Cavendish Town Elementary School Board Minutes
May 8, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
Present
Board: Mike Ceravole-Chair, Dr. Bont-Vice Chair, Sharon Huntley, Jessie Goodman and Jim Ballantine
Administration: Ed Brown – Superintendent, George Thomson – Principal
Public/Staff: Duncan Love, Paulette Martel, Tracey Churchill Liz Calabrese, Jen Harper, Kata Welch, Ann Thompson, Peggy Svec, Diane McNamara, and Martha Mott.
1. Call to Order: Mike called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes of April 10, 2007: Jim made a motion to approve the minutes of April 10, 2007 as presented. All approved.
3. Reports:
a) Superintendent: Ed asked the board to read the “Board Room” newsletter; it has helpful information in it. Legislature: Ed doesn’t know if the school budget cap is going to pass. They passed the early education bill. Discussion ensued. The WSWSU semi annual board meeting is Wednesday, May 23rd, 7:00 p.m. at CTES.
b) Principal: George passed out the budget summaries. There are no outstanding needs. Everything is on target for the elementary school. Bill Buswell came in and gave George an endowment letter created for Nancy Peplau Buswell. George read the letter. It is an endowment of $5,000.00. They are setting up assessment files for students. They are testing the 2nd grade tomorrow with the MAPS (measures of academic progress) test. Discussion ensued. The staff is reviewing their action plan. George had a
meeting with Jim regarding trust funds. They established some questions for the bank and are having a meeting with the bank. Still no calendar for next year. Discussion ensued. Things going on: They had a successful all night read a thon. They raised $1,800.00 in cash and Peggy thinks with checks they came close to $3,000.00. Wednesday the 23rd they will have a health fair at CAES. May 21st the sixth grade is going to Keeywaydin. June 1st is the end of the year outing for the sixth grade. June 7th is the all school outing at Plymouth State Park. Friday, June 8th is Graduation at 6:30 p.m. Monday June 11th is the last day of school for students. The teacher’s last day will be Tuesday, June 12th. May 30th they will have a Memorial Day program. The committee has been working on the outdoor project. They
had teacher appreciation day and the PTA gave the staff new chairs for the staff room.
c) Board: Mike said there is a change in committees, Jesse is going to the policy committee and Jim will be on the facilities committee. Mike said there should be 3 board members at the semi annual meeting.
d) Committee Reports: None
4. Educational Presentation – Special Education Process – Tracy Churchill: Tracy went over how children are referred for Special Ed service. The process is a referral, an evaluation and the IEP. Discussion ensued. Every three years the student is reevaluated. Ed said Tracy runs a wonderful Special Ed program at CTES. Discussion ensued. The Board thanked Tracy.
5. Teacher’s Contract: Mike thanked the public for their letters and said the board will follow 7.2 and 7.3 of the negotiated agreement. Ed said the board is directing George to investigate the allegations. Discussion ensued. Diane and Liz asked why their letters from last year did not go into Mr. Branton’s file. Ed read articles 7.2 and 7.3 of the negotiated agreement and said the process did not happen. Discussion ensued. Jim made a motion to direct George to comply with paragraphs 7.2, and 7.3 of the negotiated agreement regarding the letters from Diane McNamara, Martha Mott and Liz Calabrese. Sharon seconded. All approved.
6. Security System Update: George said Gene and he met and what they are looking at is security on all of the 15 outside doors, 3 motion sensors inside and two touch pads for access. The quote was $2,355.00. The monitoring cost is $25.00 monthly. Discussion ensued. There has been an issue with lockdowns. The classroom doors need to be locked with a key from the outside. The only approved locks are $350.00 each. It would be about $8,000. Discussion ensued. Dr. Bont made a motion to approve the security system George proposed. Sharon seconded. Discussion ensued. 3 yes. 1 No. Motion passed. Dr. Bont made a motion to have the money for the security system come from the White fund’s interest.
3 Yes. 1 No. Motion passed.
7. Salary Schedule Process: No action taken.
8. Trust Accounts Update: Given in the Principal’s report.
9. Other Business: Kata requested a revote of the board’s decision not to allow her son to come to CTES. Jesse said she supports the board’s decision.
10. Executive Session: Jim made a motion to go into executive session at 7:11 p.m. to discuss personnel. All approved. Jim made a motion to come out of executive session at 7:33 p.m. All approved. Sharon made a motion to approve the changes to the 2007 - 2012 negotiated agreement as discussed in executive session. Jesse seconded. All approved.
11. Adjournment: Jesse made a motion to adjourn. All approved. Meeting adjourned at 7:54 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Virginia M. Walsh Mack
Recording Secretary