May 13, 2009 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

Rationale:  The Board need to appoint Hoween Flexer and Sarah Thurlow as Board of Education members.  Diane Guertin, Assistant Town Clerk, will be swearing in Hoween and Sarah at the meeting.

Recommended motion:  to appoint Hoween Flexer and Sarah Thurlow as Board of Education members through the November 2009 elections filling the vacancies of Gail Oakley Pratt and Blair Mondor.

Rationale:  John Krot will be present at the meeting.

Rationale: 

Rationale:  Attached is a revised draft of the proposed 2009-10 calendar, to be adopted at the June meeting.  We've delayed approval as we monitor progress of the new high school.  Gilbane reports that critical path activities have the target completion date of April 2. 

Key features of the calendar are:
- conformance with the EASTCONN regional calendar from August thru March
- an August 26 start date, meaning there are eight days of school prior to Labor Day
- an April vacation during the first week, linked to Good Friday, allowing time for a move into the new building
- a final date in mid-June

Rationale:  As you know, the Board has an agreement with the Town Council in budgeting the special education out-placement tuition line items (regular tuition and agency placement tuition).  This year, due to the extraordinary influx of students whose IEP's had them in out of district placements, our tuition line items were under funded and we require a supplemental appropriation.  This will be on the agenda for the Town Council meeting on Tuesday; the resolution and setting of a town meeting to approve the appropriation is attached, as is Christine's background information.

Rationale:  Approval of Consent Agenda items include:

a. approval of regular meeting minutes of April 6, 2009 and April 22, 2009 and special meeting of March 28, 2009
b. approval of corrected minutes for meeting of January 29, 2009
c. approval of payment of bills for the year 2008-2009 year in April in the amount of $935,645.70
d. approval of Employee of the Month

Rationale:  This item is placed on the agenda to revise the motion made after executive session.  The motion relates to the board accepting the employment agreement of Bradford Thompson as presented and modified.  Brad's name was not included in the motion.  Therefore, it needs to be clarified.

Rationale:  The cost of operating our fee-based preschool and Before and After School programs have increased at the same time that grant funds which support the FRC have remained flat.  For this reason, I am proposing that a slight increase be approved starting in the fall of 2009.

The increases are small and will not impact those families in the community who are most in need.  Depending upon where a family falls on the sliding scale, the impact amounts to a five to fifteen cent increase an hour. The highest fee for families off the sliding scale would be $155.00 per week for 5 full days per week.

We estimate that the small increase will generate an additional $35,000 each year.

Rationale:  Gilbane reported to the PBC last week that construction remains on schedule for an April 2nd completion date.  If the Board would like to be able to move into the building at that time, it needs to declare its intentions to the PBC and the Town Council so a process can be developed to ensure a smooth mid-year move.  The school calendar, presented earlier in the meeting, anticipates having the week of April 5 available for the move.  Monday, April 12 would be a staff work day at the school, with students resuming classes on Tuesday, April 13.  [April 12 would be a regular school day for grades PK-8.] 

Recommended motion:  That the Board affirms its intention to move into the new high school upon attaining a certificate of occupancy (anticipated on or about April 2, 2010), and directs the superintendent to work with the PBC and Town Manager to expedite this process.

Rationale:  During budget discussions, it was proposed that we establish an elementary school level Transitional Support Program for approximately six children who are currently in outplaced special education programs.  Funding for the staff (one teacher and two instructional assistants) would come from the ARRA IDEA stimulus funds, available for the next two years.  Although not reflected in the proposed FY10 budget (due to the way the the regular tuition line item is calculated), the program would save approximately $300,000 local tax dollars.

Since funding for the staff is grant funds, the BOE should explicitly approve the addition of the three staff positions.  [If the funding was in the general fund, adoption of the budget by the Board would serve as approval.]

Recommended motion:  that the BOE approves the establishment of an elementary TSP program, funded by the IDEA grant, including adding one teacher and two instructional assistants to the table of organization.

Rationale:  Special education students enrolled at Goodyear now comprises almost 60% of all three and four year olds in the program.  This exceeds the recommended ratio of 50-50, special needs children to peer models.  Consequently, we recommend opening an additional afternoon section at the school, adding 12-16 slots and allowing a redistribution of children to achieve the desired ratio.  It is possible to do this since one classroom is not used in the afternoon and can be allocated to this program.

The cost of the program is approximately $53,000 for a part-time teacher and part-time instructional assistants.  Funding would be provided through the ARRA IDEA stimulus funds that can be used for non-special ed, ESEA eligible activities.

Recommended motion:  that the BOE approves the establishment of an additional pre-K section at Goodyear, funded by the IDEA grant, including adding one part-time teacher and two part-time instructional assistants to the table of organization.

Rationale:  The Ad-hoc Textbook Approval Committee (Dr. Robinson, Richard Murray) met on Monday, May 4th and approved the purchase of a seventh-grade pre-algebra textbook entitled Math Course 2, Published by McDougal Littell, 2008.  Math Course 1, a sixth-grade text by the same publisher, was purchased in May of '08.  We also purchased the elementary version of the McDougal Littell math series entitled Math Expressions for grade 5 in the spring of 2008 and for grades K-4 in 2007.  This is the latest step in compressing the mathematics curriculum to raise rigor and prepare more students for algebra I by eighth grade.