Minutes 5-8-12
Post date: May 22, 2012 6:24:22 PM
Twin Valley Schools
WHITINGHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT
WILMINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
Minutes - DRAFT
Regular Directors’ Meeting
At
TWIN VALLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL
May 8th. 2012 at 5:30 PM
Present: John Doty, Seth Boyd, Aimee Reed, Paul Wheeler, Brenda Kennedy, Missy Jutras, Laurie Cole, Heather Dix, Nicki Crafts, Doug Swanson, Adam Grinold, Phil Taylor, Dwight Williams, Dennis Richter, Rebecca Fillion, Bob Morse, Keith Lyman, Ronda Lackey, Nancy Talbott, and Mike Eldred.
Meeting called to order by Seth Boyd, Phil Taylor and Dwight Williams at 5:35 P.M.
Motion was made by Phil Taylor and seconded by Doug Swanson to go into executive session at 5:45 P.M. for a personnel matter
All in favor
Out of executive session at 5:45 P.M.
Information:
*** Fundations Presentation by WES Teachers
Keith briefly spoke about the Fundations program and introduced Special Ed teacher Brenda Kennedy and teachers Laurie Cole and Missy Jutras.
The foundations program is a phonological - phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling program.
Currently the program is being used in the K-1st. grade classes with the 3rd. grade using it as an intervention.
Brenda mentioned how enthusiastic the students have been with the program. A power point presentation was shown of the students running the program in the classrooms – teachers are there to guide them along when needed.
Laurie shared that 13 out of 15 students are now proficient with their upper & lower case as well as the CVC words.
Missy use to be a Reading Recovery teacher and she is very excited about how well the program is working out.
Nancy spoke about the dedicated group and how well they work together. They are an on-going think tank and they critique each other.
Some students get a double dose of the program, once during their regular ed class and then again when they are pulled out.
Keith is impressed with how much of it is led by the students and the high level of participation. The students shared the program with their parents during Parent Night.
John complimented the team for a great job on pulling it together. The rest of the board agreed.
Hearing of Visitors:
None
Fiscal Matter(s):
*** Update on VT Municipal Bond Application
The application is due in by May 15th. – Ronda has one more economic question to answer and then she will submit it.
The loan approval agreement should come sometime in June and then the funding will be available July/August. The payments will be for 20 years starting a year from November. Bond rates are low at this time.
Keith- spoke about the 8th. grade field trip going over budget by about $200 and asked if there was any way to get this extra money. After some discussion the following motion was made.
Motion was made by Phil Taylor and seconded by Doug Swanson for the expenditure in excess of $200 for the 8th grade field trip.
All in favor
Bob – Renaissance Program
A few programs at the high school level have run out of money, such as the senior trip to Six Flags, prom tickets for the students who have shown proficiency – money for these items have been transferred from other accounts such as money left over in the graduation fund (no tent expense this year) but the Renaissance Program still needs $8 – 10,000 for the July 12th. program to be held in Atlanta. A total of 5 adults and 5 students will be attending and the cost is $900 per person. They do have about $2,500 so far.
Phil asked that Bob bring more specifics to the next meeting.
Doug would like to have a fiscal report as well and
Seth suggested as well that Bob have a proposal to share.
Communications:
Seth – explained the consent agenda – each board will have a list of items that need to be voted on. One vote will cover all the items on the consent agenda for each board. Each item needs to have an enclosure and the board members need to read these in advance to be efficient on the matters. If there is a topic that needs to be discussed that can be taken out and added to the regular agenda.
Ronda mentioned concerns about having enough information for the minutes. She will talk with Julie to come up with a way to handle this.
Frank Spencer who is in New Zeeland sent a letter congratulating the board on the successful bond vote.
A letter was sent to Bob from the New England Association of Schools on accepting TVHS accreditation.
Information: (continued)
*** Report of the Superintendent of Schools
Nancy spoke about the meeting at the Superintendent’s Office on Monday along with Sandy and Ronda and how much was discussed.
She mentioned the VSBA manual being available online or you can get a printed copy for $15.
*** Principal’s Reports
Keith – None
Bob – The Travel Club would like to go to Boston on June 2nd with 2 chaperons and 5 students.
Motion was made by Doug Swanson and seconded by Phil Taylor to approve a trip to Boston on June 2nd for the Travel Club.
All in favor
Becca – A pair of mallard ducks have moved into the pond on the field.
TWIN VALLEY CONSENT AGENDA:
– Approval of Minutes: April 10th. 2012 & May 1st. 2012
– Approval of change in Phone Services for next year l
Local Calls – Fairpoint Long Distance - Sovernet
- Appointment of Transportation Coordinator – Heather Dix
Transportation Update – Authorization to apply for Bus Replacement Grant
Discussion about item D. - Ronda explained that the buses would need to be replaced due to age and the cost for repairs. Applying for the grant to cover 5 of the 7 buses currently being used. The grant is 50% funding per bus. There is a better chance of getting a grant this time around as we didn’t get anything from the last round.
Heather talked about riding with the Wilmington drivers to basically clean up the routes and make them more cost efficient.
Paul and Heather have also been working on a way to work with Dover in making it easier for the Dover students to commute to Whitingham.
WHITINGHAM CONSENT AGENDA:
A. – Approval of Minutes: April 10, 2012
B. - Approval of change in Phone Service for next year
Local Calls - Fairpoint
WILMINGTON CONSENT AGENDA:
A. – Approval of Minutes:
B. – Approval of change in Phone Service for next year
Local Calls – Fairpoint Long distance - Sovernet
Motion was made by Doug Swanson - TV, seconded by Aimee Reed, Dwight Williams - Whitingham, seconded by John Doty and Doug Swanson - Wilmington seconded by Paul Wheeler to pass the Twin Valley Consent Agenda, Whitingham Consent Agenda and the Wilmington Consent Agenda.
All in favor
Action:
TWIN VALLEY:
*** Approval of Twin Valley Field Reconstruction Bid
Only one bid was submitted for the fieldwork and that was from Hodgkins & Sons Inc.. The work is estimated at $63,000. This would include repairs to infield for $18,000 and outfield work for $13,000 and $32,000 for the soccer field.
Its possible FEMA would pay 75% of the project or more.
After discussion about when this work could be completed, only being in the school another year and how much FEMA will help out with the funding.
NO ACTION TAKEN
*** Approval of Architect’s Contract
$616,600.00 – NBF Architects
Doug is very pleased with the architect, kept the price as he said even with the changes.
So far the architect has spent 8 hours meeting with the staff at TVH and has appointments with the other two schools as well.
Motion was made by Doug Swanson and seconded by Aimee Reed to approve the architect’s contract.
All in favor
*** Approval of Clerk of the Works Contract
A year and a half contract with Gordon Bristol for $95,000.00 with up to $3,500 for a work trailer as well.
Motion was made by Doug Swanson and seconded by Phil Taylor to approve the clerk of the works
All in favor
*** Develop Plan for Consolidation of the Academic Programs
Pre-K – 5 Becca, Keith and Nancy have been working on this.
Phil asked about the transition, preparation (common core) to transform the high school into a 21st. century school.
Nancy- Teachers will receive support – best practice, equipment for classrooms, social and emotional pieces. The action plan will be a big part of the consolidation.
This will fall on the leaders of the buildings and the supervisory office too.
Phil – Three principals – Team Leadership
Keith – Committees for certain areas and the administration will have to decide on their own for some things.
Action Plans/School Wide Plans – bringing staffs together
Becca – Leaders -Central Office, Superintendent, Principals, Teachers and then have sub committees.
Communicate Clearly – who’s on committee, who decides what…. Need to lie out a great road map.
Nancy –School Action Planning/Consolidation
The school will be well prepped, staffed and ready to go.
The WINGS Program and PTG will be a great help along the way too.
Bob- Work with the staff – a lot of them are on edge about who has a job.
1st. develop a team - 2nd. Set Priorities
Adam asked what the roll of the board would be to help make this a smooth transaction?
Becca – Set Leadership Team, get the ball moving, teachers on board, before the school year ends. Have a representative from the board on the committee to report back to the whole board.
Seth feels the staff planning was missed last time with the merger of the middle/high schools and doesn’t want that to happen again. He suggested maybe getting Frank Spencer, Dave Larsen and Karen Molina to help in some way.
Adam has concerns about the apprehension of the teachers, start the process of establishing a list of staff needed.
Aimee would like to see prioritizing of the lists – 1-½ years is really not that long.
Nancy pointed out the next year’s grants are a year in advance as well.
Keith – Becca – Aligning staff, in-service for next year for the whole su
Nancy mentioned having on the agenda reporting on the progress at each Tri Board Meeting to keep everyone up to date.
Phil – clear team, a contact person, how the board fits in – very exciting!
He also reported that the legislation has passed $104,000 transition aid – it helps to have a lobbyist.
Phil - passed out a proposal for the board to look over on what’s guiding us toward the 21st. century mission statement. Bring the parents, teachers and students together and apply these values to the highest level.
Seth - will have it put on the agenda for the next meeting
John - recommended the website lengo.net with information about the 21st. century.
***Discussion of Twin Valley Board Structure
Seth passed out a draft on the structure –
The board feels that it’s a good drafting of the agreement
Dwight asked if the board members that were not on the TV board would still feel engaged?
The board members felt there were enough jobs to go around.
Phil mentioned assigning responsibilities to the ten board members.
Eventually the board would go to a 5-member board.
Aimee asked if next fall a parent of a Whitingham student had an issue and it had to be handled by the board could the board break up to deal with the matter?
The board felt that would not be a problem.
It was decided to tweak a few things and take care of it at the next meeting.
Motion to go into executive session for a legal matter at 7:35 p.m. was made by Dennis Richter TV, seconded by Phil Taylor, Nicki Crafts Whitingham, seconded by John Doty and Dennis Richter Wilmington seconded by Adam Grinold.
All in favor
Out of executive session at 8:45 p.m.
Action taken after executive session:
Motion was made by Aimee Reed TV, Doug Swanson Wilmington and Nicki Crafts Whitingham to approve settlement
All in favor
Unfinished Business:
New Business:
Motion to adjourn regular meeting at 8:50 p.m. was made by Dennis Richter TV, Adam Grinold Wilmington and John Doty Whitingham.
All in favor
Respectfully submitted,
Julie Moore - Secretary