PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Plainfield School Board Meeting

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Plainfield Elementary School

MINUTES

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm. Present were Board members Reynolds, Ferguson, Bucklin, Cogan and Forman. Also present were Superintendent Collins, Financial Specialist Beth Bierwirth, Special Education Director Nancy Brogden and members of the public. Steve Beaupré, Tom Lappin and Ann Grobe represented the town Finance Committee.

At 7:06 pm the Board recessed the regular board meeting and called to order the Public Hearing on the 2007-2008 School District Budget.

Discussion of 2007-2008 School District Budget

Board Chair Reynolds summarized the ‘bottom line’ for the proposed 2007-08 budget: the total spending plan is proposed at $5,167,879, which is an increase of $179,628, or 3.6% from the current year’s budget. In other words, the budget proposes an increase of $.82 per $1,000, which does not include any additions from warrant articles. Reynolds went through the budget block by block, highlighting important changes and taking questions from the floor as they came up.

Special Education Director Nancy Brogden spent some time explaining the necessity for the proposed increases in the special education portion of the budget. She explained that it is not the number of students in the program that counts, but rather the needs of the students. Brogden added that there are now students at Plainfield School with more severe disabilities which are more time consuming for the staff. She explained that most of the special education staff spend long hours at school and at home trying to keep up with the workload.

Board Chair Reynolds outlined the Professional Staff Contract and Myra Ferguson and Audra Bucklin spoke about the Support Staff Contract, which will be presented as separate warrant articles. They outlined the savings and costs of the salaries and health care benefits and also spoke about other language changes in the contracts. 

The Board and Superintendent Collins discussed how to word an article to raise $20,000 for the Building Trust Fund. They would like to see it raised from surplus dollars, but Collins is not sure that there will be enough surplus to reach the full $20,000 that the Board feels is a minimum needed for the fund. The other option is to raise $20,000 from taxes.

Board Chair Reynolds asked the Finance Committee for an opinion on budgeting for every high school student to attend Lebanon High School. Steve Beaupré replied that he feels the Board should budget for every student, even though there is a possibility for some to attend KUA. The excess in the account will accommodate high school students that may unexpectedly move to Plainfield. Town member Dennis Girouard said he doesn’t believe in padding the budget. Finance Committee member Tom Lappin said that he doesn’t believe that it would be padding the budget, because surplus funds have always been turned back to the town at the end of the school year in the form of a tax cut or a transfer to a capital reserve fund.

The Board discussed a bond for the sprinkler. Doug Cogan outlined the costs of the sprinkler and the fire-proof paint that has been mandated by the state Fire Marshall. He also described other projects and their costs that the Facilities Committee wishes to see completed. The Board discussed adding one or more of these projects to the sprinkler bond but decided that, since it is critical that the town approve a bond for the sprinkler system, they do not want to risk having the bond defeated by clouding the issue with other projects.

Board Chair Reynolds described the warrant article requesting the town approve funds to hire an Assistant Principal. The Board will work on more information to present to the voters on the assets of hiring an Assistant Principal.

The Public hearing on the 2007-2008 School District Budget was closed at 10:10 pm.

The Board reconvened the regular meeting at 10:11 pm.

Consent Agenda

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept Tim Grace as the Open Gym Supervisor.

Business for Discussion and/or Action

A. Set Annual District Meeting Time

The Board agreed to have the Annual District meeting at 10:00 am on Saturday, March 10, 2007.

B. District Meeting Warrant

Superintendent Collins passed out a preliminary copy of the warrant articles. The Board requested he change the order slightly. Collins will continue to work on the articles.

C. Annual District Meeting Report

The Board will discuss the Annual Report more at the next meeting on Monday, January 22.

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 10:20 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Annette Moore

Recording Clerk