Draft: March 5, 2008

Approved: March 19, 2008

School Committee meeting March 5, 2008

Under Report of the Secretary

At 7: 05 pm Mr. Coyne called the meeting to order.

Members present: Robert O’Brien, John Coyne, Jaimey Caron, Susan Hopkins, Sarah Thompson, Lori Gramlich, Kate Snyder, Jules Szanton, Joshua Tingley, Peter Eglinton, Rebecca Minnick, Joel Daley (arrived at 8:10pm)

Report of the Chair

Mr. Coyne:

• Reported on the concept design straw poll held on Monday, March 3^rd at EECS. Citizens voted 231 – 115 in support of the concept design for the new school. Interim Superintendent Whynot-Vickers, Mr. Coyne and WBRC Architects will meet with the State Board of Education in Augusta on March 12th. He has been informed that the Construction Subcommittee of the State Board of Education voted 4-0 in favor of this project so it appears that the State Board of Education as a whole will support.

• Mentioned that it appears that state will not be funding special education at 55% as previously passed by the voters.

Report of the Superintendent

Interim Superintendent Whynot-Vickers:

· Announced the resignation of Shoshana Hoose, Communications Director, effective March 31, 2008

· Congratulated the Deering High School Girls’ Basketball team - winners of the Class A State Girls’ Basketball Championship on Monday, March 3,2008.

• Presented the FY09 budget to the Committee. Mr.. Hopkins spoke briefly about the FY09 budget, eleven categories in the chart of accounts, and handed out copies of the superintendent’s recommended budget.

Report of the Secretary

1. Consideration and action to approve the meeting minutes of February 27, 2008 meeting

Mr. O’Brien moved, seconded Ms. Thompson and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of February 27, 2008. (Students voted with majority)

Report of Committees

1. Policy Committee/Legislative Affairs – Ms. Snyder – no report

2. Finance Committee – Mr. Eglinton – recognized city finance staff for their assistance with the fy08 and fy09 budgets. Reviewed upcoming budget meetings during the month of March. Indicated that the March 19^th joint finance committee meeting is being canceled in order to provide the school finance committee time to work on the fy09 budget.
3. Personnel Committee – Ms. Gramlich – met prior to evening’s meeting. Discussed superintendent’s search and will be contacting Michelle Hedrich for information on the previous search. Next meeting will be March 19^th, 4:30pm in Room 250, CBHS
4. Portland Education Partnership – Ms. Thompson – Reach out Grants awarded to two teachers – Kelly Holmes, Longfellow School and Cathy Jerglovich, Reiche School. Partnership Developers launched Read Across America in the schools.
5. Building Committee – Mr. Caron – Met Thursday, Feb. 28. Discussed what types of things would be within their ability to change after approval from the State Board. Discussed construction related costs; expect to obtain information from the EECS construction. Voted to support $20,000 for LEED certification and instructed architect to make the building LEED certifiable. $60,000 would be added for air conditioning in a couple of classrooms.
6. Other Committees and/or member concerns – Ms Thompson met with superintendent a few months ago to discuss a way to extend communication to citizens and announced that a community calendar will be available on the web site in 7-10 days.

Consent Items -None

Old Business -None

New Business

1. Consideration and action to accept the superintendent’s FY09 budget and refer to the Finance Committee.

Ms. Thompson moved, seconded Ms. Minnick to accept the superintendent’s FY09 budget and refer to the Finance Committee.

Public Comment; Steven Scharf spoke to motion. Requested breakdown of grants be included in budget. Ms. Whynot-Vickers – indicated that this process is already being added by school.

Ms. Gramlich – asked if grant funding would become more apparent. Ms. Whynot-Vickers indicated that grant money cannot be part of the eleven accounts, but grant fund amounts will be included where applicable

Debate:

Ms. Hopkins – asked about under funding of ELL program. Ms. Valenzuela – indicated that there are schools that are not in compliance. Ms. Whynot-Vickers –indicated that weighting in EPS for ELL students being reduced by the state for both Portland and Lewiston and shared how Portland and Lewiston’s funding could be impacted.

Vote: It was voted unanimously to accept the superintendent’s FY09 budget and refer to the Finance Committee.(Students voted with majority)

2. First reading of policies:
1. JIH– Questioning and Searches of Students

Ms. Snyder – reviewed policy JIH for a first reading.

3. Consideration and action to authorize the hiring process to begin for the vacancies listed:

Position	FTE	Location	Annual Salary (pro-rated)	Funding Source	Rationale
Ed Tech*	.5	PHS	$2,506	Gear up grant	To help with the data entry for the Gear Up program. With the amount of Gear Up students and the huge data requirements the Gear Up it has become necessary to hire someone. These funds will come from a grant and be of no cost to the district.
Ed Tech III	1	PHS	$5,740	Local	Ed tech in the Aspergers program and those students are in need of support in the classroom and usually have one on one support
Building Custodian, Shift Supervisor	1.00	Deering	$5,993	Local	clean and maintain building

All listed positions are currently in the FY 08 budget

Ms. Whynot-Vickers reviewed vacancies.

Mr. Caron moved, seconded Mr. Eglinton and voted unanimously to authorize the hiring process to begin for the vacancies listed.(Students voted with majority)

Personnel

1. Consideration and action to approve the Personnel items listed below:

a. Consideration and action to renew the contracts of Principals for the 2008-2009 school year who have been employed two years or less, pursuant to M.R.S.A . Title 20-A, Chapter 504, Section §13301, Employment of Principals.

Gwen Smith Kimberly Wike Lenore Williams

Mr. Caron moved, seconded Ms. Thompson and voted unanimously to approve the Personnel items listed (Students abstained)

Committee Focus on Educational Issues None

Public Comment Prior to 11:00 PM on any items not on the evening’s agenda -

None

Adjournment

Ms. Gramlich moved, seconded Mr. Caron and voted unanimously to adjourn the business meeting at 8:30pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanne Whynot-Vickers

Interim Superintendent of Schools