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

 

            Present were: Mrs. Knox, Chairperson; Mrs. Reardon; Messrs. Costa, Falcetti, Noone, and Shuhi; Dr. Vita; Mrs. Perusse; Dr. Breslin; Mrs. Longobucco; Mrs. MacDonald; Mr. Zaremski; the public and the press.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Falcetti and seconded by Mr. Shuhi: to approve the minutes of the October 25, 2005 meeting as submitted.

 

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

 

Public Comment

 

            Gary Waugh publicly thanked, with great appreciation, Mrs. Knox for her years of leadership and devotion to the Board.

 

Special Presentation

School Building Committee

 

            Mr. Waugh and Mr. Healy reported that the bids for the school building project have been delayed a week and will be open at LHS next Tuesday, November 15^th.  The committee will then meet on Thursday, November 17^th to discuss and potentially make a choice for the building process to begin.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Shuhi and seconded by Mr. Falcetti: to add to the agenda as item V d. a discussion on a memorandum of agreement between the Board and the union.

 

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

 

New Business

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mrs. Reardon: to approve the payment of invoices in the amount of $221,343.31 and adjustments to line item expenditures as requested.

 

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

 

            Dr. Vita presented the proposed 2006 Litchfield Board of Education Meetings schedule. 

 

            Board members discussed and came to a consensus to changing the meeting day from Tuesday to Wednesday for 2006.  Dr. Vita will present an updated schedule at the next meeting.

 

            Dr. Vita discussed the FMLA request from Stephanie Dunn the pre-K special Ed teacher at Center School.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mrs. Reardon: to approve the request of Mrs. Stephanie Dunn for an extended child rearing leave from the conclusion of her FMLA leave through the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

 

            Board members discussed whether she is aware of the changes made on the last contract and she is. 

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

 

            Dr. Vita discussed the memorandum of agreement with the LEA that is asking to establish an addendum providing benefits to teachers beyond the 5 years currently provided for.

 

            Board members discussed the following: extraordinary increases and expense related to benefits insurance; benefit will be expense added to the budget; need to think about cost containment; need to stay where we are with the contract; entered contract and supported it; and should continue with the contract as it is.

 

                        MOTION made by Mr. Costa and seconded by Mr. Shuhi:  to close the discussion on the memorandum.

 

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

 

Old Business

 

            Dr. Vita noted that two Board members are needed to participate in the Long Term Planning process.

 

            Mr. Shuhi and Mrs. Reardon both volunteered.

 

Superintendent’s Report

 

Dr. Vita reported on the following:

 

·         An update on the Long Term Planning process.  A meeting was held at Ed Connection with the leadership for 3 hours.  The next phase will be to meet again to summarize all that was said.  After that info, the second phase of the process will begin and include staff, administration, parents and members from the Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education.  A report will be presented to the Board in January where refinements can be made.  The process will be complete in February.

·         Presentation of 2004-05 Strategic School Profiles.  Highlights were outlined from community data; Litchfield Intermediate School; Center School; and Litchfield High School portions of the document.  Mr. Zaremski will present the Special Education Strategic School Profile for 2004-05 at the next meeting.  Discussions on alignment of objectives for math and science were held recently in order to work smarter.

 

Board members discussed the following: having the proper Superintendent’s name on the document; filtered computers issue; where the numbers came from; and what the status of the ERG categories will be in the future or if they will be eliminated.

 

Administrative Reports

 

            Dr. Breslin reported on the following: girls’ cross country team came in second in the state; Coach Hawkins has done a great job; field hockey team participate in the state tournament and the soccer team will compete tomorrow; congratulations to all teams who participated; student government goal to raise $5,000 for hurricane victims; establishing a relationship with Biloxi High School; Veteran’s Day program to be held on Friday in the cafeteria and Board members are all invited. 

 

            Mrs. Knox presented a plaque to Dr. Breslin for display at the high school for recognizing Mary Shelly as the first exchange student from Litchfield. She recently passed away and her family would greatly appreciate this.

 

            Dr. Vita reported on the following at the Intermediate School: on December 6^th an Internet Safety Program will be held by the state police; 5^th and 6^th grades will attend at 10:00 a.m. and 7^th and 8^th will attend at 11:15 p.m.; and another program will follow for the staff in the future.

 

            Board members discussed the SAT review course at the high school and having other districts participate.

 

            Mrs. Longobucco reported on the following: parent/teacher conferences in progress today, tomorrow and Thursday; book fair in gym with great decorations; family night last Thursday; and great profits from the book fair; technology infrastructure grant is in with $57,000 requested for mostly switches; LEF bought smart boards for each building and training has occurred. 

 

            Mrs. Perusse reported on the following: locked in fuel at $2.10/gal; $1.50 budgeted so options need to be looked at; setting of thermostats at each school; some rooms are shut down ready for construction; possibly not top off this year at this price; locked in for energy consortium from 2007-2009; attorney reviewed contract and recommended it; and budget substantial increase in electricity.