Members Present:  Laura Auger, James Bell, Paul Bridge, Larry Davis, Patricia Davis, Ralph Eastman, Pam Goulette, Nancy Hall, Patricia Izbicki, Anita Kain, Donna Littlefield, Lorna Marshall,  Susan McAvoy,  and George Nuite (late).

Members Absent:      Melissa Douglass, Raymond Morse, Michelle Ward & Phyllis Watson

Also Present:              Kevin Jordan, Trisha Kurt, Crystal Priest and Paul Stearns.

Call to Order:             The meeting was called to order by Vice-Chair Pamela Goulette at 7:00 p.m.

Approval of Minutes:  A motion was made by James Bell and seconded by Susan McAvoy that the minutes of the November 9, 2004 Board of Directors Meeting be approved as recorded.

Vote: Yes~ 13 No ~ 0 Ab. ~ 0

Public Forum: None

Correspondence:        1) Crystal Priest read a letter from Hibbard’s thanking the PCMS students that visited and brought gifts as part of the CLC Program.
                                    2) Note of gratitude from the family of Brad Nuite.
                                    3) Letter of resignation from Phyllis Watson – Board member from Cambridge.

Educational Reports:  Crystal Priest gave a brief presentation on the district’s reporting mechanism for Local Assessment System Data and regular course grades.           

1.       Adjustment to Agenda:           none

2.       William Appleyard Grant:

A motion was made by Ralph Eastman and seconded by Patti Izbicki that the Board of Directors approves the use of $4,420 from the William Appleyard Trust for the purchase of technology equipment at Piscataquis Community High School.

          Vote: Yes~ 13 No ~ 0 Ab. ~ 0

3.       Recommendations to employ:

A motion was made by Patricia Davis and seconded by Nancy Hall that the Board of Directors accepts the following recommendation to employ for the 2004-2005 school year (one year contract):

                                    Helen Morrill – Girl’s Cheering Coach (PCHS)

Vote: Yes~ 13 No ~ 0 Ab. ~ 0

4.         Policy Development:

a)         A motion was made by Anita Kain and seconded by Lorna Marshall that the Board of Directors approves the first reading of JLDB & FF and gives final approval for policies ECB,     IHBAG-R, IHBAH, IGBAJ, ILA, JHB, JKF, JKF-R, JLCA, JLCD, JLDBG, JLF, JLF-E, KBF, KBF-E1, KBF-   E2, KCD, KE and KF-R of the revised SAD #4 Policy Book.

Vote: Yes~ 13 No ~ 0 Ab. ~ 0

b)         A motion was made by Ralph Eastman and seconded by Nancy Hall that the Board of Directors approves the second reading of KF of the revised SAD #4 Policy Book.

Vote: Yes~ 13 No ~ 0 Ab. ~ 0

5.        Committee Reports:

           Policy Committee – Paul Stearns reported that the policy manual is up to date.

Buildings & Grounds – Patti Davis Reported that the facilities assessment report should be back soon.  Bus Safety Program has been very well received and the enrollment figures were reviewed –  demographics.

          Safety Committee – See attached Minutes of meeting

6.       Administrative Reports:

          Crystal Priest (Technology Coordinator):   

·    The upgraded Powerschool server is now up and running, still working some kinks out on the change over.

·    Report cards (k-8) and Mid-terms (9-12) have gone out in the mail over the last few days.  The K-8 report cards are standards based and include a breakdown of student's progress in standards as well as how the students are currently doing on their state assessments.  The high school's LAS report will go out with their semester report cards. 

·    The technology workshop day on the 22nd went very well, staff are currently working on a staff development needs assessment survey.  This survey should help in developing future workshop and after school offerings.

·    The high school  has an opportunity to have the statewide MLTI tech integrators spend a couple of days working with teachers, it looks like this is tentatively scheduled for January  10^th  & 11^th.

·    Dave Inglehart, Arnie Poland, Bill Thompson & Jay Marden recently attended the Christa McAulliffe Technology conference.  They came back with a bunch of great ideas for technology use around the district.  Jay also signed the high school up for a free subscription to United Streaming Videos.  Teachers are experimenting with the use of these videos in a variety of classes and the feedback so far is that they are very useful.           

·    As part of the CLC program, Dave Inglehart is starting a Tech Aide after school program, pairing up students and teachers at the HS to work on classroom websites.

·    The High School Multimedia Class has their Second Edition of the Pirate Post available on the SAD#4 website.

·    Robyn Rich is working with her 7th grade students on developing electronic portfolios of their writing, complete with oral and written critiques.

·    Fast ForWord is moving along and keeping people busy, according to the people from Scientific Learning, things are going well with this project and they are seeing progress.  They plan on having one of their research people visit soon.       

·    CLC - Several programs going on now, fliers going out this week for programs starting in January.  Overall, programs are going well and signups are very strong. Keith's doing a great job of organizing the day to day activities.

            Greg Bellemare (PCMS Principal): Read by Paul Stearns

·   Working on academic recognition.

·    Winter sports are under way.

·   Cooking club went to the nursing home.

·    Chorus concerts were well attended.

·     Wellness Committee is busy working on several initiatives as is the Nutrition Task Force.

·     Student led conferences were very well attended.

·     Many charitable activities are going on.

·     Fast ForWord is ready to end its first cycle – looking forward to seeing what the data tells us.

            Kevin Jordan (PCHS Principal):

·   Congratulations to Mallory Bussell, Ken Chevaree and Nate Knight who have been selected to perform in the District V High School Honors band in January.

·  Congratulations to Ashley Richardson, Jennifer Mathieu and Chelsea Hershey who have been selected for the High School Honors Chorus. 

·    At our Parent/Teacher Conferences we saw 18% of our parents last year and 34% this year.  Advisors attempted to make personal phone calls to all parents with invitations.  Kevin feels this increase is directly related to advisory groups.

·    Winter Athletics has started with regular season games and meets just beginning.

·   The workshop days were very beneficial, especially the technology day. 

·   Seniors have ordered caps, gowns and announcements.

·   Leadership Team met at the University of Maine on December 2^nd discussing the future direction of PCHS.

·    We had five staff members attend the Promising Futures Academy in Augusta, focusing on Adolescent Literacy and Chapter 127. 

·     Saturday CLC Pee Wee Basketball has started with 92 students signed up.

·     On November 19^th, the early release day we had our first, of what we hope will become annual, Advisory Teamwork Day.

            Trisha Kurt (Elementary Principal/Sp. Ed. Director):

·    2nd and 3rd grade went to Pittsfield Movie Theater to see Polar Express last Friday 12/10 - Everyone had a great time and loved the movie.

·    Holiday Concert was held for Grades K-4

·    Thanks to Deb Fournier and Les Tomlinson - great concert and there was an awesome turnout - they did a very nice job

·    Dictionaries were presented to all 3rd graders (Words for Thirds) by Sangerville Grange and the Valley Grange from Guilford

·   Mrs. Kain has been in to K-3 classrooms to do handwashing activities with the children

·      K-3 students are bringing in food for the holidays.  GPS is taking the food to the food cupboard on Friday, December 17^th.

·   Scholastic Book Club is challenging each classroom to read 100 books.  For each classroom that has read 100 books, they will donate 100 books to Florida to replace books that were lost in the hurricane.  All K - 3 classrooms are participating and 1200 books will be donated to Florida in SAD 4's name.

7.         Chairperson’s Report:

Mr. Nuite thanked the Board for the card and flowers.

Mr. Nuite also thanked the Board for the prompt response to the evaluation document.

8.         Superintendent’s Report:

·  Heaters in the portable classroom have been ordered to replace existing units that are dysfunctional – several mornings with no heat.

·    A new telephone system will be installed at PCHS over the holiday break. 

·   Safety Committee met on November 29^th.

·    Disposition and organization of student records procedure has been established and distributed.

·   Our auditing firm – Brantner and Thibodeau has informed us and the state that our audit report will be a bit late this year (not due to any problems on our end of things).

·    All three principals are using the same observation reporting instrument this year.

·    The teacher’s association indicated formally on December 1^st that they intend to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.  

·   Attended a meeting with the commissioner yesterday in Augusta regarding the Governor’s proposed legislation – LD1 and EPS.  We can expect a printout early next week.  This is all very preliminary work at this point.  We seem to be right on track for some tax relief as the new EPS formula unfolds.  We will need to wait and see if this holds true.  55% over 4 years, 2.75% growth cap, some targeted funds (K-2, technology and assessment).

·   Attended a meeting in Augusta this morning, serving on the MPA Committee to establish official’s fees for the next three years.

·    Food service supplies down by $1,782, food down by $2,227, revenues are up by $6,648 for a difference of $10,702+  (change in lunch price plus abnormally large summer collection)

·    Communications, Students and Personnel Committee to meet tomorrow night at 6:30.

·     OSHA Inspection today.

9.         Yearly Evaluation of Superintendent:

A motion was made by James Bell and seconded by Ralph Eastman that the Board of Directors goes into executive session for the purpose of evaluating the Superintendent of Schools.

            Vote: Yes ~ 14   No ~ 0   Ab. ~ 0

            Time In:          8:13                 Time Out:       10:00

            Action Taken:

A motion was made by James Bell and seconded by Lorna Marshall that the Board of Directors extends the superintendent’ s contract through June 30^th, 2008 and set the 2005-2006 salary at $77,000 plus $5,000 in lieu of benefits.

Vote: Yes ~ 14  No ~ 0   Ab. ~ 0

10.       Adjournment:

Respectfully Submitted,

Paul A. Stearns
Superintendent of Schools
SAD #4