THETFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Tuesday January 9, 2007

Thetford Elementary School

The School Board meeting was convened at 7:05PM in the Art Room. The following were present: Andy Boyce, Robin Brown, Kristen Downey, Jennifer Reining, Susan Weider, School Board; Alice Worth, Principal; Virginia Stone, Secretary; Wendy Hovey, OESU Superintendent; Linda Rosa, OESU Business Manager; Tig Tillinghast, Ken McDaniels, Lynne Miller, Mike Pomeroy, Thetford Town Budget Committee; Darrin Clement, Paul Twerdowsky, Strategic Planning Committee; Keith Thompson, David Celone, Charlie Buttrey

Agenda Review - No additions/deletions

Minutes - MOTION: (Weider/Boyce) moved/seconded to approve the minutes of the 12/12/06 Board meeting; aye - Boyce, Brown, Downey, Weider, abstain - Reining.

Orders - MOTION: (Brown/Boyce) moved/seconded to approve orders #12 and #13/06; unanimous.

Public Comment - David Celone asked if the Board would publish their meeting minutes on the Thetford List Serve. Discussion.

7:15 Members of the Budget Committee left the meeting to review the TES FY’08 draft budget.

Reports

Superintendent’s Report - Wendy Hovey informed the Board that Mary Corrigan, School Counselor, would be retiring at the end of the school year. She also reported on discussions at the OESU meeting 1/8/07 - OESU budget FY ‘08 and VT Data Consortium work; encouraged Board members to attend January 16th at Oxbow where there will be a Conversation with the Commissioner on “The Governance of Education in Vermont “; and spoke about coordination between the Vermont School Boards Association and the Vermont School Superintendent’s Association in working to advise the legislature on education issues and spending, the focus of the Vermont legislature this session. There was no vote on the FY’08 OESU budget as there was not a quorum.

7:20PM Priscilla Hall, Keith Merrick and Martha Rich,Thetford Academy, joined the meeting.

Other Business

Strategic Plan - Andy Boyce circulated comments on the Strategic Plan Draft submitted by David Celone and Bob Hagen. David Celone was asked to summarize his comments. Discussion - definition of success, metrics for measuring same, encouraging collaboration, responsibility for meeting goals, methodology for evaluating staff, and communication strategies.

7:45PM Bob Hagen joined the meeting.

Discussion: Edcucational terminology in the plan, present and future Board’s accountability for what is in the plan; meeting educational needs of high-performing students; TA partnership agreement - evaluating TA educational services, how the partnership agreement is working and communicating results of same. The Strategic Plan will be on the

Thetford School Directors 1/9/07 page 2

Other Business (cont’d)

Strategic Plan (cont’d) - agenda of the 1/23/07 School Board meeting for discussion. Adoption of the Strategic Plan is scheduled for the 2/13/07 Board meeting. Copies of the Strategic Plan adopted will be distributed at the School Meeting in March.

8:20PM Members of the Budget Committee rejoined the meeting.

Thetford Academy: Andy Boyce distributed copies of Priscilla Hall’s request for the School Board’s support of the TA building project. Discussion - warning of non-binding referendum article. MOTION: (Boyce/Reining) moved/seconded to place on the Warning of the Thetford Town School District Meeting March 3, 2007 a non-binding referendum on Thetford Academy’s construction project with an estimated cost of $10.6 million; unanimous. The exact wording of the article will be decided in consultation with the Thetford Town Clerk.

Keith Merrick, TA Business Manager, distributed information on the “Estimated Tax Impact of Building Project on Thetford.” Discussion.

8:50/9:05PM Charlie Buttrey/ Bob Hagen left the meeting.

9:15/9:20PM Susan Weider/Darrin Clement left the meeting.

9:40PM Priscilla Hall and Martha Rich left the meeting.

9:45PM FY ‘08 Budget - Review 2nd Draft - Linda Rosa distributed copies of the 2nd draft of the FY’08 School Budget. Review and discussion. The present draft exceeds the state spending cap. Discussion - can the budget be reduced by spending cuts or increased revenues to avoid the penalty phase of the education spending law. Linda Rosa and Alice Worth will continue work on the TES budget and Andy Boyce asked Keith Merrick to review TA’s budget for any spending cuts. At the Board meeting on 1/23 the budget presentation will include the use of an LCD projector so that in the review and discussion the effect of additions to or cuts from the proposed budget and their effect on the spending cap and tax rate may be easily seen.

10:10PM David Celone, Ken McDaniels, and Lynne Miller left the meeting.

10:50PM Linda Rosa and Paul Twerdowsky left the meeting.

Policy (10 :45PM)

Review/Discussion: Community Use of Facilities (KG) - Discussion with Keith Thompson anticipating revisions in the present policy because of issues raised by the Thetford Town Recreation Committee. On the 2/3/07 Board meeting agenda will be a discussion of the Thetford Recreation Committee’s questions regarding use of TES facilities. The Board asked that the Thetford Recreation Committee to submit their questions to the Board prior to the meeting to facilitate the discussion.

Adjourned: MOTION: (Reining/Boyce) moved/seconded to adjourn at 11:00PM; unanimous.

Virginia Stone

These minutes are not official until approved by the School Board.