Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 1
TOWN OF ROCKY HILL
BOARD OF
EDUCATION
MEETING OF
Members Present: Peter Arico
Nadine Bell (Chairman)
Kirk
Bostwick
Charles McMonigle
Francis Palazzolo
Anne Schmidt
Catherine
Vargas
Jennifer
Viggiano-Grosse
Members Absent: Neil Geldof
A
meeting of the Board of Education was held on
The pledge of allegiance was recited.
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mr.
Bostwick, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mr.
Bostwick, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mrs. Vargas, seconded by Mr.
Bostwick, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 2
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mr.
Palazzolo, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Carla Unwin, President, Rocky
Hill Education Foundation and Peter Parrotta, Vice President, presented several
grants to the district. The first grant
of $2,000 was given to the physical education departments to augment a new
curriculum that will be started using medicine balls. Students, Alex Newberry, Joey Kraft and Alex
Santo demonstrated how the medicine balls would be used in grades K-12.
Mrs. Unwin explained that the
Education Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises money for the
Board of Education for programs that may not be generally covered in the
regular budget.
Mrs. Unwin presented
Mrs. Unwin explained that the
Education Foundation raises money through its golf tournament in the fall and
its dinner dance at Wethersfield Country Club in February.
Dr. Vautour reported on that
on May 4, Wal-Mart recognized the state’s outstanding teachers, who are
nominated by their districts. Wal-Mart
has given $1,000 to the teacher to be used at her school. Rocky Hill’s nomination was Sandy Phair. She was
presented with a Teacher of the Year certificate and a corsage.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
RHTA Liaison Committee
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 3
There was no report.
Andrew Dewey and Kyle Burns,
Griswold reporters, addressed the Board; eighth grade students were planning to
visit Plymouth Plantation. The Student
Council has planned Teacher Appreciation Week, and served breakfast to the staff. On May 24 and 25, students will be performing
in the spring arts festival. The jazz
band, band and select chorus will be performing. A contest was held for students to submit art
work for the program cover. The annual
talent show is scheduled for Saturday, May 5.
Stevens and West Hill students would be touring the school, with Student
Council representatives conducting the tour.
Seventh graders would be meeting
with their sister school partners at
Meeting Open to the Public
There was no one from the
public wishing to address the Board on any item not on the agenda.
1. Consent
Calendar
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mrs.
Viggiano-Grosse, to accept the consent calendar of May 6, 2004.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION
CARRIED
Committee Reports
1. Personnel
and Negotiations
No report.
2. Policy
No
report.
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 4
Mrs.
Schmidt reported that the Finance Committee met on April 28 to discuss the
current status of the budget. There was
no significant change to what was presented to the Town Council. The Council cut $125,000 from the Board’s
budget, which will be ratified, and which the Finance Committee was currently
working on. The Finance Committee will
schedule another meeting before the next Board meeting and will be putting
information together for the entire Board to review before the June 13 Town
Council meeting.
4. Curriculum
Mrs.
Vargas reported that the Curriculum Committee will meet on May 17 at
5. Professional Development
No
report.
6. Facilities
Mr.
Bostwick reported that the Facilities Committee finished its interior walk
through of all five schools. The members
were compiling more information. The
Facilities Committee will meet at
7. Technology
No
report.
8. Transportation/Accommodations
No report.
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 5
NEW BUSINESS
10. Music
Technology
Students from Mrs. Burnett’s music
technology class demonstrated methods of creating music using the computer and
the keyboard. They demonstrated how they
could add an instrument, such as a flute, increase or lower volume, using
editing, cutting and pasting features.
The students did a project and called it the Twelve Bar Blues. They used the synthesizer to form different
sounds.
The students explained how
they added drums, used different cords and recorded tracks and put them
together.
11. Preliminary
CMT Math Results
Moved
by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mrs. Vargas, to table discussion of the
preliminary CMT math results.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION
CARRIED
12. Board Retreat
Dr. Vautour, Mrs. Vargas and Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse have met to discuss a date, time and topic for the Board retreat. The group thought it might be of interest to have an opportunity for the newer Board members to reflect on their roles as Board members. The group would revisit some earlier documents that they prepared and conduct a discussion of what the Board saw for its visibility of its ideas.
The plan was to hold a meeting during the day in the Board conference room with a breakfast. Dr. Vautour’s secretary would call each member with proposed dates and times.
Chairman Bell reviewed upcoming events: Monday night the Town Council would ratify their upcoming budget. She asked that the Board members attend. On May 13, at
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 6
Mrs. Vargas noted the Drama Club’s production of Fiddler on the Roof, to be held the next two weekends. Fifty students are in the play.
13. Executive
Session
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mr.
Arico, to go into executive session at
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mr. Arico, seconded
by Mr. Bostwick, to come out of executive session at
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION
CARRIED
Moved by Mrs. Vargas,
seconded by Mr. Arico, to adjourn the meeting at
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION
CARRIED
Respectfully
submitted,
Rosalie
W. O’Neill
Recording
Secretary
Accepted
by: ______________________ Date:
_____________