Special Finance Committee
6:30 p.m., Wed., July 9th – CATC Cafeteria
MINUTES
BUSINESS MEETING
7:00 P.M., WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2008
CAPITAL AREA TECHNICAL CENTER CAFETERIA
EXECUTIVE SESSION
[At End of Meeting]
[Re:
Evaluation of Superintendent –
Pursuant to Statutory Citation 1 M.R.S.A. §
405(6)(D)]
The following Board
Members were present:
|
Acting Chair: |
Sue Campbell |
|
Board Members: |
Jane Dennison,
Willie Emerson, Kim Silsby, Darek Grant, Dick
Barnes, and Sue Dowling, Nate Rende |
Board Members
absent:
|
Board Chair: |
Bill Burney |
Also present were:
|
Superintendent: |
Cornelia Brown |
|
Business Manager: |
James Jurdak |
|
New Student
Representative: |
S. Nash Callahan |
7:00 P.M. - BUSINESS MEETING:
1) Opening:
A.
Call to
Order: Acting Chair
B.
Pledge
of Allegiance
C.
Presentations:
None.
2) Approval
of Minutes:
A. Motion to approve the Minutes of the Regular
Meeting of June 11, 2008.
|
Move to approve the Minutes
of the Regular Meeting of June 11, 2008. |
Motion: Yeas: Nays: Vote: |
Sue Dowling Second:
Kim Silsby 8: Members Dennison,
Emerson, Silsby, Grant, Barnes, Dowling,
Rende, and 0 Motion Passed Unanimously 8-0. |
3) Communications:
A. Letters:
1. June 18, 2008 letter from Commissioner
Gendron to Dr. Brown relative to the Alternative Plan submitted on behalf of
the Augusta School Department on June 13, 2008.
2. June 16,
2008 email from Cony Art Director Chris Higgins to Dr. Brown detailing the
3. June 30, 2008 letter from Mr. Walter Beesley,
Maine Department of Education, advising Dr. Brown that the
4. June 30, 2008 letter from Mr. Walter Beesley,
Maine Department of Education, advising Dr. Brown that the
B. Student
Council Report:
Student
Representative Nash Callahan advised the Board that he had no Student Council
Report as students were on summer vacation.
4) Resignations
and Retirements:
A. Resignations:
1. Angela
White - Letter of Resignation dated June 12, 2008 informing the Augusta
School Department that she would be resigning from her position as an 8th
Grade Special Education Teacher and an 8th Grade Field Hockey
Coach at Hodgkins Middle School effective with the close of the
2007-2008 school year.
2. Amy
Hoague - Letter of Resignation dated June 13, 2008 informing the Augusta
School Department that she would be resigning from her position as a Pre-K
Teacher and a Physical Education Teacher at Lincoln Elementary
School effective with the close of the 2007-2008 school year.
3. Margo Caswell - Letter of Resignation dated June 13, 2008 informing the Augusta School Department that she would be resigning from her position as a Special Education Teacher at Gilbert Elementary School effective with the close of the 2007-2008 school year.
4. Heather
Celli – Letter of Resignation dated June 17, 2008 informing the Augusta
School Department that she would be resigning from her position as a 6th
Grade Teacher at
5. Crystal DeVogt – Letter of Resignation dated July 1, 2008 informing the
Augusta School Department that she would be resigning from her position as a Mathematics Teacher at Cony High School effective June 30, 2008.
5) Recognitions:
A. June
20, 2008 Letter to Dr. Brown, Chair Burney, and the Members of the Augusta
School Board from Cony High School French Teacher Priscille Michaud announcing
how well the Cony High School World and Classical Languages students did on the
National Language Tests.
B. July
1, 2008 Email to Scott Phair from Debra Gilbert, Subject: Bronze Winner
Information – 44th National SkillsUSA Leadership Conference, June 28th,
6) Informational
Items:
A.
Out-of-State
Professional Development Travel:
1. Kathryn
Hollicker,
Trip to
Annual National
B.
Athletic
and Extra-Curricular Nominations:
1. Fall
Coaching Nominations for 2008-2009 school year:
Ø Taylor Harmon Cross Country Coach
Ø Robby Vachon Head Football Coach - Cony
Ø Bruce Dostie Assistant Football Coach
Ø BL Lippert Assistant Football Coach
Ø Carrie Lasselle Football Cheering Coach
Ø Shawn Totman Head Cross Country Coach
Ø Krista Chase Head Field Hockey Coach
Ø Holly Daigle Assistant Field Hockey Coach
Ø Beth Sproul Freshman Field Hockey Coach
Ø Nate Benoit Head Boys Soccer Coach
Ø Sean Davis Assistant Boys Soccer Coach
Ø Jeramie Greenleaf Head Girls Soccer Coach
Ø Kathleen Fowler Assistant Girls Soccer Coach
Ø Timothy Folsom Head Golf Coach
Ø Shawn Johnson Assistant Golf Coach
Ø Pia Lenane Head Volley Ball Coach
Ø Pia Lenane Assistant Volley Ball Coach
2. Winter
Coaching Nominations for 2008-2009 school year:
Ø
Karen Sirois Cony
Head Girls Basketball Coach
C. Block
Scheduling Data:
Dr. Brown
reported to the Board that included in their Board Packet was research data
relative to Block Scheduling, which was provided to her by Eleanor Gay, who asked
her to send it along to them for their review.
7)
Committee Reports:
A.
Finance
Committee Report:
1.
Business
Manager’s Report. Business Manager
James Jurdak reported to the Board that he had no Financial Report, as he was
still closing the books. Mr. Jurdak did
report that year-end was going strong.
2.
Energy
Committee. Member Grant proposed to
the Board that an Energy Committee be created to identify areas that need
improvement in the
Member Grant also mentioned
that Buildings and Grounds Director John Pucciarelli is in the process of
preparing an RFP to solicit a company to undertake the work involved in
conducting an Energy Audit at each of the school buildings.
Member Grant also stated that
Committee Members would consist of Board Members, a City Councilor, Faculty
from each
B.
Curriculum
& Education Committee Report:
1.
Curriculum
Coordinator’s Report. None.
C.
Personnel
& Negotiations Committee Report: None.
8)
Consent Items: (All matters listed under this item will be considered routine and will
be enacted by one motion. A Board Member may ask to have an item(s)
removed and considered individually.)
A. Nominations for Professional Positions:
None.
9) Public
Comment on Non-Personnel Agenda Items:
There was public comment on the proposed 4X4 Schedule at
Ø
Eleanor Gay (Diversified Occupations
Ed Tech III at CATC) made the following comments: “I still don’t think it is a good idea
because the problems those are happening in High School don’t start in High
School. They start much lower. You should start in the Elementary
level. Students need to master the
basics and get their work in on time.
You need to put some pretty strict responsibility back on the kids. Changing schedules in the past hasn’t
helped. What makes anyone think changing
schedules now will help? Also, Teachers
are not totally onboard as they believe there is not enough prep time.
Ø
Marrion Ladd (student entering her
Junior Year at Cony) made the following comments: “I really don’t think it’s the most effective
way to help students who are failing pass.
I don’t think the issue is about scheduling when it comes to
passing. If students don’t show up for their
classes, they won’t learn anything. The real
problem is discipline. Instead of
changing to a 4X4 Schedule, which is a huge thing to change, you should first focus
on working on the little stuff that’s easier to fix, and it might work a little
better in the long run. Parents need to be
informed when students are stepping out of line, skipping classes, being tardy,
and that kind of thing.”
Ø
John Nimms (parent of a daughter who
attends Cony) made the following comments:
“I think Cony Principal Anastasio is proposing the 4X4 Schedule to
prevent students from dropping out of school.
I believe students who are dropping out of school should be given an
exit interview to determine why they are dropping out of school. Are we getting any feedback as to why
students are dropping out of school?”
Member Barnes stated that the Alternative Education Task Force conducted
a survey of 16-20 year olds who had left school and that they had cited a
variety of reasons for dropping out of school, including sickness, family
matters, etc.
Member Barnes also stated, “We are not reinventing the 4X4 Schedule. There are some great blueprints and good
examples already out there. We have time
to work out the bugs over the next year.”
Ø
Jan Murphy (Speech Therapist at Hussey
and the parent of a junior and two 8th Graders) made the following
comments: “The vote tonight is not fair
to parents. We were not given enough
notice that the vote would take place tonight.
We did not have enough time to work out our questions and get them
answered. What’s going to happen with
the music? What’s going to happen with
AP Classes? I have some concerns that
I’d like to see addressed.”
Ø
Marsha Burns (parent who will have a
sophomore and senior entering Cony this fall) stated, “I was just wondering if
there has been any new information presented to the Board on the 4X4 Schedule
that had not been presented in March?
Dr. Brown responded, “I referred tonight to a packet of information that
was given to me by Eleanor Gay that was information the Board didn’t have at
previous meetings. I know the Board has
received a variety of emails some from Guidance at
Eleanor Gay asked if there was any literature relative to test score
results.
Member Silsby stated that she has seen no data indicating that test
scores go lower when schools switch to the 4X4 Schedule.
Eleanor Gay asked, “Is there any staff
training proposed?”
Dr. Brown replied, “We were waiting to see
what the outcome is of the Board’s decision because it made no sense to me to
invest in staff training and start planning for that if we were not going to
adopt the 4X4. If, in fact, that takes
place, immediately we will begin looking at what training the staff would like
to have. That is one of the first
questions that we need to ask. What do
you folks think would be the most helpful and the most meaningful to you as we
prepare to make this change?”
Eleanor Gay asked, “Do you think that one
year will be a sufficient amount of time for training?”
Dr. Brown replied, “That is a question we
need to look at in terms of the staff capacity and what they feel they need
training in. A year’s lead time is
unusual in many changes for curricular or other things, so I do believe it’s
enough time.”
Cony Principal Anastasio stated, “We are not
going from 50 minutes to 90 minutes, which would require more start-up training
time. We are going from 80 minutes to 80
minutes. It’s just configured
differently.”
Kim Silsby stated, “Hopefully, an
Implementation Committee would be formed, and we would get regular updates on
the progress. If it seemed like it
wasn’t going to feasible in ‘09-‘10, then we would try to hear what the staff
had to say about that. Hopefully, we
would have a variety of stakeholders on that Implementation Team, such as
Administrators, parents, Teachers, and a School Board Member. I am hoping that, if it passes tonight, we’d
have some regular updates to make sure that we’re ready to go. I think that professional development is
critical. It is more the pacing piece
that I’m worried about than contents lost, so I think that that piece is going
to be really important for Teachers. For
English Teachers together to be able to talk about – How are we going to make
this work?”
Eleanor Gay asked, “Who is going to do the
scheduling?” Cony Principal Anastasio
stated, “We have a 90% success rate in scheduling. We hand schedule all summer long.”
Mr. Nimms stated, “There’s been a lot of talk
about SATs going down.”
Ø
Mrs. Forbes (parent of 3 kids – a
senior and 2 juniors, who are in Band) stated, “Band and Chorus is a priority
in
Member Rende
stated, “I agree that the problems start before High School, but that doesn’t
answer the problems for the next few classes.
I believe that Principal Anastasio will work with our passionate staff
to try to make this thing work. It can
be done, and I know our staff can do it.”
Member Rende
stated that a Teacher sent him an email tonight, and she said, “With this
schedule, we’ll build capacity and have the ability to offer more types of
courses. However, with an increased
capacity, I hope there will be no major cuts in staff. We realize that it is supposed to increase
capacity, but we hope that it’s not something that will lend itself to saying
we can do more with less.”
Member Barnes stated, “Cony Principal
Anastasio is on top of this, and I admire his boldness to go out on the limb on
this. It was very courageous of him to
make this proposal.”
Member Silsby asked Principal Anastasio if AP
would be an all-year class. He responded,
“There are three scenarios that could work, and I need input from the
Teachers. We came up with several
scenarios, but there is no incentive to find solutions if we don’t know if the
4X4 will pass. The first thing we
schedule is Band. We have more kids in
Band than in any other course.
Band/Chorus is given the highest priority.”
Member Silsby stated that she has received
lots of emails in favor of the 4X4 Schedule.
She further stated that one year is generous and that staff have come
through with tighter schedules. Member
Silsby asked, “Is it possible to get an Implementation Committee that pulls
together a plan that gives regular updates to the Board? Could we also make some links to that
Implementation Group on our Web site so that people can read the regular
updates?” Member Silsby further stated
that, “This is probably one of the most engaging conversations we’ve had –
honestly – in my eight years of being on the Board. I think it’s pretty exciting. I don’t want to lose the interest of the
community, and I think that they lose interest when they don’t feel empowered
or that they matter. I’d like to see an
Implementation Plan and Committee with diverse stakeholders and regular updates
to the Board and Web site. As part of
the Implementation Plan, I’m hopeful that we are going to create a Professional
Development Plan with Teachers self directing that effort.”
Member Barnes suggested that an update on the
4X4 Schedule be given to the Education Committee on a quarterly basis.
Member Dennison stated, “Thee vote on the 4X4
Schedule is the hardest decision I’ve had to make since I have been on the
School Board. I feel that I have to
defer to Principal Anastasio in a case like this because he works with the
student body and the Teachers, and he thinks it’s a good idea. Also, I don’t think it’s any big stretch from
what we are currently doing, as we currently have 80-minute classes. My concern is – why there is so much concern
about this from the Teachers’ side.”
Ø
Carolyn Van Horn (Teacher) commented
that, “When you condense time, you lose content.”
Member Emerson stated, “I have decided that
this can work with Teacher prep/Teacher development. I think there have been successes enough with
this Schedule that it can work if we’re very, very careful. There are a lot of unknowns and nothing is
going to be perfect, but I think that it can be tweaked as we find out where
the problems are.”
Student Representative Nash Callahan stated, “The
best learning environment is a consistent environment. Really, it’s a choice of just getting the 4X4
as a rough fit when we could spend a little more time (a couple of years) and
propose a different schedule that is not like any other schedule, but it fits
us best. I would have liked to see us
have more time before the vote, as we really don’t know too much more than we
did in March.
Member Grant stated, “I would like to see a
Parents’ Forum (and a Students’ Forum) created to educate the public on what
this 4X4 will do. We have heard a
tremendous amount of great questions and a lot of answers to all of those
questions. However, there are still some
unanswered questions. I don’t know if
we’ll ever really get straight answers to those questions unless we get to take
that next step where we know this is where we are headed. The Implementation Committee can work to gather
public questions, comments, and even suggestions and then work towards moving
this schedule forward.”
Member
10) Unfinished
Business:
A.
Policy Adoptions/Revisions/Deletions:
1. Motion to approve the Second Reading of Policy File No. EBCA – Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
|
Move to approve the Second Policy File No. EBCA – Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. |
Motion: Yeas: Nays: Vote: |
Dick Barnes Second:
Kim Silsby 8: Members Dennison,
Emerson, Silsby, Grant, Barnes, Dowling,
Rende, and 0 Motion Passed Unanimously 8-0. |
B. Motion to table the vote (again-tabled March
2008) for the 4X4 Schedule Change at
|
Move to table (again- tabled March 2008) the vote for the 4X4 Schedule Change at until August 2008. |
Motion: Yeas: Nays: Vote: |
Sue Dowling Second:
Willie Emerson 2: Members Dowling and Emerson 6: Members Dennison, Silsby,
Grant, Barnes, Rende, and Campbell Motion Failed 6-2. |
C. Motion
to place on the table the 4X4 Schedule Change at
(tabled March 2008).
|
Move to place on the table
the 4X4 Schedule Change at |
Motion: Yeas: Nays: Vote: |
Dick Barnes Second:
Darek Grant 8: Members Dennison,
Emerson, Silsby, Grant, Barnes, Dowling,
Rende, and 0 Motion Passed Unanimously 8-0. |
D. Motion
to approve a 4X4 Schedule Change at
|
Move to approve a 4X4 Schedule Change at |
Motion: Yeas: Abstained: Nays: Vote: |
Dick Barnes Second:
Darek Grant 6: Members Emerson, Silsby,
Grant, Barnes, Rende, and Campbell 2: Members Dowling and Dennison 0 Motion Passed 6-0. |
11) New
Business:
A. Student Activity Travel Requests
(Out-of-State or Overnight):