S.A.U. 20 School Board
Meeting Minutes
NH
Members present:
Dummer: Joane Belleau
Gorham: Jay Holmes, Anne Hill, Jennifer Lapointe,
Leona Guay, Jean Tremblay
Shelburne: Joanne Carpenter, Robert Corrigan
Others present:
Steve Welford – SAU Interim Superintendent
Pauline Plourde, - SAU Business Administrator
Rebecca Hebert-Sweeney – SAU Director of Special
Services
Todd Butler, Sue Enman, DeAnn Murphy, Maria Delisle,
Jackie Tetreault, and
Julie Renaud Evans – recording secretary
Call to
Order
S. Welford called the meeting to order at
A moment of personal privilege was granted to Chair
K. Kelley. K. Kelley reflected on work
of the past year and transitions made including the hiring of both an interim
and a new superintendent. She noted that each of the 6 individual school districts face
the same challenges in population trends and economic situations, but have individual
identities. She applauded the coming
together of the Board and the hard work through the past year. Ms. Kelley referred the Board to the draft
transition plan by Patrick Low which identifies issues he needs to address
including educational excellence and providing the needed resources. She invited the Board members to think about
individuals who will help Mr. Low with the transition during the first few
months, and to review the transition plan.
K. Kelley also thanked S. Welford for his work during the year.
For the new board members
Election of
Officers
S. Welford reviewed the process of weighted voting
and presented the breakdown for weighted votes:
Dummer 3 votes = 1 per person, J. Belleau gets all 3
Errol 4 votes, none present
Gorham 32 votes = 6.4 votes per person
Shelburne 5 votes = 2.5 votes each for J. Carpenter
& R. Corrigan
Total 58 votes; with 54 casting votes
S. Welford then opened the floor for nominations.
For Chair of SAU Board
Motion: J. Lapointe nominated Leona Guay,
second by J. Holmes.
Motion: J. Lapointe requested
weighted vote
Vote: 4 Gorham members voted in favor of weighted
vote. It passed.
Motion: Jo Anne Carpenter nominated
Kathleen Kelley, second by R. Corrigan
Motion: J. Quintal nominated Patricia
Shute, second by L. Guay.
S. Welford closed the floor to nominations and reviewed
the nominations and the weighted vote process.
Motion: K. Kelley requested secret ballot,
second by P. Shute
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed.
S. Welford and P. Plourde counted the secret ballots
and calculated the weighted votes.
Results: Leona Guay had 32 votes; Patricia Shute had
13; Kathleen Kelley had 9 votes.
For Vice Chair of SAU Board
Motion: J. Quintal nominated Patricia Shute,
second by K. Kelley.
Vote: All in favor of appointing Patricia Shute as
Vice Chair of the SAU Board.
For Treasurer of SAU Board
Motion: K. Kelley nominated Jo Anne Carpenter,
second by J. Quintal.
Vote: All in favor of appointing Jo Anne Carpenter
as Treasurer of the SAU Board.
For Vice Treasurer
Motion: P. Shute nominated K. Kelley,
second by J. Quintal.
Vote: All in favor of appointing Kathleen Kelley as
Vice Treasurer of the SAU Board.
Approval of
minutes
Chair Guay asked for approval or adjustments to
March 16, 2004 minutes.
Motion by J. Lapointe; second by J. Holmes.
Motion: To accept minutes of
Discussion:
On
page 1, under Minutes of Feb 6: change “Motion carried with unaninimously” to
“Motion carried unanimously” – delete the word “with”
On
page 2, under Minutes of January 20: change “hired a curriculum constant” to
“hired a curriculum consultant”
It
was noted that the minutes of the Non-public session were missing.
Vote: All in favor of approving minutes of
March 16 as amended.
Public
Comments
There were no public comments.
Committee
Nominations/Reports
Professional development nomination
Motion
by K. Kelley, second by R. Corrigan
Motion: to nominate J. Carpenter as Chair of
Professional Development Committee
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed.
S. Welford
invited J. Carpenter to attend CLL dinner, since SAU will receive award for
training.
Professional development report
J. Carpenter handed out her report as well as the
newsletter which goes to all teachers.
NCES nomination
Motion by J. Belleau, second by J. Carpenter.
Motion: To nominate K. Kelley as SAU
representative to the NCES.
Vote: All in favor of the appointment.
NCES report
K. Kelley presented a written report outlining how
the SAU had utilized the service of NCES.
She mentioned that NCES has moved deliberately toward virtual classes
and distance learning, thus providing more opportunities for our students to
take classes. K. Kelley described the new Charter school which was formed to
address the drop out rate in the
Motion
made by K. Kelley, second by J. Belleau.
Motion: To continue the SAU membership in
Discussion: The Board discussed membership and annual
fees. It was noted that the SAU is
one member, but each town budgets and pays a proportionate
percentage of the membership fee.
Vote: All in favor to continue membership
in NCES.
Board member training committee Report
Many Board members expected to participate in the May
27 board training at Whitefield
Policy Development Report
J. Lapointe reported there is a policy committee meeting
scheduled for 5/27 to review policies that refer to the SAU.
Motion
by J. Lapointe, second by J. Carpenter
Motion:
To appoint K. Kelley to policy development committee.
Vote: All in favor.
Motion passed.
Formation of Executive Committee
The Board had a significant discussion about the
formation of an Executive Committee. K.
Kelley presented a proposed membership and responsibility outline of such a
committee.
Motion
by K. Kelley, R. Corrigan seconded.
Motion: To establish an Executive Committee
for the SAU Board as presented.
Discussion:
K. Kelley stated her rationale for such a committee,
mainly to reduce the number of necessary meetings by the entire Board. She spoke of the responsibility of the SAU
board to make policy for the SAU, and the need for collaboration and
communication among the district boards in order to control the work load of
the superintendent. Some members were
concerned about the proposed makeup of the Executive Committee including
representation and voting authority from each of the participating boards. There was a lengthy discussion about meetings,
the roles of the SAU Board, individual district boards, and the
superintendent. The burn-out potential
to both board members and the superintendent in handling the complex issues of
this district was highlighted. J.
Carpenter added that there was an Executive Committee in the past which was
advisory and met about twice a year to help prepare the budget and to help plan
the annual meeting. She reported that it
worked quite well, and did reduce the number of meetings for the Board and the
superintendent. There was some
discussion of the pros and cons of waiting until the new superintendent was in
place before an organizational change.
K. Kelley called the question.
Vote on ending discussion: 6 Yes, 5 No, 2 Abstained. Motion passed.
Vote to form Executive Committee as
presented: 3 Yes, 8 No, 1 Abstained. Motion failed.
Recognize Distinguished Service
K. Kelley had prepared Cards of Thank you to former
Board members Lark Wood, Jean Lary, Dave Dernbach, and
Diane Labbe.
J. Quintal asked the Board to recognize K. Kelly’s
admirable work through this difficult year.
Superintendents
Report
S. Welford reported that he had been invited to
participate in the State Board of Education’s Real World Learning - Thinking
outside the Book on May 17. He
indicated that it was a very large potential reform (biggest since 1917) in
public education. The meeting will bring
together 200 people to talk about public education as requested by Governor
Benson. S. Welford described the reform
as an effort to engage every learner, to collaborate between real world and in school
experiences that will suit and engage all learners; such reform may include a
major rewrite of minimum standards in NH, to stop the use of Carnegie credits,
or to let communities decide length of school year. R. Corrigan mentioned that Winnisquam and Newfound high schools are adopting some of
these things.
Financials
P. Plourde noted the financial handout including the
figure she projected for June 30. For the benefit of the new board members, P.
Plourde explained the financial report. She noted that revenues have not come
in as anticipated, since the SAU budget is projected almost 2 years ahead, it
is hard to predict especially with interest rates changing. Also, she said, in the past the SAU was the
fiscal manager for the grants for a fee; however, the Districts outside of the
SAU are handling their own, and therefore it shows as a decline in projected
revenues. P. Plourde listed the savings
such as not hiring a curriculum coordinator, and J. Caldon’s
retirement. In summary she projected a
fund balance of $ 92,800.00.
Job Descriptions
S. Welford and P. Plourde described the
reorganization in the SAU office, including the presentation of 4 revised job
descriptions:
S. Welford noted that the new responsibilities were
adjusted to take advantage of peoples’ strengths and to put similar
responsibilities together. He thanked
the staff for their cooperation in the reorganization.
Motion by K. Kelley, second by J. Belleau.
Motion: To accept the 4 new job
descriptions for SAU staff as presented.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed.
J. Belleau
left the meeting at
Summary
S. Welford addressed the Board with a review of SAU
accomplishments during his tenure. He
spoke of positive and/or restored relationships with the Town of
There were no questions or comments.
Other
K. Kelley noted the Board needed to adopt a date for
completion of contract with S. Welford.
Motion by K. Kelley, second by J. Lapointe (with regret).
Motion: To end S. Welford’s
contract on
Discussion: J. Holmes indicated he regrets not being on the
search committee because he
recognizes
and appreciates the work of S. Welford.
It was noted that there
will be an
opportunity for some transition time with S. Welford and P. Low.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed.
Non- public
session
Motion by J. Lapointe, second by ?
at
Motion: To
enter non-public session under RSA 91-A:311A.
Roll call
vote:
Jay Holmes – yes; Anne
Hill-yes; Jennifer Lapointe – yes; Leona Guay – yes; Jean Tremblay – yes; Jacqueline
Quintal – yes; Patricia Shute – yes; Angela
Brown – yes; Carol Gagnon – yes; Kathleen Kelley – yes; Jo Anne Carpenter –yes;
Robert Corrigan – yes
Motion passed.
Motion by J Lapointe,
second by Kathleen Kelley
Motion: To exit non-public
session
Vote on Motion: Unanimous
Angela Brown expressed concern regarding the process
of electing the SAU board Chair. Leona
Guay offered a brief explanation of why Gorham members chose to call a weighted
vote on the issue, but assured the Board that the intent was not for Gorham to
control the Board. She explained that
during the past year Gorham has had several problems with SAU Board operations
and decisions and it is necessary to get the Board back on track so it operates
as it should.
Adjournment
Hearing no objections the meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted
Julie Renaud Evans
Recording Secretary
S.A.U. 20 Board