DRESDEN SCHOOL BOARD
REGULAR MEETING, PUBLIC HEARING, AND BUDGET ADOPTION
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005
7:00 P.M., HANOVER HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY
Minutes
Present: Board members Asmus, Bruce, Carter, Chamberlin, Cheney, Goodman, Gray, Kaplan, Pilchman, Sachsse, Segal, Vitt; Administrators Gersen, Aubin, Weissmann, Gillespie, Finer, Jackson; and approximately 33 members of the public.
1. Call to order
Chair Cheney called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Approval of minutes
Nancy Carter moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of December 14, the special meetings of January 11 and January 18 and the nonpublic sessions of December 14, January 11 and January 18 as submitted. The minutes of December 14 were revised. On item 5a, Report of Chair, the names of Dennis Kaufman and Brian Livingston were added as the Norwich appointees to the Athletic Fields Committee. On Item 5(b), Superintendent’s Report, the last sentence was changed to indicate that John Aubin recently sold $4 million of the $5.5 million supplemental bond total authorized in October, at 4.48 percent interest. In item 5(c) the names of the members of the Quality of Education Subcommittee, Board members Robert Bruce and John Chamberlin and Finance Committee members Bill Bender and Mado Macdonald were added. The third sentence was changed to indicate that comparative schools districts may be found outside of the NH/VT region. In item 6(a), Richmond School GMP Status, a sentence was added to the second paragraph: At the time of the October supplemental bond vote, it was set at $596,000, or 5% of the remaining construction costs. With these changes, the motion to pass the minutes as submitted passed with 10 yes votes, and 1 abstention (Segal) on the minutes of December 14.
3, Receiving of public input
There was no public input offered.
4. Budget Hearing in accordance with RSA 32:5
Chair Cheney called the Budget Hearing part of the meeting to order by announcing the following:
“I open the Public Hearing on the Budget for the Dresden School District in accordance with NH RSA 32:5. Included in the public packets is a line item budget, which contains all purposes and amounts of appropriations to be included in the 2005-06 expenditures. A notice for this Public Hearing was published in the Valley News on Monday, January 17.”
Assistant Superintendent for Business John Aubin gave a brief overview of the ` current status of the budget, specifically reviewing the first page of the budget handout. He indicated that the total budget now being presented was $122,910. less that the one that was proposed two weeks ago. He then referred the Board to document 5 which included the information gathered since the the last meeting relative to school nurses and said that no change had been made to the recommendation that the District hire two RNs. A number of issues regarding the information presented on school nurses were discussed including the estimated cost of having two RNs, potential liability concerns, the supervision that would have to be required for an LPN and how an educational assistant would be utilized if each school had a full-time RN. Candace Nattie, the RN who now serves both the Richmond Middle School and Hanover High School, reported on the information she received from both the New Hampshire Department of Education and the NH Board of Nursing, described the proposal for how the educational assistant would be used in the two schools, and presented additional information regarding the medical conditions of the students she serves. Suggestions were made regarding how the cost of having two RNs might be reduced, by hiring an individual with less experience, hiring an RN without teacher certification, or reducing other areas of the budget to fund the second RN. A number of Board members expressed their positions on the recommendation in the budget. Chair Cheney commented that it sounded like the Board would support the recommendation to have two RN’s and suggested that the discussion move on to other areas.
Several other topics were then discussed including the likelihood that the District will start off the next fiscal year with a surplus, whether the Warrant should include an article for a $25,000. contingency fund, the amount of money that the District receives in grants, and the athletic user fees fund. Mr. Aubin explained how grants and special funds are handled. He indicated that the administration could report to the Board on a more regular basis about the status of these funds, specifically the athletic user fees fund.
Chair Cheney asked Irv Thomae, a member of the Dresden Finance Committee, whether the Committee was supporting the budget. Mr. Thomae responded that the Committee did vote 7 to 4 to support the budget as long as the $122,910. cut reported last week by Mr. Aubin was made and no new items were added.
5. Adoption of 2005-2006 Budget
Ann Segal moved and Linda Gray seconded a motion to adopt the 2005- 2006 budget in the amount of $18,694,508., to be placed on the Warrant and voted upon by Australian Ballot on March 1, 2005. The motion passed 10 yes votes and 1 no vote (Goodman).
6. Approval of Warrant
A draft of the Warrant was distributed to the Board. Superintendent Gersen provided an explanation of Article 5, “the Hovey Lane article”, since wording for that article had not yet been provided by Attorney Dave Bradley. Chair Cheney questioned whether the Board could approve that article since she thought that some members of the Board might want to see the wording before voting on it.
Several other questions regarding Warrant articles were raised. A number of Board members questioned why Article 4 was changed, raising the salary for Board members from $400. to $700. Some members expressed a preference for not increasing this salary. After a discussion, Chair Cheney took an informal poll of Board members regarding this issue. Five members thought the increase should not be maintained in the Warrant article, six thought it should. It was agreed that the amount for the salaries of Board members should increase to $700. in Article 4.
Ann Segal moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to approve the February 26/March 1, 2005 School District Warrant as proposed by the Administration, and attached to the original minutes of this meeting, and to further authorize Administration to make whatever technical changes that might be necessary in order to ensure that the Warrant is legal and accurately addresses the intent of the School Board, and to authorize the Administration to insert in Article 5 language provided by Attorney Dave Bradley.
Discussion continued on the Warrant articles. A question was raised as to whether Article 2 regarding the School Building Maintenance Trust Fund was necessary. Mr. Aubin explained the language in the proposed article and recommended that if the Board felt that the $25,000, was necessary, they should approve an article that would raise and appropriate the funds whether or not an undesignated fund balance (surplus) exists. Superintendent Gersen said that would be the recommendation of the administration. He further explained that once the renovation of Hanover High School begins, there may be a need to do emergency repairs and having discretionary funds available might be helpful. The Board agreed that Article 2 should be amended, removing the language stipulating that the $25,000. should be funded from the June 30, 2005 undesignated fund balance.
Regarding Article 7, questions were raised as to whether or not language should be inserted to indicate that the article was inserted by petition and whether or not the vote would be binding on the Board. Following discussion, the Board agreed that language should be added to the article noting that the article was inserted by petition and that the results of the vote would be non-binding.
Irv Thomae reminded the Board of the Finance Committee’s stipulations for its support of the budget.
The motion to approve the Warrant as amended passed with 10 yes votes and 1 no vote (Goodman).
7. Agenda Review
It was agreed that Item 9(b) would be the next item on the agenda to be considered.
8. New Athletic Offerings
Superintendent Gersen presented a proposal for adding new athletic teams. His presentation included a review of general assumptions, specific assumptions, a proposed method for the expansion of athletic offerings and a financial analysis of the proposal. This analysis concluded that if new athletic teams are going to be added without affecting the baseline budget, there would need to be an increase or surcharge in the user fee charged to participants in athletics. The Board members then discussed the Superintendent’s proposal. Issues raised included concerns regarding having to take action on the proposal that night when some Board members did not feel prepared to do so, the feeling that the Board would like to hear from parents/ community members regarding how new sports could be added and funded and equity issues with user fee surcharges.
A number of parents/ community members commented on the Superintendent’s proposal and the issues raised by the Board’s discussion. While the Board agreed that it would not take any action at tonight’s meeting, Mike Jackson, the District’s Athletic Director, did explain some of the deadlines that he would be facing regarding scheduling. Chair Cheney indicated that if members of the public had specific proposals regarding this issue, they should submit them to Mike Jackson who would bring them back to the Board for discussion. Mike indicated that he would also bring any proposals that he received to the Athletic Advisory Committee.
9. Communications and Reports
a) Report of Chair
1. Calendar - Chair Cheney announced that the next regular Dresden Board meeting will be Tuesday, February 15, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hanover High School Library. She said that this meeting is being held one week early because of the winter break.
2. Organizational Meeting - Chair Cheney reminded the Board that by law an organizational meeting must be called within ten (10) days of the School Board election to elect Board officers. This meeting will take place on Thursday, March 10, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hanover High School Library. She asked Board members to note this change in the date.
3. Annual Dresden School District Meeting - Chair Cheney announced that the Annual Dresden School District Meeting will be held on Saturday, February 26, at 1:00 p.m. in the Hanover High School Gymnasium for the Deliberative Session; and Tuesday, March 1, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. in the Richmond Middle School Gymnasium for all day voting for Dresden District Officers and Warrant Articles.
4. District Filing Dates - Chair Cheney announced that filing dates for the Dresden School District run from Wednesday, January 12 through 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 1. Filing for School District Officers can be done with either the School District Clerk, Deborah Carter, or at the SAU Office, 45 Lyme Road, Room 207, Hanover. Positions open are:
Moderator - one year term
Clerk - one year term
Treasurer - one year term
Auditor - three year term
b) Reports of Administrators
Superintendent’s Report
Appeal to State Department for early dismissal at Richmond Middle School Superintendent Gersen reported that Chair Cheney had sent a letter to the New Hampshire Department of Education requesting an early dismissal for the Richmond Middle School. Specifically, she requested that the school close on June 10, four school days earlier than the scheduled closing on June 16. This would allow additional time for removal of asbestos. If the asbestos removal is not done quickly, it could add additional days of work at the end of the project.
New Hampshire Standards: Superintendent Gersen stated that he will distribute a final draft of the proposed State Standards to Board members in the next packet.
Principals’ Reports
Hanover High School - Principal Deborah Gillespie reported that last week was exam week at the High School. She also reported that 127 students had signed up for crew.
Richmond Middle School - Principal Susan Finer reported that “The Mind That’s Mine” Symposium would begin this coming Friday, January 28 for sixth graders. Sixth graders from the Marion Cross School have also been invited to attend the presentations by brain researchers from Dartmouth. The Renaissance Festival will be held at Richmond from February 16 - February 18. Since Richmond was randomly selected to be a site for NAEP ( National Assessment of Educational Progress) and it was also time for placement testing, eighth grade students would be participating in eight days of testing.
c) Report of Council Representative: There was no Council report because of exams.
d) Report of Committee Representatives:
Quality of Education Committee - Bob Bruce reported that the committee is currently exploring web sites.
Athletic Fields Committee Geoffrey Vitt reported that the initial meeting of this committee was held on January 24. No members representing the Town of Hanover were in attendance as the Hanover Select Board was just making the appointments on the night of the meeting. He reported that the Town of Hanover will represented by Mary Danko and Paul Campagna with Hilary Pridgin as an alternate and Hank Tenney as an ex officio member. The chairs will be Peter Krass from Hanover and Kathy Parsonnet from Norwich. The next meeting will be held on February 7. Flyers produced by Kathy Parsonnet were distributed to Board members who were asked to post them.
10. Business Requiring Discussion
a) Norwich Field Development - Superintendent Gersen briefed the Board on three items related to the Norwich practice fields. Officials in VT determined that the scope of the proposed development of the Rt. 5 site would require an Act 250 permit. The Act 250 permitting process will mean additional costs that were not anticipated. A decision has been made to accept fill from Dartmouth College in exchange for the development of a road on to and off of the site. There will be a need to authorize further work by Pathways Consultants. Dave Bradley has been contacted regarding the possibility of using Merriman funds for this work.
b) Committee/Task Force to Explore Alternative Revenue Sources - Chair Cheney reminded the Board members that this item follows up discussions held at the last two meetings regarding the need to set up a committee to move this effort forward. The first step would probably be the creation of a Mission Statement. Superintendent Gersen indicated that there were really two issues to be considered: fees for service and tuition. Chair Cheney added that if the District wanted to make a concerted effort to encourage an ongoing and wider stream of tuition students, perhaps a separate group should be formed to work on specific, short-term tasks such as who to contact and what to offer. The Board discussed several related issues including how a broad a perspective this task should have and if there should be fund raising for the athletic fields. Geoffrey Vitt and Deb Kaplan volunteered for the committee/task force, but after a brief discussion, it was decided not to form the group until after the upcoming elections.
11. Business Requiring Action
a) Ratification of support staff agreement
Ann Segal moved and Linda Gray seconded the following motion: Resolved: the Dresden School Board hereby signifies its approval of the proposed tentative agreement reached between the Dresden support staff and the Dresden and Hanover School Boards. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
b) Acceptance of gift for athletic department
Nancy Carter moved and Kari Asmus seconded a motion to approve with gratitude a gift of $1750 from Brinson Weeks to support the Hanover High School Boys Lacrosse program. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
c) Acceptance of gifts for technology department
John Chamberlin moved and Kari Asmus seconded a motion to approve with gratitude materials worth $1395 from Hypertherm to support the Hanover High School technology program. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
Nancy Carter moved and Larry Pilchman seconded a motion to approve with gratitude a cash donation whose net value is $1568 from Bob and Judy Roberts to support the Hanover High School technology program. The vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
12. Consent Agenda
Mary Sachsse moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to approve the consent agenda as proposed. The vote to approve the retirement of Kate Curtis-McLane with regret was unanimous.
13. Nonpublic Session
None was needed.
12. ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Mary Sachsse, seconded by John Chamberlin, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn at 10:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane S. Weissmann
Assistant Superintendent for Special Services
|
