MINUTES
WATERTOWN BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR MEETING
Watertown High School
Technology Center
Monday, March 23, 2009 – 7:30 PM
Members Present: Joseph Apicella
Gina Calabrese, Chairman
Mary Colangelo, Secretary
Thomas Lambert
Janice Pond
Richard Mazzamaro
Others Present: Karen Baldwin, Superintendent of Schools
Thad Hasbrouck, Director of Curriculum & Prof. Services
Gary Miller, Interim Director of District Operations
Richard Mastroianni, Student Council Representative
Fran Palmer, Swift Teacher
Marylu Lerz, Principal Swift Middle School
Matthew Geary, Principal W.H.S.
Sandra Greenwood
Mr. Greenwood
Other interested guests
Absent: Todd Griffin
Kevin Killeen
A. Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 PM
B. Salute to the Flag
Ms. Calabrese led the Pledge of Allegiance
C. Report from Student Council Representative – Richard Mastroianni
Mr. Mastroianni: Good evening Madam Chair, Superintendent Baldwin and everyone with us this evening. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this week there is a certain buzz around town about Watertown High School. That is to say, many people are very excited about opening night of “Once On this Island”. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the 26th, 27th and 28th, the cast of almost 40 students will perform the tropical themed dance numbers and songs. They’ve been practicing since January. Tomorrow at 9:30 am until 10:00 am, WATR, 1320 will feature a live broadcast interview of certain cast members, courtesy of Barbara Davitt. “Once On This Island” is written by Lynn Aarons and Steven Flarety is a Broadway musical taking place on a Carribean island in the Antillies which is the home to two entirely different societies, the poor peasants and the aristocrats. A group of storytellers describes the tale of a young girl, Pi-Moune, who grows up longing for a grander life than the one she faces. Inspired by the sight of a young and handsome Aristocrat, she prays to the gods to grant her wish. Tickets for the show are $8.00 for everyone. Again, this will be taking place this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm at Swift Junior High School in the auditorium. I urge everyone here to go.
On Thursday, March 19th, the musical theater group was one of many organizations at Watertown High School that did show its support to the Watertown Board of Education for the 2009-2010 fiscal year’s proposed budget. It was just last Thursday that around 65 students in total attended this public budget presentation given by Superintendent Baldwin with the Town Council and members of the Board of Education present. I know that I wasn’t the only person in the room who felt just how powerful that silent show of support actually was. All too often there is a stigma attached with being under the voting age that many students don’t actually care with what’s going on in this town. I can assure you that the other night, there was an amazing amount of concern from students representing all grades and all types of courses at the high school, and I can tell you after interviewing them afterwards, they were more than happy to support the Board of Education, the teachers and most importantly the school itself. A man afterwards said it best; “Sometimes the loudest words are silent and the strongest actions, simple.” Thank you.
D. Public Participation
None
E. Budget Summary – (Information Only – No Action Required)
Ms. Calabrese: No action is required, for information only.
Ms. Baldwin: I think this would be a good time for Mr. Miller to walk board members through the 2008-2009 budget status. Again, it was hard for us and I apologize for not having this in your packets on Friday, and so I think it’s timely that Mr. Miller can walk through it and highlight the salient points.
Mr. Miller: There are a couple of things going on between last month when I gave the report and this month. I started working on it on Friday and I had a couple of things that took my attention, so I felt I really needed to spend more time looking into it. We had an extraordinary amount of heating oil consumed between last month and this month. Some of it was late bills, almost $100,000 we spent on heating between oil and natural gas last month, which if you look at where our balances are, it’s taken us quite far beyond where I would have had anticipated right now. I had a discussion with Ray Ceniccola, that it was probably time to switch over to natural gas which is dramatically less expensive per BTU than what we have contracted for oil. I wish I had made that decision last month. When I first heard him talking about it, unfortunately I wasn’t sure that we had made our commitment yet. Oil tanks are pretty full so we’ll just let the oil sit in the tank and if we have to go back to it later on in the budget year, it’s there, and we’ll use it. Right now, all the schools that have dual fuel, which are all but Polk and Trumbull and the Munson House and the garage, we’re going to go over to natural gas only, which will help a lot with service on the boilers over the summer. We’ll get them cleaned out. Also, what’s reflected in this report, typically you’ll notice in transportation and tuition lines you’ll see that there’s some pretty significant balances there. We had the first increment, roughly half of the excess cost grant for the year, so I’ve reflected that here. As we do budget net of what we anticipate getting in a grant, I’m told that this year they ended funding in the last few years 100% of the excess cost grant. This year it’s 90%. Next year, we budgeted at 75% of the grant which is what we have been told. There is a bill before the legislature, House bill 6655 that’s looking to do a three-tier approach to excess cost. 90% for four and a half times, 60% for three times and 30% for one time. We have to see what that does to our budget for next year. If it passes, as this probably won’t help, it will certainly be better than 75%. At this point this year, we’re probably looking at 90%. I have reflected that in here. At the moment we’re showing balances, but we do not have all the placements fully encumbered so between now and next time I report to you, I’m going to ask Special Ed to as best they can, encumber all the addages and placements to the end of the year, and then I’ll be able to make a better estimate, so that at that point I can factor in what will be a remaining amount of excess cost. Otherwise, not much has changed since last time, those were the significant areas of change.
F. Committee Reports:
1. Advertising Committee – Mary Colangelo
Ms. Colangelo: No report.
2. Athletics Committee – Joseph Apicella
Mr. Apicella: No report.
3. Budget Committee – Thomas Lambert
Mr. Lambert: We did explain our budget to the Town Council Finance Sub-committee. During our session, we did the best we could with what we had so far. We are still awaiting information from Washington and Hartford and also information on possible retirements from teachers. There are a lot of things still out there so it’s an ongoing process.
4. Curriculum & Instruction Committee – Kevin Killeen
Mr. Killeen is absent this evening.
5. Facilities Committee – Richard Mazzamaro
Mr. Mazzamaro: I wasn’t able to make the last meeting, but our Facilities Committee met before our last regular meeting, and we discussed the 10 year capital improvement plan for the school buildings and came up with a document that Superintendent Baldwin has discussed in her budget presentation very eloquently, and I believe the committee is fully behind it. We’ve brought the information to the board.
6. Policy and Labor Committee – Mary Colangelo
Ms. Colangelo: No report.
7. Cablevision – There is currently no one representing this at this time.
8. PBC Representative – Richard Mazzamaro
Mr. Mazzamaro: I’ve met twice to do walk throughs at Judson School and Watertown High School. We did a walk thru at Judson on March 14th with the Public Buildings Committee and several board members. Just to look at the work to date, which is amazing, the progress being made month to month is really good. You can especially see it in the cafeteria and the kitchen areas where the flooring has been poured, the electric rough-ins and plumbing, all the duct work is being worked on. I’m sure Ms. Baldwin will have more in her report. We also walked through Watertown High School for the first time with the committee and several board members and the progress to date is amazing. There hasn’t been much change as far as site work goes. There’s a lot of paving and parking lots that will be done this coming summer. A lot of plumbing and the electric and a lot of the rough-ins and flooring’s being poured and again. Ms. Baldwin will have a lot of the details.
9. Education Connection Representative – Janice Pond
Ms. Pond: There have been no meetings since my last report, but as I get information, I will forward it to you.
G. Communications - Secretary
Ms. Colangelo: No communications.
H. Minutes
MOTION made by Mr. Lambert, sec. by Ms. Colangelo
To approve the minutes of the Regular Board of Education Meeting – March 9, 2009
Opposed: None
Abstained: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
I. Superintendent's Recommendations and Report
Ms. Baldwin: Under appointments, you can see that we have absolutely begun our spring sports season and so there are numerous coaching appointments for your review. I would like to draw your attention to your appointments to letters N and O to highlight that we are planning a Title I extended school year this year for children in grades K-5. This is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of the consolidated grant money that the board received this fall. We received $89,000 in Title I. This initiative alone will expend approximately $26,000 and it’s a great opportunity for us to really make every effort to close the achievement gap that is present between our economically disadvantaged children and their non-disadvantaged piers. This programming has begun in its initial phases. Mr. Hasbrouck is working with these lead teachers who have been appointed. We’re really excited about this opportunity to see if we can’t make a difference in the lives of these young children.
1. Appointments – (Information Only – No Action Required)
a. Ms. Bridget Balanda to the position of long-term substitute Art Teacher at Watertown High School, effective February 23, 2009, being hired at $65.00 per day for the first ten days, and on the eleventh day, placed on the first step of the WEA’s contract of $38,815.00.
b. Mr. Keith Borkowski to the position of Varsity Softball Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $3,782.00 payable at the end of the season.
c. Ms. Denise Brown to the position of Girls’ Lacrosse Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $1,824.00 payable at the end of the season.
d. Mr. Mykal Kuslis to the position of Girls/Varsity Track Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,738.00 payable at the end of the season.
e. Mr. Brian Major to the position of Boys’ Lacrosse Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $1,824.00 payable at the end of the season.
f. Mr. Timothy Malootian to the position of Girls’ Varsity Tennis Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,086.00 payable at the end of the season.
g. Mr. Eric Miller to the position of Boys’ Varsity Tennis Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,346.00 payable at the end of the season.
h. Mr. Roger Ouellette to the position of Varsity Baseball Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $3,782.00 payable at the end of the season.
i. Mr. George Palomba to the position of Assistant Softball Varsity Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,607.00 payable at the end of the season.
j. Mr. John Petruzzello to the position of J.V. Baseball Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,607.00 payable at the end of the season.
k. Mr. Dane Street to the position of Varsity Boys’ Track Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $3,259.00 payable at the end of the season.
l. Mr. Michael Watson to the position of Varsity Golf Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $1,957.00 payable at the end of the season.
m. Mr. Kenneth Wawer to the position of Assistant Baseball Coach at Watertown High School for the 2008-2009 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,217.00 payable at the end of the season.
n. Ms. Chryll Beliveau to the position of Lead Teacher in the 2009 Summer School Program for K-5 Literacy Improvement in Reading and Math funded through the Title 1 Basic Grant, at a stipend of $2,250.00. This program is for four weeks, three hours per day for fifteen days.
o. Ms. Alisha Lyons to the position of Lead Teacher in the 2009 Summer School Program for K-5 Literacy Improvement in Reading and Math funded through the Title 1 Basic Grant, at a stipend of $2,250.00. This program is for four weeks, three hours per day for fifteen days.
Ms. Baldwin: Item 2 is a very straight forward transfer at Custodial ranks.
2. Transfers – (Information Only – No Action Required)
a. Mr. Scott Pietro from Custodian, 3rd shift at Swift Middle School, to Floater Custodian 2nd shift at Watertown High School, effective March 9, 2009, for 8.0 hours paid per day, at an hourly rate of $18.06.
3. Three School Project Update – (Information Only – No Action Required)
Administration will present an update on the three school project.
Ms. Baldwin: Item 3, the three school project update, which Mr. Mazzamaro
referred to. We did have the walk thru at Judson on March 14th. It is exciting
to see the progress. One of the areas that we do have concern about is the
finishing schedule in Area C. I have a meeting tomorrow with Mike Brennan,
O & G specifically to discuss the number of contractors on site with our sheet
rock and taping, and hopefully, we will get good news tomorrow about their
efforts to engage more trade contractors in that area because that’s important
to us. We need to get that finishing work done there. In Area A, the framing
and roof work is ongoing. Masonry exterior walls are going up with the building
connector. In Area B mechanicals on site are all on site. They are in the
process of being installed. The exterior masonry is being put up as well as the
exterior wall studs.
At the high school, we did have a walk thru last Wednesday, which was just very impressive. The scope of this project is immense and I think when you walk into the auditorium and the music area, it is just amazing what people can do and the vision of what this school will be by 2011. It’s very exciting. To highlight in Area A, the brick and stone veneer is being installed. The spray fireproofing should be completed at his juncture. We saw evidence of that when we did the walk thru. We’re starting the sprinkler and the roughen in the media center. In Area B, the drywall continues to go up and interior partition framing is taking place as well as the sprinkler roughens being conducted.
Polk is interesting. We continue to be in a little bit of a delay mode. It’s somewhat of a circular fashion and maddening. It’s a communication between the Connecticut Department of Education and the Department of Environmental Protection and then that communication needs to go back to the state, and once that’s received, the state will send us a letter. We are still optimistic that we can go out to bid on or around April 1 for this project. KBA will be up at the state department on Wednesday of this week, March 25th to review the design plan for the 500 year flood zone, and again, it is just a formality, but it’s just a rather large formality that we have not received written approval of these plans. That’s what we’re waiting for so that we can get some momentum around that project building as well. That is the extent of my three school project update.
J. Report from the Chairman
Ms. Calabrese: Both the Board of Education and the Town Council have worked very hard to develop a budget that meets the various needs of this community. Speaking for the Board of Education, our budget is one of needs, not wants. We are still seeking clarity and guidance on the limitations attached to funding from the stimulus plan. The state will meet with the Special Ed directors next week to confirm exactly how we may apply this funding to our budget. It’s very clear that the spending plans will need to be specific and federal officials will be auditing the use of these funds. We must plan very carefully. We can apply for 50% of the funding as early as April 15th, the second half of the money can be applied for in September.
K. Action Items – Adoption of Items to be Approved by Consent
1. Consideration of the Approval of Stipulation in Matter of Freedom of Information Complaint by David LeBlanc Against the Board of Education
MOTION made by Mr. Lambert, sec. by Mr. Mazzamaro
It is recommended that the Board approve of the stipulation of matter of Freedom of Information complaint by David LeBlanc against the Board of Education. (See Attachment A.)
Opposed: None
Abstained: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
2. Consideration of the Approval of Non-Renewal of Contract For Tenure Purposes Substitute Teacher
DISCUSSION: Ms. Baldwin: Just for the board’s information, in this agenda, we do have an executive session listed at the end to possibly discuss the matter here in front of you under action item #2. It would be perfectly appropriate for the board to take action on these non-renewable contracts presently and not go into executive session. Just so that you understand, once a teacher is employed for 90 days by the Board of Education, they’re covered by the tenure law. The names listed here, two of them are long term substitutes filling in for people who have a contractual obligation with the board and anticipate returning in the 2009-2010 school year. It is for that purpose that I recommend that you not renew their contract. The third is an individual who is continuing to work on their certification status and we have every hope to actually renew that employee. Because of certification issues, it is recommended that we not renew the contract. Should the board request additional information on these three individuals, then I would recommend that we continue with executive session, otherwise, we could act on this right now.
MOTION made by Ms. Colangelo, sec. Mr. Lambert
Under C.G.S. substitute teachers who have served up to or worked more than 90 consecutive days under a long-term substitute contract have to be informed that they should consider that their contract would not automatically be renewed.
It is recommended that the Superintendent be authorized to inform the following substitute teachers that his/her services will not be continued under the tenure laws:
Ms. Alicia Baker
Ms. Marnie J. Ford
Mr. Gamaliel Rosa
This is not any indication of job performance, but only a protection for the district required by law.
Opposed: None
Abstained: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
3. Consideration of the Approval of Swift Middle School Graduation Date
MOTION made by Mr. Lambert, sec. by Ms. Colangelo
Because we have used four inclement weather days for closing schools, it would bring the last day of school for the 2008-2009 school year to Wednesday, June 24, 2009. At the Board of Education meeting on November 10, 2008, the Board voted to approve of June 25, 2009, as the date for graduation exercises for the Watertown High School Class of 2009.
It is recommended that the graduation ceremony date for Swift Middle School be Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The time for the graduation ceremony will be announced at a later date.
Opposed: None
Abstained: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
4. Consideration of the Approval of Single Session Days at the End of the 2008-2009 School Year
MOTION made by Mr. Mazzamaro, sec. by Ms. Colangelo
It is recommended that single session days be granted for students only at the end of the school year. Due to final exams at the High School, the compilation of credits for graduation, record keeping at all levels, and moving due to the phasing of construction, the following schedule is recommended:
Grades PreK-12 three single session days: June 22, 23, and 24, 2009.
Opposed: None
Abstained: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
5. Consideration of the Approval of Cancellation of Meeting
MOTION made by Mr. Mazzamaro, sec. Ms. Colangelo
Discussion and possible action on the cancellation of the Board of Education’s meeting scheduled for April 13, 2009, due to the April recess.
Discussion: Ms. Colangelo: Will this be rescheduled or are we just not going to have one?
Ms. Baldwin: We could try and reschedule it and I think in terms of the budget demands, it might be timely for us to try and reschedule it. The question would be when?
Ms. Colangelo: Well if we don’t need it, any business we need to conduct can wait until the next meeting. We’ll have a longer next meeting.
Ms. Baldwin: We’ll look at what materializes between now and the actual date.
Opposed: None
Abstained: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
L. Future Agenda Items and Board Members’ Comments
Ms. Pond: I would just like to make a comment about the summer program. I was so excited to get that information. It really is a long time coming and I was very excited that we could do that for the kids.
Ms. Baldwin: It is exciting to be able to use the Title I funds that have come to the district and just because it is timely and we continue to be talking about the America Recovery and the Investment Act, which is what is in the Stimulus package. Summer programming would be another appropriate use of those dollars. Certainly that does not provide any relief for the Board in our budgeting efforts. It certainly does expand student learning opportunities which is also the heart of the initiative of the stimulus package.
Mr. Mazzamaro: My wife and I had the opportunity to attend the Sock Hop at Judson and Ms. Rommel must have been very tired on Saturday. I just wanted to thank the teachers and the staff. It was very organized and the kids had a blast and the parents too.
Ms. Colangelo: Another thought I had, what happened to the PTA/PTO reports? We’re not doing that anymore?
Ms. Baldwin: It’s an interesting question. That was on our agenda early on since the fall. We have never received representatives. People weren’t coming. We call them all the time from the board. My secretary does. I don’t know what that challenge is. I do have an executive PTO/PTA meeting on Monday, March 30th. Every effort will be made to re-engage them at that time.
Ms. Calabrese: I know a while back and this may have even been before you came on the scene Superintendent Baldwin. There was a discussion about that. I know that they were interested in changing the way it had been done previously with people taking turns. I know that part of the concern was that people expressed that they were out for so many different meetings and so many different events with their children that it was getting to be very difficult to find people to come and after a while, it just kind of petered out. I thought they were still going to continue, but just not as frequently. Maybe we can look into it.
M. Public Participation
None
N. Executive Session –
Personnel Matters - Discussion on the non-renewal of contracts for non-tenured long-term substitute teachers in the district.
NO EXECUTIVE SESSION NEEDED
O. Regular Session - None
P. Adjournment
MOTION made by Mr. Lambert, sec. by Mr. Mazzamaro
To adjourn the meeting at 8:00 pm.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Colangelo, Secretary
Board of Education
Patricia A. Barber, Minutes Secretary
|