Minutes of School Directors Meeting
Smilie Memorial School, Bolton, VT
Attendees: John Alberghini, Vicky Congdon, Phil Graff, Fred Kenney, Lisa Wells, Ann Whitman
Guests: Joanne Machia, Jim Massingham, Carl Sword, Steve May
Meeting came to order at 6:05 pm.
1. Comments from community members: Fred shared a letter from Meg Armstrong to the Transportation Committee and Dr. Conley regarding busing issues.
2. October minutes: Item 6 under Action/Discussion items and the start time of the November meeting will be amended. Lisa moved to approve the minutes as amended; Phil seconded. All in favor.
3. Principal’s Report:
Smilie received an Incentive Grant for $200 used to purchase software for computerizing the report cards as well as a Ben & Jerry’s grant for $2,000 to be used for the computer lab and after-school enrichment.
Smilie’s 2004 NSRE scores show improvement in several areas. John will review the scores at the December meeting.
Enrollment is steady at 98 students (including preschool).
Action/Discussion Items
1. Carl Sword reported on his review of the condition of the heating, ventilation, and electrical systems. Major heating-system recommendations include: 1 controller/2 roof units with a battery backup (currently 1 controller/4 units); an air supply controller separate from the exhaust; a dryer on the air compressor in the older section of the building to keep water out of the lines; 2 glycol injection pumps (1/system). He also recommended more efficient ballasts and fluorescent tubes (inexpensive with a rebate from Efficiency Vermont). Carl will write up his recommendations and the estimated costs.
2. Joanne Machia distributed a 5-year Actual to Budget comparison. She reviewed Draft 2 of the 2005-2006 budget, with the Board requests from the October meeting, as well as updated health insurance, workers comp, and some assessments. The Board discussed the elimination or reduction of several line items, including the Wide Area Network (WAN), an additional item this year. Phil asked about paying only our assessed maintenance cost for the WAN and not paying for the server (unnecessary at this point); Joanne will bring this figure to the December meeting. Fred proposed funding only regular maintenance and anticipated repairs in the Buildings and the Repair & Maintenance funds and seeing if the town would approve a capital contingency fund for emergency repairs (a separate budget item at Town Meeting). Joanne noted that based on the invoices, it would be difficult to separate the regular maintenance expenses from the repairs to determine these line items. The Board will review the revised budget at the December meeting and discuss the contingency fund proposal.
3. The board discussed the draft of the 2004-05 Smilie Elementary School Action Plan. Phil asked about the effect of No Child Left Behind on the plan; John reviewed some of the standardized tests and assessments. Approval of the plan was moved to the December board meeting.
4. The CESU Internet Access and Computer Use Policy C-1 was warned for a vote at the December meeting.
5. Lisa moved to approve the revised Invoice Edit list in the amount of $186,939.25; Phil seconded. All in favor.
6. Committee reports:
Spec. Ed.: Scheduled to meet on Nov. 29.
Curriculum: Discussion of benefits of introducing a foreign language at elementary school level and review of Brewster-Pierce program. The committee passed a motion endorsing the inclusion of foreign language into the elementary school curriculum.
Long-Range: Did not meet.
Executive: Presentation of Special Ed. budget by Beth DeForge.
Policy: Discussion of the Policy for Prevention of Harassment of Students as proposed by the state and the Internet Access and Computer Use policy. Mia Karvonides, legal counsel at the Department of Ed., will attend the December meeting to review the lengthy harassment policy.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm.
Next meeting is scheduled for December 1, 2004, at 7 pm at Smilie School.
Respectfully submitted,
Approved as amended