PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MINUTES WILL NOT BE FINAL UNTIL THE BOARD HAS
APPROVED THEM AT ITS NEXT MEETING.
November 16, 2006
The Board of Directors of Maine School Administrative
District No. 75 held a regular meeting
at
The following Directors were present: Robert W. Hill, Chairman; Maryane Burns; Dorothy “Dee” Carrier; Dorothy Gardner; Sheila Havey; David A. Johnson; Jane Meisenbach; Andrea Najarian; Joanne Rogers; Donald A. Russell; Gwen Thomas; Kim Totten; and Roland Tufts.
Not present was Rebekah Stimpson.
Also present were Sara Todd and Sam Prindall, student representatives to the Board of Directors.
1. Call to order
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.
2. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was recited by those present.
3. To consider action relative to additions or adjustments to the agenda and to ask for comments from the audience
Dawn Prindall
of Harpswell spoke to the Board about how impossible (because of the physical
plant of the building) it is to
Chairman Hill thanked Mrs. Prindall for her comments and agreed that a meeting with the Board’s Facilities Committee would be in order.
Agenda adjustments were noted, as follows:
{add}
6.6 To
consider a proposal from Colin Roy to offer Nordic Skiing as an interscholastic
activity
{add}
7.4 LRA
meeting
3.1
RECOGNITIONS
AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
√ Welcome
from Otis Thompson, Principal of
√ Welcome Sheila Havey, new Topsham representative to the Board of Directors – elected to fill the unexpired term of Ed Cook
√ Congratulations Dorothy Gardner – re-elected to a three-year term as Topsham representative
√ Congratulations Don Russell – elected to fill the unexpired term of Jeff Steinert
√ Sam Chard – Girls Varsity Soccer Team Eastern Maine Champions and State runner-up
√ Congratulations Diane Fournier and Girls Cross Country Team – placing second in the East Regionals to qualify for the States, and fifth in the State to qualify for the New Englands
√ Maya
Tepler,
√ Beth
Cowing-Sawyer,
√ Seth Berry, Gifted & Talented teacher – Elected to the District 67 Seat in the Maine House of Representatives
√ Ron Lavender, M.S.A.D. No. 75 Business Manager – Published in MeASBO, the official publication of the Maine Association of School Business Officials
4. To take action relative to accepting as
printed the minutes of the November 2, 2006, regular meeting of the Board of Directors
It was moved by Mr. Tufts, seconded by Mrs. Gardner, and VOTED (644 yeas, 0 nays, 290 abstentions, and 66 absent) to accept as printed the minutes of the November 2, 2006, regular meeting of the Board of Directors.
Voting yea were Ms. Burns, Mrs. Gardner, Mr. Hill, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Meisenbach, Ms. Najarian, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Totten, and Mr. Tufts.
There were no nay votes.
Abstaining from voting were Mrs. Carrier, Mrs. Havey, Mr. Russell, and Ms. Thomas.
Absent was Ms. Stimpson.
5. OLD BUSINESS:
6. NEW BUSINESS:
6.6 taken out of
order} To consider a proposal from Colin Roy to
offer Nordic Skiing as an interscholastic activity
Athletic Director Colin Roy
requested that the Board consider sanctioning a one-year trial period for a Nordic/Cross
Country Ski team for
He introduced three parents who have volunteered to coach and supervise this activity. They are Karin Tilberg, Dwight Blease and Eric McNett.
No additional monies are being requested, but permission is being requested to use existing money from the transportation budget and the dues and fees budget that were originally budgeted for JV football and freshman girls soccer, both of which were curtailed due to lack of membership this fall.
Participants will be expected to fund raise and will pay an $8 entry fee for each event entered.
It was moved by Mrs. Rogers,
seconded by Ms. Najarian, and VOTED (unanimously) to sanction a one-year trial period of a Nordic/Cross
Country Ski team for
6.1 To consider a proposal from the Director of
Facilities and Projects and Business Manager to address a deficiency in
facilities staffing to perform essential program administration functions
Chris Shaw, Director of Facilities and Projects, presented the rationale for this request, noting the significant increase in the workload of the Director and the Administrative Assistant over the past three years. He cited increasing requirements of OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency. He shared a graph demonstrating the increase in instances of corrective maintenance being done in the schools.
The Department has converted to an electronic work order system, in order to facilitate the tracking of resources. He estimated that 1,100 work orders a year are being fulfilled in support of the schools.
The recommendation is being made to increase the schedule of the administrative assistant to 40 hours a week, reverting to three days a week in the summer. The part-time position is currently shared with another part-time position elsewhere in the District.
Those two are combined to make the current position benefits eligible, but the two days remaining which would become a vacant position would not qualify for benefits, so no additional benefit costs would be incurred.
Chairman Hill asked whether there are existing administrative resources that can be reallocated. Business Manager Ron Lavender indicated there is no opportunity to shift resources to cover the two days. A savings of approximately $3,00o has been realized, due to a groundskeeper opening not being filled until late November (vacancy occurred in August).
Ms. Najarian asked the ramifications of pursuing this request through the regular budget process. Mr. Shaw indicated that necessary projects would be prioritized, and some things would go un-done.
It was moved by Mrs. Rogers, seconded by Mrs. Gardner, and VOTED (unanimously) to approve funding from contingency the approximately $4,500 needed to increase the time of the Administrative Assistant in the Facilities and Projects office.
Mr. Hill stated he would like to see this item prioritized in the budget next year.
6.2 To
approve the transfer of an Educational Technician III (6 hr/185 days) position
and its associated salary ($14,874) from
It was moved by Mr. Johnson,
seconded by Mrs. Rogers, and VOTED
(unanimously) to approve the transfer of an Educational Technician III (6
hr/185 days) position and its associated salary ($14,874) from
6.3
To formally
appoint the principals and their designees as School Attendance Coordinators,
pursuant to M.R.S.A. 20-A 5052-1(1)
It was moved by Mrs. Carrier, seconded by Mr. Johnson, and VOTED (unanimously) to formally appoint the principals and their designees as School Attendance Coordinators, pursuant to M.R.S.A. 20-A 5052-1(1).
6.4
To consider
accepting an elementary school-aged child with special needs as a tuition
student
It was moved by Mrs. Carrier, seconded by Mr. Johnson, and VOTED (unanimously) to accept an elementary school-aged child with special needs as a tuition student.
Patrick Moore, Director of Special
Services, noted that this will essentially be an “even swap” between
6.5 To
consider an invitation from the Harpswell Board of Selectmen for our Harpswell
members to participate in an exploration of legislative avenues to address
funding concerns
Superintendent Wilhelm noted that in two conversations with Harpswell’s Town Administrator, it has been clarified that whether it’s only the Harpswell Board members or members from other towns is not the pivotal issue, but that the Town just wants to organize a dialogue about the stated issues.
Mrs. Rogers asked whether it might be appropriate for the same Board members who are participating in the withdrawal negotiations to serve in this new capacity. Mrs. Totten pointed out that three of those currently serve on the District’s Finance Committee, making it potentially difficult to schedule meetings of either committee.
Mrs. Carrier pointed out that it’s Harpswell’s thought to “start over,” emphasizing that this requested meeting has nothing to do with the withdrawal initiative. She feels this is a way for the Board of Selectmen to open new communications with a new attitude. Mrs. Carrier feels that the “new group” should be new and characterized the intent of the meeting as “exploratory” in nature, intended to open a line of communication.
Ms. Najarian agreed that the members of this group should be a new group – different from those participating in the withdrawal negotiations.
Superintendent Wilhelm stated it would be good to have all four towns of the District represented. The meeting will be held in the evening of December 4; and Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Carrier, Ms. Meisenbach, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Russell, Ms. Najarian and Ms. Thomas will participate.
7. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
7.1 Facilities Committee meeting – Mrs. Carrier is the Chair of this committee.
Mrs. Carrier noted that the Facilities Committee met on November 7th and cited some projects which can be done within this year’s budget.
7.2 Finance Committee meeting – Mrs. Totten reported on this evening’s meeting.
It was determined that fund balance needs to be discussed in greater detail. Presentations at budget meetings will be held from 6:00-8:30 p.m. instead of 6:30-9:00 p.m. as in previous years.
The next meeting of the Finance Committee will be January 8, 2006.
7.3 MVR 10 meeting – Ms. Najarian presented a brief report on the November 15th Cooperative Board meeting.
Superintendent Wilhelm also mentioned that S.A.D. No. 75 has representation on the MVR 10 Local Action Planning Committee which is discussing ways to coordinate facilities, calendars and resources.
7.4 LRA – Mr. Hill reported on the November 14th meeting held to solicit citizens’ input regarding use of federal property around the middle and high schools.
Mr. Russell had attended this meeting and was pleased at the results.
8. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT:
8.1 Financial report – This report was presented by Ron Lavender, Business Manager.
8.2 C0rrespondence
– The Superintendent had shared with the Board a complimentary letter from
8.3 Meeting with Anthem – Superintendent Wilhelm reported on meetings being held with three other school districts and Anthem to develop ways of working with employees to provide incentives for reducing health risks. This may lead to a possible reduction in insurance costs.
8.4 Times
Record article on
8.4 Curriculum Committee – The Curriculum Committee will meet on December 14th prior to the Board meeting. Assistant Superintendent Sally Loughlin will present a request for a science text adoption and would like the Curriculum Committee to be presented with information regarding this fall’s curriculum work.
9. ADJOURNMENT – Chairman Hill declared the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
***
Following adjournment
of the regular meeting, the Board met in workshop session to discuss the report
from the Select Panel on Revisioning Education in the
State of
James Carignan, Chair of the State Board of Education, provided
the Board with an explanation of the genesis of the report and highlighted its
recommendations and answered Board members’ questions.
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