TOWN OF ROCKY HILL

BOARD OF EDUCATION

MEETING OF March 15, 2007

Members Present: Neil Geldof (Chairman)

Peter Arico

Nadine Bell

Mark Carberry

Charles McMonigle

Rene (Skip) Rivard

Anne Schmidt

Catherine Vargas

Members Absent: Jennifer Viggiano-Grosse

A meeting of the Board of Education was held on Thursday, March 15, 2007, in the Council Chambers of the Rocky Hill Town Hall. Chairman Geldof called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

The pledge of allegiance was recited.

AMENDMENT OF AGENDA

Moved by Charles McMonigle, seconded by Catherine Vargas, to modify the agenda to move item #12 to become the first new business item.

FAVOR: ALL

MOTION CARRIED

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Moved by Skip Rivard, seconded by Nadine Bell, to accept the minutes of the February 15, 2007 Board of Education meeting.

FAVOR: ALL

MOTION CARRIED

Moved by Catherine Vargas, seconded by Peter Arico, to accept the minutes of the February 15, 2007 Curriculum Committee meeting.

FAVOR: ALL

MOTION CARRIED

CORRESPONDENCE

Dr. Vautour invited everyone to the Youth Art Month exhibit at the Cora Belden Library. The display will be March 15^th through April 25^th, exhibiting works from the middle school and high school students.

Dr. Vautour extended an invitation from Dana Whitman to the Board Of Education members to participate in the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 28^th. Members will march from the high school to the center green. After the ceremony, members will join the Mayor, Council members, and Rocky Hill Town Manager in the reviewing stand. This year’s speaker is Senator Paul Doyle. Members should be at the intersection of Chapin and Parsonage before 9:30 a.m. to join other officials.

Dr. Vautour announced the Connecticut Safe Routes to School program sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. There are four separate sessions for this program, which is designed to enhance safe routes to and from school.

Dr. Vautour announced the trip to Italy is on. There will be 30 students and 9 chaperones traveling to Florence and Rome during the April break.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

RHTA Liaison Committee

-No Report

Student Representatives

Tracey Allegretti and Tommy Cruisaunt, 5^th graders at Stevens School told about what students are currently learning in their classes in grades K-5.

Connor Keenan and Drew Dunnery made presentations for West Hill:

Skyler and Robert reported on grades 6-8 activities at Griswold Middle School.

Sarah Beaudoin reported on grades 9-12 activities for Rocky Hill High School.

Meeting Open to the Public

No public comment.

1. Consent Calendar

Moved by Peter Arico, seconded by Anne Schmidt, to accept the consent calendar as amended for March 15, 2007.

FAVOR: ALL

MOTION CARRIED

COMMITTEE REPORTS

2. Personnel and Negotiations

Mr. McMonigle reported discussions have opened up with the teacher’s bargaining unit to discuss the possibility of an early retirement incentive plan. There has been some initial data returned, and the committee is accessing the responses, and will get back to the Board as further information becomes available.

3. Policy

No report.

4. Finance

Ann Schmidt deferred to item #12 on the agenda – Mr. Lindberg

5. Curriculum

No Report.

6. Professional Development

No report.

7. Facilities

Mr. Arico reported the Facilities Committee met with the Council in executive session last week and provided to them sites that would be possible for construction for a high school.

8. Technology

No report.

9. Transportation/Accommodations

Mr. Carberry reported there were recently three residency hearings of which two are being appealed, and they are going through the process right now.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

12. Status Report on the board’s Medical Benefits Account

Mr. Robert Lindberg, the Board’s Insurance Consultant, presented an update on the rate renewal for July 2007. He recounted that in January 2007, they had anticipated a 25% increase in the plan’s cost. When the actual renewal became available toward the end of February, the actual increase was less than 13%.

The reasons for these changes were due to several factors. The biggest impact involved the claims experience, which is the basis for the actual rate projection. There was a much larger offset offered from the insurance carrier’s underwriting staff with respect to change in the claim patterns and some assessments that were in that claim activity. Also, inflation assumptions, incurred claim adjustment factors, and credit given for prior plan changes were also greater than expected. The combined impact of those factors changed the increase of 25% to just under 13%. The net impact is close to $300,000.

Ann Schmidt thanked Mr. Lindberg for his continued efforts for the Board.

Moved by Anne Schmidt, seconded by Skip Rivard, that the Board instruct the Superintendent of Schools to inform the Town Manager that the Board’s request is now reduced by $329,000 from a total of $26,294,087 to $25,965,087 for a requested increase of 7.03%.

FAVOR: ALL

MOTION CARRIED

10. Wooden Toy Club

Mr. Patarini and students from Griswold Middle School shared their experiences in participating in a toy club made possible through an Explore & SOAR grant.

Students passed around toy airplanes to Board members that they made while Mr. Patarini explained the roots of the Toy Club, and how it has benefited the students. The club met Tuesdays and Thursdays after classes. Students were taught safety practices, and had to pass a safety quiz before the project got underway. Students began by cutting the wood, and then used machines such as the band saw, chop saw, disc sander, and belt sander to shape the pieces. GMS Toy Club member, Robert, added that putting the plane together and gluing it properly was hard work and challenging. Skyler, another Toy Club member, shared that the club visited the high school’s woodworking shop and made holiday ornaments. Mr. Patarini made a PowerPoint presentation and conveyed his and Mr. Benson’s appreciation of the grant funds given to this project, and the help from high school woodworking teacher, Mr. Siciliano. He also said he personally found it rewarding to have 12 kids take their own time to work on a tangible project such as this.

Mr. Arico commented that it was inspiring to see young ladies involved in this club.

Mr. Geldof thanked Mr. Patarini for his participation in this club, and agreed with his reference to storage constraints as Mr. Patarini explained storage constraints dictates the size of projects that students are able to do.

11. High school Video

Mr. Pitocco introduced a video of the high school, which is part of the revision of the 8^th grade parent orientation program. The video captures the essence of Rocky Hill High School, and the enthusiasm of the students and teachers. Mr. Pitocco publicly thanked Mrs. Eileen Schnyder, the video’s creator, who devoted the last several months putting thousands of hours into this project. The video featured interviews with several students and teachers explaining different events and opportunities at the school, and day-to-day activities.

Dr. Vautour and the board commended Eileen for an outstanding job.

13. Update on Math Activities

Mrs. Boutilier introduced Mrs. Joyce Waterbury, the district’s Math Implementation Specialist, who provided an update on the implementation of the elementary Trailblazers program, and other work being done at the middle and high school levels.

Mrs. Waterbury noted Trailblazers is currently taught through grade 4, but will go through grade 5 next year. She has revised all of the documents and reviewed them with the staff to update the vocabulary used in Trailblazers. She meets monthly with staff to address the progress of pacing with the Trailblazers program, and addresses solutions to any problems the teachers may have. She showed an example of a pacing guide cover sheet each teacher receives for Trailblazers. In April grades 1-4 will be taking benchmarks. The second part of the pacing guide includes a more descriptive document for each unit which is broken down into lessons; some of which are used for assessment purposes.

The 2006-2007 school year began with a state consultant who came in and discussed differentiation with teachers. This was further discussed in November, and at the end of March, there will be a third professional development opportunity to meet the needs of all the students.

Mrs. Waterbury began a math club that meets after school involving a voluntary group of teachers. The teachers brainstorm strategies.

Mrs. Waterbury reported model lessons have been broken down into three steps. If a teacher would like a lesson to be demonstrated in the class, they meet about it first. They discuss the abilities of the specific group of students, then, she designs and implements the lesson. Following that, she and the teacher will discuss the lesson, discuss the strategies used, and the effectiveness that it had on the students. The process is then repeated, but with the teacher implementing the class.

Mrs. Waterbury has been assisting with family math nights. West Hill night was held in November. She invited Board members to attend. She is also assisting in the math career fair at the high school that will occur in May 2007. She is looking for additional people who may be able to volunteer their time to talk to students at the fair about how math is used in their career.

Teachers give the resource department a list of students and ask for these students to receive additional assistance. They meet every other month at the elementary and middle school level. They share strategies and discuss how to best utilize the available resource teachers, and a state consultant provided some insight into this issue.

In the fall, Mrs. Waterbury said that she looked at the CMT results and analyzed the weak strands, and developed instructional lessons teachers could use to implement into their daily math program.

Mrs. Waterbury reported that some of the outcomes of the benchmarks this year are as follows:

The percentage of students who are achieving mastery in:

Money concepts - increased from 50% to 66%; and then from 60% to 81%.

Number sentences-increased from 85% to 92%

Math facts are presently at 88% and 95% as of January 2007

Mrs. Waterbury took the scope and sequence of the current 5^th grade program and updated it to make sure it was aligned with the current CMT standards and frameworks for the state of Connecticut.

She has been involved in the elementary report card process and initiated a meeting with vendors of diagnostic assessments, and is currently looking at several assessments to choose from that will be used for middle school students. A decision will be made in the near future.

Mrs. Waterbury met with the middle school math department to discuss the options for piloting new texts. They are looking at more standards-based programs.

She observed several classes at Rocky Hill High School, and was able to provide feedback to teachers afterwards.

She has organized and implemented a collaborative group for districts with the Trailblazer’s program. They come together and discuss ideas, share strategies, and provide support. There has been a great turnout for this group.

Dr. Vautour observed the benchmark assessment is a very valuable tool, in that it allows us to move the students forward in a very non-threatening way.

Anne Schmidt asked how the benchmark assessment was created, and how it is used. Mrs. Waterbury responded it is something she created along with the subject area supervisors in the elementary schools, and help from someone out of district. This year, it is considered a pilot, and used only internally. Mrs. Boutilier interjected that they didn’t feel comfortable sharing this data with parents at this time, as the system may still need to be somewhat adjusted.

Mrs. Schmidt voiced her concern that the benchmark assessment could possibly be used for teacher evaluation, thus thwarting efforts for teacher collaboration.Dr. Vautour interjected this evaluation is strictly a tool to help teachers with their instruction, and will be kept entirely separate from any evaluation.

Mrs. Schmidt asked if the Trailblazers program will eventually be brought through high school, and if the vocabulary will be addressed.

Mrs. Waterbury responded they are looking at a more standards-based textbook, but cannot say at this point exactly what will transpire.

Dr. Vautour expects high school teachers will take the best of what they know, and adapt their classes to how the students will be learning as they come into the high school with the Trailblazers background.

Mrs. Hayward recently visited an elementary math class, and was very impressed with the lesson being taught, and didn’t see one student who didn’t understand what was going on with this hands-on approach. She is excited to see how it transitions through the high school.

Mr. Rivard complimented Mrs. Waterbury on her aggressive and positive efforts and her presentation, and requested a hard copy.

Mr. McMonigle asked Mrs. Waterbury about benchmarking beyond 5^th grade. Mrs. Waterbury responded there will be benchmarking going into the middle school in the future. Mrs. Boutilier added that there are benchmarks in the middle school in several other areas already for other courses. She feels very strongly about the potential of a tremendous positive impact this will have on the classrooms.

14. Non-Renewal of Non-tenured Personnel

Dr. Vautour stated that due to uncertainty with respect to the budget, the Board takes a precautionary measure to inform all non-tenured teachers their contracts will not be renewed for the coming year because of budgetary concerns. As part of the process, it is required that the names of the non-tenured teachers be supplied as part of the minutes. It is his sincere hope, as has been the case in the past, that this is strictly precautionary, and that after the adoption of the budget he will be able to inform all of these teachers that they will be retained.

Moved by Neil Geldof, seconded by Mark Carberry, to non-renew the contracts for the following non-tenured teachers:

Rocky Hill High School

Mary Aunce-Oberndorfer, 2

Teresa Aurigemma, 2

Matthew Bennett, HS, 1

Sandra Bonfiglio, 3

Georgeanna DiCenso, new

Leanne Donahue, new

Lisa Goldstein, 1

Brian Graca, 3

Richard Incorvati, Jr., 2

Stephanie Kelly, 2

Magdalena Kruk, 1

David Mangus, new

Jeffrey Mertens, 3

Sherri Pereira, 2

Nathan Swartz, new

Brian Wilcox, 2

Clinical/Alternater Programs

Julie Flynn, 1

Mario Marena, 2

Griswold Middle School

Andrew Benson, 1

Linda Carneiro, 1

Marie Cordone, 2

Christine Hany, 1

Karla Harding, 2

Rebekah Harding, 2

Rosemary Lentini, 2

James McKinnon, IV, 3

Laura Ribaudo, 1

Lynn Skrzypiec, 2

Michael Vye, 1

Melissa Whitaker, new

Stevens School

Andrew Basroon, new

Kristyn Carter, 1

Sandra Fravel, 4

Elaine Malespini, new

Kelly O’Connell, new

Cindy Poulin, 3

Michelle Proto, new

Eileen Touger, 2

Cara Viggiano, 1

(Continued on next page)

Moser School

Eliska Bayley, 1

Andrea Rossi, new

West Hill School

Linda Aiello, new

Erin Carignan, 2

Merle Cohen, new

Sarah D’Arco, 1

Ann Gombotz, 1

Mary Iacobucci, 2

Lynn Marinelli, 2

Meredith Myers, new

Kelly Yurechko, 2

District-Wide

Patrice Grogan, new

Joyce Waterbury, 1

Long Term Substitues

Sandra Amoroso, MOS, new

Laura Biskupiak, GMS, new

Vincent Faienza, WH, new

Gregory Gromes, HS, new

Cathrynn King, MHS, new

Jonathan Patrei, GMS, new

Cassandra Perrett, MHS, new

Wendy Piscitelli, MHS, new

Diane Rainha, MHS, new

Wendy Rees, HS, new

Samuel Starr, MHS, new