Swanton School Board
December Minutes
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
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
December 14, 2009
Present: Don Collins, Rod Russin, Patti Jo Walker, April Kilbury and Corinne Bonnette.
Administration: Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal, Dr. John McCarthy, Superintendent, Becky Hart, Business Manager.
Others Present: Students present: Grace Kinney, Danielle Cummings, Collin Digby, Ian Digby, Colbey Theberge, and Dustin Matton. John Creelman and Trudy Cioffi, Swanton Elementary School Teachers, Sara Nielson, Toby Maguire.
Call to Order: Don Collins called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.
Citizens and Staff: Don Collins welcomed back Rod Russin to the board to complete the term of Roy Eckler until the March 2010 elections.
Home for the Holidays Presentation:
Don Collins welcomed the students of Swanton. John Creelman and Trudy Cioffi, teachers from the Swanton School, were present with the students: Grace Kinney, Danielle Cummings, Collin Digby, Ian Digby, Colbey Theberge, Dustin Matton. They had a short power point presentation regarding the Vermont National Guard being home for the holidays prior to being sent to Afghanistan. Danielle Cummings said they had a bake sale to raise money. They presented a check $1,677.00 to the Vermont National Guard for Operation Home for the Holidays to help the soldiers come home for Christmas. There were five classes directly involved but it was a whole school project with a lot of parent support.
One of the core concepts they are learning is to care and Mrs. Benay commended the students for showing the true meaning behind caring. The board really appreciated that the students and parents came out to the board meeting to present.
Approval of Minutes: April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Don Collins to approve the minutes of Nov. 9, 2009 meeting. April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to approve the Dec. 7, 2009 meeting with a 7:23pm adjournment time. The board approved both sets of minutes on a 4-0 vote.
Correspondence: A letter from Meghan Lebel indicating that the Swanton Recreation Commission wishes not to pursue a 2010-2011 contract opportunity for the grade 5 and 6 grade athletic program. The board would like to table discussion on this letter until later on in the meeting. Old Business: None
Contracts: None
Financial Report: Becky Hart reported that the financial report looking at $50,000 in carryover due to $39,000 from unexpected special education revenue and under-expending the budget by $11,000. The board approved the motion. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to appoint Rod Russin on the financial committee. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote. April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to accept the financial report 4-0 vote.
Check Warrants: Becky Hart requested that they table the check warrants until the January 2010 meeting.
Principal’s Report:
Informational Items:
Energy Efficiency Grants: Julie Benay and Brent Coon met with Becky Hart to provide information to apply for an energy efficiency grant. They have submitted initial application for interior lighting (motion sensors). They have to wait to see if the district has been approved to move forward to the second round.
Tech Job Description- Mrs. Benay provided the board with an overview with the job responsibilities by increasing the number of days for the position. Mrs. Benay has included job responsibilities beyond the number of 186 student days - 190-200days- updating server, etc. and 201-220 days- increasing internet access, run updates on all computers, update inventory, maintenance of teachers laptops etc. This information was provided for the board’s consideration.
Behavior Interventionist Job Description- Mrs. Benay requested that the school board review the behavior interventionist job description and consider taking action to approve the job description.
Young Rembrandts- Mrs. Benay provided an update to the board. The Young Rembrandts Art Program is a for profit business- There are some scholarships being offered but some people are being turned away from the scholarships. The scholarships decisions are made on a first come first served basis. The private business is making the decisions about scholarships; the administration does not intend to become involved in the process as this is a private, for profit enterprise using the school facility. It is well attended and offered for grade K- grade six.
Athletic Program- Mrs. Benay explained that there will be budgetary implications associated with the letter from the Swanton Recreation Dept. as the athletic program responsibility will fall back on the elementary school. In the past, the athletic program was never fully funded and was dependent on many volunteers and fund raising efforts. The board will need to decide how much they want to fund a school based athletic program. There was a short discussion between having paid coaches and/or having volunteers. Dr. McCarthy recommended that they have coaches that are paid to coach and manage the program and having volunteers to help the coaches. Don Collins recommended that they invite Betsy Fournier of the Swanton Recreation Department to the next meeting. He also recommended that they research the Highgate Elementary School model and the salary that the Swanton School used to pay the coaches and the Swanton School Athletic Director in the past. Mr. Collins appointed Patti Jo Walker as the board representative to help research the information along with Mrs. Benay and Mrs. Hart for budgetary consideration at the next meeting.
Superintendent’s Report:
Negotations- The negotiations council have met. Effective July 1, 2008, the legislature has mandated that negotiations must be phased in and completed Supervisory Union wide. So effective for the July 1, 2010 school year, there will be one Master Agreement for the Franklin Northwest SU, Franklin, Highgate, Sheldon, Swanton and Missisquoi Valley Union School professional staff. Dr. McCarthy will provide more information regarding the negotiations during executive session.
FNWSU - The focus of the December Supervisory Union was the FY11 budget for the Franklin Northwest SU Central Office, Early Childhood Program and Special Education program.
Budget Update
FY 11 Budget: Becky Hart included a cover letter draft 2 of the budget to highlight the changes from draft 1. The health insurance premium increase reduced from 5% to 4.5% maximum. The actual percent increase is likely to be slightly lower but will not be announced until January 2010. The Supervisory Union assessment lines have been modified to reflect the Franklin Northwest budgets approved at the last SU Board meeting on Dec. 2nd. The increase is approximately 2.36 percent. Mrs. Benay stated that the maintenance line item increase is because the circulator pump needs to be replaced. Mr. Brow and Mrs. McAllister are working together to purchase custodial supplies on a competitive basis to help drive the custodial supply line item down. Mr. Collins suggested that the board will need to make a decision on placing a separate article for long term large capital cost projects (major maintenance items), and the cost of increasing to a full time Kindergarten program. The board scheduled a special budget meeting on January 4 at 6pm.
Executive Session and Adjournment:
Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to enter executive session for personnel and negotiations at 7:35pm. The Board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote.
Don Collins made motion to exit Executive Session at 8:55pm, seconded by PattiJo Walker. Motion approved on a 4-0 vote.
PattiJo Walker made motion to grant Alicia Watts leave for remainder of school year due to maternity. Motion Seconded by April Kilbury. Approved 4-0 vote.
PattiJo Walker made motion to approve administrative replacement long term leave as discussed in executive session. Motion seconded by Rod Russin. Approved 4-0 vote. April Kilbury made motion to grant Erin Gagne maternity leave sometime around April 2010. Motion seconded by Rod Russin. Approved 4-0 vote.
PattiJo Walker made motion to approve Retirement incentive as discussed in executive session. Motion seconded by Rod Russin. Approved 4-0 vote
Rod Russin made motion to approve $0.25 /hr increase for June Dishaw as of January 1st, 2010. Motion seconded by April Kilbury. Approved 4-0 vote
Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at 9:00p,
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
