Meeting Date:	March 9, 2006
Minutes Submitted On:	March 13, 2006
Board Attendees:	Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Benjamin Cragin (BC)
Administration Attendees:	Ron Stahley (RS), Amelia Stone (AS)
Community Attendees:

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	4:40 p.m.
Meeting called to order by:	Ron Stahley
Finish time:	6:30 p.m.

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?
Administration – Election of Board Chair	RS called for nominations for election of the Board Chair for the coming year. A motion was made to appoint PM as Board Chair.	VS	AF			Yes
Administration – Election of Board Vice Chair	A motion was made to elect VC as Board Vice Chair.	AF	BC			Yes
Administration – Election of Board Clerk	RS turned the meeting over to PM. A motion was made to appoint EP as Board Clerk.	PM	BC		PM indicated that he had spoken to EP and that she would be willing to serve if elected. All Board members expressed support for continuing the work of prior Board Member and Clerk, Beckie Coffey, in making the minutes as comprehensive and widely available to the community as possible. Beckie Coffey has prepared a Clerk Exit Memo for the Board Clerk, describing the various duties and procedures she used in creating and distributing the minutes.	Yes
Administration—Election of WSESU Voting Members	A motion was made to elect BC, PM and VS as Putney’s voting members on the WSESU Board	AF	VS			Yes
Administration – Election of WSESU Finance Committee Rep	A motion was made to elect PM as Putney’s rep to the WSESU Finance Committee	VS	AF			Yes
Administration – Election of Negotiations Committee Reps	A motion was made to elect Scott Henry (prim) and PM (alt.) to the WSESU Negotiations Committee	AF	VS		It makes sense for the sake of continuity to continue the current representation given the ongoing nature of the Negotiations process.	Yes
Administration – Election of Board rep on EEOC Committee	A motion was made to elect AF and EP as the Board’s reps on the Early Education Outreach Committee.	PM	BC			Yes
Administration – Election of Board rep on School Forest Committee	A motion was made to elect AF as the Board’s rep on the Putney School Forest Committee.	PM	BC			Yes
Administration – Establish Meeting Dates and Times	A motion was made to continue the Board’s practice of meeting on the second and fourth Thursday’s at 4:30 p.m. in the Writing Room.	PM	BC		There was much discussion about the best timing for meetings. Several Board Members had conflicts on one or more Thursdays over the next few months, but moving the meeting later or earlier in the day did not help. All felt that the afternoon slot was helpful to parents and staff that wanted to attend and also prevented exceedingly late night sessions. It was determined that sticking to the current schedule through at least mid-may was the Board’s preference. The Board will re-visit the default meeting time in May.	Yes
Prior Meeting’s Minutes	March 2, 2006	PM	AF			Yes
Communications	None – Board Clerk will check the Yahoo e-mail accountprior to the next meeting. The e-mail address for electronic communications to the Board is “deliver to board@yahoo.com.”
Committee Reports: Finance/School Forest/Early Education Outreach Advisory Committee	None
Negotiations Committee	A motion was made at 5:40 p.m. to go into Executive Session to discuss the status of negotiations of the new teachers contract.	PM		AF	It will be helpful for RS to give the Board and especially BC, our new member, a brief up-date. The Board came out of Executive Session at 5:45 p.m.	Yes
Warrants	A motion was made to approve the following Warrants: No. 1062 - $110.00 No. 1063 - $445.70 No. 1064 - $110.00 No. 1068 - $854.00 No. 1069 - $30,378.60 No. 1070 - $15,634.08 No. 1072 – need amounts No. 1073 – need amounts No. 1074 – need amounts No. 1076 – need amounts	PM		VS		Yes
Administrators’ Reports	RS gave an up-date from the WSESU Office. There will be a new Board Member orientation session scheduled tentatively for March 30, 2006 at the WSESU Office, 53 Green Street, Brattleboro. New Board Member BC should inherit former Board Member Beckie Coffey’s Policy Binder. The WSESU Meeting of all Boards with Winton Goodrich of the VT School Boards Assiciation, tentatively set for March 13, 2006 has been postponed. Instead, a tentative date has been set with Goodrich for May 16, 2006, 5:00 – 7:30 p.m., with a focus on training for Board Chairs and Vice Chairs. RS up-dated the Board on the Administrator’s 360 degree feed back process. The 360 degree questionnaire went out to all staff last week and is being distributed today to Parents and Board Members. They are due back on 10 March (teachers and staff) and 16 March (others). RS will try to have all the data collated by the 23 March Board Meeting, but no later than the April 1 time frame set forth in the Board’s Procedure document. The Board will meet with RS in executive session on March 23 at 4:30 p.m., to provide a brief up-date on the Administrator’s progress to date against professional goals and to discuss any issues that might impact contract renewal (he is aware of none). PM reiterated to RS the importance of following the Board’s procedures in carrying out the Administrator’s review process. It is one of the Board’s most important areas of responsibility. PM also noted that the raw data from the 360 degree surveys would be available to any Board members wishing to review it at the WSESU office after 1 April. Board members should call Barb in the WSESU office to make an appointment. AS gave the Administrator’s Report. Enrollment is currently at 213, including 13 tuition students. To date, no one from Westminster has requested to come to the 7^th grade next year. AS will follow up with the Westminster School Principal to see what factors may be influencing this trend for next year. She and the Board agreed that we are seeing healthy competition from the Compass School at a minimum. BC noted his discomfort with PCS relying too heavily on tuition students and would like to see the Board discuss this topic at a future meeting or at the Retreat. AS reported that Ayako’s last day is 16 March. On 15 March, there will be an all-school sing at which she will be honored. AS noted that Teacher Appreciation Week is 8 May through 12 May. Kindergarten registration is set for 12 April, with flyers being sent out widely next week, as well as notices in the Reformer and on the I-Putney website. With respect to Winter Sports, AS noted that Grafton has agreed to open its facility for Putney Central families wanting to ski on their own on Friday, 17 March (a scheduled in-service day for teachers – no school). This will not be a school activity and there will be no chaperones. Families should call Grafton the day before to check on conditions. On March 27, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. the Winter Sports Steering Committee will meet to review the past year’s program and think a little bit about planning for next year. On April 4, 2006, The Early Education Advisory Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. in the Writing Room. AS and the Board wish to express their thanks to Ken Brautigam and his assistants for the child care provided to families on Town Meeting Day. This is a crucial service to allow the most families possible to participate as the Town considers its School and other budgets. Also, thanks to Café Services for providing an excellent lunch to Town Meeting participants.
Old Business	None
New Business	It was noted that we will shortly be heading into Year 2 of the Head Start contract. The Board asked AS to invite Deb Gass to one of the two May Board Meetings to up-date the Board on the Head Start Classroom. The Board would like to hold its Annual Retreat in the next few weeks. While this is a public meeting and all are welcome to attend, it is primarily a work session for the Board. The Board agreed to bring their suggested Agenda topics to the March 23 Meeting, with “getting to know you” and “key goals” for the upcoming year, being essential topics. The Board tentatively set the Board Retreat for Saturday, April 29^th from 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. BC raised the issue of Emergency Planning, as it had been a key point of discussion at Town Meeting. RS reconfirmed that Putney Central School is a part of all planning and drilling for evacuations within the district, including a Vermont Yankee incident, notwithstanding that it is beyond the VT Yankee ten mile perimeter. PM noted that communication within the Town of Putney on these issues has not been widespread and suggested that a joint meeting with the Select Board and RS to discuss and publicize the planning activities that are ongoing could help educate the community. PM will contact Lyssa Papazian to try to agree on a date. All agreed – sooner rather than later.
Upcoming Meetings	NEED TO BE RESCHEDULED: · Review of Transportation bids · Discussion of 4-day Week March 23, 2006 · Follow-up items from meeting with Staff, including possibility of a PCS Endowment. · Superintendent meets with Board and Administrator in Executive Session to provide Progress Report to Board with respect to Administrator’s progress against Administrator’s professional goals for the current year. Purpose is to provide constructive feedback on Administrator’s performance and identify critical issues, if any, that may impact any contract renewal notice dates. Executive Session may be held with Superintendent at Board’s request. April 13, 2006. (PM will miss this meeting.) · Presentation from RS on progress to date on Brattleboro Town Schools Foreign Language Program. First or Second Meeting in May · Deb Gass reports on Head Start Program. First Meeting in June · Discussion of use of possible ADM revenue from the pre-school population.

Respectfully submitted by: Ellen Pratt (by PM), Board Clerk

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