PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Plainfield School Board Meeting

Monday, January 23, 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, Steve Halleran and members of the public.

 

Public Comments

There were no comments from the public.

 

Announcements, Communications

Steve Halleran told the Board that he spoke with the printer who does the Town Report. The printer said that if the school and the town can get their information to him early next week, then he will be able to get the Town Report back a week earlier than expected. This would eliminate the need to move the School District meeting or to print duplicate information for the School District meeting, as discussed in the meeting held January 19. Board Chair Reynolds thanked Halleran for expediting this change.

 

Board Chair Reynolds spoke of a long email she received from town member Maria Guzman requesting additions to the School Board website. Reynolds said that the frequency of e-mail communication has substantially increased and suggested that the Board change the website to have one email address for the entire Board, removing Board member’s personal email addresses. She said that consistency is needed in the process of how the Board responds to emails. All other Board members felt this was a good idea and they discussed the logistics. Reynolds will draft the text for an automatic reply that will respond to all emails and send it around to other Board members for approval.

 

Board member Ferguson reported that Nancy Norwalk from the Philip Read Memorial Library needs the updated policies to replace old policies in the policy book at the library. Superintendent Collins will take care of this.

 

Consent Agenda

A. Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of January 9, 2006 with the following revisions: the fourth sentence in the second paragraph under Business for Discussion and/or Action should be, “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”; change the first sentence in the fifth paragraph under Business for Discussion to, “The Board discussed at length the contingency warrant article for an assistant principal”; and the change the second sentence in the next paragraph to, “Board Chair Reynolds emphasized the importance of the Principal being the instructional leader instead of spending all of her time on administrative details”.

 

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of January 17, 2006 with the following revision: to correct the date at the top of the page to Tuesday, January 17, 2006.

 

Reports

A. Finance Director’s Report – Bill Moorman was not present.

B. Principal’s Report – Principal Langsner gave the Board the results of the principal evaluation survey done by teachers and support staff and the results of a curriculum mapping survey done by teachers.

 

Langsner described a proposal to have town member Elizabeth Lurie as the year’s artist-in-residence. Lurie would work with all grade levels to create a sign in mosaic tile to hang across the front of the school. Lurie has offered to donate her labor and the cost of materials would come partially from the Arts Enrichment fund and partially from the sale of “leaves” that would become part of the finished work. The Board enthusiastically encouraged the pursuit of this project.

 

Langsner said the PTA is interested in hosting a circus camp during the summer at the school. This has been a significant fundraiser for Norwich for several years and Plainfield would use the same group. Langsner said she is looking into the question of insurance. Board Chair Reynolds asked Langsner to keep the Board apprised of developments.

 

Langsner said she is investigating a method to send an email to parents (parents would request to be on a special list) notifying them of unexpected cancellations and unusual happenings at the school.

 

C. Superintendent’s Report – Superintendent Collins said he is working on a draft of next year’s calendar for the Board to look over at the next regular meeting.

 

D. Committee Reports

Athletic Committee – Houde Hardy reported that the Athletic Committee spent their last meeting on Basketball team organization. They will meet next on February 13 to discuss the baseball and softball season.

 

Facilities Committee – Reynolds reported that the committee is working on providing a priority list for spending the extra $20,000 requested for building repairs in this year’s budget.

 

Insurance Committee – Bucklin reported that the committee received the final insurance bid. She warned that the numbers look good at first glance but the committee needs to be sure it is a comparable plan to the current one. The committee plans to look carefully at all three bids before making a recommendation.

 

 

 

 

 

Business for Discussion and/or Action

A. Final Vote on Warrant

Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to approve the articles of the warrants for the annual meeting and for the election of District officers and to authorize signing and posting.

 

Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to authorize the signing and posting of the MS-26.

 

C. Policies

Upon motion made and seconded, the Board voted unanimously to approve and adopt, as second reading, policy ING (Animals in the School) with one revision. Also the Board voted to approve and adopt, as third reading, policies ACE (Procedural Safeguards Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disabilities) and IGBA (Programs for Students with Disabilities).

 

B. Principal Search

Superintendent Collins reported that the Principal Search Committee has gone through all applications and will begin to interview tomorrow. The committee hopes to have two or three recommendations for the Board by February 1. The Board discussed the pros and cons of holding a candidates night for the two or three final candidates selected by the Search Committee. The Board voted on a candidate’s night as follows: four against (Ferguson, Bucklin, Houde Hardy, Reynolds) and one in favor (Cogan). Instead, the Board decided to continue to solicit the public for suggestions on criteria to include in the search process and to continue to list the names of search committee members for the public to contact with thoughts and ideas on the process (a new notice will go in this week’s Newsletter and to PlainFacts).

 

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:04 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Annette Moore

Recording Clerk