Cavendish Town Elementary School Board Minutes
January 16, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
Present
Board: Mike Ceravole-Chair, Dr. Bont-Vice Chair, Mark Huntley, and Jessie Goodman
Administration: Ed Brown – Superintendent, George Thomson – Principal
Public/Staff: Duncan Love, Paulette Martel, Peggy Svec and Mike Ripley
1. Call to Order: Mike called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes of December 12, 2006: Dr. Bont made a motion to approve the minutes of December 12, 2006 as presented. Jessie seconded. All approved.
3. Reports:
a) Superintendent: Ed reported the Legislature is back in session. The Governor is pushing for a cap on education. The Early Ed program would be limited to the kindergarten enrollment. They directed the Commissioner to create a statewide calendar. Discussion ensued. He said there is no question that there is going to be some sort of change in the funding for education. Discussion ensued.
b) Principal: George passed out a copy of the budget summary. George met with the town auditors. They are in agreement as to where they stand now. They are going to set up a new miscellaneous revenue account and a technology revenue account. George went over the adjustments. Discussion ensued. They had a leak in the roof. They think it was a vent and it was recommended that they put a bend in it. They have 66 students signed up for the ski/snowboard program. They have a puppetry residency going on. Santa brought a new shed. They had an anonymous donation. A district decision was made to not use the Stanford testing anymore. They have chosen an electronic test called MAPS. They started
administering the test today. Discussion ensued.
c) Board: Update on the property behind the school: Dr. Bont said the state grant is complicated and Jim and Robin found a less complicated grant that will give them about $5,000.00, which will be enough.
d) Committee Reports: None
4. Budget: Mike said Jim had questions about the stove and the alarm system. George said he did not look into the trust funds for the payment of the stove but he will. George does not know if there is enough money in the trust funds to pay for an alarm system. Discussion ensued. Dr. Bont asked if schools could raise money for a trust fund. Ed said he will look into it. George passed out a copy of the most recent 2007-2008 budget. He went over some of the changes. The elementary budget is up 5.5%. The total town school district budget is up 3.5%. Discussion ensued. The board asked if there are any questions. Mike R. asked why the Principal was not getting a raise. George explained that all increases
are in the school board line until negotiated contracts are finalized. Mark made a motion to approve the 2007-2008 CTES budget not to exceed $1,623,897.00, which includes the EEE and the Community Collaborative Preschool budgets. The collaborative budget is $24,845.00 and the EEE budget is $10,316.00. Dr. Bont seconded. All approved.
5. Food Service: Tabled until the next meeting.
6. Update on Water Situation: George said they now have bottled water. They have three coolers. The Ludlow Area Rotary is paying for this. George said they are very grateful to the Rotary.
7. Approve Annual Meeting Warnings: Mike made a motion to approve the annual meeting warrants as written. Jessie seconded. All approved.
8. Other Business: Peggy said the staff wanted to thank Mike C. for the lunch last week. Mike R. said last month they talked about allowing out of district students to attend CTES and he wanted to say after doing research he found out Ed was right about the SPED funding. He asked about the status of the request at the last meeting. Ed said there is no intent to allow anyone other than full time staff to have their children attend CTES.
9. Executive Session (If Necessary): None
10. Adjournment: Mark made a motion to adjourn. Jessie seconded. All approved. Meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Virginia M. Walsh Mack
Recording Secretary