Weathersfield School
I. CALL TO ORDER/INTRODUCTION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The meeting was called to order by Board Chair, Kelly Murphy, at 6:04PM.
Those present were: Kelly Murphy, Gloria Ballantine, Nathalie Whitney, Nate McNaughton, Amy Hill, JeanMarie Oakman, Tom Christensen, Diana Day, Tim Herbert, Jessica Becker, Roland Whitney, Weston Marshall/SAPA, and Becky Chrisinger. Nathalie Whitney led the pledge of allegiance.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Kelly asked for motions concerning the following minutes:
August 15, 2011-Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the minutes of August 15, 2011 with changes. Nathalie Whitney seconded the motion. There was one abstention and four ayes. The minutes were approved.
September 19, 2011-Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the minutes of September 19, 2011. Nathalie Whitney seconded the motion. There was one abstention and four ayes. The minutes were approved.
October 17, 2011-Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the minutes of October 17, 2011. All were in favor. The minutes were approved.
III. CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA
7. RED Committee/Budget and Approval of RED Committee Member
12. Budget Update
IV. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION - None
V. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Math Presentation
Jessica Becker/3/4 Teacher give a detailed power point presentation of the new math curriculum/Math Connects. Jessica showed in detail how this new math curriculum works and compared it to the old math curriculum/Saxon. There is a pretest at the beginning of each chapter which helps the students and teacher. There can be three groups of students learning on their levels and these groups change from skill to skill. There is a lot of time for mastery in this program. Tim Herbert explained how the 2
program works for students who may need to be pulled out of the classroom for their math. Math Connects provides more time for practice. One of the reasons that students may be getting C’s when they got A’s in Saxon is that Saxon may have not covered some of the material that is covered in Math Connects. It takes a few years to implement new curriculum and JeanMarie Oakman mentioned that data isn’t collected until the third year when new curriculum is implemented. Kelly Murphy encouraged parents to get in touch with their child’s teacher to discuss the new math program.
2. Shared Services Agreement
Tom Christensen said that Madelyn Crudo Burke couldn’t be here tonight because of her husband’s hospitalization. We are suppose to get reimbursement from the WSSU in January. This will be put on the agenda when Madelyn Crudo Burke can attend the meeting.
3. Follow-Up on Anti-Bullying Question
JeanMarie Oakman gave a very detailed overview of several policies and protocol that are in place about bullying. There has been a lot of training in the past year on asset building and bullying prevention thanks to grants. The staff, students, and community have all benefitted from this training.
JeanMarie mentioned that harassment laws are very clear. This will be discussed at a further meeting.
4. Free and Reduced Rate as of November 8
Our poverty rate is at 45%. JeanMarie Oakman said that we are closing the achievement gap for poverty students.
5. Student Enrollment
We now have 213 students and 21 are coming to kindergarten next year as of right now.
6. Update on Food Service
JeanMarie Oakman said they have worked hard on keeping the records for food service along with keeping a close eye on the program. Kelly Murphy said she is impressed with the accounting in the program. JeanMarie said that the program made $1,503.96 in October. There were 1,154 full meals sold of which 898 were full price and 174/free & reduced, 3
1,183 snack milk and 393 lunch milk, 332 orange juice, 154 full breakfast, and 520 free breakfasts.
7. Update RED Committee
Tom Christensen said that the first RED Committee meeting will be held on December 12, 2011 at 6:30PM at Windsor in Room 210. The representation for the RED committee is by equalized pupil.
8. Final Approval of Action Plan
JeanMarie Oakman presented the Action Plan which was worked on extensively. The Action Plan is a three year plan and has four goals. It is now being used as a template for the state. Amy Hill was a part of the Action Plan Committee and she said that it was a learning experience and that she learned a lot.
9. Protocol for Building Use
Amy Hill had some questions about some of the wording on this procedure. Kelly Murphy asked every Board member to look at this and email questions to JeanMarie Oakman and Tom Christensen. Tom will review. This whole discussion was put on hold.
10. WAN Approval (Wide Area Network)
There have been no other proposals besides SOVERNET. This has been approved in West Windsor and Windsor. Nate McNaughton wondered if this can be set up for Weathersfield’s needs. JeanMarie Oakman said that the system can be personalized and customized for our school. JeanMarie brought up Act 58 which is about cyber bullying and school’s responsibilities in this area.
11. Appointments:
The following are being presented for appointments for coaches by the Athletic Committee:
Kelly Harriman - 7/8 Boys Basketball, Shane Selmer - 7/8 Girls Basketball,
Greg Herschel - 7/8 Girls Basketball Assistant, Nate McKeen, 5/6 Girls Basketball, Tiffany Lang - 5/6 Girls Basketball Assistant, Christopher Magliola - Kindergarten, Alisha Vigneault - 1rst/2nd, Jeff Milligan and Jamie Hodgdon - 3/4 Boys, Heather Todd-Perham, Kayla Perham and Assistant Coach, Nate McKeen -3/4 Girls. 4
12. Update on Budget
Tom Christensen, JeanMarie Oakman, Madelyn Crudo Burke and Ed Connors will be having a second meeting about the budget tomorrow. The budget can be presented to the budget committee after tomorrow. There was discussion about how many meetings to have in December and one was added for the budget on December 9, 2011. JeanMarie Oakman and Tom Christensen will meet with the Budget Committee on November 29, 2011. Amy Hill asked about the budget process and other board members explained the process.
VI. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT
Tom Christensen said he has spent a lot of time with budget meetings with principals. He has had goal meetings with each principal and has attended VT Superintendent meetings, gone to games in Windsor, worked on setting up RED Committee, mediation, negotiations( there is a tentative agreement on the teachers contract), key communicators group, visit schools, new superintendents meetings, consultant for skillful training, and been in contact with Jim Mullen/Town Manager about WES.
VII. PRINCIPAL REPORT
The Thanksgiving dinner last Tuesday was very well attended and a big success. The Veteran’s Day Program had three speakers and was well attended. Nathalie Whitney said it was a beautiful program and she hopes it continues. Kelly Murphy mentioned how nice it was that three staff members wore their military uniforms. Student Council elections are underway. The Service Group and all of the students put together 20 Thanksgiving Baskets. JeanMarie Oakman is now on two state committees. Several Weathersfield students participated in the Jazz Band and District Festivals.
BREAK AND SIGNING OF ORDERS - The orders were signed and no break was taken.
VIII. ITEMS FOR ACTION
1. Action Plan Approval
Kelly Murphy asked for a motion concerning the Action Plan for 2011-2014. Gloria Ballantine made a motion to approve the Action Plan. Amy Hill 5
seconded the motion. Kelly Murphy said this will be until 2014 when common core will be in place. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. The Action Plan was approved. Kelly Murphy thanked the following Action Plan Committee members: JeanMarie Oakman, Karen McGee, Aleksandra Szymanska, Kristina Hughes, Barb Martin, Tim Herbert, Amy Hill, Jane McKeen, Heather Payne, Jacqui Antonivich, Marina Wood McNaughton, Marie Gray, Tammy Millard, and Emily Antonivich. Kelly thanked each member for their time.
2. WAN Approval
Kelly Murphy made a motion to include Weathersfield in the WSSU implementation of WAN. Gloria Ballantine seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. (3 of the 4 towns in the WSSU are needed to go forward so our approval makes the 3
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Jan.12
