School Administrative Unit No. 20 Board

Meeting Minutes

August 24, 2005 at 6:30 p.m.

Milan Village School Library

SAU 20 Board Members Present:

Gorham: Leona Guay, Anne Hill, and Jean Tremblay

Randolph: Kathleen Kelley, Angela Brown

Shelburne: Robert Corrigan, Jo Anne Carpenter

Milan: Jacqueline Quintal, Patricia Shute, and Mariann Letarte

Dummer: Joane Belleau

Administrators Present:

SAU Superintendent Patrick Low, SAU 20 Business Administrator Pauline Plourde, SAU 20 SPED Director Rebecca Hebert-Sweeney, and Milan Village School Principal David Backler

Others Present: Members of the Press

Call to Order

SAU20 Board Chairman, Leona Guay, called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m.

Approval of Minutes for May 5, 2005

Motion: By Joane Belleau, Seconded by Robert Corrigan.

To: Accept May 5^th, 2005 meeting minutes as submitted.

Vote: All opposed; motion defeated.

A discussion was held regarding style and content of minutes. It was decided that Kathleen Kelley would reconstruct the minutes from her notes of the May 5^th meeting.

Public Comments

No public comments were offered.

Superintendent.s Report

Opening of Schools:

All schools are ready for opening next week on Wednesday, August 31^st.

SAU20 Central Office Responsibilities Overview:

Continuous School Improvement (CSI) policies were discussed. See Key Responsibilities/Goals/C.S.I. initiatives Report

Sharing Regional Resources with other SAU.s, sharing or exchanging physical classroom seats as well as other Distance Learning classes with Berlin and other schools was discussed. First class for the class sharing program with Berlin will be an AP Calculus class.

Patrick Low and Chad Miller are working on getting a grant to expand the new video conferencing to Errol and Milan. Grant would completely fund the building and installation of the video conferencing system for both schools. Raising money through the rental of the Video Conferencing facilities to businesses was also discussed.

Short, Medium, & Long Range Goals overview:

Patrick Low discussed the importance of the curriculum to continue to provide differentiated learning to meet all students. needs at all levels including blended scheduling for home schooled students.

He also discussed the challenge short term, as well as long term to sustain all schools through professional training, technology and shared resources. Also see the Key Yearly Activities/Board timelines report.

Regional sharing of service resources (SAU 3+):

SAU 20 and SAU 3 will continue to find ways in which to share resources for better student outcome, including courses, transportation, and space. Berlin has agreed to pass tuition through to Gorham, and vice versa, for academic and/or social reasons, and will continue the cooperation between the SAU.s.

Surveys for Board Members (SAU 20 Services):

The surveys will be mailed out and should be received in the mail next week. The results will be discussed at the next Board meeting.

Financial Report (Yr. End, Fund transfer/current year, redefining jobs):

Unaudited Fund balances were discussed. See Financial Report.

Budget transfers were discussed. See Financial Report.

Motion: By Kathleen Kelley, Seconded by Patricia Shute.

To: Accept the transfers as presented.

Vote: All in favor; motion carries.

Budget Considerations, 06/07

Superintendent Low informed the Board that he would be requiring SAU 20 administrators and staff to build a flat budget to meet the demands of the non-robust economy. A cost of living raise of approximately 2%, plus an additional 1% for job performance will be recommended for the upcoming budget. Attracting and keeping good staff, especially Special Education and Speech Pathology, is becoming increasingly difficult.

Pauline Plourde distributed the current financial report and request for fund transfers. Pauline explained the reasons for the budget variances (the revenue and expense side), which should even out now that we have decided to continue to contract Occupational Therapy services from AVH rather than hiring an OT for the SAU. Fund transfers were requested to assign salary and benefits of SAU office staff to the appropriate budget lines, as their duties have shifted during the past year.

Pauline also requested that the Board consider purchasing a new software package for financials. The software would cost approximately $2,000, but would clearly separate each district.s budget, therefore reducing or eliminating the potential for erroneous credits and debits. A request was also made to the Board to consider upgrading the SAU 20 printer in the 06-07 budgets.

Superintendent Low discussed the possibility of establishing an SAU wide Tech Program. Board members from Gorham and Milan expressed concern that this would not meet the individual needs of each district.

A Board member expressed concern for the workload of Superintendent Low, and Business Administrator Pauline Plourde. The Board discussed various possible solutions.

Motion: By Kathleen Kelley, Seconded by Patricia Shute.

To: Establish a committee to look at the administrative functions of the SAU office staff for an opportunity to enhance or reduce their workload.

Vote: All in favor; motion carries.

Volunteers for the Committee are:

Leona Guay . Gorham School Board

Kathleen Kelley . Randolph School Board

Patricia Shute . Milan School Board

Robert Corrigan . Shelburne School Board

Mariann Letarte . Dummer School Board

The Superintendent will extend an invitation to the Errol School Board members.

First meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 8^th at 8:30 a.m. at New Hampshire Technical College. Ms. Guay requested that the Superintendent and Business Administrator attend the first meeting, and bring copies of all current job descriptions for SAU 20 office staff, including their own.

Sharing of Employees within SAU 20 and others

The possibility of sharing part time positions to create one full time position with benefits in order to attract good people to fill positions for smaller schools was discussed.

Patrick Low will be discussing this with the North Country Education Services to find ways to make this a possibility.

Other

A Board member from Milan expressed concern regarding a conflict of interest of two GRS Cooperative School Board members, who had spouses employed by either SAU 20 or one of the districts within the SAU 20. Ms. Guay informed the Board that these members would be obligated to abstain from discussing and voting on any issues or budgetary requests involving their spouses. Ms. Guay also requested that Cooperative Board members be strongly encouraged to attend SAU 20 meetings as well as the local Board meetings to get a better understanding of current issues involving our schools.

Board members requested that meeting packets be mailed out at least a week prior to the meetings to allow the Board members time to review the information.

The process of completing the Superintendent.s evaluations was discussed. All evaluation packages are to be forwarded to Leona Guay by September 20^th.

The need for a Board Secretary was discussed, and will be revisited at a later date.

Next Meeting

Wednesday, October 12^th at 6:30 p.m. at the Gorham Middle/High School Library.

Adjournment

Motion: By Angela Brown, Seconded by Jean Tremblay.

To: Adjourn the meeting.

Vote: All in favor; motion carries.

The SAU 20 Board meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Minutes Recorded by Susan Darr