SAU #70 - Dresden School Board

Present: Board members Asmus, Bruce, Carpenter, Carter, Chamberlin, Fleischer, Gray, Rose, Sachsse (8:35), Vitt, Williams; Administrators Gersen, Aubin, Nourse, Gillespie, Eberhardt; and 23 members of the public. Recorded by R. Lohr

1. Call to order
Chair Bruce called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM.

2. Chair Report
Chair Bruce announced that the next regular Board meeting will be Tuesday, January 15 at 7:00 PM in the Hanover High School Library. This meeting is the second of three budget meetings in the month of January. The third meeting on January 22 will be a regular Boar meeting incorporating a public hearing on the budget and the budget adoption.

The Annual School District Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 28, 7:00 PM at the Hanover High School Gymnasium. This will be the discussion phase of the meeting and no voting will take place at the meeting. The voting phase of the meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 4, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM at the Hanover High School Gymnasium for Hanover voters and Tracy Hall for Norwich voters.

The Dresden School District has filing dates from Tuesday, January 15 through 5:00 PM, Monday, February 4. Filing for School District Officers can be done with either the School District Clerk, Deborah Carter, or at the SAU Office located at 41 Lebanon Street, Suite 2 in Hanover. Positions open are: Moderator, Clerk, Treasurer, for one (1) year terms; two Auditor positions, one for a two (2) year term, and one for a three (3) year term.

Petitions for inclusion in Dresden School District Warrant must be received by 4:30 PM on Monday, February 4. The printing deadline for petition articles to appear in the Annual Report is Monday, January 28. Petitions may be presented to any member of the Dresden School Board, or delivered to at the SAU Office located at 41 Lebanon Street, Suite 2 in Hanover.

3. Business Requiring Discussion
2008-09 Proposed Budget

John Aubin, Assistant Superintendent for Business, noted that the budget documents for Dresden were available on the SAU Web site at the outset of his review of the 2008-09 proposed budget. He emphasized that the teacher and educational assistant salary settlements were not incorporated in the budget at this time. With those settlements excluded, the budget was due to increase 1.83 percent. With the settlements included, he believed it was likely another 3 percent could be added. He reported the enrollment projection is 1,128 including 22 additional students at the middle school and 36 fewer students at the high school. He noted there would be a net increase of 3.95 FTE due to the additional special education assistants needed at the middle school, which will see a large influx of special education students in next year’s sixth grade. There would be $279,000 of excess costs paid by Hanover to Dresden for special education needs. These costs are counted as tuition expense in the Hanover budget, but show in Dresden’s budget as additional personnel costs. He noted the revenue increase from the sixth grade tuition and indicated the plan to have a Board discussion about changing that calculation at the next Dresden meeting.

Mr. Aubin reviewed tax rates for Hanover and Norwich and indicated they were expected to drop by six cents to $12.09 per thousand and in Norwich (0.0053) percent. The negotiated settlements might add to these rates.

There may be a need for a sabbatical replacement that would be split between the middle and high schools. Mr. Aubin reviewed the significant changes to the budget compared to last year’s budget. The School Board expense increases are related to legal, negotiations, and auditing costs. Medical insurance increases are substantial for both schools ($167,000 at the high school and $115,000 at the middle school). Property services that were previously paid by the contractor during the construction and renovation will need to be covered by the district. Custodial salaries will increase $62,215. Site improvements include an automatic irrigation system on the soccer field. Special educational contract services are increasing at both schools. Special education teacher and assistant salaries at the high school will decline while special education assistants at the middle school are slated to increase by $98,993.

The school principals reviewed their respective school budgets in terms of cuts that were necessary and their desire for specific “add backs.” At Richmond School, the class size will increase in the sixth grade to above 22 students and it was planned to add an educational assistant at that grade level to be used as needed by different classes. There is a budget placeholder for a new assistant principal position but the staff is considering alternatives to cover those responsibilities. Principal Nourse noted two staff cuts he wanted the Board to add back: .2 FTE to the Elective Team and a .5 FTE computer lab assistant who supports about 50 individual students daily in addition to providing help in classes that use the lab.

At the high school the departments used zero based budgeting. The high school is most concerned about the proposed .2 FTE cut in guidance, which is involved with IEP’s, 504 plans, and preparing students for the college application process. Other high school cuts included textbooks, which are increasingly being replaced by handouts due to the cost of individual textbooks, the Futuristics Survey, and a .2 FTE in Electives.

The Board budget questions and discussion included:

1. The replacement cost of a .2 FTE, which John Aubin estimated to be $12,000 including benefits.
2. The consideration of a Warrant article to use the $300,000 from the resale of the construction bond to avoid having to go into the fund balance. The Board recommended that it be used for capital projects rather than operating expenses.
3. Concern about the 2.75 guideline for RMS given the sixth grade class size. Is there a need to add a section?
4. The fact that Hanover High School cuts include art materials and class trips.
5. A suggestion that the principals create a matrix of what they would restore in $10,000 increments.
6. The fact that the athletic fee was last increased and made equal for all sports in 2004. These fees are $75 per season per participant and are allocated to travel costs, which have increased. If CPI increases were applied to the fee it will add to the total athletic participation costs for families, who pay the fee for each sport, in addition to covering the cost for athlete gear in each sport and fundraising efforts in each sport.
7. The Board and administration need to address the double counting of some of the budget items related to transfer payments between school districts in Dresden.
8. The excess costs for special education is a school district expense that is transferred to Dresden but states require that the originating school district (Hanover, Norwich, Lyme) cover those costs.

John Aubin reviewed charts that showed per pupil cost comparisons with other leading school districts; growth in average teacher salary and average increase compared to other districts and the state; and the substantial difference of higher teacher educational attainment in Hanover and Dresden compared to the other districts and the state average.

Board members were asked to check the proposed School District Warrant for mistakes before the review at the next meeting. Topic items for the next meeting include the $300,000 bond revenue; regular education 6th grade tuition calculation; the special education spectrum; double counting issue; athletic fee; settlements incorporation in the budget; and the suggested “add backs” matrix in $10,000 increments to be done by the principals.

Fraser Petition Discussion

Chair Bruce reviewed the status of the recent Board discussion regarding the cheating incident and recognized a proposed statement and various related documents and perspectives of a divided community on the issue. A representative from the faculty read a statement from the Hanover High School staff.

The public gave perspectives and Board member Robin Carpenter related that the Board was divided on the issue and should not be represented by one statement that espouses a one-sided view. He also suggested that the proposed statement would effectively be preferential to the students involved in the incident versus other students that may have experienced criminal charges in the past (or future) that would not reach the level of such Board involvement. There were opinions regarding the appropriateness of the Board statement and also of the communities’ perspectives of morality versus legality.

Geoffrey Vitt made a motion that was seconded by Nancy Carter to adopt the proposed Dresden School Board statement regarding the settlement agreement reached by the prosecutor and the defense attorneys.

Chip Fleischer made a motion that was seconded by Robin Carpenter to table the motion to adopt the proposed Dresden School Board statement. The motion passed 6-5. Those in favor included Asmus, Bruce, Carpenter, Chamberlin, Fleischer, and Rose and those
opposed to tabling the motion, which included Callaghan, Carter, Sachsse, Gray, and Vitt. Robert Bruce resigned from the Dresden Board after voting.

4. Adjournment
A motion was made by Kari Asmus and seconded by Linda Gray to adjourn the meeting at 10:35 PM. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 PM.