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School Board Minutes -- 08/20/2014
MINUTES OF MEETING
JACKSON SCHOOL BOARD
Jackson Grammar School
August 20, 2014

1.      Call to Order:  The Aug. 20th meeting of the Jackson School Board was called to order at 4:00 p.m. Present were Chair, Genn Anzaldi, Keith Bradley, Jerry Dougherty, Andrew Kearns, Fred Nemeth, Dr. Carl Nelson, and Principal, Gayle Dembowski.  There were three members of staff/public present.  
                        
2.      Approve Minutes (6-18-14 and 7-17-14) – Motion by Mr. Dougherty, second by Mr. Kearns, that the Minutes of the June 18th and July 17th meetings be approved as circulated.  Motion carried by unanimous vote.

3.      Citizen Comments:  None.

4.      Presentation of School Programs/FYI Items:  

  • SAU – Other School Board Reports - Dr. Nelson noted the SAU Board
meeting previously scheduled for Aug. 21st has been changed to Aug. 28th at 6:00 p.m. at the Conway Professional Development Center.  There will be an update on the Superintendent search.  

5.      Old Business:  
A.  Whitney Center – Mr. Bradley suggested discussion be tabled until the next meeting.  Mr. Kearns wished to address the role of the Friends of Whitney, noting it is now a third entity involved in the monies to and from the Foundation.  Mr. Bradley stated Ms. Bennett had wanted clarification on how it all started.  Ms. Dembowski stated they did not agree with the amount of money they got this year, which is why it was brought up.  Mr. Kearns stated Friends of Whitney and NH Charitable Foundation should get together.  Mr. Bradley read aloud an excerpt from a letter to the School Board from Linda Gray of NH Charitable Foundation, which stated, in part “The use of the funds is stated in priority order and should not be misinterpreted as one third of available funds going to each of the three uses.”  He stated if we decide we want to put the whole amount in that fund, we have every right to do that.  Mr. Kearns stated there needs to be some clarification on behalf of the Friends of Whitney and they should receive a copy of the letter referred to.  

Mr. Dougherty said they are coming to us expecting to get money that he does not feel has to go to them – the “Friends” are saying some of that money they would like to use for capital improvements.  He stated we need to get the three parties (school, Friends of Whitney, and Whitney Foundation) together; there needs to be clarification for the “Friends” of how the School District is able to and not to spend funds.  He said they have to respect our process for our involvement in that and it requires a discussion between the three groups before we make a decision on the budget.  Mr. Kearns stated it is really the NHCF that we need to be dealing with.  He said he will get together with Trish Hanlon and Linda Gray before the next meeting.  Mr. Dougherty said we do not know how much money is there in relation to our budget.

6.      Instructional Issues:  

        A.  Library Media Services/Jackson Library – Dr. Nelson stated it is a typical contract with Bartlett.  Ms. Anzaldi said we need to maintain the same services as previously with Bartlett.  Motion was made by Mr. Dougherty, seconded by Mr. Kearns, to approve the Library Media Services with the Bartlett School District.  Motion carried by unanimous vote.

        B.  Consider Approval of Request for Staff Member’s Child to attend Jackson Grammar School – Motion by Mr. Bradley, second by Mr. Dougherty, that the Board approve the child of a staff member to attend Jackson Grammar School.  Motion carried by unanimous vote.  

7.      Consider Personnel Actions:

A.  Election of Katherine Seibel as Counselor for Summer Program – Motion by Mr. Dougherty, second by Mr. Nemeth, that the Board approve the election of Katherine Seibel as Counselor for Summer Program.  Motion carried by unanimous vote.  Ms. Dembowski made note that she did a good job.  

B.  Election of Elementary Teacher - Mr. Dougherty questioned how this came about, what the process was to bring this recommendation to the Board, did a search committee arrive at the decision, how did Dr. Nelson come about making the recommendation to the Board?  Ms. Anzaldi said we got notice at the end of July that Heather Woodward was leaving and we had a vacancy.  Ms. Dembowski stated it was posted in the usual way; they had about 12 resumes, interviewed 8 candidates.

Mr. Dougherty questioned what parameters the search committee used and did they make a recommendation to hire?  Ms. Dembowski stated yes, they had a very large interview team, a series of questions, they arranged ahead of time the qualities they were looking for.  She said they had two candidates identified as top, she checked their references and shared that information with the team.  

Mr. Dougherty said he is happy that that is the way it was done; however, he had heard something different in the community which is why he was asking.  He said he understands that because of the timing it was special circumstances involved; however, he is disappointed with not having an opportunity for the Board to discuss what the parameters were to be.  He said it is a little concerning to not have that information as to how it was arrived at.  Ms. Anzaldi said even if the Board were involved, they would have come out with the same result.  

Mr. Bradley said we have no choice but to vote in favor of it today – we do not know what happened, how we got there.  Dr. Nelson stated the process they followed is what everybody in the SAU follows.  Mr. Dougherty said typically the search committee parameters are decided by the full School Board and the Board decides who the search committee is.  He stated he understands it had to happen the way it did because of the circumstances.  Ms. Anzaldi said she was on the interview committee.  She said she feels good about the decision because of who was on the interview committee.  She said it was a full-on search, everyone was looked at, our parameters were what we were looking for and we really scrutinized each candidate, and we really feel the final candidate is the best.  Ms. Dembowski said this is the way she has done it every time she has hired someone here.  She said if that is not what the Board wants, it would be helpful to know that. Mr. Bradley said he would have liked us to talk more about what we are looking for.  Mr. Dougherty said every Board he has been on has decided the number of people on a search committee and given some direction on what was to happen.  He said he is satisfied with the result and appreciates that it was done that way.  

Mr. Bradley said he would like to see us only be doing this for a one year position, noting we may have the best candidate, but he wants to make 100% sure we got it right.  He suggested putting it on the table right now that this position is going to be readvertised.  Dr. Nelson said the reason it was done this way is so we would have time to get the right person.  Ms. Anzaldi said we would have taken this person in April – we agreed if we did not have a viable candidate, then we would not have taken anybody for this job.  Ms. Dembowski stated she has all of the applicants' information if the Board would like it.  

Mr. Bradley said he does not think we did it very professionally and should put a policy together on how it will go when a full time teacher needs to be replaced.  He added that “professionally” might not be the right word, but just that it happened so quick.  Ms. Anzaldi said things can happen, if it does not work, we have a one year commitment to them, and they have to us.  She felt it is better to look at it than to say we are definitely going to repost.  Dr. Nelson stated it was presented as just a one year position and there was no discussion about readvertising.  Mr. Kearns said with a lot of decisions we have put a lot of faith in Ms. Dembowski and the staff; at this point it would be pretty obvious, upon that recommendation, to say yea or nay - come March 15th we have to have some faith.    

At 4:30 p.m. Motion was made by Mr. Bradley, seconded by Mr. Kearns, that the Board adjourn to non public session under RSA RSA 91-A:3, II for further discussion.  Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote.  

At 4:40 p.m. the Board returned to regular session whereupon Motion was made by Mr. Kearns, seconded by Mr. Nemeth, that the Board approve election of Joan Heysler as Elementary Teacher for one year only.  

Mr. Kearns questioned how this will affect classroom layout.  Ms. Dembowski stated we are going to keep her as the 5-6 teacher and she has those skills.  She reported she has posted the Special Education teacher position and is working with Joe Voci to make sure we are covered as to IEP needs.  

 Margo Robert questioned if we did not have four classroom teachers would we look into hiring the new Special Ed position as a one year position, noting our Special Ed teacher is becoming a classroom teacher.  She pointed out our RIF Policy says we would try to retain our full time staff.  Mr. Dougherty said we hired that person as a one year position anyway.  It was agreed it should be stated that way.

School Secretary, Susan Ross-Parent, expressed concern that the classroom teacher position was advertised as a one year position.  Ms. Robert stated we are all one year positions.  Ms. Dembowski explained you have 3 years in, so you have State protection that a new teacher would not have.  Mr. Dougherty stated his concern was this came at the 11th hour and had to be done quickly – an important decision had to be made for the school in a very short amount of time.  Ms. Anzaldi said it was made clear that with this position, come March or April, if it was not working out, we had the right to let the person go.  Ms. Robert said she is asking that the Special Ed position also be made clear.  The motion carried by unanimous vote.  Ms. Dembowski stated she is very happy with who we hired and it will be a successful hire.

8.      Business Affairs:  

  • FYI – 2014-15 Budget Status Report – There were no questions or
comments.  

  • FYI – 2013-14 School Lunch Program – Dr. Nelson noted a report
on the School Lunch Program was included in the packet.  Mr. Bradley questioned whether it was similar to last year and Dr. Nelson said he believes it ran about the same.  He said we will transfer money out of the general fund to cover the school lunch program.

  • Consider Approval of Food Service Agreement with Bartlett – Motion
made by Mr. Dougherty, second by Mr. Kearns and carried by unanimous vote, that the Board approve the Food Service Agreement with Bartlett for the 2014-15 school year.

  • Consider Accepting Check from McDonalds – Motion was made by Mr.
Kearns, seconded by Ms. Anzaldi and carried by unanimous vote, that the Board accept the check from McDonalds in the amount of $2,000 as part of the NH School of Excellence Award.  Ms. Dembowski said they are considering using the money for an outdoor classroom and garden area with benches, etc.

  • Consider Retaining Fund Balance from 6/30/14 – Motion was made by
Mr. Kearns, seconded by Mr. Nemeth, that the Board consider retaining fund balance from 6/30/14 [$48,975].  Dr. Nelson explained schools are now able to retain a certain percentage of their fund balance.  Mr. Kearns noted that last year we decided to retain and using it to reduce taxes and for emergencies.  

Mr. Dougherty stated if we do not retain any of it, all of it gets used to reduce the tax rate.  He said he thought we had the ability to retain some for emergencies or for taxes.  Dr. Nelson said you can use it to offset taxes or for emergencies – if you hang onto it, come next year, you have it to offset taxes – you would be allowed to retain $48,975 – you can only hold 2.5% of your wealth.  Mr. Dougherty questioned how much we retained from last year.  Dr. Nelson reported it was $51,421.  Mr. Dougherty stated one of the hardest things to manage is an unreserved fund balance.  He said he would have a hard time retaining anything this year when the school budget is up so much and the town budget is so much.  He said the less we impact the budget the easier it is going to be for the taxpayer and he recommends retaining zero and allow that full amount to be applied to reduce taxes.

Mr. Nemeth noted then, effectively, we have given twice the amount than usual - this year we gave the taxpayers a shot in the arm with an additional $51,000, but next year we won’t have that to give back.  Mr. Dougherty said sticker-shock this December is going to be an issue.  Ms. Anzaldi questioned whether that amount would really make a difference.  Mr. Dougherty stated any amount makes a difference.  He said the budget that was passed for the school and the town in March results in a 38% increase – what you paid in June will double in December - $190,000 will go a long way toward reducing that.  He stated $50,000 will make a difference.  

Mr. Bradley explained what Mr. Dougherty is saying is if we do not do it it will help everybody now, if we do do it, it will help next year.  He said we know the next 3 to 4 years our tuition is going up so we have discussed making sure we hang onto that – it can be used to offset tuition.  Mr. Dougherty stated then you are trying to manage the tax rate with an unreserved fund balance - if we are doing this with the idea we are going to try to manage the tax rate, that is a very big mistake.  He said he feels we need the full $190,000.  

Mr. Nemeth said he would like to hold off until the September meeting.  Mr. Bradley agreed.  Mr. Dougherty stated if we end up not doing it tonight we may end up not retaining any of it.  He feels it is wrong for the school to retain any unreserved balance, noting we have capital reserve funds for emergencies – we cannot have both.  He said if we want to retain it, we should vote to do it tonight.  Mr. Bradley said he is only thinking of us as School Board members, and it makes sense to hang onto it.  Mr. Kearns moved the question.

Voting proceeded on the motion to consider retaining the fund balance for 6/30/14 of $48,975.  The motion was defeated with 2 votes in the affirmative [Kearns and Nemeth] and 3 negative votes [Dougherty, Bradley and Anzaldi].

F.  FYI – Summary of Expenses and Receipts (2013-14) – Report was provided.  There were no questions or comments.

G.  Signing of DOE-25/MS-25 Financial Reports – All document were duly signed.

9.      Administrator’s Reports:
A.  Superintendent – Dr. Nelson reported JGS will be getting a full language tutor.  He requested authorization to interview the candidate, noting she can teach both French and Spanish and is certified in English.  The consensus was he should proceed.

B.  Principal –  Ms. Dembowski said she has gotten all of the attendance data from Hope Patterson who ran the summer program and they saw an increased number of outside students again this year, which she saw as a positive.  Mr. Bradley said he does not think outside participation is a good thing because it costs the town money every year.  Ms. Dembowski said she feels it is good because it enables the Jackson children to meet new kids and it does bring in a little more revenue as well.

10.     Citizen Comments:  None.  

11.     Board Member Issues:  

  • Set Date for Next Meeting – September 23, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.
Mr. Kearns questioned if we know how many Jackson students are going to Fryeburg Academy.  Dr. Nelson said he has not heard as yet.  Mr. Kearns said when we officially know, he wants to know how that affects our 90% going to Kennett.  

Ms. Anzaldi said request has been made by Jessica DellaValla to start a running group for grades 2-6 with a maximum of 15 kids.  They would ask for $200 in funding from the PTO.  Mr. Bradley suggested we request that before they put their dates for meeting in stone, that they wait for dates from the soccer group.  Ms. Dembowski stated there was a question of insurance, and if it is run as a school program they will be covered under the school insurance.  It was agreed to have them run it under the school program for insurance purposes.  Ms. Dembowski noted also there is a contract for $500 with the soccer person and she will have that ready for the next meeting.  


12.     Signing of Manifest:  Manifests were duly signed.

13.     Nonpublic Session:  See Pg. 3.

14.     Adjourn:   Motion was made by Mr. Kearns, seconded by Mr. Nemeth, that the meeting be adjourned at 5:25 p.m.  Carried by unanimous vote.

Respectfully submitted,

                                                Gail T. Currier, Recording Secretary