See attached.



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\paperh15860\widowctrl\ftnbj \sectd \sbknone\linemod0\linex0\cols1\endnhere \pard\plain \ri-540 {\f20 \'00\'00\'00MORETOWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL\par
Special School Board Meeting Minutes\par
Wednesday, November 19th, 2003\par
\par
DRAFT\par
\par
}{\f20\ul Present}{\f20 : \par
Board members - Kent Holden, Wavell Cowan, Karen Horn, Deb Hunter, and Mary Nowlan \par
Principal - Roberta Barone\par
Business manager - John Pike\par
Teaching staff member - Jeff Isham\par
\par
Meeting called to order at 6:35 pm by Chair, Kent Holden\par
\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Preliminary}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Wavell distributed copies of (a) a New York Times article on FASD, (b) an edited version of the Act 68 article proposed for publication, (c) a budget overview printout.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Budget Discussion}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 John Pike distributed an updated budget proposal in which corrections to fringe benefit estimates increased the budget slightly, giving a bottom line increase of 7% in the proposed 05 budget  relative to the 04 budget
.  In addition, a proper allocation of costs shifted significant money out of regular education and into special education.  Most of this is associated with servicing the cohort of children with Down Syndrome, which costs we believe will continue to be
90% reimbursed.  This is based on the presumption that the legislature will extend the current "unexpected or unusual" special ed reimbursement formula of Act 117 until new legislation comes into effect in 2006.  \par
}\pard {\f20      The fact that the foreign language costs for 05 do not exceed those for 04 in spite of the adopted program introduction plan requiring an increase in instructional time from 0.4 FTE to 0.6 FTE, is because the cost
 for implementing the program in 04 was somewhat below the estimated cost that was budgeted.\par
}\pard {\f20      A discussion occurred about the size of the subsidy given to the hot lunch program.  The perennial question of the feasability of Moretown abandoning the program or establishing its own hot lunch program reached the perennial '
not feasible' answers.  Perhaps in some future configuration the hot lunch program might best be delivered under the authority of the WWSU rather than of the Harwood administration.\par
     The transportation costs which the WWSU assesses in accordance with a complex formula orignally developed when Harwood provided transportation services, rather than by the normal percentage ADM method conventionally used
, significantly inflates Moretown costs.  However, until such times as a WWSU governance change is negotiated it is inconceivable that this de facto arrangement could be altered.  \par
}\pard {\f20      Considerable discussion took place regarding technology costs and the difficulties of properly dealing with technology needs that we believe can only be properly addressed from a WWSU perspective.
Jeff Isham who has been providing much needed technology support services to the school as best he can on an essentially pro bono basis warned that current budget levels are totally inad
equate to significantly explore and advance the effective use of technology in the school.  This led to the question as to whether current small piecemeal technology expenditures each budget year might preferably be replaced by a major investment
 through a bond issue to provide the necessary funds to execute a technology makeover for the school.  It was suggested that the educational quality argu
ment for selling such an investment to the community would be far less convincing than would be an economic argument; i.e. that the investment would ultimately allow a substantial increase in the student/teacher ratio as well as improving the quality
of the educational output.  These questions raised issues that need to be pursued further.\par
}\pard {\f20      Jeff indicated that his access to advanced information indicated that health care costs will not increase at the assumed rate, so some budget cost reductions will occur when these data are published.  John indicated that he woul
d see that the Board received updated information re the health cost budget immediately that this information becomes available to him. Further, prior to the next regular meeting on December 9th he will pr
ovide his best estimate from available data as to the property tax impact of the current proposed budget.\par
}\pard {\f20\ul Posting of a School Safety Zone}{\f20 :\par
}\pard {\f20 Mary reported that she has set in place a plan to properly post the newly adopted school safety zone to apply to all hunting activity in 2005.\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
\par
APPROVED\par
\par
Date:  __________________              _________________________________________\par
}\pard {\f20 \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab Wavell Cowan - Board Clerk}\par
}