Minutes of Putney School Board Special Work Meeting

Putney Central School

April 7, 2005

Board members present: Anne Fines, Peter May, Ellen Pratt, Virginia Scholl

The meeting was called to order at 4:35 by Peter May, Board chair, to assess Town Meeting preparation and share visions for the future.

Town Meeting Process: what worked well

- Peter May’s opening statement was very effective

- Keep comments brief ( no more than 10 minutes )

- Helpful to have presented a reasonable budget ( under 4% increase )

- Helpful to present a board unified on all positions

- Helpful to have had the community air its view at an earlier meeting

- Helpful to have good communication through excellent minutes and informative newspaper articles

- The community feeling was generally positive

What could be improved in the future:

- begin the process sooner by going through the budget line by line right away

- look at staffing numbers earlier

- clarify with the moderator when the board will speak to the budget in the meeting

- the handout procedure could be better organized

What does the board want to start looking at right away?

- Food service costs

- Marketing to expand enrollment

Visioning:

1. Schools of the 21^st Century, a program coming out of Yale University, presents an interesting model for schools to address needs from birth to 8^th grade. We are already working on many of these areas, including:

a. Food programs and nutrition guidelines

b. Early education outreach; home visits and play groups

c. Parent support and education

d. After school programs

e. Networking with childcare providers in the community

2. Further work that could be done includes:

a. Convening a community forum with the Selectboard to look at where we want to go with early education in Putney. What needs are not being met, and what needs are over served? What different constituencies are affected? (Parents, providers, Putney Family Services, etc.)

b. Exploring the possibility of running summer programs and a year round breakfast program open to the whole community

c. Developing a brochure for attracting students

2. Topics that Amelia Stone would like to see discussed at a later time, when everyone is present:

a. Volunteerism

b. Head Start and full day Kindergarten

c. The role of the Early Education Outreach Coordinator

Next steps:

- Copy the Schools of the 21^st Century Article for Amelia Stone

- Include a discussion of the article on the agenda for an upcoming meeting

- Peter May will contact Reggie Rockefeller about a joint meeting

- Ellen Pratt will contact Kim Friedman to see if she would be willing to facilitate the meeting

- Ellen Pratt will order Needs Assessment for the 21^st Century Program

Meeting adjourned at 6:30.

Respectfully submitted,

Virginia Scholl, substituting for Rebecca Coffey