| BSC Preliminary Minutes June 2, 2009 |
| Preliminary Minutes Boxford School Committee Regular Meeting Boxford Town Hall June 2, 2009 Members Present: Cynthia Foster, Rebecca Lundrigan, Pam Messenger (Chairperson), Roger “Rusty” Chadwick and Cindy Murphy. Others Present: Dr. Bernard Creeden (Tri-Town Union Superintendent), Steve Greenberg (TTU Director of Finance and Human Resources), Tiffany Stone, Terry Marcille, Jennifer Coffey, Maureen Cronin, Jane Bonaventura and Lisa Salisbury (Boxford Teachers), and Dawn Cobak, (Recording Secretary). Chairperson Pam Messenger called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. A. ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 2009 - 2010 Chairperson: Motion by C. Murphy to nominate Pam Messenger for Chairperson. Second by R. Lundrigan. PM accepted position. Motion carried 5-0-0. Vice Chairperson: Motion by C. Foster to nominate C. Murphy for Vice- Chairperson. C. Murphy accepted position. Second by R. Lundrigan. Motion carried 5-0-0. Secretary: Motion by C. Murphy to nominate C. Foster for Secretary. Second by P. Messenger. Motion carried 5-0-0. Additional Members to the Boxford School Committee for 2009-2010: R. Lundrigan and R. Chadwick. Recording Secretary: Motion by P. Messenger to nominate E. Gaskell as Recording Secretary. Second by R. Lundrigan. Motion carried 5-0-0. Representatives to the Tri-Town Union Committee: Motion by P. Messenger to nominate C. Murphy to the Tri-Town School Union Committee. Second by R. Lundrigan. Motion carried 5-0-0. Motion by R. Chadwick to nominate C. Foster to the Tri-Town School Union Committee. Second by R. Lundrigan. Motion carried 5-0-0. P. Messenger, by the nature of her position as Chairperson of the Boxford School Committee, will automatically be a Rep. to the TTU Committee. Tri-Town Union Study Committee: C. Foster volunteered to accept this position. C. Murphy will act as an alternate. Technology Committee: R. Lundrigan volunteered to accept this position. Legislative Liaison: The Committee as a Whole will act on this on a case by case basis. Communication and Other Public Relations: P. Messenger volunteered to accept this position. Negotiations Subcommittee: C. Murphy and R. Chadwick volunteered to accept this position. R. Lundrigan will act as an alternate. Policy Review Subcommittee: C. Foster and R. Lundrigan volunteered to accept this position. Finance Committee Liaison(s): P. Messenger and C. Foster volunteered to accept this position. Shared Services Town Committee: P. Messenger volunteered to remain in this position. PTO, BEST and School Council Liaison: R. Lundrigan was appointed to this position. K-12 Curriculum Committee: R. Chadwick volunteered to accept this position. B. ROUTINES 1. Remarks from the Public: None 2. Reports from Other Committees Tri-Town School Union: P. Messenger reported that the TTU will meet on June 9, which is next week. At the last TTU meeting, 12 of the 15 members returned their evaluations of Dr. Creeden. A summary of the results will be available at the next regular school committee meeting. Topsfield will take over the meetings of the TTU for the 2009-2010 year, however Ellen Gaskell, the Boxford SC secretary will act as the recording secretary for the meetings. C. REPORTS 1. Report of the Superintendent Regionalization Study Grant Update: Dr. Creeden stated that a meeting of the Regionalization Committee will be meeting on June 9 at 6:30pm at the Proctor School, just prior to the TTU meeting. Personnel Update: Dr. Creeden stated that the tentative list of teacher assignments has been included in the packet. There are two vacancies, one for a speech and language therapist at Spofford School and one for a Spanish teacher for both schools. A list of anticipated leaves of absence, retirements, resignations and reductions in force was included in the Superintendent’s Report. Dr. Creeden has met with the personnel with no reassignments. As soon as there are any vacancies, these people will be called back to discuss the open positions. 2. Report of the Facilities Director: Dr. Creeden reviewed Steve Clifford’s report. S. Clifford reported on the Solar Project which is underway after final approval from the Board of Appeals. S. Clifford stated that there may be a greenhouse in the future which may be shared with the Town. The Schools are now recycling their milk containers. D. NEW BUSINESS 1. FY 2009 Budget Update: S. Greenberg reviewed the Preparations for FY09 Close-Out memo that was included in the packet. The conservative projection at this time is that the School Committee will be left with a surplus of $216,212. S. Greenberg stated that this projection assumes that the other line items listed for professional development are spent to capacity, and that no other emergency expenses crop up before July 1, 2009. The School Committee has already slated $117,000 of that surplus to be returned to the Town to address the revenue shortfall in local and state funding for FY09. S. Greenberg stated that he and Dr. Creeden will now sit down with the building principals to discuss how to allocate the remainder of the funds, as they will need to be spent prior to July 1, 2009. A list of prioritized items will be brought to the next regular School Committee meeting for discussion. The Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee members will be invited to attend that meeting. 2. FY 2010 Budget Development Results from Town Meeting: P. Messenger reported that Town Meeting accomplished what the Committee had hoped to accomplish. The Budget is now in Conference Committee between the Senate and the House. FY 2010 State Budget and Chapter 70: Dr. Creeden explained that the 9C cuts of Chapter 70 resulted in a $178,000 cut in funding for Boxford. This can be backfilled with ARRA Stimulus funding. Dr. Creeden stated the Town has been awarded a Grant that will allow the Town to access that ARRA money to be used for 4th quarter expenses. The funds should be received at the end of June 2009. Dr. Creeden reported that the current Circuit Breaker does not equate to a large dollar amount, however Sharon Lyons will be present at the June 16 meeting to give a more detailed description. ARRA 2009 Stimulus Update: Dr. Creeden stated that he and S. Greenberg are still working through the ARRA stipulations. No more than 50% of the funding can be used for existing programs. The government will allocate the ARRA funding to cities and towns using existing formulas. Sharon Lyons, Director of Special Education, will be discussion more about ARRA resource spending at the next meeting. General Court Special Commission on Municipal Relief: Dr. Creeden included in the packet, a list of specific recommendations that may impact schools and other municipal departments. Senator Tarr is a member of the commission which produced this legislation and report. The line items which will affect Boxford have been highlighted. The items include, Regionalization Incentives, Health Insurance, Local Aid Stabilization Fund, Collective Bargaining, School & Municipal Coordination, Special Education Tuition Rates, Special Education Transportation Reimbursement for Parents and Regional School Transportation. 3. Correspondence: Dr. Creeden had an invitation for the Boxford School Committee to attend the Masconomet graduation ceremony. P. Messenger had a Mass. Association mailing. 4. Other: Dr. Creeden reviewed the current status of the H1N1 flu. Memos have gone home in the students backpacks with instructions and information regarding recognizing the symptoms. Students identified with a temperature, cough and sore throat have been asked to remain out of school for 7 days. Siblings of affected children may attend school. There has been no need seen for the closing of any schools. P. Messenger stated that she has just signed a Budget Amendment for 2010 which approved moving money within different budget lines. Motion by P. Messenger to approve the Budget Adjustment for FY2010 as prepared by K. Nikas. Second by C. Murphy. Motion carried 5-0-0. E. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Minutes and Payroll: Minutes: May 11, 2009 regular meeting Corrections: Routines: 1. Recognition of Betsy Leary c. Tercentennial will be replaced with Tricentennial d. “Prosecuting Attorney” will be deleted. Fecto will be replaced with Fecteau. Page 2 Reports: 4. Report of the Superintendent c. iii. Primo will be replaced with Primeau c. iv. Spofford School must reduce 1 classroom teacher, 1 SPED teacher and Cole School will reduce .4 FTE Kindergarten teacher next year. Page 4 Consent Agenda: Items 1 – 5, corrections of the April 7 meeting, will be stricken from the minutes due to confidentiality of the content. Motion by P. Messenger to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 11, 2009 as amended. Second by C. Foster. Motion carried 4-0-1. R. Chadwick abstained as he was not a member on May 11. 2. Bills and Payroll Motion by P. Messenger to approve the following: BW-09-62 dated 06/2/09 $ 15,067.45 BW-09-61 dated 06/2/09 $ 5,776.25 BW-09-60 dated 06/2/09 $ 76,167.26 BW-09-63 dated 06/2/09 $ 3,889.56 Payroll 05/15/09 & 05/22/09 dated 06/3/09 $291,555.93 Second by R. Lundrigan. Motion carried 5-0-0. F. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion by P. Messenger at 9:02 p.m. to convene the BSC Executive Session for the purposes of preparing for negotiations with non-represented personnel and to return to the meeting only for adjournment. Second by C. Foster. Roll call vote held C. Foster – yes, C. Murphy – yes, P. Messenger – yes, R. Chadwick – yes and R. Lundrigan - yes. G. ADJOURNMENT: Motion to adjourn at 9:21 p.m. by P. Messenger. All were in favor and the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully Submitted, Dawn Cobak, Recording Secretary |
