Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 1
TOWN OF ROCKY HILL
BOARD OF
EDUCATION
MEETING OF
Members Present: Peter Arico
Nadine Bell (Chairman)
Kirk
Bostwick
Neil Geldof
Charles McMonigle
Francis Palazzolo
Anne Schmidt
Catherine
Vargas
Jennifer
Viggiano-Grosse
Members Absent: None
A
meeting of the Board of Education was held on
The pledge of allegiance was recited.
Moved by Mrs. Arico, seconded by Mrs.
Schmidt, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mrs. Vargas, seconded by Mrs.
Schmidt, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mr. Arico, seconded by Mr.
Bostwick, to accept the minutes of the
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
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There was no correspondence
noted.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
RHTA Liaison Committee
There was no report.
Sam DiGiovanni reported on
recent and upcoming events at the high school, which included the third quarter
closing. On March 12 and 13, twenty
students selected as leaders in school, traveled to UConn to take part in the
Connecticut Association of Student Leadership Conference. Nick Vargas and Rachel Tavana were selected
to return to the conference next year as part of the state planning
committee. The National Honor Society is
holding its coffee house at West Hill tonight, and their induction for new
members will be April 27.
On April 30, the mothers of
the
The Drama Club is rehearsing
Fiddler on the Roof, which they will perform May 8, 9, 15 and 16. On May 2, Heather Fedesco and Travis Short
will be recognized at the Aqua Turf as CIAC scholar athletes, and the junior
prom will be held May 7 at the
Meeting Open to the Public
There was no one from the
public wishing to address the Board on any item not on the agenda.
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
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1. Consent
Calendar
Moved
by Mrs. Vargas, seconded by Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse, to accept the consent
calendar of April 15, 2004.
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION
CARRIED
Committee Reports
1. Personnel
and Negotiations
No report.
2. Policy
No
report.
Mrs.
Schmidt reported that the Finance Committee did not have a formal meeting between
the last Board of Education meeting and this meeting. The Chairman and the Chairman of Finance met
to prepare the presentations that were given to the Town Council on
Monday. A Finance Committee meeting will
be scheduled between now and the next Board of Education meeting.
4. Curriculum
Mrs.
Vargas reported that the Curriculum Committee met tonight at
Information
was shared with the committee on the math pilot program. The pilot is complete, and the Pilot
Committee is in the process of making a decision, and a
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 4
presentation of the books that will be selected will be made in June to the
Board. The Science, Health and Music Departments
have started mapping their curriculum on the new software. The next meeting will be May 17 to review new
textbooks.
5. Professional Development
Mrs.
Viggiano-Grosse reported that all Rocky Hill staff recently participated in two
professional development days, Friday, March 19, and Monday, March 22. Staff had the opportunity to visit classes in
other districts, complete curriculum work, discuss ways math instruction could
be integrated into special classes in the elementary school, received training
on software that supports the reading and writing across the curriculum
initiative at the high school, and began the process of mapping the elementary
science curriculum. Planning is underway
for the next year’s curriculum development.
6. Facilities
Mr.
Bostwick reported that the Facilities Committee met last Tuesday, and they were
renewing their walk-throughs of the school facilities, and that will take place
during the upcoming week.
7. Technology
No
report.
8. Transportation/Accommodations
No report.
10. Status
Report on Curriculum Review
Mrs. Boutilier explained that
four years ago, the district began a curriculum review process in all thirteen
areas being taught. The process involved
an in-depth analysis of what was being taught at each of the grade levels as
well as the strengths and weaknesses
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 5
of each of the subject areas. A report was given to the Board of Education
with some recommendations being made.
Since that time, each of the
subject areas has been required to revisit the recommendations. During the subsequent three years, they have
been required to look at those recommendations and implement them. The Board had received recommendation sheets
as well as the four, three, two or one years’ worth of follow-up work. After teachers did the self-study, they made
some curriculum revisions.
Mrs. Boutilier summarized the
recommendations and gave a sampling of the progress made. Of the thirteen curriculum areas, 116
recommendations have been made, and 37 are complete. There are 24 incomplete, 8 are incomplete due
to reductions in the budget. Four are
incomplete, but are included in this year’s budget, and those include a
part-time staff member at the high school in World Languages, a .2 staff member
at the high school in Technology Education, the elementary math program and
graphing calculators.
There are 35 ongoing
recommendations. Many of them will never
be completed. Six are in process. Those include curriculum development in Physical
Education and Technology Education. Two
have been deleted because they were no longer pertinent.
Mrs. Boutilier reviewed some
of the completed recommendations. The
district has purchased new science materials that were implemented last year in
the elementary level. That was a result
of concerns that the elementary school teachers had about sharing materials
between the two schools, not having enough materials, and the loss of
flexibility.
The school district was able
to acquire a grand piano through the work of the Education Foundation. The request originally came from the music
review that was done four years ago. The
full time art staffing has been restored.
The district hired a World Language consultant for the 2001-2003
period. The district was about to move
instrumental music into the fourth grade.
There have been different courses added to the curriculum, such as
fashion design, and sewing.
The incomplete
recommendations include designating health only classrooms at the high school
and middle school, indicative of some of the space needs. Health classes are currently
taught in shared classrooms. The Health
Department encourages students to display their work with posters. Because they are sharing classrooms, they
lose out on that designated space for them to leave their materials on display
that the students can see and can help give a message to the rest of the
students.
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
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There has been a request to
reinstate a computer skills program.
That has staffing implications, and has not been able to be
completed.
The developmental reading
course at the middle school has been a request in the past. That request has staffing implications.
A third computer lab for Business
Education was one of this year’s requests.
Right now they have two computer labs, and they have found that they
need more computer lab access.
Class size issues, particularly
at the secondary level, where they hover around the upper twenty’s into the low
thirty’s are staffing and space need issues.
There is only one gymnasium with two teaching sections at the middle
school.
The ongoing category includes
continuing to develop skills that are measured by the CAPT test in the high
school Social Studies classes. Another
ongoing recommendation is exploration of time and space issues, which came from
Family and Consumer Science. They had
space for a small child care center that they were running as part of the child
development classes that they lost because of enrollment at the high school,
and they are looking for other ways to increase the amount of time the students
have available to them.
A lot of work has been done
with math curriculum work, on developing common assessments and
vocabulary.
Inventorying and developing
equipment replacement plans was another ongoing recommendation. The Music Department had prepared one, which
was shared with the Board during the budget review. The Tech Ed Department falls in that same
category. The district had help from a
Tech Ed expert from
Mrs. Boutilier reported that
the district was currently moving into the second round of curriculum
reviews. They were now asking the
departments to map their curriculum. Sixty
percent of the staff members have started inputting their maps into the
software. Mrs. Boutilier displayed a
sample map to the Board members.
On the professional
development day, the science curriculum maps were done at one of the elementary
schools. That has to be done across the
rest of the district. Mrs. Boutilier
would report to the Board as the district proceeds. The suggestion was made today at the Curriculum
Committee meeting today that the Board follow one of the subject areas as it
evolves.
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Board of Education
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The other ten departments, which
are not responsible for doing mapping at this point, will be continuing with
the recommendations they made in the past.
The end result is that conversations are taking place K-12, as well as
some introspection on what is being taught and how it is being taught, and some
changes that have taken place as a result.
Mrs. Schmidt commended the
Assistant Superintendent and Board for undertaking the curriculum review
process. She noted that some of the
programs and initiatives that the Board has taken have had great substantive
effect on curriculum because they were expanding offerings to students. Earlier, she had raised a concern over the
Project Lead the Way program and that the program was put into place, but did
not fit into one of the core subject areas.
For two of the four years, it would fit vocational credits that students
are required to take. There are also
other academic opportunities. There was
a growing concern about whether it would fit.
Dr. Vautour responded that it did fit; but administration has begun a
review of the study of the various course offerings in the high school and what
the array is like relative to academic, general, honors, AP
courses. There is the fit question. Before next year is finished, there would be
some specific responses and recommendations in terms of fine-tuning curriculum.
Mrs. Boutilier saw the next
four years as building the foundation.
Some changes have been made that need to be made. She has been having conversations with
colleagues in other districts. Project
Lead the Way is fairly new. There are
less than twenty districts that have implemented that program. She has had conversations with the State
Consultants and other districts, questioning how the five new courses could
work. She was hearing how others were handling
the new challenges, and Rocky Hill would come up with recommendations as well.
She questioned how much new a small high school could do. Administration has looked at the number of
offerings in a department that only has 2.8 teachers.
Mr. Arico asked if the
district was looking at new, or a modernization of a lot of existing; Dr.
Vautour noted it was a combination of the two.
There are some new, but it was a modernization of the core curriculum.
NEW BUSINESS
11. Extended
Duty Positions
Dr. Vautour reported that Mr.
Turansky had prepared a memo detailing the extended duty positions that are
filled at this time. At this time of
year, the Board usually makes recommendations for the elimination of any
extended duty positions that have not been filled for a two year period, but
there are none at this point.
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
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Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse asked
about the Coordinator of Athletics and whether his position was Coordinator of
Student Affairs and Athletic Director.
Dr. Vautour replied that the official title was Coordinator of Student
Affairs. Included in that now is
athletics. The Coordinator for Student Affairs
receives a stipend because of the additional hours that are involved in
coordinating those activities and attending many of those events. It is separate than his salary.
Chairman Bell asked how a
value was assigned to the stipends. Dr.
Vautour replied that those have evolved over the years, and as a new stipend
position has been created, it involves discussions with the bargaining
unit. They analyze the activity itself,
and translate it into the number of hours of student involvement, the extent of
responsibility, and how many students might be involved. A total review of the stipends has not
occurred in several years. To undertake
the task would involve appointment of a sub-committee or assigning the task to
P&N, collecting a lot of information and negotiating the adjustments that
could be proposed. Stipends are part of
the bargaining unit process.
Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse asked if
the Board would recommend making the review; Dr. Vautour recommended that
P&N review the matter as part of the upcoming negotiations and determine if
there are some questions about the distribution of the stipends, satisfaction, and
dis-satisfaction.
Mr. McMonigle asked if there
was a process to evaluate the need for the current stipend positions filled,
even though they are filled. He asked if
administration was satisfied that each of them was doing what is wanted, or
whether some could be eliminated. He
asked if there was process that reviews these periodically. Dr. Vautour replied that the review was a
process of seeing whether or not the students were involved in the activities
for which many of the stipends exist. If
the enrollments drop below certain levels, the activity becomes
questionable. At that point, the
question would be raised about whether it should be continued or not. He pointed out that the Board and
administration had to expand student experiences and opportunities. Only in situations where they were not seeing
student involvement would they recommend elimination of the position.
Mrs. Vargas asked if the
person holding the position was not a teacher, if the stipend would still go
through the union. Dr. Vautour explained
that the position itself is what is negotiated through the bargaining unit.
12. Board Retreat
Dr. Vautour reported that it has been the practice of the Board to go into a retreat to
Town of Rocky Hill
Board of Education
Page 9
reflect on progress made during the year and assess its effectiveness. He requested a sub-committee be formed to meet with him to propose a potential agenda, date and time for the retreat.
Mrs. Viggiano-Gross and Mrs. Vargas volunteered to serve on the sub-committee.
Chairman Bell congratulated the 87 students who received the Physical
Fitness Award this week at
Important events include the Board of Education Town Budget Workshop on
April 28 at
13. Executive
Session
Moved by Mrs. Schmidt, seconded by Mr.
Bostwick, to go into executive session at
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mr. Bostwick,
seconded by Mr. Arico, to come out of executive session at
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Moved by Mrs. Vargas,
seconded by Mrs. Viggiano-Grosse, to adjourn the meeting at
FAVOR: ALL
MOTION CARRIED
Respectfully
submitted,
Rosalie
W. O’Neill
Recording
Secretary Accepted by:
______________________