REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT #10
BOARD OF EDUCATION
January 8, 2007
Members Present: Joseph Arcuri, Catherine
Bergstrom, Beth Duffy, Barbara Gilbert, Paul Omichinski, Elaine
Schiavone, Ray Sikora, Karen Sullivan-Shepard, Peter Turner
Members Absent: Jayne Stocker
Also Present: Paula Schwartz - Superintendent
David Lenihan - Business Manager
Michael Landry – Assistant Superintendent
Jacqueline Evans, Everett Doninger, Alex Murphy – Student Representatives
I. Call to Order - The regularly scheduled Board of
Education meeting was held at Lake Garda School Media Center, and was
called to order at 7:31 pm by Chairperson Beth Duffy.
II. Pledge of Allegiance - The Pledge was recited.
III. Communications, Resignations – No resignations.
Superintendent received letter from Connecticut School
Transportation Association concerning problems in which school bus
drivers have been hired on a provisional basis, prior to all background
checks being completed. D. Lenihan spoke with Region 10’s bus
companies’ representatives concerning their policies, which are rigorous
and thorough.
Student & Staff Recognition – Several students
from Har-Bur Middle School were recognized for their participation in a
stock market club led by study skills instructor Kathy Gilson. This was
a 10 week program sponsored by the Hartford Courant, and included both
public and private schools. First place participants were: Matthew
Oldenburg (team captain), Halie Lyon, Patryk Illinski, Matthew Miller
and Hannah Seelye. Third place participants were: Sinclair Bush (team
captain), Nicole Aldieri, Kelly Cosgrove, Christopher Farmer, and Alyssa
Slotnick. Each student stated their reason for participating and how
the experience affected them.
IV. Consent Agenda – A motion to approve the meeting
minutes of the December 11, 2006, and the financial reported dated
December 31, 2006, was made by K. Sullivan-Shepard and seconded by B.
Gilbert. All in favor none opposed.
Corrections include: Communications, Lillian Korman,
should be Corman. Public Participation, first sentence, last word
should be present, not presented. Under Curriculum Report, discussion
of wellness program between C. Bergstrom and M. Landry should have been
included. Addition to the end of the meeting minutes should include the
following: A motion for Board to come out of Executive Session at 10:20 pm was made by P. Omichinski and seconded by P. Turner. A motion
to adjourn the meeting was made by P. Omichinski and seconded by P.
Turner. All in favor none opposed. Meeting ended at 10:21 pm.
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January 8, 2007
Chairperson requested Item G, Board Retreat be added to the agenda. A motion
to add the Board Retreat was made by P. Turner and seconded by K.
Sullivan-Shepard. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
V. Public Participation – None at this time. Chairperson
followed up on items brought up in the December 2006 meeting. Ed Gasser
had brought up the issue of the boys bathrooms at the high school being
locked due to vandalism. Since that time, no additional vandalism has
occurred, and the bathrooms are no longer locked. There was an issue
with a fire alarm going off because workers had covered a unit to
prevent damage and had forgotten to uncover it. D. Fortin asked workers
to be more careful. Dave Crompton’s question on data security is still
being researched.
VI. Business -
A. Instant Alert System – M. Landry presented
information on the Instant Alert System, created by Honeywell, which
Region 10 has chosen as its emergency notification system. It provides
parents and caregivers emergency, and non-emergency notifications to a
variety of devices such as landline and cell phones, computers, and
PDAs. It can reach 100,000 subscribers with voice and text messages,
emails, etc., in approximately 15 minutes. Parents may chose up to 5
different devices they can be reached at and once they receive a
message, the system disengages trying to reach them by other devices.
All students and families are in the
system, and parents can access it to change phone numbers, allow the
system to access their child’s cell phone, etc. The system is separate
from Power School, and if parents need to make changes to contact and
other information, they still need to contact their school’s office to
make those changes. The District will start out using Instant Alert
System for basic notification such as school closings or delays and then
expand and use more features. There will be some testing done in the
next week or two. R. Sikora suggested getting the two Towns to
participate sometime in the future, something the District is amenable
to.
B. CREC Technology Audit. M. Landry
presented information on the tech audit the District contracted CREC to
do. The report commended the District’s commitment to technology, use
of smartboards, good security measures in place – fire walls, secure
rooms, etc., use of specialized software such as Power School for
student information, Fast Lane in the cafeteria, Destiny in the Library,
wired and wireless networks, and good infrastructure. At the
elementary level the District was better than average in technology and
fairly even at the high school with other schools. All 5th
graders in the new wing at Har-Bur will have access to their own
computer. Recommendations include better data management and analysis,
reorganization of computer staff, integration of computer technology
with curriculum, web page update, and professional development; all
areas the District has been working on to improve.
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January 8, 2007
C. Review of Audit – Representatives
from the accounting firm of Carlin, Charron & Rosen, LLP discussed
their audit of the District’s financial and bookkeeping records. They
reported a surplus of $265,000 for fiscal year ending June 30, 2006.
They did not find any irregularities and found all areas to be “clean”.
Recommendations for improvement include recording grants and student
activities on the general ledger, cash disbursement improvements,
procedure manual and implementation of new accounting standard for post
employment benefits.
D. No Child Left Behind District and
School Reports. P. Schwartz stated these had been covered at prior
Board meetings, and no new information was forthcoming.
E. Community Groups – P. Schwartz
requested that Board members review and select organizations and groups
they’d be willing to speak at.
F. World Language Proposal – Grade 3
Spanish – E. Lapman. World Language Coordinator, Elizabeth Lapman,
presented a proposal to begin Spanish instruction in third grade.
Survey went out to parents, the results of which show strong support for
an early second language program. Spanish teachers, Carol Brault of
HSC and Monika Kordowski at Lake Garda discussed their programs, and the
ease with which students are able to pick up a second language. Board
members discussed how to offer courses in other languages with a
suggestion by R. Sikora that a possible partnership could be developed
between area schools, in the future. The Virtual High School was
another method in which language instruction could be implemented.
G. Board Retreat – The retreat is
scheduled for January 22, 6pm at Central Office conference room. There
will be a guest speaker, and the focus will be on communication.
VII Action -
A. Approval of New Courses. M. Landry presented several new elective courses to be offered. They are:
Web Design, instruction in HTML.
Material & Process – Use of metal, plastic and wood to create a product.
Electronic Music – An alternative to band and chorus.
African Americans in Literature and Film
Women in Literature – 19th century to current.
Exercise Physiology
A motion to approve the above
electives was made by P. Turner and seconded by K. Sullivan-Shepard.
All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
B. Football letter to St. Paul High School. After
investigation and discussion with St. Paul, K. Neihoff and D. Tanner
determined that the incident of recruiting New Britain High School
students was a matter of poor judgement and lack of oversight as opposed
to any malicious
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January 8, 2007
intent on St. Paul’s part. Administration has admitted to the
wrongdoing and has extended apologies to all involved. Since the
incident, certain procedures have been put in place such
as hiring a Director of Admissions, creating an athletic advisory board, creating a reporting process.
Separate from the incident, CIAC has
determined that due to numbers, there will be no need for the Tri-Op to
continue. It will allow current students to continue in the football
program for the next three years. Current freshmen will then be
seniors. No new students will be allowed into the program. At that
point, the Tri-Op will end and each school will have to decide whether
it will form its own football program. A Co-Op partnership is
unlikely.
A meeting with parents is scheduled for January 24, 2007. A motion
to continue with the football program was made by P. Turner and
seconded by P. Omichinski. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
There was some discussion concerning
costs to maintain the football program being borne by parents because
ticket sales and fundraising activities did not generate the expected
revenue. Laurie Natalie of Harwinton, member of the football boosters,
stated they will continue to assist students based on need.
C. Approval of 2006-08 School Calendar.
The proposed calendar shows school beginning on September 4, 2007,
ending on June 13, 2008 (if there are no snow days, June 23 if 6 snow
days used), a full spring recess and a short February recess. A motion to approve the calendar was made by P. Omichinski and seconded by K. Sullivan-Shepard. All in favor none opposed.
D. Revision of Budget Preparation
Timeline – At the October 2006 BOE meeting, a budget time line was
presented. Two additional meetings need to be added as follows:
Monday, February 26, 2007 District Overview and Monday, March 5, 2007,
K-12 presentation. A motion to approve the revised timeline was
made by P. Turner and seconded by P. Omichinski. All in favor none
opposed. Motion carries.
E. Approval of the Agreement between
Region 10 BOE and Region 10 Administrators’ Association. Contract
negotiations between the District and school administrators were
resolved in mediation. The contract calls for increases of 4.7% in the
first year, 3.6% in the second and 4.3% in the third year. In addition,
increase in administrators’ health insurance premiums include 16% the
first year, 18% the second year, and 20% in the third year. A high
deductible insurance savings plan (HSA) is now being offered as well,
with the District contributing a certain portion to encourage
participation. A motion to ratify the contract was made by P. Turner and seconded by R. Sikora. All in favor none opposed. Motion carries.
K. Niehoff extended thanks to the
Negotiation Committee and Board for successful outcome to the contract
negotiations.
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January 8, 2007
VIII. Board Committee Reports
A. Facilities and Grounds Committee – Met in November, 2006. Next meeting is scheduled for January 30, 2007.
B. CREC Committee – Nothing to report.
C. Curriculum Committee – Meeting in February.
D. Negotiations Committee – Will be discussed in Executive Session.
E. Technology Committee – Tech audit discussed earlier.
F. Building Committee – Next meeting tomorrow night. Reasonable progress made over Christmas break.
G. Community Relations Committee – Next
meeting scheduled for January 29, 2007, 7 pm in the Learning Center.
First draft of survey is being sent to First Experience and is expected
back on the 12th. Production
scheduled for the end of January. In response to question from J.
Arcuri at the December meeting concerning who owns the data, C.
Bergstrom stated that the District owns the data.
A motion to go into Executive Session was made by R.
Sikora and seconded by P. Omichinski. Regular portion of the meeting
ended at 10:20 pm.
A motion to come out of executive session was made by P. Omichinski and seconded by R. Sikora.
A motion to adjourn at 10:32 pm was made by R. Sikora and seconded by P. Omichinski. All were in favor.
The next regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting will be held on February 12, 2007 at Harwinton Consolidated School.
_____________________________
Karen Sullivan-Shepard, Secretary