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)