PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Plainfield School Board Meeting

Monday, January 9, 2006

Plainfield Elementary School

 

APPROVED MINUTES

 

The meeting was called to order at 6:33 pm. Present were Board members Reynolds, Houde Hardy, Ferguson, Bucklin and Cogan. Also present were Superintendent Collins, Principal Langsner, Finance Director Moorman, the town Finance Committee (represented by Margaret Drye, Brad Atwater, Rob Hewett, Tom Lappin, Joella McCarragher and Charles Wira) and members of the public.

 

Public Comments

Town member Jack McNellis approached the Board with a request to move the School District meeting from Friday night to Saturday. He feels that having the meeting on a Friday night is difficult for families that have adults that work all day and for the elderly who prefer not to drive after dark. He cited a vote taken at the District meeting in 1981 to hold the District meetings on Saturday. Superintendent Collins said he has also reviewed the minutes of that meeting and feels that the vote taken at that meeting was an advisory vote. Board Chair Reynolds said that she would like to see as many people as possible attend the meeting and will speak with Steve Halleran about placing a vote on the ballot this year to settle the matter.

 

Announcements, Communications

Board member Cogan said that he received word that a school bus got stuck again due to badly sanded roads. He suggested that better communication between the school and the road crews may help prevent further incidents.

 

Board Chair Reynolds reported that she received an article from a parent on boys in education and Board member Ferguson reported she met with Jack McNellis at his request to provide further explanation of some of the responses to questions he has asked of the Board in the past.

 

Consent Agenda

A. Minutes December 5, 2005

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of December 5, 2005 with the following revisions: to change the last sentence under Minutes, November 21, 2005 to, “It has always been the feeling in the Plainfield community that 5 – 8 grade athletics should be run by the school rather than by the town”; change the first sentence in the third paragraph under Business for Discussion and/or Action to, “Board Chair Reynolds identified three areas that she felt are of concern to the petitioners: they feel raises last year were excessive compared to other school’s raises and to people in general; they feel the School Board is trying to bury the true cost of salaries in the operating budget; they feel the public feels a loss of control by keeping salaries within the operating budget”; and to change the second to the last sentence in the next paragraph to, “Board member Cogan said he feels the Board could follow this example to address the public’s question about the budget but he doesn’t feel that a separate warrant article is necessary”.

Minutes December 19, 2005

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of December 19, 2005 with the following revisions: change the first sentence in the third paragraph under Reports to, “Board member Cogan reported that the KUA Study Committee will have its first meeting on January 3”; change the last sentence in the fourth paragraph under 2006-2007 Budget to, “Principal Langsner described a proposed change in the seventh grade math text which would increase the rigor of the math program thereby eliminating the need for advance placement math classes in grade 7”.

 

 

B. Nominations, Resignations, etc.

Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept with regrets the resignation of Courtney Cioffredi, grade 6 Educational Assistant.

 

Reports

Principal's Report - Principal Langsner reported that the Faculty Council, made up of a representative group of teachers and paraprofessionals, have met to look at the school goals. They have determined the school goals to be:

·        To implement a comprehensive plan to monitor curriculum, student achievement, and to plan future instruction.

·        To provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all members of the Plainfield School Community by providing experiences that will encourage attitudes of compassion and reaching out to  members who may feel marginalized by our school society.

 

Langsner reported that she has distributed a principal evaluation form to all staff.

 

Langsner reported on a discussion she recently had with members of the PTA. Last fall the PTA received a request from students to replace the old playground. Members of the PTA met recently and talked about fundraising enough funds to replace the old playground with a new playground to honor Ben and Josh Putnam. Students could be involved in both the planning and development of the new playground. Langsner said she received a positive response from the staff when she approached them and she said that planning is at very preliminary stages.

 

Langsner also reported on the curriculum mapping work that she has been doing with the staff. She distributed to the Board a handout called What is curriculum mapping? which includes 10 Steps to Reviewing Curriculum Maps. 

 

Superintendent's Report - Superintendent Collins reported that there will be a public hearing on the budget on Tuesday, January 17 and he hopes to also have drafts of the warrant articles at that meeting.

 

Collins reported that the Board should watch for new legislation currently at the House level on open enrollment in schools. He spoke of the Principal Search committee which will meet on Wednesday, January 11 to discuss the criteria for screening candidates.

 

KUA Committee Report - Board member Cogan reported on a KUA Committee meeting he attended recently. He said that currently there are 24 Plainfield children attending KUA. With only three exiting this spring and approximately ten families interviewing for freshmen entry, KUA is moving towards its goal of 30 students from Plainfield.

 

Business for Discussion and/or Action

Finance Director Moorman explained to the Board changes made to the 06/07 budget since last seen at the December 5 and 19 meetings. He also described how recent information from Lebanon High School allowed him to not only reduce the current year's estimated high school tuition expense (by about $30,000) but also to reduce next year's LHS tuition budget (by about $40,000). This reduction increases the 2005/06 estimated surplus to about $90,000 and Moorman suggested the Board use this surplus by placing $20,000 in the building surplus fund and using $70,000 to reduce taxes.

 

The Board discussed the 2006/07 budget line by line and answered all questions from the public as they went through the budget. Moorman assured the Board that the proposed budget includes the same staffing as the current year’s budget. Principal Langsner spent some time discussing the new budget category “Information Services". She explained that creating a separate category allows them to monitor the needs and costs of the school’s technology requirements more effectively and efficiently. Moorman explained that the revised 'bottom line' of the 2006/07 budget calls for an increase of 3.6% over the current year's budget.

 

The Board discussed two proposed warrant articles, one to establish a kindergarten aide position and one for a .50 FTE assistant principal. Moorman explained that the proposed warrant articles would change the spending increase to about 4.6% (from 3.6%) if both are accepted.

 

Regarding the warrant for a kindergarten aide, Board member Houde Hardy reported that almost every school that is progressive has an aide in kindergarten. Margaret Drye asked if the Board intends to have an aide in every classroom. Board member Bucklin said that the need for aides is specifically in the lower grades. Drye would like to see concrete proof that the aides put into the first and second grades last year have improved teaching in those classrooms.

 

The Board discussed at length the contingency warrant article for an assistant principal.  Moorman explained that a contingency warrant article is an amount of money that's available to pay for unexpected expenditures that arise during the year. The only requirement is that the Board must report the next year what the money was spent on. Board member Cogan felt that it was necessary to put into the warrant that the money be used to hire a part-time assistant principal.

 

They discussed the anticipated difficulty in finding someone to fill the position of assistant principal/teacher/athletics coordinator. Board Chair Reynolds emphasized the importance of the Principal being the instructional leader instead of spending all of her time on administrative details. She would like to see the money for a half-time assistant principal be approved and she felt that the explanation for the contingency warrant article may be voted down simply because it is too confusing. The Board decided to pursue a warrant article to hire a half-time assistant principal rather than a contingency warrant article. Margaret Drye, from the Finance Committee, said she was more comfortable with this more specific warrant article than with a contingency warrant article.

 

Upon motion made and seconded, the Board voted unanimously to table the discussion on policies for the next regular meeting on Monday, January 23, 2006.

 

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 10:55 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Annette Moore

Recording Clerk