The Webutuck Board
of Education held their December 5, 2011
meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Webutuck High School Library.
The following
Board members were present:
Dale Culver,
President
Joanne Boyd
Judy Moran
Kristen Panzer
John Perotti
Robert Trotta
Also Present:
James Gratto Jr., Superintendent
Mary Grden, School Business Manager
Therese Trotter, District Clerk
Katy McEnroe – WES Principal
Michelle Smith- Teacher
Jay Curtis, EBIS Principal
Jennifer Dowling and husband
Beth Murphy
Laura Calabrese
Robert Eastman
Absent:
William McGhee
Brian Christofel, Student Representative
CALL TO
ORDER
President Culver called the business meeting of December 5, 2011 to order at 7:38 p.m.
EXECUTIVE
SESSION
Ms. Moran made and Mr. Perotti seconded a motion to adjourn to executive session at 7:39 pm for the
purpose of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
RECONVENE PUBLIC
SESSION
Ms. Moran made and Mrs. Panzer seconded a motion
to adjourn the executive session and to reconvene the public session at 8:08 pm.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
PRINCIPALS’
REPORT
Jay
Curtis, Intermediate Principal – EBIS BET
This presentation was moved to December 12, 2011.
Michelle
Smith, Elementary Teacher – Use of Technology in Classroom
Michelle Smith spoke about the technology she
uses in her classroom to teach her students.
She stated that she loves her Smartboard, as do her students, and she utilizes
it in any way she can such as showing students different virtual versions of a
story. She explained that she has been
working on punctuation in her class and found a book Don’t look at it! Don’t
touch it!, which had a lot of punctuation on its cover. She
used the book as a writing lesson and the students created a representation of
each scene in the book using materials in her classroom. She incorporated reading, writing and math
into the project with the students. She
and the students then made a movie of the project using Microsoft Movie
Maker. The students were involved in
selecting which scene went in what sequence and they also figured out the
timing of the scenes. She showed the movie to the audience which everyone
enjoyed.
Mrs. McEnroe stated she gave an updated copy of
the BET goals to all members of the Board.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No were no comments from the public.
STUDENT REPORT
There
was no student report tonight.
PRESENTATION: Jennifer Dowling:
Jennifer Dowling spoke about what the Berkshire Taconic Community does
and why she has come to the Board meeting.
They are a Community Foundation for North East Dutchess, Columbia County,
Litchfield County, and Berkshire County. They are nonprofit public charity that
has been in existence for approximately 25 years. She explained that for the last twelve years
they have been actively working with public school districts in the region
creating Education Enrichment Funds. The
purpose of these funds is to support innovative projects for students and
teachers that would not normally be supported by the budget. She explained that these projects range from
in or out of the classroom, field trips and even artist-in-residence. All kinds of projects can be supported by
these funds. She went on to explain that
they have been approached by a number of people to start a fund for
Webutuck. She would like to work with
the Superintendent putting a team together of seven to nine people comprised of
parents, community leaders, business people and one or two school
employees. Their job would be to raise
funds for this endowment which will be a permanent fund and will oversee the
distribution of the grants. She
explained that the various schools they have worked with all operate their
funds differently which she went on to explain.
She noted that endowments are permanently restricted funds which spend a
portion of their money on grants each year with the idea that donors feel
confident that their money will build and grow so that every dollar that is
given in a year is invested and produces a little more income so that ideally
there is more money to spend each year.
Ms. Dowling stated that Berkshire Taconic Foundation will receive 2% of
the assets in the funds raised.
Discussion then turned to Webutuck Fund for Excellence which was started
in 1996. It was created to provide
supplemental financial support for the education of students at Webutuck. The fund has been dormant since 2004 with a
balance of $6000. The history of the
fund was discussed with Beth Murphy stating she and Bob Meade were the only
active WFFEE members.
Board members had questions ranging from the time frame to raise the
money; guidelines to follow; can individual students benefit; to how the fund
will be managed. Mrs. Dowling explained
that the endowment building enterprise would encourage donors to give larger
gifts which would not be for a single project which was WFFEE’s focus in the
past. Ms. Dowling will schedule a
meeting with Superintendent Gratto to begin developing a team. Discussion ensued.
CONSENSUS AGENDA VOTE
Mr. Perotti made and Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion to approve the Consent Agenda (as amended). The amendment by Mr. Trotta called for removing 10.A under Personnel due to the fact he is representing Ray Rivard and an amendment by Judy Moran called for removing 10.F under Personnel.
A consent agenda is a single vote, which approves all asterisked items. Board policy (#008a) prohibits discussion of consent agenda items. Asterisked * items can be pulled from the consent agenda for discussion by any one Board member.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
DISTRICT CLERK’S REPORT
*A. Approval of Minutes for November 21, 2011 Board meeting.
Mr. Perotti made and Mrs. Boyd seconded a motion to accept the minutes as submitted:
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
B. Delegations - None
PERSONNEL
A. Support
Staff Appointments
This item was removed from the consent agenda
Ms. Moran made and Mr. Perotti seconded the
following motion:
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of
Schools, BE IT RESOLVED that
the Board of Education hereby approves the following support staff
appointments:
Brendan Sheehan Teacher’s
Aide (1.0 FTE)
Effective: December 6, 2011 Salary: $12.01/hr, Step 1 per CSEA
Raymond Rivard Maintenance
Worker (.5 FTE)
Effective: December 6, 2011 Salary: $16.90/hr, Step 1 per CSEA
Raymond Rivard Custodial
Worker (.5 FTE)
Effective: December 6, 2011 Salary: $14.92/hr, Step 1 per CSEA
Ayes 5 Nays 0 The motion carried.
Mr. Trotta abstained
from the vote.
*B. Substitute
Support Staff Appointments
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the recommendation
of the Superintendent of Schools, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Education hereby approves the following
substitute support staff appointments:
Monica Ostrander Substitute
Teacher Aide/Assistant
Effective: December 6, 2011 Salary: $11.96/hour
Conrad Gagnon Substitute
Teacher Aide/Assistant
Effective: December 6, 2011 Salary: $11.96/hour
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
*C. Extra-Curricular Appointments for the 2011-2012
School Year
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the recommendation
of the Superintendent of Schools, BE IT RESOLVED,
that the Board of
Education hereby approves the following 2011-2012 extra- curricular appointments:
Jay Bradley Play
Instrumental Director
Lee Stowe Play
Vocal Director
Lee Stowe Drama
Club Advisor
*D. Leave
of Absence
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of
Schools, BE IT RESOLVED that
the Board of Education hereby approves the following paid/unpaid leave of
absence as authorized under the Family Medical Leave Act:
Trisha Lawrence Typist
Effective: approx.
January 13, 2012- June 30, 2012
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
*E. Instructional Staff Resignation
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the
recommendation of the Superintendent, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of
Education hereby
accepts the following Instructional Staff Resignation for the purpose of
retirement:
Brian
Geraghty Elementary
Education
Effective:
January 27, 2012
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
F. Instructional Staff Appointments
Regarding the SAT Prep class, Mrs. Moran questioned
if a decision had been made about the cost to students outside the district who
took the course and how many students are being allowed. The Superintendent stated it will cost fifty
dollars for Webutuck students and seventy-five dollars for students outside the
District. There will be ten students to
a class and if there are less than ten students he will speak to the Board.
Mrs. Moran made and Mrs. Panzer seconded the
following motion:
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent
of Schools, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Education hereby accepts the
following instructional appointments:
Henry
Pollinger English - SAT Prep. Course Instructor
Effective: December 1, 2011-January 31, 2012
Robert Reid Math - SAT Prep. Course Instructor
Effective: December 1, 2011-January 31, 2012
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
A. Posting of Labor Contracts on the District website
The Superintendent spoke about posting the Superintendent contract and the Teacher’s contract on the website by having a link to SeethroughNY.com. President Culver suggested that every contract should be on the website and suggested putting the CSEA and Administrative contracts on along with a link to SeethroughNY for the other two contracts.
B. Development of Client Survey
Mrs. Panzer had many questions on the survey. She stated there should be much more discussion beforehand and feels the survey needs more structure. Mrs. Boyd stated that she didn’t look at the survey questions for depth of information but for something short and easy. Mr. Gratto reminded members that this is only a first step to get their feedback and suggestions. President Culver suggested it be the Board’s climate survey and members should give feedback to the Superintendent and go from there. Discussion ensued. It was noted that BOCES is thinking of putting a climate survey together for all the Districts to use.
C. Update on plans to implement the School Tools Parent Portal.
The Superintendent commented on School Tools which is the District’s data management system. The District is moving towards having a Parent Portal site, which is part of the School Tools system, on our home page that would allow parents and students to review their grades and attendance. The Superintendent stated he will keep the Board informed of how the process is coming along and when the Parent Portal site will be up and running.
D. The Superintendent was asked how the District tracks staff attendance. He explained that he is looking at AESOP which is the District’s substitute teacher call program, and will report to the Board when complete.
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
A. Program Planning for 2012-2013
Program Planning has been going on since September. The Superintendent commented that they are looking at this year and evaluating how things are going. He also is planning for next year and focusing on those important topics that need to be looked at such as AIS, efficient use of staff, and professional development.
B. Update on math text book research and NWEA assessment program.
The District is in the process of researching a new K-6 Math book series. Mr. Gratto explained that NWEA program is an interim assessment. It stands for Northwest Western Evaluation Associates. It is a computer based assessment program.
BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS
*A. Declare
Surplus Books
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, BE IT RESOLVED, that the
Board of Education hereby declares
excess private school textbooks.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
*B. Surplus Waste Oil
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, BE IT RESOLVED, that the
Board of Education hereby declares five drums used waste oil as surplus to be
put out to bid.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
*C.
Acceptance of Grant/Donation from
Mr. Perotti made and
Mrs. Boyd seconded the following motion:
Upon the
recommendation of the Superintendent, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of
Education hereby accepts with gratitude a grant/donation in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1000.00) from the
Millbrook Friends of Music in the Schools to be used as the “District
determines best especially for its youngest students to gain an awareness and
hopefully an appreciation of classical music through which even the most cutting edge of today’s music is
derived.”
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
BOARD OF EDUCATION
A. Approval
and Adoption of Policies Series 2000 (School Board Governance) and Series 3000
(Administration)
Mr. Trotta made and
Mrs. Panzer seconded the following motion:
Upon the
recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education hereby
approves the adoption of Policies Series 2000 (School Board Governance) and
Series 3000 (Administration).
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
B. Finance
Committee Update
President Culver updated the Board on the recent
meeting of the Finance Committee. Their agenda consisted of the following
topics: reviewing senior exemptions; review
of the internal audit report will take place in February; discussion of a propane
fueling station which would give the District the opportunity to use propane
buses, MES surplus items and lastly preliminary issues for the 2012-2013 school
budget. Those items are the $170,000
increase in debt service which comes from “bleeding down” a fund that has been
contributing a small amount each year since the Capital Project, that money
will now come directly out of the main budget; the step freeze taken by
teachers last year will be $125,000 increase this year, increase in health
insurance will be $205,000, loss of ARRA and Educational Jobs Fund money will
be $281,000 and lastly the 2% tax levy cap will be $242,484. President Culver announced that they will
meet with the Power Authority which he hopes will give us a plan of energy
savings into the future. Mr. Trotta
questioned if there had any headway made on a generator. President Culver stated that there hadn’t
been much progress. Discussion ensued.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Michelle Smith commented on our area being very windy consistently when
they are out on the playground and perhaps we could use a windmill for energy
savings.
The Stefanie Giglio, the newspaper reporter spoke about a boy in Malawi
that collected scrap metal and made a windmill.
She suggested that the District should have the technology class collect
scrap metal and build one
Mrs. Boyd thanked Mr. Geraghty for his many years of service and wished
him well in his retirement.
EXECUTIVE
SESSION
Mr. Perotti made and Mrs. Boyd seconded a motion to adjourn to executive session at 9:25 pm for the
purpose of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
RECONVENE
PUBLIC SESSION
Mr. Perotti made and Mr. Trotta seconded a motion
to adjourn the executive session and to reconvene the public session at 10:11
pm.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Ms. Moran made and Mrs. Boyd
seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting of December 5, 2011 at 10:12
pm.
Ayes 6 Nays 0 The motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Therese M. Trotter
District Clerk