Swanton School Board
November-January Minutes
Rod Russin (vice chair)
April Kilbury 527-7152
PattiJo Walker 524-5749
Tobias Maguire 868-5983
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT DRAFT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
January 10, 2011 5:30 pm
Present: Don Collins, Rod Russin, Tobias Maguire, April Kilbury and Patti Jo Walker.
Administration: Brent Coon Principal, Holly Rouelle, Assistant Principal, Becky Hart, Business Manager, Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.
Others Present: Sarah Nielsen, President of the PTO, Mrs. Babcock, Missy and Cam Forey, Trudy Cioffi, Sophie Nichols, Noah Nichols, Peter Garrow, Greg Ladieu, Gabriel Ladieu, Clayton McAllister, Casey Forey, Kirsten Nichols, Dylan Beyor, Zoah Dezotelle, Adut Morgan, Savannah Lamothe, Tom Dezotelle, Jenn Sullivan, Mary Wood, Dawn Burke, Erin Gagne, Amanda Shand, Hugh Kenyon, Suzanne Kenyon, Heather Buczkowski.
Call to Order: Don Collins called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Citizens and Staff:
Don Collins recapped that the meeting began at 5:30 with a student presentation on using technology in the classroom. Mrs. Cioffi’s students showed how they use technology in the study of geography and social studies. Mrs. Sullivan’s Grade 6 students mingled with the board members, administration and others present to show what they have been learning through their Google websites. Mr. Collins congratulated them on their fine presentation and knowledge.
Hugh Kenyon from Wheeler Round development requested that the bus pick up and drop students within Wheeler Round instead of on Route 7. Dawn Burke from Jones Court stated that the bus drops now off the students in Jones Court, but requested that they should be picked up there too. The board requested that the Wheeler Round and Jones Court residents come to one mutual bus stop destination that would be agreeable to all in each development. The board would like to discuss this bus issue later during executive session due to the bus contract implications.
PTO Update: Sarah Nielsen reported that at the last PTO meeting, they discussed the upcoming school budget in general terms. Sarah would like to thank Mr. Coon, Mr. Collins, and Dr. McCarthy for attending. February meeting agenda is to be determined. The proposal is to invite Dena St. Amour to come at the February 2nd meeting to talk about the science curriculum. The PTO discussed the naming of the new playground. The PTO would like the students to brainstorm and come up with some names that would not be related to any person’s name. They would like to take the top 2 or 3 names that were appropriate and have the kids vote on those top 2 or 3 names that the kids agreed upon. The recommendation from the board is that the administration would work with the PTO and come back to the board with their solution.
Approval of Minutes: Tobias Maguire made motion to accept the December 13th board minutes revising his motion that he made as follows: Tobias Maguire made motion to accept the letter of dedication proposal from the Swanton PTO naming the newly constructed play area as described in said letter submitted by the PTO on November 8th, 2010 meeting. The motion was seconded by Rod Russin. The board approved the revised minutes on a 5-0 vote.
Correspondence: Letter from staff member for executive session.
Old Business: None
Financial Report: Becky Hart reported that the financial report for January is in the board packet. The carryover is close to last months report. She has incorporated into the financial report several staff members that are participating in the health insurance in January but along with that she has some additional revenue.
Check Warrants: Patti Jo Walker made a motion, seconded by Rod Russin to approve the check warrants for December 2010 totaling $371,252.81. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.
FY12 Budget: Becky Hart included copies of Draft 3 of the budget in the board packet. The changes to the last draft included staff changes to the health insurance, moving $3,000 from the natural gas line, $5,000 from legal services and added the $8,000 to instructional books. The budget reflects a reduction of 1.35% instead of the 2.19% target and a reduction of $86,000 of local education spending. Dr. McCarthy recommends that the board use Swanton’s share of the $19 million in revenue in FY13 budget as that year’s revenues and the future look dim. If something changes, the board would still have the option to change their mind and use it in the next fiscal year. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to approve the budget as presented in the amount of $7,654,766. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote. Tobias Maguire made motion for an Article in the amount of $60,000 for an escrow account, seconded by Patti Jo Walker. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.
Tuition Rate: Each year an annual tuition rate must be announced. The recommendation for next year is $9,880.00 for K-6 excluding Special Education costs, debt service and Transportation. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to approve the tuition rate of $9,880.00 for the 2011-2012 school year for K-6. The board approved the motion.
Becky Hart will need a Board Report and Administration Report by next week to submit for the town’s annual report. She will contact the board members when The Warning is ready for signature.
Principal’s Report:
Buyer’s Group: Brent Coon stated that they have had a 34 percent savings on custodial supplies such as toilet tissue, paper towels, can liners, glass cleaner etc and are using less bathroom and floor cleaners because it is being dispensed properly. They have received good savings and have been happy with the quality of the product.
Building Use Rate: Brent Coon has put together a draft for building use rate form for profit organization use for the board’s review. The board discussed that perhaps the Central Gymnasium should be more per hour than the Babcock Gymansium because Central is more time consuming to clean and prepare due to the larger area, bleachers, set up time etc.
School Based Ski Program: Mr. Carpenter approached Mr. Coon regarding a school based ski program. Other elementary schools in the supervisory union go skiing 4 to 5 times a year. He requested permission to put together a proposal for grades 5 and 6 ski program and to research this. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker authorize the administration to form an adhoc committee to research a school based ski program. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.
Board Meeting Minutes and Web Site: Brent Coon explained that there was a delay in getting the December board meeting minutes on the web site due to the sound quality of the digital recording and the extra time it took to get the information from the individuals to help fill in the missing pieces. The board would also like to get the agenda on the website prior to the board meeting.
Newsletter: Holly Rouelle reported that an author Bonnie Christensen, visited Swanton Elementary School as well as other schools in the supervisory Union to talk about her latest book Django: World’s Greatest Jazz Guitarist. Dr. McCarthy thanked Mrs. Ewell for inviting Bonnie Christensen along with local musicians and commended her for sharing this with all the other elementary schools in our Supervisory Union. It was a great experience for kids.
Superintendent’s Report:
Legislative Report: The Superintendents, Principal’s and Vermont School Board’s Association put together a legislative report of proposed laws and changes in legislation. The report is in the board’s packet.
Policy: Dr. McCarthy had the Class Size Policy G15 in the board packet for second reading and recommended adoption of this policy. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Patty Jo Walker. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.
Negotiations: The board has already talked about this during executive session.
Web Site Implementation: Dr. McCarthy would like to put the policies on the Franklin Northwest SU website. He would have a link in the Swanton Elem. School website to the Franklin NWSU site so that everyone could access the policies.
America’s Promise Recognition: Reminder that there is an America’s Promise Recognition on Thursday, January 27, 2011 from 5-8pm at MVU. Dr. McCarthy wants to make sure that everyone knows that the community is invited. There will be music groups, choral groups, Circles of Courage, After School Programs, Early Childhood Programs etc. A representative from the America’s Promise Alliance will present The 100 Best Communities award at 7:00 pm.
Executive Session and Adjournment:
Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to enter executive session at 7:15pm for personnel, negotiations and contracts. The board approved on a 5-0 vote. Don Collins made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to exit executive session at 7:42pm. The board approved on a 5-0 vote. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to hire Erica Ervine-Treinis to fill the long term substitute Kindergarten position. The Board approved the motion 5-0 vote. Rod Russin made motion seconded by Patti Jo Walker to make one bus stop at Jones Court in the morning and afternoon, 1 bus stop at Lavoie Avenue in the afternoon only and one bus stop on Wheeler Round in the morning and the afternoon and charged the administration with Brent Coon as the point person to work with the parents with arrangements for all these places. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote with Tobias Maguire abstaining from the bus route issue vote because his child is on one of the bus stops. In response to additional sick leave time requests, the board feels that additional paid leave time for unionized employees should be addressed with individuals through contract negotiations and the master agreement. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to grant five sick days for the non union position. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.
The board announced that there are two school board vacancies and that the Public Budget Informational Meeting is on February 21st, 2011.
Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
December 13, 2010 5:30 pm
Present: Don Collins, Rod Russin, Tobias Maguire, April Kilbury and Patti Jo Walker.
Administration: Brent Coon Principal, Holly Rouelle, Assistant Principal, Becky Hart, Business Manager, Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.
Others Present: Sarah Nielsen, President of the PTO, Joe Raleigh, Mary Wood, Angela Poirier, Lora McAllister, Heather Darr.
Call to Order: Don Collins called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Tobias Maguire made motion to enter Executive session for personnel at 5:31 p.m. seconded by PattiJo Walker. The Board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Rod Russin made motion, seconded by Tobias Maguire to exit Executive Session at 6:03 p.m. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Don Collins called to order to resume the meeting at 6:15pm.
Citizens and Staff:
Bus Issue: Joe Raleigh had 35 people sign a petition regarding a bus stop issue on Jones Court. It is .2 of a mile from where the bus drops off the students on Route 7 to the day care on Jones Court. Their concern is the distance that must be walked and the safety of the students, especially given the time change resulting in less daylight. The day care provider can not walk them because she has two infant children in the house. Angela Poirier stated she would like the bus to go down Lavoie Avenue in the afternoon. She talked to Grand Avenue Busing because the bus used to drive down the street years ago. The bus company said that this would add additional time each day for transportation and does not think the bus could make the curve. The board will review this information and make a decision later in the meeting.
PTO Update: Sarah Nielsen reported that at the last PTO meeting the math team presented to the PTO about different strategies and philosophy about what students are being taught. She thanked them for their time. At the next PTO meeting on January 5, 2011 at 6:00pm, she hopes that someone can provide a brief budget overview at the meeting.
Approval of Minutes: Rod Russin made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to approve the November minutes with the addition that Tobias Maguire left the room during the bus discussion and recused himself from the discussion. The board approved the revised minutes on a 4-0 vote with April Kilbury abstaining from the motion because she was absent from the November meeting.
Personnel: Patti Jo Walker made motion to hire Lucinda Conte as a Long Term Substitute Special Educator to replace Karen Cameron, seconded by Tobias Maguire. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to hire Karen Jette as a Long Term Substitute for Grade 3 to replace someone leaving on maternity leave. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote. Dr. John J. McCarthy has a personnel recommendation that they remove the interim from the title of interim principal for Brent Coon and interim assistant principal for Holly Rouelle, designating them Principal and Assistant Principal. April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to accept the recommendation from Dr. McCarthy to remove the interim from their positions. The board approved 5-0 vote.
Superintendent’s Report:
Challenges for Change Update: Dr. McCarthy has talked to other school superintendents and other schools/supervisory unions and they are either level funding or partially meeting the target, but most are not fully meeting the target. He noted that especially in the Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union the per pupil spending is already towards the bottom, spending is conservative, and all the boards are doing their best to meet the target.
Negotiations: The board has already talked about this during executive session.
Policy: First Reading of Class Size Policy. The purpose is to make the board and administration aware of class sizes and make our class sizes reasonable for instruction and budget purposes. This is a mandated policy to bring procedures and guidelines for class sizes so that this can be reviewed annually. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Tobias Maguire to waive first reading for the class size policy. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote.
Memorials and Dedications: Dr. McCarthy made a recommendation that it is not a good idea to name areas of the school after people. He had an alternative idea that perhaps the school could have a faculty and staff hall of fame for nominations. Possibly 2 or 3 people every year for people who have perhaps 25 or 30 years experience whom they want to recognize. The hall of fame member could be awarded a plaque and have perhaps a place in the school where their name will be kept for those being recognized into the hall of fame. This allows for ongoing dedications for those who deserve it. Don Collins believed that they should consider this recommendation and have an ad hoc committee to review this.
America’s Promise Recognition: Reminder that there is an America’s Promise Recognition on Thursday, January 27, 2011 from 5-8pm at MVU. There will be music groups, choral groups, Circles of Courage, After School Programs, Early Childhood Programs etc. The 100 Best Communities award will be presented at 7:00 pm.
Other: Sarah Nielsen mentioned that there is precedence that the school district does name parts of the building/grounds after people and wonders why the board is prolonging a decision after they have made the recommendation to do this dedication. Don Collins believes that they should have an ad hoc committee which consists of people from the community, staff members etc. Don Collins wants to follow a process in order to make a decision.
Building Use Policy: Dr. McCarthy brought the MVU Building Use Policy and Guidelines as a model on what they charge or follow when the school is being used for profit.
Dr. McCarthy, Rod Russin and Patti Jo Walker left the room for negotiations at 7:00pm.
Correspondence: None
Old Business: None
Financial Report: Becky Hart reported that the financial report for December is in the board packet. She has incorporated long term substitutes into the expenses to fill in for some leaves of absences negatively impacting the carryover. There is also some additional participation with people going on to the health insurance in January. There are increases in speech services for both regular and special education. This has resulted in a projected carryover of $19,000 at this time. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to accept the financial report for the month of December. The Board approved the motion.
Check Warrants: April Kilbury made a motion, seconded by Tobias Maguire to approve the check warrants for November 2010 totaling $348,234.45. The board approved the motion 3-0 vote.
FY12 Budget: Becky Hart included copies of Draft 2 of the budget in the board packet. The changes to the last draft included an increase in the health insurance due to increased participation, the revised Supervisory Union Assessments since the budgets were approved at the December Franklin Northwest SU meeting and the dental insurance premium will go down about 2 percent. The Article is not part of the budget. The school bond should be paid off in fiscal year 2013. The teachers’ salary line items have gone down due to the number of retirements last year. Don is concerned about the large decrease in the instructional books. Don noted that the instructional staff training seems to be under-expended and wondered if perhaps $500 or $1000 could be cut from it. Don Collins suggested that maybe legal services could be cut by $5,000.00, and under plant operation natural gas or electricity. Becky Hart reported that $140,000 must be cut to meet the target and this draft reflects approximately a $120,000 cut. Tobias Maguire thought that the school district should try their best to meet the target, but they should go with the best budget for the school. The current draft reflects a 2 percent decrease. Becky Hart will have the revenue projections for FY12 at the next meeting. Don Collins made the recommendation to cut the legal services by $5,000.00 and add this back to the instructional books. Board will reduce the request for funds for the Boiler/Roof escrow from $75,000 to $60,000.
Principal’s Report:
Buyers’ Group: Through the custodial contract with Foley, Swanton has changed over the paper towel holders and installed a dispenser in both buildings that automatically dilutes the floor and surface cleaners to a proper concentration. The company provided a training in the use of the new dispensers and cleaning techniques for the new cleansers. The supplies bought last month brought a 43 percent savings to the school district. The company is very willing to work with the school district to fix any issues that they are incurring. They are going above and beyond with providing the supplies and training.
Brent Coon reported that on November 17th, Swanton Elementary School and MVU students who attend the after school program, Circle of Courage at the Abenaki Cultural Center held three assemblies in the Central Gym. These students under the leadership of Brenda Gagne, danced, drummed and played Native American music as part of Native American Heritage month. They also provide many new books and resources for our library from the Title 7 Indian Education and the Parent Advisory Council. Next month they will provide a technology presentation to show how Swanton is integrating learning with technology. Don Collins offered to start the meeting at 5:30pm next month for the presentation.
Thanks to Peter Garrow, computer technician, and Karen Tyler, literacy content specialist, for providing training and support to teachers in using the VT Comprehensive Assessment Tool (VCAT).
Brent thanked the PTO and other family members for helping with the new Early Childhood playground. He also thanked Carroll Concrete for coming to pour the cement.
Building Use Policy: Brent Coon has other building use procedures from other schools. The building use form establishes how we decide what organization uses the facility. The school board had decided that there will be a fee for a profit group who wants to use the facility. They would like the administration to research this and come back with a recommendation. Swanton K-6 Elementary school students should have priority over using the gym. If someone is charging a fee, then there should be some compensation to the school. There should be a space fee or a percentage of the profits that goes back to the school.
Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by April Kilbury for executive session for personnel, bus issue, and legal issue at 7:55pm. The board approved the motion Vote 3-0. Patti Jo Walker and Rod Russin returned to the meeting during the executive session. Tobias Maguire made motion to exit executive session at 8:15pm. The board approved the motion 5-0 vote. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to grant two new bus stops, on a trial basis, as long as there are K-2nd Grade students at the stop, into Lavoie Avenue development and Jones Court development for the remainder of the 2010-2011 school year. The board voted 4-0 with Tobias Maguire abstaining due to his daughter being part of the Jones Court bus stop. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to accept the letter of dedication proposal from the Swanton PTO naming the newly constructed play area the “Benay Play Area”. The board voted 2-2 with Patti Jo Walker abstaining from the vote for the purpose of waiting for further communication/input from the community. Don Collins stated to appoint an Adhoc Committee for this memorial and/or dedication.
Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at 8:22pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
November 8, 2010 6:00 pm
Present: Don Collins, Rod Russin, Tobias Maguire and Patti Jo Walker. April Kilbury was absent from the meeting.
Administration: Brent Coon Principal, Holly Rouelle, Assistant Principal, Becky Hart. Absent from the meeting: Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.
Others Present: Sarah Nielsen, President of the PTO, Mary Babcock, Samantha Leadbeater, Athletic Director, Erin Gagne, Special Education Teacher, Robin Trushaw, Special Education Teacher, Lora McAllister, Office Manager, Joe Raleigh, Mary Wood, Jennifer Bailey, Heather Buckzkowski.
Call to Order: Don Collins called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Tobias Maguire made motion to enter Executive session for personnel at 5:31 p.m. seconded by PattiJo Walker. The Board approved the motion 4-0 vote. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by Tobias Maguire to exit Executive Session at 6:03 p.m. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote. Don Collins called to resume the meeting at 6:03pm.
Citizens and Staff:
PTO Update: Sarah Nielsen provided an update of the last PTO meeting. They had one of the best turnouts for movie night (about 250 people) and she would like to thank everyone for planning and helping out. She reported that this weekend, three PTO Dads assembled additional pieces of the playground area and will set this in cement over Thanksgiving break. She would like to thank Tom Murray, the custodian, for staying to help with this project. At the last PTO Meeting, one of the discussion topics was Challenges for Change. She had a letter from the PTO sending a message to the Board. Dr. McCarthy had supplied the informational narrative to the PTO regarding the Challenges for Change legislation. The PTO understands that the school board will need to contact the Dept. of Education soon regarding the school’s response about meeting the Budget Reduction Target. The PTO had a great discussion about what this challenge means for our children, our school district, and the State of Vermont. The PTO feels the school budget should be built locally with input from administration, school board members, taxpayers, parents and the community. In response, the PTO feels that the budget should be built to meet the needs of all students while ensuring they are getting the most of every dollar spent at Swanton School. Should the board not meet the guidelines from the Commissioner, but puts together a fiscally sound budget that ensures all our children get the education they deserve, the Swanton PTO will support the school budget and the school board’s response to the Department of Education however possible. Don Collins appreciated the PTO’s response and input for Challenges to Change. Don explained that the legislators enacted this into law and if anyone has positive recommendations, disagrees, or has concerns with the Challenges for Change, they should contact their local legislators. Patti Jo Walker will go to the December 1st PTO Meeting.
Bus Issue: Joe Raleigh came to the meeting following up from last meeting. He said that Dr. McCarthy looked into this issue and felt that it was not too far for a Kindergarten child to walk. Joe still objects because in some developments, the bus picks up the child at their home, but at Jones Court, it does not happen. He is requesting that the bus makes a couple of stops into Jones Court. He is requesting the board reconsider this request. Don Collins stated that because Dr. McCarthy was not present this evening, they would like to hear the results from his investigations and would like to wait to make a decision until they have all the information. Tobias Maguire left the room to recuse himself from this bus discussion.
Approval of Minutes: Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to approve the October 11 minutes as printed. The board approved the minutes on a 4-0 vote.
Correspondence: Letters for executive session.
Old Business: None
Financial Report: Becky Hart reported that the financial report for October is in the board packet. She is not aware of any significant changes in the expenses receiving an additional $9,000 more in transportation reimbursement projecting a carryover of $75,000.00. They received quotes for snow plowing from this season and 2010-2011. The low bidder is the current contractor. She has a contract this evening for the board’s review and approval. There is no increase in the snow plow contract for this year and next year. Rod Russin moved to award the contract to Dick’s Construction for snow plowing for two years, seconded by Patti Jo Walker. The board approved the motion 4-0. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to authorize the chair of the school board to sign the snow plowing contract. The Board approved the motion. Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to accept the financial report for the month of October. The Board approved the motion.
Check Warrants: Patti Jo Walker made a motion, seconded by Tobias Maguire to approve the check warrants for October 2010 totaling $558,971.88. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
FY12 Budget: There are a number of staff changes in this year’s budget due to retirements resulting in savings, and the FY12 Budget reflects those changes and maintains the same staff numbers we currently have. The paraprofessional and professional staff master agreement ends June 30, 2011 so we do not know what changes in salary and benefits the school district will incur. VSBIT has announced that the health insurance premium is going up 3%. Becky has met with Brent Coon and they have reduced the supplies and equipment line items if about $75,000 as well as the change in current staff reflecting a budget decrease of $110,000 or 1.4 percent decrease from the current budget. Swanton is anticipating a small amount of increased revenue and with that, Swanton does meet the target in Challenges for Change. The administration will bring back any feedback about meeting targets and any other input for the budget.
Principal’s Report:
Full Day Kindergarten is a success. The kindergarten teachers wrote a letter to the school board as an update on the program. They have concerns about the age of the population of some our kids. The attention span of some of the youngest kids is a concern. They have grade level meetings from 3:00-3:45pm and invite anyone who wants to come. Holly Rouelle presented a power point with photos to illustrate what a day in kindergarten looks like. She reported that Grade K is more academic than when our generation was in Kindergarten. The school board viewed the following slides: Reading is: comprehension, fluency, recognizing letters, interacting with books, songs, chants, sight recognition, beginning decoding skills, guiding reading groups with the goal at the end of kindergarten to become beginning readers. Writing is: lots of time for drawing and coloring, spelling, letter stringing and the use of Fundations for letter sounds. Science is: exploration into the real world, such as having fish tanks and animals, and tracking and charting weather. In Math, teachers and students use lots of real world and hands on manipulatives such as counting pumpkin seeds into egg cartons to group them etc. to sort and measure. They work on patterning units working together as partners. The Investigations Math Program is built on hands on materials. Social Studies may mean having a job chart, being a line leader, the concept of time through what was done yesterday, and working as a member of the community with the core concepts of being responsible, respectful and caring.
Student Learning: October was Fire Safety Month. Every class, K-6 had a visit from the Swanton Firefighters to learn about fire safety. The students also had the opportunity to explore a fire truck. Grade six teachers then met and analyzed the writing responses, looking for trends in student writing and areas where students need further writing instruction. Thank you to the Swanton Fire Dept. for providing important safety information and helping us make connections in our learning.
Last week, in honor of Native American Heritage Month, grades K-4 enjoyed books with Native American Themes during their library classes. The libraries both have displays of other great Native American-themed resources. Third and fourth grade classes used our WebPath Express database to explore age-appropriate resources about Abenaki Culture.
The third grade team is also incorporating Native American folktales into their literature studies. They are learning about story characters, character traits and connecting this with responding to texts in writing. This study has become interdisciplinary as they connect the Abenaki culture with their geography study, which eventually narrows down to an understanding our community, it’s history and people’s perspectives of events in the history of the community. They are also doing a geography unit-reading maps, and learning about the continents and oceans.
Second graders are beginning an integrated unit on force and motion. Teachers are using the book Sheep in a Jeep to kick off a hands on exploration of the concepts push, pull and gravity. In Kindergarten, students are working on the math concepts of patterning, counting, and using counters to represent numbers 1-10 on a ten frame. Classroom calendars are also helping our kindergarteners learn the days of the week and the months of the year. Graphing skills are introduced as children keep track of the weather each month.
The first grade students have been investigating safety in the home, school and community. The students have learned about Mr. Yuk, fire safety and personal safety.
Professional Development: Since writing is our school literacy focus for this year, we are offering professional book groups after school to staff. Through the New England Reading Association, we are participating in an interactive, four session webinar with 30 other New England Schools. So far seven educators have taken advantage of the after school webinar. To help prepare our teachers for November assessments, training sessions were attended by all of our classroom teachers. Karen Tyler provided practice calibration for our reading assessments. Judy Wall, new FNWSU Student Information Coordinator, and Peter Garrow Swanton Computer Technician, teamed up to present new information on the VCAT, web based curriculum delivery and data collection system.
Leadership: Dena St. Amour, Holly Rouelle and Brent Coon met with Lisa Lovelette, Swanton’s school improvement coordinator, to review the Commissioner’s required actions for schools that are identified for corrective action based on not meeting benchmarks under AYP. As an identified school, Swanton is required to participate in an audit coordinated out of the Dept. of Education possibly in early Spring. The administration went to the VT DOE Common Core Regional Meeting on November 1st to talk about the rollout and learn key information about the Common Core Implementation.
Facilities: A representative from Folly Distributors met with Lanny Brow, Lora McAllister and Mr. Coon to tour the facility and gather information needed for a smooth transition to a new custodial supply vendor. The fence around the preschool and kindergarten playground has recently been replaced. The wire gauge has been upgraded and closed the needed gaps in the fence.
Bring back building use policy for the next meeting.
Athletic Procedure: Brent Coon has asked for feed back from the community regarding the draft in front of them. They have made the following revisions/additions listed in quotation marks: Revisions 1.3 under teams- all curricular sports procedures for selecting teams that consist of all skill levels, will be consistent “taking into consideration input from the coaches”. 1.3c …each student “provided that they meet all team expectations”. Sam Leadbetter is having a coaches meeting to go over the expectations and the athletic procedure. First practice is November 29th so that they can meet the expectations of the VT Principals Association. You can have only two games during the school week day (Monday-Thursday) but can have more games on the weekend. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to adopt this athletic co-curricular procedures presented to the board this evening. The board approved 4-0 vote.
Superintendent’s Report:
Update America’s Promise Recognition: Brent Coon announced to Save the Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011 from 5-8pm
Policy: In Jack’s absence, Becky Hart handed a revised policy H7 Memorials and Dedications Policy. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to adopt policy H7 Memorials and Dedications Policy. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Other: Sarah Nielsen submitted a request from the PTO of naming the playground and also a support letter from the Head Start. They would like to put the request on next month’s agenda to discuss the request. It has been suggested that the agenda be placed on the website.
Executive Session & Adjournment:
Rod Russin made motion, seconded by Tobias Maguire to enter second executive session for personnel at 7:50 p.m. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote. Tobias Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to exit executive session at 8:26pm. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
PattiJo Walker made motion to grant requested leave of absence to Jodi Chase. Seconded by Rod Russin. The board approved the motion on a Vote 4-0
PattiJo Walker made motion to grant additional paid sick leave to Mary Pelkey as discussed in Executive Session. Seconded by Rod Russin. The board denied the motion on a Vote 0-4.
Tobias Maguire made motion to authorize the board chair to sign the Paraprofessional Contract for Jen Bourdeau. The motion was seconded by PattiJo Walker. The board approved the motion Vote 4-0. Rod Russin made motion to adjourn meeting at 8:29 p.m. seconded by Tobias Maguire. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
