As per usual.  Comments by weekend.  Thanks ... Wavell



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\paperh15860\widowctrl\ftnbj \sectd \sbknone\linemod0\linex0\cols1\endnhere \pard\plain \ri-540 {\f20 \'00\'00\'00MORETOWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL\par
Regular School Board Meeting Minutes\par
Tuesday, September 9th, 2003\par
\par
DRAFT\par
\par
}{\f20\ul Present}{\f20 : \par
Board members - Kent Holden, Wavell Cowan, Karen Horn, and Mary Nowlan \par
Principal - Roberta Barone\par
Superintendent - Bill Riegel\par
New\~Business Manager - John Pike\par
\par
Meeting called to order at 5:45 pm by Chair, Kent Holden\par
\par
}{\f20\ul New Business Manager}{\f20 :}{\f20\ul \par
}\pard \ri-540 {\f20 The board was introduced to the new WWSU business manager, John Pike.  Kent reviewed with him the general manner in which the Moretown board used central office business services.\par
}\pard \ri-540 {\f20 \par
John Pike departed the meeting at 5:50 pm.\par
}\pard \ri-540 {\f20 \par
}\pard \ri-540 {\f20\ul Interim Superintendent}{\f20 : \par
}\pard \ri-540 {\f20 Bill indicated that a Dr. Robert Gerardi had been selected as the interim superintendent and would commence work on September 15th.  Kent questioned as to what tasks the new superintendent was to pursue
.  Bill expressed the view that supporting central office staff and pursuing the technology contract were two of these, and that the administrative team would be addressing this question at an upcoming meeting.\par
     Kent expressed the board's appreciation for Bill's many years of service to our school district and particularly his hard work over the past two years in supporting the negotiat
ions which resulted in the recent signing of a unified teacher contract for Moretown, Waterbury and Warren.  Roberta also expressed her thanks to Bill for his support of quality education over his years as superintendent.\par
}\pard \ri-540 {\f20 \par
Bill Riegel departed the meeting at 6:10 pm.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul \par
Approval of Minutes}{\f20 : \par
}\pard {\f20 Wavell moved the adoption of amended minutes of the regular board meeting of August 18th, 2003.  The amendment included some word changes in respect to the report on hiring a business manager, and
extended the motion in respect to establishing a banking arrangement for temporarily financing school expenditures to include authority for the board chair to sign such banking arrangements.  The motion was seconded by Karen and unanimously approved.
\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Board Orders}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Upon a motion by Mary seconded by Wavell the following board orders were unanimously approved for payment:  Board Orders #8 for $35,955.74; and #9 for $61,692.52.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul WWSU}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Karen summarized the process used by the WWSU search committee in reaching the decision to recommend the hiring of Dr. Robert Gerardi as interim superintendent.  Dr. Gerardi began his career in education in 1955 as a teacher
.  Thereafter he served as principal and in several superintendencies as well as deputy commissioner of education for the state of Maine.  Most recently he has conducted a number of interim superintendencies.  He will be moving up from Rhode Island.\par
}\pard {\f20      Discussion then moved on to the positive vote of the WWSU board  as urged by Moretown board members at its meeting the prior evening, to hold an all day retreat in the near future.  It was hoped that the retreat would
ultimately determine (a) whether to employ a superintendent or to try some alternative leadership model, and (b) whether to pursue a change in the governance model for WWSU, and if so what model should be pursued. Further it was hoped
that the meeting would conclude by establishing the necessary working teams and general road map for achieving the determined goals.\par
}\pard {\f20      Wavell indicated that Dale Smeltzer (WWSU board chair) had welcomed his offer to assist in setting up the retreat and that they would be meeting with Winton Goodrich (Assistant Executive Director of the Vermont School Boards Assoc.)
to help organize and then facilitate the retreat.  Saturday, October 25th was determined to be a good target date for Moretown board attendance.\par
     After discussion it was unanimously agreed that it would not be appropriate for the board to vote school funds to support the retirement party being organized for Bill Riegel, as had been requested. The board felt a charge should be paid by
 those wishing to attend.   Kent will inform Theresa Wood (chair of the Waterbury-Duxbury school board) of this decision.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Executive Session}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 On a motion by Kent seconded by Karen and approved, the board went into executive session at 6:48 pm for the purpose of discussing legal and personnel issues.  The board came out of executive session at 7:23 pm.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Policy Review}{\f20 :  \par
}\pard {\f20 Because of the absence of Deb Hunter it was agreed to table this issue until the next board meeting.  However, the new proposed policy on protection of pupil rights as required by part of the federal no child left behind legislation
, was reviewed.  The only change suggested was to alter the opening paragraph to say that ... The Moretown Elementary School District  ... will protect student privacy ... etc.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul State Mandates}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 The VSBA request in respect to contributing state mandate concerns in support of the upcoming legislative review was discussed.
  Roberta indicated that the administrative team would be considering this question and she would get back to the board if further board action was desirable.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Hunting on Town School Land}{\f20 :\par
Wavell reviewed the walk around conducted with Peter Rousseau (selectman) and John Atkinson (planning commissioner and head of the town-school land mapping project).  He presented a marked up map of the area identifying the extent of the town land
, the location of the school trails, and the outline of a proposed school safety area agreed to by the walk around group, which would be posted against hunting.  This solution will be proposed by Peter Rousseau at the next select board meet
ing ( Monday, September 15th).  Since both Wavell and Kent will be out of town, Mary volunteered to carry the school board torch to this meeting.  Wavell will send a copy to Mary of his report to Peter Rousseau re the school board discussion
 on this matter.\par
}{\f20\ul Community Reports}{\f20 : \par
}\pard {\f20 Mary presented a draft proposal for scheduling the school board reports proposed at the last meeting.  She indicated that both the Valley Reporter and the Vermont Journal would like to have the material submitted exclusively.
Wavell suggested that Mary should decide what approach would best suit our goals.  He also indicated that he would be writing up something in respect to the impact on Moretown tax payers of the new Act 68 modifications to Act 60.  He furth
er suggested that all authors should submit their drafts to Mary as soon as possible,  This would give her the maximum flexibility in scheduling.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Principal's Report}{\f20 : \par
}\pard {\f20 Roberta expressed concern with discipline problems on one of the bus routes.  The question as to whether an on board camera should be installed was discussed.  Because of the current uncertainties in the district and s
ince WWSU approval and cooperation from Harwood would be necessary for such a project, it was concluded that this was not a good time to initiate anything\par
     Roberta discussed a little about the August workshop with Dr Chin and the fact that the teaching staff had agreed to a further engagement in January even though the only available day was during a holiday period.  She also indicated that
as part of the school's action plan, the series of workshops with Chittenden East math consultants, focused on improving math problem solving instruction, had commenced.\par
}\pard {\f20      Finally she indicated that a $1000 community donation was being used to set up a school wide teaching unit on "the dance", engaging teacher and professional dancer, Tracy Martin \par
}{\f20\ul Planning Discussions}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 It was agreed that Kent would come up with some suggested dates for a special board meeting at which the board could work out an approach whereby serious discussion on future educational direction
s and efforts could on an ongoing basis receive attention.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Adjournment}{\f20 :\par
On a motion by Kent seconded by Karen the board meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm.\par
\par
APPROVED\par
\par
Date:  __________________              _________________________________________\par
\tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab Wavell Cowan - Board Clerk\par
}\pard \par
}