Rumney Memorial School
School Board of Directors Minutes
January 10, 2012
DRAFT

Board members present: Julie Moore, Sorsha Anderson, Beth Holtzman, Lauri Scharf, Chris McVeigh
Administrators: Adam Rosen, Principal; Robbe Brook, Superintendent
Guests: Armando Vilaseca, Vermont Education Commissioner; Vaughn Altemus, Education Finance Manager, Vermont Department of Education; Maribeth Domanski, Maggie McGlynn, Martha Israel, Rumney staff; Stacey Brown, Woden Teachout, Anthony Pollina, Deb Wolf, Wendy Farber, Shaun Fielder, Shona MacDougall, Susan Clark, Nancy Reilly, Gordon Grunder; Kimberly Jessup, Dexter Lefavour, Sophie Bowater, Rumney parents/Middlesex community members; Celia Teachout, student.

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m.
1.1 Amendments to the Agenda: 3.3 Audit report. 4.5 Bid for trailer demolition. 4.6 Future meeting dates. Executive Session for transportation and negotiations.
1.2 Reception of Guests: The above-named guests were welcomed.
1.3 Public Correspondence: None.

2. Consent Agenda
2.1 Approve minutes from December 6, 2011
2.2 Approve Board Orders. Beth questioned the finance charges on the propane bill. Adam explained that these charges were incurred in the transfer to the new vendor when the timing of deliveries and invoices was in flux.
Beth moved to approve the consent agenda. Chris seconded. All in favor.

3. Principal's/Superintendent's Report: Attached.
3.1 Principal's announcement of Candidacy in Washington West Supervisory Union. Adam is interviewing on January 17th. If Adam is offered this position and he accepts, Robbe will post the Rumney principal position on SchoolSpring. Julie will then collect names from the community of those interested in serving on the search committee. Adam reiterated his willingness to help with the hiring process.
3.2 Current year financials.
3.3 Audit report. Adam passed out copies of the final audit report to board members.

4. Discussion Agenda
4.1 Discussion with Commissioner Armando Vilaseca regarding Act 153. Julie gave background about the letter that the Rumney board sent to Mr. Vilaseca outlining concerns about the mandatory portion of Act 153, particularly regarding special education consolidation within the supervisory union (SU). Julie and Sorsha gave testimony about these concerns before the Vermont House Education Committee on January 4 and will be testifying in the Vermont Senate on January 17. Mr. Vilaseca spoke about Act 153 as a response to statewide declining enrollment and increasing per-pupil expenditures. He believes that the Vermont education system is overstaffed, particularly at the administrative level. He sees Act 153 as an attempt to bring down costs by consolidating school districts, reducing administrative costs, and providing efficiencies of scale. Mr. Vilaseca outlined what he sees as the strengths and challenges of the existing educational structure in the state. He agrees that Act 153 has some flaws, but overall supports the mandatory nature of the required components of the law.
Chris asked if there has been any proof that consolidation of special education services provides better service to students at lower cost; Mr. Vilaseca was unable to confirm this. Chris believes that moving away from local control will eliminate the participation of community volunteers in school programs, which would be detrimental to Rumney.
Beth questioned the different chain of command that consolidation would require for special educators compared with other teachers in the school. She asked how consolidated special education services would work philosophically with the idea of inclusion. Mr. Altemus explained that because special education services are IEP-based, the principal of the school would still be a crucial component of the plan; he does not anticipate that a special education director would want to bypass the school principal. Mr. Altemus believes an important benefit of consolidating special education services would be the pooling of risk at the SU level, which would help to eliminate budget spikes tied directly to students with intensive needs.
Beth asked where the school would see the savings from consolidation; Mr. Altemus responded that Act 153 is first and foremost about benefits to the students. He stated that WCSU already is near the level of consolidated services the state is looking for. He said that as of July 1, 2013, special education costs will be paid through the SU, but what's happening in the classroom “doesn't need to change that much." Mr. Altemus anticipates increased fluidity of staff within the SU to meet changing student needs; he also hopes for more rapid movement of best practices across districts. He would like districts to engage in a good-faith effort to try consolidation before asking for waivers to consolidation of special education services, to identify potential barriers and examine solutions. Sorsha stated that WCSU has made a good-faith effort. She understands mandating the process, but would like to leave it open for differentiated outcomes. Because it is time-consuming to request annual waivers, she requests that the end result remain open.
Beth stated that she shares the concerns about increasing budgets, but recognizes that the big drivers of these increases are things like health insurance, transportation, and fuel costs. Considering these broader issues, she doesn't think that eking out a few thousand dollars in savings by changing who administers special education is going to have the necessary budgetary impact.
Shaun Fielder recognized the need to think outside the box and to get away from the territorial approach in striving for a high quality of education that will benefit and support all students. He suggested that the state keep in touch with the individuals on the Rumney board who have good solutions that should be shared statewide. Mr. Artemus and Mr. Vilaseca expressed their appreciation for the work of local school boards.
Julie thanked Mr. Artemus and Mr. Vilaseca for attending the meeting, discussing the issues, and listening to the Middlesex community.
4.2 Discussion of changes in hiring practices for spring 2012. Robbe plans to sit in on the final school board interview of candidates for any upcoming openings. This will efficiently cover the preference of the Rumney board to interview two or more final candidates for a given position and also covers the district policy for the superintendent to recommend one candidate to the board. This process will be for the spring of 2012 only; the plan will be revisited when a new WCSU superintendent comes on board.
4.3 Facility Committee Report. Adam and Sorsha spent time looking at the former tutor room that is to be converted to a classroom for next year. There is a need for more shelving and storage space for materials currently stored in that room, which will increase the estimated fit-up cost by $5,000. Chris has prepared the space for the new storage pod. Adam will call to arrange delivery thereof.
4.4 Discuss the 2012-2013 School Budget, including language for the draft warning. Although there is a total budget expense increase of 6.15%, the net impact is a 2.38% increase, and ultimately the budget will result in a tax decrease of $6 per $100K assessed value. This is largely due to the increasing enrollment at Rumney. Julie asked Adam if this budget has the flexibility to allow for various configurations of kindergarten next year; Adam confirmed that it does. Shaun asked if the budget is under the penalty threshold; Robbe said that the budget is well under the threshold. Shaun asked for the specific numbers as well as the actual per-pupil cost. Adam will provide these numbers.
Dexter raised an objection to the wording in the draft warning of Article 5, “Will the School district appropriate a sum up to $30,000 to fund a feasibility study for assessing long-term facility needs?" Dexter is concerned that the scope of the study is undefined, and that there will not be community support for the feasibility study if there is a perception that an expansion is imminent. Dexter would like other accommodations to be examined before expanding the building. Julie stated that the feasibility study would target the known needs of the building (kitchen, roof, HVAC system) with an eye to keeping options open for a future expansion if needed. The facilities committee plans to solicit public input about priorities beyond the necessary items. The board thanked Dexter for his input. Board members discussed the importance of communication to the public in this regard, and opted to begin soliciting community input about building priorities before Town Meeting to make it clear that building expansion is not a foregone conclusion.
4.5 Bid for trailer demolition. Adam received a bid from J&R Builders (Jim Breer) for $11,968 to remove the trailer and dispose of all debris. In addition, Crothers Environmental Services will perform asbestos removal for $5,775. The board questioned why this item was not put out to receive bids from multiple vendors. Adam asked the board to be mindful of the time involved in this process. Adam cautioned against using community volunteers to perform any of this work, as the level of mold in the trailer is hazardous. Chris proposed that board members seek other bids, and if no bids are returned by the next board meeting (Feb. 1) the Breer bid will be accepted. Sorsha will coordinate the cleaning of staging materials removed from the trailer before they are put in the new storage unit.
4.6 Future meeting dates. There will be no meeting on January 24. The board will meet on February 1 at 5:30 at U32 before the meeting with local legislators. The next regular board meeting at Rumney will be February 15 at 6:00.

5. Executive Session. The board moved into executive session at 9:35 to discuss transportation and negotiations. The board came out of executive session at 9:44.

6. Action Agenda
6.1 Approve the 2012-2013 School Budget. Sorsha moved to approve the 2012-2013 School Budget in the amount of $2,295,522.00. Julie seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
6.2 Set dates and locations for budget information session. Budget information sessions will be held on Saturday, February 18 at 9:00 a.m. at the Red Hen Baking Co. café (Chris, Julie, and Beth will attend) and Monday, March 5 at 6:00 p.m. at Rumney School (Lauri and Sorsha will attend).
6.3 Approve warning for Town Meeting. Chris moved to approve the warning as written, with the addition of the budget information session details. Beth seconded. After some discussion, Beth offered a friendly amendment to strike the words “a sum up to" from Article 5. All voted in favor of the motion as amended.
6.4 Authorize the Executive Committee representative along with the Superintendent to award the Student Transportation Bid. Beth moved. Sorsha seconded. All in favor.

7. Items for Future Agenda
7.1 Consideration of best configuration for primary unit for 2012-2013. (Adam will invite primary teachers and assistants, Jen Miller-Arsenault, and Carole Freeman, and work up possible configurations.)
7.2 Timeline for hiring new teacher(s)
7.3 Anticipated item—empanel principal hiring committee
7.4 Hiring policy
7.5 Accept bid for trailer removal
7.6 Executive session for negotiations

8. Adjournment. The board adjourned by consensus at 10:35.