Draft: Subject to Board Approval

     WINCHESTER SCHOOL BOARD MEETING                

WINCHESTER SCHOOL LIBRARY

FEBRUARY 21, 2008

Board Members Present: C. Duquette, B. Moser, G. O'Neal, C. Thompson

Absent:  V. Cole

Administration Present: D. Crisafulli, D. Funkhouser, P. Bigelow T. O'Connor

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Chair, C. Duquette.

MINUTES:

G. O'Neal MOVED to approve the minutes of the January 3, 2008 Board meeting as printed; SECONDED by: C. Duquette, VOTED: 2-0-1 (B. Moser - abstained), MOTION PASSED.

G. O'Neal MOVED to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2008 Board meeting as printed; SECONDED by: C. Duquette, VOTED: 2-0-1 (B. Moser - abstained), MOTION PASSED.

The minutes of the January 14, 2008 Public Hearing were available to the Board.  C. Duquette advised that they seemed to be accurate.  No Motion was required.

BOARD BUSINESS:

B. Moser has heard concerns about the Access Program being less than impressive since the person running it is also running another program.  He asked if the program is as good as it was.  Needs to know that before using money from a Grant.

                D. Crisafulli advised he will look into it.

School Calendar:

After discussion, Dr. Crisafulli will double check with A. Diorio to be sure the calendar correlates with the Keene calendar.

B. Moser MOVED to approve the school calendar contingent upon it coordinating with Keene and upon the Winchester Teacher's Association approval of the calendar; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, VOTED: 3-0, MOTION PASSED.

NH Retirement Information:

D. Crisafulli reviewed a letter from the LGC regarding litigation of the NH Retirement System.  They are asking for $481.61 as Winchester's share to be part of the litigation.  C. Duquette asked that D. Crisafulli send information to the Board with the date of upcoming meetings.

B. Moser MOVED to contribute $481.61 to the Municipal Association; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, VOTED: 3-0, MOTION PASSED.

Test Scores:

D. Crisafulli provided a summary of the test scores to the Board.  Advised he would like to see the scores be between 60-70%; we are far from there now.

C. Thompson arrived at 6:41 pm.

D. Funkhouser reviewed the test scores with the Board.  Advised he and the staff started a Root Cause Analysis Group in October.  The staff meets each week and a consultant comes from KSC.  The group sets goals for the week and come up with strategies and gathers data.

D. Funkhouser advised the Math program did get the school up for a couple of years, but they keep moving the bar.  Feels it is an evasive thing.  Other schools are in the same situation. 

C. Duquette asked how Fast Forward would impact testing.

                D. Funkhouser - Planning to identify  students; will run all program all Summer and be ready in the Fall.  Will evaluate to see if that helps identify students.

Dr. Crisafulli advised in order for this to get better, need to look at organizational structure.  Need to make sure academic things are in place, administrative things are in place, Special Ed test scores broken down and astuteness of tests themselves.  Advised overall scores for the State for 10th grade were a disaster.  If you don't have certain things in place, will constantly struggle with this.  Explained they are still analyzing information; will need to come back to the Board.

D. Funkhouser advised they will be meeting Monday, as part of the plan, will be coming back at some point and report to the Board.  Need to understand what the State is looking for and get kids to do it.

D. Funkhouser will keep the Board apprised as things occur.  Will include status in his newsletter.

B. Moser MOVED to go into a Public Hearing at 7:00 pm. for acceptance of funds under RSA 198:20b; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSED.

Winchester residents John and Nancy Hann have offered to donate $7,000 to build a new greenhouse at the school.

After discussion, B. Moser MOVED to accept the $7,000 for the greenhouse from the Hanns; SECONDED by: C. Thompson, (D. Crisafulli will send a thank-you letter).  B. Moser wants to be sure the school has all the permits that are needed, VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSSED.

Bill McGrath feels it is nice to receive gifts, but he wanted to know what the cost is to build long term, i.e., heat and maintenance.  Do we have to pay to construct it?

Also, he is hearing children doing badly on test scores.  Feels need to learn the basic things first.

                D. Crisafulli's concern is how are we going to use it; who is in charge, what is the timeline?

D. Funkhouser advised they have a garden committee who has taken charge.  They have plans through the Summer.  Looking at something pretty basic; it doesn't require a lot of time.

Advised this bolsters many things in Science in different grade levels. 

                C. Duquette advised construction will be done by a volunteer and will include a solar heater. 

                C. Thompson feels it is a great gift; would like to see it incorporated into someone's lesson plan.

                P. Bigelow advised when the bulbs were planted, etc. it brought in many areas o f the curriculum other than Science.

Access Program:

After discussion, B. Moser MOVED to accept the $7,000 for the access program; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, T. O'Connor advised that there are no tax dollars involved in this, VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSED.

B. Moser MOVED to close the Public Hearing at 7:11 pm; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSED.

D. Crisafulli and T.O'Connnor brought a list of possible budget cuts to the Board.

Director of Human Resources:

A restructure was passed by the SAU, but must be brought to each Board for approval.

B. Moser would this be the go-to person for the Districts?

                D. Crisafulli - Yes, this person will have the business background and deal with policy.

B. Moser MOVED to approve the Director of Human Resources; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSED.

D. Crisafulli discussed the power school software. 

B. Moser believes if going to approve money, need to say where we will take it from now.  Could move it closer to the time if necessary.  Welcomes Tom's input as to where.

                T. O'Connor advised the money will come under the 1114 -56500 account in the Budget under the software line.

B. Moser MOVED to approve $13,539.35 from Line 1114-56500 for Power School; SECONDED by: C. Thompson, after discussion, an Amendment was made and SECONDED that of the $13,539.35 to pay one half  before 3/25/08 and the second half, if possible, out of this budget by 7/1/08; and if not, look at where we would take it out of next year's budget; VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSED.

Insurance:

D. Crisafulli and B. Moser gave an update on Insurance.  Expect to have information available by 4/12/08.  Will be presenting to everyone at the same time.   The School Board gets the information at the same time as the teachers.  This way the information will be out before the school break.  The first meeting with the company will be after Spring break and then they plan to have a second meeting.  It is important that the teachers have as many days as possible to review the information.

Dr. Crisafulli advised the goal is to have everything done by the end of May for paperwork to be done and enrollment to take place and have set by July; or will continue as is.

B. Moser will let the Board know when the meetings will be held.

FINANCIAL REPORT:

G. O'Neal MOVED to approve the Manifest in the amount of $1,058,458.00; SECONDED by: C. Thompson, VOTED: 3-1, (B. Moser - no) MOTION PASSED.

The Board received a copy of the Expense Report in their packets.

T. O'Connor advised the audit received a clean opinion.  Ran a deficit last year; but knew the resolution.  .

The Board received an update of Public and Private tuitions.

                C. Duquette asked about Evergreen.  She would like to know more about the program.

                D. Crisafulli will find out.

                D. Funkhouser advised it is a specialized residential program at the other end of the State for Auticstic children.

D. Crisafulli distributed six month's of anticipated expenses for Special Ed.

Medicaid Audit:

D. Crisafulli advised we are under scrutiny.  Of the files that were pulled none were complete or couldn't be found.  This was done at the SAU. 

Auditors will come back to us with some level of finding.  Might end up owing the State some money.

D. Crisafulli is concerned about storage of records.

                C. Thompson feels the SAU is responsible for Winchester records and it is up to them to secure them.

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT:

The Board received D. Funkhouser's report in their packets.

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT:

The Board received Dr. Crisafulli's report in their packet.

                *21st Century Grant has been submitted.  Comes under the Umbrella.  Dr. Crisafulli's understanding is the original Grant had expansion to it.  Shares Administration costs, so           that reduces those costs to allow for more academic costs.  Wrote the Grant for Hinsdale and two other Monadnock Schools are also included.

C. Duquette feels when a Grant application goes in that Winchester is part of, that the Board needs to be informed prior to the application going in.

Board Goals:

Dr. Crisafulli advised still need to review the second half of the Board goals.  He asked the Board to review and come back to review further at the next meeting.

Dr. Crisafulli will not be here on 3/6/08.  The Board decided it will meet on 3/6/08 to discuss any policies that Ann feels need to be reviewed along with the Board Goals.  T. O'Connor will handle the meeting.

C. Thompson and G. O'Neal have not received e-mails regarding review of the Manifest.

                T. O'Connor will be sure they get them.

C. Duquette advised Surry is becoming their own school district effective 7/1/08.  Will present their own budget.  They are demanding to be the 4th district in the SAU.  They have not approached C. Duquette as the SAU Chair.

C. Duquette - If Board members receive notice of a meeting that lists Surry, she encourages them all to attend; could impact all districts financially.

D. Funkhouser advised that the camera and monitor is in.

 

C. Thompson asked if someone fell.

                D. Funkhouser advised the School Nurse fell.  She went to the hospital to be checked and is back to school now.

                B. Moser feels she should bring a note saying that she can return to work.

                C. Duquette asked T. O'Connor to check with Katie regarding procedure.  T. O'Connor advised he will bring information back to the next meeting.

Future Agenda Items:

                *The second meeting in March - Access update and Beacon of Light.

                *Asked that A. Diorio resend goals.

CITIZEN'S COMMENTS:

None.

B. Moser MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 8:05 pm; SECONDED by: G. O'Neal, VOTED: 4-0, MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted,

Peggy Higgins