Swanton School Board
Corrine Bonnette: 868-9444
Donald Collins, Chair: 868-7975
Roy Eckler, Vice Chair: 868-5612
Lisa Gorton, Clerk: 868-3059
April Kilbury: 527-7152
Patti Jo Walker: 524-5749
School Board Opening
Attention Swanton residents: We would like to announce that Roy Eckler, a School Board member, tendered his resignation at the November 9th School Board meeting. Mr. Eckler has served the community as a Board member for 8 years, and is now re-locating closer to family in Southern Vermont. Any resident interested in filling this position between now and the March elections should notify Superintendent Jack McCarthy in writing at jmccarthy@fnwsu.org or 100 Robin Hood Drive, Swanton VT 05488 no later than 4 p.m. on November 30th. If you have questions, please call Dr. McCarthy at 868-4967x17.
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
Swanton School District
August 24, 2009 Meeting
Present:
Board Members: Don Collins, Board Chair, Corinne Bonnette, Roy Eckler, April Kilbury, PattiJo Walker
Administration: Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal.
Don Collins motioned to open the meeting at 4:00p.m., seconded by Roy Eckler. The board approved the motion. Roy Eckler made motion to enter executive session at 4:00p.m., seconded by Corinne Bonnette. The board approved the motion.
Don Collins motioned to exit executive session at 4:38p.m., seconded by Roy Eckler.
The board approved the motion. April Kilbury made motion for the full board to re-interview both candidates for the open, one year literacy interventionist position. Vote approved 5 – 0.
Julie Benay will set up interviews for Wednesday, August 25th or Thursday, August 26.
Julie Benay will notify school interview committee of the boards’ decision to re-interview candidates.
Corinne Bonnette motioned to close meeting at 4:50 p.m., seconded by Roy Eckler.The Board approved the motion.
Respectfully Submitted
Patti Jo Walker
School Board Clerk
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
September 14, 2009
Present:
Don Collins, April Kilbury, Patti Jo Walker, and Corinne Bonnette. (Roy Eckler was absent from the meeting.)
Administration: Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal, Dr. John McCarthy, Superintendent, Becky Hart, Business Manager.
Others Present:Mary Babcock
Call to Order: Don Collins called the meeting to order at 6:00pm
Citizens and Staff: None
Approval of Minutes: April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to approve the minutes as written August 10 and August 24, 2009. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote.
Correspondence: None
Old Business: None
Contracts: Paraprofessional based on the new master agreement. The Librarian Assistants have a different contract because it has a different number of days. Don Collins has been authorized to sign t he contracts from the last board meeting.
Financial Report: Becky Hart reported that this is the first look at the financial report and it is currently showing a small carryover. It shows expenses through the end of August and projecting the expenses until the end of the school year. There has been some staff changes and benefits incorporated in the financial report.
Check Warrants: Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury,to approve the check warrants dated August 10, 11, 14, 20, 21 and August 27, 2009 totalling $439,473.40. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Principal’s Report:
Celebrations: Mrs. Mary Sherman was selected to be honored as the University of Vermont’s Outstanding Teacher. The faculty and the administration recognized Mrs. Sherman during the In-Service with a presentation and she will join the other UVM Outstanding Teachers at a celebration in October 21st.
Open House: The Open House is scheduled for September 24th. The Swanton PTO has sponsored a surprise project for the community during Open House.
Tabor Fund: The board requested updates on the use of the Tabor Fund, a trust left to the children of Swanton by Milton and Jessie Tabor. The list of events organized by Mrs. Ewell is included in the packet. The highlight will be the African drumming residency in December.
All School Walk: The Fit Family Coalition has supported school wide wellness with a grant to the new Wellness Committee. The entire school will be walking across the bridge to the Railroad Depot Museum on Friday, Sept. 18th with a rain date of Wednesday, Sept. 23rd. The Fit Family Coalition has purchased matching t-shirts for everyone along with a banner. The Historical Society and The Swanton Town Manager will be joining the school for the celebration. They hope to highlight the use of the Museum as an accessible field study site and to encourage the use of the path for health and fitness.
School Garden: Swanton School had a school garden this year, thanks to the efforts of Grade 5 Teacher Lisa Brahmstedt, some grade 5 students with the support of the custodial staff members and many other teachers and paraprofessionals. The Abbey Group is purchasing some of the produce to use in the school lunchroom.
Stem 4E Grant: The Supervisory Union was awarded a substantial grant to enhance mathematics in our Supervisory Union. The Swanton Math Teachers will participate with other elementary math teachers and the entire Math Department from MVU in a 14 day course taught by the Vermont Mathematics Institute. In addition, the grant will support the creation of a student led website highlighting math in the school and will take math field trips and visit workplaces to learn about how math is used on the job.
Curriculum Work: VCAT is a new software program that houses data and curriculum work. The curriculum work is going well. After speaking with grades K, 1, 2 and 3 teachers regarding the curriculum work and after the August Pre-Service on using Fundations. The other grades are coming along well but Grade 2 needed more team time so they scheduled Oct. 7th to work with Paula Bowen.
NECAP Testing Dates: Mr. Coon is in charge of all the NECAP Organizational Tasks. The testing dates have been scheduled for October 6th, 7th and 8th, 13th, 14th and 15th. Make up Days and accommodations will also be established. Study Island computer program has been used in grades one, two and three.
Technology Plan: Mr. Coon has obtained and included the technology plan in the board packet. Mr. Coon will be on the district technology committee this school year. Mr. Coon chairs the technology task force. The Swanton Task Force will define local action steps that are consistent with this plan. They have been finding many exciting uses for the document camera to enhance classroom instruction. Many teachers are using technology in the classroom and some have taken a technology course this past summer.
School Improvement: Mrs. Benay had a Power Point presentation that was shared with parents on First Day. In 2006-2007, The school focused on a Comprehensive School Reform Grant (Response to Intervention). In 2007-2008,they worked on curriculum mapping, learning labs and grade level meetings, and standards of practice. In 2008-2009, the primary focus was the implementation and professional development for The Write Tools, Technology Integration and begin discussion of restructuring. Talking about the vision of the school five years from now and the present state and how to get there. Define Change: What is the need? What is the vision? What is the commitment? What is the plan? How will we monitor progress? The need is the children. AYP was met for all students in both reading and math. Swanton did not meet adequate yearly progress for sub groups of low income and disabilities. As a result, Swanton is in Year One of Corrective Action. Swanton must continue progress monitoring system and the Supplemental Educational Services (after school tutoring) being coordinated by Tiffany Renaudette provided through the Franklin Northwest SU. The principal and assistant principal continue with the principal’s learning community. The corrective action year one, the school improvement coordinator approved writing the curriculum units. The Swanton School believes that given enough time and appropriate instruction, students will achieve what is considered necessary to learn. Professional Development in Responsiveness to Instruction, Positive Behavioral Supports and Understanding Design. Once they have completed these well, they will continue with differentiated instruction. What does the school staff and community value? What does the board value? What would we like to see? She would like to organize a community roundtable and provide the themes to the board. The board would like a summary of the parent’s notes along with the comments. If the board could plan to meet until 7:30pm for the regular board meeting and then after the board could meet to discuss the proposed changes. The board will begin a discussion on school improvement at the October meeting and would like the raw data from parents in addition to the other data on their vision for changes.
Hiring Process: Included in the board packet is a draft of the hiring process for the boards’ review and consideration. The board will think about whether it this process should apply to the teaching staff, support staff or both?
Budget FY11: Mrs. Benay requested the board’s input in establishing priorities for the development process of the FY11 Budget. In October, what does the faculty want as a priority, what does the board wish and then we can work in that direction with the Business Manager.
October Meeting: Carol Lizotte has been invited to present on the Crossroad’s Program at the October meeting. Community discussion about the structure of the Kindergarten Program has been suggested to be added to the October agenda. They feel that the public needs to be engaged in going to a full day kindergarten and realizing the budget implications.
Superintendent’s Office:
Dr. McCarthy reviewed the H1N1 Virus process. If staff members or students are ill, they should stay home . The health department wants to use schools as inoculation centers. The threshold to get the health department staff is 300 or more students so more than likely Swanton will be a site. The student will need parent permission. Dr. McCarthy will do the best he can to keep the board informed.
Negotiations: Dr. McCarthy handed out the signed approved support staff master agreement to the board. The overall negotiations plan is for the five schools to negotiate the teacher contract this year. The attorney and the superintendent has a plan to write a skeletal document with language issues/input from the principals and the Central Office Staff. They would like to meet with the board representatives team with a draft document and then the board would work on the salaries, benefits and possibly one or two key issues.
Superintendent’s Evaluation: This is a reminder for the Superintendent’s Evaluation.
Contract: Dr. McCarthy presented a teaching contract for the literacy interventionist position. Corrine Bonnette made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to authorize Don Collins to sign the contract. The Board approved 4-0 vote.
Correspondence: For Executive Session.
The next board meeting is scheduled for October 12 at 6:00pm.
Corinne Bonnette made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to Enter Executive Session at 7:53pm for personnel. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote. April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to exit executive session at 8:07pm. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote. Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at 8:08pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
