Mount Desert School Department
Mount Desert School Committee
Minutes
The Mount Desert School Committee held a meeting on Wednesday, 16 September 2009, with the following members present: Chair Heather, Gail Marshall, Charlie Wray, Brian Reilly and Laura Hendricks
Also present were Scott McFarland, Rob Liebow and Joanne Harriman
CALL TO ORDER
Heather Jones called the meeting to order at 4:03 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
MOVED by Gail Marshall, seconded by Laura Hendricks and unanimously voted to approve the minutes of 8/19/09 as written.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Principal McFarland presented his report to the committee.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
• Differentiated Instruction: Principal McFarland provided the committee with a presentation about differentiated instruction and the staff/school goals associated with D.I. that will include:
1. Make DI the focus for team meetings
2. During staff meetings, take the time to share some DI practices/experiences with each other
3. Devote our monthly staff forum meetings to book studies on DI
4. Establish a DI leadership team (need to decide stipends)
5. Commit to district-wide common study meetings
6. Commit to workshops/trainings that focus on DI – Currently trying to make arrangements for a
middle school team to attend a 2-day Middle School conference later in October on DI
• Boiler Repair Update: Principal McFarland updated the committee on the current status of the repair of one of the three boilers. MOVED by Charlie Wray, seconded by Laura Hendricks and unanimously voted to authorize the expenditure of up to $6,900.00 for the replacement of gaskets and ropes in all sections of the boiler that requires repair.
• Committee Roles on sub-committees: After some discussion it was decided that the following board members will serve on these sub-committees: Executive Committee (always the board chair) – Heather Jones, Negotiations Committee – Brian Reilly and Heather Jones (elementary reps) and Gail Marshall as the HS rep, Policy committee – Charlie Wray and Gail Marshall, Legislative Committee – Gail Marshall and Heather Jones
• Goal Setting – The committee would like to hear updates on a series of school goals/initiatives as the year progresses. Some of the identified areas include: differentiated instruction, greening of the school, childhood obesity, resiliency, district wide shared services/activities, extended learning outside of the school day
ACTION ITEMS
• 8th Grade Class Trip Guidelines – After some discussion about wording it was MOVED by Brian Reilly, seconded by Charlie Wray and unanimously voted to amend the wording to read “students are encouraged to participate in all fundraising activities”.
MOVED by Gail Marshall, seconded by Brian Reilly and unanimously voted to approve the 8th grade class trip guidelines as amended and written
• Crisis Plan - MOVED by Gail Marshall, seconded by Laura Charlie Wray and unanimously voted to approve the Crisis Plan as presented
OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business
DATE, TIME AND PLACE OF NEXT MEETING
October 7, 2009 at 4:00 P.M. at Mount Desert Elementary School
Future Agenda Items
• MEA scores
• HS and SOS voting members
• Big Brother – Big Sister Program
• Boiler Repair update
• Ball Field drainage issues update
• Goals update
EXECUTIVE SESSION
MOVED by Gail Marshall, seconded by Brian Reilly and unanimously voted to enter executive session at 5:42 p.m. pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(A) for the purpose of discussing contract negotiations.
At 6:05 p.m. the committee came out of executive session.
ADJOURNMENT
MOVED by Brian Reilly, seconded by Gail Marshall and unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 6:06 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott McFarland
Mount Desert Elementary School
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