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Swanton School Board

January- March Minutes

Don Collins (chair)- 868-7975
Rod Russin (vice chair)
April Kilbury 527-7152
PattiJo Walker 524-5749
Tobias Maguire 868-5983
DRAFT

SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
March 18, 2010

Present:  Don Collins, Rod Russin, Patti Jo Walker, April Kilbury, Toby Maguire.

Administration:      Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.

Others present:  Jim Goslin, Sandra Skeels Kilburn, Ron Kilburn, Sarah Nielsen, Trudy Cioffi, Robyn Brislin, Stacie Scangas, Courtney Ward, Deb Goslin, Kathy Kneebone, Erin Gagne, Yvonne Poquette, Cynthia Gurdak Rose, Mary Wood, Heath McAllister, Lora McAllister, Mary Ellis, Line Roger, Robin Trushaw, Phyllis Paro, Mark Maskell Sr., Patty Greenia, Tammy Jo Sellers of the St. Albans Messenger, Ann St. Frances, Elie St. Frances, Phoebe Ward, Warren Caswell, Tonya Caswell, Kelly Chevalier, Stefanie Blouin, Marlene Corse, Amanda Shand, Carlo Micheli, Kirsten Belrose, Jay Cummings, Robert Chevalier , Shelly Robtoy

Don Collins called meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
March 8, 2010

Present:  Don Collins, Rod Russin, Patti Jo Walker, April Kilbury, Tobias Maguire.
Administration: Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal, and Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.
Others Present: Mary Wood, Sarah Nielsen, Betsy Fournier
Call to Order: Dr. John McCarthy called the meeting to order at 6:06pm.

Board Re-Organization:  Dr. McCarthy requested nominations for board chairperson. Rod Russin made nomination for Don Collins, seconded by Patti Jo Walker.  Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to cease nominations.  The board voted 5-0 in favor of the motion.
Don Collins thanked the voters for coming out to vote for the school budget.  Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to nominate Rod Russin as the board vice chairperson.   Tobias Maguire made the motion, seconded by April Kilbury to cease the nominations for the vice chairperson.  The board voted 5-0 in favor of electing Rod Russin as the board vice chairperson.  Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to nominate Patti Jo Walker for school board Clerk.  Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to cease nominations and the board voted to approve Patti Jo Walker as board clerk on a 5-0 vote.  Don Collins appointed April Kilbury, Toby Maguire and Rod Russin as representatives for the Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union Board.  Dr. McCarthy explained the purpose and the role of the Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union Board.  Patti Jo Walker made the motion, seconded by Don Collins to elect April Kilbury, Toby Maguire and Rod Russin as representatives from Swanton School for the Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union Board.  The board approved the motion on a 5-0 vote.  Don Collins appointed Rod Russin and Patti Jo Walker on the Negotiations Committee.   April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to elect Patti Jo Walker and Toby Maguire on the finance committee.  The board voted in favor 5-0 vote.  Dr. McCarthy explained that the chairperson can appoint the committee members.  Don Collins appointed April Kilbury for the athletic committee.  Don Collins appointed April Kilbury and Toby Maguire for the Early Education Committee. 

Citizens and Staff:    Sarah Nielsen of the PTO thanked the board and the administration for their support in providing the information, organizing and budgeting for a full time Kindergarten.  Sarah explained that the PTO would like to have regular contact with the board and to have a PTO representative attend the monthly board meetings just to update the board.  The PTO would like to annually help get out the vote.  Last year, the PTO posted and hosted the School Report Night, publicized the evening, provided childcare and food.
The PTO does a lot of fundraising especially for the playground and wanted to develop a strategic plan for the playground.  They are also planning teacher appreciation week which they often do in May.  If the board has other topics that they would like the PTO to cover, Sarah will be happy to put it on their PTO agenda. Mrs. Kilbury asked what is happening with the Sixth Grade Celebration.  The Administration noted that this is a parent tradition initiated and supported by sixth grade parents, with funding support from the PTO but separate from PTO activities.  In the past, the administration has supported the Sixth Grade parents with building access or other necessary supports, but this is entirely a parent committee.   Don Collins invited the sixth grade parents to come to the April Board Meeting to talk more about the sixth grade celebration.  Don Collins thanked Sarah for coming to the board meeting.

Approval of Minutes:  Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to approve the January 28, 2010 special board meeting minutes.  The board approved 4-0 vote with Toby Maguire abstaining.  Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to approve the February 8, 2010 as printed. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote with Toby Maguire abstaining.  Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to approve the March 2, 2010 special board meeting minutes as printed.  The board approved the motion 4-0 with Toby Maguire abstaining.

Correspondence:  For executive session.

Old Business:  None

Contracts:  None

Financial Report:  Becky Hart included the financial report in the board packet. Dr. McCarthy reported a projected carryover at this time of $47,217.52.   The budget is going well so far.  Julie Benay stated that this year, the Swanton School District will need to go out to bid for the food service contract.  There is a standard form request for proposal  that is used and Becky Hart would like to get this started.  Don Collins stated with no objection from the board, that they are instructing Becky to move forward with the food service bid process.

Check Warrants:  Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to approve the check warrants for January 2010 in the amount of $133,407.57.   The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.

Principal’s Report:

Celebrations:  The budget passed and Julie would like to thank the PTO for their active involvement and the community for voting. 

AYP Report:  Swanton has received a summary of the AYP Report from our School Improvement Coordinator, Lisa Lovelette.  Ms. Lovelette is complimentary of the school’s work.  Lisa did make some comments on issues we are aware of and began to respond to immediately following the in-service day.

ARRA Title I Dollars:  The ARRA funds through the Title I Programs was used this year toward a trial expansion of the remedial extended day kindergarten program.  As the community has passed the budget with a full time kindergarten program, Mrs. Benay and the staff are making plans for the second half of the funds.  The leadership team has reviewed the data and professional development needs and have made tentative plans.  They would like to gather information from the community so that they can continue to support the school improvement efforts.  It is unlikely that Swanton will receive school improvement funds from the State this year.   They plan to create a proposed budget for the ARRA money to bring to the Design Team for their input on March 24, 2010.  The board members are always welcome to come to these meetings beginning at 3pm.  Following the meeting, she will email the Board the proposal and Design Team Notes so that the Board can discuss and make decisions at the April meeting.

Placement Timeline:  Mrs. Benay discussed the timeline for the student placement process.  They are trying to concentrate more on heterogeneous classrooms.  A core placement core team of educators look at boys /girls, income level, achievement level, current reading level and other data go into this careful process.    (by May 10, parents will know by step up day)

Spending Plans:  Mrs. Benay will be requesting staff members to submit spending plans for the remainder for the year.  It looks like they will be saving a substantial amount in electricity.  Once they receive the responses, they will make adjustments to the “anticipated” column in the financial report and more accurately estimate the final bottom line which will affect the projected carryover. 

DOE Audit:  The Dept. of Education has offered a free audit of Swanton’s crisis response plan.  Mr. Steve Early from the Dept. of Education has visited our school on March 4th, 2010.  He was impressed with the student dismissal and the Safety Team.  He expressed a concern about the gym doors being propped open during evening use by Recreation or other groups due to heat and possible entry by unauthorized individuals.  The administration is looking into repairing the doors and so that this will no longer be an issue.

Restructuring Process and Timeline: They are still collecting the data and because the Design Team is working on ARRA Funds for school improvement, they will resume the work of examining the coded data and the process at the May meeting.  Board members were invited to view the data in a Google spreadsheet document.

School Quality Standards Annual Report:  Under statute, the school quality standards require an annual report.   The board can decide the format that they wish to present it to the community.   The board suggested having brochures with frequently asked questions with suggested locations in the Town Hall, Village office, Swanton Rexall, Swanton Health Care, Senior Housing etc. and public engagement with an abbreviated evening presentation.   Julie Benay will work with the PTO and will report back to the board at the next meeting with the suggested report format.

Citizens & Staff
Betsy Fournier with the Swanton Recreation and Sara Nielson.   The Swanton Recreation is working on a community garden in coalition with Health and Fitness.    They hope to have a space along the community trail and to invite the school students to have a section on the plot.  They would like to invite avid gardeners to join them.   They would like to invite the Teen Center to participate in their own plot in the community garden.  The school board and the administration are supportive of the community garden. 

Calendar:    The calendar for the 2009-2010 school year has been revised to 176 student days and the last student day of school will be either on June 10 or June 11th and the last in service days will be June 11th and June 14th provided that there is no snow days.  The last day will be revisited at the April meeting.
The board reviewed the draft calendar for the 2010-2011 school year.   There would be three in-service days in August with the first day of school beginning August 24th.    There is an in-service day scheduled on Martin Luther King Day instead of a student day to coordinate with the other schools in the supervisory union.  The board suggested to have an in-service day on Nov. 22nd instead of a student day and go to June 10th as the last day instead of June 9th. 

Agendas/Presentations:   Don Collins suggested having the Kindergarten teachers present in May or June.   Project Home for the Holidays, a fundraiser for our deployed Guard families, was a popular student presentation to the Board.   Patti Jo received a lot of feedback on this Board meeting and encouraged more student presentations at Board meetins.  Project Home.  Mrs. Benay has some Grade 4 students who could talk about the Math Grant and even show the new grant funded math website at the April Meeting.

Superintendent’s Report:
 
Town Meeting Results:  Statewide and local budget vote results were included in the board packet.  Dr. McCarthy felt good that the budgets passed by wider margins than usual with a high percentage of positive votes.

AASA Conference Review:  Dr. McCarthy went to the National Superintendents’ Association conference.  They had an excellent and powerful keynote speaker, Malcolm Gladwell.  . At this conference, a Superintendent from New York’s inner city low performing schools spoke on focusing on 4 and 5 year olds, getting them started on the right path in Early Education instead of waiting until the children are older and your school will be successful.  The school must continue to follow and track them.  He turned his school around in their test scores by following this strategy.
Dr. McCarthy and Jeanne Collins are the two Vermont delegates representing Vermont on the governing board. Dr. McCarthy provide input and direction to the legislators in Washington D.C. on the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Act) nicknamed NCLB.  It is being re-written and re-authorized at this time

Policies: Dr. McCarthy reported that in reviewing the A and B section of the policies, B5, B3 and B8 were the only ones that need to be revised.
Rod Russin made motion, April Kilbury seconded the motion to designate policies A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B6, B7, B9, B10, B11, B12, B15, B17, B18, B19, B20, and B21 as reviewed on March 8, 2010.  The board approved the motion.
April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker made motion to waive first reading of policies B3, B5 and B8.  The board approved the motion.
Dr. McCarthy requested that the board review policies C and D.
Negotiations:  For Executive Session.
Legislative Report:  Dr. McCarthy handed out an updated legislative report to the board members.

Other:
Land Purchase Option-  The board was contacted regarding a land purchase option from the Larocques.  To be discussed in executive session due to a contract proposal.
Bushey Street Letter:  A letter was sent to the School Board regarding some cars are passing buses.  Dr. McCarthy advised that the bus company and the Swanton Police if there is a traffic violation.  Mrs. Benay noted that Bushey Street is not within the domain of the Village Police and any law enforcement violations would need to be addressed by the State Police or County Sheriff.  Mr. Coon noted that both administrators are present at dismissal and attempt to block cars from entering the bus loop, but occasionally this still happens.

Executive Session & Adjournment
Rod Russin made motion to enter into executive Session at 8:07 negotiations, personnel, legal issue The motion was seconded by Toby Maguire.
Motions made after Executive Session
1.  Don Collins made motion to offer a full time contract to School Nurse for remainder of school year.  Seconded by PattiJo Walker.  5-0 vote
2.  Don Collins made motion of accept Letter of resignation from Part Time School Nurse.  Seconded by Toby McGuire.  5-0 vote
3.  Don Collins made motion to accept letter of resignation from Behavioral Team Assistant.  Seconded by April Kilbury.  5-0 vote
4.  Don Collins made motion to assign April Kilbury and PattiJo Walker to the Swanton Central personnel committee.  Seconded by Rod Russin. 5-0 vote.
5.  Rod Russin made motion not to accept land proposal.  Seconded by April Kilbury.  5-0 vote.

Respectfully submitted,

Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
 

SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
March 2, 2010

Present:  Jack McCarthy, Rod Russin, Corrine Bonette, Don Collins, PattiJo Walker, April Kilbury

 
Don Collins called meeting to order at 4:04 p.m.  April Kilbury made motion to accept, seconded by Corrinne Bonette. The approved the motion on a 5-0 vote
Don Collins made motion to enter executive session for personnel at 4:05p.m.  Seconded by April Kilbury.  The board approved the motion on a  5-0 vote

Don Collins made motion to exit executive session at 5:25, Seconded by Rod Russin. The board approved the motion on a 5-0 vote

Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at 5:25p.m.

SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
February 8, 2010

Present:                Don Collins, Rod Russin, Patti Jo Walker, April Kilbury, Corrine Bonnette.

Administration:     Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal, Becky Hart, Business Manager, and Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.

Others Present:    Toby Maguire, Mrs. Mary Babcock

Citizens and Staff:    Mrs. Benay reported that Sarah Nielsen from the PTO will not be in attendance as she is stranded in Washington D.C. as a result of the snowstorm.
Approval of Minutes:  April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to approve the January 4, 2010 minutes.  The board approved the motion on a 5-0 vote.   Patti Jo Walker made motion to approve the January 11, 2010 minutes with the correction of Erin Gagne, seconded by April Kilbury.  The board approved the motion on a 5-0 vote.  Don Collins noted that the district is missing the minutes for a short January 28, 2010 meeting where they approved hiring a .2 FTE School Nurse.
Correspondence:  For executive session.
Old Business:  None
Contracts:  A contract for the school nurse for executive session.
Financial Report:  Becky Hart reported that the financial report reflects the expenditures through January 31st, projecting out to the end of the year, and there is little change with continuing to project a carryover of $45,000.00.   Rod Russin made motion, April Kilbury seconded the motion to accept the financial report.  The board approved the motion.
Check Warrants:  Becky Hart requested that the board table the check warrants until next month.
FY11 Budget:    Becky Hart reported a small change in the health insurance line due to a change in participation and the budget total reflects a .76 budgetary increase from last year.  Included in the board packet is a green packet showing the approved FY11 Budget.  Becky Hart has included the items that are going into the Town Report.  She included some pages in color that the board may wish to review carefully and requested that the board contact her if they have any questions prior to the informational meeting.  She reviewed the warning that includes the article for capital improvements in the amount of $75,000.  On the green pages is the budget proposal and the last green page shows the projected tax rate.  The informational budget meeting with the Select-Board is scheduled for February 16 at the Town Offices on Church Street and the community public budget informational meeting on February 22 at 7pm. 
Principal’s Report:
Celebrations:  The school had a very successful instrumental music concert last month.  The concert was well attended and the student performers did a wonderful job.  The “All Pro Dads” breakfast series, initiated by one of our staff members, held another successful breakfast.  The Swanton PTO provides financial support for these events.  Our faculty welcomes a new baby boy born to Mrs. Watts and her husband and a new baby girl born to Leigh Ann Oliver and her husband.  Family Night is this Thursday beginning at 6:00pm and it is a Wellness Theme. 
NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program)  There are some positive trends going in reading and math.  These upward trends occur across all demographic subgroups, with a significant narrowing of the gap between all students and the subgroup of students who qualify for free and reduced price lunch.  There will be a more comprehensive report on the analysis of the NECAP scores and trends to present to the Board at the March Meeting.
Voter Turnout Plan: Toby Maguire reported on the PTO plan for the voter turnout.  As was mentioned earlier, Sara Nielson had the comprehensive plan and was not able to make it back to Vermont due to bad weather in Washington D.C.  They have met to get out the vote.  One flier has gone out through the Wednesday weekly, another flier through the Success by Six Brighter Futures Program and Play Group.  They will be sponsoring sing along and pizza on Town Meeting Day so that parents may go out to vote from 5:30-7pm if they wish.   They are educating parents to get registered and also to obtain an absentee ballot if they wish to vote early.  The PTO requested using the School Alert Now system to remind parents to vote and it would be a neutral script.  Rod Russin made motion to use the Alert Now System to remind people to vote, seconded by PattiJo Walker.  The board approved the motion on a  5-0 vote.
HVAC Update:  Mr. Coon reported that they have had service visits for field controller preventative maintenance only which would need to be performed on site whether there was web interface or not.  They have also had visits related to mechanical and plumbing concerns.  These include leaking dielectric unions and leaking circulator pumps.  In the blue house, the circulator pump had to be removed to be repaired.  Also, in the boiler room, another pump had to be repaired.  In the Babcock building, there were two rooms with major thermostat issues.  They were not control issues or mechanical issues that could be identified through the controls interface.  It is related to the hard water in Swanton and that is why we have planned to install water treatment systems to eliminate the hard water issues. 
Paraprofessional Opening:  Mrs. Benay has received three or four candidates suitable for the open position as a paraprofessional working in the math intervention program and would like to know the earliest dates the personnel committee could do interviews.
Draft of Budget Power Point Presentation:  Mrs. Benay reviewed the budget priorities as respecting the current economic and social circumstances of the community, maintain current momentum in improved student achievement, continue a commitment to technology and 21st Century Learning, continue to maintain the physical plant, continue to see energy efficiency and continue to seek purchasing efficiencies.  She reviewed the economic and social circumstances with the unemployment rate at 7.3% up from 6.8% a year ago.  She showed a short NECAP score comparison in reading and math showing improved academic scores for all students and moving significantly in closing the achievement gap between all students and those with IEPs or those with limited economic resources.  Through the three tier intervention model, it has shown a reduction of the number of students on IEPs from 114 students in 2004 to 77 students in December 2009.  In technology and 21st Century Teaching and Learning, there are funds in the budget for ongoing professional development, funds for maintenance of current IT structure and replacement of computers on a planned cycle based on inventory and software funds for web based instructional and data management solutions.  The proposed budget includes resources to continue 10 year strategic plan for the physical plant.  They have continued work on the HVAC system, provide a water treatment system for the hard water that is currently affecting the seals and the pumps.  The board has authorized a special article to ask taxpayers to continue to develop a capital improvement plan of $75,000 per year with the goal of being prepared for a major event such as boiler failure or roof replacement. The school district has applied for a statewide grant that would provide resources to upgrade outdoor lighting to increase energy efficiency.  They plan to increase the number of motion sensors to light switches in both buildings.  They will continue to coordinate with the Supervisory Union in purchasing paper and other basic supplies in bulk.  Classroom teachers inventory and collaborate in purchasing to create shared libraries of books, math manipulatives, science materials and other non consumable items.  The majority of the line items in the budget have been level funded.  At the request of the community, the Board has included sufficient funding to support a school based athletic program for grade 5 and 6 and to extend the day for the Kindergarten Program available to all students.  Mrs. Benay reviewed how the budget would affect the tax rate and the tax increase/decrease sensitive to income based on a $200,000 home value.  The Swanton Community can go to the school home web page to look at more details of the budget if they wish.

Superintendent’s Report: 
Energy Grant:  Dr. McCarthy stated that Becky Hart has been working on an energy grant from the State of Vermont for Swanton for exterior lighting projects.   It was a competitive process and Swanton has made it through the first round along with Highgate and MVU.  
Legislative Report:   Included in the board packet.  There are many education bills proposed.  The biggest issue that is being discussed is the consolidation of schools.  Dr. McCarthy reviewed the different proposals.
Negotiations:  On January 28, 2010, they had a meeting where they exchanged proposals.  As the negotiating council continues to meet, the two Swanton Board Representatives, will have more information to report back to the other board members during executive session.  The next meetings are scheduled for Feb. 15 and March 16. 
The school board members running for election are Don Collins and Rod Russin.  Tobias Maguire is also running for a board member position. 
Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to approve the budget proposal for the FY11 school year of  $7,735, 508

Executive Session & Adjournment
Rod Russin made motion to enter second Executive Session at 7:45 pm for student issue and personnel.  Seconded by April Kilbury The board approved the motion.  Don Collins made motion to Exit Executive Session at 9:00 pm.  Seconded by Rod Russin. The board approved the motion on a 5-0 vote.

No motions were made after Executive Sessions.  Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at  9:05 pm.
Respectfully submitted,

Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
 
 

SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
January 4, 2010

Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
 
 

SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
January 11, 2010

Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.