TOWN
OF ROCKY HILL
BOARD
OF EDUCATION
MEETING
OF
Members
Present: Neil
Geldof (Chairman)
Jennifer Viggiano-Grosse
Nadine Bell
Peter Arico
Mark E. Carberry
Charles McMonigle
Rene R. Rivard
Anne Schmidt
Catherine Vargas
Members
Absent: None
A meeting of the Board of Education was
held on
The pledge of allegiance was recited.
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES
Moved by Mr. Arico, seconded by Mrs. Schmidt, to accept the
minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mr. Arico, to accept the
minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
CORRESPONDENCE
Dr. Vautour reported receipt of the
following correspondence:
(1)
Invitation from the burgundy team in the 6th Grade Chorus inviting
board members to attend their performance of Paper Candles, being held in the
Red Pod, Wednesday, December 21 at 12:15 p.m.
(2)
Thank you note from Margot Dagata,
(3)
Thank you note and donation from Martin Mazino to students at
(4)
Thank you note from Kathy Oryell for
RHHS Teacher of the Year.
(5) Thank you note from Mary Maziarz
for leaf raking by
(6)
Thank you note from American Red Cross to
Mr. Turansky reported on correspondence
he received from the Conn. Commission on Culture and Tourism regarding the
Higher Order Thinking Schools (HOTS) curriculum development grant program. He explained the state has reorganized the Bureau
of Tourism and the Commission on the Arts and formed the Conn. Commission on
Culture and Tourism. Due to a decrease
in staff, the newly formed commission requests that districts provide support
with cash management functions of the grant program which requires that we
enter into a contract with the state.
Mr. Turansky requested a resolution granting him permission to enter
into a contract with the state.
Moved by Jennifer Viggiano-Grosse, seconded by Anne Schmidt,
to empower Mr. Turansky to execute a contract on behalf of the Rocky Hill Board
of Education with the State of Conn., Commission on Culture and Tourism to
allow our continued participation in the Higher Order Thinking Schools Grant.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Mr. Geldof commented on the fine
newsletters administrators provide to parents.
He especially has enjoyed the
AUDIENCE
PARTICIPATION
RHTA
Liaison Committee – No report.
Student
Representatives
Bruce Hodge and Christian Foxen
reported on behalf of Stevens and Moser schools regarding upcoming events and a
thank you note they received from students at the
Katherine Shuberth and Deana Drukapalis
of
Carolyn Dobmeier and Joseph Garzone of
the
Meeting
Open to the Public
Mr. Martin Edgar of the Hartford
Federation of Substitute Teachers, Local 1018, of
1. Consent Calendar
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse, to
approve the consent calendar for December 15, 2005.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
COMMITTEE REPORTS
2.
Personnel and Negotiations
Mr. McMonigle reported on the agreement
reached with the Rocky Hill Teacher’s Association; a stipulated arbitration
award running from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2009. The principle provisions call for a general
wage increase of 3% per year for each year of the contract and a step increment
of 1.81% in the first year, 1.74% in the second year and 1.50% in the third
year for a total gross cost of the contract 4.81, 4.74 and 4.50
respectively. Another major change in
the contract is that members will be paying a higher percentage of the premium
for their insurance coverage. The increased contribution toward insurance and
the gross wage increase amounts to net increases in this contract of 4.48, 4.53
and 4.28, respectively.
Structural changes have also been made
in insurance plans. Mr. McMonigle
explained that for the past two years when insurance contracts were put out to
bid only two companies bid on them. He
said they learned from the companies who declined to bid that they didn’t care
for the structure of the contract - how the HMO, PPO and POS were set-up
(deductibles, co-pays, etc.). With the
changes negotiated in the structure of insurance it is anticipated that we will
entertain more than two bids - and the more bids received, the better we will
do from a pricing point-of-view.
Another thing that is new in this
contract is that wage increases generally go out to cover all stipends
(coaches, club advisors, etc.) following the gross wage increase for each
year. In the first year of this contract
there will be no increase in the stipend and year’s two and three will each
have 2% increases.
When we started negotiating these
contacts, in our ERG (21 towns most similar to us) our salary scale was ranked
16 out of 21, and in
3.
Policy
Dr. Vautour reported that the Policy Committee
met earlier this evening to review proposed revisions to Policy 1330 concerning
facilities use and the rental fees associated with them. Language in the proposed revisions concerning
kitchen use will be revisited.
Consequently, the policy will be revised and resubmitted, so there is no
request for a first reading this evening.
4. Finance
Mrs. Schmidt reported the Committee met
on December 6th, some of the items that came out of that meeting
will be covered under agenda items later in this meeting. Also, Mr. Turansky informed them the budget is
currently running very close to break-even and that we are not anticipating any
problems to get to the end of the year nor are we anticipating any significant
surplus. In summary, our financial
condition is good and we see no need to make any changes in the budget at this time.
5. Curriculum
Mr.
Rivard reported the Committee met today to review submission of new
curriculum. The following seven courses
will be presented in the budget for review and approval: high school - family and consumer science at
the honors level, and two world language courses (Latin at the honors level and
AP French); middle school – language arts and a unified arts curriculum; and elementary
schools - a world language and district-wide a strings program.
6. Professional Development
Mr. Geldof stated that districts in
outlying areas are experiencing issues concerning professional development and
he assured everyone that Rocky Hill is experiencing no such problems. Enhancements have been made in professional
development over the last two years which Assistant Superintendent
7.
Facilities
Mr.
Arico reported the Committee met early this morning and developed a
Facilities/Capital Project Request Report which he wished to forward to the
facilities director for review.
Moved by Peter Arico, seconded by Catherine Vargas, to
forward to the Facilities Director, the report containing the
Facilities/Capital project requests.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
8. Technology
Mr. Carberry reported the Committee has
met four times, consists of 22 parents and staff, and is divided into four
major goal areas: curriculum,
professional development, data, and infrastructure. Currently, the Committee is charged by the
state with developing a new technology plan for the district by
9.
Transportation/Accommodations:
No report.
OLD
BUSINESS
None.
NEW
BUSINESS
10. CAS Vice Principal Award
Dr. Vautour congratulated and read a
letter addressed to Mrs. Donna Hayward, the Assistant Principal at RHHS from
the Conn. Assoc. of Schools, stating that she was selected as the 2006 High
School Assistant Principal of the Year, and that her application has been forwarded
to the National Association of Secondary School Principals for consideration as
the National Assistant Principal of the Year award.
Moved by Catherine Vargas, seconded by Nadine Bell, to
recess.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Catherine Vargas, seconded by Peter Arico, to
return from recess.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
11. 2006-07 School Calendar
Dr. Vautour reviewed the proposed
calendar explaining that: new teacher orientation will be held on August 25th;
professional development on August 28-30; the first day
of school for students on August 30th; professional development days
on November 6 and 7; Veteran’s Day on
November 10 (We had a similar pattern
this year and found that a significant number of families elected to make that
a vacation week. So that might not occur
again this year, we propose to move the November 6th professional
day to October 27th.); December break will run December 25 through
January 1; February break will run the19th through 23rd; April break will run
the 16th through the 20th.
Baring any snow days, this would result
in our holding graduation on June 15th. In the event of snow days, we add on at the
end of June. By law, we cannot go beyond
June 30th, so we if we had a horrendous winter, we would have to
back into the April vacation. For the
most part this calendar conforms to the CREC recommendations and would request
approval.
Moved by Catherine Vargas, seconded by Peter Arico, to
approve the 2006-2007 School Calendar as proposed with the exception of moving
the November 6th Professional Development date to October 27th.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
12. Math Implementation
Mrs. Boutilier introduced Joyce
Waterbury, the district’s new K-12 Math Implementation Specialist. Ms. Waterbury stated that over the past six
weeks she has visited all the schools and familiarized herself with the
curriculum. At RHHS she met with Kathy
Oryell about the program and where it is going.
At the middle school she was involved with a couple of the math teachers
there in realigning our curriculum to the new frameworks set forth by the State
of
Mrs. Schmidt asked if there is a
long-term plan of how we are going to transition math from elementary to middle
school and from middle to high school.
Dr. Vautour explained that he anticipates that by the end of the year a
strategic plan will be mapped out. He
said what Joyce has been asked to do for the first year is to visit the
classrooms, become familiar with instructors and various teaching styles, and
begin giving teachers insights as to how best to teach math concepts. At the same time, she’s encouraged to sort
out challenges the middle and high school personnel are facing. One example is the assimilation of students
as they move out of Trailblazers and into the middle school. This is going to
have implications when deciding what texts might be selected in the next round
of text acquisitions. So, we are having
conversations between middle school personnel and Joyce and Laura to make sure
there is an understanding of what students are learning because Trailblazers
does engender a different type of thought process.
Mrs. Schmidt asked if part of the
process includes looking at transitions into the high school with a view
towards college where Trailblazers will not be mimicked. Dr. Vautour said it is.
13. Substitute Teacher Pay Rates
Mr. Turansky explained the district has
been experiencing significant difficulty in obtaining an adequate number of
substitute teachers and that the pool of available candidates has been
shrinking on a steady basis. Feedback
from departing individuals has been that they would rather work in a district
where they would receive more money for the same responsibility. A survey of surrounding towns with a
concentration on the four adjacent towns found that the average pay is $72 per
day on a starting basis. We pay $55 per
day which puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Mr. Turansky suggested increasing the pay
rate of substitute teachers would put Rocky Hill in a much better position for
finding substitute teachers.
Mrs. Schmidt asked if the permanent
building substitute received benefits.
Mr. Turansky said, no.
Moved by Catherine Vargas, seconded by Nadine Bell, to
approve substitute teacher pay rates as follows:
$75 per day
for the first 20 days,
$80 per day
following 20 days of service,
$85 per day for
$85 per day for the district’s four permanent building
substitutes.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Mrs. Vargas encouraged people to attend
the high school drama production of Shazam,
Unto You a Child is Born. She said
it is a heart-warming Christmas comedy and will be held on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7
p.m. and Sat., Dec. 17 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Mr. Geldof stated the Board of
Education will be holding budget workshops during the month of January held in
the
Mr. Geldof invited everyone to support
the Rocky Hill Education Foundation and addend their Renaissance Ball which
will be held on February 11, 2006, at Wethersfield Country Club.
Mr. Geldof, on behalf of the Board and
the administration of the
Moved by Mrs. Vargas, seconded by Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse, to
adjourn the meeting (8:05 p.m.).
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION
CARRIED
Respectfully submitted,
Juanda Simons
Recording Secretary
Accepted by: ____________________ Date: _____________________