September 3, 2014 at 6:30 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Rationale: 

We will have two recognitions this evening related to our art program.  The first is a student recognition and the second is the recognition of our neighbors at the Lyme Art Association.

Hannah's inclusion in the AP exhibit is incredible as the exhibit represents a selection of some of the finest artwork created by students who submitted portfolios for the AP Studio Art Exam in May 2014. The pieces were chosen from close to 50,000 portfolios after the portfolio scoring, which is conducted by a group of high school and college art educators with extensive experience in the AP Studio Art program. Each work was selected because it exemplifies the extremely high level of rigor, commitment and accomplishment that AP Studio Art students can achieve. Only 30 pieces are selected for this show. The work can be seem at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/226179.html

We are recognizing the Lyme Art Association for its continued assistance in fostering the excellence of our AP Art students.  Our students have been using the studio facilities there for extracurricular figure drawing practice and instruction with Mr. Allik for over five years, always for reduced or minimal fees. Hannah completed her AP exhibit drawing during one of these afternoon sessions, and we would like to thank Joseph Newman, the Director of the Association, for allowing us this access.

Rationale:  We may welcome our two new student representatives this evening dependent on their schedules.  If they are present, they will also give their reports.  The two students are Gabe Barclay and Abigail Cipparone.

Rationale:  Please take note of the enrollment report as we have had some changes in enrollment since June.

I will report on two recent donations to the district.  Roger Haynes (VFW member and retired teacher) called to inform us that the local VFW has generously donated $150 dollars to purchase the wreath for the LOLHS “presenting of the wreath ceremony” at the Tomb of the Unknowns, slated for Nov 21^st at 9:15 am during our DC trip.  As well, the United Way donated a number of school supplies from notebooks to backpacks for distribution in our schools.  We thank both of these organizations for their generous contributions.  

We applied for and  were awarded a grant for Common Core “coaching days.” The CSDE (CCSS Systems of Professional Learning) is providing a total of 1200 days to be divided among the applicant districts.   We requested 13.5 days and were awarded 8 days for this academic year. 


I will report on the opening of school including our Convocation and professional development days.

As a reminder, if you have not done so already, please contact Jeanne to sign up for the annual CABE-CAPSS convention on November 14-15.

Rationale:  Mrs. McCalla will provide a year to date budget status report as well as a contingency fund report.

Rationale:  Dr. Borden will review the newest changes to the teacher evaluation program after the first year of implementation.

Rationale: 

We propose to offer a new AP Art offering, AP 3D Design, to run concurrent with our advanced pottery and/or sculpture courses. Without placing any additional burden on the schedule, this will allow students who are doing college level work in three dimensions to receive AP credit. This requires Board action.

 

Rationale:  The CSDE requires Board approval of our plan on an annual basis.  I recommend approval of the plan as presented by Dr. Borden.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  The Town of Old Lyme received a STEAP grant to update the boathouse.  To proceed they need us to transfer ownership of the boathouse to the town.  While I had originally thought this would be ready for approval tonight, discussions between the attorneys are continuing and we therefore are not recommending any action this evening.  I will review some of the history regarding the boathouse to allow for a full understanding by all.  This is informational only at this point and does not require Board action.

Rationale: 

The school district has been implementing a plan to optimize copier and printer usage with the goal of reducing reproduction costs as well as shifting towards a ‘paperless’ environment.  The first prong of this plan is to obtain more competitive copier pricing by bidding larger blocks of copiers.  Second is to reduce printer maintenance costs.  The final prong is to optimize the printer and copier fleet by consolidating printers to copiers, optimizing locations and printer/copier management software.

The proposed action is to contract CBS to manage all of our 55 school district printers.  The estimated first year savings will be $4400.00.  Over the course of the year, we will work together with CBS to evaluate printer and copier optimization schemes as well as printer/copier management software.  This requires Board action.

Rationale: 

The RESC Alliance has completed the bid process for the Microsoft annual licensing agreement.   SHI International is the RESC Alliance recommended lowest bidder.  Below is a summary of the licenses we will be purchasing.  The offered pricing is within our budgeted value for licensing.

260    Desktop School All Languages Licenses @ $64.60

Subtotal $16,796.00

Network Server Licenses

Subtotal $13,756.60

Total:  $30,552.60

This requires Board action.

Rationale:  As outlined in my presentation of the Strategic Plan, the next step in our goal development process is to approve the district goals.  I will review the goals and recommend adoption by the Board.  This requires Board action.
 

Rationale:  We are required by the state to develop and adopt a lunch charging policy.  The policy committee presents for a first read our proposed policy.  This policy will also support our ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of outstanding debt that we are carrying due to lunch charges.  This is a first read and does not require action by the Board.

Rationale:  In an effort to ensure the safety of all students, staff, and visitors on our campuses, the policy committee is recommending the adoption of a dogs on campus policy.  This is a first read and does not require Board action.

Rationale:  Ms. McCalla will present our recommendation to appropriate a portion of the remaining funds from the 2013-2014 budget to a reserve fund for capital and nonrecurring expenditures. This requires Board action.

Rationale: 

As you may recall from our last meeting, our tuition rate for the 2014-2015 school year is $18,500.  We currently have three tuition students and now have TWO additional students who have requested to attend LOLHS.  As has been our new practice, I will not review the children's records or information in public session.  Instead, I will recommend that the Board approve the admission of these children.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  Committees should refer to minutes or report as needed.