Meeting Date:	4/28/05
Minutes Submitted On:	4/30/05
Board Attendees:	Ellen Pratt (EP), Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Rebecca Coffey (RC)
Administration Attendees:	Ron Stahley (RS), Amelia Stone (AS)
Community Attendees:	Mike Mrowicki (Putney Family Services), Deb Gass (Early Education Services)

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	4:34
Meeting called to order by:	VS
Finish time:	7:00

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	Move to approve minutes of 4/14/05	VS	AF	Passed.
Communications	To High School Senior Putney Residents:  The Darrow Scholarship deadline is Friday, May 6.  Please contact the Superintendent's Office or the High School guidance office for information. Or check iPutney.com EF distributed: · sample contractual agreements between a school system and independent early learning providers. · Vermont Livable Wage Campaign info on 2005 Livable Wage Figures. (The board will discuss the Livable Wage Figures as it relates to school employees not covered by union contracts. That discussion is scheduled for May 26.) · one copy of the Vermont School Board Association’s School Board Code of Ethics. She left it with AF and will distribute electronic copies to the other board members so that all can sign by the May 12 meeting. The school board would like to explore with the select board the possibility of meeting with them approximately four times a year for the first ½ hour or so of a meeting of either board.
Warrants	Move to approve #1083 FAST for $25,577.19, #1084 FAST for $2,861.41, #1087 FAST for $28,113.70, #1088 REGULAR for $17,573.94	VS	EP		Passed
Administrators’ Reports	RS: There is an WSESU Board meeting next Wednesday night. 7pm at Academy School. AS: Kathy Bartlett (school counselor) and AS attended conference on Child Nutrition Re-Authorization Act. In concert with the Putney Health Action Coordinating Team, PCS will develop a Wellness Policy next year. PCS was awarded a food service grant to purchase a new convection oven. The state will PCS 50% of the net grant not to exceed $1748. Fitz-Vogt filed the grant application on behalf of PCS. There is money in the capital plan for this convection oven. This means that we will probably not spend all budgeted this year for the convection oven. Congratulations to middle school student Mary Wilson, who received a national award for an essay written in Mary Anne Deer’s class. Special thanks to Mary Anne, whose students are doing magnificently. The senior walking group has twice walked in the gym and eaten (and paid for) breakfast through the school breakfast program. AF recommends that we charge adults more than $1.25 for breakfast. AF expressed abundant thanks to AS on behalf of the seniors who’ve walked.. School Walk for Diabetes is Tuesday, May 3. Seniors are invited to walk with the children, meeting at the Common. Rides are available back to the Common for any seniors unable to walk both ways.

Head Start Agreement for 2005-2006 – Action Needed	Currently fully enrolled with 6 on waiting list for the autumn. Some of the 15 are moving on to other placements, though not sure how many. Head Start is still engaged in the recruitment process for 2005-6. (By Federal regulations, Head Start is required to do active recruitment and to maintain a wait list.) According to Deb Gass of Early Education Services, out of 121 Head Start slots in Windham County, the EES Head Start program is allowed to take 10% (or 12 students) who live above poverty level. The board requested info from Deb about how many of the 16 currently enrolled and the 6 on the waiting list are from families living over the poverty level. Deb said that she would email the information to Amelia before the next meeting so that Amelia can distribute it to the board. The board expects at the upcoming Town Forum on Early Learning to learn more about the feasibility and advisability of moving to an economically integrated program. In the meanwhile, the board said that in any contract for 2005-2006 they would like the program to remain Head Start only. A discussion ensued about how and to what extent local home-based providers could provide care for Head Start students. Deb said that it is “up for consideration” that Head Start staff would do the NRS testing required by (and of) Head Start. Deb will try to attend the upcoming Town Forum on Early Learning so that she is available to answer questions from home-based providers and contribute ideas to the discussion. The school board is tentatively looking at a date of June 14 for the forum. It would be held from 6-8 with pizza and childcare provided. Deb has no more information on whether the lead Head Start teacher has begun the steps necessary to get certified. She does know that the teacher is eligible and that she has expressed a willingness to become certified. The board is interested in having the lead teacher certified because that would qualify the program (and PCS) for ADM reimbursement from the state for the Head Start program. There is much discussion among board members of returning any ADM money received from the state to the Head Start program as well as making it available to home-based providers so that can see an across-the-board improvement in the quality and/or accessibility of early learning centers throughout Putney. The board and Deb both thought that too many issues remain open to sign a contract at this point. Most specifically, the board and Deb are concerned about whether certification of the lead teacher is to be a contractual condition of a continuing program and who would pay any increased costs associated with such a condition. The board made a verbal commitment to the program for next year and moved to extend the current contract for another year or until a new contract can be negotiated. (See below.) However, because the board wants to approve a contract of two years’ length, the board decided to delay approving a two-year contract until after the Town Forum on Early Learning and further talks about specific contract language.
Head Start Program	Move to extend the terms of the current contract for one more year and to negotiate with Early Education Services/Head Start the terms of a new contract that will supersede the contract being extended by this motion. The terms of the new contract will be negotiated after the Town Forum but prior to August 16, 2005			VS		RC	Unanimous
Set Tuition Rate for Kindergarten for Non-Resident Students	Based on discussions with AS, the board, and Jim Kane, move to set the rate for full day kindergarten tuition at $5775 for nonresident, tuitioned students..		RC		EP
Update on Collaboration between Putney Family Services and Putney Central School – Mike Mrowicki		Mike Mrowicki, Executive Director of Putney Family Services, thanked the board and Ron Stahley and, especially, AS for working with Putney Family Services in providing services. At PCS PFS conducts an after school program for children in grades k-4. That program provides a needed service to students and families and provides PFS with a way to let families who might be in need of some of its other services know that PFS may be able to help. PFS also conducts a Homework Help program, which is doing “swimmingly well” this year with 5-8 graders. The staff person is paid through the second year of a 3-year, state 21^st Century Grant that PFS received. The staff person has been in place all academic year and that continuity has made the program run especially smoothly. PFS collaborated with the school in the Fall and provided Parents Night Off from Cooking. Another such event is planned, possibly in June. All PFS services at PCS are provided on a sliding scale, with the scale starting at $0. Nancy Hood will head up the PFS Mentor/Apprentice program conducted at PCS. She is a nurse at the Putney School and has done community work in Bellows Falls and other places. Non PCS programs conducted by PFS include: Weekly health clinic at Putney Medical Office. PFS is seeing a lot of working people with catastrophic-only insurance. PFS also takes crisis calls. PFS is the contact agency for the town’s White Whitney Emergency Fund, which allows people to access up to $250 in an emergency situation. They also take calls from people unable to find or keep affordable housing in Putney. The board expressed its thanks to PFS for the After School, Mentor/Apprentice, and Homework Help programs and for its work in the entire community. AF noted that the entire School Forest program arose because one year PFS provided PCS with two interns for such a program.
Policy F14 “Non-Resident Students” – 1st Reading		We cannot charge families privately placing their children with us extra for special ed services. The board asked RS to add “and resources” to paragraph 1 and to add “as determined by the superintendent or designee of the superintendent” in the first paragraph of the document in a way that will make it clear that the decision about whether any given student meets the guidelines for admission is made by the superintendent and not the board. The board asked RS to bring a revised policy to the May 12 meeting for the policy’s second reading.
Town Forum on Early Learning		Kim Freidman of Windham Childcare has agreed to facilitate the community forum and will charge the school board no more than $300. The forum would be probably 2 hours in length and would help us identify short, medium and long-term goals for Putney’s young children and their families. The board would need to do the legwork in terms of advertising that this forum is happening. The board would like to co-sponsor the forum with Putney Family Services, the Select Board, and the Planning Commission. Rather than invite the Select Board to our meeting to explain the forum to them, EP and AF will one of their meetings. Possibility of date of June 14.
Upcoming Meetings		May 12. 4:30 in Writing Room at PCS · Review food service bid. · Separation agreement · PM will present on possible liability issues regarding School Forest. · Review of information received from Deb Gass about eligibility and enrollment in Head Start. · Progress report on automation in library. · Review and sign VSBA’s new School Board Code of Ethics · Second Reading, Policy F14 “Non-Resident Students” May 26. 4:30 in Writing Room at PCS · Livable Wages and school workers · Joint meetings with Selectboard June 23. 4:30 in Writing Room at PCS · Head Start agreement Second Meeting in November · Presentation to board by Jim Kane or VSBA about school budgets

Respectfully submitted by: Rebecca Coffey

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