Watertown Board of Education

Regular Meeting

Minutes

Meeting Date: February 12, 2007

Meeting Time: 7:30 p.m.

Meeting Place: Watertown High Technology Center

Members Present: Mr. Richard Mazzamaro, Board Vice-Chairperson

Ms. Gina Calabrese, Board Member

Ms. Mary Colangelo, Board Member

Mr. Kevin Killeen, Board Member

Mr. Chris Lafferty, Board Member

Mr. Thomas Lambert, Board Member

Ms. Joanne Pannone, Board Member

Dr. Joseph Erardi Jr., Superintendent of Schools

Ms. Amelia Grover, Dir. of Budget and Financial Planning

Ms. Betsy Hackett, Director of Special Services

Mr. Todd LoFrese, Director of Operations

Ms. Kace DuPlissie, PTO Representative

Mr. William Zeman, W.H.S. Student Representative

Absent: Ms. Mary Dzioba, Board Chairperson

Mr. Todd Griffin, Board Secretary

Dr. Philip Pelosi, Assistant Superintendent of Schools

Press: Jim Taylor, Town Times

Guests: Thad Hasbrouck, Patricia Corvello, Marylu Lerz, Mary Raola, Emily Judd, Kathleen Scully, Fran Palmer, Ron Jones, Gary Lafferty, Bob Fortier, Ginny Chambers, Gail Cesarello, Dave King, Fred Khericha, Glen Gaines, Angelo Spadaccini, Julie Henion, Ayame Whitfield, Paige Calabrese, Jillian Noseworthy, Jacquelyn Voghel, C.J. Saraceno, Britney Polites, Kathleen Campagna, Jared Jacovich, and Chelsea Kyle

A. Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 PM

Mr. Mazzamaro convened the Regular Board of Education meeting at 7:30 p.m.

B. Salute to the Flag

Mr. Mazzamaro led the Salute to the Flag

C. Recognition

Mr. Mazzamaro turned the meeting over to Dr. Erardi for student recognition.

Dr. Erardi: I am very pleased to recognize five outstanding students this evening. I would like to start with the two students from Judson School who were the grade level winners for the Readers Digest Word Challenge, our winners will now go on to compete at the state level.

Dr. Erardi called Ayame Whitfield and Paige Calabrese forward to receive certificates from the Board of Education.

Dr. Erardi: As I mentioned to the Board and to our members that are here this evening, Ayame and Paige will both go onto state competitions. It was a rigorous competition I was told at Judson School’s grade 4 and grade 5, on behalf of the Board of Education, Ayame and Paige, congratulations.

Applause

Dr. Erardi: We would like to continue with our student celebration with two more students from Judson School. Congratulations to Mrs. Corvello and our Judson School students.

Dr. Erardi called Jillian Noseworthy and Jacquelyn Voghel forward to receive certificates from the Board of Education.

Dr. Erardi: Jillian and Jacquelyn were recently recognized by the Connecticut Association of Schools for their outstanding work in Art and Music. Jillian is a 5th grader at Judson School with a terrific music ability and background and Jacquelyn, I am told, has artwork all over Judson School that is just outstanding work.

On behalf of the Board of Education, congratulations and keep up the terrific work. Thank you.

Applause

Dr. Erardi called Julie Henion forward for recognition from the Board of Education

Dr. Erardi: Julie I would to share with you and with the community information that your principal Mr. Hasbrouck provided for me. This is a very prestigious award and we are extremely proud of your accomplishments. Julie Henion a senior at Watertown High School is deserving of Board of Education recognition for her receiving a statewide award as described below; this is from Mr. Hasbrouck. “I received information about the Connecticut Technology Councils of Women of Innovation Program in the Fall of 2006, and nominated Julie Henion for the award. Below is a statement that I submitted for her nomination. Julie Henion, Class of 2007, present Salutatorian is an outstanding young lady with career aspirations in engineering. At our school her success in our most difficult courses is notable, advanced placement courses on her transcript include Calculus, Computer Science, Chemistry, English and French. Other classes are taken at the honors level. Having completed all computer science courses Julie is taking an advanced, independent study course this year. Her teacher described her work as amazing and phenomenal, as well. She has taken technology education courses in CAD and metals. At the Connecticut High School Computer Science competition Julie was an award winner scoring one of the top 20-underclass students in the state. In our award winning First Robotics Team 237, Julie is a leader. (I think we have a couple of teammates here, don’t we). Last year’s robot placed among the top 5% in international competition. Julie was part of the design team and wrote for the First Design Publication about the team-designed turret that earned two design awards. Julie Henion’s accomplishments are significant, I am confident she will contribute much to engineering; this award will give her confidence as she prepares for collegiate endeavors. It was a reflection of her combination of her scientific inquiry and creativity that Julie was this year’s winner for High School students. At Watertown High School we are very proud of her.”

Julie, congratulations on behalf of the Board of Education.

Applause

Dr. Erardi: Just to close our celebration of excellence, I would like to share a copy with the Board of Education as we take our break from the press release from the Hartford Courant that recognized the nine outstanding women who were the recipients for the Innovation Award, Julie being the only High School student in Connecticut to receive such an award.

1.) The Board of Education would like to recognize Ms. Julie Henion, a senior at Watertown High School, winner of the Youth Innovation and Leadership Award for 2007 sponsored by the Connecticut Technology Council. Julie is an integral part of the Robotics team.

2.) The Board of Education would like to recognize two students from Judson School who are winners in the Reader’s Digest Word Challenge:

Ayame Whitfield – Grade 4

Paige Calabrese – Grade 5

3.) The Board of Education would like to recognize two students from Judson School who will be honored by the Connecticut Association of Schools in art and music:

Jillian Noseworthy – Grade 5 – Music

Jacquelyn Voghel – Grade 5 – Art

Five minute recess 7:38 p.m.

Reconvened 7:45 p.m.

D. Public Participation

Ron Jones, 15 Hollow Road Watertown

I have had the responsibility for the Watertown Land Trust for property maintenance and I am only here to ask this one question. Last year there was a program here for students to do public service as part of their graduation requirement and I was wondering if the Board could bring us up to date on what the plan is for this year.

Gary Lafferty, 214 Belden Street, Watertown

I am taking over for Ron, his position, and we asked in the past for students. This could be a win-win situation or program for us here. Where we have projects that go on, right now we have Taft School gets involved every year, we have other smaller groups in the Town help us out. These are small projects that students can do, whether it be maintenance work for us, typing work and stuff like that. We talked to the guidance counselor group last year and we only had a response of two students from the school and we are just trying to see how we can get the word out more and get a better response. We think it is good for us and for the students.

Dr. Erardi: There are two thoughts that come to my mind and Mr. Hasbrouck is here who can probably certainly expand on my words. The High School has a club called the Interact Club and it is a service component club. Second to that is that every student upon graduation has a community service requirement. I would suggest that you getting in touch with Mr. Hasbrouck, connecting how our students can become more deeply invested in some of the projects that you may have.

CJ Saraceno, Farmdale Road, Watertown

I am here to discuss the Tower Road issue and the case of the Tower Road gate is a disappointing one. When I first became involved in this spirited debate the gate was only a personal burden, now a days though it is something I rarely encounter. I find myself getting to school early and leaving school late mainly due to the extracurricular activities I am involved in. However, I am here today for my fellow students and the future students at Watertown High. I can only hope that my effort will help motivate more people to question this obstruction. To my fellow students, I say your concerns are just and your protests are rooted in substance, everyday at school your lives are in danger and any fire, storm or bomb threat could be detrimental. Safety should be a main concern at our school and when adults, students and town officials all consider it such a high priority then the need for the removal of this gate should seem all but obvious.

There have already been accidents resulting from the shear congestion that occurs every morning as parents scramble to drop their kids off while students rush to find a parking space. Even higher levels of traffic occur after school when the surge of traffic is even more highly concentrated. I question how long it will be until an accident so devastating makes a Tower Road citizen reconsider their need for that gate. If the gate should happen to come down I know my peers would not abuse the privilege. They would appreciate the opportunity of being able to leave school without waiting 20 minutes to get from the parking lot to French Street however, there is little doubt in my mind that a student will never speed on this road. We are all relatively new drivers and if our insurance rates are any indication of our driving ability then Tower Road citizens should carry some responsible concern about the safety of their pets, their children and their own lives. To this concern though I must point out that this is an issue of enforcement and it would be up to our Police Department to punish those who break the law. People speed on my road, they speed on my Grandma’s road and they unfortunately speed on every road. Do we block the roads that these speeders originate from? No, we issue citations. The issue lies here with the Police Department. If not all our students do leave the school in orderly manner, making sure to follow Town driving laws in the process, then I do see where Tower Road citizens will find grievance. But to deny the right of a safe High School environment because of the threat of potential speeders, it is just unacceptable and I urge everyone I know to say so.

Chelsea Kyle, Town line Highway

I am in favor of opening Tower Road as well. My reasons for why the gate should be opened are in two main categories, convenience and time. Our student body has a large percentage of teenage drivers all of which if not promptly out the door at the end of the day are waiting at least 20 minutes in traffic while rushing to the entrance to get out. People have jobs and employment and people who are counting on them to be there at their most available time. Students should be allowed to be out the 2:05 and gone by 2:10. With only having one exit makes this traffic flow absolutely chaotic. People living on Tower Road should be aware of the school’s difficult location and be able to spare 20 minutes of their day for traffic. I believe that Tower Road should be opened. Thank you.

Britney Polites, 78 Ellen Street, Oakville

On behalf of the student council I would like to speak about the proposed issue of the Tower Road gate. I am the Student Council President and I was the one that came up to Mr. Hasbrouck in the beginning of the year with this issue. I discussed in the beginning of the year about mostly the annoyance of having to wait 20 minutes after school, the waste of gas, the waste of time but this year has really brought to my attention the safety concerns of having only one entrance and exit to our school. When I asked Mr. Hasbrouck if there was an emergency situation, how would we have safety personnel come in and he said in an emergency situation, the gate would be opened. So there have been two accidents so far this year on French Street in the morning and on neither of those occasions did the gate get opened. People were late to school, people were late to work and there was congested traffic much, much later than normal on those mornings. So that is why I came to Will about trying to propose Tower Road being opened on a trial basis after school from 2:05 to about 2:25 to see how well having Tower Road would get rid of some of the traffic. The safety concerns for the Tower Road residents are like CJ said, they are very understandable so at the recent Student Council meeting we proposed using funds for speed limit signs, one way signs or any other types of safety equipment we would gladly provide. Thank you.

Gail Cesarello, Tower Road

As you know, I spoke at the last Board meeting and I am against the gate being opened, the reason is a safety concern. There is no room on Tower Road for two-way traffic and students walking up and down the hill. As a student just brought up earlier, they say the residents aren’t concerned for safety and that we really are concerned for the safety of others. They said that they would exit the High School cautiously and obey the speed limits, if not we can call the Police. Which we have done in the past but it is a change of shift and by the time the Police do get there, the drivers are long gone. I also carry a concern of if there was a fire, there are over 40 residents’ homes in that neighborhood and with the congestion the traffic would cause how would a fire truck get to, God forbid if needed in an emergency vehicle at their homes. As Mr. Zeman suggested at the last meeting that if there were no where to walk for the students who do walk home from school, they could walk on residents’ property. People pay a lot of money to take care of their grass and if there were sidewalks I would have no objection what so ever to have the gate opened. The gate was originally just a walkway that was never even a drive through entrance; the drive through entrance was the backside of the High School. I just would like in closing for you to consider that the bottom line is safety versus exiting the High School quickly, one can cause a lifetime of hear ache and the other one a lesson in patience and tolerance. Thank you.

Jared Jacovich, 41 Pheasant Ridge Drive, Watertown

Just a quick thing on the Tower Road topic, my reason for why we should open the gate is that it is the same concept that a building in order to be under fire code needs to have two exits to get into and out of the building. We only have one at the High School so in the event we need to leave quickly or that the emergency personnel need to get in, it is already a hazard there.

Bob Fortier, Tower Road, Watertown

I find myself standing before the Board once again along with my neighbors because the Student Council wants you to consider opening up the rear emergency exit of the High School. This wasn’t a safe idea 10 years ago, wasn’t a safe idea 5 years ago and nothing has been done to reconstruct Tower Road or the rear exit to make it a safe now. The gate is not wide enough to handle two cars, the way around that is I understand they want to put a school administrator in work clothes to direct traffic. I think we all know that you are going to need a uniformed officer to control any kind of authority there. I mean we were made aware last month when the tax collector of New Haven tried to tow a woman’s car with a shirt and tie on and she ran him over, it just doesn’t happen unless you have a uniformed officer on hand. As it is now we have parents and friend parked on the side of the road which makes it difficult to go up and down the street now. You have heard, the main issue is that there are no sidewalks on the road, the students walk 2 and 3 abreast on both sides of the road when school is let out, it leaves no room for traffic. At some points you have telephone poles directly across from each other. You have a bridge at the bottom of the road where it narrows again and there is another guardrail, it leaves no room for the students, if two cars are on that bridge they have to stop and let the cars go. Not to mention we have twice as many fire hydrants on the road now that we did last time the Council wanted you to consider this due to the fact that Town ran a new water main up the road.

If you have friends or family visit that want to park in front of your house, you basically shut the road down to a one-lane road. Oil trucks making deliveries in the afternoon, UPS makes their second round of deliveries up Tower Road between 2 and 3 o’clock on a daily basis. You are going to have the Town dumping an abundance of sand on the street and then we are going to release a group of teenagers to race down the road. I say race because I have witnessed it several times. They have driven by me at 60-70 miles an hour and I tried to slow them down waving at them only to be yelled all kinds of obscenities at the end of the street and find trash dumped in the road on a later date. I mean this isn’t an issue about my backyard or their back yard, this is a safety issue. It has nothing to do, we just happen to live there; it is mainly a safety issue. When you put a large group of vehicles and buses in one area, it takes time to evacuate, to exit the facility; there is no doubt about that. I hear about getting to work and getting here and there, when I went to school, if your grades were in tact and your credits were up to par, you were allowed early dismissal to go to your job. I don’t know what’s changed since then, I still think it is the same, I don’t know where they are in a hurry to go. Fifteen minutes out of a teenager’s life for a 9-10 month period isn’t asking a whole lot I don’t think. I think we should be teaching a little more patience here to cut down on road rage. What is going to be next, the stop signs and the red lights take too long so they want go through them. The chain can come down as we said, if there is a major issue but I think you are asking for more problems at this point. If there are accidents in a controlled exit, what are you going to do when these kids are let loose going down the road? We are asking for trouble.

I don’t want to discourage the Student Council; it seems like we are going down the same path every couple of years. Maybe they ought to take a different direction and approach the Town and honestly the Town doesn’t feel it is that big of an issue because they are not putting a street light out there. This way I thought maybe we would need two officers because of the way the exit is located but I had to go to a function this weekend and I noticed that the Police Departments have flashing lights on hand trucks that can be put on both sides of the hill which will slow people down and then one officer can do the work of two. Maybe they can dictate someone to go out and put these flashing lights out there like we used to have crossing guards in the day. I see that they have taken down the tree at the end of the road, a right turn exit, maybe the last couple hundred feet would alleviate a lot of traffic. Or maybe even designate an area for the student to go, if they know it is going to take 15 minutes to get out, why can’t they go to a facility. If they had something right at the school, a gymnasium or the cafeteria, have their rides comes 15 minutes later so they can come right in, pick them up and go right out rather than sit in the traffic. I mean if it is this big of an inconvenience then take the school bus, that takes an hour so already they are one step ahead of the other kids.

This is my feeling. I hope that the Board doesn’t take the convenience of a few students ahead of the safety of the rest of us. I would like to thank the Town Times for bringing this issue to light because my understanding is that the school has sent people to knock on our doors and to ask for feedback and our opinions of this. No one has knocked on my door or my neighbors, I called the school, I called three times, and none of my calls were returned. I asked to speak to the principal and I didn’t get return calls. The signs that they put on the telephone poles, I have a pole in my yard and there was no sign and you couldn’t read what they said, they were rain soaked, curled up, who knew what they said. It kind of seems like they are trying to cross their T’s and dot their I’s but they are really not doing the leg work. I think they are misleading and I hope you take all that into accountability. Thank you.

Kathleen Campagna, 141 Scott Avenue

Although the Town does bring up many pressing issues, this has to be considered that this would just be a trial period and if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t have to continue. But as an honors student, next year for my senior schedule I am not going to have the time to have an early dismissal because my schedule is so packed. It is required for most colleges that students work a part-time job and the one that I am interested in starts at 2:30 and it would be very difficult for me to be able to leave. Basically it is not even 15 minutes to clear the pit; it is more like maybe 5 or 10. Just a suggestion I would like to bring up again, it would be a trial period and if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t work out. Thank you.

Report from Student Council Representative – Mr. William Zeman

Mr. Zeman: Thank you Mr. Chairman, I think the student body did a pretty good job speaking for themselves tonight so this report seems to be a little superfluous. I will speak on Tower Road when we come to that part. The only other thing I have to say is on a completely different note, the Mr. Watertown Pageant, the first ever Mr. Watertown Pageant was held last Thursday. We thank Dr. Erardi for allowing himself to be proposed to, we hope Mrs. Erardi didn’t really mind that much and if you are interested in the winners, Mr. Congeniality was Matt Nevel, second runner up was Jon Swanhall, who I believe is here tonight. The first runner up was Christopher Kyle who is a senior and the first ever Mr. Watertown High School is Mr. Brian Tietz, Class of 2008. That is all I have for my student report, thank you.

Report from PTA/PTO Liaison – Ms. Kace DuPlissie

Ms. DuPlissie: From Swift, they are going to have an educational program on February 20th, Brett Daniels a technical musical production that will have two shows, 12 & 1 PM. They will also do something for the children during the CMT Testing; Mrs. Lerz is doing a slam-dunk into CMT’s as a kick off on March 2nd. The PTSO at Swift has also given the parents tips to be able to help their children on the CMTs.

At Heminway, they have purchased all new playground equipment as well as a new camera for the school. They are planning a poet as an assembly in the month of March. Polk ran a Valentine’s Day flower sale to raise money to purchase a bike rack for the school. They order 1040 flowers to be delivered on Valentine’s Day to students and staff. They do this every year so they can purchase other types of things for the school. On March 1st they will have a storyteller, Tom Lee at Polk to read and perform during the day and he will also do an evening show for the families. The children will come in their pajamas and listen to a story and then be able to read on their own and have a book swap with their friends. Parents will be entertained as well later in the show and there will be refreshments. Also at Polk the yearbook club began on February 8th with 30 children. Polk’s yearbook is a little different than other schools as they have each 5th grader to likes and dislikes and what they want to be when they are 30. This year they are also going to have the teachers do a likes and dislikes and what they want they want to do when they retire.

At the high school you already heard about Mr. Watertown, the only other thing I have to say is that the swim team at Watertown had their fund raising banquet last week and they made $600 on their raffles. Friday is their big meet against their rival Naugatuck, so please come and support them, 7:00 p.m. Thank you.

E. Budget Summary – (Information Only – No Action Required)

Mr. Mazzamaro: Budget summary is in the packet for all Board Members to review.

F. Committee Reports:

1. Advertising Committee, Todd Griffin, Chair

No report

2. Athletics Committee, Chris Lafferty, Chair

Mr. Lafferty: There is no report this evening

3. Budget Committee, Todd Griffin, Chair

No report

4. Curriculum & Instruction Committee, Gina Calabrese, Chair

Ms. Calabrese: There is no report this evening

5. Facilities Committee, Rich Mazzamaro, Chair

Mr. Mazzamaro: We met on February 1st in the Polk School library, the purpose of the meeting was to have our committee tour the Polk basement and also update our committee on the three schools study. During the meeting the committee endorsed the recommendation to the full board for a first read tonight on options for all three schools. This endorsement puts into action an aggressive timeline of event. It starts this evening with a first read, then goes for full Board approval on an option, request to Town Council, KBA presentation to the Town Council, Council resolution, a public hearing 5 days after, Town Council setting referendum date, 6 six weeks of communications and information sessions and then a successful referendum, all of which culminating in a grant application by June 30th. KBA is here tonight and will present some information on the three-school study before the first read.

6. Policy and Labor Committee, Mary Colangelo, Chair

Ms. Colangelo: The Policy and Labor Committee met on Wednesday February 7th and reviewed the guidelines to the transportation policy as related to the size of items allowed on buses, number of students allowed at a bus stop, walking distances and also age of students allowed to accept youngsters during their drop off bus stop. The committee will review the guidelines again at a subsequent meeting before sharing them with the full Board of Ed. The committee also reviewed the guidelines to our new wellness policy as related to food brought into school and its impact on students with food allergies in general and tree nut allergies in particular. Staff will be reviewing this further and bringing their recommendations to the committee in the near future. Again when revised these guidelines will be shared with the full Board of Ed.

7. Cablevision, Kevin Killeen, Chair

Mr. Killeen: No report this evening

8. PBC Representative, Rich Mazzamaro

Mr. Mazzamaro: There is no report this evening

9. Education Connection Representative, Mary Dzioba

No report

G. Communications – Secretary

No communications

H. Minutes

1. Regular Board of Education Meeting – January 22, 2007

Motion Presented by Mr. Lafferty seconded by Mr. Killeen to accept the Regular Board of Education Meeting Minutes of January 22, 2007.

Motion Passed

(4-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 3 Abstained)

In Favor: Mr. Killeen, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Lambert and Mr. Mazzamaro

Abstained: Ms. Calabrese, Ms. Colangelo and Ms. Pannone

I. Superintendent's Recommendations and Report

Dr. Erardi: I don’t know if there are any questions in regards to appointments that we have on this evening’s agenda.

The Board had no questions regarding Item #1

1. Appointments – (Information Only – No Action Required)

a. Ms. Sammi Brooks to the position of One to One Special Ed program paraprofessional, Category #1, at Judson School starting February 5, 2007 for 30.00 hours paid per week, at an hourly rate of $11.82.

b. Mr. Michael Simmons to the position of Lead Network Coordinator starting February 1, 2007 at a prorated annual salary of $56,059.00.

Dr. Erardi: We will move onto Mr. LoFrese with the three-school study update.

Mr. LoFrese: Good evening, thank you. In front of each Board Member this evening there is an updated spreadsheet which details the cost of the different proposed options for the three school study.

We learned recently that preliminary data from the State Department indicated that our reimbursement rate may be increasing by approximately 4%. What this would mean is a preliminary savings to the Town of about 4 million on the facility committee endorsed recommendations. With that said Kaestle Boos is here again this evening and they have a graphical fly-by, completed version of Watertown High School and they are also available to answer any Board Member questions and discuss the options in further detail if anyone would like to do so. Thank you.

Mr. King: Briefly we are going to go through this, the fly-by you saw about a little more than a month ago was partially completed and now it is complete.

Referring to a computer generated graphical presentation

What you see is entering the entrance driveway the school, the field is along the side to the right, which will have a new synthetic surface on it. It curves around now by what is the parking area, in the foreground is the parent drop off area. We are swinging around now by the pool and are going to continue all the way around the building, which will list two minutes. Here is the pool area, we are going to have some proposed spaces ahead of that for some performing arts, music and art areas. All the way around to the back you will start to see where the color of the lawn here changes that is because of some play field areas. We are going around the back, when we get to this side, which is the sunny side, that windows have shading devices on them to improve thermal performance of the building. Along the three story wing, tennis courts, this is the existing two story wing, the second story is of course converted to science labs and of course the window treatment is all different up there. You see a greenhouse, the upper left. This is part of an addition where on the lower floor you’ll have guidance and some special Ed rooms, now we see the new proposed media center and we see the main entrance and administrative offices, that is where we will stop.

Mr. King: What we have learned with regard to the scenarios on the lower left hand side are those which you saw before and they all contemplate the present reimbursement rate of 56.07%. Mind you that in scenario D, which is a bare bones version of work at Polk School. Which would include just the basement and some code work, because it is not renovate to new there is a good bit of repair and replacement work, work that is considered that by the State such as the basement, so that the reimbursement rate is not as robust. We have a target rate of about 39%. But moving forward the new proposed reimbursement rate from the State is changing to 60.71% so the scenarios you see down here, and I have only run two of them, use that new reimbursement rate. So for example the scenario 3A, the scenario as proposed in our study of a full build at the High School, for Judson and for Polk, for code and educational issues which was an $84 million project. The Town’s share for that scenerio was $37,047,427 with the new reimbursement, the Town share drops to $33,134,382 which is a difference of about $4 million.

In the scenario where we have a full build for the High School, a lesser build for Judson and a no addition but a renovate to new situation at Polk, before the Town’s Share was $35,654,684, under the new reimbursement that would be $31,888,744, which is a difference of about the same amount of money. That is kind of the difference of what the new reimbursement rate does for you.

Mr. Killeen: The projection of the increase in the rate of reimbursement, is that a result of the Governor’s input on education speech that she made this past week or was that projected prior to that?

Mr. King: That was projected prior to that so I don’t think that they have any relation. I do know that from what I read in the paper that the proposed rates for reimbursements for school projects is slated to go down further. Right now it ranges from 20% to 80% and it is proposed to drop to 15% to 65%. So I don’t know if that legislation will pass or when it will become effective but that is something that is a little bit further out than where we are right now.

Mr. Lafferty: Is this a definite 61% reimbursement rate or this through the grapevine we hearing it will go up to that?

Mr. LoFrese: I can speak to that. This information is on the Bureau of School Facilities website, it is printed on their website as preliminary percentages based on current law.

Dr. Erardi: Board Members I don’t if you have questions at all for the instructional landscape of the three school proposal but Mrs. Corvello, Mrs. Judd and Mr. Hasbrouck are here this evening if you have questions in regards to the new construction and how that will impact instruction.

Mr. Lafferty: Right now, we are looking at construction that will partially displace some students at the High School correct?

Dr. Erardi: The preliminary conversation that we have had with KBA and with Mr. King was that when the project goes forward, the work, which will likely impact two years of instruction, there will be a need to reduce the student load probably by and entire grade level. We have spoken to Mr. LoFrese with Board of Ed conversations and have two or three different scenarios. One being Hemingway Park the second being relocatable classrooms and the third potentially being a shorted day, a staggered day for students but that in the very early preliminary stages. All of that will come back to the Board.

Mr. Killeen: There has been some mention of reducing the scope of the job at Polk and at least as it stands right now I think that I wouldn’t be in agreement with that. I think that would be a case of being penny wise and pound-foolish. I also would like to bring up if we are looking at the plans for the High School if we could address alternate egress from the site in a current building plan because right now Tower Road is inadequate. It might be able to be addressed with cooperation with the Town Council; I am throwing that out there now because I am not aware that it is addressed in the plans.

Mr. King: In our study we proposed widening the main drive so that we have two exit lanes from the main entrance with the possibility of improving or increasing the turning radius there. In other High Schools where we have implemented a two lane egress we have the opportunity when buses exit for example, those that are going to turn right are in one lane, those that turn left are in another and that they are able to get about two dozen buses out in somewhere around two minutes. So that does relieve the congestion I think in that regard.

Mr. Mazzamaro: I just wanted to comment on Mr. Killeen’s comment. If you look at the chart the different scenarios, the amount of work you loose for the amount of money you save, there doesn’t seem to be a big bang for the buck as far as what is saved. The amount of square footage and the amount of construction you’d loose by that. At our last facilities meeting the committee did endorse option A for all three schools.

Mr. King: You can see on the bottom of the right had side, we ran one other scenario where we do the low end, not at the High School but the lowest end of Judson and Polk. In that scenario you can see that the Town’s share now goes down to $28,587,352 however if you look at the State’s share of the project is the largest for the largest project, which I guess stands to reason.

Dr. Erardi: Board Members this is presented this evening as a first read under my report and administration is hoping that between now and the 26th that you are able to get any questions that you may have either to Mr. LoFrese or to me. We are hoping that you are comfortable enough to take a position on the item as a second read on February 26th. And please any and all questions we will do our best to get the information back to you through KBA. Any further questions at all on this issue?

The Board had no further questions on Item # 2

2. Three School Study Update – First Reading

At the Facilities Committee meeting on February 1, 2007, the Committee endorsed a three-school study and presents it to the full Board tonight for the first reading. Administration and representatives from Kaestle Boos Associates, Inc. will present information on the three-school study for the first reading.

Dr. Erardi: I will again move to Mr. LoFrese for item #3 which is our Energy Education update that went before facility.

Mr. LoFrese: The representatives from Energy Education Mr. Glen Gaines and Mr. Angelo Spadaccini are here with us this evening to do a short presentation to the Board of Education about a presentation they did in December to the Facilities Committee on a human resources approach to energy management within the school system. With that I would like to turn it over to Mr. Glen Gaines.

Mr. Gaines: Thank you for allowing me to be here. I will touch on the highlights of the Energy Education Program. I know you have some material before you and some of you have been involved in a presentation previously so my intent is to give you some basics of the program and certainly answer your questions. Very briefly, Energy Education is an organization that works only with Public School Systems around the United States. We work specifically with 810 school districts in 46 states. What we do in the area of utility conservation is a little bit different in what most companies do and what most folks think about when you consider utility conservation because we don’t install equipment, we don’t retrofit equipment and we don’t audit utility structure looking for better pricing. All of those things we don’t do are things you should do; there are good ways to save money in those avenues. What we have done for over 20 years as an organization is decrease consumption through working with the people side of the equation. Regardless of the sophistication of the controls or lack there of, regardless of the age of the buildings, regardless of the climate. Our clients find that through the implementation of this program they are able to decrease their consumption by 15-30% on average nationally. So the bottom line of this program is to take a formerly fixed utility expense dollar and turn it into a discretionary dollar that you can invest in something other than monthly utility consumption. We believe conservatively that in the information you have that there is slightly over 1.7 million dollars in the next 7 years that you would have to spend on items that you would prepare to spend them on rather than monthly consumption of utilities.

If I may, the one thing I would like to give you, this may be redundant I am not quite sure but I am going to pass out a brief summary. It is basically a summary of our program as taken from a survey of our clients. We simply asked our clients why did they decide to work with Energy Education, what was their motivation? These six points came up repetitively and I will touch on them as the key motivating factors to use the program but also if you would like more detail please let me know. The first point you will see is that our clients liked the program because there is not capital outlay necessary, not indebtedness at all with this program. Since there is nothing to install none of our clients have to go into any longer term pay back programs for the program to be put into place. Second point is the fact that in 810 School districts across the United States, no school system has ever had to budget an additional penny to put the program in place. Obviously in today’s budgetary environment that is critically important to be able to take dollars that you have spent on utilities and then transfer them over to education. Whether it be in programs, salary structure, whatever the needs are and not have to budget any new dollars to be able to put that program in place.

Now, I draw your attention to the underlined sentence on #2 that is in blue, I think it is ultimately the key decision making sentence. It simply says this; Hiring Energy Education, putting this program in place is not a spending decision. These are dollars you will otherwise spend on monthly utility consumption. It goes on to say it is a savings decision of how many of those dollars can you capture, keep internally and do some other things with?

Point #3, just to let you know that our company gives you a contractual guarantee. All of our clients we work with on a four-year contract. At the end of each 12 month accounting period we ask you to keep from your records, and by the way just as an aside, all of our clients keep their own records. You will not receive a single report from Energy Education saying here is how well we are doing, here is how wonderful the program is. Every one of their employees, straight off their utility bills keep the records internally and sends us a report letting us know how well we are doing. For us that is an arm’s length transaction, we can’t be accused of changing numbers to make them look better. But more importantly this guarantee, I want to tell you about now is based upon your internal records rather than the companies records. The contractual guarantee on point 3 simply says; at the end of each 12 month period we ask you take your records and compare your records of savings and then compare them to your records of expense, if for any reason your expenses are greater than your savings, we will write you a check for the difference. So that fiscally you can’t be out of pocket a penny for having contracted with Energy Education. I will answer a question that may pop to mind and possibly you have heard this already but the question that I hear as I make presentations is or as a comment is: Well that is a great guarantee has the company ever had to write any checks? The answer is yes. I don’t represent a company that has never missed on projections but we are proud of our track record. In over 20 years we have worked with over 800 school systems, that I mentioned to you earlier, we have completed over 1800 contract years in those 20 years, all of the 1800 contract years were guarantee opportunities. In our company’s history we have written less than one dozen checks. So what I want you to know really are two things. Number 1 we stand behind the guarantee to make sure you can’t be out of pocket. But secondly and far more importantly is to tell you that well over 99% of the time our clients have significant net spendable dollars to do something else with. This is not a program designed just to break you even but certainly that guarantee holds you fiscally harmless.

Point #4, one of the main concerns as you look at a people related program would be are we going to save money at the expense of comfort? Make folks hot in the summer, cold in the winter, let the kids sit in the dark and the answer to that type of approach is that that is not what this type of program does. You are not going to be people to buy into this program and make them uncomfortable at the same time. It is truly not a discomfort program. In fact in the sentences included on point 4, there is phrase that says, we are going to concentrate on eliminating non-value added energy consumption. In other words, if it is not benefiting the process, we want to capture those dollars and have you invest those dollars in other things that would be more beneficial to the school system and the students.

Point #5 is an interesting point; I will take just a second to touch on this. I mentioned just a moment ago; we have a four-year contract with all of our clients. At the end of the fourth year our clients will no longer pay Energy Education for any services, however our consultants will continue to come in an work with personnel on site free of charge in perpetuity. As long as you would like to have the full benefit of the program after the fourth year and the payments are completed, we will continue to work with you as we do all of our clients who want to continue the program. Obviously the significant vast majority of them continue the program free of charge. That is just an illustration of while this is a four-year investment, the savings and service are perpetual beyond that fourth year.

Sixth and finally, the final reason that came up on the survey and almost without exception this point was on the survey that came back from our clients as to why they would work with Energy Education, simply the dollars that were freed up are the main motivation. In this case specifically believe that net of expenses over a 7 year period the Watertown Public Schools would receive a benefit of $1,734,326 that you would otherwise invest in electricity, natural gas, water, sewer, those types of utility consumption. That instead you could keep those dollars and do other things with.

Having touched on the highlights of the program I would like to stop certainly answer questions. I know several of you have already had a much more in-depth presentation but I am here incase there are questions.

Mr. Mazzamaro: You mentioned that you’ve written over your company’s history about a dozen checks for various reasons. Could you touch on some of the reasons why the savings haven’t been realized?

Mr. Gaines: Sure and thank you for asking that. The rest of that illustration is simply this, in each of those checks that were written, they were always written in the first year of implementation that started slower than we had forecasted. All of those school systems, by the end of the second year were at or ahead of projections. They had started slower than we had forecasted and therefore we stepped up and made them whole that first fiscal year. The programs did go on to be significantly successful so thank you for asking that question because that is a point in my haste to make sure I was giving you a short report. One of the early ones in the companies history, the company began in Wichita Falls Texas, as small north central Texas town. Obviously now in 46 States our personnel and our company has spread significantly across the United States at this point. But there was a district in San Angelo Texas and the gentleman who was the point of training there, which we call an energy education, which you’ll see in your materials. The energy educator there, unfortunately his son contracted a brain tumor about six months into the first year of the program, they went down to Houston where the Andy Anderson Cancer Center is located and he spent the next six months in treatment there and unfortunately his son did pass away. They did not meet the projections, there was not anyone really overseeing the program for that period of time. We wrote a check to that school system to make them whole with the understanding that we believed the program would be very successful. The program did go on to be highly successful but obviously there were some circumstances out of the school system’s, and energy education’s control, but that is an example of one of those occurrences.

Mr. Mazzamaro: You mentioned savings, a four year contract and you see savings within the first year, how quickly would the system realize savings with the first month, first couple months?

Mr. Gaines: From a monthly cash flow analysis our average client nationally is cash flow positive on a monthly basis within 90-120 days of beginning the implementation. So you don’t wait very long to see net monthly savings saying in the school system on average. Also a very important question there because the cash flow does start very quickly since there is not an upfront investment.

Mr. Lambert: Do you get into custodial issues with swing shift and cleaning at night and having to turn lights on and off at night?

Mr. Gaines: What our company does, first of all we work in highly unionized settings all over the country so our intent is never to go against what the agreements are internally. Obviously that is the ruling agreement within any school system. What we will do as your consultants and experts is make a list of recommendations of observations we have seen. Some of them may be things that can be taken advantage of immediately, some of those things may be over years, this is why it is a four year implementation. This is not the type of thing where you walk in day one and say ok we are going to do these things immediately and everyone comes on board. So if there are opportunities we see that can be discussed we will look at those long term but nothing will be brought to the table and have to be implemented that stands in opposition to an agreement that already exists.

Ms. Colangelo: Can you give us some examples of some of the things that you do to educate the school system?

Mr. Gaines: Sure, absolutely. If you’ll allow we to take one step back and get a little bit of a running start to tell you how those things will be identified first. One of the very first things that the consultants from Energy Education will do with that person on site called an Energy Educator, by the way the Energy Educator in Watertown would be a part time position. We have clients have part time Energy Educators and we have some clients that are as large as, I guess maybe Orange County Florida is one of the larger clients we have. Which is Orlando, about 180,000 students and 200 and some odd schools, they have five full time Energy Educators. So there are different models for different implementations. Here that person would be a part time position, most of the time that is already someone that has a job description here who is working for you that will take this on a kind of an extracurricular type of responsibility. With that individual, these consultants would come in and one of the very first things they would do would be to do a five-time period of the day audit at every facility. Looking for things that people can do differently to make impact. From that audit they will come up with a menu of choices building by building. What that facility decides to do and the personnel there will become the action plan. Every facility would need to have a different action plan. In our experience nationally is that even if you have sister school that have exactly the same floor plan, mechanical plan, so many different things. I would guess that the business office could tell you that even in those situations, the monthly bills come in somewhat different. So you can’t have a cookie cutter approach even if the buildings are similar.

From that menu of choices from the audit and the action plan you are going to come up with a variety of things that are going to be possible. Let me start on the end where everybody starts. Well if this is a people program, are we turning out lights? Quite honestly we can’t save you 1.7 million turning out lights, there aren’t’ that may lights here. But if there is something that is a common sense habit and approach that is not being commonly practiced, we are not going to ignore it either. This is designed to be comprehensive and not let anything fall through the cracks. I will use the lighting example though, if you had a teacher in a classroom that left at lunchtime and lights were off for 30-45 minutes, where they may not have been previously, depending upon your kilowatt charge at that electric meter you are probably not talking about more than 3,4 or 5 cents. But how many classrooms are there, how many school days are there? At the end of the year maybe that pays for, maybe there is $1,000-$2,000 there that you could use toward whatever it is that would be more important than not having those nickels and dimes capture on that end of the spectrum.

Other end of the spectrum you are going to look at some things that are going to be very expensive to operate. One of the clients we have in the Indianapolis area, which is part of the area that I travel in for the company, we were looking at the way that they operated their chiller tower, the heating and cooling apparatus for their High School. They were doing it differently than a lot of their peers were in that region. We sat down and talked to them and there may have been a reason they needed to do that but we wanted to discuss it with them and find out if there were some opportunities that existed there. They agreed to try out a one week test case, it turned into a month test case, at the end of the first year they saved $20,000 in operating that piece of equipment a little bit differently. You are literally going to have things that are nickels and dimes and things that are going to be thousands of dollars on either end of the spectrum. What we are talking about here are hundreds of opportunities that people can do depending on their area of impact, where everyone can contribute. Not one person running around flipping switches, not people sitting in the dark or being uncomfortable, but everyone contributing in their area of work.

The two things that will cause the program to gain speed are #1 as people realize they are not going to be made uncomfortable, they are going to be willing to try more. Secondly as they realize you are not going to have to stay 15 or 20 minutes at the end of the day to incorporate a whole lot of new work ethic, with work items to form a new work ethic, that is also going to encourage them to say; Well if I am doing this already in my current work schedule then doing things differently possibly I can be of help. In some of our schools clients decide that they want to pass some of the saving back onto the campuses they came from. For example maybe you can use that in different ways, that would be your choice. Some of our clients need every penny to throw right back to the general fund to make ends meet and keep positions and programs in place. What ever you choose to use those dollars for they will be obviously to your benefit rather than paying electricity and such bills. Sorry for the long-winded answer.

Mr. Mazzamaro: You mentioned the 1.7 million in savings, is there a continuing… is that a finite amount of money or is there more savings to be had? Or once you finish your proprietary program and you have identified hundreds of areas to save, is that it or are there continuing improvements?

Mr. Gaines: Another great point about the program is that while the program is implemented in four years and the program does continue beyond the fourth year. One of the things we have done for all of our clients over the 20 year history is that as the program evolves and improves and we continue to improve as a company, we are going to continue to layer on those opportunities and educational pieces and savings opportunities to all of our clients, past and present to be able to allow them to have continuing savings. Also very rarely are school systems static for four years or ten years or anything. You are talking about opportunities to change the footprint of your school system right here as you were looking at this presentation, as your school system evolves you are going to have different savings opportunities with different people being able to effect those changes. So the program, what it may look like in year four may be very different than what it may look like in year ten.

Dr. Erardi: Thank you, we will bring this back to the Board of Education February 26 when we circulate it back through facility for additional endorsement. Thank you very much.

3. Energy Education, Inc.

Administration and representatives from Energy Education, Inc. will present information on Energy Education for Board consideration.

Dr. Erardi: Moving on through the Superintendent’s agenda, Mrs. Betsy Hackett our Director of Special Services will share with the Board three different areas of focused monitoring that has recently taken place at the State Department of Education.

Ms. Hackett: Thank you, Dr. Erardi. You all received a packet with is significant of what we are going to be talking about, green is good, red is not so when you see some maps later on you will know where we should be.

Mrs. Hackett presented a power point presentation.

The Connecticut State Department of Education has been monitoring the Connecticut School District performance and compliance with IDEA over the last two years.

Foci, past and current have been on comparing the minorities in special education with their comparable Towns in the State. The over-representation of those identified as learning disable. The numbers of those identified as intellectually disabled who are not being educated with their peers for 80% of the school day. The ratio of preschoolers to typical peers in our programs. And the number of special Ed identified students who are being educated in their geographic local school.

As the State enters its third year of so-called focused monitoring, it will be focusing on: Decreasing the number of students in all disability categories who have been suspended as defined by exclusion from regular classroom activities beyond 90 minutes. There are four what they call data probes and those four are:

• Special Education unique student suspension and expulsion rate. That would be the number of unique students with disabilities suspended or expelled out of school divided by the total number of students with disabilities in the district.

• The second data probe talks about students without disabilities in the district

• The third data probe takes about unique student suspension and expulsion rate minus the general education suspension and expulsion rate.

• The fourth data probe is special education suspended and expelled out of district for more than ten days divided by the total number of students in the district.

To make this whole thing a great deal easier, those four that we just talked about and identified here, probe 1, probe 2, probe 3 and probe 4. The colors that you are going to see on the next map are these colors here. The first map shows the first data probe, there is Watertown, green. Second map; second focus again Watertown in green. The third probe again Watertown in green. The fourth probe again, Watertown in green. It is so nice to be there.

I don’t know if you had a chance to really look at this but the colors mean basically: white are the people, you see Colebrook there all the time and someone suggested that maybe that’s because there is no kids up there. There are many children in the various districts who have no children that are expelled. The yellow is almost 10% of the children that have been expelled. So we are in the category of having less than 5% with this last survey that was done.

Mary Raola who is the Supervisor of Special Education is here to answer and questions that you might have. And I would like to make a note of appreciation tot he administrators because a lot of the reasons why the children are provided for other than suspension is because of their efforts and they are all here tonight, we would like to thank them all very much.

Dr. Erardi: Asks for questions that Board Members may have at this time in regards to focused monitoring?

The Board had no questions regard item #4.

4. Special Education Focused Monitoring

Ms. Betsy Hackett, Director of Special Services, will give a presentation on Special Education Focused Monitoring.

Dr. Erardi: Item #5 on the Superintendent’s report, I have copies for Board Members who were not part of the evaluation meeting this evening. The document coming around to all Board Members indicates the half-year status of the Superintendent Goals. I would like to summarize very briefly by sharing with the Board that I am pleased with where we are with our instructional plan. I thank our administrators and cabinet officers for getting us there. I am further pleased with where we are with our facilities plan and I am equally pleased with the partnership with the Superintendent at this time. So I thank you. I am hoping that Board Members if you have questions or concerns or comments or suggestions in regards to my goals that you feel free to give me a call over the next week or so.

5. Superintendent’s Professional Goals 2006-2007

The Superintendent will update the Board on his Professional Goals for 2006-2007.

Dr. Erardi: Item #6, I would like to recognize the following emerging artists in the Watertown Schools:

6. Student Artwork

The student artwork you see on display this evening was done by the following young artists:

Stephanie Nguyen, John Trumbull Primary School – Kindergarten

Clive Saunders, John Trumbull Primary School – Grade 1

Mason Hughes, John Trumbull Primary School – Grade 2

Jenna Reeser, Polk School – Grade 3

Alyssa Sloss, Judson School – Grade 4

Robert Ernst, Judson School – Grade 5

Trevor St. Onge, Heminway Park School – Grade 6

Hunter Guidess, Swift Middle School, Grade 7

Christine Lacaria, Swift Middle School, Grade 8

Katherine Runge, Watertown High School, Grade 11

Lauren Pandiscia, Watertown High School, Grade 12

Lauren Thompson, Watertown High School, Grade 12

Britnee Patruno, Watertown High School, Grade 10

Dr. Erardi: This concludes the Superintendent’s report.

J. Report from the Chairman

Mr. Mazzamaro: In Mrs. Dzioba’s absence I just have two things to share. The first is a short note from Charles Frigon to Mr. Joe Pawlak and Mary Dzioba. Joe Pawlak is the Chairman of the Watertown Town Council and Mary Dzioba, Watertown Board of Education Chairman.

Mr. Mazzamaro read the letter into the record (See Attachment D)

Mr. Mazzamaro: If there is anybody who would like to volunteer, I plan to volunteer as Chair of the Facilities Committee but everybody who would be interested in volunteering please get in touch with Mary.

Secondly there is a letter (See Attachment E) from Mr. Russell Erickson who could not be here this evening however he did send a letter, a fairly lengthy letter. Basically he is against opening the gate on Tower Road for various reasons, safety, students hanging around. I have copies for the entire Board if you would like to take a look and read it through. That is it for the Chairman’s report

K. Action Items – Adoption of Items to be Approved by Consent

a. Consideration of the Approval of Additional Access for Facilitation of High School Afternoon

Traffic -Second Reading

At the Board of Education meeting on January 22, 2007, Mr. William Zeman, Student Council Representative to the Board of Education, gave a presentation to the Board regarding additional access for facilitation of high school afternoon traffic for the first reading.

Additional Access for facilitation of high school afternoon traffic is presented this evening for the second reading and for Board approval.

Motion presented by Ms. Pannone, seconded by Mr. Lambert to approve of additional access for facilitation of the High School traffic. The Board will recommend that the Superintendent attend the next Police Commission meeting for support of one way signage on Tower Road

Discussion:

Mr. Lafferty: First of all, the one way was not in our agenda tonight, it just came up. Apparently, it is an idea to go to the Police Commission, please correct me if I am wrong. To make it a one-way road from 2:05-2:25pm because it is not suggested that Tower Road is good for two-way traffic. Is that correct?

Dr. Erardi: A point of clarification, to the best of my knowledge, and I believe I am correct because we researched this since the last meeting. The only governing body that can authorize street signage is the Police Commission and that is the reason why if the Board supports this then I suggest that you direct the Superintendent to attend that. It is also to the best of my knowledge that the original proposal and the first reading from our January meeting, included the proposal from the student body, supported by Mr. Hasbrouck, to the one-way traffic out the back exit.

Mr. Lafferty: My problem with the one-way though is that it closes off the only entrance that the public has to Tower Road who aren’t students. For instance some speakers have mentioned that there are tanker trucks coming in with oil, UPS deliveries. If those can’t make it up during that period if it is a one way.

Dr. Erardi: Let me further clarify. The recommendation is only for the exit, not for the street, just for the exit. The traffic pattern going out, no traffic pattern coming into the back parking lot, just going out. So the street remains as the street always remains and the recommendation is simply just for that gate to have a one way traffic pattern going out.

Mr. Lafferty: So, where would the signage be placed? Would the signage be placed on Tower Road?

Dr. Erardi: The signage would be placed near the present gate with the chain and through the direction of the Police Commission.

Mr. Lafferty: So, essentially the only path being made a one way road is the exit of the High School and Tower Road is not a one way road. So the signage would not be placed on Tower Road, it would be placed in the High School property for the exit of the students, knowing that no one can enter through the back gate correct?

Dr. Erardi: That is correct.

Mr. Lafferty: So, the signage with Police Commission approval would go on High School property?

Dr. Erardi: I believe that is correct, it is their final call but I believe that is where it would go.

Mr. Lafferty: I would hope that is their final call because I don’t see that putting it on Tower Road will effect whether it is a one way or two way is necessary. And we shouldn’t spend any money on signs if it is not going to be put on the High School property to make the back gate only one way and not effect Tower Road being one way or two way rather. A few more points Mr. Chairman if I may. I spent one day from 2:00 o’clock to 2:25 just observing things on Tower Road so I would have an idea of what goes on around there at that time. My findings were that the biggest concern as far as safety was parents who are parked picking up their students inside of no parking areas. That showed me that a law wasn’t being enforced and for good reason, as I was turning my vehicle around from Spring Street, the street at the top, if I didn’t look down Tower Hill before I came to the stop sign I wouldn’t have seen a car coming up. Because there was a large vehicle parked on the corner if I just pulled out I would have went head on with another car. So I think the bigger issue that needs to be addressed with Tower Road is prohibiting student pick up within that area because that is obviously blocking up vision from two roads.

Another thing is one thing I thought about in the past two weeks since we brought this up for the first reading was the history of the issue. Somebody mentioned tonight that it was the same thing 10 years ago and nothing has changed to the road. I think that in the past ten years or ten years ago it was just looked at as whether or not to open the gate, yes or no. With that and especially now with considering a trial basis, we haven’t set up any parameters. My feeling is that if the gate is opened on a trial basis and we don’t say what constitutes a violation which would give a reason to close the gate based on behavior of the student drivers it just a responsibility on the Board’s part. I think that also we do have an administrator outside from 2:05 until 2:25, I have witnessed that. But from where they are stationed at the High School they cannot see down Tower Road to witness if any students leaving the High School would be violating any parameters that we should set. So I would, if this does go through, I would hope that we can set up guidelines for the administration who would be supervising, as well as the policies that would be put in place for students to follow during this trial basis so they are aware of what is expected. On a final note I would like to say that I think a lot of problems have come up on Tower Road in the past with traffic coming from the High School because there were no rules and there was nothing set before any traffic was allowed out. I think that was a big mistake and that if this trial does go through that I would hope that we do not open the gate until the Board of Education can come with parameters as to what this trial basis would entail. If there are any questions or you would like me to elaborate on any more of my points I would certainly welcome that.

Ms. Pannone: I think that is one of the reasons why we would like the Superintendent to meet with the Police Commissioner. I think a lot of things will come up at that point which then have to be ironed out before we can do it.

Mr. Mazzamaro: I agree with Mr. Lafferty, I think it is an outstanding idea to have set criteria for what would be success and what would be failure. That is a really good idea. Without the criteria we would have no idea and a lot of finger pointing. So I think just a general set of what types of things would happen that would stop this, that would cause this to be a failure and cause this to be closed off again.

Mr. Killeen: I am compassionate to the student needs but my prevailing sense has to be one of safety and I don’t believe that the roadway currently allows for pedestrian traffic as well as vehicular traffic, at least safely. Until we are able to address that as a Board of Education and Town, which I do believe it is going to take the Town’s cooperation. Then I wouldn’t be one who could approve of such a measure.

Mr. Colangelo: Taking this a step further, have we gotten Police input on this, what their feelings are on this and what does the administration also feel about this?

Dr. Erardi: The Police input has come from a number of different sources. I think administration has done a fairly decent job of trying to pull the upper end of the Police department. The position that our Police Department has taken is that it is a Board of Education issue. It becomes an issue for the Police Department once cars leave the Board property and they are on the streets of Watertown. The official position of the Police Department has been no position. In my conversation with the administration as recently as this morning, the High School administration certainly has the greatest understanding of the issue and the issues that surround our traffic pattern, our students, our dismissal and our arrival, support the opening of the back gate on a trial basis.

Ms. Colangelo: What are we talking trial basis? One month, two months?

I would suggest that if the Board takes action this evening to empower the Superintendent to meet with the Police Commission, and I believe their meeting this week, I am quite sure the Commission is meeting this week and I would like to get on their agenda if that is to the Board’s suggestion. That you allow me to come back to the Board on the 2/26 meeting and share with you the Commission input, the signage and location and a further update from the Police Commission. I would suggest that the actual gate unlocking, if it is going to take place, would not take place prior to March 1. I think that gives the Board the opportunity to answer some very thoughtful questions that have been asked this evening.

Mr. Lafferty: I looked at this from a standpoint of, I think in the past when the back gate was opened, we closed it based on our own measures of parameters was based on reaction. I think that not opening the gate right away, even if this is approved, gives us an opportunity to create some proactive solutions to figure out how we can stop traffic problems, speeding problems, littering problems and pedestrian problems. So I would hope that tonight that if this does go through that before we open the gate that we would discuss some of these thoughts and would bring it to Policy before we can enact anything.

Ms. Colangelo: The vote tonight is just to allow the superintendent to go to the Police Commission.

Mr. Mazzamaro: The vote tonight is not whether to open the gate, it is to recommend the Superintendent go before the Police Commission and then bring more information back to the Board for a future meeting. That is the vote on this motion.

Mr. Lambert: I believe a lot of responsibilities have to go around here. First of all the students have to be responsible for themselves more than any other body here. I also think that the Police Department should be responsible. We need them to look at the situation; we need them to patrol the situation. This is only going to be a trial. The administration has a lot of responsibility here. I think we can make this happen. The chances of having a serious accident out in front of this school, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see it. You take a left turn onto French Street during that time period and you have no sight lines, it is very, very serious out in front as compared to out in back. I think that if everybody cooperates here and everybody takes responsibility we can make this work. I would like to see it happen.

Dr. Erardi: I would like to know if Mr. Zeman has further comments represented too, I believe he does.

Mr. Zeman: On the matter of the police, I met with the Chief of Police last Tuesday and basically I think I am echoing what Dr. Erardi said, where the police department remains neutral. However, the Chief of Police assured me that if this did go forward and complaints began then the Police would take all appropriate actions, which is actually listed on your update (See Attachment F). Also with Mr. Killeen’s question at the last Board Member, I emailed this to you but in case you did not get it, we are estimating about 50 cars daily. The number was determined by taking all the cars registered in the pit, the 400’s and 500’s, student cars, subtracting the early dismissals and about 10 to 15 for after school activities. Also as Britney Polites the President of Student Council said, the Student Council is happy to donate the funding for the signs that Dr. Erardi would be going to the Police Commission about. Again, on a trial basis activity, that is up to the Board to determine exactly what trial basis. Thank you.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

b. Consideration of the Approval of Acceptance of Gifts

1. Mr. Mark Zaccagnini, on behalf of ESPN, would like to donate 5 - SONY – 25” WEGA Flat Screen Televisions that are one year old to John Trumbull Primary School with a total net asset value of $1,600.00.

2. Mr. Mark Ney, on behalf of ABC Painting, would like to donate painting materials and labor for the gymnasium walls at Judson School with an estimated value of $800.00.

It is recommended that the Board accept these generous donations and letters of thanks to be sent to the donors.

Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Ms. Pannone to accept these generous donations and letters of thanks to be sent to the donors.

Discussion: None

Motion Passed Unanimously

(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

c. Consideration of the Approval of Leaves of Absence

1. Ms. Diane Curci, English Teacher at Watertown High School, requests a childbearing leave of absence commencing approximately April 13, 2007 through the remainder of the 2006-2007 school year with use of accumulated sick time and then leave without pay.

It is recommended that the Board approve of a childbearing leave of absence for Ms. Diane Curci, English Teacher at Watertown High School, commencing approximately April 13, 2007 through the remainder of the 2006-2007 school year with use of accumulated sick time and then leave without pay and a medical doctor’s note to return.

2. Ms. Christine Govertsen, Special Education Teacher at Swift Middle School, requests a medical leave of absence commencing January 23, 2007 through February 13, 2007 with use of accumulated sick time.

It is recommended that the Board approve of a medical leave of absence for Ms. Christine Govertsen, Special Education Teacher at Swift Middle School, commencing January 23,

2007 through February 13, 2007 with use of accumulated sick time and a medical doctor’s note to return.

3. Ms. Jessica Sarandrea, Grade 5 Teacher at Polk School, requests a childbearing leave of absence, commencing approximately March 13, 2007 for six weeks, with use of accumulated sick time.

It is recommended that the Board approve of a childbearing leave of absence, commencing approximately March 13, 2007 for six weeks, with use of accumulated sick

time and a medical doctor’s note to return.

Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Ms. Colangelo to approve of a childbearing leave of absence for Ms. Diane Curci, English Teacher at Watertown High School, commencing approximately April 13, 2007 through the remainder of the 2006-2007 school year with use of accumulated sick time and then leave without pay and a medical doctor’s note to return and to approve of a medical leave of absence for Ms. Christine

Govertsen, Special Education Teacher at Swift Middle School, commencing January 23, 2007 through February

13, 2007 with use of accumulated sick time and a medical doctor’s note to return. Also to approve of a childbearing leave of absence for Ms. Jessica Sarandrea, commencing approximately March 13, 2007 for six weeks, with use of accumulated sick time and a medical doctor’s note to return.

Discussion: None

Motion Passed Unanimously

(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

d. Consideration of the Approval of Disposal of Obsolete Equipment

1. Mr. Thad Hasbrouck, Principal of Watertown High School, requests permission to dispose of approximately 30 old textbooks located in Room 126 at Watertown High School according to Board of Education policy. The textbooks are in bad condition, at least ten years old and are no longer being used.

It is recommended that the Board approve of the disposal of approximately 30 old textbooks according to Board of Education policy located in Room 126 at Watertown High School because the books are in bad condition, are at least ten years old and are no longer being used.

2. Mr. Thad Hasbrouck, Principal of Watertown High School, requests permission to dispose of a Universal Weight Set according to Board of Education policy, Serial #159, Model #77, located in the boys’ locker room at Watertown High School because it is in very poor condition, unsafe to use, and has no value.

It is recommended that the Board approve of the disposal of a Universal Weight Set according to Board of Education policy, Serial #159, Model #77, located in the boys’ locker room at Watertown High School because it is in very poor condition, unsafe to use, and has no value.

Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Ms. Pannone to approve of the disposal of approximately 30 old textbooks according to Board of Education policy located in Room 126 at Watertown High School because the books are in bad condition, are at least ten years old and are no longer being use and the disposal of a Universal Weight Set according to Board of Education policy, Serial #159, Model #77, located in the boys’ locker room at Watertown High School because it is in very poor condition, unsafe to use, and has no value.

Discussion

Motion Passed Unanimously

(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

L. Future Agenda Items and Board Members’ Comments

Mr. Lafferty: I have one, I would like to recognize that in the paper today I read the names of three-fall sport athletes who were named to the Republican American All Academic League. The names are Adrinanna Albini, Elizabeth Carolan, and Matthew Sheeks. This is from the fall sports season, those are the ones they named and I would like recognize them at the next Board of Education meeting please.

M. Public Participation

Bob Fortier, Tower Road Watertown

I heard that the Police Department wants to stay neutral, I think that is because the feel the Board is going to make a logical and safe decision here and they won’t even have to get involved. Second, there is no sidewalk, how you can even consider allowing this is amazing to me. And I hear about students leaving, they are saying that only the students are going to go out the back way. All the parents and friends that come in are going to go out the front, it doesn’t make sense. And by trial basis, what do we mean, someone has to get hit by a car or a pet run over or someone injured before we say oh I guess that wasn’t a good idea. I hear this gentleman talk about a safety issue in the front so what we are going to push it to the back of the school, that is not going to solve it.

I am surprised it went this far and I hope that the Board will keep the neighborhood informed with what goes on, because the school is not doing it. I don’t know if it means sending letters to us or keeping up to date on the issue because someone is going to get hurt students and it is going to be too late, they are going to regret the decision. Thank you.

Mr. Mazzamaro: If you would call the Board of Education office.

Mr. Fortier: I called at the last meeting and they said oh it is just going to be tabled, don’t worry about it. So we didn’t want to get the neighbors together because it is like coming here and nothing gets done about it and then the next time you need the people here they say well nothing really gets done about it and they blow it off. But this seems like it is getting snuck under the carpet here. I don’t know if these people have been on this road but I have lived there for seven years and if anytime the gate should be up it should be those 20 minutes because we’ve go problems with the student climbing and going around the back of the school, cutting out through the woods, jumping curbs, they had to put boulders there. It is just not a safe issue. Like I said it is not because it is my back yard, it is not a safe issue, it is out of line, there are no sidewalks. Any school district has to have sidewalks, they talk about what is right for fire departments, you need sidewalks for children to walk on, common sense tells you. We got one snowstorm, we got lucky this year, but there is still ice that is formed on the side of the road. If a student, or anyone slips out into the road with two cars coming, there is no room for mistakes here, there really is not. I don’t think I can emphasize that enough. Thank you.

Mr. Killeen: Just as a matter of public information, that our minutes of the meetings, both for the Council and the Board of Education are public and published before the meetings take place.

N. Executive Session

Pending Litigation

Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Ms. Pannone to enter into Executive Session with Dr. Erardi, Mr. LoFrese, Ms. Grover and all Board Members listed as present.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

Executive Session convened at 9:13p.m.

Executive Session ended at 9:30p.m.

O. Adjournment

Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Ms. Pannone to adjourn the Regular Board of Education Meeting of February 12, 2007.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted by

Dr. Joseph Erardi Jr., Superintendent of Schools

Bonnie Goulet, Board Clerk

9/2/2008: First Day of School

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