February 4, 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, John Moulis, Marion Y. Huntley, Beverly Dupont, Gary Bisson, Tim Forestall, Corinne Cascadden, Jane Provencher, Georgia Caron, Roland Pinette, Ken Proulx, Angela Duquette, Lucille Lambert, Amy Huter, Cheryl Pinette, Ted McCormick, and members of the press.
MINUTES On a motion by Nathan Morin, seconded by Nicole Plourde, the Board voted to approve the minutes of the January 21, 2009 meeting, public and non public sessions. The motion passed unanimously.
WARRANTS On a motion by Martha Laflamme, seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board voted to approve the warrants dated February 2, and 9, 2009 for the amounts of $13,125.47 and $435,065.56 respectively. On a roll call vote, all members voted in the affirmative.
FINANCIAL REPORT The Board reviewed the Financial Report and questions were answered.
COMMENTS None
RDG FIRST Cheryl Pinette and Corinne Cascadden gave the Board an update of the Reading First Program. They presented information showing the great gains students have made from September to January; they also explained how students are tracked and gave some examples of student achievement.
YEATON On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to approve the use of Yeaton Associates to perform a review of the boilers in the district. Discussion ensued regarding having the Superintendent contact the city to see if they wanted to have any of their buildings done at the same time. The Board was informed that the report would take 2 to 3 weeks, after the review have been done, to be completed. On a roll call vote, all members voted in the affirmative.
NELMS On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Martha Laflamme, the Board voted to approve the request by Beverly Dupont to send four junior high staff members to the NELMS Conference in Rhode Island from April 5-7, 2009. She also informed the Board that the funding for this conference would come from the DINI grant. On a roll call vote, all members voted in the affirmative.
Beverly Dupont informed the Board that Sandy Pouliot has been awarded the Teacher of the Year award from Wal-Mart. She also informed them that she has received $20,000 for Hillside and $15,000 for BJHS from the Roy Foundation for laptop computers.
BUDGET Discussion ensued on the 2009-2010 Budget. On a motion by Martha Laflamme seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board voted to present Version A to the public at the hearing to be held on February 18, 2009. The motion passed unanimously.
Discussion ensued on capital improvements. A motion was made by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Nathan Morin to list the priorities for capital improvement as follows;
1. Purchase two new buses
2. Paint Berlin Junior High auditorium
3. Paving of BHS parking lot
4. Windows for Junior High/Hillside
The total capital improvement request will be the same as 2008-2009.The motion passed unanimously. The Board also discussed bonding for replacing the boilers at Brown and BHS, replacing windows at Brown, Hillside, and BJHS, having the Brown School bricks repointed, and the repair of the Brown School roof. The Board will discuss this with council in the future.
SUPER REPORT The Board was reminded of the NEAS&C survey that needs to be completed on line prior to February 20, 2009.
The Superintendent updated the Board on the status of the replacement of windows.
By consensus a request for BHS students to go to Greece was given authorization to proceed. The trip is scheduled for February 2010.
The Superintendent informed the Board that if they were interested, Ted Comstock from NHSBA would be available, at no charge, to meet with them to discuss the search for a new Superintendent. Mr. Moulis will schedule this meeting for the March 4th Board meeting if Mr. Comstock is available.
COMMENTS None
NEW BUSINESS Nicole Plourde thanked the administration and staff for sharing the progress and achievement of students and the news of the trip to Greece.
NON PUBLIC On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board voted to go into nonpublic session at 7:10 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 Martha Laflamme, seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board voted to come out of nonpublic session at 7:45 p.m. The motion passed unanimously. No additional votes were taken in nonpublic session.
ADJOURN On a motion by Nicole Plourde, seconded by Nathan Morin, the Board voted to adjourn it's meeting at 7:50 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary, Berlin Board of Education
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