DRESDEN SCHOOL BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005
7:00 P.M., HANOVER HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY
Minutes
Present: Board members Asmus, Bruce, Carter, Chamberlin, Cheney, Fleischer, Gray, Kaplan, Pilchman, Sachsse, Slaughter, Vitt; Administrators Gersen, Brush, Gillespie, Finer; and 12 members of the public. Recorded by R. Lohr
1. Call to order – Chair Cheney called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. It was announced that a public hearing would be held followed by the regular board meeting.
2. Approval of minutes
Nancy Carter moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of February 15 and the March 10 Organizational meeting, as submitted with corrections, which were passed with 8 in favor and 2 abstentions. The changes to the February 15 minutes follow:The attendees included Anne Segal. The minutes did not reflect the discussion regarding the desire to include each Board member’s vote regarding the Board salaries. Item 5, the calendar, mistakenly indicated that the February 26 meeting would be at Tracy Hall. Instead, the minutes should have noted that the March 1 vote was held at Tracy Hall. The discussion on the Warrant Article dealing with the salary issue was Article 4 and the salaries in the state averaged $808 and ranged from $0-4,000. On the Committee Reports section, the Quality of Education Subcommittee also reported that it had an on-line discussion. In item 6, dealing with the Norwich Fields, the word “interim” should have quotes around it.
3. The Public Hearing was formally opened in accordance with RSA 198:20c for the Merriman Trust Fund expenditure. The law under which this fund was created requires such a hearing. The School Board serves as Agents of this trust and as Agents must take formal action authorizing the Administration to expend funds from this trust.
Dave Bradley distributed a handout regarding the Merriman bequest and gave an overview of the Merriman Fund. He cited that there was no problem applying the funds to the Norwich property and that the Board should not delay in spending the bequest. He also refuted some inaccurate points that had been published in the Valley News regarding Miss Merriman’s bequest.
Board member Vitt provided background for the Dresden fields, describing the existing shared fields and the need for future fields given the circumstances regarding Fullington Field, Thompson Terrace, and the fields at the new middle school.
Rod Finley of Pathways Consulting gave an overview of the two phase plan to develop Dresden’s Norwich land. It includes a multi-purpose field and a baseball field with a multi-purpose field incorporated in the outfield. The first phase would complete the multi-purpose field and begin the baseball while the second phase would complete the baseball field. Additionally, Finley outlined details in a projected budget that included the necessary labor, irrigation, pump house and other aspects of the project. The budget for the project as estimated was a total of about $744,000 and there is another $38,000 that would cover the consultant fees for work done on the planning and permit process.
Dr. Gersen and Jonathan Brush said the next step after fund authorization would be for the staff to discuss details with contractors to incorporate their in-kind contributions and the in-kind contributions of volunteers. The intention is to decrease the actual costs of the project to the amount available in the Merriman Fund, which is approximately $285,000. From previous discussions with contractors and potential volunteers, the administration expects that this can be done. Additionally, Dr. Gersen emphasized that the Board intends to make the fields available for shared use with the public in the region when they are not being used by Dresden athletic teams.
The staff indicated they planned to provide the finalized plans by the May meeting. Permit hearings will continue through the end of June and the actual start date is dependant upon the completion of the hearing process. After a lengthy discussion on the wording,
A motion was offered by John Chamberlin and seconded by Larry Pilchman to authorize the administration to develop a detailed plan and budget to expend fully the funds from the Merriman Fund in accordance with the will in order to pay expenses for or incidental to the Dresden Athletic Fields project effort. Said budget and plan will be presented to the School Board no later than June 2005. Said authority shall be non lapsing until such time as the Board revokes this
authority.
4. Agenda review – The agenda was reordered to cover item 7A Business Requiring Discussion so that public input could be expressed on the Warrant Articles.
5. Business Requiring Discussion
Barrett Rogers and other neighbors from the Hovey Lane area expressed concerns about the parking spaces planned. They requested the Board to consider alternatives that would allow more of a residential buffer between the school and their neighborhood. The Board recognized the concerns and reported that a modification of the parking plan is underway. The Board encouraged that the neighbors and town continue communicating with the staff on this issue.
Regarding Article 4, the Board discussed the Board salaries. Robert Bruce made
a motion, which was seconded by Linda Gray for the School Board to reject the pay increase as passed in Warrant Article 4. The motion failed with 4 approving (Asmus, Bruce, Gray, Slaughter) and 7 opposing (Carter, Chamberlin, Cheney, Fleischer, Pilchman, Sachsse, Vitt).
Regarding Article 9, the Board discussed the vote requiring a 60 percent majority for passage of bond issues. A subcommittee was established with Board members Gray, Asmus and Bruce volunteering to serve. It was also suggested that the subcommittee communicate with the article petitioner.
6. Communications and reports
a) Report of Chair:
(1)Calendar – Chair Cheney announced that the next regular Board meeting will be on Thursday, April 26, 7:00 p.m. at the Hanover High School Library.
(2) Committee Assignments – Cheney also requested that Board members contact her regarding committee assignments they wish to be considered for to increase the number of members on the various committees.
b) Reports of Administrators:
Superintendent’s Report – Superintendent Gersen reported that the Dresden Board will be asked to consider a Norwich Lions Club proposal regarding use of a parcel of land on the Route 5 site for their fair in the future. He also reported that he received approval to close RMS on June 10 but the approval did not include the three snow days. He resubmitted the request to the Acting State Commissioner of Education emphasizing that the standard number of hours would still be attained even with the additional snow days. Dr. Gersen also reminded the Board that it needs to decide upon the type of recognition that it would like to make for the staff appreciation week on May 2-6.
Director of Facilities and Assistant Superintendent’s Reports – Jonathan Brush reported that progress on the middle school building project continues to be on schedule. The HHS blueprints are to be distributed to bidders and are due back by the end of month when they will be collated and presented to the administrators for a decision. The Assistant Superintendent, John Aubin commented that he will bring a quarterly budget update in the April meeting.
Principals’ Reports – High School Principal Gillespie reported on extracurricular activities and the success of HHS athletic teams in state championships. She also reviewed the NEASC progress report which indicated that HHS is addressing the concerns raised in its earlier report, and her response to NH DOE regarding business and home economics course offerings.
Richmond School Principal Finer reported about the eighth grade hot air balloon project and the cleaning that the staff is doing in preparation for the move to the new location.
c) Report of Committee Representatives:
Dresden Fields Committee – The Committee reported on the fields survey results, which would be posted on the SAU70 Web site soon. Public meetings would continue to be held and subcommittees are being formed to deal with separate aspects of the fields plan. The Board expressed its appreciation to Committee Chair Kathy Parsonnet for the Committee’s work and for Bob Sokol’s contribution on the survey. The next meeting date has not yet been determined.
Hartford Area Career & Technology Center – Deb Kaplan, the Board’s liaison to HACTC, reported that there are eight Upper Valley high schools that participate in this center that includes junior and senior students. They invited seventh and tenth graders to a center recruitment program that attracted 200 attendees. There is a cooperative educational program where students get paid for their work experience that is related to their respective school program. A HHS student is part of a delegation from the HACTC that will be visiting a school of technology in Japan. A position paper has been sent to the Vermont legislature in support of the center’s programs. It was reported that the vocational programs are exempt from No Child Left Behind parameters.
Dresden Finance Committee – John Chamberlin reported that at the last Finance Committee meeting there was discussion about the Quality of Education Committee, a desire to provide earlier committee input on the development of budget guidelines, and the committee’s interest in reviewing the teacher contract.
7. Business requiring action:
Superintendent Gersen withdrew Jay Blau’s name from nomination.
Linda Graymoved and Nancy Carter seconded a motion to elect staff members for the 2005-06 school year as listed and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
b) Acceptance of Resignation/Early Retirement/Staff Restructure
John Chamberlin moved and Kari Asmus seconded a motion to accept the resignation of Anna Reed effective June 30, 2005. The motion passed unanimously.
Nancy Carter moved and Kari Asmus seconded a motion to accept the resignation of Jay Blau effective June 30, 2005. The motion passed unanimously.
Nancy Carter moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to accept the appointment of Peter Malsin in accordance with Policy GBAF as a long term substitute for debate classes. The motion passed unanimously.
Nancy Carter moved and Chip Fleischer seconded a motion to approve the reorganization plan, which included the social work position and restructures the Technology and Media staff as proposed by the administration and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
John Chamberlin moved and Matt Slaughter seconded a motion to approve the Richmond School Student Handbook for 2005-06 as proposed. The motion passed unanimously.
John Chamberlin moved and Nancy Carter seconded a motion to approve Friends of the Norwich and Hanover Schools Grants as proposed and attached to the original minutes of the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
8. Adjournment
John Chamberlin moved and Kari Asmus seconded a motion to adjourn at
10:44 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 10:44 p.m.
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