See attached.



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\paperh15860\widowctrl\ftnbj \sectd \sbknone\linemod0\linex0\cols1\endnhere \pard\plain {\f20 \'00\'00\'00MORETOWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL\par
Regular School Board Meeting Minutes\par
Tuesday, February 11th, 2003\par
\par
FOR APPROVAL\par
\par
}{\f20\ul Present}{\f20 : \par
Board members - Kent Holden, Wavell Cowan, Deb Hunter, Karen Horn and Amy Kuzio.\par
Principal - Roberta Barone\par
Superintendent - Bill Riegel;  \par
Moretown Harwood Board Member - Bob Holden\par
\par
Meeting called to order at 5:50 pm by Chair, Kent Holden\par
\par
}{\f20\ul Approval of Minutes}{\f20 : \par
Wavell moved the adoption of the minutes of the regular board meeting of January 14th, 2003. The motion was seconded by Karen and approved.\par
}{\f20\ul Superintendent's Report}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Bill indicated that as part of the early childhood initiative two new potential preschool venues (The Learning Ladder in Duxbury and Hunger Mountain in Waterbury) are being considered for inclusion in the WWSU preschool contract program.
\par
     The investigation by consultant James Goodrich to aid in the selection of a database program suitable for use in a WWSU
 technology initiative has encountered a problem in that none of the programs currently under review appear to meet the NCLB criteria. \par
     WWSU is considering joining the Professional Development Association ($1500), a cooperative effort being spearheaded by the Lamoille
 Supervisory Union.  This would be a means to increase the options and reduce the cost of providing teacher development training.\par
}\pard {\f20      Bill further drew the Board's attention to the VSBA legislative update in respect to house and senate committee Act 60 deliberations.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Board Orders}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Upon a motion by Amy seconded by Wavell the following board orders were unanimously approved for payment:  Board Orders #32 for $45,160.48; #33 for $305.06; #34 for $44,0721.71; and #35 for $21,942.75.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Harwood Budget }{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Bob Holden gave his perspective on the Harwood budget. Moretown board members were very critical of the continuing large % increases in Harwood budget spending since FY2000, giving various examples which they felt were indicative of a
substantial lack of fundamental fiscal discipline in the management of Harwood operations.  Bob pointed out that some steps were now being taken to look seriously at some of the areas of concern to the Moretown board.  He admitted that more could be done
 and expressed appreciation for the insights presented by the Moretown board. He expressed concern, however, that the Moretown board not publicly recommend voting down the Harwood budget.  Over time he felt it should be pos
sible to rationally tackle the fiscal management problems.  His concern was that the result of a defeated budget would be an indiscriminate slashing of programs since effectively addressing the concerns expressed by the Moretown board would require
effort over a longer term.  Kent polled board members in respect to a resolution that the proposed Harwood budget should not be approved.  In spite of concerns that past experience suggested that defeating the proposed budget was the only way to get the
Harwood board to change its approach, a majority of the board were uncomfortable with proceeding to a formal resolution. It was agreed therefore that the board would continue its publicity program including a review of its concerns with
 the Harwood budget, but would refrain from any public endorsement for a no vote.\par
}\pard {\f20 \par
}\pard {\f20 Bill Riegel and Bob Holden departed the meeting at 7:23 pm.  \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Recreation Committee}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Deb reported that the recreation committee did not achieve getting a ballot warning for a March Town Meeting vote for approval of funds to support the new recreation initiative and so had decided to work toward gaining public support
 for selectboard approval for the basketball and tennis court additions based on volunteer effort and funding.  In that respect they requested use of an information table in the pretown meeting venue.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Pre-Town Meeting}{\f20 :  \par
The Selectboard host this year's meeting but requested that the school provide the venue.  Kent requested that the set up used in the past two years whereby the audience faced an overhead projector and screen flanked on either side by a selectboard a
nd a school board table against the interior side wall of the gym, be reproduced. \par
}\pard {\f20      It was agreed that the four page Budget Report drafted by Wavell (with agreed changes plus any further communicated by e-mail) be printed up
 and distributed as follows: 100 for mailing to parents, 75 available for the pre-town meeting, 50 for the Moretown general store, and 25 for the Town Clerk's office.  Wavell is to arrange for final editing, printing
 of 250 copies and delivery of same to the school.  Distribution will be overseen by Kent.\par

     The following topics were selected for presentation at the meeting with Kent to arrange into a final agenda:  Kent: emcee, construction fund wrap-up, budget and budget funding;  Karen: staff contract and teacher negotiations, school handbook; Amy: For
eign language program; Deb: policy review program, action planning; Wavell: Special education efforts, database analysis and math score trend.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Act 60}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 On a motion by Kent seconded by Amy the board approved the signing of a VSBA proposed resolution calling
on the General Assembly to "stem the trend of rapidly increasing school property taxes attributable to rising property values by sustaining an appropriate level of regular state support for local education..."\par
}\pard {\f20      Further on a motion by Wavell seconded by Kent the board approved the publication of an Act 60 formula funding reform proposal to be distributed to legislative committee members (30 copies, by Karen) and to newspapers,
VSBA, etc. (40 copies, by Kent).  Wavell to arrange for printing and delivery to the school. \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Policy Review}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 On a motion by Deb, seconded by Wavell the proposed policy on funding and use of the reserve fund was approved.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Database Analysis Copyright}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Roberta expressed the view that the work done by Wavell if copyrighted and donated to the school (as suggested by him earlier) could potentially become a valuable source of revenue, since
no one else seems to have tackled this problem.  Wavell suggested that at the next go-around he will focus on creating a booklet (which could be copyrighted)
designed to provide a step by step description of how to import and process data from any database program that has Excel-export capability.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Executive Session}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 On a motion by Kent seconded by Karen, the board went into executive session at 8:24 pm for the purposes of discussing teacher contract negotiations.  The board came out of executive session at 8:36 pm.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Hunting on School/Town property}{\f20 :}{\f20\ul \par
}\pard {\f20 Kent has informed John Hoogenboom that the school board wants to re-address this issue after town meeting.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Church Connection to School Septic System}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 The director of the on-site sewage program for the Agency of Natural Resources was consulted and indicated that the posting of a bond by the church in respect to possible system damage was not a
normal practice.  The board will therefore proceed in this matter without further consideration to such a bond.  Liaison will continue in the spring when it is anticipated that this project will be initiated.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul \par
Action Planning}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 A meeting of the Community Action Planning Group has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 4th at 6:30 pm in the school. \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Roberta's 5 Minute Feature:\par
}\pard {\f20 Roberta discussed the concept that student teaching requires an understanding of what preconceptions a student brings to any learning situation so that the learning process can successfully get the student to actively
challenge these preconceptions as a necessary step in effective learning; i.e. to get past preconceptions to a more comprehensive understanding.  She gave a few discouraging anecdotes of her questioning of students which
 illustrated how persistent can be preconceptions when the learning process does not specifically allow these to be identified and self-challenged. \par
}\pard {\f20 \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Adjournment}{\f20 :\par
On a  motion by Kent seconded by Amy the board meeting was adjourned at 8:55 pm.\par
\par
APPROVED\par
\par
\par
Date:  __________________              _________________________________________\par
\tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab Wavell Cowan - Board Clerk}\par
\pard {\f20 \par
}\pard {\f20  }\par
}