Steve Welford, at swelford@sau20.org Future meetings have been scheduled for the following dates, but please be alert to the postings in the event that there is a change: October 30, 2003 November 13, 2003