For a verbatim account of the meeting, see tape.
April 4, 2007
A meeting of the Berlin Board of Education was held in the Berlin High School library beginning at 6:00 p.m. Present for the meeting were Nathan Morin, Mitch Couture, Martha Laflamme, Brian Leclerc, Nicole Plourde, John Moulis, Marion Y. Huntley John Donaldson, Steve Michaud, Corinne Cascadden, eBeverly Dupont, Dan Record, Gary Bisson, Tim Forestall, Jane Provencher, Craig Melanson, Roland Pinette, Cheryl Pinette, Andy Mullins, Gary Boucher, Ken Proulx, and members of the press.
MINUTES On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Marttha Laflamme, the Board voted to approve the minutes of the March 21, 2007 meeting, public and nonpublic sessions; with the amendment correcting the vote of the approval of the warrants. The motion passed unanimously.
WARRANTS A motion was made by Martha Laflamme, seconded by Nicole Plourde, to approve the warrants dated April 2, and April 9, 2007 for the amounts of $1,258.83 and $359,833.17 respectively. On a roll call vote, all members voted in the affirmative.
COMMENTS None
STUDENT EXCHANGE Nancy Spaulding, Pacific Intercultural Exchange representative, presented the Board with information on two exchange students she would like to see attend BHS next year. The students would not be living in Berlin. The high school administration requested that they do not participate in this program next year. They stated it is working Ok this year, but still prefer not to participate next year. Discussion ensued with local families. A motion was then made by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Nathan Morin to accept only one student. On a roll call vote, Nicole Plourde, Nathan Morin, Mitch Couture, and Brian Leclerc, voted in the affirmative; Martha Laflamme voted in the negative. The motion passed by a 4 to 1 margin.
GIRLS HOCKEY Craig Melanson distributed information on the cost and number of students involved for the women’s hockey program for reference purposes. The cost sheet removed uniforms and included mileage. Gary Bisson gave the Board information on how to have a Berlin/Gorham joint team and the NHIAA regulations required to do so. There is an April deadline with NHIAA to request a cooperative team. Discussion ensued. The opportunity to do a cooperative team would be available again in the future. They suggested getting the program started first and see where to go from there regarding a cooperative team in the future.
SPANISH CLASS Ken Proulx spoke with the Board on the Spanish classes at BHS. This is the first year that Spanish classes exceed the number of French classes.
SUPER REPORT Dave Morrissette and Gary Bisson gave a presentation regarding the high school social studies independent study on NH National History Day. Berlin students won the Senior Division Group Documentary and the CityNARA award with their documentary on the Berlin paper mill. They will go to the next level of competition in June in Washington, StateDC. The theme this year is triumph and tragedy.
The Superintendent distributed an update on legislative issues for their information.
COMMENTS None.
NEW BUSINESS Nicole Plourde commented on how the Whirlygigs and high school shows were both awesome and extremely well done.
Nicole Plourde also had a question on our bullying policy and are our policies up to date to include adults bullying. The administration will look into this matter. A motion was made by Nicole, seconded by Nathan Morin, to come up with a proposed policy to include all adults in the school system as well as a reporting system to keep reprisals from happening. The motion passed unanimously.
NON PUBLIC On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to go in to nonpublic session at 7:10 p.m. in accordance with RSA 91-A3II(a),(b), (c). On a roll call vote, Nicole Plourde, Nathan Morin, Mitch Couture, and Martha Laflamme voted in the affirmative; Brian Leclerc voted in the negative. The motion passed by a 4 to 1 margin.
On a motion by Brian Leclerc, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to come out of nonpublic session at 7:30 p.m. On a roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously. One additional vote was taken in nonpublic session.
STAFFING On a motion by Brian Leclerc, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to accept the following staffing changes:
RESIGNATIONS:
Michael Tolin – BHS – Science Teacher
NOMINATIONS:
RE-NOMINATIONS:
Melissa Rines – Individual Aide – Brown School
All nominations are contingent on the person passing a criminal record check.
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ADJOURN On a motion by Brian Leclerc, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to adjourn it’s meeting at 7:35 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary, Berlin Board of Education
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