Minutes – School Board Meeting 6/26/08
School board meeting 6/26/08 APPROVED
Attending: Lauren Poster – chair, Andy Reichsman – vice chair, Gussie Bartlett – Sec’y, Francie Marbury – Principal, Wendy Houlihan – WCSU Superintendent, Gail Chaine, MES bookkeeper
Meeting called to order at 5:01pm.
We reviewed the year-end fiscal picture with Gail Chaine. It appears that we have a surplus for the year, which Gail currently estimates at $123,649.53. This surprised us considering the rise in cost for heat, gas/diesel and other areas of the budget. The surplus is partially explained by the fact that Special Education costs were below our projections but there were savings elsewhere as well.
Lauren moved that we put $70,000.00 from the 2007-2008 surplus into the Capital Improvement Fund. Gussie seconded. The motion passed.
We had a long discussion about the MASP debt. Since there is a large surplus, there was a temptation to fully pay off the debt, but Lauren has planned to hold a fundraiser in the fall for the program and we’d like to see how much that event will bring in. So we discussed putting $5,000.00 toward the debt, which equals the amount voted to the program at Town Meeting for next year. We felt if the town wanted to support the program to that extent for next year, it would be appropriate for us to support the program to that extent for this year.
Lauren moved that we use $5,000.00 from the surplus to reduce MASP’s debt to MES. Andy seconded. The motion passed.
Additionally, Francie will direct MASP to pay Lisa the $1,678.00 she is owed and to pay back P & F and the Community Club $1,000 each. Based on Gail Chaine’s recommendation, MASP will retain their cash on hand and their accounts receivable to have monies available at the start of the next fiscal year and will use the remaining balance to reduce the debt to MES.
We reviewed and approved the Benefits Procedures for 2008 – 20009 as of today’s date.
Lauren moved that we adopt Code D8, Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace Policy. Gussie seconded. The motion passed.
Lauren moved that we adopt policy Code D11, Mandatory Drug & Alcohol Testing Policy: Transportation Employees. Gussie seconded. The motion passed.
Lauren moved that we adopt policy Code D12, Harassment Of Employees Policy. Gussie seconded. The motion passed.
Lauren moved that we adopt Code D13, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Compliance Policy. Andy seconded. The motion passed.
Lauren moved that we adopt Code B3, Board Conflict of Interest Policy. Andy seconded. The motion passed.
We reviewed the minutes of June 9th. Gussie moved that we approve the minutes. Lauren seconded. The motion passed.
Lauren moved that we be exempt from the State/Federal lunch program for the 2008 – 2009 school year. Our Federal breakfast program, which began in January 2008, has been very successful and we have received to date $2,411.67 in federal reimbursements. Because of participant contributions, the program is running in the black. We are recommending not expanding the program to lunch because we are not aware of a demand for a lunch program and our facilities could not adequately support such a program. Gussie seconded. The motion passed. p
We discussed Gail MacArthur’s letter talking about the possibility of using the buses for certain community services. She suggested allowing community members to ride along on the normal bus routes, for instance, to deliver their kids to Meetinghouse School. The other use was to incorporate a run to Price Chopper on the High School bus route. We had questions about some of the ramifications of these proposals, so we will invite Gail to come to our retreat on July 16th or our next board meeting to answer the questions we have.
We reviewed a draft of the revised MES tuition policy and are approving the edited revised version which Gussie will e-mail to the other board members, at which time she will post it publicly, so we can adopt it at our next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Andy Reichsman
Pay Orders: 6/20/08 $ 18,022.64
Future Meetings: Wednesday July 16th at 1:30pm at South Pond; September 15th at 7:00pm.
Posted: September 15th, 2008 under School Board.