A regular meeting of the Litchfield Board of Education was held on Wednesday, April 18, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. in the Center School Library.

 

            Board members present were: Mr. Shuhi, chairperson; Messrs. Costa, Fairchild, Falcetti, Gorman, Noone, Simone, and Tourtellotte.

 

            Also present were: Dr. Vita; Mrs. Perusse; Dr. Breslin; Mrs. Longobucco; Mrs. Woolley; Mr. Zaremski; and members of the public.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Falcetti and seconded by Mr. Fairchild: to approve the minutes of the March 28, 2007 meeting as submitted.

 

                        MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative.  There were no abstentions.

 

Public Comment and Correspondence

 

            Mark Donne reported on the Student Council activities at the high school.

 

            Mr. Murray commented on the reasonable budget the Board has presented especially compared to other districts. 

 

            Mrs. Penney encouraged the Board to support the state funding effort for Talented and Gifted programming and seek funds if at all possible for Litchfield.

 

            Mr. Shuhi reminded the public that by using the form available at meetings to fill in any questions, the Board is better able to respond rather than a back and forth discussion during the meeting. 

 

            Board members received a sample of a survey from CABE about different negotiations in different towns.  Further discussion will be held to determine if the Board wants to participate in such a survey.

 

Special Presentation

 

            Dr. Breslin and Mr. Coon presented an overview of the revised high school schedule for next year including: background information; coordination with Wamogo; difficulties with this year’s schedule; meetings held with students and parents; number of course options for the four years; passing time; increase in instructional time from approximately 123.75 hours this year to 144 hours next year per class.

 

            Board members discussed the following: possible rotation of periods; issues with co-op, student jobs and internships; start time; science labs and art type class challenges; stabilize for a year or two and then consider options; matches with Wamogo; cross section of student input was excellent; supervised study halls during free periods; use of flex;  students would be expected to take six classes with the option to take 7 classes or 5 classes depending upon their individual needs as long as they met the graduation requirement; and possible graduation requirement credit adjustments in the future.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Simone and seconded by Mr. Falcetti: to add to the agenda  as V.(g) business teacher addition; as VI.( b) FF&E proposal; and as X. executive session to discuss pending litigation and claims  (GF and AS) with adjournment as XI.

 

                        MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative. There were no abstentions. 

 

New Business

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Falcetti and seconded by Mr. Tourtellotte: to approve the payment of invoices and adjustment to line item expenditures as required. 

 

                        MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative.  There were no abstentions.

 

            Board members had a third reading of policy #5127.1.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Fairchild and seconded by Mr. Simone: to approve the revised policy #5127.1 High School Graduation Requirements.

 

                        MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative. There were no abstentions.

 

            Board members had a third reading of policy #5141.25.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Fairchild and seconded by Mr. Falcetti: to approve the new policy #5141.25 Accommodating Students with Special Dietary Needs (Food Allergy Management).

 

                        MOTION carried. All votes were in the affirmative.  There were no abstentions. 

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Simone and seconded by Mr. Gorman: to establish the date of high school graduation as June 14, 2007.

 

                        MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative.  There were no abstentions. 

 

  

            Board members reviewed the Litchfield Parks and Recreation Commission Security Deposit Fee of $2,000 proposal and discussed the following: how accountable; fields not exclusively used by the schools; need for fields to be maintained by those who are using them; security deposit will encourage people using them to take pride in them; garbage issues; bear issues; no warning of any teams misuse of the fields; difficulty to police the fields when people are using them all hours of the day and night; need for communication with the schools if there has been a problem; flawed policy; need to involve the facilities director and athletic director; unenforceability issues; legal issues; probation period and then policy; difficulty for coaches when hundreds of families present;  park and recreation money issues; interest on money if not used; logistics of using $2,000 from student activity account; schools aren’t charged to use fields; Selectmen input; policy used in many other places and works well; visiting teams care less than home teams; Commission needs to speak to Board; remedy is not aligned with motive; and how will there be a caretaker of the money. 

 

            Mr. Hawkins will take these concerns to the Commission and Mr. Crowe volunteered to attend the meeting.

 

            Dr. Breslin reported on the new business education teacher and gave background information on the business/technology needs at the high school with two from the business department retiring this year.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mr. Gorman: to approve the appointment of Mr. Frank Marcucio to the position of business education teacher at Litchfield High School beginning with the 2007-2008 school year.

 

                        MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative.  There were no abstentions.

 

Old Business

 

            Dr. Vita discussed the request of the Board of Finance to reduce the budget by $45,000 which would bring it to a 3.45% increase which is one of the lowest K-12 district increases in the state.  The Board needs to determine if they will accept this reduction to be presented at the Board of Finance Budget Hearing on April 25^th. 

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mr. Noone: to approve the 2007-08 operating budget as developed by the administration and Board and accept the request for the $45,000 reduction by the Board of Finance.

 

            Board members discussed the following: reasons for the request; rational reviewed; transportation concerns for early dismissal Kindergarten students; need for Board flexibility; need for more information on where cuts will be made; possible focus areas; difficulty in being too specific this early in the process; need to be responsive; good faith effort; after the budget hearing the budget becomes the Board of Finance budget; question if Litchfield should be lowest in the state; need to get it passed at the town meeting and not a referendum; possible areas for reductions; review enrollments before reductions can be made; end of May early June; 3 or 4 possibilities; standard procedure over the years to take the reduction off the bottom line and make final reductions after the budget passes; budget is reasonable and fiscally responsible;  cost for early dismissal transportation can’t be determined until enrollment numbers are known; good administration provides benefits to students; and administrators make things happen for good student  learning experiences.