Lyme School District
School Board Meeting
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Meeting Minutes

Board Members Present: Peter Glenshaw, Mary Beck, Kevin Kerin, Audrey Brown, Kathy McGowan, Maggie Minnock, Dan Parish. Staff Members Present: Gordon Schnare, Kate Cook, Steve Dayno. 1 member of the public. Recorder: Roger Lohr

1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Superintendent Schnare and nominations for Board officers were open. Kathy McGowan nominated Peter Glenshaw as Board Chair and Mary Beck seconded the nomination. The nomination passed unanimously, at which point Kathy McGowan assumed control of the meeting. Audrey Brown nominated Kathy McGowan as Board Vice-Chair and the nomination was seconded by Maggie Minnock. The nomination passed unanimously. Kathy McGowan took over the meeting as Vice Chair and nominated Maggie Minnock as Board Secretary. Audrey Brown seconded the nomination and it was passed unanimously.

2. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made and seconded (Minnock, Beck) to approve the minutes from the February 15, 2007 Lyme School Board Meeting, as submitted with changes. The motion was passed unanimously. The changes included on item 3A, in the second paragraph, K. Marks is a resident and N. Meyer was misspelled. On Item 3D, the board discussed the Thetford Academy campaign.

A motion was made and seconded (Minnock, Beck) to approve the minutes of the February 15, 2007 Lyme School Board Nonpublic Meeting, as submitted. The motion was passed unanimously.

3. Communications and Reports
A. Chair Report: Chairman Glenshaw distributed documents of Board Committee Rosters and Assignments for the existing year and the next year. He asked Board members to consider service on these committees so there are two members on each committee. Board members were asked to email the chair about their committee interests. Additionally, a third Board member is needed to serve on the Finance Committee.

B. Superintendent’s Report: Superintendent Schnare distributed summaries for expenditures and revenue to the Board members. The amount of the Hanover special education invoice is uncertain and it will be reflected in the amount of the budget surplus. There is also a large savings in the cost of health insurance. The food service account was not as good in February due to fewer lunches sold because of the vacation and snow days. Principal Valence will be asked about the menu change and if there are any conclusions associated with it. The Superintendent has yet to find the fundraising/field trip procedures that were written after the policy was created and he will continue to seek the documents. The Superintendent distributed a letter from the school district attorney regarding the high school tuition and choice of high schools. There was community interest to eliminate the choice of schools with high tuitions, but a specific high school would need to be designated if the town were to limit the choices of high schools (thus eliminating the choice of high schools).

There are five candidates for the Special Education Director Search and the Nominating Committee will meet to make a recommendation after all of the candidates are interviewed. Teachers will also have an opportunity to spend time with the final candidates. The Board should have a candidate to vote on in April.

D. Committee Reports
The Academic Committee will meet with the Strategic Plan Committee and it will also continue its effort regarding enrichment activities at the school.

The Building Maintenance Committee will meet in a month to consider summer work on the school.
The High School Committee will consider increases in Thetford Academy tuition.

The Library Committee is active and it will meet with the Strategic Plan Committee. The committee will consider some library service alternatives with regard to cost/benefit analysis. It will speak with other K-8 schools to see what works in other towns and report back to the Strategic Plan Committee. More teacher input is desired and a forum will be held for the teachers.

The Board discussed the school calendar and various comments made to the Board about starting after Labor Day. The last day of school this year is on a Monday, and the Board is interested to see if anything can be done about it.

4. Business Requiring Discussion
The Board discussed community feedback regarding the school budget. It was felt that more communication with community residents was necessary to encourage more supporters to participate in town discussions about the school.
The Board expressed its appreciation of the hard work that Kathy McGowan and Peter Glenshaw accomplished on the budget presentation.

There was a first reading of the Policy JEB, which involves early entrance age and the process associated with it. Grammatical suggestions will also be forwarded for the policy. The first reading of Policy IKE about Promotion, Retention and Grade Level Decisions was also discussed.

5. Business Requiring Action
A motion was made and seconded (Kerin, Minnock) to accept the list of teachers nominated for continuing contract for the 2007-08 school year as submitted and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
A motion was made and seconded (Brown, Kerin) to approve the hiring of Cynthia Stam as a long term substitute Special Education aide at $11.25 per hour for the remainder of 2006-07 school year. The motion passed unanimously.
A motion was made and seconded (Minnock, Beck) to approve Policy BHE on School Board Use of Email as submitted and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.

6. Non Public Session
A motion was made and seconded (Brown, Kerin) to enter nonpublic session in accordance with RSA 91-A3 (II. (a) & (c)) for discussion of matters relating to personnel and pupils. The motion passed unanimously. At 8:42 p.m. the roll call was conducted and the Lyme School Board entered non public session.

A motion was made and seconded (Beck, Kerin) to re-enter public session. The motion passed unanimously. The Board reopened the public session of the Lyme School Board meeting at 8:50 p.m.

7. Adjournment: There was a motion and approval to adjourn the meeting at 8:51 p.m. (McGowan, Brown). The motion passed unanimously.

Next regular board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 26, 2007