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Green Mountain Union High School UNAPPROVED MINUTES
Board Meeting Minutes
February 11, 2010 5:00 p.m.
Board Present: Bill Bourque - Chair, Alison DesLauriers - Vice Chair, Geralyn Donohue, Jack Coleman, Arne Jonynas, Gene Bont, Kuniko Hunter - Student Representative
Administration Present: David Adams - Superintendent, Tom Ferenc - Principal, Tom Burke - Associate Principal,
Public Present: Chris Rosengrant -SAPA-TV, Ally Oswald, Brian LoPrinzi, Bruce Chase, Ann Chase, Heather Chase, Daryl Houk, Carol Gilbert, Townsend Gilbert, Ginger Roper, Claire Schroeder, Meredith Austin, Marilyn Mahusky, Mary Pelkey, Janet Currier -Recording Secretary
Call to Order - Bill Bourque called meeting to order at 5:03 p.m.
Bill acknowledged that this would be Jack Colemanís next to last board meeting and he thanked Jack for his years of service. Jack received a standing ovation.
Approval of Minutes of January 14, 2010: Alison moved approval, Gene seconded. Geralyn had one correction under School Choice; she wanted to have good standing defined, she did not want to close students off from getting a fresh start at a new school. Board approved minutes as amended.
Presentation - Social and Emotional Curriculum - Clair Schroeder: Tom Ferenc introduced Clair and turned the presentation over to her. Clair said she started at Green Mountain about three months ago. She said she began her job by listening to students at Green Mountain to be able to learn the school culture and environment. She said the studentís sense of safety has improved in the past two years. She then reviewed social emotional learning skills as 1) Social Awareness; 2) Self Awareness; 3) Self-Management. She said the survey results show that 80% of our students have anger issues. She reviewed the goals they have established and talked about the student groups she has started and what they do in these groups. All groups are voluntary. She then
introduced student Brian LoPrinzi and he talked about changes and challenges students have at Green Mountain and things the groups have accomplished. He said it is really a fun program. Clair works with the 7th and 8th graders. Bill thanked Clair for her interesting presentation.
River Valley Technical Center Pilot Project: Tom Burke explained that this project is really about personalized graduation plans. The program explained challenges with regard to graduation for individual students. The administration is hoping to use technology to challenge and inspire students to do better in school. The program options were discussed. A timeline for this to happen was reviewed. Tom said that they are hoping to begin recruiting some students they think this program might work for. The hope is to launch the pilot program next fall and to be able to connect every student with what works best for them.
Financial: A) Budget Status Report: Alison said she, David and Meredith met today to review the budget. The budget freeze seems to be working. She said that our special education costs have increased and tuition revenues and Fuel Oil costs are under as is snow plowing. She said by May they can begin doing some projections to see what year end looks like.
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Tom Ferenc introduced Kuniko Hunter our new student representative to the board. She was welcomed to her first meeting.
Resignation: Tom Ferenc read a letter of resignation from school nurse Arlene Rallis. She has been at Green Mountain for 12 years. Tom said she is wonderful and he will miss her. Jack moved that the board express their gratitude to Arlene Rallis. Alison made motion to accept resignation with much regret. Board approved.
Reports: Principal - Tom Ferenc: Tom said once the budget passes they will have a report on an updated schedule. He also would like to do a presentation on data and one on college gender gaps. He would like to look specifically at Green Mountain. Physical Education and High School Transformation; Smartboards; Vermont Virtual Learning Consortium are just some of the topics for presentations. Tom talked about Foreign Language and what other nearby schools are doing in 7th and 8th grades. Green Mountain is also planning on going to an exploratory program for French and Spanish in 8th grade. He hopes to restore these classes down the road. He talked about Clair Schroederís job at Green Mountain. He said when he
came to Green Mountain there was a Human Rights Case at Green Mountain that was not handled properly and there was a Climate Study done that showed that Green Mountain was a school of mediocrity throughout the school. He talked about student surveys and parent surveys regarding feelings about the school. Tom said we are on the right path and are moving forward in the right direction. He said when he came to Green Mountain he wanted to bring the social emotional curriculum to the school. They are teaching the kids to be self-aware here at Green Mountain and this will continue. They are making Green Mountain a safer building as well. David said he has seen real teacher quality at Green Mountain. There was discussion about the benefits of having kids start Foreign Languages in the elementary school years.
Superintendent Report: A) Curriculum Management Audit Schedules: David said that on February 22nd, 23rd and 24th, an audit team will be in the Supervisory Union to do a curriculum management audit. He said if community members would like to meet with the auditors they can contact Janet Currier to set up a meeting time. Schedules were given out for board members meeting times.
David then talked about NECAP scores and said Science scores rose considerably this year at Green Mountain.
He would like to put an item on the next agenda for easement rights for Green Mountain with the State of Vermont during the time that the bridge work will be taking place.
Carol Gilbert then talked about her concerns with the NECAP test results and the number of non-proficient students in various areas at Green Mountain. David said that he has not had a chance to look at the scores and that we need to give Tom and his data team time to look at the data. Last yearís 11th grade students had outstanding results. Alison would like to talk to kids to see how they can make this test more serious for the kids. There was discussion about making the NECAP test count towards graduation. The NECAP results will be presented at a future
meeting.
Board Report: Alison talked about the Board Room Newsletter and an article regarding virtual learning in high schools.
Jack said he has been on the Board for 12 years and this is the best board Green Mountain has had. He wants to come back in 10 years and find a sincere Principal and Superintendent who will
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challenge the Board. He talked about other hopes of his for the board and school and for our
sights to keep being set higher. He hopes that merit pay for teachers and teacher evaluation will be on future agendas. He leaves the board with the satisfaction of not having to hear many words common to education, beginning with Rubrics, etc. Bill told Jack that he will be missed.
Student Representative Report - None.
Committee Reports -A) Education - This will be on the next agenda. B) Policy -D-13 Helath Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act for adoption. Geralyn made a motion to adopt this policy that is mandatory. Board approved. Two First Read policies are: F-21 Firearms - Geralyn said these policies are drafts of school safety issues and the Firearms policy has been reconfigured for students. There is a separate Weapons policy already in place. D-7 - Volunteers and Work Study Students - This is an update of a current Green Mountain policy, but is just for volunteers and work study students. These policies will be on the next agenda. Bill said all our committee meetings have to be warned through Janet. C) Public Relations:
1) Get the Vote Out - Bill said he has lists for the board. One thing he would like to have done is to have parents of college students request an absentee ballot for the college students to be able to vote on the budgets. He had a list for members to call about 50 names per list to remind people to get out and vote. He has a flyer as well to be posted around town and maybe sent home to parents. AlertNow calls will be made on March 2nd. Letters will be in the newspapers. Green Mountain students who are 18 will be registered to vote. A reminder will be on the website. A SAPA-TV presentation on the budget will be done as well. Bill said we need to get people out to vote. It was suggested having the Annual Meeting in the conference Room instead of the Auditorium. D) Facilities: Arne said work has begun on the boilers and the new ones will be installed next week. The Fire Marshall request for vents
in the auditorium is in process. He said we made it to the second round of the grant for a lighting update so that looks good.
Preparation for Annual Meeting: David was told it would be a good opportunity for him to address the public
Discussion with Public: Ann Chase - student- said she is in the Journey East Program at Leland and Gray. She asked the board to support her to help with the Leland and Gray tuition. She loves Chinese and wants to continue studying it. She was chosen out of 7 students to represent Green Mountain, Leland and Gray, Vermont and the United States in China. She will go to China for a month from March 24th through April 21st, 2010. This program has been supported in the past by the board. Carol Gilbert said she can not think of a reason not to support this once in a lifetime opportunity for Ann. She hopes that more Green Mountain students can learn about this culture immersion program. Annís Mother said Green Mountain has had four
students participate in this program. The tuition amount would be $6,425.00 to be sent to Leland and Gray. A suggestion was made to build this into the budgets in the future. Alison said we need to get a
recommendation from the Administration after they have a chance to look at the Budget, grants, etc. David said he would be willing to look at grants for her but Green Mountain has a Budget freeze going on now. David will meet with Tom Ferenc to look at possibilities.
Townsend Gilbert asked to have the executive Session at the beginning of the meetings. He talked about consolidations and asked when the board last had a conversation with another board.
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Alison said they have an email conversation going on now.
Townsend said that 25% of adolescents are obese and he would like to see middle school
students increase Physical Education time. Tom Ferenc told him that middle school students P.E. time has been increased to three times a week for all year.
Townsend asked about the Race to the Top Federal Program and where we are going with it. David said there are two stages in the Race tot the Top. The State of Vermont decided not to enter the first stage. The State is considering entering the second stage. The State is applying for a 35 million dollar grant to get a state-wide assessment in place.
Jack and Bill said there are a number of reasons why the executive Session is where it is on the agenda and that it works best this way.
Geralyn said that WSWSU is the first district in Vermont to do a Curriculum Audit.
Executive Session: Alison made motion to enter Executive Session at 7:21 p.m. and to include the Superintendent and Principal. Board approved. The board came out of Executive Session at 7:45 p.m. No further action was taken.
Other Business: Bill answered a question about the voter call lists he had handed out.
Adjournment - Gene made motion to adjourn meeting at 7:48 p.m. Alison seconded. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier
Recording Secretary
Green Mountain Union High School
Board Minutes
January 14, 2010 5:00 p.m. UNAPPROVED MINUTES
Board Present: Bill Bourque - Chair, Alison DesLauriers - Vice Chair, Arne Jonynas, Gene Bont, Jack Coleman, Geralyn Donohue
Administration Present: David Adams - Superintendent - Tom Ferenc - Principal, Tom Burke - Associate Principal
Public Present: Christopher Rosengrant - SAPA-TV, Mary-lynn Wright, Kurtis Dostal, Amanda Barry, Joe Galimi, Patrick Wilson, Nate Blanchard, Ryan Bartley, William Cook, Kyle Tyrrell, Ginger Roper, Rachel Root, Julie Walton, Leo Graham, Adam Bryant, Betsy Hart, Abby Hart, Marilyn Mahusky, Mary Pelkey, Nicole Cormier, Lisa Cormier, Michael Ripley, Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
Call to Order: Chair called meeting to order at 5:04 p.m.
Approval of Minutes of January 5, 2010: Alison moved approval of minutes. Alison had an amendment under 2010-2011 Budget Adoption under discussion of Foreign Language. It should state: The 8th grade year will be a full year of Foreign Language and the students will earn a high school credit for this. Minutes were approved as amended.
Tom Ferenc introduced Adam Bryant, a GM student who is video taping this meeting as part of the Math class presentation. Tom gave an explanation about the first presentation: Using the Data Process and he talked about some of the sources of information that he has read and used. Handouts titled Principals Research Review were given to the board.
He invited the board to come to GM on Tuesday at 2:35 p.m. for an electronic presentation by the GM Data Teams. He then turned the presentation over to Rachel Root a GM teacher. She distributed a handout to the board for them to read at a later time. She explained the using data process and explained the 6 core values and 5 components of this process that will take 3 to 5 years to complete. Julie Walton - GM Math Teacher then spoke about a handout showing data from GM. She explained the charts and graphs on the handout. Tom said this using data process is a huge undertaking for the GM teachers
Presentation by Math Students on GM Energy Audit: Mary-lynn Wright said her math students did an energy audit of Green Mountain. Kyle Tyrrell gave a talk on how they did their research and about insulation and "R" value. Amanda Barry talked about windows and cling film products to reduce loss of heat in winter and gain of heat in summer. Joe Galimi talked about motion sensor light switches for rooms. He said that GM is replacing light bulbs as they burn out with newer more efficient light bulbs. Kyle Tyrrell told of his research results regarding the 10 water fountains at GM and how new models would save about 5.5 gallons of water a day. He then talked about toilets and water savings possible with new toilets. He also gave a report on the thermostats in the school. Patrick
Wilson talked about the 5 vending machines in GM. If the light bulbs were replaced in the machines it would save money. Amanda Barry gave the results of her
research on the computers at GM. She also said not all of the appliances in the home-ed room are energy star appliances and that they would save money if they were. Nicole Cormier gave a report on water usage at GM. She reviewed the students' recommendations for ways to save money at GM. The Board was very impressed with this audit. Mary-lynn said that Adam Bryant did posters to hang in the GM building to remind people how to save energy. Arne Jonynas said this was a very impressive energy audit. The kids told how they got their information for
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this audit. Tom Ferenc congratulated the students on their presentation. One of the students said he likes project based learning better than just learning from books as it helps him remember better.
Superintendent Report - David extended the invitation to everyone to come to the data presentation and to come for the whole day on Tuesday and he reviewed some of the topics that will be covered during the in-service that day. He also talked about NECAP and MAP testing. David then asked the board to approve a contract for Kelly Goodrich as winter sports director. Alison made motion, Jack seconded to approve Kelly Goodrich as winter sports director. Board approved.
David asked the board to approve signing the School Choice Agreement. He said the Southeast Superintendents Association are asking for only students who are in good standing with their sending school to apply for school choice. Geralyn asked to have "good standing" better defined. David asked the board to consider it as it is written and he will get more clarity from the Superintendents Association. Geralyn made motion to table this. No second. Alison moved that this agreement be adopted but she asked David to go back to the S.E. Superintendents to get more clarity on the "gray areas" of the new wording. Gene seconded. Board approved with Geralyn voting no.
The Superintendent left the meeting at this time to attend another meeting.
Principal Report - Tom asked for the board to approve $4,500.00 for the last part of the auditorium renovation - voice evacuation system. He said this is in place and working. Arne said that the hatches above the stage still have to be completed. Jack moved approval to spend $4,500.00 for the voice evacuation system. Board approved.
Arne made motion to request $58,500.00 total for the boiler replacement and the voice evacuation system is to come out of the capital improvement fund monies. Board approved.
Tom asked the board to approve Dr. Rice's trip to the Grand Canyon - called the Grand Classroom. This will take place April 18th through the 23rd. There will be 9 students and 2 adults going on this trip. The students are fund-raising as it will be $1,797.00/student this year. Gene made motion to approve the Grand Canyon trip. Board approved.
Tom asked for approval for a Wilderness Camping trip for Allan Garvin and students to snowshoe three miles on January 30th and return on January 31st. They will stay in a camp overnight. Jack made motion to approve, Gene seconded. Board approved.
Tom reported that we are close to having a substance abuse person at GM through HCRS. Hopefully this person will be on board by February.
Board Report - Alison talked about the pilot project the River Valley Technical Center is doing and gave the board a handout with information and she discussed the project.
This is an attempt to make learning more meaningful for more students. There will be a meeting on January 26th at 4:00 p.m. at the RTC for board members and administrators.
Alison said they are still working on the Director search for the Technical Center. She reported that the Legislative Breakfast on Monday, January 11th was very interesting.
Jack Coleman spoke about a handout: A Serious Proposal and said that a better evaluation system for the teachers is being called for. He asked the board to follow up on this issue and to also consider outstanding teacher's merit pay for the future. Bill said this will be on the agenda in the coming year.
Student Representative - Tom Ferenc said the Student Government has this in process and hopefully this will be ready for the next meeting.
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Committees- Alison talked about the Revenue page of the budget and said that GM has two additional tuition students coming from Baltimore to increase our tuition revenue. Bill said that he, Alison and Geralyn are part of the Public Relations Committee. He said they made a list of things that need to be done to try to get the budget passed. He reviewed the list. His biggest concern is making phone calls. Tom will talk to the Student Government to see if the students would be willing to help out by supporting the budget in some way. Marilyn Mahusky said she is not supporting the budget because she is not happy with the cuts that have been made, especially the cut to the Foreign Language department.
Policy Committee - Geralyn Donohue said the policy for first read is D-13 - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Compliance (HIPAA). She said the Policy Committee is meeting on Tuesday, January 19th at 4:00 p.m. at GM and they will look at the Firearms policy and the Volunteers and Work Study Students policy. Bill thanked Geralyn for all her work on the policies.
Public Discussion: Marilyn Mahusky asked if as a member of the community she could get information about what happens in the case of a lock down at the school. Tom Ferenc gave an explanation of how the school has developed relationships with the State and local police. They do lock down drills regularly and also sweeps with dogs. Tom explained the reasons that they do these drills are to keep kids safe and so the kids know what to expect if a real lock down should have to happen. Tom Burke said they are required by the DOE to do these drills. He explained the procedures taken during a lock down. Discussion ensued.
Executive Session - None.
Other Business: None.
Adjournment: Jack moved to adjourn meeting at 7:18 p.m. Board approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Currier - Recording Secretary
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