May 6, 2015 at 6:30 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Rationale:  I will report to the Board on the outcome of the budget referendum.

Please note the personnel report as you will find updated employee information reflected in it. Congratulations to Mrs. Hindman for her many years of service at Mile Creek.  As a result of her retirement, despite a reduction in personnel, we will not have to lay off any teachers this year.

Please take note of the May enrollment report. We have a total of 1,357 students enrolled. We are closely monitoring our kindergarten enrollments.  As of Friday, we have 28 students registered at Mile Creek and 24 at Lyme for a total of 52 students registered for Kindergarten.  This is 4 students less than this time last year (56) yet it aligns with what we had budgeted for in terms of sections.

I will review the feedback from the NEASC visit as the visiting team's final day was today.

Thank you to Mrs. Susi and her team for putting on a wonderful celebration in recognition of the long history of Center School and its many roles over time. 

Please remember our upcoming Recognition Dinner scheduled for May 21.  RSVP's were due yesterday.  I hope everyone can attend.

Rationale:  Mrs. McCalla will provide a year to date budget status report as well as a contingency fund report. 

Rationale:  Dr. Downes and Mr. Cavalieri, along with a team of teachers, will present our plan for departmentalization at the upper elementary level.

Rationale:  The CSDE requires annual Board approval of our educator evaluation plan.  I will review what we intend to submit including renewal of our waiver.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  Assuming (and hoping) the communities have approved our proposed budget, we will be able to rescind the non-renewals of staff members.  This will allow us to make appointments for next year and finalize our scheduling and placements.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  Pam Russell, in coordination with our French visitors from this fall, is proposing a repeat of the exchange program for next year.  Details of the exchange/trip are included as an attachment.  In addition, some students will join Mrs. Russell to share the benefits of their participation in this program.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  I am recommending the approval of another tuition student at the high school.  I, along with a team from LOLHS, had a chance to interview this student and review their transcript.  Acceptance of the student requires Board approval per the attached policy.

Rationale: 

As part of the school district’s technology plan, we replace our oldest computers to maintain reliability and support current application needs. This year we are recommending a mix of desktops and laptops to replace the existing desktops. With the installation of wireless networks at the elementary schools, we will be able to take advantage of increased mobile computing technology. The laptops will be deployed to replace all classroom and media center student desktops in the elementary schools.

This quote is based on CT State Contract pricing available through CT Computer Service.

This purchase is within the approved budget.

Rationale: 

This purchase is part of the Mile Creek and Lyme Consolidated media center carpeting replacement and reconfiguration.  This configuration project not only replaces the existing carpets but also reconfigures both spaces into flexible learning centers.  

This purchase price is based on State of Connecticut contract pricing. It is also within the 2014/2015-project budget.

Rationale:  The high school track field has developed a significant infestation of poa annua grass leading to poor quality turf and irregular playing surface for our student athletes. The school district Facilities Committee has evaluated a number of options to address this condition. Unfortunately, without use of pesticides, the only solution is to completely re-sod the field. The Facilities Committee has also recommended amending the existing top soil with sand and adding drainage. The additional fieldwork will create a soil condition which will be less likely to support poa annua grass growth.

The project was publically bid. The school district received only one bid for this project. The recommendation to award the contract to Sport Turf Specialties is based on:

The bid price is within five percent of the project estimate.
Sports Turf Specialties is a high quality athletic field contractor performing major projects on professional, collegiate and municipal athletic fields.
They have performed annual maintenance on our existing athletic fields for the past four years with quality results. 

Rationale:  We will meet in executive session to review a student discipline issue.