Executive Board Minutes
February 9, 2010 8:30 a.m.
Board Present: Alison DesLauriers - Chair, Duane Hart - Vice Chair, Gert Bennett, Bill Bourque, Ginger Roper
Administration Present: David Adams - Superintendent, Linda Waite - Assistant Superintendent of C.I.A., Jackie McCuin - Special Education Director, Meredith Austin - WSWSU Business Manager, Patrick Walters - Flood Brook Principal
Public: Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
Call to Order: Alison called meeting to order at 8:37 a.m. A quorum was present.
Approval of Minutes of January 12, 2010: Gert moved approval. Board approved minutes as presented.
Job Descriptions: a) Assistant Superintendent - David talked about the new job description format. He said the old job description was also sent with the packet as a reference. He asked the board to review the new job descriptions and give him feedback. David talked about some of the responsibilities in the job description. Linda then talked about her job and the new responsibilities and her concerns of priorities. Linda will take on homeless students and early education as well. Gert felt that the Local Standards Board should be added as a responsibility as Linda is on that board. David asked that this be on the next agenda for adoption.
b) Director of Special Education - David explained the responsibilities of the SPED Director. The SPED Director must have experience in the classroom as well. It was decided to wait for Jackie to arrive before continuing this discussion.
Superintendent Evaluation Process: An evaluation instrument and performance indicators were given out as handouts to the board. Alison said she, Duane and David have met several times on goals for David and the evaluation process. David talked about the different areas that are on the evaluation form for his performance in each of the areas to be rated. The three main areas are 1) the Curriculum Management Audit; 2) The Finance areas and 3) Personnel. He would like the boards in the S.U. to adopt an annual teacher evaluation process. This will be a way to have quality control. Another area he wants to work on is collective bargaining as a way to bring stability to the S.U. and to be able to work together. Alison said the evaluation instrument is up for adoption today. Discussion of
the evaluation instrument and possible word changes took place. David asked to be able to add a summary to the document. It was decided that changes would be made to the evaluation instrument and then adopted at next meeting. These forms will be used in May for David's evaluation.
Gert made motion to adopt goals proposal as presented. Duane seconded. Board approved.
Two Position Replacement Hirings: a) EEE Clerk/Secretary - David asked the board to approve hiring a person but to not have it permanent until this board approves it at the March meeting, as a candidate has not been decided on yet.
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b) Part-time Para for Londonderry Student - David said Miranda Holmes will work with this student for 10 hours/week after a three week training period. Bill made motion to hire Miranda Holmes to work with the Londonderry Student, part-time and salary to be entirely billed back to the town of Londonderry.
Resignation and Nomination: David informed the board that Emmett Dunbar resigned from his Opportunities position and John Ludlam has been selected to take his place. Duane made motion to hire John Ludlam to fill the Opportunities Para position at salary noted until the end of the 2009-2010 school year. Board approved.
Superintendent's Report: David spoke of the restructuring of school districts to decrease the total number from 63to 16. He said this is being looked at as a way to save money by restructuring school administrators. David said there is talk that there will be some savings in the education funds because of work done locally by school boards on their school budgets. He said that the initial look shows that the increase across the state is about ?%.
David said he is going to participate in the Vermont Association of Middle Level Educators (VAMLE) League of Middle Schools in April and is will be going to Tucson, Arizona for Level II training for the Curriculum Management Audit. He hopes the grant will support this professional development cost. He has offered this training to the Principals as well.
Curriculum Management Schedules: Linda explained the CMA schedules and has prepared a draft schedule for the Principals and Auditors. The change is that the Auditors will meet with board members on Tuesday, February 23rd during their visits to schools between 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. The board member meetings will be done in groups. The Auditors will be looking at how the board members feel the five standards are met in their individual schools. David would like to get Dr. Stripling's power point presentation about the audit to send to the board members.
Jackie arrived at the meeting so the board went back to the Director of Special Education job description. Some discussion of wording of the job description took place. Gert made motion, Bill seconded, to adopt the Director of Special Education job description with changes and updating the formatting. Board approved.
Other Business: Alison said that Ludlow responded that they are interested in continuing conversations with Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union. David met with Frank Perotti, Johanna Harpster, Carl Mock and Judy Pullinen and they will meet again on February26th. They are looking at curriculum needs among all the schools. Physics and Foreign Language are two areas to be looked at with virtual learning. Power School training is an area that all our districts might be able to collaborate on and save money as well.
Meredith hopes that our Auditors will attend the March meeting of the WSWSU Executive Board to review the WSWSU audit findings.
Next Meeting Date and Time: March 9, 2010 - 8:30 a.m. at the central office.
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Alison wished Flood Brook Union School good luck with their Annual Meeting this evening and in getting their budget passed.
Executive Session: Duane made motion to enter Executive Session at 10:00 a.m.
Duane made motion to come out of Executive Session at 10:19 a.m. No further motions were made.
Adjournment: Duane moved to adjourn at 10:20 a.m. Gert seconded. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier
Recording Secretary
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union Executive Board Meeting Minutes
January 12, 2010 8:30 a.m. Central Office
Board Present: Alison DesLauriers - Chair, Duane Hart -Vice Chair, Gene Bont, Ginger Roper, Bill Bourque, Carrie Chalmers
Administration Present: David Adams - Superintendent, Linda Waite - Assistant Superintendent of C.I.A., Jackie McCuin - Coordinator of Special Services, Meredith Austin - WSWSU Business Manager
Public Present: Dennis Deweerdt, Rick King, Lauren Baker = Technology coordinators, Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
Call to Order -Alison DesLauriers - Chair, called meeting to order at 8:33 a.m., a quorum was present.
Approval of Minutes of December 8, 2009: Duane moved approval of minutes. Gene seconded. Board approved minutes as presented.
ARRA Funds Update: David said a conversation regarding ARRA funds with regard to technology would take place. He asked Linda to begin. Linda said the Senior Management Team in the central office has been meeting to look at grants and ways to use the ARRA funds. She reviewed a handout that she had prepared on Title monies. She said Windsor Southwest S.U. received $223,185.00 in reinvestment monies under Title I A. She reviewed areas that the money will be used for. Discussion and questions ensued. Linda said that she, David, Jackie and Meredith pulled in information from several sources to put this plan together.
Jackie then gave a presentation using an overhead projector. Jackie said this is a huge opportunity to do what has been talked about for a long time. Everyone in education, both regular and special education educators are all talking the same language now. She gave everyone a handout and then reviewed it. She said that her team leaders are not mentioned on
this paper but they have been a huge part of this plan. This is done just on the A.R.R.A. award, not on regular grants. Our total award for IDEA-B special education services is $328,400.00. $75,000.00 of this money is earmarked to purchase a handicapped accessible bus for the Supervisory Union to use for a small population of our students. David said we are eligible to use the money for this because we have a current need. Members of the Executive Committee questioned the purchase and discussion of this will continue at a future meeting. Questions and discussions followed.
Lauren Baker reported that we have received 5 grants applied for by teachers in various schools and she explained what the grants are for. Bill made a motion for endorsement of ARRA funds plans for Title funds and IDEA-B programs. Gene seconded. Board approved.
Job Descriptions -The assistant superintendent job description needs to be revised to state that the assistant superintendent reports to the superintendent not the board. The Special Education Director job description will be reviewed.
David said that he had a couple more revisions to Linda's job description and he reviewed these. He asked for feedback on this so this job description can be on the next agenda for approval. David said that he and Jackie have talked about her job description and her duties are so varied that it will be a very long description. These descriptions will be on the next
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agenda. David said the Auditors asked for job descriptions and the Curriculum Management Auditors have also asked for them.
Approval of 2010-2011 Budgets- a) WSWSU Budget - Meredith reviewed the WSWSU Budget and the changes. She said that it was asked to keep this level funded and the budget is actually a less than .5% decrease. She said that if the grant revenues go down then the services they support will also decrease. Health Insurance is going to be a 3% increase this year but our unemployment insurance is going to be a huge increase. There are no salary increases in this budget. Bill made motion to approve the WSWSU Budget in the amount of $1,522,760.00 with the operational budget not to exceed $913,007.00. Board approved.
b) Essential Early Education Budget - Meredith reviewed. Duane made motion to approve the EEE Budget in the amount of $152,961.00. This amount is down from the previous budget. Board approved.
c) Early Education Budget - Meredith reviewed the changes. Gene Bont made motion to approve budget in amount of $331,774.00. Bill seconded. Board approved. Meredith said that the NAEYC requirement has been removed from the budget as it is no longer required.
d) Opportunities In Learning Budget - Duane asked that these budgets be sent electronically to the Flood Brook Board members. It was stated that the budgets would also be posted on the S.U. Website. David said there are staff reductions in this budget that supports 2 teachers and 2 paras and 1 Director. Alison asked to have a line added in the budget next to the Supervisory Union Assessment line informing people to go to the website for the S.U. budget on line or made available by calling Janet at the central office. Duane made motion, Gene seconded to approve the Opportunities In Learning Budget in the amount of $336,310.00. Board approved.
Superintendent Evaluation Process Discussion - Alison asked the board to respond to her and Duane by email as to the process of the evaluation that they would like followed. Goals will be discussed at a future meeting. A meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 26th at 8:00 a.m. to discuss the evaluation process.
Superintendent's Report - a) Curriculum Management Audit - Dates: David gave an update on the Curriculum Management Audit and said the initial visit with the lead auditor is scheduled for January 25th, 2010. Roseann Stripling, the lead auditor will be meeting with several groups of people that day and will also visit the different schools.
Semi-Annual Meeting Agenda - This meeting will be held at Chester-Andover Elementary School at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20th. Agenda items are: Approval of the four WSWSU Budgets;, Synopsis of ARRA Funds Report; Focus Monitoring Report; Professional Development; Curriculum Management Audit; Technology Advances.
Other Business - Alison gave everyone a three page Legislative Report for review. She reviewed a page on the future governance of public school districts in Vermont supported by the Vermont Superintendents Association. The VSA recommends that the future structure for
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Vermont school districts provide for single PK-12 governing boards. Meredith said that VASBO has pulled a lot of information together showing why the current method does not
work. Jackie said the Special Education Coordinators also support this recommendation. Alison said she would like to have another conversation with Ludlow, maybe she and David can meet with their board chair and superintendent to see if there is any interest in working together. Gene feels this meeting should take place. Duane is also in favor of reopening this discussion to look at benefits for both sides. Further discussion of areas we might be able to work with Ludlow took place. The board agreed to meet with Ludlow. Alison wants to start looking at facilities possibilities at the meeting in two weeks.
Executive Session - Personnel and Negotiations - None.
Adjournment -Bill made motion to adjourn at 11:00 a.m. Duane seconded. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier, Recording Secretary
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union
Executive Board Minutes
December8, 2009 8:30 a.m.
Board Present: Alison DesLauriers – Chair, Duane Hart – Vice Chair, Gert Bennett, Bill Bourque, Carrie Chalmers, Ginger Roper
Administration Present: David Adams – Superintendent, Linda Waite – Assistant Superintendent, Jacqueline McCuin – Coordinator of Special Services, Meredith Austin – Business Manager, Patrick Walters – Flood Brook Union School Principal, Tom Ferenc – Green Mountain Union High School Principal, Tiffany Cassano – Director – Opportunities In Learning Program
Public: Janet Currier – Recording Secretary
Call to Order: Alison called meeting to order at 8:31 a.m.
Approval of Minutes of November 10, 2009: Gert moved approval of minutes. Board approved minutes as presented.
Medicaid Funding Proposal for Arts In Education – Green Mountain Festival Series – Maryann Bastian: Maryann is a representative of the Green Mountain Festival Arts and Education Series. She said the request being made of the Supervisory Union for Medicaid monies is the same as last year, $5,000.00. The Arts and Ed Program is focusing on mini grants of $350.00 for teachers to apply for. Maryann said they need this Medicaid money to continue this program. There will be two rounds of grants this year that teachers can apply for. Maryann said this program provides children with experiences they would not have otherwise. The program has been going on for 25 years. Duane made motion to give $5,000.00 to the Arts and Ed Program. Gert seconded motion. Board
approved.
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union 403-B Amendment Adoption: Meredith explained that there is a 403-Bemployer contribution plan for the superintendent and business manager and the board needs to approve authorizing Alison to be able to sign the paperwork. Meredith said this plan was set up as a separate plan for the superintendent and business manager only. Gert moved to authorize Alison to sign the necessary papers. Board approved.
Focus Monitoring Information and Materials: Jackie gave a thumbnail sketch of the improvement plan and reviewed the areas of concern in the supervisory union and what is being done to correct these concerns. These corrections must be completed by March 2012 and they will involve everyone in the supervisory union. Discussion followed. David thanked Jackie for all the work she has done. Jackie will keep the board updated.
Opportunities Budget Discussion: David said Opportunities has a long history in the supervisory union of helping kids and keeping them in school and in our supervisory union. He told of some of the problems i.e. staff reductions at Opportunities and how these affected the students and the program. Two tuition students at Opportunities have withdrawn from the program, affecting the revenues for the program and the budget.
Jackie gave out documents to those present and said that one of the driving issues is declining enrollment in the supervisory union and the Opportunities Program. Discussions have been held regarding moving the program to Green Mountain next year. The bulk of the costs fall on Green Mountain because it is mostly Green Mountain students in the program. The estimate for student enrollment for next year is 12. Jackie reviewed costs for Fletcher Farms and Green Mountain and per pupil costs. She also reviewed costs if a student has to be sent out of district. She reviewed
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Opportunities student enrollment numbers for several years both past numbers and future estimates. This data does not include information for elementary students. Gert asked Tiffany if the program could stay basically the same if it moves to Green Mountain. There was some discussion of who would be administrator of the program if it moves to Green Mountain. Jackie talked about pros and cons of the program both at the Fletcher Farms location and at Green Mountain. Bill asked if the program could still accept tuition students to help offset financial costs. Tom said we need to consider if this is the business we want to be in. Discussion ensued. Duane had concerns about having elementary age students at Green Mountain and how this would be handled. Jackie said there is one elementary student
this year and they are working to transition this student back to the sending school. David said the program will be different if it is at Green Mountain as there will be a $100,000.00 difference in the budget amount. Tom said the program would be located in the old metals shop area. The middle school students would be in a former art room. The $100,000.00 saving comes from services, no building costs, no maintenance costs, reduction in one teacher position and a reduction in materials for the program. Jackie said the staff is the most important part of the program. At Green Mountain a clinician will be on site at all times. There will be two learning environments at Green Mountain, one for high school students and one for middle school students. All the therapy services will remain in place for the students. A teacher and a para will be in each learning environment. Tom said he has felt since he has been at Green Mountain
that the Opportunities students belong in the Green Mountain building. Tom said he would have to have the authority for how things are done in the Green Mountain building, but not to run the program. He said he and Tiffany work well together and he feels they can do this. Tom said he would also be more visible to the students in the program. There would be savings in transportation costs as well. Gert made motion that the Executive Board approve the recommendation that the Opportunities Program be transferred to Green Mountain with the nature of the program remaining the same upon approval by the Green Mountain Board. Duane seconded. Board approved.
Superintendent’s Report: a) Curriculum Management Audit – Dates: Pre-Audit Visit – January 25, 2010; Audit visit February 22 – 24, 2010. b) Lead Auditor – Rosanne Stripling, Ed.D. – Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs – Texas A&M University Texarkana, Texarkana, Texas. David turned this part of the report over to Linda Waite. Linda gave the board the information on the dates for the pre-audit visit on January 25, 2010 when Dr.Stripling will meet with the Administration Team and then with a Teacher Leadership Team (the Professional Development Committee), and a Board Committee that will be made up of two members from each board. February 22nd – 24th the entire audit team will be conducting interviews and making
site visits to each school to complete their audit. Linda said she has prepared a power point presentation to be given to the staff in each school. By doing the audit in February they expect to have a report by May. David said this report will be reviewed in June and this will probably cause some summer work by teachers as well. Dr. Stripling will be available on the evening of Monday, January 25th to meet with board members if so desired. Linda would like the Executive Board to see the power point presentation and said she would send it electronically to everyone.
David reported that he and Linda attended a Superintendent’s meeting and Steve Klein, Chief Financial Officer for the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office, presented at this meeting. These are the projected shortfalls for Vermont; $88,000.00 for 2011, $160,000,000.00 for 2012 and $136,000,000.00 for 2013 and teacher retirement funds will also experience a shortfall. David said when we budget we need to start thinking of long-term needs budget-wise. Long-term transportation needs and staff needs and the central office building, are some areas to be considered. He would like to look at a multi-year budget rather than just year to year. Alison
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asked David to start a conversation with Judy Pullinen, Superintendent in Ludlow. This conversation should start with administrators. The boards have met and have had no success.
David gave out some handouts on fiscal information over several years, both past and future.
David said there is a tentative Legislator/Superintendent meeting on January 11that the Newsbank Conference Center.
David reported that Project Based Learning is bearing fruit. Three of our four schools have teachers who applied for grants and they are bringing $30,000.00 into our supervisory union for white boards and technology.
Alison asked about ARRA funds. David said we have not used ARRA funds to back current programs. He would like to retain some of the funds for curriculum development. Jackie said a couple of things are holding up information on the IDEA-B ARRA money. Discussion of ways ARRA funds can be spent took place. ARRA funds will be on the January agenda.
Other Business: Gert reported that last week Debra Giles, the State Representative for the Local Standards Board visited our local meeting and all our teachers received their paperwork to get re-licensed and their criminal background check information. Gert said Deb was very impressed with what the Local Standards Board does down here. Gert then brought Deb to the central office to meet the staff.
Next Meeting Date and Time: January 12, 2010 – 8:30a.m. The Semi-Annual meeting will be held January 20th, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Chester-Andover Elementary School.
Adjournment – Duane moved to adjourn at10:37 a.m. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier
Recording Secretary
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union
Executive Board Minutes
November 10, 2009
8:30 a.m. - Superintendent's office
Board: Alison DesLauriers - Chair, Duane Hart - Vice Chair, Bill Bourque, Gert Bennett, Gene Bont, Ginger Roper
Administration: David Adams - Superintendent, Meredith Austin - WSWSU Business Manager, Linda Waite - Assistant Superintendent, Jackie McCuin - Coordinator of Special Services, Patrick Walters - Principal Flood Brook Union School
Public: Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
Call to Order: Alison DesLauriers - Chairperson called meeting to order at 8:33 a.m.
Approval of Minutes of October 13, 2009: Gert moved approval of minutes. Meredith has an addition, not a correction, for the minutes. She said the Asset Audit bill was for $3,390.00 plus our deposit for a total of $5,085.00 for the actual cost. Board approved minutes as presented with Duane abstaining.
Resignation: Emmett Dunbar, the newly hired para at Opportunities has resigned. David said the low wages and no health care benefits are the reasons for the resignation. These costs were not budgeted for in the Opportunities budget. Discussion ensued. Duane made motion to accept the resignation. Board approved.
Superintendent's Job Description: Alison said she wanted to have more discussion with the board before finalizing this document. Changes made were discussed with some being made because it is law. The Assistant Superintendent's job description will be looked at in December and the Special Education Coordinator job description the following month. Gert talked about making polices known to the public prior to adoption. She said they should be noted in the newspapers. She said the job descriptions should also be made known to the public before they are adopted. David and Janet will work on this issue.
Duane suggested putting this job description on the agenda every year just for review. The job description will be on the next agenda for adoption.
Superintendent Report: David said this is a busy time with parent/teacher conferences. He said that the Nurses have been reporting student and staff absences to Janet to track H1N1. As long as we have the staff to teach, the schools will remain open. Green Mountain is holding their H1N1 Immunization Clinic today, we are not sure of dates for the other schools yet. David said people are working hard on development of budgets. He told the board about a document that was talked about at the VSA/VSBA Conference called "Roots of Success" that shows that even in areas of high poverty the kids are succeeding. Three schools in Vermont have been identified as meeting the high poverty/high success measures. This document can be accessed on line at www.rootsofsuccess.wordpress.com. David talked about a book titled "Middle School is not a .". This book was put together by the Vermont Department of Education and the Vermont Association of Middle Level Educators. One of the aims is to keep kids from falling through
the cracks and be coming drop-outs.
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Preliminary Budget Review: a) Essential Early Education (EEE) - Meredith reviewed the budget by section. The Speech/Language amount will be subject to change. Since this program is now located at Green Mountain there is a rental line in the budget. The total budget is up by $2,500.00. There is a $136.00 deficit that is unadjusted in this budget. There are 13 students being served by EEE.
b) Early Education Collaborative - Meredith reviewed this budget by line items and said that the hope is to level fund the tuitions to the collaborative pre-schools for 2010-2011. There are 87 students in the Early Ed Collaborative as of today (11/10/09). The total budget is down about $4,000.00 projected. Meredith put $20,000.00 of Medicaid money in the budget to help the program.
c) Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union - Meredith said this is the same budget that was looked at previously. The health insurance line for the Superintendent's Secretary has been adjusted from a two person to a full-family plan as Janet is retiring next year. She reviewed more changes to the budget. The bottom line has changed from $916,174.00 to $936,656.00. Linda met with Richard Zelenetz, our English as a Second Language Teacher regarding the number of students being served. Linda reviewed this data and said we have a very high quality program of services.
Richard is at Flood Brook four days/week serving students. He also works at Green Mountain from 2:30 to 4:00 to serve Green Mountain students and he works with some students at their homes 2:30 to 4:00. There are eight students receiving services and four receiving monitoring services. Meredith said she has the current year grant awards in the grants section of the Budget, as we do not know what next year's grant amounts will be. Grants for the year are on the revenue page. These numbers will change once the information is received. The operational budget is up by 2.24%.
Other Business: Duane reported that Flood Brook has upped its efforts to leave the Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union and join another Supervisory Union. Flood Brook sends most of its students to Burr and Burton so it only seems logical to join a Supervisory Union that serves most of their kids. They would like to have a K-12 district too. Alison said we should look at meeting with Ludlow again regarding our two Supervisory Unions. Alison felt the Flood Brook issue should be brought up at the May Semi-Annual meeting.
Hiring: Jackie said there are two hires to be made. They are for a student that is on the spectrum. This student has a year-round extended day program with a full-day position, extended day position and a substitute position. Cristina Eaton is the person being hired for the extended day position. This program is both a school and community based program. Both of these positions have extensive training periods. Helen Gordon is the person being hired for the substitute position. Bill made motion to hire these two people for this program. Both new hires will receive $15.00/hour during their training period and then $16.50/hour once the training is done. There are no benefits as they are part-time employees. Board approved hiring both positions.
Gert said that the Local Standards Board meets regularly and minutes are taken. The minutes will start coming to the central office, as they have not been forwarded in the past. On December 3rd at 12:30 p.m., Deborah Giles - State Consultant for Local and Regional Standard Board's will be coming to visit a LSB meeting. Several of the teachers have signed up for a workshop on Portfolios for Level II Licensing on November 19th at 3:45 at Cavendish Town Elementary School. Gert asked if she could bring Deborah Giles to the central office on December 3rd to meet the central office people and was told that would be a nice thing to do. Alison extended congratulations to Jeanie Forbes - Flood Brook Teacher, who was nominated as the U.V.M. Outstanding Teacher.
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Next Meeting Date and Time: The next meeting will be December 8th at 8:30 a.m.
The Semi-Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 20th at 7:00 p.m. at Chester-Andover Elementary School.
Executive Session: None.
Adjournment: Gert made motion to adjourn at 10:29 a.m. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier
Recording Secretary
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union Executive Board Meeting Minutes
October 13, 2009 8:30 a.m. Central Office
Board Present: Alison DesLauriers - Chair, Gert Bennett, Carrie Chalmers, Ginger Roper, Bill Bourque, Amy Kemper
Administration Present: David Adams - Superintendent, Jackie McCuin - Coordinator of Special Services, Meredith Austin - WSWSU Business Manager - Patrick Walters - FBUS Principal, Linda Waite - Associate Superintendent of CIA
Public Present: Janet Currier - Recording Secretary, Nancy Schachinger - Autism Specialist
Call to Order -Alison DesLauriers - Chair, called meeting to order at 8:31 a.m., a quorum was present.
Approval of Minutes of September 22, 2009: Gert moved approval of minutes. Board approved minutes as printed.
Business & Finance - Meredith Austin: a) Asset Audit Update - Meredith said the Asset Audit Report is 64 pages in length. She read it last evening and there is a lot of equipment listed in it. She asked that someone from each board read the section pertaining to their school. Alison suggested that the Principal of each school should read the Report as they will be familiar with the equipment in their building. Meredith said the original quote was for $5,400.00 but they only charged us $3,390.00. This item will be on the next agenda for approval. Meredith and David will discuss sending a copy to the auditors that are to be selected during this meeting. This audit will become a part of our financial statements.
Budget Discussion: a) Draft Preliminary Budget - Meredith said all salaries have been level funded. Health Insurance has an 8% increase. Meredith reviewed the budget section by section. Discussion took place regarding NEMRC Financial systems and the idea of purchasing a more updated financial system in the future. Meredith said based on this budget we are looking at a 1.33% increase. She has not done grants or assessments yet. There was a $28,000.00 surplus at the end of the FY2008 year. Linda will update ARRA monies at the November meeting. Alison asked for a report on the number of ESL students for the next meeting as well.
Fiscal Audit Award - Action Requested: Alison said she and Duane reviewed the audit bids and they both agreed with David's and Meredith's recommendation to go with Fothergill Segale and Valley as our new auditors. Bill made motion to approve Fothergill Segale and Valley as the new WSWSU and 4 schools auditors. Gert seconded. The total for the S.U. and 4 schools is going up for 2009 to $43,750.00. This also was the lowest bid received. The towns had a separate proposal done for them but the towns can opt to select their own auditors and do not have to go with the proposals we received. Meredith said she hopes once they come to do the audits they will adjust the actual cost. The board approved hiring Fothergill Segale and Valley as the new auditors for the Supervisory Union and
schools.
Curriculum Management Audit - Action Requested: David asked the Executive Board to take action to use ARRA monies to conduct a Curriculum Management Audit. Discussion ensued. Gert made motion to have Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union begin the Curriculum Management Audit using ARRA monies. Board approved unanimously.
Superintendent's Job Description: Alison asked for comments on the job description. Gert felt this description was much too wordy and should be condensed. She said the current description is too specific. Alison asked the other board members for input by October 27, 2009 to be given to either her or David so Janet can prepare a first draft for the next meeting as a first read.
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Superintendent's Report: David said we are going to hear about Autism today in a report to be given by Nancy Schachinger the S.U.'s new Autism specialist. David said that the board approved a para position for the Opportunities Program at the last meeting. He recommended Emmett Dunbar for this position. David explained that last year the Para positions at Opportunities were eliminated because or a decrease in student enrollment. The budget does not support a benefit package for this position. Gert said she felt it was a shame to not offer this person some benefit of health insurance. Carrie said she felt the salary does not support a professional person for this position. Bill made motion to approve recommendation of the Superintendent to hire Emmett Dunbar for the Opportunities Para
position. Board approved.
Nancy Schachinger arrived. Jackie said Nancy is funded through our IDEA-B grant as our Autism Specialist to work with all of our special educators in the supervisory union. Jackie gave a brief overview of Nancy's background and experience of past years. Nancy then distributed articles about Autism. She said she would show a short video that was made by the Vermont Country Store several years ago regarding Autism. Nancy said she would like to have everyone have a better understanding of what Autism actually is. It means that a person who has Autism "is within themselves" and that it is a complicated disorder that affects the brain and shows up in social and communication skills. These are noted early in a child's development. Nancy continued to explain Autism. She then showed
a short video and everyone thought the video was remarkable. Nancy said in 2004 there were 1 in 150 children with Autism and now it is 1 in 100, which is a huge jump. In 2004 the Windsor Southwest S.U. had 3 Autistic students and now there are 17 students with Autism and seven of these students have one-on-one paras. Jackie said on October 28th there would be a presenter coming to our S.U. in combination with Burr & Burton Academy and Manchester Elementary School to do a presentation on Autism.
Other Business -Gert talked about a teacher in our S.U. who recently was re-licensed at a Level I but should have been a Level II. This issue had to return to the Local Standards Board to be reviewed and approved. This entire process could have been shortened considerably if it had been returned to the L.S.B. immediately. Gert said this is now taken care of.
Next Meeting Date and Time - November 10th at 8:30 a.m. at the Superintendent's office.
Executive Session - Gert made motion to enter Executive Session for Personnel and Negotiations and asked the Superintendent to stay.
Gert made motion to come out of Executive Session at 10:45 a.m. No further motions were made.
Adjournment -Carrie made motion to adjourn at 10:45 a.m. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier,
Recording Secretary
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union Executive Board Meeting Minutes
September 22, 2009 8:30 a.m. Central Office Unapproved Minutes
Board Present: Alison DesLauriers, Duane Hart, Carrie Chalmers, Bill Bourque
Administration Present: David Adams - Superintendent, Jackie McCuin - Coordinator of Special Services, Meredith Austin - WSWSU Business Manager, Linda Waite - Assistant Superintendent of C.I.A., Patrick Walters - FBUS Principal
Public Present: Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
Call to Order - Alison DesLauriers - Chair, called meeting to order at 8:30 a.m., a quorum was present.
Approval of Minutes of August 18, 2009: Duane made motion to approve minutes as presented. Board approved.
Business and Finance - Meredith Austin - a) Asset Audit Update: Meredith said the American Appraisal people were here and we should have a draft report next week and they would like a response by October 12th. If we respond by this date they will have a final report for us by October 26th. B) Auditor Bid update: Meredith sent out thirteen RFP;s (Request For Proposal) and she heard back from five. She and David reviewed the bids and two have declined. We received three years of prices from three auditor companies. Alison and Duane will look at the bids to make a recommendation to the board on October 13th. The companies submitted two separate bids, one for schools and one for towns. If the towns don't want to use these bids they can do a search themselves for an auditor.
Curriculum Management Audit - Alison asked Meredith to do an update on ARRA funds for this. David said this is one way to use stimulus funds as a long-term improvement project for the supervisory union. The purpose of an audit is to see what our operations are doing well and what they are doing not so well. An individual auditor would come to our district, usually a retired superintendent or college person. We would have to gather documents that the auditor requests and interviews would also be held. He feels this audit would provide a blueprint for our S.U. for long-term benefits, usually a seven to ten year plan. Doing this audit would be close to $40,000.00 and David asked the board to consider this. Linda Waite reviewed some points regarding the curriculum audit with those present. This
audit would be about a year-long process.
David will present this curriculum audit proposal to each of the individual boards. This will be on the October 13th agenda for discussion and approval. It was discussed getting materials to the Cavendish Board and then asking them to meet on October 6th instead of the 13th to make a decision on this prior to the 13th. Meredith talked about the ARRA funds and the difficulty that goes with these funds. The state short funded the education funds because the ARRA funds are coming to each school district. The money has to be tracked as either state or federal funds and this is an accounting nightmare. The Governor's office is now telling us how to spend the money.
Superintendent's Job Description - Alison asked for any feedback that the boards have given to their Chairs. This will be tabled until next meeting.
Hiring: Special Education Individual Assistants and Support Personnel - Jackie explained that one is a para-position to work with a Baltimore student in Springfield. The other position is to work with EEE in a clerical position. Duane made motion to hire Gretchen McCabe as EEE Medicaid Clerk/Secretary for 17 hours/week at $13.50/hour. Board approved. Duane made
WSWSU Executive Board Minutes 09/22/09 Page 2
motion to hire Linda Klaiber as a special education individual aide to work with a Baltimore student in Springfield for 17.5 hours/week at $13.22/hour. Board approved.
Jackie said that two of our students have returned to Opportunities and we have accepted two tuition students so we now have an enrollment of 19 students. The program director is asking to have a program para-position reinstated. Jackie said the tuition generated by the four additional students would more than cover this new position. David would like to look at the documents to guarantee tuition for ? year for students, not by quarters. Duane made motion to approve a position for a full-time para-position at Opportunities based on student enrollment. Board approved.
Superintendent's Report: David talked about H1N1 vaccines and said we have been asked to register our schools as sites for vaccinations. The Health Department will assist school nurses in giving the vaccinations to students. Parents will have to give approval for their child to receive this vaccination. The boards will be asked to approve this plan. David is going to meet with all the area Superintendents tomorrow and they will discuss H1N1. David is also a member of the Vermont Association of Middle Level Educators (VAMLE) and he will be attending these meetings as well from time to time. They will be holding a school drop-out conference soon.
David and Linda said we received high marks from the teachers for the opening day in-service.
Other Business - None.
Next Meeting Date and Time - October 13, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. at the central office.
Executive Session - Personnel: Duane made motion to enter into Executive Session at 9:52 a.m. to discuss Negotiations. Board approved.
Duane made motion to come out of Executive Session at 10:50 a.m. Board approved.
Adjournment - Duane made motion to adjourn at 10:51 a.m. Board approved adjournment.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier
Secretary
Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union Executive Board Meeting Minutes
August 18, 2009 8:30 a.m. Central Office Unapproved Minutes
Board Present: Alison DesLauriers – Chair, Duane Hart -Vice Chair, Gert Bennett, Ginger Roper, Bill Bourque
Administration Present: David Adams – Superintendent, Linda Waite – Assistant Superintendent of C.I.A., Patrick Walters – FBUS Principal,Meredith Austin – WSWSU Business Manager
Public Present: Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
Call to Order –Alison DesLauriers - Chair,called meeting to order at 8:32 a.m., a quorum was present.
Approval of Minutes for July 14 and 21, 2009: Gert moved approval of minutes. Board approved as presented.
Business and Finance – Meredith Austin: Meredith reported that we would be buying our fuel oil for $2.249/gallon from HB Fuels of Springfield. The bid from Irving was $2.472/gallon and $2.492/gallon from straight truck. The Special Education and Stat Reports have been mailed to the Department of Education and she hopes to have RFP’s (Request for Proposal)letters out to the Auditors before she goes on vacation this week. David has requested a time be scheduled to review the Auditor bids and Alison and Duane will be on this committee.
District Wide Negotiations Discussion: Alison said each of the board chairs need to appoint two of their board members to the Bargaining Council. A meeting will be scheduled for the Bargaining Council to meet with Dennis Wells. Discussion ensued.
Superintendent Job Description: David requested that the Executive Board members look at this job description that was adopted in 1991. The role of Superintendent has changed greatly in the past 18 years. David reviewed a list of things he would like to have the board review and consider and to have the Statute regarding the responsibilities of the superintendent looked at. He asked to keep this on the agenda. The board will review, update and approve a new job description.
Alison suggested having an executive agenda item: Executive Committee Update to help with communications. It was suggested that we begin to post the executive board agenda and minutes on the WSWSU website in the future. It was discussed and agreed that negotiations should be on each agenda now. David asked to have the board chairs share with their board and then revisit this in October.
Superintendent Report: David said he has been learning a lot. He requested that the board enter into an agreement with Green Mountain to move our early education and speech language people to the Green Mountain building at no cost this year but rent will be budgeted next year.
Regarding the mold situation in the central office basement,it has been remedied but the humidity level in the basement is rising again.
Windsor Southwest Executive Board Minutes August 18, 2009 Page 2
Gert made motion to approve “Moving the early education and two speech language people to Green Mountain as a temporary move to be near the early education program”. This will free up space in the barn office area. This should give us space to store special education documents in the barn area as well. David said we must continue looking for a new space to relocate to. Alison said this would be done during the last 18 months of the current office lease. Board approved.
David told the board that the mold remediation cost the S.U.about $7,000.00 not counting the carpet replacement. He would like to look at maximizing the grants to help buffer this unexpected cost. He said that Green Mountain has been great about allowing our employees to move into their building.
David informed the board that Jim Moulton would be the keynote speaker again this year for the opening of school. Jim presented teacher workshops on technology at Green Mountain last week.
On August 26th at 5:30 p.m. Jim Moulton will hold a forum for the community at Green Mountain and David said he would like as many board members as possible to attend this. Jim Moulton wants to teach teachers how to get kids involved in technology at school and how to make connections and keep the kids interested. August 27this opening day and welcome back breakfast for teachers at Green Mountain and Jim Moulton will be the speaker.
Discussion about VITA-Learn and how it offers training for teachers took place.
David said he, Linda, Jackie and Meredith have had some discussions regarding the use of ARRA dollars. He feels this is a windfall and provides us with an opportunity to make an investment in the area schools for a curriculum management audit and that this might be a baseline to start with for along-term investment in the supervisory union as it has great value. Discussion continued.
David said that he would be on vacation September 2ndthrough the 15th. This was a pre-agreement when he was hired. He will be here for the first day of school for students. The board wished him a great trip.
Next Meeting Date and Time – September 22,2009 at 8:30 a.m. at the Superintendent’s office. The following meeting will be held on October 13,2009.
Other Business – None.
Executive Session – None.
Adjournment –Bill made motion to adjourn at9:49 a.m. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier, Recording Secretary
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