Click here to return to School Board Minutes

School Board Members:    Al Letizio, Barbara Coish, Beverly Donovan, Bruce Anderson, Beth Valentine
Superintendent:                  Dr. Frank Bass
Assistant Superintendent:   Roxanne Wilson
Business Administrator:     Toby Eaton


Chairman Al Letizio called the Public Session of the Windham School Board to order at 9:15 p.m.

Bids from Harvey Construction

Owner’s Representative, Glenn Davis, discussed recent bids with the Board.

Acoustical Treatments – Motion to award acoustical treatments to Granite State Acoustics of Bedford, NH for the amount of $262,104.00 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Cementitious Siding – Motion to award cementitious siding to A.J. Desjardins Roofing of Exeter, NH for the amount of $178,995.00 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Air Vapor Barrier Work – Motion to award air vapor barrier work to Quality Insulation of Nashua, NH for $249,950.00 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Millwork and Casework – Motion to award millwork and casework to Aubin Woodworking of Bow, NH for the amount of $871,740.00 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Gym Bleachers – Motion to award gym bleachers and casework to Robert Lord of Manchester, CT for the amount of $135,495.00 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Auditorium Seating – The Board decided to delay making a decision regarding auditorium seating until a discussion is had with architects and the Building Committee regarding different seat types and fabrics.


Integration Committee Presentation

Dr. Bass and Middle School Principal Kori Becht discussed the Ad Hoc Committee Charge with regard to integrating the colors for the high school.  They presented the findings of the Ad Hoc Committee to the Board for their review and discussion.  It was noted that the Committee was not in favor of supporting a three color combination into high school athletic uniforms.  This was primarily due to the cost.  It was noted that the students which were involved in the decision making process, were in favor of three colors but decided that two colors (navy and metallic gold) would be acceptable.  Metallic gold was voted in place of bright gold for the uniforms.

The cost increase of using three colors was discussed.  It was stated that green could be incorporated in different ways, i.e. drum heads or through the use of patches sewn on uniforms.

Motion to accept the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendation to go with two color combination of blue and metallic gold was made by Barbara Coish with a 2nd by Bruce Anderson. 

Discussion about above motion was had.  It was noted the students who participated in the study preferred the three colors but stated if too expensive, they wanted navy with the new metallic gold color.

Al Letizio stated he would like to see green as an accent color. 

Beth Valentine questioned if the motion could be amended to include the color green in the form of a patch.  She further noted that she felt they would be paying a lot of extra money for a little bit of green in the uniforms.

Beverly Donovan suggested calling the official colors of the high school blue and gold with a green accent.  She noted the Integration Committee has spent a lot of time working on this issue.

Motion that the School Board accept navy blue and metallic gold as primary colors with dark green to be incorporated as an accent color at the discretion of the school administration was made by Beth Valentine with a  2nd by Bruce Anderson.
Approved 4-1 (Al Letizio in the negative).

Mr. Letizio noted he was against the part of the motion that allowed the school administration to use their discretion.

Budget

Dr. Bass noted the outstanding job Toby Eaton played in preparing the district budget.

Mr. Eaton noted the biggest change was the formatting of the schools within the budget.  He noted the preschool is now at 210 Level and 214 reflects a high school format.  Mr. Eaton stated the budget is up a little over 13.3% in total.  Mr. Eaton stated the Department of Revenue wants to see gross budgeting, therefore, that is what is reflected.

Mr. Letizio requested the above information be reported to the public for their understanding.

Mr. Eaton stated the net effect is up a little over 13.3%.  He noted the following highlights that are driving the budget:
•    Salem tuition is up an estimated $720,000.
•    Fuel heating and electric accounts
•    Transportation
•    High school personnel
•    Health insurance coverage.

Mr. Eaton spoke of the need to add one more bus to the routes.

Beth Valentine noted the School Board added two (2) buses last year.

Dr. Bass stressed that the principals mostly level-funded their budgets.

Mr. Eaton will summarize the increases.

The Board discussed a date for the bond budget hearing.  It was noted it would be at 7:00 p.m. at the Planning Department on January 11, 2008.

Warrant Articles

Article 2 – Beverly Donovan questioned if this article could go forward without an actual determination from the Town. 

Bruce Anderson questioned the language regarding land being kept in the Article.

Barbara Coish noted the town stated it has to be on two Articles (one on the school side and one on the Town side).

Al Letizio questioned if there should be a separate land article.  He suggested changing the order of the Articles so that they could follow each other and adding a separate land article.

Dr. Bass stated they will need to alert voters that there are two Warrants regarding this.

Beverly Donovan stated she would like to see what the Board of Selectmen are asking for.  Barbara Coish responded by stating they will talk about giving 16 acres.

Article 8 – School Buildings and Grounds Maintenance Fund – Beth Valentine and Beverly Donovan agreed that the CIP is concerned with this Article.  They feel it is a sensitive issue.

SAU #28 Financial Reports

Toby Eaton informed the Board that there were no findings with the audit.

Barbara Coish requested having the auditing firm give a verbal explanation of the audit to the School Board.  Mr. Eaton noted he will request one.

Enrollment

NHSBA and NESDEC enrollment figures were presented to the Board for their review.  Dr. Bass explained that both numbers were very close.  He noted that NHSBA appears to do a more thorough job.

Other Business

Mr. Eaton explained to the Board that cost for performing background checks on all employees is going up from $34.00 per check to $45.25.  He noted that this is a significant increase. 

Roxanne Wilson noted that volunteers usually do not pay for a background check. 

It was noted that the district has a current policy in place that requests any employee pay for their background check, but that in the past it was not enforced.

Direction was made by the School Board to enforce the current policy to have any employee pay for their background check beginning July 1, 2008.

Adoption of Minutes

Motion to approve non-public minutes from November 27, 2007 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Motion to approve public minutes from November 27, 2007 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Motion to approve November 13, 2007 WSB/Building Committee minutes was made by Bruce Anderson with a  2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Motion to Seal the non-public December 4, 2007 minutes until January 1, 2009 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Motion to approve the public minutes from December 4, 2007 was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Motion to approve the December 5, 2007 WSB/Building Committee minutes was made by Bruce Anderson with a 2nd by Barbara Coish.  Approved 5-0.

Motion to accept Consent Agenda was made by Bruce Anderson with a  2nd by Beverly Donovan.  Approved 5-0.


Motion to return to non-public session at 11:30 p.m. under RSA 9A-a:3II(©) was made by Bruce Anderson with a  2nd by Beverly Donovan.  Bruce Anderson – yes; Beth Valentine – yes; Barbara Coish – yes; Beverly Donovan – yes; Al Letizio – yes.


Respectfully submitted – Diane Figaro