Meeting Date:	5/13/05
Minutes Submitted On:	5/14/05
Board Attendees:	Ellen Pratt (EP), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Rebecca Coffey (RC)
Administration Attendees:	Amelia Stone (AS)
Community Attendees:	Angela Walton, Julie Strothman, Lora Gonyea, Jan Blanchard, Jane Sbardella, Peg Alden, Sue Kochinskas

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	4:38
Meeting called to order by:	PM
Finish time:	6:55

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 4/28/05 meeting		PM	VS			Unanimous
Communications	Move that we ratify Peter May’s signature on the Vermont Recreation Trails Program Grant Agreement, which gives PCS $230 to purchase tools for the PCS School Forest Trails		PM	VS				Unanimous
	Move that we authorize RC to sign for the entire board a letter in support of PCS’s grant applicant to the UVM Asian Studies Outreach Program for the Internal Studies award.		PM	VS				Unanimous
Flyer for Community Forum to Discuss Early Learning Needs in Putney	EP is developing a flyer for the community forum to discuss early learning needs in Putney. The forum will be held on 6/14 from 6-8pm. The forum will be professionally facilitated by Kim Friedman of Windham Childcare. AF is organizing childcare for children 12 and under. According to EP, PFS and the Selectboard have agreed to cosponsor. The school board will buy the pizza for the forum. The board expresses its thanks to EP and AF for the legwork that they have done on this.
Committee Reports: Finance/School Forest/Early Education Outreach Advisory Committee	School Forest Committee. Met on 5/10. Report tabled until 5/26 because AF isn’t present.
Warrants	Move to approve #0189 FAST for $6,712.81, #1090 FAST for $199.50, and #1093 REGULAR for $6,487.64	PM			EP				Passed
Administrators’ Reports	AS: Update on kindergarten registration. We have 17 families registered. Not all “eligible” by school policy, mostly for reasons of residency. We had another Walk to School Day with 128 walkers. By walking, children raised more than $1100 for diabetes research. We will do another Walk to School Day in the Fall on National Walk to School Day. Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mr. Nims for coordinating it. The group So Percussion performed in an assembly that was part of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra series. The 1% Fund supports this with $450. A teacher from India, Neeti Kahnan, will be with us through end of May or early June. She is part of an exchange program through Heidi Watts at Antioch. On May 20 the Putney Central School community will sponsor the community supper. Parent volunteers are needed for setup, to contribute salads, and to supervise 7^th & 8^th graders, who will cook, and 5^th and 6^th graders, who will serve. It will be a BBQ plus salad meals. 1% Fund. AS distributed information on requests. There is another request for a family from Westminster to enter the school as a 7^th grader. AS informed the board that we are accepting that other student. This means that we will have six 7^th graders and six 8^th graders from Westminster. 27 people applied for the Administrative Assistant position that Judy Hannum is vacating. There will be no hiring committee, which means that no teachers will be involved in the decision. AS does the interviews and makes the decision. The newsletter today has information on new class configurations. Notable: There will be no straight 3^rd grade or 4^th grade. There will be no multi age group in the 1^st and 2^nd grades. Some of the community attendees at the meeting were in attendance to discuss this matter. One parent suggested that the curriculum approaches of the current 1^st and 2^nd grade teachers suggest that the new teacher assignments for 1^st and 2^nd grade may not be ideal. Summer 2005 at PCS: Head Start will be at the school through the third week of August. Camp Allegra will be at the school in July. Kathy Ingram will tutor at the school. New this year, the Putney Family Services After School Program with Amelia Struthers will have a two-week session in July. This is new for this year. Kathy Ingram’s tutoring may be coordinated through the PFS After School Program. There will be no scamp camps this summer. AS plans to hire additional summer help for the custodians.
Old Business
Food Service Bid	Tabled until 5/26.
Discuss Secretary’s Separation Agreement	Tabled until 5/26.
Review of information received from Deb Gass of Early Education Services about eligibility and enrollment in Head Start.	Deb Gass provided the board with enrollment and eligibility information. She also said that the lead teacher is interested in pursuing certification. She has initiated the steps to move toward Early Childhood Certification. Deb’s best guess is that within a year the lead teacher will have that certification. The minutes of the 4/28/05 board meeting reflect a request from the board to have Jim Kane, Business Manager for WSESU, revise the child count for this academic year in hopes of pulling state ADM money for the Head Start students into the school. Deb reported Jim Kane has given her a copy of an email he received. That email indicated that, in order for a preschool program to qualify for ADM money, the lead teacher needs to be certified by a cut-off date, which is some time in October. Because we have no certainty about whether this is, indeed, the case, the board reiterated that, if at all possible, we would like Jim Kane to file with the state an amendment to the child count for this academic year. We would like an update on this matter from Jim Kane and/or Deb Gass at the June 23 board meeting.
Board reviews (in order to sign) VSBA’s new School Board Code of Ethics	Tabled until 5/26.
Second Reading, Policy F14 “Non-Resident Students”	Read.
An update on kindergarten enrollments and next year's kindergarten class configurations	We have 17 students registered for kindergarten. Not all are yet eligible under PCS policy. The board asked AS to notify PM as soon as the “registered and eligible” standard is met with more than 16 students. At that point the board will notice a special meeting and discuss the staffing for kindergarten.
New Business
Darrow Scholarship	Ellen P. Darrow’s will, which established the Darrow Scholarship, cited three criteria for judging applications: Financial need, scholastic record, and extracurricular activities. The board received from AS the material on this year’s applicants. The board will vote on the awards at the 5/26 meeting.
Possible liability issues regarding School Forest.	Jim Kane suggested to PM that, because of the breadth of the insurance policy the school is not at risk of liability from the current recreational uses of the property, which currently include walking, snowshoeing, x-c skiing, and ATVs. However, Jim is going to go back to the insurance provider to make sure that they know all of the uses that are currently being made of the school forest. Jim will report to us in writing at the 5/26 meeting on the insurance company’s understanding of all of the uses that are currently being made of the school forest.
Progress report on automation in library.	Tabled until 5/26.
Executive Session 6:42 – 7:55	Move to go into discuss a personnel matter	RC			PM
Upcoming Meetings:	May 26. 4:30 in Writing Room at PCS. (Rebecca Coffey will be absent. Virginia Scholl will serve as clerk.) · Livable Wages and school workers · VSBA Ethics Statement · Report from Jim Kane on possible liability issues regarding School Forest · Separation benefit for school secretary (Executive Session) · Teacher appreciation ideas · Update on automation in the library · 1% Fund Requests (action needed) · Third Reading, Policy F14 “Non-Resident Students” · Report from AF on 5/10/05 meeting of the School Forest Committee June 23. 4:30 in Writing Room at PCS · Head Start agreement · Report from Jim Kane and/or Deb Gass of EES about whether we were able to revise the child count for the current academic year. 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.