Fairfax Board of School Directors
Monday, May 22, 2006
Regular Board Meeting at 6:30pm
Fairfax Community Library
Present: Chairperson Peg Stewart, Greg Beeman, Jeff Loller, Rachelle Howard, Lauri Fisher, Kelsey Peterson, Dustin Howard, Phil Higgins, Scott Lang, Thomas Walsh, Lisa Delorme
Public: Nancy Mead
1. Call to Order – Peg Stewart called the meeting to order at 6:30pm.
2. Approval of Minutes
Regular Meeting:May 8, 2006 –Jeff Loller moved to accept the minutes (with correction). Greg Beeman seconded. Passed unanimously.
3. Correspondence-
Tom Walsh received a thank you letter from Louisiana in response to the chairs and desks that BFA sent down for hurricane relief.
Peg Stewart received a letter from Jeff Blake thanking the board for their letter of support for the Safe Routes To Schools application. She also received email from Carol Lizotte stating that the Egg Run route needs to be changed due to road construction. They would like to move the run to Huntsville Rd. She is asking if the school could provide a school bus and driver on August 5th to shuttle people to St. Luke’s from the school parking lot for the race from 8:00-9:00 and from10:30-noon. Scott will check with Del.
Lisa circulated a thank you from Val French thanking the board for her acknowledgement.
4. Public Comment – none
5. Reports
a. Principals’ Report
Lisa Delorme reported on upcoming events in the elementary: spring concert/art show at 6:30 on May 25, Field Days on May 26, ELF/Hike Day on June 1st at Madeline Mann’s house. The Girls on the Run and Speedy Shoes programs are underway and students are getting ready for a 5K race to culminate the program.
Scott Lang reported on the prom giving thanks to Deb Walford and Kevin Hebert for their efforts. He gave an updated list of upcoming events in the high school: a band concert on May 24 at 7:00, the senior class trip on May 26 to North Beach ending with a sunset cruise on the lake, Class Day on June 9th at 8:30AM.
Tom Walsh’s middle school upcoming events were listed in his letter to parents that the Board received a copy of. The GeoBee team finished in 2nd place.Al Daniels and Jim Lonergan supervise the team. The roof work hasn’t started due to the weather. Tom communicated with CVPS regarding the large increase in the electricity bill due to the addition of a second line and the only increase to the school will be a $40 administrative fee due to reading an additional meter. Tom gave praises and thanks to CVPS for service that went above and beyond.
b. Superintendent’s Report – Phil reported on some upcoming legislation that will impact the school and the taxpayers next year. He spoke on the recent announcement from Commissioner Cate regarding school district consolidation.
c. Board Reports
Kelsey Peterson reported that the softball and baseball seasons have been very much condensed due to the games rescheduling because of the rain. Student Government petitions are in the Guidance office and they will have a new student representative to the Board soon.
Dustin Howard reported on the upcoming band concert.
Greg Beeman reported on the work to be done in the fields. There are only two bids so far and state law requires three. Phil will try to get a waiver while Tom will speak to Jim to try to get another bid lined up. Greg recommends that the school have access to an additional $8000 as a contingency for extra costs that may be incurred in moving the dirt depending on the consistency of the soil. Questions have come up from many people as to whether the recreation fields will be usable this summer. The land is playable for the summer months. Peg suggests that the board announces publicly that the fields at the school will not be available for the summer or fall seasons due to the crowning of the field. Greg reported that the FBPA has given funds toward summer programs for preschoolers and that there will be a Welcome to Fairfax gathering for new residents in the fall. Greg will represent the School Board.
Jeff Loller reported on the band trip down to Bennington.
Peg Stewart reported on the Steering Committee meeting. Greg Beeman did not attend due to the fact that he wasn’t notified. The committee questioned and discussed the purpose of the Open House event that happens each year in October. The committee’s recommendation is to omit the event. Nancy Mead commented on the importance of considering some type of alternative event for parents to connect to the school and to teachers after the school year is underway, feeling that they don’t always have questions at the teacher’s initial orientation meeting. Laurie Fisher fears that omission of Open House could possibly lead to a separation of the three schools and there needs to be some type of whole school celebration event. Discussion ensued and it was left that the administration will come back with some alternatives to open house.
6. Old Business
a. Retirements- discussed in executive session
b. Construction Project Reimbursement- BFA will be ineligible for one of the reimbursements and they are still waiting to hear on the other one.
c. End of Year Expenditures- Tom Walsh presented some of the needs that could be filled with the surplus money that was not spent from the budget this year including a new fridge for FACS room, money to refurbish a work area for the new technology educator position, crowning of the fields, and sight licenses for the Phase II technology purchases.
7. New Business
a. School Choice Agreement – All Franklin County schools have backed out of the school choice agreement except Missisquoi. BFA’s agreement with Lamoille is over this year. Under this new agreement BFA can take 5 students from Missisquoi and 32 BFA students can go to Missisquoi. Greg Beeman moved to accept the Public School Choice Collaborative agreement between Missisquoi Valley Union High School and BFA Fairfax. Jeff Loller seconded. Passed unanimously.
b. Possible Retreat Dates (July 28th or August 4th) – August 4th was decided and Peg will reserve the meeting place.
c. Additional Retreat Topics – The Board is still thinking of topics that should be discussed during the retreat. Rachelle would like to revisit the information from the 5-year focus group.
d. Boosters Club Discussion – Due to the increased number of sports and co curricular offerings, Peg suggested to once again bring together members from each sport and co curricular activity to reform one unified cohesive Booster Club. Many sports and clubs are doing individual fundraising and some feel it is becoming too much. Scott would like to see a co curricular advisory committee form with representatives from each group to tackle this issue. Nancy Mead gave her experiences with the football club going to the existing Booster Club. Kelsey gave her experiences as a student doing fundraising for specific purposes. Discussion ensued. Rachelle recommended talking with a school that has a successful booster program and get recommendations. Lauri recommends beginning with a database of clubs and co curricular groups that could be contacted to be brought together to discuss the idea of working together. Peg will make up a form for groups to fill out to begin to compile this database.
8. Policy Review
a. Student Attendance Policy – Jeff Loller moved to accept the Student Attendance Policy. Greg Beeman seconded. Passed unanimously.
b. Selection of Instructional Materials Policy – Jeff Loller moved to accept the Selection of Instructional Materials Policy. Lauri Fisher seconded. Passed unanimously.
c. Interrogation & Searches of Students Policy –final reading will be next meeting
d. School Visits Policy – 2nd Reading - final reading will be next meeting
e. Computer Network Policy – 1st Reading – 2nd reading next meeting
- Other
Scott Lang discussed the qualifications and recommendations of their candidate for the FACS position. Greg Beeman moved to hire Gretchen Haenish for the .67 Family and Consumer Science position. Jeff Loller seconded. Passed unanimously.
Scott Lang reported that a principal presently researching school improvement has contacted him due to BFA being one of the top 5 in the state for improvement based on NSRE scores.
- Executive Session
Respectfully submitted,
Julie Filiberti
