Meeting Date:	1/25/07
Minutes Submitted On:	1/26/07
Board Attendees:	Ellen Pratt (EP), Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Benjamin Cragin (BC)
Administration Attendees:	Paul Smith (PS)
Community Attendees:	Louise Bachler

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	5:05 pm
Meeting called to order by:	PM
Finish time:	7:20pm

NOTE: These minutes should be considered a draft that awaits approval and possibly amendment by the board at its next scheduled meeting.
AGENDA TOPIC	MOTION	MOVED BY	SECONDED BY	DISCUSSION	PASSED?
Prior Meeting’s Minutes	To approve minutes of the 1/11/07 meeting To approve the minutes of the 1/4/07 meeting	PM PM	BC AF		Yes yes
Communications	none
Committee Reports: Finance/School Forest/Early Education Outreach Advisory Committee Negotiations Committee	2/28/07 is the next meeting for the Para educators Negotiations Committee. BC is our board’s rep. to this committee
Warrants	To approve warrants #1059 Fast in the amount of $598.00 and #1060 Regular in the amount of $3,223.78	PM	EP		yes
Administrators’ Reports	PS reported that NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) results from tests taken in the fall will be available on Tuesday to AS for verification. Public release of the results will be mid-Feb.
Unfinished Business Board Goals Progress	Re: foreign language: The board would like to hear from AS on ideas for the composition of the “foreign language committee”, as well as a timeline for their work. In the context of the discussion of offering enrichment programs, BC brought up the idea of PCS having its own busses. BC suggested that if we had our own busses, we could then offer afterschool activities and we would likely save money. The board will ask Sue Kochinskas (Volunteer Coordinator) to come in and discuss the potential for volunteers to help with enrichment activities.
New Business Town Meeting Preparation	We will highlight the process the board went through in making its decision to reduce staffing hours for the “specials”. We will highlight the volunteerism that we have at the school, and focus on the school forest program.
Putney Basketville Development	VS reported that some community members are concerned about the scale of the housing development and the impact that it may have on the school. BC will attend the Monday evening (1/29) meeting of the Basketville development project and report back to the board
Coordination of the Asian Studies Program	AF would like the board to go on record as supporting the continued leadership of the Asian Studies Program. We want to hear back from AS on this.
Administrator’s Review Preparation – Climate Survey	This is the time when the superintendent would be preparing the 360 degree survey, which is a tool to help the superintendent evaluate the school principal. PCS has done the 360 survey for the past 2 years. Ron Stahley (RS) has proposed that we alternate (yearly) conducting the 360 degree survey with a Climate Survey. PS reported on Climate Surveys and distributed samples. The Supervisory Union is considering developing a Climate Survey for the entire WSESU. This Climate Survey would have a set of core questions that each school district could use. The climate survey could contain questions about the school principal but would also give us a broader look at the school climate. The board discussed the option of alternating the climate survey with the 360 degree survey. AF spoke to alternating the climate survey and the 360 degree survey and said it would be nice to alternate the kinds of questions we ask each year. She stressed the importance of having a process in place to review the survey results and following up with concrete steps to address the survey results so that people who complete the surveys aren’t frustrated. PM said that the Climate Survey is a good tool for the School Action Planning process. He said it would also be useful to have the climate survey results for the board retreat when we set our board goals. It is the consensus of the board that we’ll conduct the Climate Survey Survey this year on a pilot basis. We will then evaluate this process to determine whether we will alternate the climate survey with the 360 degree survey in future years. We’ll discuss adding questions related to the principal’s review to the climate survey. The board will wait to make our final decision until after we speak with AS. AF will speak with AS about this. The board will discuss at the next meeting the Climate survey template which AS developed.
Executive Session In at 5:55 pm Out at 6:30	To discuss a contractual matter	BC	PM		yest
Upcoming Meetings	February 8 (5 pm) Anne Rider to present on comprehensive assessments Energy audit Discuss and make decision about conducting a Climate Survey Report on the Basketville development meeting Discussion of enrichment through the volunteer program – Sue Kochinskas March 1 (4:30) Prep for Town Meeting Goal Review for Administrator March 6 Town Meeting March 22 Discussion of special education at PCS Discussion of procurement of busses Discuss potential endowment Sept. 07 Report on school’s compliance with Nutrition Policy To discuss at future meetings: Music programming Preschool How to spend PreK ADM money

Respectfully submitted by: Board Clerk

This represents my understanding of this meeting. If you have any changes, please submit them at the next board meeting.