January 21, 2009
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 Mitch Couture, Martha Laflamme, Nathan Morin, Nicole Plourde, Brian Leclerc, Jane Provencher, John Moulis, Marion Y. Huntley, Beverly Dupont, Dan Record, Gary Bisson, Tim Forestall, Corinne Cascadden, Georgia Caron, Roland Pinette, Ken Proulx, Paul Bousquet, Angela Duquette, Maurice Tibbetts, Candy Boucher, Lucille Lambert, Sue and Dan Arsenault, Pauline and Darryl Couture, Debbie and Aarron Dupuis, Celine Leborgne, Amy Cascadden, Amy Huter, Jan Millis, Jenn Miller, Julie Glover, and members of the press.
MINUTES On a motion by Martha Laflamme, seconded by Brian Leclerc, the Board voted to approve the minutes of the January 14, 2009 meeting, public and non public sessions. The motion passed unanimously.
FINANCIAL REPORT The Board reviewed the Financial Report and suggested requesting use of excess revenues for capital improvement items later this spring.
COMMENTS Candy Boucher submitted an appeal against closing Bartlett School and would like to know the amount of savings that would be incurred by going forth with this plan.
SCHOOL CALENDAR On a motion by Brian Leclerc, seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board voted to approve the 2009-2010 school year calendar that was enclosed in their packet. Discussion ensued. The motion passed unanimously.
DUMMER TUITION Paul Bousquet, Julie Glover, and Jen Miller gave the Board handouts on the Dummer Tuition Agreement and requested the Berlin Board look at their proposal one more time. Their goal is to give their parents a choice and to continue to have a good relationship with all of the districts where their students attend. They requested they be contacted directly rather than reading about the issue in the newspaper. Discussion ensued. Paul Bousquet asked that John Moulis call him on Thursday. He explained that time is of the essence and that they need an answer by February 4, 2009.
BUDGET A presentation and discussion was held regarding the 2009-2010 budget. During the capital improvement discussion the Board requested that the people doing the inspections of the schools begin with Brown School to determine the needs of that building to include an updated figure for the Brown boiler.
A recommendation was made to send capital improvements to the city in order of priority. The Board will look at the list and determine their priority.
The Board directed the administration to keep the amount needed to close the Bartlett facility a separate request.
Discussion was held on bumping and the qualifications of staff.
The 2009-2010 budget public hearing will be held on February 18, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. with a regular Board meeting following.
SUPER REPORT The Board was informed that they will be asked to fill out a survey for the NEASS&C evaluation which is completed online. The process will take about 25 minutes and will be set up at BHS for the February 4, 2009 meeting. An individual username and password will also be included in the next Board packet if members prefer to fill out the survey on their own.
The Superintendent updated the Board on the status of capital improvements.
The Board was given an updated recommendation of the student transportation policy, which is for their information only at this time.
Preliminary testing results were presented to the Board. Overall the administrators were very pleased with the results and progress made over the previous year.
COMMENTS Jan Millis, After School Program Director, informed the Board that she is working on next year's grant for this program. She also feels that PBIS is working and that the district should continue this program. She spoke highly of the music program and encouraged the Board to fund a half time music teacher; she feels it is long overdue.
Debbie Dupuis expressed her concern that the decision to close Bartlett is not the wise way to proceed. She feels if the city does use the building then this closure is really not a savings to the taxpayer. She spoke highly of the PBIS program. She also inquired why sports were so important to this Board. The Board clarified their feeling that all extra curricular activities are an important part of the entire education process, not just sports.
Aarron Dupuis, a student, spoke highly of the PBIS program; he feels it is good for all students.
NEW BUSINESS Martha Laflamme asked Jan Millis if she was going to include the high school in the After School Program grant application. Since given the present budget issues, it probably is not the best time to do so. Jan indicated that she is not intending to do so at this time.
Martha Laflamme thanked Candy Boucher for the handout she presented to the Board.
Nicole Plourde asked Candy if her view has changed after hearing the presentation. Candy responded no. She also has a problem understanding the savings amount.
Brian Leclerc inquired when the district would be able to retire its bonds. The administration responded the earliest bond retirement would be the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
NON PUBLIC On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Brian Leclerc, the Board voted to go into nonpublic session at 8:05 p.m. in accordance with RSA 91-A3II (a), (b), (c). On a roll call vote, all members voted in the affirmative.
On a motion by Brian Leclerc, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to come out of nonpublic session at 9:40 p.m. The motion passed unanimously. Three additional votes were taken in nonpublic session.
BARTLETT On a motion by Martha Laflamme, seconded by Nicole Plourde, the Board voted to accept the model presented this evening and to move forward with closing Bartlett School. The motion passed unanimously.
DUMMER TUITION On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board placed the Dummer Tuition issue back on the table. Discussion ensued regarding the additional costs of students to be borne by the sending district. On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Brian Leclerc, the Board voted to accept all Dummer students with the understanding that if there was a situation dealing with a student which required an additional teacher, those costs would be negotiated with Dummer. The motion passed unanimously.
ADJOURN On a motion by Brian Leclerc, seconded by Martha Laflamme the Board voted to adjourn it's meeting at 9:55 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary, Berlin Board of Education
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