Highlights - The Board of Education Newsletter

…heard a student report regarding Student Council’s Sadie Hawkins dance which was successful as a fund raiser. This week is homecoming so everyone is busy preparing for a powder puff game which is being hosted by the Morgan football team, a pep rally which will be held on Friday at the football field, a parade on Saturday at 10:00 a.m., the homecoming game, and the homecoming dance.

…honored The Morgan School students who have earned the Morgan Scholar Award. This year’s announcement makes 162 students honored as Morgan Scholars since the program’s inception in 1990. Local businesses and industries assist in funding the cost of the award.

…honored 3 Jared Eliot Middle School students for receiving the Cut-Above Award and 2 other Eliot students for being selected as this year’s recipients of the CAPSS Leadership Award.

…heard a report from Linda Stuhlman, the coordinator of the Best Beginnings program.

…heard a report from the Superintendent regarding:

· A CABE Award of Excellence for Educational Communications received by the district;

· 5-Year Enrollment Projections

· General Update - Mr. Coviello hopes to purchase platforms for musical theater productions at the high school. The Clinton Education Foundation will be sending a letter to staff encouraging them to donate to the Brett Renfrew fund in honor of what would have been Brett’s 31stbirthday in December. Copies of newspaper clippings about Joel School from the 1960’s were shared with the Board. Copies of the Strategic School Profiles for 06-07 were distributed.

…was made aware of the following upcoming field trips:

Destination

Date

Teacher(s) / Students

Ellis Island and Rockefeller Center, NY

Friday, December 7, 2007

G. Finucane, S. Schreck, S. Eident, S. Wininger, 14⁺chaperones and Grade 6 students

Ski Trips:

Okemo, VT

Loon, NH

Waterville, NH

January 5, 2008

January 26, 2008

February 9, 2008

B. Barney, B. Nadeau, 2 additional chaperones, and 50 Morgan students

…thanked William Calvert and Mary Jane Engle for their years of service to the Board. This was their last official Board meeting. Elections on Nov 6^th will determine their replacements.

…accepted the resignations of Sally O’Brien and Debbie Campbell as paraprofessionals.

…approved the appointment of Jill Powers to the position of Assistant Cook at Eliot; the change of Ken Beeman from the position of freshmen boys basketball coach to JV boys basketball coach; the appointment of Erik Leiss to the position of Varsity wrestling coach at Morgan; the appointment of James Budkus to the position of Freshman Girls basketball coach at Morgan; and the appointment of Christopher Zawadski to the position of girls tennis coach at Morgan.

…approved a request from the Superintendent for an additional teacher and paraprofessional for the pre-school program due to the number of students enrolled and program needs.

…acknowledged payment of bills in the amount of $1,148,968.66 from the 2007-08 operating budget.

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December 3, 2007

At its regular meeting held Monday, December 3, 2007, the Board of Education –

…approved the minutes of the November 5th board meeting.

...elected Deborah Grass for the office of Chair of the Board and Gerald Vece for the office of Secretary of the Board.

....introduced 3 new Board members, Gary Bousquet, Kim Campanaro and Joan Johanson.

....read a letter from Detective Bryan Pellegrini of the Clinton Police Department thanking Morgan staff member Mike Underwood for his assistance.

....heard a report from a student representative regarding Homecoming which took place last month. Awards for the class floats were as follows: 1st place for the juniors with their “Toy Story” float, 2nd place for the sophomores with a “Pochohontas” float, 3rd place for the seniors and 4th place for the freshmen. The Board is looking for more student reps.

....heard a report from George Braun and team captains/representatives who gave a brief presentation regarding the fall sports program. Mr. Braun noted that of the 187 students who participated in sports this past semester, 66 made honor roll. The various teams spoke about their records, their teams and thanked their parents, coaches and the Board for their support.

....listened to Jack Cross as he talked about the second round of curriculum meetings that have taken place and have focused on the areas of math, social studies, and language arts. Mr. Cross also will be working with a group of BEST mentors to look at the new teacher induction process and the onsite BEST mentor training which is scheduled for June.

....received a copy of the budget calendar.

....discussed the idea of offering school credit for team sport participation in addition to credit for physical education classes.

....discussed the implications of having a series of final exams in order to graduate and looked at ideas and suggestions re earning credits in eighth grade towards graduation.

....reviewed policies regarding the Board's contract with M&J.

....reviewed instructions for expulsion hearing processes.

....listened to Board subcommittee reports. Select Board members and the Superintendent met with a consultant from the Center for Secondary School Redesign as high schools all around the state are looking at new ways to provide education for 21st century skills.

....began a conversation as to how it will go about searching for and appointing a successor to the Superintendent who will be retiring in December of 2008.

....was made aware of the following field trips:

Destination	Date	Teacher(s) / Students
New York City	Friday, December 7, 2007	B. Shea, 4 parent chaperones, and 40 Morgan students
New York City	Saturday, December 8, 2007	P. Serenbetz, at least 2 parent chaperones, and 30 AFS students
Old Sturbridge Village Sturbridge, MA	Wednesday, April 2, 2008	L. Scherban, 15 additional chaperones, and approximately 140 8th grade students

....accepted the resignation of Nancy Toomey from her teaching position at Morgan, effective January 1, 2008, and the resignation of MaryAnn Estabrook from the position of JV Volleyball coach effective immediately.

...approved the appointment of: Paige Anderson to the position of SPED Teacher; Christina Shebell to the position of Paraprofessional–LSR classroom at Morgan; Laura Bencivengo to the position of Paraprofessional – Library Media Assistant at Joel; Jon Willets to the position of Director of Summer Reading/Writing Program at Joel School; Andrew Cicarella to the position of J.V. Baseball Coach at Morgan; and Justin Esposito to the position of Freshman Boys Basketball Coach at Morgan. Anna Recine, World Language long-term substitute at Pierson, began on 11/12/07 and will continue through the end of the school year.

....approved advertising for and the hiring of an assistant winter track coach.

....approved a resolution to continue participation in the Interdistrict Cooperative Magnet School program for the 2008-09 school year.

....approved the Eliot Oil Tank Replacement Project as complete.

...acknowledged payment of bills in the amount of $286,605.48 from the 2007-08 operating budget.

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May 5, 2008

At its regular meeting held Monday, May 5, 2008, the Board of Education –

…heard from parents regarding the professional development day schedule.

…approved the minutes of the April 7^th and April 11^th board meetings.

…heard a report from student representatives regarding the Mr. Morgan Beauty Pageant, senior prom on May 23^rd at the Bond Ballroom in Hartford, Teacher Appreciation Week (Student Council members give out balloons, apples, goodie bags, poems and provide a breakfast for teachers), and student elections.

...heard a report on Eliot’s “Morning Blast” program.

...was informed that:

i. The Classified Employee of the Year has been selected and will be honored on May 29th at the Annual Staff Reception;

ii. The 2009 Teacher of the Year will be selected on May 15^th;

iii. The Annual Staff Reception will be held on May 29th from 3-5 in The Morgan School café.

iv. The High School of the Future meeting was postponed until Tuesday, May 13^th;

v. The Annual Budget Meeting of the Town of Clinton will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7^th at Town Hall;

vi. A referendum on the proposed 2008-09 budget will be held on Wednesday, May 14^th from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Green Room of Town Hall; and

vii. A Budget/Finance subcommittee meeting will need to be set up to discuss a potential budget surplus.

...heard a report from the Superintendent regarding the selection of two students for the CABE Leadership Award, Teacher Appreciation Week activities, the Nurse Appreciation Breakfast on May 14^th, and Senior Award Night which will be held on June 3^rdat 7 p.m. The underclassmen awards ceremony will be held on June 4^th at 9:30 a.m.

....listened to Board subcommittee reports:

the next Budget & Finance committee meeting will be held on May 28^th at 6 p.m.

the next Buildings & Grounds Committee meeting will be held on May 14^th at 6 p.m.
the next Instruction/Public Relations Subcommittee meeting will be held on May 12^th at 6:30 p.m.
the next Policy Committee meeting will be held on Mary 14^th at 11 a.m.
the next Technology Committee meeting will be held on June 6^th at 7 a.m.

…learned about 2 upcoming field trips, one to New York City and one to Six Flags.

…accepted the retirement of Paul Serenbetz and the resignation of Edwin Hanson; the job share request of Michele Wickam and Paul Serenbetz, the appointment of Lou Campanaro and George Gerl to positions as Assistant Football Coaches.

…was informed that the following transfers will take place for the 2008-09 school year:

Carol Cocores will transfer to the Learning Strategies Resource position at Eliot, replacing Carol Brennan who will retire in June 2008;
Justin Esposito will transfer to the grade 6 social studies position at Eliot, replacing Gail Smalley who will retire in June 2008. and
Kalli Schutz will transfer to the P.E. Department at Morgan, replacing J. Smith who will retire in June 2008.

…approved Policy #6154 regarding the homework load for students.

...acknowledged payment of bills in the amount of $246,505.68 from the 2007-08 operating budget.

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