PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT
Plainfield School Board Meeting
Monday, May 15, 2006
Plainfield Elementary School
MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 pm. Present were Board members Reynolds, Ferguson, Bucklin and Forman. Also present were Superintendent Collins, Principal Langsner, and members of the public.
Public Comments
No public comments.
Announcements and Communications
Board member Ferguson reported that she will send a note to Elizabeth Lurie for the work she did on the beautiful sign. Board member Bucklin said that KUA will have another WORD course and another EXCEL course that staff at Plainfield School will be invited to attend. Bucklin also said she has been in touch with the town recreation department to schedule the tennis courts and swimming pool. She said the Recreation Department is concerned that their summer programs will interfere with the new summer camps being run by the school. Bucklin asked Brandon Feid if he had spoken with anyone at the Recreation Department when he scheduled the camps. Feid replied that he made an educated guess.
Consent Agenda
A. Minutes May 1, 2006
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted all in favor to accept the public and non-public minutes of May 1, 2006 with the following revisions: change the second sentence under Superintendent’s Report to “Caple requested a seven cent increase in the cost….”; change the fourth and fifth sentences under Athletic Committee to “He said that the track program is different from any other sports because participation is weighted more toward 5th and 6th graders rather than 7th and 8th graders. He said that there are divergent views about the reasons for this.”; add to the last paragraph before Business for Discussion and/or Action, “The parent encouraged the school to consider advertising and hiring this position as two part-time teachers: half for music and half for instrumental instruction, to encourage the greatest number of qualified applicants.”; add to the second sentence under Audio taping of Meetings, “Board members Forman, Ferguson, Cogan and Reynolds all stated that they….”; change the paragraph under Sewer System Project to, “Because the Board policy allows for two processes for bidding, Superintendent Collins asked the Board if they would like to publicly advertise the project or solicit bids. He said he knows of four possible bidders. Board Chair Reynolds thought it would be worthwhile to publicly advertise for bids.”
B. Nominations
Renominations of Support Staff will be discussed in a non-public session later in the evening.
(At this time the Board decided to reorder the agenda.)
First Reading of Wellness Policy
Board Chair Reynolds said she will allow public input during the discussion on the Wellness Policy.
Board member Ferguson gave information about how and why this policy was written. She introduced Karen Heaton, the school nurse, and Kate Cricco, a registered dietician, as members of the wellness policy committee. Ferguson said the intent of the policy is to teach children balance and how to make good choices. After discussing the organization of the policy, the Board decided to separate it into three parts: policy, regulations, and resource book. The Board discussed assessment of the policy and who would perform the assessment. Karen Heaton offered an example of an assessment. Superintendent Collins suggested that an informal assessment done yearly would be a good idea in addition to a formal evaluation every three years.
The Board discussed the policy statement that students ideally are provided with a 30 minute lunch. Principal Langsner said that if she is required to provide a 30 minute lunch to every student she will have to take time from recess or academics in some grade levels. Board Chair Reynolds asked if the policy could be made more flexible by putting both a minimum and a maximum time for lunch. Karen Heaton said the committee tried to make the policy as a “best case scenario”. She thought this paragraph could be reworded to be more flexible. Board member Forman felt the wording sets the policy up to structurally fail the three year assessment.
Board members Reynolds and Forman felt that the words “should” and “should not” were very strong language. They preferred the words “strongly encouraged” and would like to see a more positive voice given to the whole policy.
The Board discussed food fundraisers that occur during the day, such as Friday ice cream, and they discussed in-school celebrations, such as birthday parties. Kate Cricco would like to see teachers setting an example by thinking beyond the traditional and being creative with fundraisers and celebrations. Again, the Board would like to see language in the policy that encourages people to think creatively rather than tell them what they can’t do.
The Board discussed the physical activity section of the policy and made suggestions. Board Chair Reynolds decided to put off further discussion on the Wellness Policy until the next meeting. She suggested the committee make the suggested changes and bring it back for a second reading on June 5.
Reports
A. Finance Director’s Report
Superintendent Collins reported for Bill Moorman that the school has locked into a price for fuel oil next year in conjunction with the Newport School system. The price will be $2.47 ½ per gallon.
B. Principal’s Report
Principal Langsner reported that an insurance agent will meet with staff members in the next week to discuss HMO vs. POS insurance. She also said that the search committees for the three professional positions should be finished by the end of the week.
C. Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Collins reported that the contract with Pathways Consulting, LLC has been signed. They will start work on an engineering report of the new sewage system. He also reported on the river erosion grant, saying that the grant provides free engineering services which probably won’t get started until late summer.
Superintendent Collins suggests that the Board eliminate Unapproved Minutes and Approved Minutes and simply submit Minutes which can be corrected at the following meeting. He said that the minutes can be distributed to the public much quicker using this method. The Board agreed to this change.
D. Committee Reports
Athletic Committee - Board member Forman reported that at the last Athletic Committee meeting the committee discussed the track program again. They compared the ratio of students to coaches to other school’s track programs and found that the program is relatively in line with other programs. The committee discussed the fact that most of this year’s track team are in the 5th and 6th grades and compete against 7th and 8th graders at other schools. This is very tough on the younger athletes. He said the committee talked about getting an earlier idea of the ages of track team members so the athletic director could find competitions to cater to the majority of the group’s age. The committee also discussed having a separate coach for members in grades 7 and 8 to provide them with more serious and more skill specific coaching.
Forman said the committee also discussed creating a mechanism to allow athletes to give feedback after every season. This will allow the committee to find out what is working and what needs work.
The committee also discussed the possibility of having a soccer tournament in Plainfield next fall. Brandon Feid has approval from KUA to use some of their facilities for the event. The Board thought this was a great idea.
Forman reported that the committee discussed the need to identify upcoming committee vacancies and the advertising necessary to fill the spots. The Board asked to see the advertisement before it goes into the Newsletter. They want to make sure the advertisement specifies how the selections will be made.
Facilities Committee – Board Chair Bucklin said the Facilities Committee will meet to discuss spending the excess surplus. Superintendent Collins requested the Board wait until the June 5 meeting to further discuss this because an update of the excess surplus will be given at that time. Collins also spoke about encumbering funds. He said that he understands that if a job has a bid and a signed contract before the end of June, then funds can be encumbered until the work begins in July.
Business for Discussion and or Action
A. Policies
The Board had a first reading of policy BHE (School Board Use of Email). They had their first reading of policy JLCF (Wellness) earlier in the evening. Upon a motion made and seconded, the Board voted unanimously to approve for first reading of policy BHE (School Board Use of Email) and policy JLCF (Wellness). Policy KA was tabled until the June 5 meeting.
The Board read the revisions of policies GBMA (Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence), JFCJ (Weapons) and JFCK (Bullying) and changes were suggested. Upon a motion made and seconded, the Board voted unanimously to approve for first reading of the revision of policy GBMA (Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence), policy JFCJ (Weapons) and policy JFCK (Bullying).
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 9:48 pm. Discussions on Support Staff and SAU Staff renominations took place.
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to go back into public session at 10:02 pm.
Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board approved unanimously to offer contracts for the 2006-2007 school year to the members of the Plainfield Elementary School Support Staff and the SAU staff as presented with the addition of Russell Collins as Superintendent.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 10:03 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Annette Moore
Recording Clerk