MINUTES OF MEETING
JACKSON SCHOOL BOARDJ
Jackson Grammar School
October 20, 2014
1. Call to Order: The Oct. 20th meeting of the Jackson School Board was called to order at 6:06 p.m. by Vice Chair, Keith Bradley. Also present were Jerry Dougherty, Andrew Kearns, Fred Nemeth, Dr. Carl Nelson, and Principal, Gayle Dembowski. There were two members of the public present.
2. Approve Minutes (9-23-14) – Motion by Mr. Kearns, second by Mr. Bradley, that the Minutes of the Sept. 23rd meeting be approved as circulated. Motion carried with 3 votes in the affirmative and 1 abstention (Nemeth).
3. Citizen Comments: Peter Benson posed the question: “What would it look like if the Jackson School became the Pre-K/K-1 school and Bartlett became the 2-8 school?” He stated this is a perfect school for little kids. He acknowledged it would take years to get that out there, but he would encourage the Board to look at it. Mr. Dougherty said he does not disagree, but would be looking to the administration to see if it is something they think makes sense. Mr. Kearns commented that opens up the bigger question of Jackson/Bartlett and Strategic Planning.
Mr. Benson stated the alternative is the school keeps getting smaller, there will be teacher redundancy. Mr. Dougherty noted the difference is we do not need huge numbers to get the job done. Mr. Benson said to be able to say we are going to offer two more years of education in here – it saves money down the line. Mr. Bradley felt we would have a hard time getting Bartlett to go along with it. Mr. Nemeth said he feels it is a great idea, he loves the concept, but noted we would have to have a single district budget. Mr. Benson said adding two more grades would change the whole dynamic.
Mr. Dougherty said regarding communication with Conway, they have always been very open to input. This year we have had positive dialogue on a friendly tone. Mr. Benson agreed they have been great.
Emily Benson said she is a member of the Jackson Community Association which was started years ago and gave gifts of hats and gloves at the Christmas party to all the less fortunate children in Jackson. She said now they award scholarships to Jackson seniors graduating and going on to secondary education. She stated we have in the past also reached out to the school and ask if there are any needs, if there is a wish that would be sustainable. Ms. Dembowski will check with staff.
4. Presentation of School Programs/FYI Items:
- SAU – Other School Board Reports - Dr. Nelson noted there will be an
SAU Executive Board meeting on Nov. 13th at 5:00 p.m. followed by an SAU Board meeting at 6:00 p.m. at the Conway Professional Development Center. The first draft of the SAU budget will be presented at that meeting; budget approval will be on Dec. 11th.
The next Strategic Plan Committee meeting will be on Nov. 20th. The Superintendent Search Committee meeting will be held on Oct. 23rd.
5. Old Business:
A. Whitney Center – 1. Usage/Custodial Hours – Ms. Dembowski provided a breakdown of estimated custodial costs for the Whitney Community Center. She noted reduced rate for fitness classes as they are a non profit and serve the community. Local users such as Women Writers, Davis Dancing, Robert Frost, get a free rate.
Ms. Dembowski explained charges are based on custodial pay at $25.89 which includes benefits. She said she subtracted cleaning for the school out of it, and it does not include utilities. Mr. Kearns will pass this information on to the members of the Oversight Committee at the meeting on Wed.
Ms. Dembowski stated she based this strictly on the actual use of the building for the year July 2013 to July 2014. As regards those using the building for free, she said the feeling is they are a service to our community and if we were to charge them $25.00 they would not be able to afford to do it. Mr. Kearns noted Zumba is a for-profit operation (about 90 minutes a week, year-round). It was reported that the whole building gets cleaned after 1-1/2 hours of use as well as after 12 hours of use. Mr. Nemeth said we are told if Zumba and Yoga were charged the full rate they could not afford to stay here and questioned what the basis is for that conclusion. Ms. Dembowski said the regular charge is $25. The leader of the Zumba class charges $5.00 per person. Mr. Kearns questioned if
only five people are attending, is that still a community service? It was thought that there are about ten people for Zumba and less for Yoga. Mr. Bradley questioned whether we could say Zumba could have it for free for 1-1/2 hours and pay our custodian $46.00.
Mr. Kearns said he will pass this on to the Oversight Committee, letting them know this has to be addressed.
6. Instructional Issues: None.
7. Consider Personnel Actions: None.
8. Business Affairs:
A. FYI – 2014-15 Budget Status Report – There were no questions or comments.
- Consider Approval of Tree Removal – Two bids for removal of five trees
from the playground were presented. It was noted the trees are dead and present a safety issue.
Motion was made by Mr. Dougherty, seconded by Mr. Nemeth, that the District contract with Saco Treeworks for removal of the trees at a cost of $1700.
It was noted that chipping is a part of the proposal and Mr. Kearns suggested checking with the contractor to see if it is feasible to use the wood chips here on the property. There was question of whether it is advisable for a truck to drive across the property, and it was suggested that the work be done after the ground is frozen to minimize damage. There was no action taken on Mr. Dougherty’s motion.
Motion was made by Mr. Dougherty, seconded by Mr. Nemeth, that this issue be tabled until the next meeting in order to collect more information. Motion carried by unanimous vote. Mr. Dougherty said if they cannot use a truck out there we need to know if that affects the quote.
9. Administrator’s Reports:
A. Superintendent – Responding to question regarding the Blizzard Bags Program, Dr. Nelson referred to discussion from the Joint Boards meeting this date as follows:
[Excerpt from Minutes of Joint Jackson/Bartlett Boards meeting]
Dr. Nelson said there had been a meeting with representatives of union and non union people in SAU 9 and it was determined it will take work on the part of the teachers to get a game plan – they are waiting for that information to come back. Mr. Dougherty said the professional development piece is important, if we do not have it in place, it is not going to happen. Dr. Nelson said we are looking at trying to get the commissioner’s approval by the end of December, if we can’t do that we will work on getting the program in place for next year – it has to be a meaningful task, has to have 80% participation. He stated all high school kids will be tied in.
Mr. Kearns questioned whether they are looking at digital as well as Blizzard Bags going home. Dr. Nelson said yes they have to have teaching staff available either digitally or by phone for a 3 to 4 hour period to communicate with the kids. Mr. Grant pointed out if there is an ice storm and no power, it gets complicated – we would want to quantify the Blizzard Bag day. Dr. Nelson said there is the question then of what about teacher aides if they do not get paid for that day, the same with bus drivers, etc.; do we do online courses? He said it is those things we have to figure out, but stated the process is well underway.
Dr. Nelson noted the need for a Personnel Committee meeting. It was decided the meeting would be held on Oct. 29th at 3:15 p.m. with Messrs. Dougherty and Kearns attending. Mr. Kearns will confirm the date with other members by email.
B. Principal
1. Approval of Professional Development Hours. Ms. Dembowski noted we are initiating a new report card this year. The other towns have a system to put one in place; however our system needs to be updated. She expressed the need to pay a teacher to come in on Google.docs and get the report card ready to go and requested the Board approve funding for that. Motion made by Mr. Bradley, second by Mr. Nemeth, that the Board approve professional development hours in regard to the new grading process, not to exceed $240. Motion carried by unanimous vote.
10. Citizen Comments: [As recorded in Minutes of the Jackson School Board/Bartlett School Board Meeting of October 20, 2014]
Emily Benson said in terms of this end of the valley and the Bartlett and Jackson School District relationship, there is some representation of folks at the Strategic Planning Committee meeting and she is curious how vested they are in seeing these towns in this whole process. She pointed out we are already joining sports and extra curricular activities with them, she would like to see greater turnout to continue this – see folks coming to the Strategic Planning meetings. Dr. Nelson said the representation looks like about 50%+ from Conway and the other towns filling in the remaining 49%. Ms. Benson made note of the less than 10% response to the survey. Mr. Dougherty suggested maybe a second effort at that. Ms. Benson
questioned whether there is a sense of apathy we are going to have any buy-in. Mr. Dougherty noted the importance in Conway of the Conway Daily Sun and how to get the word out to the valley – it is important that we do have a buy-in to it – he would like to see bigger participation.
Peter Benson said he felt there was some confusion as to whether it was Conway School Board and SAU – he thinks it primarily focused on Conway schools. He said he feels they are an open book and all kinds of things were thrown out there. It was noted the next Strategic Plan meeting is scheduled for Nov. 20th. Dr. Nelson stated many of us are stressing that this is a valley-wide issue; we need to continue to push the valley-wide initiative.
Mr. Grant referred to Future Search done in Bartlett 15 years ago, noting we need to keep hammering that concept home to each individual town, apply more pressure to get the programs that we all need. Dr. Nelson said he finds in working with the Conway School Board on this, there is a solid number of Board members that are in favor of the valley-wide concept. Mr. Benson said he feels Bartlett and Jackson Boards are in a good spot as regards collaboration, consolidation and cooperation. He said sometimes Conway does not feel they need us. He feels there are different things that can happen between Bartlett and Jackson that can lead Conway to greener pastures. He noted declining enrollment in our two towns, we will have
redundancy in teaching staff. He questioned what if we looked at offering school prior to Kindergarten? – universal preschool-Kindergarten – would Conway come along? He encouraged the Board to start looking at that and felt it could be done at relatively minimal cost. He noted Conway has tons of space and there is the need for that too. He said Conway is more open to things now than they have been – if someone would lead they would go along. Mr. Grant said he feels they actually do listen to us, but Conway gets a bad rap in the media. Conway needs to come on board for technology first, then go back and review their situation. Mr. Voci said if we offer free preschool experience, they would beat down the doors.
11. Board Member Issues:
A. Set Date for Next Meeting – November 17, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.
B. Correspondence from Bruce Johnson, Webster Selectman - Note was made that correspondence was received from Webster Selectman, Bruce Johnson, calling for the State to “step up and increase its contributions so that local property taxpayers are not overly burdened by the funding formula.” His letter requests considering a warrant article for the annual town or school meeting to “ask the governor and state legislators to reform state funding for education, with that reform to be directed to significant reduction of property taxes.”
12. Signing of Manifest: Manifests were duly signed.
13. Nonpublic Session: None.
14. Adjourn: Motion was made by Mr. Kearns, seconded by Mr. Nemeth, that the meeting be adjourned at 6:37 p.m. Carried by unanimous vote.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail T. Currier, Recording Secretary
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