Legislative Council Education Committee
Minutes from Meeting on January 27, 2010
Held in the Newtown Municipal Center
3 Primrose Lane, Newtown, CT, Shared Meeting Room One
The Legislative Council Education committee held a regular meeting on January 27, 2010 at the Newtown Municipal Center. Chairman Mary Ann Jacob called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m.
PRESENT: Mary Ann Jacob, Chris LaRocque, George Ferguson, Kevin Fitzgerald
ALSO PRESENT: 2 members of the public, 0 members of the press
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: None
MINUTES: Mr. Ferguson moved to accept the minutes of January 13, 2010. Mr. LaRocque seconded. All in favor.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Discussion and Possible Action:
- Board of Education CIP: Board of Education Chairman Lillian Bittman was in attendance and spoke to the CIP during the meeting. She explained that the school district would be broken down to scale by the type of project needed for completion. Ms. Bittman stated that costs for year one and two were mostly set. An additional air quality test with fans running (in the middle school) would be conducted. Ms. Bittman also stated that the Board of Education will analyze the air quality studies in-depth to determine the effect on the CIP.
- Committee involvement in upcoming deliberations: The committee members agreed to split attendance duties of Board of Education budget workshop meetings in order to inform the other members of the committee of updates. It was agreed that all members would try and attend all the meetings if possible. It was agreed that a brief of the each BOE budget meeting would be given to other committee members the day following the BOE meeting. General agreement for a potential LC education committee meeting on February 17th at 6:30 p.m.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion and Possible Action:
- Deliberations and formation of questions on BOE proposed budget: Ms. Jacob gave an overview of the presentation Schools’ Superintendent Janet Robinson gave the previous evening. Ms. Jacob requested that committee members form their questions in the coming weeks during the BOE budget deliberations and to send those questions to Ms. Jacob. This will allow the BOE to know all the questions at once and provide the appropriate representative to come in person and answer them as well as ease in organization purposes. All the members agreed on this process.
- Air Quality Studies: Ms. Jacob requested that we table this discussion until further information is known and the Board of Education has discussed implications. Mr. Ferguson moved to table the air quality study discussion until a later date. Mr. Fitzgerald seconded. All in favor.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: Ms. Bittman stated that it would be helpful if all questions asked by LC education committee members were given in advance as it would allow the proper experts to attend the meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: None
ADJOURNMENT: Having no further business, Mr. LaRocque moved to adjourn. Seconded by Mr. Ferguson. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:41 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
_______________________________
Chris LaRocque
Secretary
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