HANOVER SCHOOL BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007
7:00 PM, RAY SCHOOL MULTI ROOM
Minutes
Present: Board members Asmus, Bruce, Carpenter, Carter, Chamberlin, Fleischer, Rose; Administrators: Gersen, Williams, Roberts; 1 member of the public. Recorded by R. Lohr
1. Call to Order – Chair Asmus called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM.
2. Minutes Approval
Nancy Carter moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 14, and the nonpublic sessions of November 14 and December 3, as submitted with changes. The motion passed unanimously. The changes on the regular meeting minutes included in item 3a, that the effect will decrease the potential for a tax increase. The last sentence in that section refers to the “chair’s distributed document.” In item 4, the word “cap” should be replaced by the word “guideline” and the word “eliminating” should be replaced by the word “reducing.”
3. Communications and Reports
a) Report of Chair
Chair Kari Asmus announced that the next Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 2, 7:00 PM. at the High School library. This will be the budget presentation and the first of three budget meetings in January. It was decided that the Board would change the venue for the January Hanover Budget Presentation meeting to Hanover High School Library so that the meeting could probably be aired live on CATV. Superintendent Gersen will arrange the move and inform the Board members accordingly.
Chair Asmus announced that filing period for four available Board seats is Wednesday, January 16 through Friday, January 25 at 5 PM at the SAU office located at Hanover High School. A one dollar fee or specified number of signatures is required to file.
An additional agenda item topic will be added to this meeting to determine whether the Board wants to discuss the issue of kindergarten entrance age at a future meeting.
Kari Asmus informed the Board that she would attend the January 31 trustees meeting to seek information on how the Board might deal with trust funds with small amounts. Additionally, Ms. Asmus cited the policy about Board vote abstentions and the Board agreed that it would not abstain without good reason.
b) Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Gersen announced that the budget documents to be delivered to the Board will not incorporate salary increases and that information should be provided in a supplementary document that is expected to accompany the budget.
c) Principal’s Report
Principal Williams reviewed a memo he prepared describing the impact of the budget reductions. He informed the Board that he will be proposing to expand some program offerings at the Ray School. He noted that the budget proposal reflects the decline of roughly 30 students on IEP’s.
Mr. Williams announced that an open door invitation will be extended to the public to discuss the school budget on January 7. He planned to ask a couple of Board members to participate as well as John Aubin and Joanne Roberts. The PTO will also coordinate a session for budget discussion with parents.
4. Business Requiring Discussion
The Board reviewed the status of this year’s Board goals. They discussed using the Web to share curriculum ideas and the need to update classroom Web pages. Additionally, it was reported that the Writing Club has had good student participation.
The Board discussed the Parent Survey questionnaire. Superintendent Gersen reviewed the process to finalize the survey and the Board offered feedback on specific questions and the precision with which they were posed. There was discussion regarding the level of detail was necessary to be able to act on the information that was received. Board members emphasized the need to inform the parents about how the information in last year’s survey was used. The Board supported conducting the survey electronically. Marjorie Rose will work with the administration to look into ways of balancing the Board’s interest in seeing the surveys and protecting confidentiality.
The Board agreed that it would discuss the kindergarten entrance age issue in the last January Board meeting and members were invited to provide background information for the discussion. Principal Williams planned to invite K-1 teachers to participate in the discussion.
An additional future agenda item in the February meeting will be about academic integrity and how it is addressed in the younger grades.
5. Business Requiring Action
The Board was informed by Mr. Bruce that the Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit will be carried forth by the main plaintiffs consent motion that will include the New Hampshire attorney general and by January 16, it is expected that motions to dismiss will be filed. The Dresden and Hanover school boards will not be required to respond to the lawsuit until after the motion to dismiss is filed and a ruling is made on it.
Robert Bruce moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to adopt the statement in connection to the December 13 Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit as proposed and attached to the original Board meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
6. Nonpublic Session
John Chamberlin moved and Robert Bruce seconded a motion to enter nonpublic session in accordance with RSA 91-A:3 (ll.a) for discussion of a personnel matter. The motion passed unanimously. Following the motion, the Roll Call was conducted and the Board went into nonpublic session at 8:55 PM.
7. Adjournment
John Chamberlin moved and Robert Bruce seconded a motion to adjourn at 9:25 PM. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:25 PM.
| 
