Weathersfield School

I. CALL TO ORDER/INTRODUCTION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The meeting was called to order by Board Chair, Kelly Murphy, at 6:04PM.

Those present were: Kelly Murphy, Gloria Ballantine, Nathalie Whitney, Nate McNaughton, Amy Hill, JeanMarie Oakman, Tom Christensen, Diana Day, Tim Herbert, Jessica Becker, Roland Whitney, Weston Marshall/SAPA, and Becky Chrisinger. Nathalie Whitney led the pledge of allegiance.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

Kelly asked for motions concerning the following minutes:

August 15, 2011-Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the minutes of August 15, 2011 with changes. Nathalie Whitney seconded the motion. There was one abstention and four ayes. The minutes were approved.

September 19, 2011-Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the minutes of September 19, 2011. Nathalie Whitney seconded the motion. There was one abstention and four ayes. The minutes were approved.

October 17, 2011-Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the minutes of October 17, 2011. All were in favor. The minutes were approved.

III. CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

7. RED Committee/Budget and Approval of RED Committee Member

12. Budget Update

IV. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION - None

V. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Math Presentation

Jessica Becker/3/4 Teacher give a detailed power point presentation of the new math curriculum/Math Connects. Jessica showed in detail how this new math curriculum works and compared it to the old math curriculum/Saxon. There is a pretest at the beginning of each chapter which helps the students and teacher. There can be three groups of students learning on their levels and these groups change from skill to skill. There is a lot of time for mastery in this program. Tim Herbert explained how the 2

program works for students who may need to be pulled out of the classroom for their math. Math Connects provides more time for practice. One of the reasons that students may be getting C’s when they got A’s in Saxon is that Saxon may have not covered some of the material that is covered in Math Connects. It takes a few years to implement new curriculum and JeanMarie Oakman mentioned that data isn’t collected until the third year when new curriculum is implemented. Kelly Murphy encouraged parents to get in touch with their child’s teacher to discuss the new math program.

2. Shared Services Agreement

Tom Christensen said that Madelyn Crudo Burke couldn’t be here tonight because of her husband’s hospitalization. We are suppose to get reimbursement from the WSSU in January. This will be put on the agenda when Madelyn Crudo Burke can attend the meeting.

3. Follow-Up on Anti-Bullying Question

JeanMarie Oakman gave a very detailed overview of several policies and protocol that are in place about bullying. There has been a lot of training in the past year on asset building and bullying prevention thanks to grants. The staff, students, and community have all benefitted from this training.

JeanMarie mentioned that harassment laws are very clear. This will be discussed at a further meeting.

4. Free and Reduced Rate as of November 8

Our poverty rate is at 45%. JeanMarie Oakman said that we are closing the achievement gap for poverty students.

5. Student Enrollment

We now have 213 students and 21 are coming to kindergarten next year as of right now.

6. Update on Food Service

JeanMarie Oakman said they have worked hard on keeping the records for food service along with keeping a close eye on the program. Kelly Murphy said she is impressed with the accounting in the program. JeanMarie said that the program made $1,503.96 in October. There were 1,154 full meals sold of which 898 were full price and 174/free & reduced, 31,183 snack milk and 393 lunch milk, 332 orange juice, 154 full breakfast, and 520 free breakfasts.

7. Update RED Committee

Tom Christensen said that the first RED Committee meeting will be held on December 12, 2011 at 6:30PM at Windsor in Room 210. The representation for the RED committee is by equalized pupil.

8. Final Approval of Action Plan

JeanMarie Oakman presented the Action Plan which was worked on extensively. The Action Plan is a three year plan and has four goals. It is now being used as a template for the state. Amy Hill was a part of the Action Plan Committee and she said that it was a learning experience and that she learned a lot.

9. Protocol for Building Use

Amy Hill had some questions about some of the wording on this procedure. Kelly Murphy asked every Board member to look at this and email questions to JeanMarie Oakman and Tom Christensen. Tom will review. This whole discussion was put on hold.

10. WAN Approval (Wide Area Network)

There have been no other proposals besides SOVERNET. This has been approved in West Windsor and Windsor. Nate McNaughton wondered if this can be set up for Weathersfield’s needs. JeanMarie Oakman said that the system can be personalized and customized for our school. JeanMarie brought up Act 58 which is about cyber bullying and school’s responsibilities in this area.

11. Appointments:

The following are being presented for appointments for coaches by the Athletic Committee:

Kelly Harriman - 7/8 Boys Basketball, Shane Selmer - 7/8 Girls Basketball,

Greg Herschel - 7/8 Girls Basketball Assistant, Nate McKeen, 5/6 Girls Basketball, Tiffany Lang - 5/6 Girls Basketball Assistant, Christopher Magliola - Kindergarten, Alisha Vigneault - 1rst/2nd, Jeff Milligan and Jamie Hodgdon - 3/4 Boys, Heather Todd-Perham, Kayla Perham and Assistant Coach, Nate McKeen -3/4 Girls. 4

12. Update on Budget

Tom Christensen, JeanMarie Oakman, Madelyn Crudo Burke and Ed Connors will be having a second meeting about the budget tomorrow. The budget can be presented to the budget committee after tomorrow. There was discussion about how many meetings to have in December and one was added for the budget on December 9, 2011. JeanMarie Oakman and Tom Christensen will meet with the Budget Committee on November 29, 2011. Amy Hill asked about the budget process and other board members explained the process.

VI. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Tom Christensen said he has spent a lot of time with budget meetings with principals. He has had goal meetings with each principal and has attended VT Superintendent meetings, gone to games in Windsor, worked on setting up RED Committee, mediation, negotiations( there is a tentative agreement on the teachers contract), key communicators group, visit schools, new superintendents meetings, consultant for skillful training, and been in contact with Jim Mullen/Town Manager about WES.

VII. PRINCIPAL REPORT

The Thanksgiving dinner last Tuesday was very well attended and a big success. The Veteran’s Day Program had three speakers and was well attended. Nathalie Whitney said it was a beautiful program and she hopes it continues. Kelly Murphy mentioned how nice it was that three staff members wore their military uniforms. Student Council elections are underway. The Service Group and all of the students put together 20 Thanksgiving Baskets. JeanMarie Oakman is now on two state committees. Several Weathersfield students participated in the Jazz Band and District Festivals.

BREAK AND SIGNING OF ORDERS - The orders were signed and no break was taken.

VIII. ITEMS FOR ACTION

1. Action Plan Approval

Kelly Murphy asked for a motion concerning the Action Plan for 2011-2014. Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the Action Plan. Amy Hill 5

seconded the motion. Kelly Murphy said this will be until 2014 when common core will be in place. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. The Action Plan was approved. Kelly Murphy thanked the following Action Plan Committee members: JeanMarie Oakman, Karen McGee, Aleksandra Szymanska, Kristina Hughes, Barb Martin, Tim Herbert, Amy Hill, Jane McKeen, Heather Payne, Jacqui Antonivich, Marina Wood McNaughton, Marie Gray, Tammy Millard, and Emily Antonivich. Kelly thanked each member for their time.

2. WAN Approval

Kelly Murphy made a motion to include Weathersfield in the WSSU implementation of WAN. Gloria Ballantine seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. (3 of the 4 towns in the WSSU are needed to go forward so our approval makes the 3rd town so WAN will go forward.) The motion was approved.

3. Appointments/Basketball Coaches

The following are being presented for appointments for coaches by the Athletic Committee:

Kelly Harriman - 7/8 Boys Basketball, Shane Selmer - 7/8 Girls Basketball,

Greg Herschel - 7/8 Girls Basketball Assistant, Nate McKeen, 5/6 Girls Basketball, Tiffany Lang - 5/6 Girls Basketball Assistant, Christopher Magliola - Kindergarten, Alisha Vigneault - 1rst/2nd, Jeff Milligan and Jamie Hodgdon - 3/4 Boys, Heather Todd-Perham, Kayla Perham and Assistant Coach, Nate McKeen, 3/4 Girls.

Kelly Murphy asked for a motion concerning the basketball coaches. Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the above basketball coach recommendations. Amy Hill seconded the motion. There was no discussion. All were in favor. All of the recommendations were approved.

4. RED Committee

a. RED Committee Statement

Kelly Murphy asked for a motion concerning the RED Committee Statement. Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the RED Committee Statement. Amy Hill seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. The RED Committee Statement was approved.

b. Budget

The total budget over 12-18 months will not exceed $20,000. Kelly will read 6

the RED Budget. Kelly Murphy asked for a motion concerning the RED Budget. Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the RED Committee Budget. Amy Hill seconded the motion. There was no discussion. All were in favor. The RED Budget was approved.

c. Approval of RED Committee Members

Kelly Murphy asked for a motion concerning the RED Committee Members. Nathalie Whitney made a motion to accept John Broker Campbell as the Community Member and Gloria Ballantine as the Board Member for the RED Committee. Kelly Murphy seconded the motion. There was no discussion. There were four ayes and one abstention. This motion was approved.

IX. SETTING THE NEXT AGENDA

December 5, 2011 - Power Point Presentation of the Budget

December 19, 2011 - Questions About the Budget

Both meetings will take place at 6:00PM.

There will be an extra meeting if need on January 2, 2011 or January 9, 2011 to discuss/approve the budget.

X. EXECUTIVE SESSION - VERMONT TITLE 1, SECTION 313 - Negotiations

Kelly Murphy asked for a motion to go into Executive Session. Nathalie Whitney made a motion to go into Executive Session. Gloria Ballantine seconded the motion. All were in favor. The Board went into Executive Session at 8:40PM. Kelly Murphy asked for a motion to come out of Executive Session. Nathalie Whitney made a motion to come out of Executive Session. Nate McNaughton seconded the motion. All were in favor. The Board came out of Executive Session at 9:04PM. No action was taken.

XI. ADJOURNMENT

Kelly Murphy asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Gloria Ballantine made a motion to adjourn the meeting. All were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Chrisinger/Board Secretary