HANOVER SCHOOL BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2005
7:00 P.M., RAY SCHOOL MULTI-ROOM
Approved Minutes
Present: Board members Asmus, Bruce, Carter, Chamberlin, Fleischer, Pilchman; Administrators Gersen, Aubin, Williams; 10 members of the public; Recorded by R. Lohr
1. Call to Order – Chair Chamberlin called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes
Larry Pilchman moved and Chip Fleischer seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting and nonpublic meeting of October 19, as submitted with changes. The motion passed unanimously. The changes included naming the abstention votes (Kari Asmus, Robert Bruce). The second line in the Superintendent’s Report should read “regarding HB 549, that allows a district to accept a gift below $5,000 without a hearing as long as it is posted on the Board meeting agenda.
2. Agenda Reorder
The Board agreed with Chair Chamberlin’s request that the discussion about switching to a Mascoma Bank checking account be moved forward in the agenda.
3. Communications and Reports
a) Report of Chair
Chair John Chamberlin announced that the next Board meeting was scheduled for December 14, 7:00 p.m. in the Ray School Multi-room. This is a week earlier, due to the holiday.
b) Reports of Administrators
Assistant Superintendent for Business Report – Assistant Superintendent John Aubin discussed his recommendation to switch the Hanover School District’s bank checking accounts to Mascoma Bank to take advantage of working with a more localized bank and to earn higher interest rates.
Nancy Carter moved and Larry Pilchman seconded the motion to adopt the “Authority to Open Deposit Account” as attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
John Aubin briefed the Board on tax rates, noting that the NH state tax rate had dropped from 3.35 to 2.94, and another big drop is expected in 2006/07. Hanover School District tax rates were lower than projected.
Principal’s Report – Ray School Principal Williams submitted his written report to the Board. He stated that there would not be a family sing-along for several months because the Dragons concert is being rehearsed instead. He reported that the Literacy Night was a success and thanked Ray School teachers Kurt Feur and Cathy Richardson and the Ray School PTO for a successful program. Enrollment at Ray School was reported at 502 students.
The Principal discussed the Annual Building Capacity Report. In response to questions, Wayne Gersen noted that the formula used to estimate enrollment takes future growth into consideration, indicating that 90 “move-in” students are incorporated in the school enrollment projections in the next six years. The school building has been sufficient for the recent growth, but requirements at the facility for special education absorbed much of the previous excess capacity. Given the space now used for special education programming, the de facto capacity is 520-560. The Board expressed interest in getting a report regarding planned residential developments from the Hanover Zoning Department.
Bruce Williams reviewed the implementation of the recent fourth grade reconfiguration and some of the public at the meeting commented on the process. At the October Board meeting, the Board voted to add a teacher thus increasing the number of classes from four to five. The teachers communicated to the students about the plan on the same day a written memo was sent to parents. Some of the students and parents were upset about the plan because students had bonded with their teachers since the beginning of the school term and were reluctant to change. While the parents agreed that the Board and staff were acting in the students’ best interests, they felt the process could have gone smoother and been undertaken more confidently. Because there were not enough students willing to change classes, the staff decided to retain four classes and assigned a fifth teacher, Michelle Landry, to work in all of the classes in different subjects to effectively address the challenges the relatively large class size posed.
c) Committee Reports
Communication Committee Report
Kari Asmus said the committee is trying to schedule a meeting. A member of the public suggested that more details related to Board meeting agenda topics be posted on the SAU Web site so that parents can become more aware of Board issues more fully.
Education Committee
Nancy Carter announced that the next Education Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the Ray School Principal’s office conference room.
4. Business Requiring Discussion
The Board discussed introducing world language at earlier grade levels through an immersion program proposed for students enrolled in either the Ray School or Marion Cross School in Norwich. The Marion Cross School has space for the program and the Norwich Board could possibly benefit from enrolling additional students. Board members discussed some of the details associated with such a program including the program governance between the schools, transportation from Hanover to Marion Cross School, how to select the students for enrollment and how to screen students. The Superintendent reported that the planned a trip to two Massachusetts schools that have an immersion program.
Bruce Williams reported that the Ray School staff deliberated about the language program during recent budget meetings and while open minded about the topic, the teachers were most concerned about the practical implementation issues and daily time constraints.
Board members suggested that the school board support the existing French club. The club has a Web site with much more information about language at earlier grades at www.rayschoolfrenchclub.org. Parents involved with the club cited that it would be logistically easier for them if the school would run such a program during school hours. The discussion led Board members to feel that this was another example of a program idea that needed to be discussed openly at the SAU level. Board members also believed that the level of participation in a language program would be important to know so that budget and personnel details could be considered. The Board made it clear that the consideration of a language program was in the inquiry mode at this time. At the end of the discussion, the Board decided to finalize a decision about recommending a language program at its December meeting when more details would be available. Board members also felt the SAU Board would be responsible for a decision to move forward on the immersion program in the School District.
5. Business Requiring Action
Nancy Carter moved and Larry Pilchman seconded a motion to adopt Policy IF, Instructional Approach, as proposed and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
Larry Pilchman moved and Chip Fleischer seconded a motion to adopt Policy IJO, Community Resources, as proposed and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
The Board decided to defer a motion on Policy ILBA, Assessment until next meeting for clerical reasons.
7. Adjournment
Larry Pilchman moved and Robert Bruce seconded a motion to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
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