SPAULDING HIGH SCHOOL
UNION DISTRICT
Campus Library
March 16, 2009
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
John Santorello, CHAIR,
Nancy Pope, VICE-CHAIR,
Norma Malone, CLERK,
John Pizzo,
Giuliano Cecchinelli,
Richard Storz,
Tom Walz,
JJ Norway – Class of ’10,
SHS/BTC Non-voting Student Representative
Meredith Grubb – Class of
’09, SHS/BTC Non-voting Student Representative
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:
None
ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT:
Dr. John Bacon, Superintendent
of Schools Tom Sedore,
Assistant Principal
Bob Phillips, Principal Penny
Chamberlin,
GUESTS PRESENT:
Video Vision Tech
George Drew
Tom McSweeney
Michele Woodcock
Dan Woodcock
Marissa Barbieri
Ben Rouleau
Sheila Cleary
Lisa Lemieux
Sandra Wetzel
Phil Breier
Steve Coultas
Board Secretary: Donna Holden
1. Call to Order
The Superintendent,
John Bacon, called the Monday, March 16, 2009, meeting to order at 6:00p.m.,
which was held in the SHS & BTC Campus Library,
A.
Board Reorganization
Dr. Bacon opened the floor
for nomination for Chairperson.
Mr. Storz nominated John
Santorello. Mr. Santorello agreed to
serve.
Mr. Walz nominated John
Pizzo. Dr. Pizzo agreed to serve.
Hearing
no other nominations, the Superintendent closed nominations and called for a
vote in favor of Mr. Santorello. The majority of the Board voted to elect John
Santorello to serve as Board Chair. Mr.
Walz made a motion for a unanimous election, to which the Board unanimously
voted to elect Mr. Santorello.
Mr.
Santorello assumed the role of Chairperson.
Mr. Santorello opened the
floor for nomination for Vice-Chairperson.
Mr. Storz nominated Nancy Pope. Mrs. Pope agreed to serve.
Hearing no
other nominations, the Board unanimously voted to elect Nancy Pope to serve as
Board Vice-Chair.
Mr. Santorello opened the
floor for nomination for Clerk.
Mr. Storz nominated Norma
Malone. Mrs. Malone agreed to serve.
Hearing no other nominations, the Board
unanimously voted to elect Norma Malone to serve as Board Clerk.
Mr.
Santorello asked for nomination to serve as Supervisory Union Board representatives.
Mr.
Storz nominated John Santorello. Mr.
Santorello agreed to serve.
Dr.
Pizzo nominated Tom Walz.
Mr.
Walz agreed to serve, however, disclosed there was the potential for occasional
conflicts of interest, as he was under contract with the BCEMS through the SU
and paid with grant funds. He also noted
that his wife was currently an employee of BCEMS, but would be retiring on June
30, 2009.
Mrs.
Pope nominated Giuliano Cecchinelli. Mr.
Cecchinelli agreed to serve.
Mrs.
Pope nominated Norma Malone. Mrs. Malone
agreed to serve.
Hearing no other nominates, and upon a
paper ballot, the Board voted to elect Mr. Santorello with six votes, Mr.
Cecchinelli with seven votes, and Mrs. Malone with five votes, to serve as the three
Supervisory Union Representatives. Mr.
Walz received two votes.
Mr. Santorello asked for a volunteer to serve as the BTC Regional Advisory Board (RAB)
Representative.
Dr. Pizzo volunteered, and with no objection, the
Chair appointed Dr. Pizzo to the RAB.
The Board reviewed and agreed to the following operating procedures:
Ø
On a motion by Mr. Storz seconded by Mrs. Malone, the
Board unanimously voted to authorize the Chair to sign teacher contracts, as
approved by the Board.
Ø
On a motion by Mr. Storz seconded by Mr. Walz, the
Board unanimously voted to authorize the Chair to sign other contracts, as approved
by the Board.
Ø
On a motion by Dr. Pizzo seconded by Mrs. Pope, the
Board unanimously voted to designate the Times
Argus as the Board’s official newspaper for legal and official notices.
Ø
On a motion by Mr. Storz seconded by Dr. Pizzo, the
Board unanimously voted to designate the Board’s regular meeting schedule to be
the first and third Monday, monthly, at 6:00 p.m.
Ø
On a motion by Dr. Pizzo seconded by Mr. Storz, the
Board unanimously voted to designate the Finance Committee Chairperson to
review warrants at Board meetings, or upon request of the Superintendent, and to
be authorized to approve expenditures on behalf of the Board.
Ø
On a motion by Mrs. Pope seconded by Mr.
Storz, the Board unanimously voted that only in the absence of the Finance
Committee Chairperson, the Board Clerk shall be designated as the substitute
authorized to approve warrants on behalf of the Board.
Mr. Santorello
asked the Superintendent and/or Administration to review existing policies
regarding the operating procedure matters just voted upon, and if needed, to have
the policies brought before the Board for amendments.
Mr. Santorello advised the
Board in addition to the other standing committees it was his intention to
reinstate the Policy & Curriculum Committee. He said the Board’s regular work prevented
the attention needed to stay current with the school’s policies and
program/curriculum reviews, therefore, the responsibilities previously
designated to the P & C Committee would be delegated again, with reports
and recommendations brought forward for the Board’s action. Mr. Storz, and Mr. Walz volunteered to serve
on the P & C Committee.
Dr. Bacon briefly
reviewed the Confidentiality/FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of
1974), and executive session guidelines pursuant to Title 1 § 313 with the
Board.
2. Announcements and
Awards
Mr. Phillips
advised the Board of recent student and athletic team achievements. Campus and
other general information may be viewed at www.shsbtc.org/.
Mr. Phillips also announced the Class of
2009 valedictorian would be Matt McIntyre and salutatorian would be Zach Schmoll.
3. Visitors and
Communications
None
4. Curriculum Reports
A.
Community Service Learning
Marissa
Barbieri appeared before the Board and reviewed the Community Service Learning
syllabus, placements, work assignments, and program reorganization. She verified the program was designed for
10-12th graders, and said the semester cap of 60 students was occasionally
exceeded. Ms. Barbieri also discussed
the monitoring and supervision of students.
Ben Rouleau,
a CSL student, also addressed the Board remarking on his experience in the
program and current project with the Greater Barre Community Justice Center.
5. Items for Board Action
A. Approval of Minutes:
March 2, 2009 – Regular
Spaulding High School Union District Board Meeting
March 2, 2009 – Annual
Meeting
On a motion by Mrs. Pope seconded by Mr. Storz, the
Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of March 2, 2009 –Regular
Spaulding High School Union District Board Meeting, as submitted.
On a motion by Mrs. Pope seconded by Mr.
Storz, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of March 2, 2009 –
Annual Meeting, as submitted.
B. Second and Final
Mr. Phillips
advised the Board the last two lines in page 2 should be removed from the SHS
policy, as the model policy used referenced other policies not used by the
School.
On a motion by Dr. Pizzo seconded by Mr. Cecchinelli,
the Board unanimously voted to approve the Second and Final Reading of
Attendance Policy (JE), with the removal of the last two lines on page 2, as
discussed.
C. Second and Final
On a motion by Mrs. Pope seconded by Mr. Storz, the
Board unanimously voted to approve the Second and Final Reading of the Class
Size Policy (IIB), with the striking of the word “perfectly” in item 2, and
changing the word “less” to “fewer” in item 7, as discussed.
D. Cafeteria Side Parking Lot Paving and
Storm Drain RFP
Mr.
Santorello advised the Board the Facility Committee was seeking permission to
initiate the RFP process to obtain quotes and schedule the paving and storm
drain repairs to commence after July 1st.
Dr. Bacon
suggested coordinating scheduling and bidding with the City of
On a motion by Mrs. Malone seconded by Mr.
Cecchinelli, the Board unanimously voted to approve initiation of the paving
and storm drain repair RFP, and to coordinate the projects with the City of
E. Teacher Resignation
On a motion by Dr. Pizzo seconded by Mrs. Pope, the
Board unanimously voted to accept the resignation of Special Education Teacher,
Paul J. Rau, effective 6/30/09, and as recommended by the Superintendent.
The Board thanked Mr. Rau
for his service to the students at SHS, and wished him well.
F. BTC Equipment and Facility Proposal
Ms.
Chamberlin advised the Board of the SHS Finance Committee’s 3/10/09
recommendation to spend $260K of the anticipated surplus. She also distributed the list of proposed
equipment and facility upgrades along with the bids received for each project. Ms. Chamberlin advised the Board that the
maintenance Director, Jamie Evans, was thoroughly involved in every aspect of
the project and bidding, and in touch with her daily during the process.
Mrs. Pope
suggested another level of scrutiny and review for a project of this size would
be to pass the project list and details in front of the Facility Committee at
their meeting on March 26th, and the RAB as an FYI, at their meeting
on March 24th.
Dr. Bacon
explained the source of the anticipated surplus was from re-organization and
shifting of programs as a result of the decoupling of the
Ms.
Chamberlin also advised that after spending approximately $260K for the
projects, there would still be a surplus remaining.
On a motion by Mrs. Pope seconded by Mrs. Malone,
the Board unanimously voted to approve the concept of the proposal and authorize
the
G. SHS Program of Studies for 2009-10
Ms. Lemieux
appeared before the Board to review the SHS
Program of Studies 2009-10. Mr.
Phillips explained the changes to the math program curriculum and
offerings. He advised the Board the Program of Studies had already been released
and distributed to students.
Mrs. Woodcock
also addressed the Board and pointed out that in addition to the math program apparently
lacking appropriate offerings there were no honor courses made available to
freshmen in the core subject areas of English, history, or science.
The Board
discussed their many concerns with the 2009-10 course offerings, and
particularly in the area of math requested the Math Department Chair to provide
the Board with an explanation of the program and changes. They also agreed to examine the lack of honor
courses in the other core subject areas.
Mrs. Pope
questioned whether the K-12 Curriculum Director, John Barone, was involved in
the decisions made within the math curriculum, or other areas of
curriculum. Mr. Santorello said he believed
the lack of a Policy & Curriculum Committee and its oversight may have
contributed to poor Board communication and understanding of what was happening,
and changes in the courses offered in Program
of Studies.
No action was taken on this item, due to the prior release of the SHS Program of Studies 2009-10.
6. Items for
Information and Discussion
A.
Virtual High School
Mr. Phillips
advised the Board that Student Representative, Meredith Grubb, was nearly half
way through a
Mr. McSweeney
suggested other initial costs to consider would include the purchase of several
computers and finding an appropriate location for them, in addition to staffing
to ensure appropriate use and monitoring.
Mr.
Santorello advised the P & C would also likely take this matter under
consideration.
7.
Reports to the Board
A.
Superintendent’s Report
Dr. Bacon
provided an oral report, which included advising the FY ’08 audit was completed
and would be presented at an April meeting.
He said the DOE was developing the spending requirements for stimulus
package funds expected in the areas of Title 1 and special education.
Dr. Bacon
also advised new school Board members, Mr. Storz, Mrs. Malone, and Mr. Walz
that their names would be provided for the Vermont School Board Association’s
mailing list, and that new board member training DVDs would be requested for
them.
B. SHS Principal
Mr. Phillips
referred the Board to his written report.
Campus and other general information may be viewed at www.shsbtc.org. Mr. Phillips also advised the athletic
training room was completed and a plaque recognizing the contributions of Allen
Lumber Company would be displayed.
C.
Ms.
Chamberlin referred the Board to her written report. Ms. Chamberlin also distributed a memo
regarding the Building Trades April trip to
Building
Trades instructor, Steve Coultus, appeared before the Board to discuss the
experiences of the past three trips and sometimes dramatic changes in students
once they have participated in this experience.
On a motion by Mrs. Pope seconded by Dr. Pizzo, the
Board unanimously voted to approve the Building Trade’s trip to
D. Curriculum Director
A report was
provided in the Board’s packet.
The Board
requested the Curriculum Director be a regular member of the Policy &
Curriculum Committee.
E.
Technology Director
A report was
provided in the Board’s packet.
F.
Committee Reports as Needed
Finance
Committee – next meeting April 14, 2009, at 5:00 p.m.
Facility
Committee – next meeting March 26, 2009 at 5:30 p.m.
7.
Other Business
Dr. Pizzo
advised the Board the Student Representatives would like to have the item
regarding AP courses/Grades moved from the “parking lot” to the April
agenda. The Board agreed, however, noted that any changes in the AP program
would not impact exams for the current school year.
8. Executive
Session
A.
Ayers Street
B.
Contract Negotiations
C.
Personnel Item
D.
Student Matter
At 8:25 p.m. on a motion by Mr. Storz seconded by
Mrs. Pope, the Board unanimously voted to enter into executive session,
pursuant to Title 1 § 313, to discuss contract negotiations, real estate, personnel
and student matters.
Dr. Bacon,
Mr. Phillips and Ms. Chamberlin were invited into the executive session.
At 9:12 p.m. the Board exited executive session
The Board unanimously agreed to approve the tuition
waiver for the Tech Student, as discussed.
9. Adjournment
On a motion by Dr. Pizzo seconded by Mrs. Pope, the
Board unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:13 p.m.
Next meeting Date:
Meetings are
regularly scheduled for the first and third Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m.,
unless otherwise noted. The next regular meetings are
scheduled for:
Monday, April
6, 2009 - 6:00 p.m.
Monday, April
20, 2009 - 6:00 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Donna Holden