Meeting Date:	10/12/06
Minutes Submitted On:	10/13/06
Board Attendees:	Ellen Pratt (EP), Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Benji Cragin (BC)
Administration Attendees:	Ron Stahley (RS), Amelia Stone (AS)
Community Attendees:	Scott Henry, Patrick Crowley, Mary Ann Deere, Ea Maples, Jan Blanchard

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	4:34 pm
Meeting called to order by:	PM
Finish time:	6:11 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 adopt the minutes of the 9/28/06 meeting	PM	BC	Correction to the minutes: the correction to the 9/14 minutes states that “VS will contact the Putney Game Club…” It should read Gun Club. An additional correction: Under the School forest committee report, it should read “The Dept. of Fish and Wildlife gave mixed advice about posting the school forest. One person advised against posting; one recommended posting; if done, the posting should occur at least every 400 feet.”	yes
Communications	A teacher emailed regarding the Wellness Policy and gave an example of using recess as a time to catch a student up on missed work. For this, and other reasons, he said that we need to discuss the clause in the policy about taking recess away as a form of discipline. (see discussion of policy below)
Committee Reports: Finance School Forest Committee WSESU Negotiations Committee
Warrants	To pass warrants #1027, 1028, 1030 FAST in the amounts of $30,734.76; $3,870.28; and $540.91 and #1031 Regular in the amount of $22,608.22	EP	VS		Yes
Administrators’ Reports	AS reported that NECAP exams given in the past 2 weeks have gone well. The second annual School Forest Day was held on Oct 9 and went very well. The garbage removal contact is being awarded to Triple T. Laidlaw has rescheduled the routes. P3 will now stop at the library at 3:35. Families who want their children to take P3 to the library should write a note to that effect and bring it to the school office on that day so that the student can receive a bus pass. The board wishes to send its thanks and congratulations to the middle school teachers for a superb Middle School newsletter.
Old Business
Policy Review: E-11 “Federal Child Nutrition Act Wellness Policy” – additional reading	AS reported that the staff hasn’t had the opportunity to talk about the policy as a group. The clause about taking away recess as a punishment is under discussion by staff and parents. Attendees to the meeting mentioned the following points about the recess clause: children need a break in the day, recess should never be used as a punishment; studies show that children learn better by having a break in the day ; we need to develop other strategies for addressing negative behavior. Ea Maples presented the board with a petition signed by 19 people who want the board to adopt the wellness policy as written, with the clause saying that recess should not be taken away from students as a consequence for negative behavior. Ms. Deere reported that there are occasions when recess is the only time available for students to make up work or to participate in extracurricular activities like the yearbook club. Ms. Blanchard cited an example of using the taking away of recess as a method of helping children make good choices about what they do during class. AF suggested that the board express its interest in the value of recess and then let teachers use their discretion in using recess as a form of discipline or to help students make up work. AS said that an ambiguous policy will be hard to enforce. The board wants more input from the teachers at the next board meeting. The board will make a decision at its next board meeting about adopting the policy.
New Business Policy Review: D7 “Volunteers and Work Study Students” – 2nd^t Reading / Discussion “A Forest in Every Classroom” – Report (tabled) Report on the VSBA Regional Meeting Discussion – Commissioner Cate’s Proposal on Governance				No discussion BC will monitor when/if the Dept. of Education will hold a regional meeting on the topic and will inform the board of this meeting.
Discussion of Posting the School Forest. The federal Gun Free Schools Act prohibits weapons on school property. Vermont law refers to this federal law. PCS has a weapons policy which prohibits weapons on school property. AF reported that the School Forest Committee defers to the school board about whether to post the school property but that if the board decides to post, then the committee recommends posting every 100 feet. The committee could provide labor for the posting effort but would request that the board pay for paper, printing and lamination of signs. VS reported that some community members would be upset about posting land that they’ve used for years. These members would not support holding a meeting to discuss the topic. These community members support education and communication around this issue rather than making it an “us against them” issue. Hunters have said that it is difficult to know where the school property boundaries are and that the board needs to make those boundaries clear. The board reached consensus that, because of the federal law prohibits weapons on school property, we need to prohibit weapons in the school forest. In order to assist in communicating the law, and to make the boundaries clear, we’re going to post the property. The board delegates the task of posting the property to the School Forest Committee, requesting that posting be done in a way that is effective, i.e., that hunters will be able to see the signs. . Regarding the use of pellet guns, BB guns, air guns and paint guns in the school forest: The school policy is that these aren’t allowed on school property. The board expressed its openness to discussing amending the school policy to allow these guns in the forest. This discussion was tabled until the Nov. 16 meeting.
Enter into Executive Session at 4:37 pm to discuss a labor matter. Out at 4:50pm	Move to authorize the 3 representatives to the Supervisory Union Board to ratify the Master Teacher Agreement for the years 2006-2009.	PM	EP		yes
Other:
Upcoming Meetings	Oct. 26: Wellness Policy Nov. 16: Discussion of use of pellet, air, BB and paint guns in the school forest Nov. 30: Forest in Every Classroom discussion Dec. 7 Dec. 14

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.