PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT
Plainfield School Board Meeting
Monday, September 7, 2005
Plainfield Elementary School

UNAPPROVED MINUTES

The meeting was called to order at 6:35 pm. Present were Board members Houde Hardy, Ferguson, Reynolds and Cogan. Also present were Superintendent Collins, Principal Langsner and one member of the public.

Public Comments

Community member Dennis Girouard suggested another method to gain insight into the term “Challenge Every Child” would be to interview parents of children with special education needs or 504 plans.

Board member Bucklin joined the meeting at 6:40 pm.

Announcements, Communications

Superintendent Collins announced that Plainfield School has been selected as a Blue Ribbon School. He suggested that the Board send a note of congratulations to Stephanie Berman, the Volunteer Coordinator.

Board member Houde Hardy said she hasn’t been receiving communications regarding Lebanon School Board meetings. Superintendent Collins will investigate.

Board member Ferguson announced that the donated computers were delivered. She asked David Clifton to estimate how much the donated hardware is worth.

Board member Bucklin received comments from the community on how happy they are to have Ellen Langsner join the school.

Consent Agenda

A.            Minutes August 22, 2005

Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the public and non-public minutes of August 22, 2005, noting that the approved minutes must have the Recommendations of the Athletic Committee attached (they were omitted from the unapproved minutes).

B.            Nominations, Resignations

Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to accept the following nominations:

    Heather Gallagher                        7/8 Girls’ soccer coach

      Sarah Davies                                5/6 Asst. Girls’ soccer coach

      Sue Liebowitz                              7/8 Asst. Girls’ soccer coach

Reports

A.            Principal’s Report

Principal Langsner reported PES had a very successful opening. There are 18 new students. The staff had a curriculum mapping workshop with the new computers and they worked beautifully. She reported that there was a problem the day before school started when the tile floors became extremely slippery due to humidity. She told the Board that dehumidifiers brought in by Brandon Feid and Holly Braswell (a volunteer) combined with the efforts of the custodians and a change in the weather cleared the problem by the morning. She announced the following new hires: Susan Pullen, grade 4 Teacher; Laura Spratt, grs. 5 & 6 Special Education Teacher; Bill Granter, grs. 7 & 8 Education Assistant; Sheri Smith, gr. 5 Education Assistant; Susan Montmagny, gr. 3 Education Assistant. She noted that a Katrina Response Committee has been formed.

B.            Superintendent’s Report

The Superintendent explained that information on the Blue Ribbon School honor can be obtained by visiting the website of the NH Partners in Education at www.nhpie.org.  Out of 600 schools in NH, only 187 were designated as Blue Ribbon. Two members of the PES staff were invited to attend a celebration in October.

Collins announced that he and Principal Langsner are watching transportation costs. He estimates that these costs may go as far as $5000 over the budgeted amount due to the rising gas prices. They will continue to monitor this and keep the Board informed.

C.            Committee Reports

Athletic Committee –

Board member Houde Hardy, also Chair of the Athletic Committee, asked the Board’s opinion on what age group she should tap when the AC looks for two student members. The Board agreed that seventh graders are the best group for the job because they have several years experience in PES athletics and they would be able to be on the committee for two years.

Houde Hardy asked the Board when they would like feedback from the AC on next year’s budget. Superintendent Collins suggested mid-November.

Houde Hardy asked the Board if they have any special requests for AC agenda items. Superintendent Collins wants the AC to look at the content of the athletic policies.

Facilities Committee –

Board member Cogan reported that the Facilities Committee will come to the October 17 board meeting with a preliminary report on work they’ve done so far and with priorities as they see them. They will make budgeting recommendations to the Board at that time and discuss the lighting survey done by volunteer Doug Heaton.

Best Schools Committee – The committee will meet for the last time tomorrow night.

Health Insurance Committee – will meet again at the end of September.

Nutrition Committee – will meet tomorrow to discuss how to use the garden produce.

Business for Discussion and Action

A. School Profile

Board member Bucklin distributed a draft of the new School Profile. She suggested a website reference on the profile where people could go if they want further information.  The Board looked over the draft and made suggestions for changes.

B. Policies

The Board had a first reading of revisions of policies BBAA (School Board Member Authority), BBC (Board Member Resignation and Appointment), and BBD (Board Member Removal from Office). These three policies were completely revised using examples from the School Board Association. All Board members liked the revisions to these three policies.

Policy BFC (Policy Adoption and Rescission) – The Board discussed the revision to this policy which makes it possible for them to make and adopt simple revisions to policies involving but not limited to grammar, sentence structure, capitalization, and other language rules at the same meeting.

Community member Dennis Girouard suggested that the Board make sure the libraries have the NH RSA regulation books available if Board policies are going to make references to them.

Upon motion made and seconded, the School Board voted unanimously to approve the first reading of Policies BBAA (School Board Member Authority), BBC (Board Member Resignation and Appointment), BBD (Board Member Removal from Office) and BFC (Policy Adoption and Rescission).

C. Enrollment Projections

Board member Ferguson gave the Board an incomplete report that she has been compiling on enrollment projections. She will try to keep up-to-date with this projection as the year’s progress.

D. Goal III – Administrative Structure

The Board discussed how they plan to investigate a new administrative structure for PES. Superintendent Collins distributed a sheet to the Board showing schools comparable to PES in the area. He suggested that the Board use this list to select schools for interviewing.  It was decided that Superintendent Collins would contact selected schools to explain the Board’s mission and to try to obtain material that is easily assembled, such as job descriptions and pay scales of administrators. Board member Houde Hardy will review previous community reports to see what information can be obtained from them. The Board will formulate questions at the September 19th meeting for the administrative interviews.

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:56 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Annette Moore

Recording Clerk