TOWN OF ROCKY HILL

BOARD OF EDUCATION

SPECIAL MEETING OF APRIL 1, 2008

 

            Members Present:     William MacDonald (Chairman)

                                                Nadine Bell

                                                Raffaella Calciano-Coler

                                                Charles McMonigle

                                                Frank Morse

                                                Rene (Skip) Rivard

                                                Catherine Vargas

                                                Charles Wisnioski

 

A special meeting of the Board of Education was held on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 in the Council Chambers of the Rocky Hill Town Hall.  Chairman William MacDonald called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

 

Chairman MacDonald told the public that there were copies of this evening’s agenda in the back of Council Chambers along with copies of the Plan for the Secondary Educational Program and the Plan for the Elementary Educational Program.

 

1.  Discussion of the documents:  A Proposal for Elementary Educational Programs

     and Facility Utilization and A Plan for Secondary Educational Programs and

     and Facility Utilization

 

Chairman MacDonald said at the last Facilities Committee meeting there was a unanimous vote by that Committee to move this to the full Board of Education for discussion and for possible action.  He told the Board of Education members that he was going to open this up to them to take any questions, concerns, or comments and he said he would also open it up for an overall discussion of both of these plans. 

 

Chairman MacDonald asked Mr. Wisnioski if he could first give a very brief update from the last Facilities Committee meeting on both of these plans.  Mr. Wisnioski said the Board of Education has had each of these plans for at least two months.  There have been discussions about these plans at the Curriculum Committee meetings and at the Joint Facilities Committee meetings, as well as at the Board of Education’s Facilities Committee meetings.  These plans are outlines and they are not meant to be final.  Mr. Wisnioski said Dr. Villar has been the Superintendent of Rocky Hill schools for seven days now.  Mr. Wisnioski said the action taken tonight to approve these plans will not “cast them in stone”.  The approval of these plans will be a signal to the Town Council and the rest of this community that this Town is at a point on a day where this will

 

 

continue to be gone forward with.  With regards to the elementary schools, not much needs to be said about Moser School, which is a very old school.  Both Stevens School and West Hill School are very crowded with unsatisfactory conditions and something really needs to be done.  Mr. Wisnioski said even if everyone was unanimous and there was a straight path to a referendum that the time it is going to take to go through the legal process for the school construction process is quite lengthy.  The benefit of a new school might not be seen for perhaps four or five years.  The action taken this evening will move forward issues relating to all of the other schools which includes the middle school and the high school as well as West Hill School and Stevens School.  Hopefully for the last time, the cost to provide the school system with many of the things that are standard in other towns that Rocky Hill doesn’t have can be investigated.  There will be questions of enrollment and curriculum, as well as questions as to what this town can afford.  He explained that this will be moving the process forward as part of what was undertaken by the former Board of Education as well as a continuation or modification of the Schoenhardt Report.  This is not final and there is room for change and room for improvement.       

 

Chairman MacDonald said it was important to note that this is a consolidated plan or a total plan that addresses pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade and not just one piece is just being looked at for the middle school or high school, etc.  This plan takes into account all of the grades and a lot of the data that is being used came from the prior Board of Education.  The present Board of Education appreciates all of the effort on the part of the prior Board of Education and the research that those members did.  He said this time, the present Board of Education was able to leverage details off from the administration that drove both of these plans based on programs (what is needed for the programs within the schools in order to teach the children).  He is really excited about both of these programs and a tremendous amount of work was done from the Board of Education members.  A lot of really good discussions took place and there was a lot of good input.  He is very excited about moving this forward and going on to the next phase of this.  He said there could be a discussion now with regards to all of this.

 

Mrs. Vargas said as a point of clarification that what is going to be passed forward from the Board of Education to the Town Council are educational requirements.  She understood what Mr. Wisnioski was saying but she wasn’t sure if this was clear to the public.  Mrs. Vargas went on to explain that the Board of Education is going to be voting on a K-12 Plan of educational needs and then this will be forwarded to the Town Council for them she was assuming to hire an architect or construction firm in order to see what can be done.  This would be in concert with the Town Council coming back to the Board of Education through the Joint Facilities Committee or the Government Operations Committee in order to clarify curriculum questions, etc.  Mrs. Vargas told Mr. Wisnioski that she was trying to get a point of clarification because what he is saying might be interpreted that all of this may be changed on the Board of Education’s end.  Mrs. Vargas is assuming that all of this is being sent to the Town Council for them to start doing some

 

 

work on it.  Mr. Wisnioski said there is a scheduled meeting of the Joint Facilities Committee for April 7, 2008.  At the last Joint Facilities Committee meeting, both of

these plans were discussed.  He referred to parts in the Schoenhardt Report that were trying to be identified that weren’t ed spec related but that were infrastructure related.  He understood that Town Manager Gilbert and Facilities Director Cooke were going to begin to look at these items so that some feedback will be able to be given at the Joint Facilities Committee meeting on April 7, 2008.  If there is an affirmation of this, it is hoped that the Board of Education will be able to say to them that as of April 1, 2008 this is the ed spec with the understanding that Superintendent Dr. Villar and Assistant Superintendent Boutilier, who is with curriculum, along with anyone else who is on the administration side is in a constant movement to seek out what is best for the district as this is moved forward with (i.e. a change in technology, etc.).  Mr. Wisnioski’s understanding was that the Town Council has had an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) and that they have identified architects and construction managers.  The Town Council would then hopefully, in consultation with the Board of Education and collectively with the Joint Facilities Committee, bring in someone who will evaluate Griswold Middle School for example.  A request in the secondary school plan is for an auditorium and more gym space, etc.  This person could look at this to determine what is physically possible and what is financially possible.  Mr. Wisnioski explained some more about this.  He went on to say there is a lot to be done and these are the steps to get there and these are attempting to be done within the timeline that Town Manager Gilbert has identified.  Mr. Wisnioski said the Board of Education is not giving this away without control.  There are a lot of things to be investigated and there may be a few items that may come into play in terms of a priority list.  There is a huge process to move this forward.  The Board of Education will officially hand this over to the Town Council and their staff.  Mr. Wisnioski believes based on the Joint Facilities Committee meetings that have taken place that the Town Council has a sincere desire to get all of this done in a timely manner and he said this is all that can be hoped for. 

 

Mrs. Vargas said when the prior Board of Education voted on Scenario # 5 (of the

Schoenhardt Report) that the entire Board of Education voted as a group and Scenario # 5 was sent to the Town Council.  Mrs. Vargas said she remembers having gone to a Town Council meeting and the Mayor had sent this to the Finance Committee and the Government Operations Committee.  She thought procedurally that the Board of Education will vote on this and then send it to the Town Council.  At that point it will then be up to the Mayor to assign this to the Government Operations Committee.  She said she didn’t know if it should be assumed or even thought that this is going to be discussed at the next Joint Facilities Committee meeting because she believes that the next Town Council meeting will be held after that meeting.  She thought that procedure wise, this has to be voted on as a Board and then it has to be sent to the Town Council and then the Town Council will make a decision as far as what subcommittees will get this.  She told Mr. Wisnioski that she understood everything he said with regards to the Town Council having to pick out the part of this that would be for the maintenance items that will have to go through the Joint Facilities Committee and then the part of this that

 

might be for the referendum which would go through the Government Operations Committee and the Finance Committee.  Mr. Wisnioski agreed with Mrs. Vargas and he thought the Town Council, through Town Manager Gilbert, will understand that this must be done procedurally if this is what is required.  Mr. Wisnioski thought it was to the Board of Education’s advantage that the Town Council receive this and that unlike the Schoenhardt Report that they embrace it and that they move forward with this.  He recommended this and he said he didn’t have any more knowledge of what the Town Council will do.

 

Mrs. Vargas asked the Board of Education to consider if a K-12 Plan is being passed that they have the Town Council look at the situation of the portables, specifically at Stevens School, in the interim of actually opening the doors of a new elementary school.  She said there are a number of things in the elementary schools that can’t wait for five years.  She believes these portables need to be replaced temporarily if a short term way can be found to replace them until there is a new elementary school.  She didn’t think these portables would last until this is done.  She asked if there could be some type of discussion with regards to this and she didn’t know if a motion needed to made that the Board of Education recommends to the Town Council that in the interim this is the “big picture plan” but there needs to be some things addressed at the elementary schools prior to the new elementary school being built if the door is not going to open for five years.  Mr. Wisnioski said he has had some informal discussions with “people on the other side” that there is a whole broad spectrum of needs.  If the referendum is approved and the work goes forward then the likelihood of all of this work being done is three to five years out.  A Joint Facilities Committee meeting was held in which former Interim Superintendent Parmelee-Blancato had created two lists.  One list included painting issues and he thought this also included the portable and the other list was for items that came out of health, safety and welfare (i.e. lockdown safety and OSHA related safety).  His understanding was that these are going forward currently and he believed that Facilities Director Cooke is supposed to be reporting back monthly with some type of a grid format.  He believed that Superintendent Dr. Villar and Chairman MacDonald met with Town Manager Gilbert about the need to cure, fix or replace items that fall in between.  Part of the difficulty may be in the current year’s budget.  There has been an expression for a need a little further out and on an ongoing basis. 

 

Superintendent Dr. Villar said the documents that are being discussed now were deemed as very important by Town Manager Gilbert with regards to helping her identifying which pieces would go to referendum and which pieces needed to be dealt with by the budget.  By giving this listing of requests for facilities’ needs, it should help Town Manager Gilbert establish and prioritize what can be dealt with immediately and he said certainly the issues that Mr. Wisnioski just discussed are being tracked with regards to the painting and the safety issues.  Mr. Wisnioski said this Board of Education’s budget requests for 2008-2009 have some facilities’ items in it and he has not seen Town Manager Gilbert’s budget come back so he didn’t know what was done with these.  This was the other component of facilities’ needs that the Board of Education has.  Mr.

 

Wisnioski said ideally the Town will accept, understand and then allocate money among immediate things for this budget year before July 1, 2008.  Hopefully some of the other issues will be addressed between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009.  Then there are items that will only be done once and these items will be in the referendum.  If some of the items can’t be done in the next budget year then it is hoped that the Grand List will change, revenue sources will be identified and other expenses will be reduced so that more money can be put towards Board of Education facilities’ needs and everybody agrees this is needed because things are very old in the schools.  Mrs. Vargas said she wanted to make sure the message also is included along with the K-12 Proposal that is being sent to the Town Council that there are immediate things that need to be done if this referendum passes and the door to a new school opens in five years.    

 

Chairman MacDonald told Mrs. Vargas that he couldn’t agree more with her about this.  He said there are things out there that have to get done in the schools and these things can’t wait for five years to be done.  Some of the things that need to be done are easy like some of the painting that will be done in two weeks during April school vacation.  Chairman MacDonald said all of this has been communicated to the Mayor, the Town Council and a group of others on an informal basis and they all recognize there is a gap of things that need to be addressed.  It may be somewhat of a cost now and the town might have to “bite the bullet” a little more now more than it should have.  Chairman MacDonald said people can’t just close their eyes for five years and let things go the way they are.  The Mayor, Town Manager Gilbert and everyone he has talked to are fully committed to addressing this.

 

Mrs. Bell said she also agreed with moving this Proposal of the programmatic need forward to the Town Council.  As this process is moved forward with as Mr. Wisnioski explained of further clarification in working with the Town Council, Mrs. Bell is hoping the Board of Education will stay focused on the entire K-12 Plan with the understanding that at some point something has to come first once the approval process is gone through.  The needs of the entire district might have to be met in different phases and different timeframes but she would like to see the entire plan laid out before this is moved forward with.  She thought a very close look would have to be taken at Moser School for the upcoming five years because she “shuttered to think” of some of the issues that may be faced there in five years.  Mr. Wisnioski agreed and he said the failure of the boiler at that school is indicative of portions of that building being beyond the end of their useful life.  One of the lockdown issues at this school had to do with the absence of a communication system and the town has responded to this by giving Police radios to the individual personnel members.  He thought part of the benefit of moving this to the town is that the town has identified some outside consultants and they will begin to look at how disruption can be minimized and how completion can be maximized, etc.  He explained some more.  The town has a deadline that it has given to the Board of Education that it also has to work under.  The hope is that the Board of Education works alongside with them and that this is moved forward and hopefully as each issue comes up it is communicated to Superintendent Dr. Villar so the issues can be immediately addressed.

 

Mr. McMonigle said he is also in favor of moving the plans forward.  He likes the documents and he thinks they really do a good job in expressing what it is that the school

system wants to teach, what the vision is and what wants to occur within the buildings, etc.  He said there are two documents but he sees these as one plan to be moved together in tandem and not to be separated or played with individually.  He said there are some wishlist components in these (i.e. playing fields or other large spaces that may or may not fit) that the Board of Education members know are not going to be feasible from a space or a financial point of view and he was sure that these views are held by some of the Councilors too.  Even though, he still wanted to turn the full set of documents over to the architects and to the professionals so that they can look at this.  They can be asked how much of this can occur in the buildings that exist right now and how much more would be required in terms of new space.  Mr. McMonigle said maybe the professionals have creative ways of working with large spaces that haven’t been thought of.  He explained a little more and he said for the professionals to start with the whole work product and then the Board of Education can work it back.  He also hopes that this continues to be a collaborative process.  This is being moved on to the Town Council but he said there needs to be a lot of back and forth dialogue as this is moved forward with, with the ideas and suggestions.  He said hopefully this will continue and he thought this was a great start to get this going. 

 

Mr. Morse said he had been hoping that the Mayor, or Town Manager Gilbert or someone from the Town Council would have been at this evening’s meeting because he wanted some clarification of what they have actually received.  Mr. Morse wanted to know if they just received an RFQ or if they put out an RFP (Request for Proposal).  Mr. Wisnioski said he knew the Mayor is very ill.  Mr. Wisnioski said there is a budget meeting tomorrow in which the full budget, including the Board of Education’s portion, will be presented in a public hearing and that is what Town Manager Gilbert is preparing for now.  Mr. Wisnioski also believed that Superintendent Dr. Villar and Chairman MacDonald were going to be making some remarks at that public hearing.  Mr. Wisnioski believed that Town Manager Gilbert tried to understand the new bidding laws that exist that are relative to towns and school boards engaging outside professionals.  Mr. Wisnioski believed that RFQs were done and there was a basic investigation done of the individuals who responded.    Town Manager Gilbert had stated that not a lot of individuals had responded and some were disqualified out of the ones who responded.  Mr. Wisnioski believed there has to be a separation of the professionals who respond, who are bidders, to actually do the work.  He mentioned how Town Manager Gilbert had referred to the Trumbull situation with regards to their high school and he explained some more.  Mr. Wisnioski said the Town Attorney and Town Manager Gilbert know what this town needs to do.  Mr. Wisnioski told Mr. Morse that he should call Town Manager Gilbert with regards to all of this.  Mr. Wisnioski said a sincere effort has been made and the town did the RFQ and they are waiting for the Board of Education to send its recommendation over. 

 

 

 

Mrs. Calciano-Coler said she was also in favor of moving this document forward to the Town Council.  She understood and she hoped that everyone understood that this is a fluid document.  She agreed that this should be a collaborative effort.  She thanked

everyone for the opportunity of being able to attend the Facilities Committee as a whole Board of Education.  Knowledge is recognized that there are issues that need to be attended to at both schools at this time and that can’t be waited to be attended to between now to five years.  She echoed the comments that have already been made. 

 

2.  Possible action/vote regarding the adoption of the facilities plan

 

     Moved by Rene Rivard, seconded by Nadine Bell, that the Board of Education

     approve the documents “A Proposal for Elementary Educational Programs and

     Facility Utilization” and “A Plan for Secondary Educational Programs and

     Facility Utilization” and that these documents are forwarded jointly to be

     considered as a single K-12 Plan to the Town Council for the purpose of

     planning for the future construction and renovation needs of the Rocky Hill

     public school system. 

 

                                                                                                                      FAVOR:  ALL

                                                                                                           MOTION CARRIED 

 

Chairman MacDonald told everyone how appreciative he was for this evening’s meeting.  He knew there were very tight deadlines on getting this to the Town Council and there was a lot of work that had to be done.  Some people had said this couldn’t be done but he said the Board of Education got this done and the members of the Board of Education pushed this ahead.  He said his sole purpose in changing the date for this meeting was because he wanted every member of the Board of Education to be able to attend this meeting to express their support, comments, questions and concerns about the program because it is so important.  He went on to say that he would never want to have a meeting where 25% of the Board of Education members couldn’t be present.  He explained this was why this meeting was pushed to a different time in order to clear up any confusion that anyone might have.  He said he would take the heat for this but he wanted everyone to understand the sole purpose for why this was done. 

 

Mr. Wisnioski thanked Assistant Superintendent Boutilier and Finance Director Turansky for representing the administrators.  The Board of Education had asked them to do a lot of things at a time when there had been changes in personnel.  Mr. Wisnioski said the Board of Education members would not have taken the vote without the documents and they really had nothing to do with the documents except for the administration.  The documents are clear and they are a very positive ed spec.  The documents are very specific with specific problems and specific solutions.  In general, this will enable the town to move forward.  He asked the Board of Education to put these documents on the website, if it hasn’t already been done, so that the public has the right to see this.  These

 

 

documents are already posted on the website for TABS and he thanked them for that.  He said these are official now and there had been some hesitation before about this.  He

hoped that the public, including members of TABS, would feel free to communicate with the members of the Board of Education in order to give their insight.  He said Assistant

Superintendent Boutilier is involved in many things that might change.  Mr. Wisnioski said comments or criticisms are welcome from anybody.  Someone in town had done a study of this and they came up with a positive suggestion and this was discussed today.  He said this is a good moment and nobody would be here without Assistant

Superintendent Boutilier, Finance Director Turansky and the other administrators.                       

 

3.  Discussion of policy/procedure for the cancellation and rescheduling of Board of

     Education meetings

 

Chairman MacDonald turned this over to Superintendent Dr. Villar and then he told the Board of Education members that they could discuss this.  Superintendent Dr. Villar said there was some concern over the cancellation of the recent meeting and Chairman MacDonald had shared with him his desire that meetings be rescheduled if two members of the Board of Education aren’t able to be present at them.  That was the case for the original meeting that was supposed to take place this Thursday night and this is why this evening’s meeting was held instead.  Specific Board of Education members had asked for this item to be put on this evening’s agenda and he said maybe they wanted to discuss this now. 

 

Mr. McMonigle said he asked for this item to be put on the agenda.  There had been some chaos about the original meeting and this meeting.  His point was that the Board of Education members vote in the beginning of the year to set the meetings.  The Board of Education members, along with the administrators and parents, calendar these meetings.

He said if these meetings are cancelled or the dates are moved for them that this should be done by a vote.  If there is a situation where Board of Education members can’t be present at a meeting and there is an important vote then there is the option to table items or to add meetings.  He thought to just cancel a meeting without a majority vote is the wrong way to go. 

 

Mr. Rivard agreed in this concept completely but he said that he still believed in the power of the Chairperson.  Mr. Rivard thought the Chairperson should be able to make decisions with regards to when meetings should be held.  Mr. Rivard said he was supposed to be at another meeting right now where he is the Chairperson and he cancelled it.  He thought sometimes this is what a Chairperson has to do taking into consideration the feelings of the entire Board.  He thought a policy should be adopted as was being discussed earlier.

 

Mrs. Bell said perhaps this is something that has to be changed in the By-Laws as opposed to a Board policy or procedure.  The By-Laws of an organization set forth the framework as to how meetings are run. 

 

Superintendent Dr. Villar said he took a look into the By-Laws and State Statutes that govern meetings in response to the questions that were raised over the rescheduling of the meeting.  He found out that the Chairperson has the sole authority to set the agenda and

the Chairperson is required to schedule a meeting, once every six months however if three Board members request a meeting then within two weeks the Chairperson has to schedule that meeting.  If this doesn’t happen then the law allows for intermediary steps to be taken and the Board can override the Chairperson in that time.  Other than this, there are no other regulations currently in the By-Laws that would impact the Chairperson’s ability to cancel a meeting or to schedule a meeting.

 

Mrs. Bell hoped because of the fact that the Board of Education has scaled back to one Board meeting a month that an attempt would try to be made to not cancel that as it is out on the annual calendar.  She would like to hold these meetings sacred as the normal Board meetings because there are students, staff members and administrators who plan on coming to these. 

 

Chairman MacDonald said he talked with Superintendent Dr. Villar about the possibility of scheduling when the subcommittee meetings should be held for the entire year.  He gave an example of the Facilities Committee and he said if even one meeting a month for this committee is booked then it can be held in Council Chambers and it can be televised.  All of the Board of Education members are trying to meet the commitment they had during the election of being more transparent and communicating more with the public.  Unfortunately, especially in the case of the subcommittee meetings because they are held within twenty-four to forty-eight hours notice, there is never the chance for this to happen.  Like it is done on the Town Council side, Superintendent Dr. Villar is looking into the possibility of setting a calendar for the Board of Education that would include all of the subcommittee meetings. 

 

4.  Discussion of elementary magnet school option

 

Superintendent Dr. Villar said he spent this morning with David Wedge who is with the State Department of Education with regards to school construction projects.  David Wedge is this state’s expert and he is the person who would approve the projects.  Superintendent Dr. Villar said he spent about an hour with David Wedge and he asked him about some of the steps and the procedures that this town would have to follow. 

A few weeks ago, other representatives of this state were met with in order to discuss the possibilities of a magnet school.  The magnet school timeline is extremely extended in comparison to a regular facility.  If the town was to propose the construction of an elementary school that was managed and run by Rocky Hill, then that timeline would be quicker than a magnet school.  Several important steps would have to be taken for the magnet school to be approved.  The most important step is the development of a theme and this could take a full school year to do and curriculum would have to be developed around this theme.  This state is very insistent that this has to be clearly articulated and a simple statement would not work.  This would be a lengthy step.  Another very important

 

piece would be for this town to go out, recruit and enter into agreements with partnering districts.  A push and rationale behind magnet schools is for desegregation purposes and the Sheff vs. O’Neill situation into Hartford has to be addressed.  This district would have

to enter into agreements with urban centers and most likely Hartford would be one of them as well as other surrounding towns.  A firm commitment on those towns’ parts would be needed that they would be willing to send a fixed number of students to participate in this magnet school.  A minimum of 25% of the students in the magnet school would have to represent minorities.  These students would have to be from different towns rather than Rocky Hill.  The size of the school would be pushed into the 600 range so this would have to be much larger to meet the town’s needs as well as the needs of the state and the Sheff vs. O’Neill settlement.  There are complexities over the funding purposes.  In ECS, reimbursement rates for student’s tuitions are in flux.  The Educational Committee of the legislature is looking at finding ways to promote magnet schools in suburban districts because of difficulties there have been with magnet schools in urban centers because the magnet is not really pulling.  They think that moving to a suburban district might be more favorable and Superintendent Dr. Villar said he was inclined to agree with this.  The legislation is a little unclear at this time.  He said these are some of the issues around magnet schools and there are a lot more to discuss. 

 

Chairman MacDonald said Superintendent Dr. Villar had discussed with him that no matter where this town goes or what the position is on the magnet school that these two plans are based on need.  Chairman MacDonald asked Superintendent Dr. Villar if he could explain this to the Board of Education members.  Superintendent Dr. Villar said the plans that were just approved by the Board of Education speak to the facilities’ needs based on the curriculum viewpoint on the programs that are offered.  In a perfect world, these are what would be wanted in the facilities to make the educational program achieve at the highest level as possible.  These documents will drive what the town is going to do as far as addressing facilities.  The magnet school option is a potential solution to one of the issues outlined in the plan that was just approved.  In conversation that he has heard, he knows that there are concerns about secondary facilities too.  The magnet school option might resolve an elementary issue, particularly the Moser School site, but it doesn’t address the other facilities’ issues.  For the town to go to a magnet school, this would need strong Board of Education support because the Board of Education would have to do the curriculum work.  This is just a potential solution to this problem.  There is a facilities issue at the elementary level.  One solution is to look to a magnet school and a 95% reimbursement is a very attractive financial benefit from this type of program.  Other issues would need to considered though such as management of the school, which partners Rocky Hill would work with and what theme the interest would be in to be developed.  These are complex questions and he didn’t know if they could be answered in the timeframe that is being talked about currently.

 

Mrs. Bell thought to be able to even consider something like this that in addition to the strong Board of Education support, a strong community support would be needed as well for this.  She asked if it would make sense to have a community forum to explain what a

 

magnet school is as well as what would be required of the community.  She said perhaps the community would not be in favor of the magnet school.  She questioned why a path should be gone down to find out in the end that the community does not support the

magnet school because this is the community’s schools.  She didn’t suggest that there be a public hearing and a vote but just a discussion as to what a magnet school means to the community for potential future action.

 

Mrs. Calciano-Coler agreed with Mrs. Bell and she thought the “cart was being put before the horse”.  She would rather go to the community to ask for its opinion after it has informational knowledge on what the magnet school is.  She said the 95% reimbursement sounds great but this is for the facility reimbursement and not for developing and running the magnet school.  She echoed Mrs. Bell comment about going out to the community before this idea is pursued. 

 

Superintendent Dr. Villar believed that representatives from the State Department of Education would be interested in addressing the Board of Education perhaps with a formal presentation which could be televised as well and this might help to educate the community.  He said he could contact the individuals who have been met with to see if they could come to do this. 

 

Mr. Wisnioski said to first exclude the magnet school aspect.  He has had calls from people who are asking how Rocky Hill can afford to have a bigger, brighter and bolder school at the Moser School site.  There will have to be another principal and a larger staff.  He expected that in the process of working with the Town Council for the referendum about the Board of Education’s initial request that meets the educational needs within the town that busing costs, etc. will be looked at.  He thought this has to be done for the referendum and then he thought if there is enough information, direction and time that the alternate be looked at which is the magnet school.  On the surface, he said the 95% reimbursement seems attractive.  He asked what it would mean on an operating basis and to compare the two so that the town really knows what it is really getting.

The capital benefit may be outweighed by the bussing operation and there is the uncertainty factor of who gets to go.  He wasn’t sure if he understood the difference between a host magnet school and a CREC magnet school.  He asked Superintendent Dr. Villar if he could address this.  Superintendent Dr. Villar said one of the issues that would need to be answered is who would run the school.  A common pattern has been to have CREC or ACES run the school as an independent agency.  When this decision is made, then local control of education in that facility is being given up (i.e. curriculum, and management of the school).  The other thing is to have this managed locally and then the Board of Education of Rocky Hill would take on the additional cost and burden of managing the school.  The benefit that would be seen readily would be that there would be control and certain policies could be continued.  Outside of New Haven that runs its own magnet schools, ACES and CREC generally run magnet schools at this point. 

 

 

 

Chairman MacDonald said maybe at the Board of Education meeting in May that Superintendent Dr. Villar could have the state come in to do a presentation and he asked if there were materials that the Board of Education members could get ahead of time.  Chairman MacDonald thought this was something that would want to be publicized so

that people in town could know about this.  Mr. McMonigle thought this was a great idea.  He explained some more and he said if there is a sense of the community early on that people would just want to address the needs now and go forward without the magnet school option then that is fine.  Mr. Wisnioski thought whatever information there is available for May 1, 2008 should be fair.  The benefits of the 95% reimbursement should be known.  He didn’t know if CREC was being spoken about.  Superintendent Dr. Villar said the Board of Education would have to make a decision and it could engage any organization to run the school.  Mr. Wisnioski thought the most frequently asked questions need to be addressed (i.e. what it would cost).  He didn’t think it would useful to leave this as an open-ended item after May 1, 2008. 

 

Mrs. Vargas didn’t think this would be May 1, 2008 and she said instead this would be at the May meeting of the Board of Education whenever that is scheduled for.  She would hate to make a decision about a magnet school just solely on cost.  Rocky Hill has been striving for equality between the two elementary schools for a long time.  The perception in town is one is much better than the other.  If there is an outside organization running the magnet school as most of the magnet schools have then this could create “another can of worms”.  She thought that the state should explain this at the May meeting of the Board of Education so that the town understands it.  She agreed with Mr. McMonigle that if there is no interest then the process shouldn’t be held up and if this is the way the town is supposed to go then maybe this is the way it is supposed to go.  She said because of the perception of the elementary schools not being the same that she would hate to throw a third school in with a different owner to make things worse. 

 

Chairman MacDonald said this has been a very good discussion and he thought Superintendent Dr. Villar knows what he has to do.  Chairman MacDonald told Superintendent Dr. Villar he thought it was important that he shares the plan of the elementary schools with the state when he talks with them.  Chairman MacDonald said part of what he has gleaned from dealing with administration is studies have shown that what this is based on is 400 or 450 smaller equally disbursed schools and he asked how this would fit into 650.  There are a lot of variables and more information is needed that the Board of Education does not have this evening.  He thought it was worth it to bring the representatives of the state in and see where the town will go with this.

 

5.  Set Graduation Date

 

Superintendent Dr. Villar said the Board of Education is obligated annually to formally set the graduation date.  The last day of school this year is scheduled for June 24, 2008. 

 

 

 

Moved by Rene Rivard, seconded by Charles McMonigle, that the Board of Education set the official graduation date for June 24, 2008.    

 

                                                                                                            FAVOR:  ALL

                                                                                                 MOTION CARRIED

 

Mr. McMonigle asked if the location of the graduation is going to be in front of the high school versus the back of it.  He said there have been a lot of complaints about having this set up in the front.  He asked if it could be looked at to have this held in the back.  He asked if tents or different options could be looked at.  He said there was a beautiful space out in the back. 

 

Chairman MacDonald said the state has spent a lot of money on the amphitheater and he asked if there has ever been discussion with regards to holding the graduation here.  He said he goes to the amphitheater for concerts and it is a beautiful location.  Mr. McMonigle said any place that is comfortable and that can accommodate the people would be fine.  Chairman MacDonald asked Superintendent Dr. Villar if he could look into this and he said he certainly would. 

 

Mr. Wisnioski said the graduation for one of his children was held on the football field and because of the absence of elevation or how everything was laid out that the people couldn’t see the speakers, etc.  When the graduation is held in front of the high school, enough seats are never set out.  He said the amphitheater might be very nice because the line of sight is better and it accommodates a larger crowd but there are no seats.  People would have to sit on the lawn or people would have to bring their own chairs.  He didn’t know what could be done about this and he didn’t know if this ties into Project Graduation.  Mr. McMonigle said Project Graduation starts at 10:00 p.m. or 10:30 p.m.  Mr. Wisnioski said there is only one road into the amphitheater.  Mr. McMonigle said at least a look could be taken at this. 

 

Mrs. Bell suggested that perhaps the input of class advisors and parent advisory be received because it is such an issue year after year with regards to where graduation is held.  She said maybe input could be received to see what people are looking for. 

 

Mr. Wisnioski asked why the bleachers at the football field aren’t used for the people attending the graduation ceremony and then he said that the students who are graduating could sit in chairs on the football field.  He asked if this wouldn’t be better because then people could see better.  Chairman MacDonald said Superintendent Dr. Villar has direction on this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Moved by Catherine Vargas, seconded by Nadine Bell, to adjourn the meeting at

     8:00 p.m.

 

                                                                                                                      FAVOR:  ALL

                                                                                                           MOTION CARRIED   

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Jo-Anne Booth

Recording Secretary

 

Accepted by:_____________________________   Date:__________________________