MINUTES OF THE CORNWALL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 AT 5:00 P.M. AT
CORNWALL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

Board members present were: Barbara Gold, Chair; Phil Hart, Irene Hurlburt, and Catherine Tatge. Wynne Kavanagh and Jim Terrall were absent. Others present were Patricia Chamberlain, Superintendent of Schools; Kathleen Fitzgibbons, Principal; Anne Banks and Bonnie Burdick, CCS teachers; and one member of the press.

Mrs. Gold called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mr. Hart, the Agenda was amended to add under New Business: d) Theater Production and e) Big Maple Tree; and to delete under Old Business a) First Reading Student Policies.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the minutes of the January 19 meeting were accepted.

Ms. Banks read a letter to the Board detailing what she does in her capacity as music teacher and requesting that the Board maintain the two current .6 FTE music positions.

There was no Board of Finance report.

The 2006-2007 Region One Calendar was distributed.

Mr. Hart reported from the Region One Board. The All-Boards Meeting will be held on April 19. The Region One Board continues to work on the budget.

Mrs. Gold reported that the ABCC (All Board Chairs Committee) approved of the concept of a region-wide athletic coordinator, with six towns sharing proportionate costs.

All Board members are requested to attend the March 9 meeting where Mrs. Gold will present the 2006-2007 Proposed Budget to the Board of Finance.

There was nothing new to report from the Building Committee.

Ms. Chamberlain - Superintendent’s Report

• Grade 4 Arts Day is March 15^th at Hotchkiss School

Dr. Fitzgibbons – Principal’s Report

• The CCS Girls Basketball players are the Grand Champions of Region One with an undefeated season!!

• Looking into a new utility pole to light the parking lot

• CMTs begin on February 28 for all 3^rd through 8^th grade students.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the 5000-5117 Policy Series were approved.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, Board agreed to support the efforts of the CCMFR (Connecticut Consortium for Municipal Fiscal Responsibility).

On a motion by Mr. Hart, seconded by Ms. Tatge, the Board voted to eliminate the two .6 FTE music positions and restructure the program to include one FTE music teacher.

Discussion of the issue revolved around justifying 1.2 FTE music positions when the student population had declined from 196 when the position was initially shared to the current 136 students. The 1 FTE position will be posted.

Mr. Hart brought up the issue of the maple tree that stood where the new gym does now. The wood was salvaged and cut into boards by Vo-Ag students at the high school under Mark Burdick’s direction. It is currently stored in Mr. Hart’s barn and he is looking for ideas on what to do with it – furniture? sculpture?

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the Board went into Executive Session at 6:08 p.m. to discuss the Superintendent Evaluation. Ms. Chamberlain and Dr. Fitzgibbons were invited to stay.

The Board came out of Executive Session at 6:35 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:36 p.m.

Susan F. Gingert

Board Clerk