Meeting Date:	May 25, 2006
Minutes Submitted On:	May, 2006
Board Attendees:	Ellen Pratt (EP), Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Benjamin Cragin (BC)
Administration Attendees:	Ron Stahley (RS), Amelia Stone (AS)
Community Attendees:	Deb Gass, Juliane Chatal, Zoe Parkes, Gildas Chatal, Anglea Walton, Nancy Mackler, Pat Mousel, Linda Cassidy, Jan Blanchard, Maureen Ward, Laurie Clayton, Henny Walsh, Cheryl Struthers, Beckie Coffey, Paulina Essunger, Linda Kerr, Meredith Wade, Holly Hammond, Ea Maples, Moriah Brown-Tissell, Sara Tireell-Baker, Peter Gustafson, Amelia Struthers.

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	4:35 pm
Meeting called to order by:	PM
Finish time:	7:10 pm

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 May 11 with addition requested by PM To approve minutes of May 18 minutes	PM PM	BC BC	PM asked to include the following in the May 11 minutes: "Cafe Services confirmed that Tony would continue as the head of the kitchen next year.  The Board thanked Michelle Jones, Brian Stone and Cafe Services for their excellent stewardship of the food services program, both in terms of food quality and fiscal oversight.  We look forward to continuing our work together."	Yes Yes
Communications	2 community members emailed the board to: 1) clarify the minutes from the May 18 meeting and 2) to express concern about the possibility of having 23 kindergartners in one classroom. (emails attached)
Committee Reports: Finance/School Forest/Early Education Outreach Advisory Committee
Warrants	To adopt warrants #1096, 1097,1099,FAST in amount of $186, $986.11 and $2,013.47 respectively; and # 1100 Regular in amount of $16,586.41	VS	BC		yes
Administrators’ Reports	RS handed out a copy of Commissioner Cate’s (Dept. of Education) White Paper on Educational Governance. The paper can be found on the Department’s website. The board will discuss the pros and cons of this proposal at a future date. RS reported on professional development activities happening at the supervisory level. Board chairs and vice-chairs met with director of VT School Bd. Assn. PM reported that a goal for the board is to make sure that meetings are run efficiently and that the board isn’t bogged down in administrative matters. We should do something on student achievement each meeting. Need to reschedule board input on Principal’s performance review to June 15 (this will be handled in Executive Session)
Old Business Primary Classroom Configuration	To not go to the town to ask for approval of a supplemental budget to hire another teacher. To approve a half-day kindergarten for the upcoming 06-07 school year.	EP EP	PM PM	The board and community members continued its discussion of class configurations for the K-2 classes next year. AS thinks we can best meet the needs of children by offering one kindergarten class with 15 children (in keeping with the kindergarten committee’s recommendation of not exceeding a 16:1 student teacher ratio); a K/1 multiage with 14 children; a 1/2 multi age with 12-16 students; and a second grade with 18 students. AS requests that the board increase our general ed para support time to provide additional support to teachers. The group discussed the K/1 classroom. RS sees AS’s proposal as a viable option. Discussion of how the decision to place children in various classrooms was discussed. AS: we want to create heterogeneous groups, diversity in classrooms. The teachers work together with AS to make these assignments. Parents can write letters to provide AS and the teachers with input on these classroom assignments. AS said we can extend the deadline for receipt of these parent letters to Monday, June 5. The question of whether to reconsider the full-day option of kindergarten was raised. Some suggested that we hold a special town meeting to ask the townspeople to approve a supplemental budget item (to hire an additional teacher). PM spoke against this, saying that the town is going through a reappraisal of property which could affect taxes.	Yes No
Executive Session	The board went into Executive Session at 6:35 pm to discuss teacher negotiations and to discuss a personnel matter. The board exited Executive Session at 6:45 pm.
New Business One Percent Fund Request Approvals Ellen P. Darrow Scholarship Allocation Use of Medicaid Funds at Putney Central School	To approve 1% requests as detailed in AS memo dated May 11, 2006. The total amount of $4,588 for regular education and $603.90 for special education To split the $650 scholarship between the 2 applicants who completed the application.	PM PM	BC VS	Rescheduled to June 8.	Yes yes
Head Start Program Report – Deb Gass				Deb Gass reported on the preschool classroom. It’s been one year since PCS began hosting a Head Start classroom in the school. Enrollment for the classroom next year: 5 Putney students will return next year—they’ll be 4 year olds. 12 families are applying (8 are Putney families). The lead teacher is hoping to have her certification by September. The program is planning to begin National Assn for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation. It takes a year usually to get that accreditation. She hopes we can get it in 6-9 months. By having a licensed teacher and NAEYC accreditation, the program meets the requirements that enable Putney Central School to draw down Public Education funds to help support early education activities. AS reported that the children have been participating in school events. We have 9 “graduates” of the program beginning kindergarten. AS would love to see a teacher from that classroom attend staff meetings. Deb reports that there are no negative aspects of having the classroom at PCS. Being part of the school is very important for the families and children. Would like to see an improvement in teacher salaries. Early educator salaries are significantly lower than public school teachers. She hopes to raise the wages. Staff turnover in that classroom is typical for what one sees in the field due to low salaries, higher stress. Nationally there’s about a 40% turnover in this field. 7:30-5:30 are the classroom hours. 3 teachers have been in the classroom. We have another year in the agreement between the Head Start program and the school. The board will discuss how it wants to spend its early education funds (that it will realize by counting the 3 and 4 year olds from that classroom in the school census). Deb will report back to the board in the fall on the status of the classroom.
Meeting days/times				Discussion of whether to change the times of the meeting from 4:30 to a later time to accommodate people who work. The discussion was tabled until Anne Fines can participate.
Upcoming Meetings	June 8: Discussion of changing the times of school board meetings Discussion of foreign language instruction and possible establishment of Steering Committee Discussion of use of possible ADM revenue from the pre-school population Update on District Assessment Use of Medicaid Funds at Putney Central School June 15: Board Retreat 3:30-6:00 at the Putney Inn; board input to Principal’s evaluation June 22 meeting cancelled. Jan 2007 (second meeting): Ensure that preparations for 360 degree survey to be distributed are underway. NEED TO BE SCHEDULED:       Flo Nester, Enrichment Coordinator in Brattleboro to report on enrichment curriculum possibilities   (possible presentation in fall when board discusses programming) ·      Educational governance Commissioner Cate’s White Paper

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.