Lyme School District
Organizational and Regular School Board Meeting
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Lyme Elementary School
Meeting Minutes
Approved w/changes 4/16/09

Board Members Present: Audrey Brown, Lou-Anne Conroy, Emily Dentzer, Peter Glenshaw, Mark Schiffman, Kate Semple Barta. Staff Members Present: Gordon Schnare, Jeff Valence, Sue Merrill; Recorder: Roger Lohr

1. Call to Order The regular Lyme School Board meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Superintendent Schnare and he opened the floor for Board chair nominations. Peter Glenshaw nominated Mark Schiffman as chair and the nomination was seconded by Emily Dentzer. There were no other nominations for chair and the Board voted Mark Schiffman as Board Chair unanimously.

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

2. Approval of Minutes
It was decided to postpone the approval of the minutes because only two members were present who had attended the meeting.

3. Communications and Reports
A. Chair Report: Each member of the Board was introduced and the new Board members Lou-Anne Conroy and Kate Semple Barta were welcomed. Chair Schiffman asked for a Board member to be the third Board member, who could sign the manifests and Lou-Anne Conroy volunteered. welcomed the new Board members.

Committee Assignments
The Board discussed the various Board Committees and representative positions. The Personnel Committee is significant this year because Superintendent Schnare will only continue in his position a couple of more years, so there is a need to develop a job description, consider what the school district needs from the administrative position, and then when the times comes, begin the search process for a new superintendent. The voters have expressed a concern about administrative costs, so that will need to be a factor in the process to define and fill the position.

Peter Glenshaw will serve as Personnel Committee chairman.
Academic Committee – Audrey Brown, Kate Semple Barta
Policy Committee- Emily Dentzer, Kate Semple Barta
Facilities Committee – Audrey Brown, Lou-Anne Conroy
High School Committee – Lou-Anne Conroy, Dan Parish
Finance Committee – to be determined
Wellness Committee – Audrey Brown
Library Liaison – Audrey Brown

Thetford Academy Board liaison – There will be a Lyme resident (preferably a parent of a student at TA) that will serve as the Thetford Academy Board liaison to Lyme and he/she will keep the Lyme School Board abreast of activity related to the Thetford Academy. Maggie Minnock can be contacted for further details regarding the Thetford Academy position.

Former Board Chair Glenshaw commented briefly about the teacher contract and town meeting. He recommended that the Lyme School Board continue reaching out to the residents and that they continue efforts to increase public participation and support of school district business. Additionally, he spoke about the challenges that are projected for the upcoming school budgets.

B. Superintendent’s Report:
Superintendent Schnare commented about the $336,123 budget surplus and he offered to send the financial report to any Board member that requests it. The potential Federal Stimulus funds are still uncertain and there is a meeting scheduled on April 7 to learn more about the possible funding, which might be obtained for upgrading the heating system and lighting at the school.

C. Principal Reports
Principle Valence reported that the enrollment is 195 and there is expected to be a loss of three students. A tuition kindergarten student is expected from Thetford. There will be 28 graduating eighth graders.

4. Business Requiring Discussion
Solar Energy Project
The Board discussed the offer from American Capital Energy for the solar array project. It is expected that the installation could save 10 percent of electric use at the school. It was suggested that the project be publicly announced along with other initiatives to increase sustainability at the school along with the learning opportunities that are afforded.

Peter Glenshaw made a motion, which was seconded by Emily Dentzer to accept with appreciation the pending gift by American Capital Energy to install a solar energy system at the Lyme Elementary School after receipt of a letter outlining details including liability, warranty, construction costs responsibility, maintenance, permitting, project timeline, and outlining any compensation or acknowledgment expected from the school district. The motion passed unanimously.

Other Facilities Issues
The Board discussed replacing one of the furnaces with a high efficiency, oil-fired model at $51,000, which will provide a $6,000 (or 13 percent) annual savings.

The school district may hire a heating consultant to help consider the details, develop an RFP, and plan to tap the Stimulus funds. It was suggested that the Maintenance Trust Fund and part of the budget surplus would be used to cover the cost of the furnace.

Another project at the school will be to consider replacing the lighting with more energy efficient equipment. Finally, the Facilities Committee is expected to consider installation of a security system.

A presentation about academic program reorganization was postponed to the next Board meeting.
The Board also discussed the greater scrutiny that was expected with the ITE program (staff development).

5. Business Requiring Action
Superintendent Schnare placed in nomination the list of staff members for the 2009-10 school year.
A motion was made and seconded (Brown, Dentzer) to accept the list of continuing contract staff members for the 2009-10 school year, as proposed and attached to the original meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously.

Superintendent Schnare discussed the Dresden Agreement regarding special education costs, the determination of the tuition rate for Lyme students at Hanover High School, and potential bus transportation. It was suggested that the offer for bus transportation could be improved.

A motion was made and seconded (Glenshaw, Brown) to authorize Superintendent Schnare to sign the Dresden Agreement on behalf of the Lyme School District. The motion passed unanimously.

The Board discussed the proposed school calendar and whether the school year should start with a staggered beginning (3 days, 4 days, 5 days in consecutive weeks) or begin later in September, which would necessitate a later school year end.

A motion was made and seconded (Glenshaw, Semple Barta) to approve the start of the school year 2009-10 calendar with August 26th as the first day. The motion passed 4-1 with Dentzer voting to oppose.

6. Business Requiring Discussion
The Board discussed first readings of Policy GBRIA Employment Benefit/ Leave School Year Support Staff and Policy GBRIC Employment Benefit/ Leave for Administrative Staff regarding health insurance payment responsibilities. It was suggested that Board members can email grammatical and typo issues to Audrey Brown.

Policy DIG was read and the Board discussed strategies for payment of lunch sales that are outstanding. Family accounts are to be established and built into a database so there can be notification of accounts that are nearing overdrawn status. It was suggested that 5 percent delinquency be the threshold for the policy.

7. Non Public Session
A motion was made and seconded (Glenshaw, Brown) 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 9:10 PM.
Public session was reopened at 9:20 PM.
8. Adjournment: There was a motion and approval to adjourn the meeting at 9:21 PM. (Brown, Dentzer). 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 16, 2009 at 7:00 PM.