September 2011

THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO BOARD APPROVAL AT THE NEXT BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
DEEP RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
September 15, 2011

The regular meeting of the Deep River Board of Education was held on Thursday, September 15, 2011. In attendance were Christine Daniels, Mark Malcarne, Gale Dilger, Lauri Wichtowski, Karen Nelson-Oliveria, Art Robbins and Liz Tracy-Montecalvo. Also in attendance were Dr. Ruth Levy, Superintendent, Ian Neviaser, Assistant Superintendent (arrival 7:42), Jack Pietrick, Principal, Mr. Garth Sawyer, Business Manager and Kelley Frazier, Clerk. Absent: D. Berardis

CALL TO ORDER
Ms. Daniels called the meeting to order at 7:02pm.
Ms. Daniels changed the order of the agenda moving 4.2 to the beginning of the meeting.

OTHER ITEMS Introduction of new hires DRES - Dr. Pietrick Dr. Pietrick introduced the new hires for Deep River Elementary School. Ms. Daniels and the Board welcomed the new staff members.
Dr. Pietrick reported that the school had an excellent opening to school. The school was well prepared for the storm. Dr. Pietrick noted that the buses ran in a very timely manner. Tomorrow afternoon (9/16) the staff will have a picnic at the Stone House.

CONSENT AGENDA
KC Nelson-Oliveria moved to approve the minutes from the May 19, 2011 meeting and the Accounts Payable report. Jim Olson seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote.

AUDIENCE OF CITIZENS
No Comment

PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE- Dr. Pietrick
Dr. Pietrick reported that the school had an excellent opening to school. Dr. Pietrick gave a tour of the school showing the Board the work completed over the summer.

EDUCATIONAL ISSUES DISCUSSION – Topic: Cyber bullying
Dr. Levy discussed the New York Times article which she distributed. There are challenges in dealing with cyber bullying, but we are fortunate in our district to have a social development program to help deal with this. She noted that we need strategies, goals and protections which will be developed with the State Department of Education to meet our needs. Parents and educators need to be educated on cyber bullying and the impact. There will be in-service training for educators. It is difficult for schools to police activity when students are not in school.

REPORTS:
Financial Status Report – Mr. Garth Sawyer Mr. Sawyer gave a brief update of the financial status and the year end numbers. Deep River is projecting a small surplus. The administration had implemented a budget freeze earlier in the year. The school also realized other savings allowing DRES to not have to go to the Town for additional appropriation due to the number of unanticipated special education costs for the 10-11 school year.

Cafeteria Report – Mr. Sawyer
Mr. Sawyer gave an update on the status of the Cafeteria Budget Updates. The cafeteria numbers were better than anticipated allowing the subsidy to be $858.00. The food from the cafeteria was taken to John Winthrop during the power outage.

Financial Status Report – Mr. Garth Sawyer
Mr. Sawyer gave a brief update of the financial status for the current year. Currently the Deep River Elementary budget is projecting a deficit due to some unanticipated special education expenses. Dr. Pietrick and Mr. Sawyer will be looking for areas of cost savings through out the year.

Joint PK-12 Policy Committee
The curriculum and policy committees met before the storm. Curriculum reviewed a new textbook for Geometry. This has been approved by the Region 4 Board. Common Core State Standards were worked on over the summer. The new assessments will be in 2014.

Supervision District Committee Update –C. Daniels, L. Wichtowski, G. Dilger
Updates given at previous meeting.

DRES Facilities (Buildings and Grounds) Committee – C. Daniels
This committee has not met. Dr. Pietrick mentioned a problem with the 2nd boiler. The Town decided to have it paid out of the repair account. This will be reviewed with Mr. Smith in the future. This committee will resume meeting in October.

Other Committee Reports
No Updates

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT - I. Neviaser
Mr. Neviaser reported that the AYP reports will not be reported on at this time.
Mr. Neviaser gave a brief overview of the 2010-11 DRES CMT results. Mr. Neviaser noted that we have made growth and improvement over time. The majority of our kids are at or above goal.
Ms. Wichtowski asked about the disparity of our school versus Chester? Dr. Levy said that each child in each school performs differently. Dr. Levy noted that we will be working across three schools in our district to do the same things at the same time. The delivery of the curriculum and the timing of the curriculum will be assessed in similar ways in all three elementary school. All of the teachers will be given very specific plans to ensure that we can eliminate as many of these differences as possible. Science will also be focused on.
Mr. Malcarne asked if there is a measurable difference of the Deep River students when the three schools come together at John Winthrop? Mr. Neviaser noted that the CAPT scores are very high in our district and there is no noticeable difference. Dr. Levy noted that we are having continuous improvement. Performance Plus will be utilized to look at data and to help make determinations as to what to change to meet our student’s needs.
Dr. Pietrick reviewed the CMT analysis and the action plan moving forward. He noted that we are seeing an upward movement of our students. He will be meeting with his Steering Committee to develop four goals for the school. His school is focusing on writing. He feels that there has been considerable improvement in the school year. He will be using Performance Plus and developing support for students. He will also be adding assessments in Performance Plus. Diana Avino will be working with complete grade levels. He noted that SRBI meetings began today. Many students are in Tier 2 and fewer in Tier 3, this is a good sign. The school will have writing support groups in 4th, 5th and 6th. The school will also have an enrichment plan. Teachers are comfortable with going to the reading consultants. There will be a monthly meeting with Mr. Neviaser and each individual Principal to review goals and action plans.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT - R. Levy District Update Dr. Levy said that our district will be working on focus and rigor. She feels that this is the year we will be pushing forward in an academic way. Dr. Levy discussed the need for full day kindergarten for 2012-2013 school year. She noted we have a very stringent curriculum which can not be accomplished in a half day. We have been working on this for four years and with declining enrollment the time is right. This is very important for our students to have the time, skills and socialization they need.
The opening of school has been a pleasure and a very positive experience. The schedule was altered due to the storm and we were unable to have one professional development day. John Winthrop was the shelter for our district. Dr. Levy said that the staff and community came together. It was a collaborative effort of all three communities. It was noted that the Alert Now messages were helpful in keeping the community informed. The calendar will be discussed in the future with the calendar committee.
Information and Communication BOE Meeting Calendar for 2012 – First Reading The enclosure was briefly discussed and will be voted on at the Joint Board meeting on October 6th .
Building Projects- Dr. Levy discussed her vision for a five year plan. This includes full day kindergarten. She would also like to have a building project to bring sixth grade to the Middle School. After this is completed the focus will be preschool education.

PUBLIC COMMENT
No Comment

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
8.1 Next regular Deep River BOE Meeting (Nov 17th @ 7:00pm)
8.2 Election of BOE Officers (Nov)
8.3 Supt. presents major budget driver for 2012-13 (Nov)
8.4 BOE & Community input on 2012-13 budget (Nov)
Ms. Daniels thanked Ms. Wichtowski and Ms. Dilger for their hard work and years of service on the Board of Education. She also noted that there will be a workshop for all Board members on December 10, 2011.

ADJOURNMENT
On motion duly made and seconded, the Board unanimously VOTED to adjourn at 8:50pm.

Respectfully Submitted, Kelley Frazier, Board Clerk

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