PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT
Plainfield School Board Meeting
Monday, February 6, 2006
Plainfield Elementary School
APPROVED MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 pm. Present were Board members Reynolds, Houde Hardy, Ferguson, Bucklin and Cogan. Also present were Superintendent Collins, Principal Langsner, and members of the public.
Public Comments
Town member Carl Strong asked if the Board has contacted Town Moderator Steve Taylor about the choices offered on the ballot that the Board is designing to show the town’s preference for the day of future School District meetings. Board Chair Reynolds replied that Taylor is aware of all items on the ballot. She went on to say that the final ballot will be posted on the school website when it is finished.
The Board agreed to rearrange the agenda at this time.
Business for Discussion and/or Action
A. Brenda Johnson presentation on trip to India
Teacher Brenda Johnson gave the Board a brief presentation on her most recent trip to India. She described the community and the school that she visited and she spoke about sharing teaching strategies with teachers.
Announcements, Communications
Board member Bucklin described a course for Word Level 2 being offered at KUA that she thought some PES staff could take advantage of. Board member Ferguson reported she sent a letter of condolence to Fran Hills on the passing of her mother.
Consent Agenda
A. Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of February 19, 2006 with one revision: change the first sentence in the second paragraph under Public Comments to read, “The Board went on to discuss a suggestion made by the Town Select Board on the logistics of getting the town to vote on this matter.”
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of February 23, 2006 with the following revisions: change the first and second sentences in the second paragraph under Announcements, Communications to, “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”; change the last sentence in the second paragraph of the Principal’s Report to, “The Board enthusiastically encouraged the pursuit of this project”; change the last sentence under Insurance Committee to, “The committee plans to look carefully at all three bids before making a recommendation”; change the paragraph under Policies to read, “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. Nominations, Resignations
Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted all in favor to accept the following nomination:
Sarah Ferland, Educational Assistant
Reports
A. Finance Director’s Report – Superintendent Collins reported for Bill Moorman that the Audit Report has been received and that the cover letter will appear in the Town Report. He distributed a copy of the Audit Report to each Board member and asked them to read it and bring their questions to the next meeting. He also stated that a copy of the Audit Report will be placed in the school office for public review.
B. Principal’s Report – Principal Langsner spoke about the progress the staff has made with the new curriculum mapping program. She said that the goal of the mapping work is to create a consistent curriculum.
Langsner spoke with the staff about having the same report card schedule for all grade levels. Aligning the report card schedule would give her more opportunities to assemble the entire staff for professional development on early dismissal and teacher days.
C. Superintendent’s Report – Superintendent Collins distributed two drafts of Lebanon’s 2006-2007 calendar. Lebanon hasn’t decided which calendar to use. Collins said that he would prefer to have the same schedule as Lebanon and he will let the Board know at their next meeting which calendar Lebanon selected. The Board can discuss the Plainfield 2006-2007 calendar at that time.
D. Committee Reports
Athletic Committee – Board member Houde Hardy reported that she has invited to the next committee meeting those town members interested in developing the small baseball field in front of the school into a slightly larger Little League field. Superintendent Collins requested that the Athletic Committee meet with Brandon Feid about his proposal for athletic camps during the summer.
Facilities Committee – Board Chair Reynolds reported that the bridge building project connecting the French’s Ledges trails to the Plainfield School property has become a community project with the Plainfield Trailblazers group, members of the Plainfield School staff, members of the KUA staff and some other community members taking over the plans. The group met and came up with several fundraising ideas and they are planning a campaign to raise community and school awareness on the benefits of opening up this trail to the school area. The group plans to introduce the idea at the School District meeting. They call themselves the “Plainfield Trail Blazers Community Bridge Project.
KUA Study Committee – Board member Cogan reported that the committee met to approve the report for the Town Report. He reported that they hope to increase the enrollment of Plainfield students at KUA and that they are trying to increase the amount of money targeted for need-based students.
Business for Discussion and/or Action
B. District Meeting preparation
Superintendent Collins gave the Board a draft of the handout intended for this year’s School District meeting, “Answers to Frequently Asked Questions at School District Meeting”. The Board had several suggestions for additions to the handout, including: a discussion of which schools in the Upper Valley area have regular education assistants and other data to support regular education assistants; a discussion on the KUA tax exemption question including what happens in the budget when Plainfield students choose KUA over Lebanon High School.
Non-public Session
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to go into non-public session pursuant to NH RSA 91-A:3,II (b) at 8:14 pm. The Board discussed the principal candidates and recommendations from the Principal Search Committee.
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to go back into public session at 9:00 pm.
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to hire Ellen Langsner as Principal and to authorize the Superintendent to negotiate the terms of the contract.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Annette Moore
Recording Clerk