PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Plainfield School Board Meeting

Monday, June 4, 2007

Plainfield Elementary School

MINUTES

The meeting was called to order at 6:35 pm. Present were Board members Reynolds, Cogan, Ferguson, Bucklin and Forman. Also present were Superintendent Collins, Principal Langsner, Finance Officer Beth Bierwirth and members of the public.

Announcements, Communications

Board Chair Reynolds noted that someone sent an email to the School Board website suggesting that school buses be run with bio-diesel. Reynolds added that she did not think that this is a possibility, but would pass on the request to First Student. The same email suggested the school adopt a “no idle” policy for both buses and cars during drop off/pick up times and that cupcakes be reinstituted for birthdays.

Board member Bucklin received information on Safe Route to School, a program that gives state funding for building sidewalks near schools. She suggested that the Board work with both town officials and KUA officials when and if a sidewalk project is pursued.

Board member Ferguson said she has mailed letters of appreciation to the following staff members recently presented curriculum updates to the Board: Laura Knight for the Language Arts Committee; Fran Hills for the Social Studies Committee; Mary McKernan for the Math Committee; Jean Allen for the Spanish Committee;

Consent Agenda

Minutes May 7, 2007 and May 21, 2007

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted three in favor, 2 abstentions to accept the minutes of the May 7, 2007 meeting with the following changes: change the second sentence in the Facilities Committee report to “Doug Cogan and Facilities Committee Chair Mike Higgins will read it over”; under Committee Report, change “Nutrition Committee” to “Health and Wellness Council”.

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School board voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the May 21, 2007 meeting with the following changes: under D. District Meeting 2008 Time and Date, change the paragraph to, “As a result of input received from the last two School District meetings where a slight majority favored Friday one year and a slight majority favored Saturday the next year, the Board discussed and reached a consensus to alternate the annual School District meeting from Saturday mornings one year with Friday evenings the next year, starting with Saturday morning in 2008”; under B. Athletic Committee Recommendation re: Division of Teams, change the fifth sentence to, “Forman stated that the Athletic Committee has been discussing this recommendation for the better part of two years and has gathered community input in the forms of a student survey, a coaches forum and a community forum, all of which showed the clear majority of people responding to support placement try outs”.

At this time, the Board rearranged the agenda.

Business for Discussion and/or Action

A. Curriculum Presentations

Mary Cantlin presented the Technology Plan. She explained that this Plan states where the school wants to be in three to five years, and that it is not the same as a curriculum because it is now believed that it is better to imbed technology in other curricula where it is more meaningful for students. Cantlin explained that the Plan is in rough draft form because it is a completely new format. According to the schedule, the Technology Curriculum should be approved this year but, because of the new format, it will be behind for a few years.

Karen Heaton and Christie Kuriger presented the PES Counseling and Health Curriculum. They explained that this is a very different curriculum from the former 1993 version because National Standards have changed dramatically. This curriculum is scheduled for review in September and they hope to have approval for it by the end of the first quarter next year.

The work being done on the Science Curriculum was presented by Laura Spratt. This committee has spent a lot of time helping teachers compare what they are currently teaching to the NH Frameworks to see where there are weaknesses. Next they will need to decide what to do with those areas that teachers are covering that are NOT on the NH Frameworks but Spratt explained that they do not intend to recreate the science curriculum just because students will be tested on certain areas. They intend to look at the value and blend of all areas and consider professional development implications and budgeting implications when they discuss change.

Superintendent Collins asked the Board to note how much time curriculum committees have spent on this critical work. All the curriculum work is done outside of regular classroom time and many teachers belong to several curriculum committees. Teachers also need to assist other curriculum committees with the work they are doing.

B. Policy Revisions, Second Reading: JHCC and JHCC-R (Communicable Diseases); JLCD and JLCD-R (Administering Medicines to Students)

Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to adopt policy JHCC and JHCC-R (Communicable Diseases).

The Board discussed and requested several changes to policy JLCD and JLCD-R. They emphasized the need to educate parents on the form and to make the form easily available, possibly through frequent submissions to the Newsletter. Vote to approve this policy will be made at the next meeting.

The agenda was reordered at this time.

Reports

A. Principal’s Report

Principal Langsner requested the School Board give her permission to have an additional early release day on Friday, June 15 so that teachers can use the afternoon to pack their rooms up in preparation of the construction work to take place this summer. She added that many teachers will be taking part in a three day workshop immediately following the last day of school and will not be able to do it then. She felt that this was the best solution to the problem. The Board agreed to allow Principal Langsner to have an additional early release day if she feels this is the best solution.

Langsner asked the Board to authorize her to hire additional summer help to assist the custodian during construction and to cover for him when he is on vacation. She said that there is money in the budget allocated for this purpose. Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to authorize Carin Reynolds to sign contracts for summer custodial help.

Langsner reported that there are many interesting applicants for the Social Studies and Language Arts positions open in the Junior High. She will begin interviewing next week. She said that there weren’t any  certified Physical Education teachers applying for the part-time P.E. position. She explained that there are some local candidates with coaching experience interested in the job and requested a “hiring emergency” be declared so that she can hire someone who is qualified to teach but who is not certified to teach Physical Education. She explained that in a hiring emergency the state will allow someone to be hired for the period of one year only. Upon a motion made and seconded, the School Board approved unanimously a hiring emergency for the part-time opening in Physical Education.

C. Finance Report

Finance Officer Beth Bierwirth indicated highlights from the latest Expenditure and Revenue Reports that the Board received in their packets. Currently there is a $38,387 surplus but the number won’t be final until the school year ends at the end of June. Collins stated that he would like to see the surplus given back to the town if possible, but requested that at least $4000 be encumbered to replace the carpet in the lobby area, which is in terrible shape. It would cost $8000 to do all the carpeting, but the lobby carpet is the more urgent job. The Board agreed to encumber $4000 to replace lobby carpeting.

Bierwirth explained the new auditing standards, which will require the school to hire someone to authorize the school’s financial statements and attest to them. The auditors will no longer be able to do this as well as create the financial statements. She said that the problem is that she doubts anyone will want to do this when they don’t work daily with the school’s finances. It could also be very expensive. She believes that many schools will probably not find a solution to this problem this year and will take a material deficiency on their audit. The disadvantage of having a material deficiency is that if you have an audit on a large grant, the presence of a material weakness can preclude the school from receiving grant funds or may cause a higher rate for bonds. Superintendent Collins feels that Plainfield School should receive a material deficiency this year, in the hopes that during the next year a solution will be found to help all schools which are in a similar situation.

Bierwirth expressed concern over the amount of administrative work necessary to administer 403B plans for employees. She explained that currently employees are using seven 403B companies. The Teacher’s Contract does not state which 403B companies an employee can choose, so there is a possibility that many more than seven could be used in the future, creating an enormous amount of paperwork. Bierwirth suggested that the contract be changed to limit choices to the seven companies presently being used. Superintendent Collins said he would speak with Fran Hills about the possibility of changing the contract to limit 403B company choices.

The fuel oil contract has been signed for $2.42 per gallon.

B. Superintendent’s Report

Collins announced that the circus camp will be held this year at KUA. The result on the inquiry about insurance coverage for the circus camp resulted in no additional cost for the increase in liability.

Collins gave background information about a conservation grant the school received a few years ago to address the erosion of the brook that runs through school property.  The conservation plan has taken a long time but it Collins has finally received it. He has spoken with Bill Knight, representing the Plainfield Conservation Commission, about the project because the Conservation Commission is interested in talking with the farmer who owns the property bordering the other side of the brook. The idea is for the erosion on both sides of the brook be addressed at the same time. Collins needs to look into the federal grant that the school received to see if this is a possibility.

D. Facilities Committee

Doug Cogan reported that there are still some problems with the master controller for the HVAC system. Final payment to Pro Control is being withheld. Superintendent Collins expects these problems to be resolved very soon.

There was discussion about adding a door from the hallway to Mary McKernan’s room in the junior high pod this summer during construction. Adding this door will eliminate some of the traffic between the junior high classrooms, which is a big concern.

Principal Langsner reported that a color consultant was hired to pick wall colors. She reported that the lobby and hallway, the junior high and the gym will be painted with latex color immediately after the fire resistant paint has dried. A schedule for painting the rest of the school will be developed so that the entire school will be done in the next few years. She said that there is money in the maintenance budget for this initial painting of color.

Business for Discussion and/or Action

C. School Address

Superintendent Collins explained that Town Administrator Steve Halleran would like the Board to make a decision about changing the address of the school, indicating discussion at the April 2, 2007 meeting on a letter received from Halleran. Collins indicated that a discussion of this proposal with the administration indicates very little cost but a great deal of time necessary to make an address change. The majority of the Board expressed reluctance to change the school address. Board member Bucklin suggested that the property deed be checked to see if the school owns land all the way out to Bonner Road, in which case the name of the road could be changed, but the school address could stay the same. Board Chair Reynolds will meet with Halleran to discuss the possibilities and report back to the Board.

D. Board Retreat

Superintendent Collins requested that the Board look over the schedule they have received for next year’s meetings and consider a date in August for a Board Retreat. He also asked the Board to consider topics for discussion at the retreat.

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:35 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Annette Moore

Recording Clerk