MINUTES OF MEETING
JACKSON SCHOOL BOARD
Jackson Grammar School
March 16, 2011
1. Call to Order: The Mar. 16th meeting of the Jackson School Board was called to order at 6:30 p.m. Present were Andrew Kearns, Lauren Synnott, Joe Kopitsky, Genn Anzaldi, Keith Bradley, Dr. Carl Nelson and Principal, Gayle Dembowski. There were two members of the general public present.
2. Approve Minutes – Motion by Ms. Anzaldi, second by Mr. Kopitsky, to approve the Minutes of the Feb. 3rd Board meeting, the Feb. 3rd Budget Hearing, and the Mar. 2nd Special meeting as submitted. Motion carried by unanimous vote.
3. Citizen Comments: None.
4. Presentation of School Programs/FYI Items: Dr. Nelson reported there will be a special SAU Executive Board meeting on March 29th at 5:00 p.m.
5. Old Business: Wetlands Project – Passed over (holding).
6. Instructional Issues: None.
7. Consider Personnel Actions: None.
8. Business Affairs:
A. FYI – 2010-11 Budget Status Report – Report provided. There were no questions. Dr. Nelson reported they are still estimating a $65,000 fund balance to be used to offset taxes.
9. Administrator’s Reports:
A. Superintendent – Dr. Nelson reminded the Board that April 12th will now be an early release day; May 18th will be a full day of attendance in order to make up for one snow day. They will schedule the teacher workshop days at the end of the year.
B. Principal –
1. Building Issues - Ms. Dembowski reported there had been a leak in the roof over her office. Dr. Nelson suggested that should be under warranty. Ms. Dembowski stated that Mr. Bordash feels it had to do with ice damming. She will ask him to contact Jim Hill and the roofing company to resolve this
.
It was reported that a septic pipe going to the old system had frozen. Mr. Bordash had the holding tank pumped, hoping that with spring thaw that will resolve itself. It was noted this is the first time that has happened.
It was reported also that the Whitney Center had a freeze up in the pipe going out of the kitchen into the tank. The plumber has it working, but not completely thawed. There was 2 feet of ice in the tank. They have not been using the kitchen on a regular basis. Jerry Dougherty stated the gentleman who pumped it indicated it would take a lot more use of the building to avoid this happening in the future. He suggested they might be able to add bacteria to it to alleviate the problem. Ms. Dembowski will discuss it with Mr. Bordash.
2. NAEP Testing - Ms. Dembowski reported the 4th Grade has completed the NAEP testing on language arts. The results are not directly reported back to the school, but will go into the national norms for how we are doing as a country.
3. Positive PR – Note was made of an article appearing in the Conway Daily Sun about the writing programs in the District, and Margo Robert and Dexter Harding were commented on very favorably.
4. Differentiated Instruction - The Destination Imagination team consisting of 22 students will go to the tournament this weekend. Ms. Dembowski reported there were $200 in anonymous donations as well as donations from Antarctic Connection, Helen & Dick Goss, the Hagerty Family, the Hayes Family, Joe Kopitsky, Lori Badger, the Synnott Family, the White Family, the Yoga Class (Kara), as well as funds raised through two bake sales and the penny challenge, and she would like those people acknowledged in the Minutes. She noted that this provided sufficient funds to send all four teams to the tournament and have some left over should they go to the State tournament.
10. Citizen Comments: Mr. Dougherty said he had made the statement that if all warrant articles passed, the tax rate would be a $.96 increase; however if we were to consider a fund balance from the school of $65,000, and revenues not anticipated from the town, it would be about a $.70 increase, for a total tax rate of $10.70 per thousand valuation.
Mr. Dougherty reported the House passed a Constitutional amendment which allows targeted aid which can be funded by the State Education Trust Fund – it will still have to pass the Senate. It will go to the voters in Nov. 2012 and will require a super majority. He explained the Senate bill which has to go to the House for approval extends the collar for two years. He said all the legislators he has talked to are confident donor towns are going to go away. He commented the Senate bill would be ideal for Jackson’s budget; the House Bill is good for us in some ways and bad in others. Dr. Nelson said they have a specific formula now – with the collar off it costs us $543,000, with it on, is the
better case scenario which means we do not have to send another $543,000 to the State.
11. Board Member Issues: Next regular meeting scheduled for April 6th at 6:00 p.m.
Mr. Kearns reported he has received a letter from NH Charitable Foundation stating the School, as beneficiary of the fund, has received $11,172.44 – 1/3 can be used to offset operations of the Whitney Center, 1/3 gets put into the warrant article, and 1/3 is to go to programming. Mr. Bradley suggested they invite the Whitney Center Committee to the next meeting. Mr. Dougherty reminded them they have to make sure they leave $3,000 in the general fund to offset the taxes.
12. Signing of Manifest: Manifests were duly signed.
13. Nonpublic Session: None.
14. Adjourn: Motion by Mr. Kopitsky, second by Ms. Synnott, that the meeting be adjourned at 6:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail T. Currier, Recording Secretary
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