Board of Directors - Regular Meeting
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - 6:00 p.m.
CITIZENS ARE INVITED TO MAKE
COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA USING THE CARDS LOCATED NEXT TO THE
AGENDAS. A BOARD MEMBER WILL RESPOND TO
ALL WRITTEN COMMENTS WITHIN A WEEK.
6:00 Call to Order
Present: Mrs. Helene Cass,
Mrs. Susan Pullar, Mrs. Ellen Breed, Mrs. Martha Leathe, Dr. William Gilbert, Mr. Ralph Stevens, Dr. Jeffrey
Bearden, and Ms. Gail Sullivan
Also Present: Ms. Vicki
Stewart, Mr. Randy Stewart, Ms. Margaret Shepherd, Mr. Jerry Burnell, Mr. Rich Buzzell, Mr.
Paul Mehlhorn, students, parents, interested members
of the public and press
Pledge of Allegiance
Scheduled Audience to the
Public: None
Members of the public who
wish to schedule an audience with the Board should contact the Superintendent
of Schools three days in advance of a meeting.
Report of the Secretary:
1. Approval
of the minutes of the regular meeting of Wednesday, November 14, 2007 .
Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Dr. Gilbert
Vote: 6-0
Report of the Chairperson:
1. Board Goals 2007-2008 - The Policy Committee has been
working on policies that pertain to the Board’s goals (curriculum policy).
2. Dr. Bearden meets with municipal officers every 4-6 weeks.
Last Friday Mrs. Cass met with town officials and they expressed some interest
in getting together as three Boards and sharing information about the budget.
Mrs. Cass explained that the Board of Directors operates as a separate entity.
There will be an email workshop on December 12th. In the
future, the towns would like to be notified if there is a workshop that would
possibly pertain to them.
Report of the
Superintendent:
1. Kindergarten presentation - Dr. Bearden welcomed the staff,
students and parents from
Mrs. Stewart said that Central’s schedule for
kindergarten students is the same as at
2. Marshwood Athletics Fall Review -
Mr. Buzzell referred the Board to the packet given
them for specific information. In general, he said it was a great Fall season, both for high school and middle school teams.
Mr. Buzzell mentioned a few highlights, such as: the
field hockey team, which now has 42 students at the Middle School; the sixteen
first team all stars in MSMA; the six records that were broken; and the two
coaches that were nominated as most valuable coaches (Bob Pierce and Guy Lajeunesse).
3. Report on Consolidation – Dr. Bearden said there is a
proposed amendment in the Legislature to change the cost sharing formula for
consolidation. Dr. Bearden said that he knew that some Board members were
frustrated at the difficulty they were having explaining the important issues
contained in the petition and gathering signatures. The Board decided that
since this petition only pertains to schools and is extremely important, that
they would, as private citizens, gather signatures at school events. The Board
also agreed to send a letter about the petition to the citizens of
4. Meeting with South Berwick Town Manager/Eliot Administrative
Assistant – There will be a meeting a week from Friday.
5. Letter from Maine Small School Coalition – Dr. Bearden said
that there was an invitation to join the Maine Small School Coalition, but that
he felt that their interests were not the same as ours.
6. Budget Timeline/Parameters – the Superintendent said that we
will post the budget timeline information on our website. He reminded the Board
that we will have the email workshop next week.
Correspondence:
1. The Marshwood High School NEASC
visit will take place in 2010. The work for that visit has already begun.’
2. DOE Letter – Dr. Bearden announced that all five schools
made Adequate Yearly Progress. He emphasized that this is something to be
extremely proud of and represented an incredible amount of work on the part of
students and staff.
3. School Bus Safety Demonstration - the Superintendent
commended Bev Hooper, Transportation Coordinator, for being very proactive with
bus safety.
4. Dr. Bearden said that he would like to commend Kris Strada for all of her volunteer work on behalf of the
district.
Report of the Committees:
1. Report of the Finance and Facilities Committee – the
committee met today. The Honeywell work is moving along. Honeywell examined the
lighting in the high school gym and found that there was
insufficient light levels and so they will redo the lights to bring them
up to code. There is power at the transportation building, finally. We have
decided to go out to bid for our audit.
2. Report of the Educational Policy Committee - None
3. Report of the Community Relations Committee – We will meet
in January.
New Business:
1. Consideration
and action to approve a request from Eliot residents to have their son remain
at
Motion: Mrs. Breed Second: Mr. Stevens
Vote: 6-0
2. Consideration and action to approve the Marshwood
Great Works School annual overnight trips to Pinkham Notch on April 30-May 2,
May 5-7, and May 7-9, 2008.
Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Mrs. Leathe Vote: 6-0
3. Consideration and action to approve Instructional Materials
Policy, First Reading.
Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Dr. Gilbert
Vote: 6-0
Mrs. Breed pointed out that the work on this
policy aligns with one of the Board’s goals.
4. Consideration and action to approve IGA Curriculum
Development Policy, First Reading.
Motion: Dr. Gilbert Second:
Mr. Stevens Vote: 6-0
5. Consideration and action to approve Electronic Devices
Policy, First Reading.
Motion: Dr. Gilbert Second: Mr. Stevens
Vote: 6-0
Mrs. Shepherd informed the
Board that the various activities for Natalie raised
over $11,000 on Saturday. Mr. Mehlhorn said that the
Executive Session -
Consideration and action to enter into an Executive Session -Discussion on a
personnel matter pursuant to Title 1A MRSA §405(6)(A).
Motion: Mrs. Breed Second: Mrs. Pullar Vote:
6-0
The Board entered into
Executive Session at 7:49 pm.
Adjournment
Motion: Mrs. Breed Second: Mrs. Pullar Vote:
6-0
The Board
adjourned at 9:30 pm.
Attest: True Record
Dr. Jeffrey B. Bearden
Secretary to the Board of
Directors