MINUTES OF THE CORNWALL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2006 AT 5:00 P.M. AT
CORNWALL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

Board members present were: Barbara Gold, Chair; Phil Hart, Wynne Kavanagh, and Jim Terrall. Irene Hurlburt and Catherine Tatge were absent. Others present were Patricia Chamberlain, Superintendent of Schools; and Kathleen Fitzgibbons, Principal.

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

Mr. Hart reported from the Region One Board that their last meeting will be June 19. Graduation is June 16 at 6:30 p.m. Highlights of the 2005-2006 school year: successful music program, good budget year, preparation for accreditation, work on 7000 policy series, settled certified staff contract, close to settling non-certified staff contract.

There was no PTA report.

There was no Board of Finance report.

Ms. Chamberlain - Superintendent’s Report

• Governor’s Reading Program continues

• Distributed Position Statement on Arts Education - a helpful document to refer to when requesting grant money

• Noted that this first year in the superintendent’s office was interesting, challenging, and ever-changing

On a motion by Mr. Terrall, seconded by Mrs. Kavanagh, the Agenda was amended to add under New Business: d. New Hire and e. Health Office Annual Report.

On a motion by Mr. Hart, seconded by Mr. Terrall, the minutes of the May 18^th meeting were approved.

Mr. Terrall and the CCS Standing Building Committee have agreed that money from the town for capital projects should be spent on repairing the playground stone wall, fixing rotting window sills, painting, and replacing as many windows as possible. Mr. Hart will continue to follow up on the building project tree situation.

Dr. Fitzgibbons – Principal’s Report

• Graduation was wonderful. All can be very proud of the 8^th grade graduates. Mark Selino’s speech was lauded by many - a testament to the school as a whole as well as parents and staff.

• 6^th grade students were invited to a scavenger hunt and luncheon at the Cornwall Free Library. CCS substitute teacher and Friends of the Cornwall Free Library president Tom Levine helped put the event together, along with librarians Amy Cady and Amy Buck.

• Alicia Simonetti-Shpur and 34 singers, for the first time, entered the Music in the Parks competition at Lake Compounce this year. They came away with three trophies!

• The Principal’s Year in Review 2005-2006 was distributed.

• Dr. Fitzgibbons will be working on different course offerings next year

A Special Meeting will be held on Thursday, July 13^th at 8:00 a.m. Transfer of Funds will be on the agenda.

Revisions to the Region One On-Line Use Policy 6141.321 were distributed for a first reading.

The Region One 7000 Series was discussed in this first reading.

Dr. Fitzgibbons read the Health Office Annual Report 2005-2006 submitted by school nurse Martha Bruehl, RN.

On a motion by Mr. Hart, seconded by Mrs. Kavanagh, the Board agreed to follow Superintendent Chamberlain’s recommendation to offer the position of 6^th -8^th Grade Social Studies teacher to Matthew G. Collins - at level BA 3 - $34,249.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:13 p.m.

Susan F. Gingert

Board Clerk