A regular meeting of the Litchfield Board of Education was held on Tuesday, February 8, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. in the Center School gym.

 

            Present were: Mrs. Knox, Chairperson; Mrs. Reardon; Messrs. Costa, Doyle, Fairchild, Falcetti, Shuhi and Simone; Superintendent Chittum; Dr. Breslin; Mrs. MacDonald; the public and the press. Mr. Noone was absent.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Fairchild and seconded by Mr. Falcetti: to approve the minutes of the January 25, 2005 meeting as submitted with the following correction on page 2355 the Motion withdrawn should have Mr. Falcetti’s name first and Mr. Costa’s name second.

 

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

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Simone and seconded by Mr. Costa: to approve the minutes of the February 1, 2005, special meeting as submitted.

 

                                    MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative.  Mr. Falcetti abstained.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Shuhi and seconded by Mrs. Reardon: to switch items III and IV on the agenda.

 

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

 

Student Council Report

 

            Elizabeth Clarkin-Breslin reported on the student council activities at the high school.

 

Public Comment

 

            First Selectman Leo Paul noted that the Board of Selectmen is trying to bring in a budget as close to zero as possible.  Letters were sent to all departments to review their budgets very closely.  Workshops will be held and adjustments will be made.  He asked the Board of Education to take the same approach during this tough budget process, which includes a building process.  Bonding will be done over the next three years instead of waiting for three years with one lump sum.  Therefore .9 mill increase is already in the budget for this year, which is part of the reason for a zero percent increase and why he encouraged the Board to do the same.

 

            Mr. Murray commented on the following: Mr. Paul made this request some time ago; made before negotiations with the administrators; possible details of negotiations; need to know what negotiations are about; what were all involved pleased with; percentage of raises affecting taxes; question economics not quality; Board of Selectmen keep the percentage low; possible executive sessions in the beginning of the meeting; good for public relations; need for information on why after contracts are signed can’t we discuss what was negotiated; school budget over past ten years has cost ten million dollars; some teacher’s salaries are over $80,000 with benefits included; this is for a 40 week year; pushed by arbitration system; pushed by unions; and need to cut teachers in the future.

 

Litchfield Education Foundation Annual Report

 

            Amy Gorman, President, reported on the following: 501C3 non-profit organization; seed planted by Dr. Tindall-Gibson due to budget issues; funding things outside the normal budget; something innovated; in existence for one year; 20 board members; 3 different committees (communication, project; and finance); not just for schools but for the entire community; mini grants awarded; telethon held; brick fund raiser in progress now; looking for new people; and Mr. Costa is the ex-officio member from the Board.

 

            Gayle Carr, Vice President, reported on the following: criteria for grants; three levels of funding; mini – under $1,000; capital projects must be enduring and lasting in value; and intermediate grants which fall in between; recognize extreme need in town; not seeking to supplement Board; foster growth, innovation and creativity; enhance current curriculum; promote school and community communication; deadline for grants; and forms available in all schools and on line.

 

            Board members noted that these are an extraordinary group of people who represent the best of Litchfield people.

 

Building Committee Update and Discussion

 

            Mr. Waugh reported on the following: meetings held Jan. 11th, 20th and Feb. 3rd; state review scheduled for March 16th at 9:00 a.m.; final plan presented to committee and public on March 3rd; this is the final form and not open to alterations; get very good picture; plans are in Superintendent’s office; state will need 60 to 65 days to review plans which brings us to the second week of May; O & G needs two weeks to prepare bid package which brings us to June; bid process to July; construction to start in July or early August; variances filed and approved; Board of Finance appropriated funds; spending to date reviewed; technology conference offered February 25 regarding implementing technology in a new building; very beneficial to attend; funding for fence issues; more logistics than intent not to support; and money left from site improvements.

 

            Board members discussed the following: accuracy of figures; steel prices; town supporting the project; prices affected in this project would be affected on a different project to a greater degree; changes made in some areas to decrease use of steel; concerns over the size of technology work area; things moved rapidly into a fixed mode; compromise on pitch of building; and need to discuss work area for technology area.

Communications

 

            The Board received the following:

• State Board of Education Report – December 2004 – January 2005.
• Update from Education Connection on Litchfield Services.
• Letter from Commissioner Sternberg re: Position Statement on Infants, Toddlers and Their Families. This is not another layer of responsibility for the system but rather through community agencies.
• Memo from the Superintendent re: Commissioner Stenberg’s letter to U.S. Dept. of Education and including: increasing testing in grades 3, 5, & 7; will cost millions; will not give much more information; another layer of testing is very costly; resources used for testing could be used to improve what we already have; reporting results from students in grades 4, 6, & 8; testing students in native language; present reporting system supports penalties rather than positives; suggestions will make programs better; other states in same situation; movement difficult to change; and economics issues involved.
• CABE “Day on the Hill” pamphlet, opportunity for give and take.

 

Committee/Liaison Reports

Curriculum Committee

 

            Mr. Costa reported that the next meeting would be held March 1^st at 7:00 p.m. at the high school library.  Questions were sent out to the administrators re: interests of the Board. 

 

Finance Committee

 

            Mr. Doyle reported that a budget workshop will be held tomorrow evening (Feb. 10) at 6:30 p.m. at the Intermediate School library.  Packets have been received and the three building budgets and special service budgets will be presented and questions asked.

 

Liaison Reports

 

            Mr. Costa reported that the Education Foundation will be meeting this evening selecting the capital projects to be funded.  We will know the results regarding the three technology requests we made.

 

Superintendent Search Committee

 

            Mrs. Reardon reported that the committee met February 1st and ads will go out soon, confidential agreements will be signed and Search Committee meetings are not public sessions. On February 15^th the public will get involved.  The committee will meet on Saturday, February 26, at 8:30 a.m.  Board members received a copy of the press release.  The search consultant will be working with focus groups to develop a profile of a superintendent that best fits the Litchfield Schools.

  

Personnel

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mrs. Reardon: to approve the establishment of an additional special education instructional assistant for grade 4 at LIS for the remainder of the 2004-2005 school year.

 

            Board members discussed the following: need identified; have been using subs; funding from money not spent to fill school psychologist, which couldn’t be found; twice the number of needy students than in the average grade; important position for this group of kids; class sizes were kept small; none of the IEP’s in the 4^th grade are in violation; assistant will increase services; need throughout grade; better to attack needs now; students have significant issues; need to do in a systematic sequential way; cost of $5,500 plus $2,000 in benefits; use of sub is less expensive but not as good for the future; school psychologist will be hired for the rest of the year; and by not hiring a school psychologist until now $9,000 was saved.

 

                                    MOTION carried.  All votes were in the affirmative except for Mr. Shuhi who voted in the negative.  There were no abstentions.

 

            Superintendent Chittum reviewed the non-renewal process with Board members and presented a process that would recommend non-renewal for those teachers whose jobs will actually be eliminated for budgetary reason or loss of position due to a teacher returning from leave, and non-renewal for performance reasons.  The Board can non-renew at any time if the budget calls for it.  This process will be done with a clear understanding in the purpose of the recommendation.

 

            Board members discussed the following: fewer and fewer districts do this; no value to it; started with issue of legality; began because of uncertainty and changes in tenure law; has chilling affect on staff; in this climate of hiring we want to keep the people we have; and people will leave and look for other positions.

 

            Superintendent Chittum notified the Board of two new hires including Lisa Shaia (for Betty Locke who retired 2/4/05, at a starting rate of $10.23/hour (per AFSMCE contract) and a long term substitute, Art, LHS – Elizabeth Brewster (for teacher on medical leave) starting Monday, February 28, 2005.  The long-term sub rate is based on LEA contract, BA, Step 1, $192.81 per Diem.

 

            Board members agreed that this is a good idea to include in the agenda.

 

2005-06 Budget

 

            Superintendent Chittum discussed the enrollment and class size in relation to the 2005-06 budget.  This is a starting point and will be discussed when the budgets are presented tomorrow evening.  This works well through grade 8 but does not work well in grades 9 – 12.

             

Superintendent Chittum discussed publishing the school calendar for 2005 – 06.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mr. Fairchild: to pay bills in the amount of $154,225.43.

 

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

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Simone and seconded by Mr. Costa: to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 p.m.

 

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

 

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                    Donald Falcetti, Secretary

                                                                                    Joanne Bertrand, Recording Secretary