June 2, 2010 at 6:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

Rationale:  April's employees of the month, Sarah Hebert, Arminda Hudon, Gretchen Grudier, Michelle Percival, Sun Srinivasan and Sara Sumner have been invited to attend the Board meeting to be recognized.

Sandra Kelley is the May employee of the month and should be in attendance also.

Rationale:  This will be Brittany Bissonnette and Darius Banks' last meeting as the High School Student Board Member.  It will be a good time to wish them well.

Rationale:  CIRMA recognized the efforts of our Safety and Health Committee, awarding them the "Outstanding Commitment & Results from Safety and Health Committees" Risk Management Achievement Award.  They were among fifteen awardees from around the state, and the only award in this category.

They received recognition for their efforts and results for creating an emergency management manual, safety and security measures, an organization flowchart for addressing safety concerns or implementing risk management initiatives, a successful Tools for Schools program, and hosting a variety of CIRMA training and educational programs in the district.

Congratulations and thanks to committee members Pete Gerardi, Chairperson; Rose Lebeau, Vice-Chairperson; Steve Tagen, Nancy Loving, Brad Thompson, Lou Demers, Kim Burnham, Donna Doyle, Lisa Ivens, and Joe Musumeci.

Rationale:  Members of the Killingly community are encouraged to share their thoughts with the Board of Education and are invited to do so during this segment of the meeting.  When appropriate to do so, members of the Board and the administration may respond to comments. However, in consideration of those in attendance and in an effort to proceed in a timely manner, follow-up discussion may need to take place outside of the meeting setting.

Rationale:  MOTION:  to approve the consent agenda:

a.  regular meeting minutes of May 12, 2010 and special meetings of May 17, 2010
b.  payment of bills for the 2009-2010 year in the month of May in the amount of $784,681.50
c.  Employee of the Month for June 2010
d.  Grants: Dropout Prevention Grant
e.  Employee Recognition

Rationale:  Lynda Fosco will be reporting on the activities at Goodyear.

Rationale:  We are looking to schedule a meeting for Board evaluation and Superintendent evaluation on Wednesday, June 16th.

Rationale: 

Rationale:  An update on the planned move will be given.

Three bids for the move were received on May 19th.  The apparent low bidder is Meyer.  A scope review was completed, and we are working with the Town Manager's office to execute contracts.  The move is planned for the week following graduation.

Rationale:  The retirement celebration will be on June 10 beginning at 2:45 p.m. at the Gold Eagle.

Rationale:  The Fiscal Committee met on May 18th to review the FY10 budget.  The system object report, with expenditure projections to the end of the year, will be shared with the Board.  The Committee recommends returning to the Town, at the close of the fiscal year, an amount equal to the supplemental appropriation received earlier in the year for outplacement tuitions.  They also approved pre-purchasing texts, supplies and other necessary materials that have been reduced in the FY11 budget.

Rationale: 

A District Data Team consisting of teachers, building-level and central office administrators and a Board of Education member was formed in the early spring to work with representatives of the CSDE to draft a three-year District Improvement Plan.  The team has participated in a 6-step process that includes: 1) Gathering and organizing data; 2) Analyzing data to prioritize needs;  3) Establishing SMART goals; 4) Selecting specific strategies; 5) Determining “Results Indicators”;  6) Developing a plan to monitor and evaluate results.  The plan is a work in progress – particularly in regard to steps 5 and 6.  The administrative team intends to provide better clarity on these two steps during our two-day institute on June 16^th and 17^th. 

The District Improvement Plan will play an important role in developing a Holistic Accountability System that will involve the Board of Education, District Data Team, School Data Teams and Instructional Data Teams.  The strength of the thread of accountability that permeates the various levels of the Accountability System will help determine the ultimate impact on student achievement. 

We appreciate the assistance of Warren Logee, CSDE Consultant, and Greta Skyles, SERC Consultant, who continue to provide invaluable support.   And, we look forward to next year as we all learn our roles in effectively implementing a holistic accountability system.

Rationale: 

To support the new TEAM Program, each district has been charged with the formation of a TEAM Coordinating Committee (TCC) that oversees, plans, implements and monitors the district’s Teacher Education And Mentoring Program.  As a minimum, the TCC must be comprised of the District Facilitator (Brad Thompson), an administrator (Mike Vose), at least one trained mentor (Maryann McGillivray & Janine Paige), and a representative of the KEA (Sara Schmidt). 

Among the assigned duties, the TCC is responsible for:  1) developing a three-year plan for supporting teachers (attached); 2) recruiting new mentors for TEAM training; 3) overseeing all aspects of the plan, including monitoring the beginning teacher/mentor relationships; 4) recruiting reviewers of reflection papers to participate on the regional review committee, and, 5) disseminating mentor stipends.

The TEAM Coordinating Committee is required to forward a copy of our TEAM Plan to the State Department by June 1st.

Rationale:  This item has been placed on the agenda so that the Board is aware of the scheduled dates for Lighthouse Project training.  Because the May 26th meeting was cancelled, another dates needs to be selected.  The two dates suggested by Nick Caruso is either July 28 or October 20.  He will be checking with his team on those dates and will get back to us.

Please check to make sure these dates are on your calendar so that we can confirm board member attendance, especially those dates after the end of the school year.

Rationale:  After an extensive search process over many months, involving teachers, staff, administrators, parents and board members, I recommend that the Board appoint Andrew Rockett as Principal of Killingly High School.

Rationale:  After an extensive search process over many months, involving teachers, staff, administrators, parents and board members, I recommend that the Board appoint Steven Rioux as Principal of Killingly Intermediate School.

Rationale:  We have been notified that we have been accepted as part of cohort three for Project Opening Doors.  This has the potential of significantly increasing the number of students participating in the Advanced Placement program, increasing the number of AP offerings at the high school, and providing substantial training and support for our teachers.  Cam Voutour, director of the program, will be at the meeting to explain the the commitment the program will be making to the district, and the reciprocal obligations of the district in supporting the program. 

Rationale:  These dates have been preliminarily approved by the board but official action needs to be taken.  The dates are: 

January 12 and 26
February 9 and 23
March 9 and 23
April 13 and 27
May 11 and 25
June 1

The purpose of adopting these dates and posting them on the school calendar for 2010-11 is to avoid conflicts with school events during the second half of the year.  They will need to be re-approved as part of the 2011 board meeting dates in December, in accordance with the Town Charter.

Rationale:  This item is on the agenda as a placeholder, in case the Board wants to have a discussion on the FY11 budget.

The education budget was approved by six votes at town-wide referendum on May 25th.  This narrow victory automatically triggers a recount, which needs to be done within seven days.  Assuming the positive result is affirmed, there then follows a period when citizens can petition for a recall referendum.  That period ends around June 14.

The administrative team is working on recrafting the budget to produce a recommendation for the Board. We anticipate having that recommendation ready the week of June 7th.

Rationale:  The district employs a number of staff who are not union members.  They include categories such as food service workers, BASP staff, SCORE staff, and several singleton positions.  All have salaries and terms and conditions of employment.  Historically, the Board has approved salary increases consistent with negotiated settlements.  This year, three employee groups to date have agreed to wage freezes and negotiations continue with two other groups.  Also, eight individuals (of the non-union staff), the senior management staff, voluntarily requested a wage freeze for 2009-10.  A salary recommendation for 2010-11 will be made, for Board approval.

Rationale:  Local 1303-149 of Council #4, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, the Custodians/Secretaries/Library Assistants union, has agreed to a one year contract extension and a salary freeze for 2010-11.  The Board needs to approve this extension.