Town of Rocky
Hill
Board of Education
TOWN OF ROCKY HILL
BOARD OF EDUCATION
MEETING OF
Members
Present: Nadine Bell
Rafaela
Coler
Tina
Lionetti
Charles
McMonigle
Anne
Schmidt
Frank
Szeps (Chairman)
Marinella
Tirillo
Catherine
Vargas
Jennifer
Viggiano-Grosse
Members
Absent: None
A meeting of the Board of Education was held
on
The pledge of allegiance was recited.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Moved by Mrs. Tirillo, seconded by Mrs.
Lionetti to accept the minutes of the
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On Page 11, delete Item No. 16.
CORRESPONDENCE
A note of appreciation addressed to the Rocky Hill Board of Education from Mr. Pear was noted. Dr. Vautour reported that Barbara Pierce, a teacher at the middle school was the recipient of a Creative Communications Language Arts Grant in the amount of $250. The district was successful in obtaining a $14,000 grant to continue the Circle of Friends program, which is a program at the primary level for students at risk.
AUDIENCE
PARTICIPATION
RHTA
Liaison Committee
There was no report.
Student Representatives
Bobby DiBacco, a third grader at
Renee Lawlor and Alex Frey, students at
Kevin Curtis and Mayle Hunt were Griswold reporters who
told the Board members of middle school activities, such as the Robotics Club,
Game Club, and the Channel 15 News Club, which presents the news each morning. The group meets each morning at
Sam DiGiovanni, a member of the student senate at
Meeting
Open to the Public
Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse reported that she received a letter about a monthly parents special education workshop. It was difficult for parents to get that kind of information, and she thanked Ruth Levy for arranging the workshop.
1. Consent
Calendar
The
consent calendar included a child-rearing request from Laura Cascio, Language
Arts Consultant at
Moved by Mrs.
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COMMITTEE REPORTS
2. Personnel and Negotiations
Mrs.
Tirillo reported that negotiations with the Rocky Hill Administration
Association have been concluded. The
results will be discussed during the executive session. Mr. Murphy will be joining the Board members
for that discussion.
3. Policy
No report.
4. Finance
No report.
5. Curriculum
Mrs. Bell reported that Mrs. Boutilier has
provided information on student testing, such as the CAPT and Mastery
tests. The elementary math area is
looking at the current textbook series and comparing that against the different
strands of the mastery test to see if a new textbook would better serve the
students’ needs.
At the high school, there is an ongoing
effort to include reading and writing across all disciplines.
6. Professional Development
Mrs. Schmidt reported on the Professional
Development Consortium scheduled for November 4. Four workshops are planned. The Rocky Hill portion will take place at the
high school. The program is in its third
year. Information on the choices will be
available by Monday.
7.
Facilities
Mrs. Lionetti stated that the Facilities
Committee met on Wednesday morning and discussed the capital project
requests. They reviewed the lists; some
were new items, and some have been on the list year after year.
Moved by Mrs. Lionetti, seconded by Mrs. Bell, to send the Board’s
capital project recommendations to the Liaison Committee for incorporation into
Mr. Cooke’s budget for 2004-05.
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8. Technology
No report.
9. Transportation/Accommodations
No report.
10. Liaison
Committee
Mrs. Lionetti reported that the Committee
would be meeting in October.
OLD BUSINESS
11. Follow Up on AP Involvement
Mr. Pitocco explained that data has now been
obtained for the years 1998-99. The
school has eight AP courses. Typically, the larger the school, the more AP
offerings they can make. French V is
being offered as an UConn course this year; next year it will become an UConn
AP course. Rocky Hill was doing well in
terms of its ERG.
12. Legislative Update
Moved by Mrs. Lionetti, seconded by Mrs.
Bell, to table the legislative update until the next meeting.
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13. No Child Left Behind Act Update
Dr. Vautour stated that the Act’s goal is for
every student to be proficient in reading in math in grades 3 to 8 by the
2013/14 school year. The Act requires
annual testing of all students in Grades 3 to 9 beginning in the year
2005/06. The State of
Another mandate is that at least 95% of the
population participates in the taking of the test. A high school must have a graduation rate of
at least 70%. Assessment results will be
provided to districts. There are results
for all students in the district and results broken out for participants in the
free and reduced lunch program, special education and those students with
limited English, and for each major ethnic group. The school needs a minimum of forty students
in each of the subcategories. If a
school has fewer than the forty in a category, they do not get compared.
Dr. Vautour explained that if a subgroup or
total group does not meet the target level, it is possible that the school gets
placed on the list; the school could be put on the list if less than 95% of the
students do not participate in testing, or if the graduation rate is lower than
70%. Schools are not judged solely on
the scores, but scores coupled with the participation rates and graduation
rates. The benchmark for CMT testing is
65% proficiency in math and 57% in reading; for the CAPT testing, it is 59% for
math and 62% for reading. The benchmark
is set for two years, and then it will change.
It will change every third year until 2013/14 at which time each district
in the country is to be at 100% proficiency.
Dr. Vautour had presented the Board members with a position paper that draws some concerns about how realistic the goals are. All districts are required to develop improvement plans as a requirement for meeting the goal. If a Title I school district does not make adequate progress for two consequent years, parents are given the option to choose another school within the district. Sanctions would be imposed on the state and town. Those sanctions would apply to Title I districts; the superintendent pointed out that Rocky Hill is no longer eligible for Title I funds. He was concerned that having the artificial situation created could cause performing schools to get on a list because a subgroup did not make it. The stringent federal sanctions would not apply to the Rocky Hill district.
Another requirement would be for the district
to provide highly qualified teachers and para- professionals. The requirements are geared towards the Title
I districts, but all school districts would want highly qualified people
working with the children. The federal
government indicates that highly qualified teacher requirements apply to the
core subjects. Rocky Hill is in full
compliance.
In terms of qualified para-professionals, for
those hired after
For students with limited English
proficiency, the federal government requires that all students receiving services
must be achieving goal in reading, writing and comprehensive math skills. The district has complied with the
requirements this year.
All students who become victims of violent
criminal activity on school property must be allowed to attend a different
school including a charter school or one within the local school district. The only option in Rocky Hill would be at the
elementary school level. The regulations
do not talk about crossing district lines.
Dr. Vautour had provided the Board members
with a position paper developed by the Connecticut Association of Public School
Superintendents. The superintendents
feel that while they agree that the goal of 100% proficiency is commendable,
there are problems with those restrictions.
Dr. Vautour read from the position paper,
which stated:
“In order to make the goal of universal
proficiency for every child attainable, CAPSS firmly believes that Congress
must:
1.
Modify how adequate yearly
progress (AYP) is determined so that (a.) there are multiple measures, and (b.)
AYP measures the continuous progress of the same cohort of students.
2.
Modify the accountability
requirements for schools and school districts to reflect realistic
requirements.
3.
Modify the requirements for
handicapped and limited English proficient children.
4.
Streamline both NCLB and IDEA
regulations to reduce paper compliance and focus on instruction.
5.
Require supplementary service
providers to be highly qualified teachers.
6.
Provide the resources needed to
attaining the goal of universal proficiency and repeal unfunded mandates.”
Dr. Vautour noted that an ongoing frustration
on the part of the superintendents and boards of education is that the federal
government is imposing the mandates but not funding them. There is a big push among the superintendents
to get the federal government to honor its responsibility. There are concerns that the No Child Left
Behind Act does not have the resources to make it realistic.
Dr. Vautour requested that the Board consider
endorsing the position paper in order to get the goals modified to make the Act
more realistic.
Moved by Mrs. Lionetti, seconded by Mrs.
Schmidt, to endorse the Position Paper developed by the Connecticut Association
of Public School Superintendents on the subject of the No Child Left Behind Act
and forward such endorsement to the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
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The members discussed a district being on the
list or not making adequate progress from one year to the next. Dr. Vautour was
hopeful that Rocky Hill would stay within goal.
As the target percentage increases closer to 100%, that is where the
challenge will be. For the new target,
Rocky Hill is already exceeding.
Mrs. Schmidt asked what would happen with the
special education students that by ability are at a lower grade level than
their age; she asked if those students would take a test at their age level, or
two years below. Dr. Vautour explained
that the vast majority of special education students would be expected to take
the grade level appropriate test. The
state and federal governments acknowledge that a small number of special
education students might require an off level test. For some students, the level of proficiency
is not realistic.
Dr. Vautour explained that administration was
reviewing the para-professional roster.
They were convinced that the vast majority of the para-professionals
were in compliance. He noted the
district had until 2006 to be fully in compliance, and anyone who is not would
be properly notified.
14. Follow Up on Administrator/Teacher Ratios
Dr. Vautour reviewed the ratio of administrators to the
other participants of ERG D. He looked
at the student population and the number of administrators to get a sense of
what was happening. Administration
studied over twenty towns, and Rocky Hill ranked 19. The range varied from a ratio of three
administrators in Old Saybrook to eighteen in
Mrs. Bell asked that the information be
forwarded to the Liaison Committee to be shared with the others.
NEW
BUSINESS
13. Graduate Survey Reports
Mr. Pitocco reported that each year, graduates
are given an exit survey; and they are given another one two years later. There will be a fifth year survey as
well. He reviewed the answers given by
exiting seniors. He noted the class of
2000 did not get surveyed. He compared
the answers given by seniors and two years from graduation. One of the issues brought out in the surveys
was the need for more counselors at the high school.
Mrs. Bell asked if any thought had been given
to offering the survey at a different time during the senior year. Mr. Pitocco had talked about it with his
staff, and they were discussing it.
Mrs. Tirillo noted that the high school has
added a .5 counselor. The number of
counselors was increased, and the number of satisfied students went down. She noted that the problem existed when her
children were at the high school. Dr. Vautour said the administration was aware
of the problem, and they were focusing in on it.
Mr. McMonigle requested that when the
departments have looked at the survey results, administration bring their
comments back to the Board.
16. Budget Format
Mr. Turansky reviewed a proposed format
change to be used in the presentation of the 2004-05 budget proposal. The change is the addition of the first
column following the account description, which is the 2000-01 appropriation
column. The addition of the column
allows a budget versus actual expenditure comparison for the prior two fiscal
years. The consensus of the Board was to
move forward with the proposed format.
17. Executive Session
Matter
of Student Discipline
Personnel
Matter
Discussion
of Tentative Agreement with Rocky Hill Administrators Association
Moved by Mrs. Vargas, seconded by Mrs. Bell,
to go into executive session at
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Dr. Vautour, Supt. of Schools left executive
session at
Moved by Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse, seconded by
Mrs. Tirillo, to come of executive session.
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Moved by Mrs. Bell, seconded by Mrs. Vargas,
to approve the stipulation of student discipline matter.
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Moved by Mrs. Bell, seconded by Mr.
McMonigle, that the Board of Education ratify and authorize the chairperson to
execute a contract based on the tentative agreement between the negotiating
teams of the Board and the Rocky Hill Administrators’ Association for contract
in effect from July 1, 2004 to and including June 30, 2007.
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Moved by Mrs. Vargas, seconded by Mrs. Coler,
to adjourn the meeting. (
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Respectfully submitted,
Rosalie W. O’Neill
Recording Secretary
Accepted by: _________________