Hi Folks:
Attached as normal minutes from last nights board meeting.  Corrections,
etc. by end of week.  Thanks ... Wavell



{\rtf1\mac\deff2 {\fonttbl{\f2\froman New York;}{\f3\fswiss Geneva;}{\f4\fmodern Monaco;}{\f13\fnil Zapf Dingbats;}{\f16\fnil Palatino;}{\f20\froman Times;}{\f21\fswiss Helvetica;}{\f22\fmodern Courier;}{\f23\ftech Symbol;}{\f1109\fnil Trebuchet MS;}
{\f2001\fnil Arial;}{\f2002\fnil Charcoal;}{\f2003\fnil Capitals;}{\f2004\fnil Sand;}{\f2005\fnil Courier New;}{\f2006\fnil Techno;}{\f2010\fnil Times New Roman;}{\f2039\fnil Impact;}{\f2305\fnil Textile;}{\f2307\fnil Gadget;}{\f2515\fnil MT Extra;}
{\f4513\fnil Comic Sans MS;}{\f7102\fnil Andale Mono;}{\f7203\fnil Verdana;}{\f10840\fnil Klang MT;}{\f10890\fnil Script MT Bold;}{\f10897\fnil Old English Text MT;}{\f10909\fnil New Berolina MT;}{\f10957\fnil Bodoni MT Ultra Bold;}
{\f10967\fnil Arial MT Condensed Light;}{\f12077\fnil Arial Black;}{\f12171\fnil Georgia;}{\f14213\fnil Webdings;}{\f15011\fnil Gill Sans Condensed Bold;}{\f16383\fnil Chicago;}{\f32525\fnil VT100;}{\f32526\fnil TTYFont;}}{\colortbl\red0\green0\blue0;
\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;}{\stylesheet{\sbasedon222\snext0 Normal;}}{\info{\title 8/19/02}{\author Pulmac}}
\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, November 12th, 2002\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
Special Education Coordinator - Donna Rae Cook\par
\par
Meeting called to order at 5:45 pm by Chair, Kent Holden\par
\par
}{\f20\ul Approval of Minutes}{\f20 : \par
}\pard {\f20 Wavell moved the adoption of the minutes of the regular board meeting of October 8th, 2002. The motion was seconded by Karen and approved.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Policy Review}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Donna Rae Cook reviewed the policies I1 to I4 which deal with special education matters and largely reflect federal statute.  After minor changes recorded by Deb it was moved by Deb seconded by Amy and approved, that policies I1
 - Local Agency Education Plan, I2 - Provision of Educational Services to Private School Students, I3 - Procedures for Extending the School Year, and I4 - Independent Educational Evaluation,
be warned in the December issue of Moretown Matters for adoption at the regular board meeting on Tuesday, January 14th, 2003. The G and H policies have been warned for adoption at the December board meeting, so the policy review is essentially complete.
It was noted that relatively recent policies adopted only by Moretown (e.g. Crisis Management, Head Lice) should be integrated appropriately into the electronic record
.  Deb will liaise with Roberta to see this is done.  Two other policy issues were noted.  A proposed internet policy is up in the air.  Bill indicated he would investigate the status
 of this proposal.  It was agreed that Moretown should have a policy statement regarding appropriate charges to its reserve fund.  Kent asked Wavell to prepare a draft for future discussion.\par
}\pard {\f20 \par
Donna Rae Cook departed the meeting at 6:25 pm.\par
}\pard {\f20 \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Superintendent Report}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Bill distributed and discussed information from the recent meeting which surveyed Act 60 financial data and other information relevant to projecting educational spending into the immediate future.
  He also highlighted the disparity in the rate of growth of educational budgets between the elementary schools (low) and Harwood (high) and the potential benefit of looking at a 5 year budgeting approach.
It was agreed that Kent would invite our Harwood representative, Bob Holden, to the December board meeting to air Moretown board's concerns with Harwood's escalating budgets.
It was felt that because of their small size, districts like Moretown had too great a volatility in student population to allow fruitful budgeting beyond the current annual basis.  It would appear to be more appropriate for Harwood.  Bill also
encouraged attendance at the meeting to be held at Thatcher Brook on Nov 21st from 7-9 pm at which Commissioner McNulty will be discussing the progress in extending the pre-school experience and future plans promoting this initiative.\par
}\pard {\f20 \par
Bill Riegel departed the meeting at 6:50 pm.\par
}\pard {\f20 \par
}\pard {\f20\ul \page 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 #17 for $4,556.44; #18 for $40,316.98; # 19 for $42,735.49; and #20 for $161,348.51\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Funding for Unusual/Unexpected Special Education Costs (Act 117)}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 All board members but Deb (out of town for the Thanksgiving break) will attend the meeting with Commissioner McNulty in his office at 10:30 am, Wed Nov 27th.  Kent also invited Maxine Grad, Anne Cummings and Bill Doyle from the legislature a
nd will follow up to maximize the likelihood of their attendance.  After discussion it was agreed that Kent would e-mail a summary of how we'd like to see the meeting develop, including a presentation by Amy based on a discussion with Roberta of the
sp. ed. impact on regular education and how budget restraints exacerbate this, a chronological review by Kent, a questioning by Karen as to why an $80,000 problem elicits a $14,000 response, with Wavell available to discuss the basic problem
and proposed solution to inequitable sp. ed. funding. \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Student Data Base Analysis for Action Planning}{\f20 : \par
}\pard {\f20 Wavell's report was distributed.  It provides data evaluation which adds further support to the NSRE math data suggesting that grade 4 math scores are indeed falling at Moretown school and that this needs to be the focus for action planning d
iscussions this year.  Deb will begin the process of getting the two reports out to existing community action planning members and hopefully some new ones. Roberta has already begun discussions with the staff.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Budget Planning}{\f20 :\par
A preliminary budget draft developed by Roberta and Michelle Baker (business manager) was distributed to board members.  Kent asked that all members review this information and e-mail any questions to Roberta to suit the first scheduled
special budget meeting to be held on Tuesday, November 19th at 4 pm which Kent will arrange to warn.\par
}{\f20\ul Hunting on School/Town property:}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Kent will approach the Selectboard about establishing a posted safety zone in the future to keep hunters far enough back from school property so that children, warned to stay off the hill, will otherwise not be endangered by stray bullets
, and if necessary plan to have a ballot question on this matter for discussion at Town meeting.  \par
}\pard {\f20\ul Schultz Landscaping Issue}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 The selectboard have authorized the transfer by the road crew of a few trees from elsewhere on the property to provide screening for the Schultzs.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Church Connection to School Septic System}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Karen suggested that the contract between church and contractor should include a bond to cover the cost of any possible damage to the Moretown septic system during the period of construction.  Kent will pursue this issue with the church.
\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Superintendent Job Description}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Karen distributed the latest version of a proposed job description for the WWSU superintendent for review and discussion at the next regular board meeting.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Letters Received}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Kent read two letters.  One was from a parent (Name?) who had fallen while approaching the entrance way to the school, breaking her wrist, and was requesting medical payment from school insurance.  It was agreed that she
should submit any relevant invoices to the school which would be forwarded to the Insurance company for their consideration.  The second letter was from local residents, Bob and Mary Holden, questioning how well thou
ght out was the proposed new recreation project in terms of long term costs and impact of noise and night lights.  They suggested this proposal should be the subject of public discussion at the Town meeting.  T
he board is already on the record as favoring such an approach.\par
}\pard {\f20 \par
Deb and Amy departed the meeting at 8:34 pm.\par
 \par
}{\f20\ul Executive Session}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 On a motion by Kent seconded by Karen, the board went into executive session at 8:35 pm for the purposes of discussing teacher contract negotiations.  The board came out of executive session at 8:39 pm.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Adjournment}{\f20 :\par
On a  motion by Kent seconded by Wavell the board meeting was adjourned at 8:40 pm.\par
\par
\par
APPROVED\par
\par
\par
\par
Date:  __________________              _________________________________________\par
\tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab Wavell Cowan - Board Clerk}\par
\pard {\f20 \par
}\pard {\f20  }\par
}