Meeting

Date:

11/18/04

Minutes Submitted On:

11/22/04

Board Attendees:

Ellen Pratt (EP), Anne Fines (AF), Virginia Scholl (VS), Peter May (PM), Rebecca Coffey (RC)

Administration Attendees:

Amelia Stone (AS), Deb Merchant-Special Education WSESU

Community Attendees:

                             

Location:

PCS Library

Meeting called to order at:

4:30

Meeting called to order by:

VS

Finish time:

7:12

 

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

Suggested Amendments:

 

On page 1 under Communications:  The minutes had said, “RS communicated to the board (and, via these minutes, PCS staff), that, in the event that staff members have issues with the principal and feel a lack of trust, they should not talk to board members without first discussing the matter with the superintendent.  If they call the supervisor and make an appointment he will schedule a meeting and hear their concerns.  If they ask that he treat their concerns confidentially he will do so.”  In that paragraph, “supervisor” should be “superintendent.”

 

On page 2 under FY06 Budget:  The minutes had read, “Discussion of FY06 regarding PCS:  RC read from the meeting minutes of 12/04/03, which was at the close of last year’s budget discussions.  “Board members clarified to the public attending that any board interest this year in keeping the increase to between 3.5% and 4% is specifically a response to decreased enrollment, not a programmatic adherence to the idea of keeping increases to that range regardless of the enrollment or the school’s cost of inflation.”  Indeed, enrollment projections for next year indicate that enrollment will probably hold at about the same level of 211 students.  However, not all board members at this opening budget meeting said that they still feel in support of last year’s December 4 statement.  So the budget discussion this year seems to be geared toward creating a FY06 budget of somewhere between a 3% increase and a 6-7% increase.  (A 6-7% increase is what, at this point, Business Manager Jim Kane’s calculations suggest would be necessary in order to provide the FY05 level of services in FY06.)”  From that paragraph the following passage should be deleted.  “However, not all board members at this opening budget meeting said that they still feel in support of last year’s December 4 statement.  So the budget discussion this year seems to be geared toward creating a FY06 budget of somewhere between a 3% increase and a 6-7% increase.”

 

On page 3, under Head Start.  It had read, “In order to endorse an integrated (HS + private placement children) program, it would need to feel assured that such a program would not threaten the enrollment of current community childcare providers.”

In that sentence, “threaten the enrollment” should be changed to “threaten the viability.”

Prior Meeting’s Minutes

Move to approve minutes as amended (above).

AF

VS

 

Unanimous

Communications

AS received a communication notifying her that PCS met the standards set out by No Child Left Behind. 

 

Putney Central School received a letter from the Town of Putney regarding protection of the water supply.  (This letter is in the school board binder in the school office.)

Committee Reports:  Finance/School Forest

School Forest:  This is the third year of trail building.  As of September 9 the trail guide was issued in a 3rd addition that incorporates new trails.  Yet another trail is planned.  Students will build it next spring.  The School Forest Committee’s after-school fall program is now completed.  15 children participated.  They hiked up Sacketts Brook (in the brook) and did a lot of other activities.  They used a pulley system to get wood chips across the brook to line the trails.  The winter program will include a snowshoeing program.

 

Warrants

None.

Administrators’ Reports

Note:  Much of what is mentioned below was included in a written report distributed by AS.  The full report is in the school board binder in school office.

 

The Rotary Club is donating $2000 to the school for use with the athletic program.  With that money, the Recreation League and the school will collaborate on a project constructing a concession stand/storage shed for the athletic field.  The board asked AS to convey to the Rotary Club that it is extremely grateful for its gift.

 

The Kindergarten Committee has completed data collection.  On November 22 and Dec. 13 will meet again to put together a report.  AS will make recommendations to the board regarding kindergarten at the December 16 meeting. 

 

November 10 was Parents Night Off from Cooking, sponsored by PCS, PHACT and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.  As part of that event, 7th and 8th graders presented their findings on our school’s strengths and areas of concern.  They had developed those findings as part of the Development Assets Retreat that they attended last month

 

Mix It Up Day on November 16 mixed up the seating patterns in the lunchroom, all to help students meet new people and make new friends.

 

The performance by FIDDLESTICKS (a string ensemble of the VSO) on November 17 was excellent.

 

Nine middle school PCS students participated in the District Chorus.

 

AS and custodian Tony Coven would like to seat an ad hoc principal’s “building committee” that would meet 2 or 3 times and develop a possible amendment for the capital plan and also review the maintenance budget.  Interested community members should contact Amelia Stone at the school.

 

Amelia is working with teachers throughout the building to build “Learning Communities” so that teachers working at similar grade levels can together examine (a) what we expect students to learn, (b) how we know when they are learning, and (c) how we can assist students when they struggle to learn. 

 

Budget FY06:  The Present 1st Draft includes suggested amounts to restore funds in program improvement ($1000) and Winter Sports ($2500), K-6 paraeducators (.4 position.)  Increases in library book budget need to be discussed.

 

Noteworthy dates:  Nov. 24-26 Thanksgiving break.  Dec. 1at  9am All School Sing.

 

 

Old Business: Policy C7 “Board Relations with Administrators” – 3rd Reading

Read.  Amended as follows:

 

Under the heading "relations with the principal" the first sentence will read as follows:

"The superintendent will, in consultation with the Board, develop guidelines for Board relations with the principal."

Old Business:  Universal Health Care

The school board considered a draft resolution for presentation to the Vermont School Board Association (VSBA) regarding affordable health care.  (The draft resolution is now in the school board binder in the school office.)

 

School districts throughout the state are increasingly burdened with the escalating costs of health care for their employees.  The resolution considered by the board acknowledges those escalating costs and does not ask the VSBA to endorse or suggest a specific solution.  Rather, the resolution spoke of a “statewide shift to a cost effective health care plan that provides coverage to all Vermonters and urges the state legislature to create and implement such a plan.”  The school board hopes that a statewide shift to such a plan could help the Putney Town school district avoid facing exponentially increasing costs.

 

The board will send its resolution to the VSBA.  The VSBA will consider it for adoption.

Cost Effective Health Care Plan for all Vermonters

Motion to endorse the draft VSBA School Board Association Resolution dated 10/14/04

VS

RC

 

Unanimous

Old Business:  FY ’06 Budget Discussion:  Line Item by Line Item

The board identified the following areas to review:

 

EXPENSES
Creative

Middle school programs

Specials

Co-curricular / sports\

Special Ed

Early Ed

School board salaries

Legal/Audit

 

REVENUE

Class Size Reduction Money

Title I

Pro Bono Services

Special Ed

Medicaid

 

 

The board requests that WSESU Business Manager Jim Kane attend one of its upcoming budget discussions. 

 

The board asked AS to convey to Jim Kane that it would like to have staffing, FTE and salary information in the budget.

 

The board would like to do a rough calculation of the dollar value of volunteer work at the school.  More discussion is needed of how this could be accomplished.

 

New Business: FY ‘ 05 Flow Through Budget – Deb Merchant – Action Needed

The board needs to move to accept $36,638 in Federal special education (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Flow Through) money received for FY05.   PCS has a total of 79 students who qualify for special education for FY05.   The  $36,638 equals  $1,171.78 per student. 

 

Flow Through Budget

Motion to approve acceptance of $36,638 in Federal IDEA monies for FY05.

VS

EP

The board would like the minutes to reflect that it considers this level of funding to be an inadequate contribution from the Federal government.

Unanimous

New Business: Quarter Report from Fitz-Vogt and establishment of date for next report

The participation levels are on target. Vending machine and a la carte sales are down.  Food costs are expected to rise in 2005.  Fitz Vogt is looking into Nutrikids, a software program for menu planning and accounting.

 

Labor costs are very reasonable.  Price increases went into effect October 1.  But we are now operating at a deficit of $6875.61 as opposed to August, when the deficit was $2,480.89.

 

The board recommends more detailed reports from Fitz Vogt.  It especially recommends columns for “budgeted figures” and “comparisons to same quarter last year” in each report. 

 

Next quarter’s review will come on February 10.

New Business: Policy F14 “Admission of Non-Resident Tuition Students” – Discussion.

The board is concerned that, when out-of-district students are placed at PCS by their parents (and not by the district), the current policy does not provide for contingencies regarding special services.  The board asked Deb Merchant to communicate to Ron Stahley that we would like him to take a look at the PCS policy and to suggest policy language and possible procedures through which PCS should address requests for private, out-of-district placements. 

 

 

Next Meeting

Thursday, December 9 at 4:30.  Writing Room at PCS.

 

·        Administrators Report will include professional learning communities update.

·        FY06 Budget

·        Policy C7 “Board Relations with Administrators” -- Adoption

 

Tuesday, December 14, 4:30 – 6:00. 

 

·        FY06 Budget

 

Thursday, December 16 at 4:30.  Writing Room at PCS.

 

·        AS presentation of recommendations to board re: kindergarten.

 

Second meeting in January (most probably January 27, 2005)

 

·        NSRE tests (Vermont Standards scoring).

 

Feb 10, 2005 

 

·        Fitz-Vogt Quarter Report

 

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.