HOLDERNESS SCHOOL BOARD
Holderness, NH
Minutes
September 3, 2009
Board Members Present: Martha Macomber, Jonathan Stewart, Joseph Casey, Bonni Acton, Wendy Mersch
Administration Present: William Van Bennekum, Kathleen Boyle
Others Present: Dan Molinari
The Board entered Non-Public Session at 5:15
On a motion Ms. Mersch by seconded by Mr. Stewart, the Board entered into Public session at 5:30 PM.
Agenda Review and Disposition –
Minutes of July 2, 2009: On a motion by Dr. Casey, seconded by Ms. Mersch, the minutes of July 2, 2009 were approved unanimously.
Privilege of the Floor #1 –
Mr. Molinari briefed the Board on classes that he took this summer.
Principal’s Report:
I am very pleased to share with you this evening that we had a very successful and smooth opening of school. We have some new students to our school they include:
Kindergarten 12
First Grade 1
Fourth Grade 1
Fifth Grade 1
Seventh Grade 1
Eighth Grade 1
I am very excited to also share with you some of the work the faculty and staff will be doing throughout the course of the school year. We will be utilizing our faculty meeting time to work in professional learning communities beginning our exploration and discussion focusing on the current trends of homework. Using the book titled Rethinking Homework by Cathy Vatterott this will act as a catalysts to our PLC’S. Each faculty and staff member was issued a book and will be required to read sections preparing them for the upcoming discussions. These PLC’s will throughout the course of the school year examine all facets of our school.
As you are all aware we have two new faculty members to our staff, Mr. Joseph Luongo who is joining our middle school team as a .5 math teacher and Mr. Clement Soscia who will be the .4 health teacher. Both are very excited to be a part of our school and community.
Finally, we have designed an enrichment program utilizing funds set aside for outside craftsman to provide students in grades 5 – 8 a hands on learning experience we were concerned about losing when the Industrial Arts class did not work out. Mr. Scott Bishop a local contractor and Mr. Chris Donahue have stepped up to provide this very important experience. We call it the project class and it is offered opposite the music schedule. Mr. Bishop will be working with 7th & 8th graders and Mr. Donahue will be working with the 5th and 6th graders. Both are collaboratively planning and have a great repertoire of projects designed for our kids to complete. They will begin on Tuesday September 8th. Right now the 7th & 8th graders will be constructing a scoreboard to be placed in our playing field and benches to be placed around the school. The 5th and 6th grade classes will be constructing personal book ends. I have been really impressed and amazed by their commitment to the
class and both are very excited about the opportunity. The industrial arts classroom has been cleaned out and each of them has taken their own time to use and test each piece of equipment. Focus will be on using hand tools and assembly. As the year progresses I will keep you up to date.
Consent Items:
- Claims and Payroll A/P manifest was signed.
- Correspondence –
Discussion Items
- Budget 2010-2011: Ms. Macomber briefed the board on a meeting with the Budget committee that occurred over the summer. The Budget Committee had discussed the history of budget increases. There was discussion during the meeting about Capital Improvement and generating a plan. Ms. Macomber had spoken to the Budget Committee about anticipating upcoming budgetary items.
Ms. Macomber left the meeting at 5:50.
There was discussion about where the State falls with education funding and “Donor Towns” and what Holderness’s role is in this.
- Budget Report 2008-2009: Ms. Boyle presented the Board with the year end budget for 2008-2009. There was discussion about the food service costs and comparing to other schools. Mr. Van Bennekum will work with the Food Service director to look at costs.
- French: Mr. Van Bennekum presented the Board with the Middle School schedule and discussed the teacher’s schedules. Mr. Van Bennekum discussed the French program and the difficulties offering French 1 against other core classes or specials. There was discussion about the schedules. Mr. Van Bennekum is asking the Board for direction about French 1. There was discussion about offering accelerated math and starting that sooner than 8th grade. There was consensus from the Board that they like the idea of giving student and parents a choice of classes against other math/enrichment.
- Retreat Agenda: September 30th at the Common Man in Plymouth at 6:30 p.m. Agenda items include: Capital Improvement Plan, review progress on goals, set new goals, assign tasks.
Recognition and Awards:
Mr. Van Bennekum spoke about Grade of the Month instead of Student of the month this year. We will be highlighting a grade each month starting with Kindergarten.
Privilege of the Floor # 2:
On a motion by Dr. Casey, seconded by Ms. Acton, the board unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting 6:50P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ann McKenney
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