THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO BOARD APPROVAL AT THE NEXT BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
DEEP RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION
JANUARY 19, 2012
The regular meeting of the Deep River Board of Education was held on
Thursday, January 19, 2012. In attendance were Christine Daniels, Karen
Nelson-Oliveria, Dave Berardis, Miriam Morrissey, Julia Grabowski,
Mark Malcarne, Art Robbins, and James Olson. Also in attendance were
Dr. Ruth Levy, Superintendent, Ian Neviaser, Assistant Superintendent,
Mr. Garth Sawyer and Kelley Frazier, Clerk. Absent: Liz
Tracy-Montecalvo
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Daniels at 7:02p.m.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Dr. Levy opened the floor for the nominations for the office of chairman.
A motion was made by Mark Malcarne to nominate Christine Daniels
Chairman of the Deep River Elementary Board of Education. Art Robbins
seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Daniels opened the floor for the following nominations:
Christine Daniels moved to nominate Mark Malcarne as the Vice Chair
of the Deep River Elementary Board of Education. David Berardis
seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Mark Malcarne moved to nominated Art Robbins as the Secretary of the
Deep River Elementary Board of Education. Jim Olson seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
CONSENT AGENDA
Karen Nelson-Oliveria made a motion to approve the minutes from the
November 17, 2011 meeting as amended and the Accounts Payable report.
Jim Olson seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None
Ms. Daniels asked to move the Principals Update up in the agenda.
PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE- J. Pietrick
STUDENT PRESENTATION
Dr. Levy introduced Cooper Robbins and Michael Quick who gave a report
of activities at DRES. Ms. Daniels and the Board thanked the students
for their presentation.
OTHER ITEMS
Possible Vote to Accept Donation of $1000 to the Region 4 Food Services
Program from Dinners at the Farm – T. Peterlik & J. Rapp
On a motion made by Mark Malcarne and seconded by Jim Olson, the Board
voted to accept the donation in the amount of $1,000.00 for the Region 4
Food Services Program. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.
Dr. Levy said that Mr. Peterlik and Mr. Rapp were not available to
come to the meeting. She mentioned that they have donated monies to all
five schools to help create nutritious meals for our children and to
promote local farming and purchases.
Update on Reading Program – C. Miller & J. Courtmanche
Dr. Levy introduced our reading consultants Cathy Miller and Jackie
Courtmanche. They gave an update on the reading program and the
services students receive who are in the program. Ms. Daniels thanked
Ms. Miller and Ms. Courtmanche for all of their enthusiasm and hard
work. Their update will be added to the website for parents to view.
REPORTS:
Financial Status Report – Mr. Garth Sawyer
Mr. Sawyer gave a brief update of the financial status for Deep River
Elementary School. The school is meeting their goals financially.
Electricity is under budget. We are receiving reimbursement from the
state for excess costs reimbursement for special education students.
There has been a decline in the percentage of reimbursement. As of
today, DRES has a projected surplus of $8,700.
Cafeteria Report – Mr. Sawyer
Mr. Sawyer gave an update on the status of the Cafeteria Budget. We are
still projecting a board subsidy, but no additional funds are expected.
At the March meeting there should be better numbers regarding how many
students are buying lunch.
Joint PK-12 Policy Committee
Work is being done on the bullying policy.
Supervision District
Art Robbins and KC Oliveria are the representatives from DRES. The
Calendar Committee reviewed and approved the 2012-13 & 2013-14
calendars. This will be on the website soon. Ms. Daniels noted that
Supervision District voted on their budget with a 4.40% increase, before
the phone system the increase is 3.70%. The district will implement a
district wide phone system. This will cost the district $42,000 for a
five year lease. Deep River will end up saving $613 a year with this
implementation and for Deep River a new phone system is urgent.
Curriculum
This committee has not met. January 25th is the next meeting.
Policy
Dr. Levy asked if any board members had any questions regarding the
anti-bullying policy. She noted the significant amount of time it takes
our school leaders to comply with the law. This will be voted on at
the next Joint Board of Education meeting.
DRES Facilities (Buildings and Grounds) Committee – C. Daniels
We have been happy with our collaboration with the town. They spent
over $40,000 repairing the roof. There are no known major leaks at this
time. The building is in good shape. Mr. Malcarne noted that the
trees in the circle and near the staff parking areas will be trimmed.
The Town has agreed to do this work. The Committee is working with the
town and school custodians to prioritize and be proactive in maintaining
the school. They are compiling budget numbers to upgrade the HVAC
units.
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT - I. Neviaser
Mr. Neviaser reported a number of things happening in January. Tuesday,
January 17th all staff members, certified and non-certified, were at
VRHS reviewing the bullying law with school attorneys. Staff will need
yearly training. On the 18th the CMT and CAPT workshops will be
attended by representatives from our schools to see the changes for this
year. There will be more online testing. Supplemental testing will
follow a different procedure this year and may not have to be given to
all of the students. On the 25th of January there is a Student Success
Plan Forum. This is an academic and career plan for students from sixth
grade through high school. This is an outline of academic expectations
and provides students with a path to whatever career they choose. The
TEAM program for new teachers is still being focused on. Region 4 will
have a site visit from state officials on January 24th. They will talk
with various teachers, mentors and administrators. Math groups continue
their work and will meet with consultants in February and April to
discuss the final units of the year. We are part of the Middlesex
Consortium which is working on plans for the Common Core State
Standards.
The website is improving. It is still difficult to find things. The
staff directory went up this week. Clubs and activities are not
updated.
District Update
Dr. Levy presented the proposed school climate plans for Deep River
Elementary School. The plan is on the website after the vote by all
schools. The Board briefly discussed the bullying process.
On a motion duly made and seconded the Board unanimously VOTED to
approve the School Climate Plans as presented by Dr. Levy for Deep River
Elementary School. The motion passed.
Dr. Levy feels that the language for the bullying legislation needs to be changed and she will be working on this.
Last night there was a Community Share Dinner to receive input from
the community to solidify goals for our schools for the next Five Years.
There were 133 people who attended and gave their input and ideas.
This information will be discussed on February 4th at the Board
workshop.
Information and Communication
Superintendent’s Presentation of DRES Draft Budget 2012-13
This will be presented in the workshops and not at this meeting. As of
this point, we have a 3.45% increase. It is inclusive of full day
kindergarten, but not of any additional requests from Dr. Pietrick.
PUBLIC COMMENT
An email was read from Amy Castello to the Board members regarding full
day Kindergarten. She is concerned with the transition of students who
currently attend a part time preschool program. If she had been given
more notice she may consider an additional program to prepare her
daughter for full day kindergarten. She suggested a combination of half
and full days which then graduate to full day. Dr. Levy responded via
email to Ms. Castello stating that we are willing to work with parents
and students who may need a shorter day. We will be flexible and open
to the needs of individual students.
One audience member asked if statistics for class sizes will be
available at the Budget workshops. Dr. Levy stated yes, that this is
part of the budget planning process.
A member from the audience suggested having a draft budget of DRES
with the Supervision District budget numbers available for the public to
view. This is difficult because the Supervision information is pivotal
in planning the individual school budgets.
ADJOURNMENT
On motion duly made and seconded, the Board unanimously VOTED to adjourn at 9:03pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kelley Frazier, Board Clerk
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
8.1 DRES BOE 2012-13 Budget Workshops (Feb 9th, Mar 6th, Mar 12th)
8.2 Vote to adopt DRES Budget for 2012-13(Mar)
8.3 Vote on Staff non-renewals (Mar)
8.7 Present DRES 2012-13 Budget at Town Meeting (TBD)