Lyme School District
Organizational and Regular School Board Meeting
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Meeting Minutes
Approved w/changes 4/28/08

Board Members Present: Peter Glenshaw, Audrey Brown, Emily Dentzer, Tom Goodrich, Kevin Kerin, Dan Parish, Mark Schiffman. Staff Members Present: Gordon Schnare, Lisa Damren; Recorder: Roger Lohr

1. Call to Order The regular Lyme School Board meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Superintendent Schnare and he opened the floor for Board chair nominations. Peter Glenshaw was nominated as chair by Dan Parish and the nomination was seconded by Mark Schiffman. There were no other nominations for chair and the Board voted Peter Glenshaw as Board Chair unanimously.

Chair Glenshaw opened nominations for vice chair and Dan Parish nominated Mark Schiffman as Vice Chair and this nomination was seconded by Audrey Brown. There were no other nominations for vice chair and the Board voted unanimously for Mark Schiffman to be the Board Vice Chair. Peter Glenshaw nominated Audrey Brown as Board Secretary and Dan Parish seconded the nomination. Audrey Brown was voted as Board Secretary unanimously.

2. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made and seconded (Brown, Parish) to approve the minutes from the February 13, 2008 Lyme School Board Meeting, as submitted with amendments. The motion was passed 5 in favor and 2 abstentions (Goodrich, Dentzer). The change on item 3B in the fifth sentence was to replace the word “of” with the word “in.” The Board requested that Superintendent Schnare include a copy of the final wording of the policies passed at the last Board meeting in the next Board packet.

A motion was made and seconded (Parish, Kerin) to approve the minutes from the February 13, 2008 Lyme SchoolBoard Non Public Meeting, as submitted. The motion was passed unanimously.

3. Communications and Reports
A. Chair Report: Chair Glenshaw welcomed the new Board members Emily Dentzer and Tom Goodrich, who have already received an overview to the school board. It was suggested that all Board members should feel free to ask questions about any school or board business. Additionally, Chair Glenshaw stated that he would serve one more term as chair and then in his last year on the Board he will help the next chairperson to transition into the position. An overview of the annual Board activity was also reviewed.

Committee Assignments
The Board discussed the various Board Committees and representative positions. The Personnel Committee is significant this year because there will be contract negotiations with the faculty. The new contract should be completed by February. A new Committee matrix will be finalized and distributed to the Board at the next meeting.

B. Superintendent’s Report:
Superintendent Schnare reviewed the financial report format and he reported that the projected school budget surplus is about $92,000. The timeline for the students’ decision about their high school selection was reviewed. The food service is projected to be about a $10,000 deficit for the year, which is improved from the past years. A new health care option was included in the Board packet as a third alternative but it is not in the teacher contract.

Chair Glenshaw briefly explained the status of school funding within the state legislature and as it stands, it does not appear that it will become law soon.

C. Committee Reports
Audrey Brown of the Academic Committee reported that a meeting was held with a parent regarding a request to add geometry in the school curriculum. It was suggested by the committee that a procedure needs to be standardized for parental requests and participation in the curriculum decisions.

4. Business Requiring Discussion
The Board discussed the town school district meeting. It was stated that the budget transparency was good and it was useful to hold the pre-meetings before the town meeting so that some residents could have their specific questions answered. The school newsletter has also been helpful to increase awareness about budget and board issues. Chair Glenshaw plans to reach out to groups in town in the spring and fall to open dialogue about the school and school budget and he invited other Board members to participate in those informal meetings.

Dresden High School
A meeting was held between representatives of the Lyme School Board and John Aubin, Dresden Assistant Superintendent of Business and Kari Asmus, Hanover School Board Chair. The information discussed included the calculations for the Lyme high school tuition rate and the special education expenses associated with Lyme students at Hanover High School. Other issues discussed included the possibility of a volume tuition discount for Lyme, which has the largest segment of tuition students at Hanover High School (59 students), and Lyme representation at the Dresden Board meetings.

5. Business Requiring Action
Superintendent Schnare placed in nomination the list of staff members for the 2008-09 school year.
A motion was made and seconded (Schiffman, Kerin) to accept the list of third year and continuing contract staff members for the 2008-09 school year, as proposed and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.

Superintendent Schnare placed in nomination Rob Terry as language arts/social studies teacher for the 2008-09 school year.

A motion was made and seconded (Kerin, Parish) to hire Rob Terry, as language arts/social studies teacher for the 2008-09 school year. The motion passed unanimously.

6. Non Public Session
A motion was made and seconded (Schiffman, Kerin) to enter nonpublic session in accordance with RSA 91-A3 ll (c) for discussion of matters relating to personnel and pupils. The motion passed unanimously. The Board roll call was conducted and the Board entered nonpublic session at 8:25 PM.

The board returned to public session at 8:37 p.m. (Brown, Kerin).

A motion was made and seconded (Glenshaw, Kerin) authorizing Superintendent Schnare to sign, on behalf of the SAU, the documentation relating to employee health benefits on an annual basis. The motion passed unanimously.

7. Adjournment: There was a motion and approval to adjourn the meeting at 8:50 PM. (Brown, Kerin). The motion passed unanimously.

The manifests were reviewed and signed by the authorized Board members. The next Regular Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 24