A regular meeting of the Litchfield Board of Education was held on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the Litchfield Intermediate School cafeteria. 

            Board members present were: Mr. Katzin, Chairperson; Ms. Carr and Mrs. Reardon; Messrs. Falcetti, Gorman, Katzin, Noone, Shuhi and Simone. 

            Also present were: Dr. Vita; Mrs. Perusse; Mrs. Longobucco; Ms. Marinelli; Dr. Nardone; Mr. Zaremski; Mr. Crowe the public and the press.

Special Presentation

            Ms. Marinelli introduced the Litchfield Intermediate School Chef-In-Residence, Jill Nicholson.  This program started mid-October and all students meet with her one session every 6^th day.  The program’s goal is to teach healthy eating, making healthy choices and choosing fresh and local foods. 

            Ms. Nicholson is a chef in Torrington and expressed how enjoyable it is to work with the students.  The curriculum mixes a variety of information with cooking and culinary arts. Students are willing to try foods that are healthier for them while enjoying learning about them and how to prepare them.

            Board members discussed the following: percentage of students who participate; bringing curriculum home with them and using it at home; changing the focus of the food service by sensitizing the students early on; and grants available for the program to continue.

                        MOTION made by Mr. Simone and seconded by Mr. Falcetti: to approve the minutes of the meeting on December 12, 2007 as submitted with the following corrections: on page 2651 in the 4^th paragraph “busses” should be changed to buses; page 2652 in the 2^nd paragraph “projections” should be changed to projectors; in the 6^th paragraph “congratulation” should be congratulations; on page 2654 the first full paragraph should include “experienced leader on the board,” and second to the last paragraph “Haron” should be changed to Harran.

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

                        MOTION made by Mr. Simone and seconded by Mr. Shuhi: to approve the minutes of the special meeting of December 20, 2007 as submitted with the following corrections: on page 2659 under Facilities & Technology Sub-Committee “Noon” should be changed to Noone and under Policy Sub-Committee “chair” needs a closed parenthesis.

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

 

Public Comment and Correspondence

            Mr. Waugh reported on the school building committee status including the following: near the end of the process; temporary certificate of occupancy issued for both schools; working on detailed punch list for permanent certificate; meeting with executive committee, architects and construction manager; Intermediate School complete except for foyer area; H.S. cladding of end caps of gym in progress; FF&E package approved; contingency figure for I.S. $300,000; for H.S. $160,000; $400,000 still in budget for FF&E; upcoming tough decisions to be made by the Board and the committee; Board of Finance recommendation was to use money from the contingency be used for the parking lot and put some FF&E in the operating budget; and the next meeting is tomorrow evening.

            Board members discussed the following: FF&E available funds; not enough left for the parking lot costs; possibly use the capital budget for the parking lot; need to go through the land use Boards again; won’t be readily approved if in the capital budget; eligible for 40% state reimbursement if go through building committee funding; capital time frame for FF&E would be two years out; $50,000 in capital budget for FF&E for next year; $50,000-$100,000 more needed to complete the parking lot; uncommitted contingency funds; cannot factor in reimbursement; issues of design flaws and errors; architect’s responsibilities are being negotiated; need to know what contingency will be applied to; issues of tile bathrooms, security system and parking lot; items on punch list don’t involve costs; wish lists do; possible plan B for parking spaces will have to go back to the land use Boards; parking lot is like any add on or change order; contingency used for change orders of design; building committee seeking recommendations from the Board for contingency funds; need to see detailed list of cuts; estimates take time; possible spring and summer construction; looking for Boards priorities to be considered; contract expired in November and negotiating with the architect for services; FF&E big basket of items; need to decide what is needed and what can do without; redeploy these funds to be used elsewhere; and difficulties deciding what priorities are if don’t have a firm amount budgeted.

            Mrs. Fabbri reported on the following STPC activities: the next parent academy will be held on January 23^rd in the Center School gym on CMT and CAPT testing presented by Mr. Johnson; and the concession stand fund raiser at the athletic games is going well.

            Mrs. Fabbri expressed concerns about the middle school math program in 8^th grade.  This has been communicated to Mr. Johnson.  She also had questions about high school credit for Algebra I and other courses.

            Mr. Murray commented on the following: taking minutes is a tough job; emailed the Board to amend the minutes to reflect the comments he made but it wasn’t done; shouldn’t sanitize public comments; thanked Ms. Carr for the nice conversation they had but no one else had the benefit of that conversation; get parking lot done and Board of Finance will be lenient on capital items; spending a lot of money on technology but the High School website keeps deteriorating. 

            Ms. Carr noted that she received a call from Elizabeth Donahue who expressed her belief there were unsafe conditions in the parking lot and crossing areas during the Intermediate School choral and music program.

            Board consensus was to review this at a Facilities meeting.

 

Board members received the following correspondence:

·         A letter from Roy Tourtellotte sent to the Town Clerk and the board stating that personal issues are precluding him from serving to the best of his abilities on the Board and, therefore, resigned effective January 7, 2008.

·         A letter from Susan Lowenthal, Chairperson of the Litchfield Republican Town Committee recommending Ed Ryle to fill Mr. Tourtellotte’s slot on the Board.

·         Letters of thanks from several people for cookies and well wishes from the Board.

Administrative Reports

            Mrs. Longobucco reported on the following at Center School: some early dismissal time spent reviewing Special Education topics with a video, discussion, review of every part of the IEP. The staff also worked on benchmarks to align with the trimester especially with all day Kindergarten.  The new language arts guidelines feed well in the full day Kindergarten.

            Ms. Marinelli reported on the following at the Intermediate School; that the staff is investigating how the CMT prep is imbedded in the curriculum and targeted instruction. 

            Dr. Nardone reported on the following at the high school: meeting with Mark Landy to update the web site tomorrow; 14 people are working on the student handbook including behavior and consequences, alternatives to detention and suspension, teacher responsibilities, and format update. 

            Board members discussed possible student involvement in the web site.

            Mr. Zaremski distributed and reviewed a handout of the “2007-2008 Special Education Data Application and Collection Grants Handbook and Record Layout, Appendix C” and a copy of an article from the Republican American titled “Sharing the cost of special needs.”

            Dr. Vita noted that Mr. Johnson is out sick but reviewed the following for him: the program committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 5^th where changes in programs will be reviewed; significant improvements will be made; items addressed include, handbook, program of studies, comprehensive M.S. program, revisit high school sequence of studies, clarify performance on CMT and the need for Science labs for next year.

            Board members received a copy of the NCLB School Report for 2006-07 School Year.  The Intermediate School is in “safe harbor” this year regarding (AYP) and we hope to make progress for next year.  The issue of students with special needs being expected to perform as other students is still a problem and the logic behind this seems to be elusive to the government.

            Mrs. Perusse reported on the following from the Business office: updated FF&E list for the state; met on the 9^th of January to review eligible and ineligible status; will meet tomorrow with the building committee reps to look over before tomorrow’s meeting; budget numbers are in; Blue Cross in at 3-5% increase; and possibly share costs for transportation.

 

            Mrs. Perusse will provide the Facilities committee with a copy of the FF&E list formed tomorrow during the meeting.

            Board members thanked Mr. Crowe for taking the time to show members the schools the other evening.

            Mr. Crowe reported on the following facilities updates: Center School is now in good shape; Intermediate School and High School are now occupying every space; punch list of all high priorities distributed for the district, LIS and LHS; FF&E list; and possible ball park costs estimated.

            Board members discussed the following: difficulties making decisions without seeing the FF&E list; can’t pick and choose; need for more contingency to go to FF&E list; need to know reimbursable items; numbers substantially less than hoped for; involvement of Facilities committee, Board of Ed and Administration with the priorities of the FF&E list; need to know what is essential and needed in classroom; difficult to tell building committee what priorities are; need for security system is top priority; need to be at the table to make decisions tomorrow night; equip schools first look at parking lot later; input from Board of Finance is to do parking lot through the building committee; parking lot and FF&E are both reimbursable within the project; security system is reimbursable and essential; $125,000 already in the capital budget over the next 3 years for furnishings; parking lot reimbursement is critical and should be done through the project; hopefully the Board of Finance will be lenient on FF&E; 30 extra spaces will be difficult to get through the land use boards; possible exploration of different ways to get security system; possible change to entry to gain more parking spaces; old traffic pattern is not acceptable to the building committee; people parking in no parking areas; possible penalty for not having the project done on time; concerns about the exact amount in contingency; do have a good handle on the numbers; need for public to know how difficult the decision for the parking lot has been; complicated issues, safety concerns and under pressure; $550,000 is available, $300,000 for the parking lot, still money left for FF&E; FF&E has evolved since changes came about; looking for guidelines for priorities; possibly do one or two lavatories a year and do the parking lot now; input from Mrs. Perusse and Mr. Crowe is important; pressure to do the parking lot now because now is when it is reimbursable; parking lot under a whole new light; Board provides school buses and parking lots should not be priority; parking lot does not provide education; chair doesn’t educate any more than a parking lot; need to look at full picture; FF&E is part of the quality of education we provide; Board’s responsibility to facilitate the students’ learning; security protects students and the buildings; old security system was demolished; do have some security now with locked doors; concerns about a lack of a maintenance garage where equipment stays out and rusts in the elements; and need to get the FF&E list as early as possible before the meeting with the building committee.

Superintendent’s Report

            Dr. Vita reported that the CABE breakfast will be held on January 22^nd at Ed Connection. 

Old Business

            Dr. Vita reported that Torrington has not finished their school calendar and we cannot discuss options for 2009-10 and 2010-11 until we receive theirs.