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.

6:45 Executive Session - Consideration and action to enter into an Executive Session -update on Educational Technician Negotiations pursuant to Title 1A MRSA §405(6)(D).

Motion: Dr. Gilbert Second: Mrs. Pullar Vote: 6-0

Present: Mrs. Helene Cass, Mrs. Ellen Breed, Mrs. Susan Pullar, Mr. Ralph Stevens, Dr. William Gilbert, Mrs. Martha Leathe, Dr. Jeffrey Bearden and Ms. Gail Sullivan

Also Present: Mr. Randy Stewart, Mrs. Vicki Stewart, Mr. Paul Mehlhorn, Mrs. Cheryl Harmon, Ms. Krista Zurek, Ms. Amy LaBelle, Ms. Jennifer Broadbent, Ms. Sarah Tibbetts, Mr. Jerry Burnell, Ms. Kelly Glynn, Mr. John Caverly, and interested members of the public and press.

7:00 Call to Order

Pledge of Allegiance

Scheduled Audience to the Public

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. Consideration and action to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 17, 2007, with corrections.

Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Mrs. Breed Vote: 5-0 (Dr. Gilbert got called out of the room).

Report of the Chairperson:

Mrs. Cass said that they had the Chair luncheon and that it went very well.

 

Superintendent’s Report:

1. Students from Mrs. Hoyt's and Mrs. Gilbride's third grade classes presented facts about paper. They told the audience and the Board that the amount of paper that is thrown away every day is equivalent to wasting a billion trees. Mrs. Stewart explained that five parents volunteer to take the recycled paper to the transfer station every Friday. Anne Milne, an educational technician at Central School, helps out with this program.

2. Mr. Mehlhorn introduced two high school students, Morgan Pickett and Molly Pomerleau. Morgan introduced two new student members of the Recycling Club, Eric Collins and Caleb Demers. They told the Board that they purchased shirts and they have been featured in the "Shwood Files" and that the Weekly Sentinel did an article on them. They now have over 45 members in the Recycling Club. They showed the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", to approximately 150 people. They explained that they routinely collect 1500 bottles and cans a week. We are currently renting recycling bins. The club would like to have the district buy bins and find someone to pick them up. They also said that they would like the whole district to become "greener".

3. Mrs. Harmon introduced two students from the Career Vocational Programs. The first student to speak was Melissa Knight, who talked about being in the health occupation program. She did an internship at a nursing home in North Berwick and realized that working in the health field wasn't the career for her. She is now in the early childhood program. She talked about how beneficial it was to be able to explore a career before having to choose a college major and make a career decision. The next student to speak was Marjorie Roma, who is taking welding at Sanford. She said that she loves being in the program because they do work that benefits the community. Currently they're working on a project for the fire department. She stressed that the vocational program has helped her to be more self confident and it has helped her to work well with other people.

Mr. Mehlhorn said that they had conducted an intensive review of guidance services. He thanked the Board for allowing the high school to have an additional guidance counselor. He also thanked Cheryl Harmon for all of her hard work in restructuring the guidance department using domains as a way of helping each guidance counselor become an expert in a particular area. Each guidance counselor gave some highlights of the work they've been doing. Mr. Mehlhorn said that one of the goals of the guidance department and the administrative team is to make sure that no one falls through the cracks at Marshwood High School. He said they want to intervene on students' behalf sooner, rather than later.

Dr. Bearden acknowledged that this is School Counselor Week and thanked all the counselors for their hard work on behalf of the students in the district.

4. Dr. Bearden announced the acceptance of a letter of retirement from Janet Cassidy, PreK Teacher at Central School.

5. Dr. Bearden said that the next Board meeting is scheduled for February 28th and at that time he would present the his budget to the School Board.

6. Mrs. Cass, Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Bearden went to Augusta for the hearings on the district restructuring proposals. Dr. Gilbert and Mrs. Cass testified and also read Mr. Stevens' testimonial. Dr. Bearden said that he thought that some form of regionalization would come out of the extensive hearings.

7. The Retreat has been rescheduled for March 9th from 8 am -2 pm.

8. Gail Sullivan explained that all the teachers in the district were working on one of the three district goals on February 2nd during the staff inservice: anti-bullying, informational literacy, and integration of technology. Ms. Sullivan said that the teachers really appreciated the gift of time for planning and discussion.

9. Dr. Bearden said that he had accepted letters of resignation from Louis Dineen, HS Math/Science Teacher and David Andrews, HS Chemistry Teacher.

Correspondence:

Motion: _________ Second: ___________ Vote: __________

Consideration and action to authorize the Superintendent to grant up to ten days leave on a case by case basis. Requests for longer time would go to the Board.

Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Dr. Gilbert Vote: 6-0

7. Consideration and action to approve the requests from the Non-Athletic Stipend Committee.

 

Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Mr. Stevens Vote: 6-0

8. Consideration and action to approve the Resolution in Opposition to the Governor’s School Consolidation Plan.

 

Motion: Mrs. Pullar Second: Dr. Gilbert Vote: 6-0

Mrs. Pullar suggested that a member of the Board write a personal letter speaking for MSAD #35. Mrs. Cass said that she would write a letter.

Mr. Burnell noted that the 4th graders took the NAPE testing this week. The NAPE testers told him that they are in many schools and they wanted him to know that they were very impressed with how respectful Marshwood Middle School students are to each other and to guests.

Mrs. Cass said that she's been working with a student who is transferring from Noble to Marshwood and that the student told her about a book that he had received from Marshwood Middle School that welcomes new students. The book has pictures of staff and students and other helpful information for students who are coming to the Marshwood Middle School.

Adjournment

Motion: Mrs. Breed Second: Mr. Stevens Vote: 6-0