Minutes

SAU #20 School Board

Thursday, November 6, 2003 – Milan Village School, Milan, NH

 

Attendees

Leona Guay – Gorham, Vice-Chairperson

Jennifer Lapointe – Gorham

Jean Lary – Gorham

Kathleen Kelley – Randolph, Chairperson

David Dernbach – Randolph

Lark Wood – Randolph

Robert Corrigan – Shelburne

Jo Anne Carpenter – Shelburne

Andrew Mullins – Milan

Jacqueline Quintal – Milan

Patricia Shute - Milan

Joane Belleau – Dummer

 

Others

Steven Welford – Interim Superintendent, SAU #20

Pauline Plourde – Business Administrator, SAU #20

Jacqueline Tetreault – Professional Development Assistant, SAU #20

                                    Recording Secretary

 

Members of the press

 

ITEM I – CALL TO ORDER

Kathleen Kelley, chairperson of the SAU #20, called the meeting to order at 7:09 pm.  The purpose of this meeting is to review the draft budget for the SAU.  The goal is to complete the budget for the December 4th public hearing meeting.

 

ITEM II – APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 11, 2003 AND OCTOBER 9, 2003

 

September 11, 2003

Corrections were noted as the following:

-         pg. 2, bottom – Removal of the following line:  Mr. Holmes withdrew his motion and Ms. Lapointe agreed.

-         pg. 5, sentence before motion:  It was also shared to contact the Berlin superintendent and his administration to extend an invitation to view this demonstration.

 

Motion by Leona Guay, second by Jennifer Lapointe

MOTION:  to approve the September 11, 2003 minutes as amended.

Vote on motion:  Two abstentions (Jean Lary, Robert Corrigan); all others were in favor; motion carried.

 

 

 

 

October 9, 2003 minutes

Corrections were noted as the following:

 

-pg. 2, 1st paragraph – The Gorham School Board requested tabling the issue of weighted SAU board membership voting until a third legal opinion could be obtained.

 

-pg. 2 & 3 – last paragraph – Ms. Wood inquired how the teachers were embracing the curriculum software.  Mr. Bousquet commented that some teachers have begun to work with it, and that the software mirrors much of the work previously done by hand.  Mr. Bousquet shared that teachers will need to work with the software to find out what it will do.  The software does not focus on subject area specific, which may be a slow process.  He also stated that many teachers at the elementary school will spend Friday, October 10th working with the software in teams.  Some board members did share that they feel the teachers should really experiment with the software, and also it should be research how other schools feel about the software before committing to a consultant contract with Wheeler Consultants.  Mr. Welford share that neither this software, nor the purchase of consultant services, would be replacement of a curriculum coordinator.  Instead, it would be more in preparation for a curriculum coordinator.

 

-pg. 3, second paragraph, second sentence – Mr. Welford shared that the software is mainly a catalog for the state frameworks, and that the consulting piece would create committees to begin putting a process in place so a hired curriculum coordinator would have a process to work with.

 

-pg. 3, fourth paragraph – Mr. Dernbach asked the principals for their opinions, and both principals shared that teachers lack time to work with the software, and that they do not want to turn the teachers’ focus away from curriculum work.

 

-pg. 4, second motion – to appoint Ms. Pauline Plourde and Ms. Rebecca Hebert-Sweeny, if they are interested, to the superintendent search committee.

Vote on motion:  With one no vote (Jennifer Lapointe), all were in favor; motion carried.

 

-pg. 4 – charge of superintendent search committee:

The committee is encouraged to seek candidates with well developed oral and written communication skills who will live in and contribute to the SAU #20 communities.

 

                        Motion by Jacqueline Quintal, seconded by Jo Anne Carpenter

                        MOTION:  to approve the October 9, 2003 minutes as amended.

                        Vote on motion:  all were in favor; motion carried.

 

ITEM III – COMMUNICATIONS

 

-The SAU board was informed that an email address had been created for the SAU board on the SAU 20 website.

 

 

 

 

-Ms. Guay had recently tried to get a legal opinion from Barbara Loughman regarding the weighted SAU board membership voting issue.  In light of incorrect information that was given, another opinion is in the process of being obtained from Jay Boynton.

 

-Regarding the updated on the joint meeting with Randolph, Shelburne, & Gorham, others members of the SAU board were informed the Gorham School District is proceeding with construction to shore up the roofs at Gorham Middle High School.  The Gorham School Board recently received a presentation from the GIS class regarding projects which had been completed by this class, saving the money of Gorham taxpayers.  During the last two years, the GIS class had created maps showing locations of all the fire hydrants in the Gorham town vicinity, and more recently had mapped all the manhole covers in the town.  All equipment used to complete these projects was purchased through grant monies.  Mr. Dernbach shared that one of the students in this class had been in trouble before, but now has seemed to found an interest and wants to pursue this as a career.

 

Regarding Wheeler Consultants last presentation, the Gorham School Board has asked Mr. William Wheeler to once again present for the district regarding curriculum consulting.  This meeting will be held on November 18th at 6:30 pm.

 

-It was shared by members in attendance that at this time, the Board did not wish to send a letter of support to Senator Fred King.  It was shared that since the school districts are currently in the budget process, it was important to get in touch with education representatives, the closest of which is in the Plymouth area.  A letter will be drafted during the next SAU meeting.

 

ITEM IV – POLICY MANUAL:  ADOPT WEIGHTED VOTE POLICY

 

-Work on the SAU policy manual was scheduled for Monday, November 10th.

 

-It was recommended that a vote be postponed until the Gorham School Board had received the legal opinion from Jay Boynton.

 

ITEM V – SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

 

-Ms. Guay gave an update on the cooperative school district planning board.  This Board has  come to the consensus that the towns will not be approached with this issue at the annual school district meetings in March.  Each town may need to call a special school district meeting in either May or June.  The Board is still in the process of drafting articles of agreement, working through how the cooperative district would be governed, and how financial management would be disbursed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ITEM VI – SAU DRAFT BUDGET PRESENTATION

-Mr. Welford presented the draft SAU budget for the 2004-2005 school year, which currently totals at $641,769.  Mr. Welford and Ms. Plourde worked together on drafting this budget, and ultimately agreed on most of it.  Major increases were noted to be in the following: 

 

-Additional health insurance costs               

            -Request for additional clerical support

            -Top of the range for superintendent’s salary

            -Salary pool for administrators and support staff

 

Justification for the additional clerical support includes the following:

            -Increased special education students

            -Increased federal grants

            -Increased paperwork

           

-The summer schools services will not be provided by an SAU staff member, but will be contracted through the various districts.

 

-Speech travel was reduced.

 

-In regards to the curriculum coordinator position, the following motion was made:

            Motion by Jennifer Lapointe, second by Leona Guay

MOTION:  to remove the position of Curriculum Coordinator from the SAU budget, including salaries and benefits.

Discussion:  It was requested to remove the curriculum coordinator position from the SAU budget, with all salaries, benefits, and associated costs.  The Professional Growth chairperson will remain.  It was shared that the Gorham School Board is interested in hiring a consultant such as Bill Wheeler, and feels a curriculum coordinator would not be well received by the Gorham teachers.  Curriculum needs to be integrated for grades K-12, and that there needs to be consistency in that effort.  Communication in all grades regarding the curriculums needs to be shared.

Vote on motion:  7-yes (Jennifer Lapointe, Leona Guay, Andrew Mullins, Jacqueline Quintal, Robert Corrigan, Jo Anne Carpenter, Kathleen Kelley), 4-no (David Dernbach, Lark Wood, Jean Lary, Joane Belleau), 1-abstain (Patricia Shute); motion carried.

 

-The SAU dinner had been removed.

            Motion by Lark Wood, second by Joane Belleau

            MOTION:  to add the SAU dinner back in to the 2004-2005 budget.

Vote on motion:  7-yes (Leona Guay, Jean Lary, Patricia Shute, David Dernbach, Jacqueline Quintal, Lark Wood, Joane Belleau), 3-no (Jennifer Lapointe, Kathleen Kelley, Robert Corrigan), 2-abstain (Andrew Mullins, Jo Anne Carpenter); motion carried.

 

-The rent currently paid to the Family Resource Center was brought up.  It was the opinion of the Superintendent that the SAU office should be paying more in line with the rest of the occupants of the building.  After some intense discussion, it was asked that more information be brought to the next meeting.

 

 

 

-Some dues and conference fees for the SAU were eliminated.

 

-Some discussion was held regarding moving the Preschool Coordinator/Speech Pathologist from support staff to the administrative salary pool.

            Motion by Leona Guay, seconded by Jacqueline Quintal

MOTION:  to move the Preschool Coordinator/Speech Pathologist into the administrative pool along with a 3.5% increase as budgeted.

Vote on motion:  10-yes, 1-no (Patricia Shute), 1-abstention (Jean Lary); motion carried.

 

-Salary increases for support staff were discussed.

            Motion by Jennifer Lapointe, seconded by Jacqueline Quintal

            MOTION:  to approve a 3% across the board salary increase for support staff.

            Motion fails due to a tie.

 

            Motion by Jennifer Lapointe, seconded by Leona Guay

MOTION:  to approve a 3% salary pool for support staff to be distributed based on merit.

            Motion was defeated.

 

            Motion by Leona Guay, seconded by Jennifer Lapointe

MOTION:  to approve a 3.5% salary pool for support staff to be distributed based on merit.

Vote on motion:  all voted in favor; motion carried.

 

-The SAU Board requested that all revised budget pages be received ahead of time.

 

-Inquiry was made as to whether the SAU office could be relocated in another place.  Mr. Welford commented that the SAU Office and the Family Resource Center work very closely together and there are benefits that each office receives from the other. 

 

-It was requested that an explanation of the reasons to go in to non-public session be included at the bottom of the agenda page.

 

Financial Report

            Motion by David Dernbach, seconded by Leona Guay

            MOTION:  to accept the financial report as presented.

            Vote on motion:  all were in favor; motion carried.

 

ITEM VII – NON PUBLIC SESSION – RSA 91-A

A non-public session was not required for this meeting.

 

ITEM VIII – SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH

 

-At the meeting on December 4th, it will be determined what meets the definition of a legal residence.

 

 

 

 

ITEM IX – OTHER/PUBLIC COMMENT

-No other items or public comments were shared.

 

ITEM X – MEETING SCHEDULE

-The meeting on December 4th will be the public budget hearing.

 

ITEM XI – ADJOURNMENT

 

            Motion by David Dernbach, seconded by Patricia Shute

            MOTION:  to adjourn the November 6, 2003 SAU Board meeting.

            Vote on motion:  all voted in favor; motion carried.  Meeting adjourned at 10:12 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted

 

 

 

Jacqueline J. Tetreault

Professional Development Assistant/Recording Secretary

SAU #20