Cavendish Town Elementary School Board Minutes
April 10, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
Present
Board: Mike Ceravole-Chair, Dr. Bont-Vice Chair, Sharon Huntley, and Jim Ballantine
Administration: Ed Brown – Superintendent, George Thomson – Principal, Linda Waite- Assistant Superintendent for CIA, and Meredith Austin-Business Manager
Public/Staff: Duncan Love, Paulette Martel, Peggy Svec, Richard Svec, Kata Welch, Wendy Regier and Peter Gregg
1. Call to Order: Mike called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes of March 13, 2007: Jim made a motion to approve the minutes of March 13, 2007 as presented. Dr. Bont seconded. All approved.
3. Reports:
a) Superintendent: Ed said they have selected a candidate for the principal position at Green Mountain. The Board will vote on this at their next meeting. The Executive Board has hired an Interim Superintendent for two years. Nothing is happening in the legislature regarding property taxes.
b) Principal: George passed out the budget summary. No anticipated overages. The finance committee went over the budget and they are projecting they will end up in the ‚ÄúBlack‚Äù. They are projecting a deficit in the Green Mountain budget as well as EEE. They are scheduling the testing for the spring. George contacted the bank about the trust funds. They will come and talk to the finance committee. George said the week of May 26th the sixth grade will be at Keewaydin. The all school outing will be either June 6th or 7th depending on the forecast. Graduation is scheduled for Friday, June 8th. Monday June 11th will be the last day of school, which will be a ¬? day. They raised $2,500 at the fundraiser for a CTES employee and her daughter. They also received cash donations. The all night reading marathon is on April 27th. George will be away during vacation week.
c) Board: Dr. Bont said Springfield High School has been broken into and he thinks the board should think about a security system for CTES. Ed said Green Mountain has also been broken into. George said he will get current figures and discuss it with the facilities committee. Discussion ensued. George said they are trying to write the Okemo Grant for the outdoor classroom. Discussion ensued.
d) Committee Reports:
4. Policy Adoption:
F-14 Enrollment of Children of Non-Resident Professional Staff: Ed passed out the latest draft of the policy. Jim made a motion to approve the policy as presented. Sharon said she would like additional discussion. Mike said they will discuss a waiver to the policy under other business. Dr. Bont seconded the motion. All approved. Policy adopted.
5. Arbitrage – Meredith Austin: Meredith explained the process of borrowing money at one rate and investing it at a higher rate. Cavendish has the potential to borrow money on July 1st. Meredith sends this out to bid to banks. The banks need information and then decide how much you could borrow. BankNorth said since the other 3 schools use BankNorth they would give CTES the same rate as the other schools and allow CTES to do their day to day banking at their current bank. Discussion ensued. Sharon asked if this could work against them. Meredith said she didn’t see a disadvantage. Dr. Bont made a motion to use arbitrage. Sharon seconded.
Motion passed; 3 yes, 1 abstained.
6. Assessment Presentation – Linda Waite: Linda passed out the results of the Vermont Comprehensive Assessment System Percent of Students in the Highest Two Performance Levels and explained the results. Discussion ensued. Ed said Linda, the staff and all involved in curriculum have done a great job. The board thanked Linda for her presentation.
7. Other Business: Wendy Regier requests a waiver to the current policy to allow Kata Welch’s son to attend CTES next year. Mike said he has heard wonderful things about Kata from the staff, students and community members but the policy is for teachers under a 100% contract. Paulette asked if the school board could act on a waiver of the policy. Mike said they would vote on it. Jim said if you want your child to attend CTES you should buy or rent in the town. Sharon would support a waiver to the current policy. Discussion ensued. Mr. Gregg asked if the board would consider school choice? Ed said school choice is 9-12 and the money does not follow the student. If a town doesn’t have a school then the money would follow the student. Sharon said she voted to approve the policy to keep it for full time teachers. She feels this should be a waiver for a specific situation. Discussion ensued. Sharon asked if the board could allow this exception. Discussion ensued.
Sharon made a motion to waive the policy to allow Kata Welch’s child to attend CTES for the 2007 2008 school year. 2 yes 2 no. Motion denied. Wendy Regier challenges the vote and thinks it is inappropriate. She feels this is an illegal action.
8. Executive Session: Jim made a motion to go into executive session at 7:40 p.m. All approved. Sharon made a motion to come out of executive session at 8:14p.m. Ed is recommending the board approve a 4% increases for George, Irene and Tim’s 2007 2008 contracts. Jim moved to approve 3%. Sharon moved to approve a 4% raise for the 2007 2008 year for George, Irene and Tim. 3 yes. 1 no. Motion Approved.
9. Adjournment: Sharon made a motion to adjourn. All approved. Meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Virginia M. Walsh Mack
Recording Secretary