DRESDEN SCHOOL BOARD
BUDGET DELIBERATION
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2005
7:00 P.M., MARION CROSS SCHOOL LIBRARY
Minutes
Present: Board members Asmus, Bruce, Carter, Chamberlin, Cheney, Goodman, Gray, Kaplan, Pilchman, Sachsse, Segal, Vitt; Administrators Gersen, Aubin, Gillespie, Finer; and 11 members of the public. Recorded by R. Lohr
1. Call to order - Chair Cheney called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m.
2. Approval of minutes
Nancy Carter moved and Linda Gray seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 11, 2005 as submitted with corrections, which was passed unanimously. Changes:Add Deb Kaplan to those present. On Chair report add to calendar, Tuesday, March 1, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. all day voting will be at the Richmond School gym for Hanover residents and Tracy Hall for Norwich residents. On other matters add “for swimming” at the end of the sentence. Item 3a – change 2nd sentence to “and potential added costs and the possibility of offering bus transportation to tuition students.”
3. Communications and reports
a) Report of Chair:
(1) Calendar - Chair Cheney announced that the next Board meetings will be on Tuesday, January 25, 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, at the Hanover High School. It was also announced that the Dresden Annual Meeting would be held on Saturday, February 26 at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 1, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. all day voting will be at the Richmond School gum for Hanover residents and Tracy Hall for Norwich residents
(2) Board Positions – There are two Board positions that are open with filings through January 24. The details for filing are available from the Dresden office. The dates for the Dresden School District officers filing is January 12 through February 1 and the positions that are open include the moderator, clerk, treasurer and auditor.
4. Business requiring discussion
Budget discussion – Chair Cheney announced that the budget would not exceed the penalty amount in Norwich. Assistant Superintendent, John Aubin reviewed highlights of the proposed budget and distributed a document with the most recent budget changes (a decrease of $122,910). The new proposed revenue budget is $5,567,940 and the new proposed appropriations budget is $18,694,508. This is a 6.82 percent change from the 2004-05 budget. Tax rate ramifications were reported as five cents per thousand in Hanover and one cent per hundred in Norwich. Aubin reviewed allocation of the state vocational aid and he reported that while New Hampshire does not fully fund this, the state of Vermont’s funding is more robust and complicated. It was recommended that Dresden continue operating as it has in the past with relation to vocational aid and the budgets.
The public asked about debt service and the payment schedule and the Board explained the level payment period for construction and the fields. Finally, there is $1,000 for one 2 p.m. bus run to transport students to maintain the middle school student program, to continue taking high school classes.
Nurse Services – Candy Nattie, who has been a registered nurse for Hanover High School and Richmond Middle School for 7 years forwarded a proposal to the Board to hire a second registered nurse (RN) so that when the new middle school was open, both schools would include a full time RN. Presently, there are 20,000 visits to the school’s health office annually and 28 percent of the student population has chronic conditions that require attention, monitoring or medications. There is a level of familiarity with students that is of value in the nurse’s responsibilities. Estimated salary and budget numbers ($58,000 at present) were mentioned and liability concerns were voiced. The Board discussed various solutions to the issue and considered hiring a LPN (less qualified than an RN) to work with Ms. Nattie on a one year trial so that both schools would be covered. Mr. Aubin will inquire with the insurance company to see if there are any issues that the Board should understand with relation to insurance and legal concerns.
New Athletic Offering – Mike Jackson, athletic director read a list of sports facility rental costs and reported that there was $7,451 balance remaining in that area of the budget. There are 900 students paying the $75 athletic participation fee, which yielded $67,500. The girl’s junior varsity volleyball team asked the Board for official recognition. Board members understood there would not be sports expansion without budget availability so the volleyball team members raised outside funding to show that it can be self supporting. The Board wants to review athletic department policy regarding new offering so that it can discuss the issue more comprehensively with regard to funding and control. Superintendent Gersen reported that the athletic participation fees were on the low end of the scale compared to other schools in the region. The Board did not make a decision on swimming at this time. Larry Pilchman moved and Mary Sachsse seconded a motion to approve the Dresden Volleyball Junior Varsity team be recognized by Hanover High School as long as no extra expenses be incurred by the Dresden budget. The vote passed with 9 Board members voting in favor and 2 opposed (Gray, Asmus).
School District Warrant Articles – On article 5, regarding Hovey Lane, there is a boundary line to be created to avoid a level of zoning hearings, which will be considered in the following week and is being reviewed by legal staff.
5. Nonpublic session – The Roll Call was conducted for nonpublic session at 9:37 p.m.
Anne Segal moved and Linda Gray seconded a motion to enter nonpublic session in accordance with RSA 91-A:2 (l.b.) for discussion of matters related to collective bargaining and RSA 91-A:3 (ll.a.) for discussion of a personal matter.
6. Adjournment
Nancy Carter moved and Linda Gray seconded a motion to adjourn at 10:15 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.
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