Lyme School District
Regular School Board Meeting
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Meeting Minutes
Approved w/changes on 10/23/08

Board Members Present: Peter Glenshaw, Audrey Brown, Emily Dentzer, Kevin Kerin, Mark Schiffman. Staff Members Present: Gordon Schnare, Jeff Valence; Marcia Campbell, Skip Pendleton. Recorder: Roger Lohr

1. Call to Order The regular Lyme School Board meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Board Chair Peter Glenshaw.

2. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made and seconded (Schiffman, Kerin) to approve the minutes from the August 14, 2008 Lyme School Board Meeting, as submitted. The motion was passed unanimously.
A motion was made and seconded (Brown, Schiffman) to approve the minutes from the August 14, 2008 Lyme School Board Non Public Meeting, as submitted. The motion was passed unanimously.

3. Communications and Reports
A. Chair’s Report
Chair Peter Glenshaw stated that it is expected that Tom Goodrich will not serve the school board for another term because of frequent business travel. The Board discussed the Budget Committee’s recommendation for the school budget. At present, the school board’s budget guidelines for 2009-2010 will apply the 12-month average of the Northeast CPI plus one percent and this excludes the special education and high school tuition expenses. The CPI has been as high as 5.5 percent recently. There is an expected budget issue related to regular education aides that are associated with 504 needs.

Chair Glenshaw and Principal Valence attended the Lyme Utility Club meeting with about 40 attendees to give a presentation about education and the school finances. The club members were very supportive and expressed interest in volunteering at the school. The Board agreed that conducting an outreach program to increase awareness and communication about the school has been very successful and additional visits to other groups should be scheduled. It was also suggested that a list of volunteers needs to be developed to bring to such meetings.

The Board was reminded to review the details in the Strategic Plan. A Special Board meeting will be scheduled for the Board to discuss the SAU 70 issues.

B. Superintendent’s Report:
Superintendent Schnare commented about the financial report and he reported it is still early in the school year to have meaningful data. The Food Service program has been selling lunches very well with a report of 126 lunches sold on one recent day. The audit was conducted in August and there were no findings on the Lyme school district. The financial reports for the audit were done by Superintendent Schnare. It was requested that the full audit report be distributed to the Board members. There was also a request for the Board members to complete a questionnaire from the auditors regarding ethics and fraudulent activities, which will be done at the next meeting. A replacement for the school nurse had been found. The Board members involved with the manifest signing agreed to sign the manifests twice monthly. Audrey Brown and Teresa Thurston will coordinate a schedule for the manifest signings.

C. Principal’s Report
Principal Valence discussed the need for additional regular education aides, who work less than 32 hours per week, respectively. It was suggested that a written explanation for the Budget Committee be created about the aides and it include some basics about health needs and special education. Mark Schiffman can bring the statement to the Budget Committee.

The Board discussed the NECAP science test scores and the reason that Lyme students did poorly on the test. The tests were taken by fourth and eighth graders for the first time in the spring of 2008. The staff is looking at science curriculum issues but there is an understanding of the limits of these assessments.

D. Committee Reports
The School Budget surplus from the year-end budget balance was $144,385. The majority of the surplus was due to the high school tuition and special education. The presentation of the school budget to the Budget Committee is slated for January 7 and 14. The first public hearing would be on January 21.

4. Business Requiring Discussion
Policy First Readings
Policy BBBE – Unexpired Term Fulfillment. In the introduction section, it was suggested to replace the word “timely” with “immediate.” The balance of the policy was accepted as attached to the original Board meeting minutes.
Policy BBBH – Single District SAU. Accepted as attached to the original Board meeting minutes.
Policy BCA – School Board Member Ethics. On item 3, the Board replaced the word systematic regarding how to position communication with the staff. Item 4 was changed to two sentences for clarity about the responsibilities of fiscal responsibility and quality of education. Item 12 would be to avoid a conflict of interest. It was suggested to remove the word “my” from items 2 and 7.
Policy BDA – Annual Organizational Meeting. Accepted as attached to the original Board meeting minutes.
Policy BDB – Board Officers. It was felt that the Lyme School Board chair rarely makes or seconds motions and that reference would be removed from the policy. There was also consideration of whether chair maintenance of the meeting flow should be included in the policy.
Policy BDD – Board-Superintendent Relationship. In the third paragraph it was suggested that a semicolon be included.
Policy BEA – Regular Board Meetings. The meetings should be held on school district property rather than the “building of the School District.”

5. Business Requiring Action
Superintendent Schnare nominated Jennifer Woodmansee as a .8 FTE school nurse.
A motion was made and seconded (Schiffman, Kerin) to elect Jennifer Woodmansee as .8 FTE School Nurse for the 2008-09 school year. The motion passed unanimously.
The Board discussed liability exposure related to the school nurse and volunteers on class trips. Superintendent Schnare will look into requirements and the insurance coverage related to this issue.
The Board members supported using the Internet to disseminate the Board meeting agenda.

6. Non Public Session
A motion was made and seconded (Schiffman, 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 9:00 PM.

Non Public Session Minutes

Public session was reopened at 9:36 p.m.
The board settled on a meeting date of October 8 at 7:00 p.m., to discuss the Dresden billing and budget issues.

7. Adjournment: There was a motion made and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 PM. (Glenshaw, 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, October 23, 2008 at 7:00 PM.