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School Board Meeting Minutes |
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back to School Board meeting minutes archive BARRE TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT Minutes are not official until approved by the Barre Town School Board BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: None ADMINISTRATORS: Guests: BOARD SECRETARY: Donna Holden 1. Call to Order The Chairperson, David Harrington, called the Wednesday, October 15, 2008, meeting to order at 6:00 p.m., which was held in the Barre Town Middle and Elementary School Library, 70 Websterville Road, Barre Town, VT. A flag salute followed. 2. Visitors and Communications
Mrs. Buzzell announced the following; 1.) Heather Bond would be the new facilitator of the Central Vermont Building Bright Futures Barre Area Play Groups, sponsored by the Barre Area Success by Six program, scheduled for 9:30 -11:00 a.m. on Wednesday at the Graniteville Presbyterian Church, and on Thursday at St. Monica’s Church in Barre. 2.) The Barre Area Success by Six program will sponsor a Mysterious Fall Morning at the Aldrich Public Library on November 1, 2008, at 10:30 – 11:30. Children will receive a free book and participate in an arts & craft event using all recyclable materials. 3.) The Kids are Priority One coalition is sponsoring a Virtual Strike October 14 – October 18. Childcare providers and sponsors of the program will be wearing buttons in an effort to bring awareness to, and support quality child care. Ms. Moore advised the Board of two calls she received from concerned parents, one with regard to the weekly PTO popcorn sales and inability of all students to participate in buying the popcorn and its social/economic stigma, the other call was regarding whether volunteers regularly seen and participating within the school community were expected to have background checks, which Ms. Moore affirmed to the parent was the rule, pursuant to a school policy. 3. Consent Agenda
On a motion by Mrs. Buzzell seconded by Ms. Moore, the Board unanimously voted to approve the warrants, and minutes of October 1, 2008, as submitted. 4. Board Action Items
Mr. Crowley provided a PowerPoint presentation outlining a menu of action plan interventions to use in implementation of the 2008-2009 Action Plan. He explained the aggressive multifaceted plan to provide support to the group of students not meeting the NECAP standards but who were not identified as special education qualified students. Mr. Crowley provided an example of how Administrators, teachers, mentors, parents, and the students would engage in an individualized program designed from a menu of choices geared to assist students in attaining academic, behavioral, and other skills and knowledge to meet the NECAP proficiency standards. On a motion by Ms. Moore seconded by Mrs. Buzzell, the Board unanimously voted to accept the Action Plan and its implementation plan, as presented. 5. Board Discussion Items
Dr. Bacon advised the Board that during FY ’08 approximately $60K was spent on school bus fuel and that the FY ’09 expenses were anticipated to increase to $80-90K. He requested the Board consider consolidating the bus schedule into a single run that would pick up all students in the morning and drop students off during a single bus run in the afternoon. He noted that in addition to an anticipated $40-50K savings to the school, it could eliminate some childcare expenses and potentially be a benefit to parents of multi-aged children. Mr. Murray advised the Board he was working with Dr. Bacon and the transportation staff to develop a plan, which would be presented to the Board at the November 5, 2008, meeting. Mr. Harrington thanked Dr. Bacon and Mr. Murray for their initative and work on this proposal, noting that the Board was committed to finding sustainable efficiencies that benefit the school as a whole, and provide savings for the Barre Town taxpayers. He also encouraged community feed-back once the final proposal was presented. Mr. Murray advised the Board of a recent conversation with Town Manager, Carl Rogers, and notice that the Town was cutting back on replacement of personnel and would not be providing the traditional plowing of the large parking lot and front driveway loop. The Board confirmed there was a line item in the FY ’09 budget to pay the Town towards plowing, and it would not be sufficient to contract the service. With the Board’s permission, Mr. Harrington requested the Superintendent to contact the Town Manager to discuss this untimely information and to confirm whether the Town budge approved by the voters in May included the expense for the personnel and plowing, and whether the Town could provide the service this year and give the Board time to budget the contract in the FY ’10 budget. Mr. Murray also advised the Board he was working with tow vendors to receive additional training and seek efficiencies in the heating/ventilation system by examining the 300 + motors and valves that run the 12 year old system.
Dr. Bacon reviewed the figures of the final, unaudited, FY ’08 budget, which revealed a total surplus of $468,940, of which $319,226 was reserved and cumulative from prior years, and $149,714 was current surplus and unreserved. He said the original budget was overspent by approximately $194K, which would have produced a deficit; however, the unanticipated special education revenue offset the overspending and created the new surplus. Dr. Bacon advised the FY ’08 professional audit was underway, and also reviewed the very preliminary FY ’09 budget, which demonstrated a total surplus of $211,773 including the unaudited FY ’08 carryover surplus of $149,714. Dr. Bacon advised the Board they would have to create a spending plan to present to voters to reserve the FY ’08 $149.7K surplus or return it to the voters through property tax relief. Dr Bacon advised the Board work on the FY ’10 budget was in process and needed to be coordinated with the SSH & SU budgets. He said the budget would be presented to the Finance Committee and then to the Board for the first of many scheduled reviews before adoption in January. Mr. Harrington agreed to hold a Finance Committee on October 29, 2008, at 8:00 a.m. to visit the first draft, contingent upon sufficient information being available and the Business Office ready to offer a proposal. Mr. Harrington also invited and encouraged the community to participate and provide feed-back during the process. 6. Old Business
7. Regular Reports to the Board
Dr. Bacon provided a brief oral report stating he was working on contract negotiations.
All Committee meetings are held in the BTMES 2nd floor conference room. Approved minutes for each Committee can be viewed on the Website at www.btmes.org.
8. Monthly Reports to the Board (2nd meeting of the month)
Mr. Crowley provided an oral report. School information is available at www.btmes.org
Written reports were provided in the Board’s packets.
Mrs. Pritchard advised the Board she completed and filed the annually required reports, and was busy familiarizing herself with the school and support service community.
Mr. Olson advised the Board he, too was staying busy and enjoying his experience at BTMES.
The next monthly meeting is scheduled for November 13, 2008, at 6:00 p.m., in the Supervisory Union Central Office Conference Room. 9. Other Business None 10. Executive Session A. Teacher Contract Negotiations At 7:30 p.m. on a motion by Mrs. Buzzell seconded by Mr. Bond, the Board unanimously voted to enter into executive session, pursuant to Title 1 § 313 to discuss contract and legal matters. Dr. Bacon was invited into the executive session. At 8:45 p.m. the Board exited executive session. 11. Next Meeting Dates Meetings are held at 6:00 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of the month, unless noted. The next Barre Town School Board meeting dates are: November 5, 2008 – 6:00 p.m. 12. Adjournment On a motion by Mr. Bond seconded by
Ms. Moore, the Board unanimously voted to adjourn at 8:46 p.m.
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