Meeting Date:	10/14/04
Minutes Submitted On:	10/16/04
Board Attendees:	Ellen Pratt (EP), Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Rebecca Coffey (RC)
Administration Attendees:	Ron Stahley (RS), Amelia Stone (AS)
Community Attendees:	Paul Smith, Curriculum Coordinator, WSESU

Location:	PCS Writing Room
Meeting called to order at:	4:33
Meeting called to order by:	PM
Finish time:	6:17

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	Approve minutes as amended:	AF		EP		Amendments: Under “Administrators Report” a roster of members of the School Action Plan committee was given. It was an incomplete roster. VS is going to research who the other members are and report to RC for inclusion in an upcoming meeting’s minutes.		Unanimous
Communications	Kay Kloppenberg, Special Ed teacher at PCS, dropped off in the school board box a folder of articles of its review. The articles relate to the No Child Left Behind Act. They were published by the New York Times, the Brattleboro Reformer and other sources. (All articles are now in the school board binder in the school office.) NCLB is coming under heavy fire from a variety of sources. Kay suggested that, if the board were to examine the issue of NCLB closely, it might then want to form a joint opinion and express that to their representatives in state and local government. NOTE: During the Communications portion of the meeting the board decided to no longer include full text of emails received in the meeting minutes. Rather, the subject of the email will be mentioned and the matter summarized. Full printouts of emails will be available in the school board binder in the school office. PHACT (Putney Health Action Coordinating Team) strategic planning meeting minutes were received. These minutes are now in the school board binder in the school office. Paul Smith distributed to individual board members the WSESU’s 2004-05 Staff Directory. Annual Report from Vermont School Board Insurance Trust.
Committee Reports	From AF: The School Forest Committee has two new members: Ann Buckingham and Allen Steinberg. We had 35 children sign up for the afterschool program; we had expected 24. We have two 15-member groups: (1) Explorers Who Are Hiking and (2) Adventurers (games, etc.) There are two more Committee meetings coming up. This committee is an entirely volunteer venture. Parents are encouraged to come whenever they can. The Committee is sponsoring a 6-week program in the Fall, a 6-week program in the Winter (in concert with the Winter Sports program, a 6-week program in the Spring, special activities for March to Health, and a series of May flower/plant walks. The Committee is also creating a Summer program. The Committee is applying for three different grants. There will be a Black Gum Swamp walk (co-sponsored by the Putney Conservation Committee) on Saturday October 16 at 1 pm.
Warrants	None.
Administrators’ Reports	This year PCS will pilot the New England Common Assessment tests as part of its compliance with the No Child Left Behind act. AS attended the New England Common Assessment meeting and informed the PCS staff about what she learned there. Soon the staff will receive manuals for administering the test. Those manuals should include the specifics of how to administer tests to all children – including how to administer tests (with accommodations) to students with learning disabilities. Teachers and parents volunteered recently at the Vermont Welcome Center and at the Putney School Harvest Festival, raising money for the PTO and for Winter Sports. The Kindergarten Committee is reviewing the data received from the Parent Survey and making a follow-up plan regarding additional data needed. It will meet again on 10/25. PCS staff are working on building Learning Communities. This work has been ongoing since AS’s tenure began. Questions addressed include: What kind of school culture do we want to create so as to support collaboration among teachers? What do we want kids to know? How do we know when they’ve learned it? (This is the piece that the teachers and AS are now addressing.) What do we do for students who struggle to learn? (This includes Educational Support Team as well as Special Ed and Title I teachers. As reported that each team (first/second, third/fourth, fifth/sixth) has about 75 minutes once a week to meet and plan together. The board expressed its support of AS’s work with Learning Communities and AS to give it an update monthly. Parent Conferences are scheduled for November 19, an early release day. That is ½ of one day dedicated to accomplishing a task that has normally been allocated 1-1/2 days. AS would like to suggest that Thursday November 11 (Veterans Day) also be an early release day so as to accommodate more parent conferences. Jim Kane (bookkeeper) wants the board to give it some basic budget assumptions (i.e., would the board like to see from him a spreadsheet on a “same service” budget, a “level funded” budget or a “consumer price index” (3.3%) budget). The board asked AS to convey to Jim that it would like to see a “consumer price index” budget and “same service” budget.
Additional early release day.	Move to make November 11, 2004 an early release day so that teachers can schedule parent conferences throughout that afternoon.		RC	PM	The board urges the WSESU to return to a schedule that gives teachers a full 1-1/2 days for parent conferences each marking period.		Unanimous
Old Business: Discussion of Possible Animal Policy	Tabled.
Old Business: Procedures for Board Input to Superintendent for Administrator Review (PM/RC to present tweaked schedule)	PM presented the revised (10-13-04) timeline for Procedures for Putney Central School Administrator Evaluation. Some board members expressed concern that the 360-degree performance evaluation process (through which all stakeholders in the school give input regarding administrator performance) would not be completed (and data given to the board) by the April 1 deadline for administrator contract renewal. The board will discuss this matter more fully at its next meeting. The board agreed that, at the October 28 executive session in which it will give its input to the superintendent for his evaluation of the administrator for academic year 2003-2004 it will meet first with the superintendent and administrator and then with the superintendent only. The board would like to have this be the standard format for all sessions regarding administrator performance, administrator salary negotiation, or administrator contract renewal.
New Business: Policy C7 “Board Relations with the Administrators” - 1st Reading.	Read.
New Business: Policy F14 “Admission of Non-Resident Tuition Students” – Discussion.	Tabled. Current policy was distributed.
New Business: Universal Health Care Coverage.	Tabled.
New Business: Facilities Use.	No changes to the current policy are required. The board and AS agreed that the letter that AS drafted and now attaches to all facilities use requests is an appropriate and adequate measure. See meeting minutes of 9/9/04 (on the PCS web site and in the school board binder in the school office).
Next Meeting: · October 28, 4:30 pm in Writing Room at PCS. · The meeting will begin with an Executive Session in which the board gives input to the Supervisor for his evaluation of the administrator. · Election of one representative and one alternate to the WSESU negotiation committee (negotiation next year of the teacher contract). · Possible joint meeting with select board (beginning at 5:30). · Old Business: Discussion of Possible Animal Policy · Old Business: Procedures for Board Input to Superintendent for Administrator Review (Discussion of whether data from 360 degree performance appraisal should be available to the board by the April 1 deadline for administrator contract renewal. For the November 11 meeting: Policy F14 “Admission of Non-Resident Tuition Students” – Discussion. · Discussion with AS of Professional Learning Communities. This will be part of AS’s administrative report once a month. · Initial look at spreadsheets/scenarios re: FY 06 budget. · Universal Health Care discussion

Respectfully submitted by: Rebecca CoffeyThis represents my understanding of this meeting. If you have any changes, please submit them at the next board meeting.