MINUTES OF THE CORNWALL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
HELD ON THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2004 AT 5:00 P.M. AT
CORNWALL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

*** SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AT SEPTEMBER 16 MEETING ***

Board members present were: Barbara Gold, Chairperson; Becky Hurlburt, Secretary; Phil Hart, Wynne Kavanagh, and Catherine Tatge. Jim Terrall was absent. Others present were John O’Brien, Superintendent of Schools; Kathleen Fitzgibbons, Principal; and Sarah Blexrud, Principal Intern.

Mrs. Gold called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.

On a motion by Mr. Hart, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the agenda was amended to add under New Business both Report on Cornwall Consolidated School Fund for Excellence – Catherine Tatge and Classified Staff Negotiations.

`

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the minutes of the May 20 meeting were approved with the following addition: in the final motion …the Board went into Executive Session at 5:43 p.m. to discuss negotiations and perform the superintendent’s evaluation. The minutes of the May 12 and May 24 Special Meetings were also approved.

Mrs. Gold read a letter from Fred Scoville updating the Board on his activities and future plans at UConn and thanking the Board again for granting him the Bradford Scholarship.

The Health Office 2003-2004 Annual Report was distributed.

The Region One assessment for the 2004-2005 school year has been set at $117,728.20 per month.

Expenditures for May are in line with the budget.

There was no Board of Finance report.

Dr. O’Brien – Superintendent’s Report

· Hope to have a new HVRHS principal named very soon

· Discussion regarding the FOI issue with the superintendent’s office

· Dr. O’Brien recommended a Trevor Ives for the PE/Health position.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the Board approved Dr. O’Brien’s recommendation to hire Trevor Ives at BA Step 1 to the position of Physical Education/Health teacher.

On a motion by Mr. Hart, seconded by Ms. Tatge, the Board made an exception to the tenure requirement in Article 7-9.1 of Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Board of Education and the Cornwall Consolidated Faculty Association and granted a parenting leave for the 2004-2005 school year to Sarah Blexrud.

· High school graduation takes place at 6:30 p.m. on June 18.

· The towns have been requested by the Special Projects Department of WFSB TV to submit all requests for reimbursement submitted this year through their boards of education. Requests were forwarded to the Central Office.

Dr. Fitzgibbons – Principal’s Report

· Duties and Responsibilities of a Public Water System’s Certified Treatment Operator were read, as well as a memo from Sam Herrick, Business Manager.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the Board approved Sam Herrick’s recommendation to pay a stipend of $120 per month to Peter Selino – Certified Water Operator.

· Interviews for the position of 4^th grade teacher will be held on Tuesday, June 22 at 1:00 p.m. in Patricia Chamberlain’s office

· Parents and staff were pleased that the Graduation, the Awards Assembly, and the graduation party went very well.

· Teacher assignments for next year have been announced and all are looking forward to next year

Ms. Tatge introduced the Cornwall Consolidated School Fund for Excellence “to assure the highest levels of achievement by encouraging excellence, innovation & creativity.” It is an established fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and will supplement the school’s operating budget. Dr. Fitzgibbons is on the advisory board and the CCSFE board is looking for representatives from the PTA and Park and Rec. The CCSFE board hopes to build an endowment of $250,000 in the fund to support the innovative educational programs and projects that they envision. The Board thanked Ms. Tatge for all her work to get this fund started.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the Board accepted the resignation of Suzanne Barber from her position as Technology teacher. The Board is extremely appreciative of her fine fine work and is very very sorry to lose her.

The Board will hold a Special Meeting on July 23 at 4:00 p.m. to approve internal FY2004 budget transfers, as well as other items that may come up.

On a motion by Mrs. Hurlburt, seconded by Ms. Tatge, the Board voted to accept the proposal from Vision Electric, Inc. to furnish and install the voice/TV and data cabling to the outlet locations indicated on the construction documents. The cost of $6,950 will come from the CCS portion of the Town Capital account.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the Board went into Executive Session at 6:09 p.m. to discuss AFSCME negotiations and the principal’s contract. Dr. O’Brien and Dr. Fitzgibbons were asked to stay for the session.

The Board came out of Executive Session at 6:27 p.m.

On a motion by Ms. Tatge, seconded by Mrs. Hurlburt, the Board agreed to apply 15 sick days from the 2003-2004 school year and five sick days from the 2004-2005 school year to her contracted days for the 2003-2004 school year.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:29 p.m.

Susan F. Gingert

Board Clerk