Isle La Motte School Board Meeting
September 16, 2014
Attendance - Sarah Peacock (SP), Jen Rafferty (JR), Barbara Callahan (BC), Edorah Rubin (ER), Robert Phillips (RP), Beth Hemingway (BH) and 10 ILM residents.
Called to order by Sarah Peacock at 5:35 pm
Adjustments to the agenda – No adjustments were made.
Approval of Minutes of August 21st. SP motioned, JR 2nd
Superintendent’s Report
The VSBA will be holding a meeting on October 1st about school funding – Provides a chance to hear what other school boards are saying about school funding. SP is going to attend.
Vaughn Altemus from the Agency of Education spoke on choices in school consolidation. There are many options. Most go away when school is not a member of a union school district. A single district that doesn't have a partner is fairly limited. Options include:
Close the school. Change the number of grades it operates. Offer school choice for elementary and/or high schools Designate a school. Continue as is.
What kind of arrangements can be made with designating a school? It depends on how you write the contract. It has been difficult to get the other schools in our district to consider doing a study when they are not having problems with budget or enrollment. Mr. Altemus spoke at length on choices available to districts. He also noted that we have had some one-time events that affected our taxes this year.
Beth Hemingway Director of Student Services oversees middle and high school students and special education services. Ms. Hemingway confirms students attending middle and high school and checks enrollment and residency. She contacts each middle and high school monthly; frequently more often. Parents or guardians fill out residency paperwork that includes mortgage or lease info. Several documents need to be provided.
High school tuition students - Total FY15 budget - 23 students for in-state and 1 for out of state. Current enrollment totals 19 in-state, 4 out of state students. BH is going to give the board a dollar amount difference between budgeted and actual at a future meeting.
BH presented a discussion of how a child becomes eligible for special education. There are 3 gates. If a child is struggling the child is referred to the Educational Support Team. The Educational Support Team discusses what supports and services need to be put into place to provide the child extra support. If the child still doesn't progress with an Educational Support Team plan then there is a referral for a special education evaluation. First gate - child has to have a disability. Disabilities are outlined in the Vermont Special Education Regulations. A learning disability is found when a child’s General Intellectual Ability ( I.Q. score) is compared to the child’s achievement levels, if there is a 22 point deficit, a learning disability in a basic skill area can be determined. The second gate of a special education evaluation is Adverse affect - child has to be in the lowest 15% compared to their peers in 3 out of 6 measures outlined by the Vermont Special Education Regulations. Third gate - Need for specialized instruction. Special Education Evaluations cost $500-$1500. GISU employs a school psychologist and a special educator from a neighboring school district can administer these tests. IDEA-B funds cover psychologist costs. If the child’s pediatrician has already diagnosed the child with Other Health Impairment as outlined by Vermont Special Education Regulations then the child may not need a complete special education evaluation.
FY15 Budget for special education for 7th-12th as defined last February has changed. Actual cost has gone up $15,000. This is due to placement and service changes within Individualized Education Plans. With new figures, block grant stays the same at $18,839. Intensive was $103,189 and increases to $127,851. These revenues will come from state and is a function of special educations expenditures Numbers are changing at all times. Business manager and BH are meeting every week to keep track of revenue and expenses. What % of the ILM budget ILM is spent on special education? 11-12%. Is ILM special education in line with the rest of the GISU? GISU Child Count shows a higher % of children needing speech and language services and social and emotional services across the SU.
Different cost associated with 7th-12th grade students needing special education services. Schools charge different rates for special education. Same services cost different at each school. If we designate a school, special education cost has to be determined because there is such a difference from school to school.
Principal’s Report
Recently enjoyed 2 weeks of bike trailer - completely grant funded. Kids have taken field trips on bikes and learned about ILM history. They’ve gone to the Shrine and blacksmithing at the historical society; learned biking rules and some kids got off training wheels.
Newsletter has changed format.
4 new staff members joined the team due to retirement and movement (not new positions) - lots of new energy.
Board Discussion
FY15 budget to actual update
ER reported because of 4 new hires we are roughly $10,000 under budget.
Food service Farm to school grant was extended until January 1st allowing ILM to buy local food and fund some field trips. ILM moved from Provision 2 to another grant -going from 74% free meals to 100% coverage of free meals. $10,000 from general fund generally goes toward our food service - hoping to spend much less.
Efficiency Vermont has some funds and is looking at lighting system. There is some potential for further energy savings beyond that of the solar panels. Solar panels were paid using half grant funds and half municipal bond. The bond was for 3 years. After 3 years ILM will get savings. Pay about $14,000 a year towards bond. SP to confirm for next meeting.
Only 3 half days in calendar this year - 178 schools days this year. Last day of school is June 17th.
The board discussed formation of a community fact finding committee made up of community members. Board needs to define what it would like the committee to learn. SP stated she would like to have a detailed discussion at the October meeting on how to form the committee, a letter of interest process, cross section of the community including parents. How many people we want on the committee and what we want them to find out. Establish committee goals and presentation timeline possibly consisting of presentation to the board by January and to the community at town meeting.
There was a high school guide put out by Tara Liloia several years ago comparing high schools. It is available on the GISU website. May need to update that guide.
SP reached out to the board chairs in GI county with the question could and/or would other schools take our ILM students if the town decided to close the school. There were responses from Alburgh, South Hero, and North Hero. North Hero sent a letter stating they would be interested if the town came to this decision. There is a large range of options that the committee might need to look into. There would be a list of questions that the board would like to have answered by every school to make a fair comparison.
Board Action
Approval of bills for payment - $13,546.32 motion SP, 2nd BC. All in favor.
Issue with water -water pressure, volume meter not working, and corroded water valve. ER to check into water bubblers.
Next meeting October 15th 5:30pm
Executive session – Employee Concern 8:25-8:30pm
No action taken from executive session.
Adjourn 8:35 pm.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jen Rafferty