MINUTES
REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT #10
BOARD OF EDUCATION
April 23, 2007
Members Present: Joseph Arcuri, Catherine Bergstrom, Beth
Duffy, Barbara Gilbert, Paul Omichinski, Elaine Schiavone, Ray Sikora,
Jayne Stocker, Karen Sullivan-Shepard, Peter Turner
Also Present: Paula Schwartz - Superintendent
David Lenihan - Business Manager
Michael Landry – Assistant Superintendent
Jacqueline Evans, Everett Doninger – Student Representatives
I. Call to Order - The regularly scheduled Board of
Education meeting was held at Harwinton Consolidated School, was called
to order at 7:34 pm by Chairperson Beth Duffy.
II. Pledge of Allegiance - The Pledge was recited.
III. Communications, Resignations – Superintendent received
letters of intent to retire from: Barbara Flaherty, Family &
Consumer Science teacher at Har-Bur, Barbara Thompson, Lake Garda’s
early intervention specialist, and John Bigos, technology teacher.
effective at the end of the ’06-’07 school year. Resignation letter
from Xinia Novia, effective April 1, 2007, was also received.
Superintendent also received thank you letter from First Selectman, Ted
Scheidel, for donation of generator to Burlington.
Congratulations to the “Justice is..” art contest
winners. They are: Steven Kondej, Jaelene Ruey, Carley Marenna,
Courtney Walker, Emily Fletcher, Natalie Beland, Chad Caovo and Brook
Dayan. This statewide contest was sponsored by the Greater Hartford
Legal Aid.
Congratulations to “Long Island Sound and its
Watershed Foundation” drawing statewide contest winners. They are: Hope
Shevchuk (1st Place), Nicole Morin, Joseph Varanelli and Jacob Poppel
Recognition of students who participated in the
Connecticut COLT (the Rhyme Celebration) event and sang “Mi Familia
Grande” were Madeline Powell, Sarah Kozlo, Evan Berardinelli Teagan
Dunn, Spencer Howe, Seth Kellogg, Sarah Martin and Martha Kelley..
Barbara Angelicola, LSM Business Teacher and head of
the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), provided an overview of
the program. Student Eric Satherlie spoke more extensively about the
program and the fundraising done for their chosen charity, the March of
Dimes. Twenty six members of our FBLA chapter successfully competed at
the annual state competition bring back 10 awards.
Eric Satherlie was also one of thirty students in the
state chosen to participate in the 2007 Youth Financial Literacy
Institute at UCONN School of Business.
Thanks were extended to Dave Miller, John Deeb, the
stage and production crews, for making the first high school drama
production, staged in the new auditorium, successful.
IV. Consent Agenda - A motion to approve the meeting minutes of:
BOE regular meetings of March 5, 8, 12, 19, and April 9.
District meeting of April 4, 2007 and
Special BOE meetings of March 19, and two on April 4
was made by P. Omichinski and seconded by B. Gilbert. All in favor none opposed.
Corrections include: Meeting of March 5, 2007, Page 3, 6th paragraph, beginning with Mr. Kambi. Last sentence has an extra “are” that does not belong. March 8th meeting, 1st page, Item III, 2nd sentence “and not salary.” should be removed and replaced by” and not “Salary”.” Page 3, 3rd
paragraph referring to pavers as a fundraising effort refers to brick
pavers at the front entrance of the building. Meeting of 3-19, 2nd page, third paragraph, replace irregardless with regardless.
V. Public Participation – Due to the many items on the
agenda, Chairperson asked that questions and comments be kept to a 3
minute limit if possible.
Dave Crompton of Harwinton requested an update on the
status of the Anthem arbitration, which had been settled a few weeks
ago. D. Lenihan stated the arbitrator’s decision awarded $59K
(including interest) to current teachers by reducing the premiums paid
by teachers over the next pay periods. Consequently the arbitrator’s
decision did not provide for retired teachers. Mr. Crompton stated this
decision was extremely unfair to those who had served the District for
many years. He made a request to obtain the cost of legal and
arbitration expenses, which P. Schwartz stated she will make
arrangements for him to receive.
Fred Boland of Harwinton wanted to know how widespread
the recent pornographic incident was, and whether any filters had been
turned off to allow this to occur. Questions will be referred to a tech
expert.
VI. Business -
A. Summer Arts Program. A recent brochure went
out concerning the proposed Summer Arts Program. John Deeb provided
feedback on the responses. Approximately 40 students have signed up
with a majority interested in Visual Arts and Drama. Programs with
insufficient student interest will be dropped. Some of the feedback
indicates interest in one or two week program rather a 4 week program as
proposed. There will also be the opportunity for students from local
towns to participate.
B. End of Year Activities – Board Assignments are as follows:
Catherine Bergstrom National Honor Society
Elaine Schiavone LSM Scholars’ Breakfast
Karen Sullivan-Shepard LSM Honors Night
Jayne Stocker Flag Day
Barbara Gilbert HSC Grade 4 Special Event
Barbara Gilbert Lake Garda Grade 4 Special Event
Joe Arcuri HSC 5th grade moving up ceremony
Paul Omichinski Lake Garda 5th grade moving up ceremony
Beth Duffy Har-Bur End of Year Ceremony
Ray Sikora, Peter Turner,
Beth Duffy LSM graduation. To be determined.
C. Student Sports Uniforms Fund – D. Tanner, K.
Niehoff. K. Niehoff announced that Eric Satherlie and Gina D’Daddario
had been chosen as Region 10 CIAC student athletes. Awards ceremony is
scheduled for May 6, 2007.
K. Niehoff went over handout, a summation of information from
CIAC website and discussion with other schools on a “pay for
play/activity” policy. In general, many schools found it difficult to
collect money and policy has not been well-received by the communities.
P. Omichinski stated that the request had been to determine the
feasibility of implementing a yearly uniform rental fee. After some
discussion, Chairperson suggested the formation of a committee to review
this issue. In addition to K. Niehoff and D. Tanner, B. Duffy, P.
Omichinski, and J. Arcuri expressed interested in serving on the
committee. A meeting date will be determined, and a proposal will be
brought to the Board at a future date. It was pointed out that $11,200
for uniform purchase had been removed from the ’07-’08 budget and, in
order to put that amount back in, cuts will have to be made elsewhere.
D. District Website Student Security – M. Landry stated
that in the new website design, student names and schedules had been
included. It was determined that although pictures of students
participating in classroom and other activities were appropriate, names,
schedules, and any other identifiable student information would be
eliminated. E. Schiavone asked if parents had an opt out option for
pictures. P. Schwartz stated that parents could submit one in writing.
Liz Cornish of Burlington and J. Stocker suggested a form, to be
included in the yearly packet sent to parents, giving them the option to
allow or not allow their child’s picture to be included in any media.
VII Action -
A. Requests for Leaves of Absence for Teachers. LSM
Chemistry teacher Alice Frazer had requested a third year leave of
absence. P. Schwartz did not recommend granting a third year. There
was some concern that the current Chemistry instructor may seek
employment elsewhere. After much discussion, a motion to approve
an additional year of absence was made by R. Sikora and seconded by E.
Schiavone. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
A motion to grant maternity leave to Stacy Charette,
Science teacher at LSM, was made by P. Turner and seconded by P.
Omichinski. All in favor, none opposed. Motion carries.
B. Approval of Social Studies Club Trip to New York
City. This is a model UN Conference. Student Rep. Everett Doninger
participated last year and spoke of the group’s experience. They would
be representing Panama in the Conference.
A motion to approve the UN trip to New York was made by
P. Omichinski and seconded by P. Turner. All in favor none opposed.
Motion carries.
As students will be funding this trip themselves, P. Schwartz
requested that the Board approve some money to assist with
transportation costs. The plan is for the club to take the train into
NYC from Waterbury. However, there is the additional cost of getting to
Waterbury.
A motion to approve $200 to pay for bus transportation
to Waterbury was made by P. Turner and seconded by B. Gilbert. All in
favor none opposed. Motion carries.
C. Approval of FBLA Trip to Chicago. Two Region 10
students are eligible to attend the 2007 National Leadership Conference
in Chicago because of their state awards. A motion to approve the FBLA trip was made by R. Sikora and seconded by P. Omichinski. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
There was discussion on funding a portion of the trip. Last year, the District contributed to airfare. A motion
to approve $880 in airfare was made by P. Turner and seconded by C.
Bergstrom. Members to approve the motion were P. Turner and C.
Bergstrom. Motion fails. P. Omichinski felt the contribution was
beyond that which was paid for other requests such as the earlier one
for the UN trip. J. Stocker felt if a policy were in place, it would
provide guidelines for the BOE in determining funding. J. Arcuri would
have preferred a personal appeal by a member of the FBLA.
B. Gilbert made a motion to approve $440 to defray
travel costs, seconded by K. Sullivan-Shepard. Members approving the
motion were C. Bergstrom, P. Turner, K. Sullivan-Shepard. Members
opposed were R. Sikora, P. Omichinski, J. Arcuri, E. Schiavone. Motion
fails. It was decided to ask the FBLA members to come up with a new
request for the next BOE meeting.
D. Approval of Student Trip to China. Of the six
students interested in going to China this summer, two are from Region
10. Cost is approximately $2,400 per student for the 10 days. They
will be chaperoned by an instructor from Farmington High and students
will be housed with host families. A motion to approve the trip was made by P. Omichinski and seconded by R. Sikora. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
E. Graduation Date. Suggested graduation date is Monday June 18, 2007. A motion
to approve the graduation date was made by P. Omichinski and seconded
by R. Sikora. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
F. Magnet Schools. Superintendent read letter from
former BOE member, Ned Mann, whose daughter has been a student at the
Academy of Performing Arts in Hartford. The letter asks that the
District consider increasing its tuition assistance for future students
accepted into the program. Currently, the District has a total cap of
$7,000 and contributes a maximum of $1,000 per student. Over the years,
only one or two students have been accepted into the program. For
’07-’08 two students from Region 10 are interested. P. Omichinski made a
motion to leave the cap as is but increase tuition assistance to $2,500 per student. There was no second. Motion did not carry.
G. Participation in Connecticut Nutrition Standards.
D. Lenihan asked that this item be tabled until the next meeting so
Dolores Allocca, Food Services Director, would be present.
VIII. Board Committee Reports
A. Facilities and Grounds Committee – Nothing to report.
B. CREC Committee – Chairperson attended a NSBA Conference,
and various workshops, in San Francisco recently. Will provide
highlights over the next few months.
C. Curriculum Committee – Heard of a couple of presentations by subject coordinators.
D. Negotiations Committee – Nothing to report.
E. Technology Committee – Nothing to report.
F. Building Committee – On time, on schedule, and on budget.
G. Community Relations Committee – Results of survey are in and will be reviewed.
A motion to go into Executive Session was made by E. Schiavone and seconded by B. Gilbert at 10:10 pm. All were in favor.
A motion to come out of Executive Session was made by E. Schiavone, seconded by B. Gilbert at 11:00 p.m. All were in favor.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by P. Omichinski, seconded by R Sikora at 11:00 p.m. All were in favor.
The next regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting will
be held on Monday, May 14, 7:30 pm at the Learning Center of Har-Bur
Middle School.
Karen Sullivan-Shepard, Secretary