September 10, 2008 at 7:00 PM - Regular Board Meeting

Rationale: 

Rationale:  2009 Teacher of the Year Jennifer Nadeau wil be at the meeting so that the Board can publicly honor her and present a plaque.

Rationale:  National Finalist for Middle School Principal of the Year, Sheryl Kempain, will be publicly honored by the Board.

Rationale:  Region VI Outstanding Agriculture Teacher and National Finalist Bonnie Kegler will be present to be honored by the Board.

Rationale:  The State Department of Education released 2008 CMT, CAPT and AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) reports and press releases (previously distributed) toward the end of the summer.  Brad and Jan will report the district's status on these three measures; their report will be distributed at the meeting.  District staff are analyzing these results and developing action plans, which will be presented in detail at a later meeting.

Rationale: 

Rationale:  Generally, all schools opened smoothly with few significant problems.  Attached is the attendance report for the first two Fridays; total enrollment will not stabilize for several weeks.  For comparative purposes, NESDEC's enrollment projections for this year are included.  Overall, enrollment seems up slightly from projections at this time.

Rationale:  Killingly Public Schools became a participating district with two EASTCONN magnet schools this year, the QV Middle College HS (first year of existence) and ACT (which has switched to a full day program).  Agendas and supporting materials from the August Governing Board meetings for both schools are attached or have been distributed.  We have six students enrolled at QVMCHS and one student at ACT; this closely matches our anticipated participation rates and budgeted amounts.

Rationale:  Our policy manual has been placed on-line!  This means that Board members, staff members, and community members can access policies anytime, anywhere.  As the board revises, adds or deletes policies, those changes will be made in the on-line version so that complete and up to date manuals are available at all times.

The site for the Board of Education policies on-line through CABE is www.policy.cabe.org/killingly. There is a search engine on the page to type in the policy name, number, or topic and all related policies for you to choose will come up at the bottom.

Rationale:  Attached is a draft annual board calendar.  As we have done in the past, both regular business meetings and the "second meeting of the month" are listed, with key agenda items highlighted.  Note that for now no agenda topics are listed for the second meeting of the month, with the exception of September.  Instead, a list of possible topics is included separately; the Curriculum Committee will be meeting with Brad to prioritize and schedule items on the list.

This is a draft; items may be added, deleted or moved to different months, but this provides a guide for members of the board the public for when topics will be discussed.

Please review and make suggestions for changes.  A final calendar will be presented in October for board adoption.

Rationale:  This item has been placed on the agenda because October 8 the religious observance of Yom Kippur which begins at sundown that evening.  The dates open for the town meeting room are October 7, October 15 or October 16.  Please review your calendar.

Rationale:  Due to changes in IRS regulations governing 403b plans, the district must modify its practices no later than January 2009.  As you may recall, last September the board took the first step toward modifying our practices by suspending 90-24 transfers so that there was sufficient time to develop plans that meet the new regulations. 

Attached is a memo from Kim and Christine summarizing this issue, the actions we have undertaken, and a recommendation to the Board to bring us into compliance with IRS regulations.

Rationale:  Attached is the "final" FY08 budget report that served as the basis for the ED001 filing with the state on August 15.  Board action on recommended line item transfers is needed to actually finalize the report; these are also attached.

Note that the balance returned to the Town exceeds our estimates, as reported to the Fiscal Committee in June.  Christine will report on the major impacts that led to the final balance.