Swanton School Board
May and June Minutes
Don Collins (chair)- 868-7975
Rod Russin (vice chair)
April Kilbury 527-7152
PattiJo Walker 524-5749
Tobias Maguire 868-5983
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
June 10, 2010
Present: Don Collins, April Kilbury, Rod Russin, Tobias Maguire. Patti Jo Walker was absent from the meeting.
Administration: Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal, Becky Hart, Business Manager and Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.
Others Present: Holly Rouelle, Sarah Nielsen, Robin Trushaw, Mary Wood, April St. Francis, Brenda Gagne.
Call to Order:Don Collins called the meeting to order at 6:02pm.
Executive Session for personnel: Toby Maguire made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to enter executive session at 6:05pm for personnel. The board approved the motion. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to exit executive session at 6:35pm. The board approved.
Citizens and Staff: April St. Francis presented a letter of complaint to the Board. The letter was regarding an alleged conflict of interest issue. April St. Francis stated that she has researched and found out that 24.8 percent of the children attending the Swanton Elementary school are Abenaki students. Brenda Gagne has requested that the board follow their policies and that they are updated on a regular basis; she cited as an example policy C1 was dated in 2004 and has not been reviewed. Ms. Gagne also cited concern with policies B19 and C2. Ms. Gagne noted that the Action Plan under law is different from the plan discussed in policy. Dr. McCarthy stated C1 has been reviewed in May 2010. Dr. McCarthy explained that policies are reviewed on a regular basis. She stated that there is a law that states that all policies must be reviewed every five years. Dr. McCarthy asked if that was a statute or a regulation. Don Collins requested that Brenda obtain the VSA statute number or the regulation, so that they could follow up and make sure all the building principals are aware of this law. The E section is the oldest version of the policy booklet. The plan is to put them on the website. (April St. Francis and Brenda Gagne left the meeting).
Approval of Minutes: April Kilbury has requested that the minutes reflect the vote under the motion to accept contracts vote 4-0, the financial report vote 4-0, the policies vote 4-0. Rod Russin made motion, April Kilbury seconded the motion to approve the May minutes as revised. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote.
Correspondence: for executive session.
Old Business:
Contracts: As part of the Swanton Crossroads Program, they have arranged to have a helicopter fly in on Friday, July 16th at 2:15pm by Vermont National Guard as a free youth outreach program. They need the signature of the “landowner” for permission to land. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to authorize the board chairperson to sign the permission to land agreement. The board approved on a 4-0 vote. There are other contracts to be discussed in executive session.
Financial Report: Becky Hart reported that the carryover projection was up significantly since last month. The school district has received additional special education revenue indicating a carryover of about $145,000.00. Any additional special education revenues up or down will come in the next fiscal year. She reported $120,000 to reduce next year’s taxes and reserved $20,000 for any unanticipated expenses for the remainder of this fiscal year. The food service bids were due after this meeting so she will bring them to the special board meeting discussing the end of the year finances. Toby Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to approve the financial report as presented. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Check Warrants: Mrs. Hart will bring them to the next meeting.
Principal’s Report:
Celebrations: Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Messier among many other staff organized a Memorial Day Celebration on May 28th. They recognized staff members who were veterans, sixth graders presented information and the student band played patriotic music. Mrs. Suitor’s First Graders sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” Mrs. Karen O’Brien spoke as a veteran and Mr. Coon addressed the students. Mrs. Benay would also like to celebrate a successful year of “All Pro Dad” breakfasts, initiated and organized by staff member Eric Astleford. Mr. Astleford was able to get NCAA UVM Basketball Coach Mike Lonergan to visit with the Swanton children and Dads. Lynn Lane, the school nurse, applied and was awarded a fruits and vegetables grant in the amount of $42,000.00.
AYP status and school improvement grant- Swanton School accomplished a major goal by having all students make Adequate Yearly Progress regardless of family income level. “Closing the gap” in achievement is something the school staff members are very proud of. Swanton School continues as an identified school, and the goal is to help students with disabilities and the sub-group of those with Native American heritage to make greater gains. As a result, Swanton does qualify for a minimum of $50,000 in school improvement funds to support the school’s efforts. The funds will be applied for through a supervisory union leadership team that includes the Superintendent and the Principals of all Supervisory Union schools in corrective action by June 15th. Mrs. St. Amour is steering this team.
Mrs. Benay received the Commissioner’s Required Actions that will need action. The required actions consist of: That the Swanton School will designate a supervisory union school support team to direct and monitor the implementation of the required actions. The team will (at a minimum) will include the superintendent, the curriculum coordinator, special education director and the school principal. A school support team will be designated to guide implementation and monitor progress of these required actions. (They already have a school leadership team.) 2) Provide written notice to all parents about the school’s identification by September 1, 2010. They have already done that. 3) School and LEA improvement plan- Title I schools have specific requirements for their improvement plan. They have provided the Action Plan and must set board goals. 4) Identified School Set Aside 10% of the school’s Title I allocation for professional development. 5) Aligned Curriculum- Thanks to Dena St. Amour, we do have an aligned curriculum in reading, writing and math. 6) Progress Monitoring System- The school must ensure continuous use of data to inform and provide instruction that meets the diverse learning needs of students in the classroom. 7) Reporting on Progress Monitoring and Student Supports. 8) Transformation Model 9) Quarterly Reporting for School Improvement Required Actions, 10) Supplemental Education Services, 11) Restructuring, 12) Teacher Learning Communities 13 Continue the previous year’s selected Corrective Action. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to authorize the board chair to sign the Commissioner’s Required Actions, acknowledging that the board has read and understand the required actions. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Mrs. Benay suggested that the board consider hiring someone to provide embedded professional development with differentiated instruction or the other possibility is to have teachers start to observe and learn from each other which would mean hiring substitutes while the teachers are observing the other and meeting with each other. The board liked the concept of hiring someone for one year.
Mrs. Benay provided an overview of summer programs with a distribution of a chart to the board.
Action Plan- The school must develop an annual Action Plan. The formal Action Plan will also be part of the School Improvement Plan under the requirements for corrective action. This needs review and approval by the Board. Brent Coon provided an overview of the Action Plan. Toby Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to approve the Swanton Action Plan. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Superintendent’s Report:
Negotiations: for Executive session
Personnel: Executive session
Legislative Review: is included in the board packet.
Next School Board Meeting is July 12, 2010 if necessary. The board will plan a short meeting to take action on any personnel, finance or other issues to be addressed as needed.
Executive Session & Adjournment
Rod Russin made motion to enter executive session for personnel and negotiations, seconded by April Kilbury at 7:34pm. Approved Vote 4-0 April Kilbury made motion to exit executive session at 8:08pm, seconded by Rod Russin. Approved vote 4-0.
Toby Maguire made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to authorize the board chair to sign contracts for contracts and positions discussed in executive session. The board approved 4-0 vote. April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Toby Maguire to approve the contract extension for Peter Garrow until June 30th at 4:00pm. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote. Toby Maguire made motion, seconded by Rod Russin to move Sarah Tebbett into Behavioral Action Team assistant position and revisit salary after a bachelor’s degree is attained. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to hire Penny Hayes for the second grade teacher. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote. Rod Russin made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to approve Holly Rouelle as the interim assistant principal. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote. Don Collins made motion, seconded by Toby Maguire to approve the revised administrative salaries as discussed in executive session. The board approved the motion on a 4-0 vote. The board thanks Mrs. Julie Benay for her years of service at Swanton School District and wish her the best. Don Collins declared the meeting adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
SWANTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
May 10, 2010
Present: Don Collins, Patti Jo Walker, April Kilbury, Tobias Maguire. Rod Russin was absent from the meeting.
Administration: Julie Benay, Principal, Brent Coon, Assistant Principal, and Dr. John J. McCarthy, Superintendent.
Others Present: Mary Babcock, Sarah Nielsen, Sarah Tebbetts
Call to Order: Don Collins called the meeting to order at 6:09pm.
Citizens and Staff
Playground Update: Sarah Nielsen stated that the PTO hosted School Report Night and it went well. The PTO has established a playground committee for planning the playground. Sarah has met with the Head Start office and there are available funds for the brown playground. They will need information and price quotes on the equipment/plans for the brown playground so that the Head Start can write a grant. The grant is due June 1st, a decision will be made by August 1st and everything would have to be purchased by October 31st. The Head Start would like to give back to the school for the Swanton School’s support of their program. The board was supportive of the PTO moving forward with this project. Grade 5 and 6 have proposed a basketball court in the back area and if there is administration or board concern, to please let the PTO know prior to their work in this area.
Approval of Minutes: April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Toby Maguire to approve the April 12th, 2010 school board minutes as revised. The board approved 4-0 Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Toby Maguire to approve April 22, 2010 minutes as printed. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Correspondence: Linda Lane sent a letter stating that retired teachers will be celebrated on June 14th at the American Legion Hall. She has also submitted a request for funding support of the retirement celebration.
Old Business: April Kilbury stated that they could use parent volunteers for activities planned such as the car wash this Saturday at the Municipal Building to support the sixth grade celebration. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters have donated two Keurig coffee makers along with K-cups donations for a drawing. The Abbey has donated all of the food and barbecue grills. Hannaford has donated a $75.00 gift card. Thanks to these businesses for their generous donations. On June 4th is the sixth grade celebration and they could use many parent volunteers for that day too.
Contracts: Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by April Kilbury to authorize the board chair to sign the paraprofessional contracts for the 2010-2011 school year. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Financial Report: Becky Hart included the financial report in the board packet. Becky Hart has expenditures through the end of April and projects out for the next two months. The school district is still under-expending their budget. The carryover of about $34,000 has been reduced from last month due to a decrease in projected revenues from the Special Education intensive reimbursement fund. They will send in the approved budget and projected revenues to the State by June 1st so that they can come up with an amount to be raised by taxes and the carryover will become revenue. April Kilbury made motion, seconded by Patti Jo Walker to accept the financial report. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Check Warrants: Patti Jo Walker made motion, seconded by Toby Maguire to approve check warrants for March 2010 totaling $191,429.74 The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Updated Food Service Bid Information: Mrs. Hart stated that the state is requiring a new RFP Prototype for food service that was only just released last week So she will need to put in Swanton’s unique information, send it back to the State for their approval and then wait for the State of Vermont to approve before she can put the food service out to bid. She is hoping for a deadline of June 10th provided she receives the approval back within this timeframe. She may need to request for a special board meeting later in June to award the food service bill.
Principal’s Report:
Celebrations: Mrs. Benay stated that Swanton was awarded a silver award in the annual School Wellness Awards program. Mrs. Lane and the Wellness team completed that application. The second grade students completed a service learning project about bike safety which culminated in a successful “Bike Rodeo” held in conjunction with the Swanton Police Dept.
Revisions to ARRA Dollars- Mrs. Benay stated that the leadership team made some minor revisions to the proposal for use of the ARRA Title I dollars for next year. They reduced the number of Net books and increased the professional development for technology in order to better use the technological tools they would like to purchase.
School Report Night- Mrs. Benay included the report in the board packet. The report was well received, and suggestions were made to include students and teachers in the format of the report next year to bring in more parents and community members.
Action Plan- The school must develop an annual Action Plan. This should address goals for improved student learning and strategies and activities to achieve those goals. The plan should address the effectiveness of efforts to ensure a safe, orderly, civil and positive learning environment. They anticipate continuing to work on the same primary goals that Swanton worked on this year. The formal Action Plan will also be the School Improvement Plan under the requirements for corrective action. It will be brought to the Design Team on May 26th and to the board meeting in June for approval which is mandated by state law.
AYP: The preliminary AYP determinations have been distributed but the information is embargoed until May 11th. Based on reviewing the data, Swanton School does anticipate that they will remain as an identified school under at least one sub-category.
Math Intervention configuration: Mary Pelkey is delivering tier two math support between grades 1 and 2, Mrs. Scangas supporting third grade, Mrs. Lumbra supporting fourth grade and Mrs. Bovatt supporting fifth and sixth grade. After looking at data, the school and students would be better served by having a math interventionist with Mrs. Pelkey in the Babcock Building, (they have a candidate to recommend in executive session.) Mrs. Scangas supporting third and fourth grade, and Mrs. Bovatt supporting grades 5 and 6.
Summer Programs: Summer programming will be held July 12-30th and will combine the required Supplemental Educational Services under Title I and the extended school year services under IDEA (Special Education) and the 21st Century Grant funded Crossroads learning program.
School Garden: The students are initiating their own service learning projects. Fourth Graders are concerned about the oil spill and have been researching it. The fifth grade students will have an expanded school garden project and are coordinating it with the sixth grade EcoStars, who are researching the effects of runoff on the watershed and are installing rain barrels to irrigate the garden. They will be asking the National Honor Society and the Crossroads to keep it watered. They are proposing purchasing a garden shed and will need a zoning application to place it on the school grounds.
Superintendent’s Report:
Policies: Policies C1 to C10 and policies D1 to D16 will need no changes so Dr. McCarthy requested that the board designate them as reviewed at this meeting. Toby Maguire made the motion, seconded by April Kilbury to designate policies C1 to C10, and policies D1 to D16 as reviewed. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Dr. McCarthy brought policies B3 School Board Elections-Legal Status, B5 Supervisory Union and B8 Board Organizational Meeting back to the board with the revisions requested and recommended that they be adopted at this board meeting. Patti Jo Walker made motion to adopt B3, B5 and B8, seconded by April Kilbury. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Negotiations: A June 1st meeting has been scheduled for a mediation session at the Swanton Elem. School.
Challenges for Change: The proposal was to ask all the school districts to reduce their budgets by 2 percent. The recommendation has been for schools that spend more would have to reduce more and the schools who have a lower per pupil spending would reduce less and they need to have schools save $23 million throughout the State of Vermont. The Franklin Northwest Schools are in the bottom ten for lowest spending. They are asking for school boards to be very fiscally conservative.
Personnel: Executive session
Next School Board Meeting tentatively scheduled for June 15th, 2010
Executive Session & Adjournment
April Kilbury made motion to Enter Executive Session at 7:08 p.m. Seconded by Toby McGuire. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Don Collins made motion to Exit Executive Session at 8:25 p.m. Seconded by PattiJo Walker. The board approved the motion 4-0 vote.
Motions made after Executive Session:
April Kilbury made motion to accept Molly Forman’s request to withdrawal letter of resignation and to offer contract for 2010-2011 school year. Seconded by Toby McGuire. Vote 4-0
April Kilbury made motion to accept Deb Martin as Math Interventionist. Seconded by PattiJo Walker. Vote 4-0
April Kilbury made motion to offer Caroline Bell contract for 2010-2011 school year. Seconded by PattiJo Walker. Vote 4 - 0
April Kilbury made motion to offer Lauren Howe contract for 2010 - 2011 school year. Seconded by PattiJo Walker. Vote 4 - 0
Don Collins made motion to accept letter of resignation as discussed in Executive session. Seconded by April Kilbury. Vote 4- 0
April Kilbury made motion to accept letter of resignation from Michelle Theberge. Seconded by Toby MaGuire. Vote 4 - 0
April Kilbury made motion to contract with Michelle Theberge for Character Education Coordinator for 2010 - 2011 school year. Seconded by Toby MaGuire. Vote 4 - 0
April Kilbury made motion to offer contract to Catherine Patch for P.E., and Nicole Jamison 4th Grade for the 2010-2011 school year. Seconded by Toby MaGuire. Vote 4-0
April Kilbury made motion to accept Peter Garrow side contract as Webmaster for 2010 - 2011 school year. Seconded by Toby McGuire. vote 4-0
PattiJo Walker made motion to provide sufficient sick leave for remainder of 2009-2010 school year as discussed in Executive Session. Seconded by Toby MaGuire. Vote 4-0
April Kilbury made motion to provide 30 day extension of contract as discussed in Executive Session. Seconded by Don Collins. Vote 4-0
Toby MaGuire made motion to a 2% increase to Non Union Employee with the exceptions of Behavior Asst. and Library. Seconded by April Kilbury. Vote 4-0
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Jo Walker, School Board Clerk
by Pierrette Bouchard, School Board Secretary.
