BARTLETT SCHOOL DISTRICT MEETING
March 21, 2006
The Annual Meeting of the Bartlett School District was held on Tuesday
March 21, 2006, at the Joshiah Bartlett Elementary School gymnasium.
Mrs. Gerry Tilton was the Moderator and Miss Martha D. Tobin
was the Acting Recording Secretary. The Moderator called the meeting to
order at 7:00 p.m. Those members present were: Chairperson Vicki
Harlow, Vice-Chairperson Nancee Caughey, Henry Villaume, Frank Moffatt
and Robert Clark. Also present were: Joe Voci, Jim Hill, Becky
Jefferson, Carl Nelson, Martha Cray and Maureen Soraghan.
Chairperson Harlow introduced everyone at the table, and then led those
assembled in The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States
of America.
Before the meeting began officially, Moderator Gerry Tilton
introduced the fifth and sixth grade Unified Arts presentation regarding
claymation movies that have been produced this year. Two short films
were presented: “The Old Man in the Mountain” and “The Oregon Trail,
Wagons Ho!”
Following the films, Chairperson Harlow noted that she had two
presentations to make tonight. The first is to Nancee Caughey for
nine years of Continuous service on the School Board and the second was
to Barbara (Bobbi) Mahoney for eighteen years of service to the
school.
The Moderator reviewed the official tallies for the recent vote and
Michael Murphy, the newly elected School Board member, was
introduced.
ARTICLE 1: To see if the School District will Vote to raise and
appropriate the sum of six million, one hundred twenty-six thousand,
four hundred and ninety-nine dollars ($6,126,499) for the support of
schools, for the payment of salaries for school district officials and
agents, and for the payment of statutory obligations of the District
exclusive of all other articles. Motion was made from the floor and
seconded. Chairperson Harlow explained the article. Henry
Villaume noted that he would like to speak to this as well. He had
worked on the budget and he believes that we need to watch this. Our
population is decreasing which should result in a decrease in the number
of teachers and aides. He is very disappointed with the administration
for not getting these numbers in line. Henry voted against the budget
for a myriad of reasons. Frank Moffatt disagrees with Henry
noting that this school is consistently certified with distinction.
Chairperson Har!ow noted that our results on testing are totally awesome
and she, too, feels Henry is wrong. There was no further discussion. The
motion passed by voice vote.
ARTICLE 2: To see if the School District will vote to raise and
appropriate eighty-eight thousand, four hundred and eighty-eight dollars
($88,488) to fund all cost items relating to employee salaries and
benefits for the Bartlett Education Association personnel for the
2006-07 fiscal year, which resulted from negotiations and represents
negotiated increases over the current salaries and benefits. Motion was
made from the floor and seconded. There was no discussion. The motion
passed by voice vote.
ARTICLE
3: To see if the School District will
vote to raise and appropriate the sum of fourteen thousand dollars
($14,000) to initiate the next phase of the Technology Program as
recommended by the Technology Committee. Motion was made from
the floor and seconded. Bill Fabrizio asked why there are five
members on the Board and the votes on some of the articles list only
four. Chairperson Harlow noted that she was late to the meeting. There
was no further discussion. The motion passed unanimously by voice
vote.
ARTICLE 4: To see if the
School District will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of fifteen
thousand dollars ($15,000) to be placed in the Capital Reserve Fund
(School Buses), previously established for this purpose, with these
funds to be offset, in part, by National Forest Reserve funds. Motion
was made from the floor and seconded. There was no discussion.
The motion passed unanimously by voice vote.
ARTICLE 5: To see if the
School District will vote to raise and appropriate seventy-three
thousand, six hundred and sixty-three dollars ($73,663) to purchase one
77 passenger school bus. (Designated as a Special Article). Motion
was made from the floor and seconded. There was no discussion.
The motion passed unanimously by voice vote.
ARTICLE 6: To see
if the School District will vote to
raise and appropriate the sum of twenty thousand, seven hundred and
fifty dollars ($20,750) for the purpose of a finish asphalt coat in
front of the building, which includes parking and handicapped lines.
Motion was made from the floor and seconded. There was no
discussion. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote.
ARTICLE
7: To see if the School District will
vote to raise and appropriate the sum of twenty-four thousand, nine
hundred and fifty dollars ($24,950) for the purpose of
resurfacing and paving the emergency access driveway in back of the
building and installing two drains. Motion was made from the
floor and seconded. Doug Garland asked where the emergency
access would be and Joe Voci noted that it would be behind the
cafeteria. There was no further discussion. The motion passed
unanimously by voice vote.
ARTICLE
8: To see if the School District will vote to raise and appropriate the
sum of sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) to rehabilitate classrooms.
Motion was made from the floor and seconded. Bill Fabrizio
asked to have some further information on this article and Frank Moffatt
noted that this article is for renovation of the K wing. This renovation
will cost more than $60,000 so this isn’t the last time this will come
before folks fur discussion. Certain things have to be done for safety
and to provide the appropriate learning environment for the kids. There
was no further discussion. The motion passed unanimously by voice
vote.
ARTICLE
9: To see if the School District will
vote to raise and appropriate up to fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000)
to be placed in the Expendable Trust Fund (Special Education Tuition),
previously established for this purpose, with such amount to be funded
from the year end undesignated fund balance available on July 1. Motion
was made from the floor and seconded. Nancee Caughey explained
this article. She noted that special education costs continue to rise
and this is an insurance policy to make sure we don’t run out of money.
Bill Fabrizio asked if this is a continuous article and Nancee
explained it is only for this year but it may come up in future years as
well. Henry Villaume noted that he believes we have more than
enough money if we Want to defeat this. A member of the audience asked
if Henry was guaranteeing that we wouldn’t run out of money and Henry
noted he can’t guarantee that we’ll need the money if we put it in. Bill
Fabrizio noted that special education is one account we should overspend
on so that we don’t have huge spikes in the budget. John Murphy noted
that catastrophic aid is money the government forces the towns to pay
and for years they have kept it. When they do give it back it is without
interest. Itis time we stopped paying them money they don’t have a right
to. We have a right to get that money back, it’s the law. There was no
further discussion. The motion passed by voice vote.
ARTICLE
10: To see if the School District will
vote to raise and appropriate the suns of fortyone thousand dollars
($41,000) for the purpose of developing an Enrichment Program. Motion
was made from the floor and seconded. Nancee Caughey noted that she
was one of the dissenting votes because she doesn’t feel comfortable
with this article. This school does a phenomenal job in providing
extra-curricular activities. Rob Upton asked if someone could explain
this article and Henry Villaume noted that the program isn’t defined at
this time. The money would be used to provide Math and Science
enrichment programs primarily. It was noted that we have enrichment
programs. Henry noted this is seed money to help us develop the program.
Members of the audience asked who would develop the program and who is
going to administer it? Henry noted that USFirst would help us to
develop the program. Their program is extensive. A member of the
audience asked if this is part of the curricula and Henry noted this is
an extra-curricular activity. Bill Fabrizio is surprised to see
this since we had it for years and it was 100% funded. We diverted those
funds to buy buses arid other things and he believes this should be
reestablished. Nancee disagrees stating that we haven’t lost the
program; it has been integrated into the every day lives of the children
in school. Henry noted that it takes time to get these programs running
and long-term this would be funded by outside organizations. This
$41,000 is just to get the ball rolling so we can move forward and Start
to get sponsorships. Vicki Varrichione wants to know who is going
to determine who will participate. Henry noted that typically these
types of programs are open to the whole school. Vicki disagrees stating
it appears to be a large sum of money for a program that isn’t going to
involve all of the kids. Henry reiterates it isn’t narrowed down.
Science and Math are not big winners in the American education. Vicki
countered that Math and Science are already big winners in our school.
Frank Moffatt noted that he had changed his vote so this could be brought before the
voters. He had voted against it originally. Just a few minutes ago Henry
was speaking about spending too much money on aides and teachers. Frank
noted he is more familiar with USFirst than Henry since Frank’s son ran
the program for the city of Rochester. It is a great program but it is
for only a few people. He’d like to see the $41,000 go to the whole
population of kids. A woman in the audience asked where the figure of
$41,000 came from and Henry noted that we had to have some figure to put
in there. He didn’t want to have a program that would be limited due to
funding. There is no requirement that we spend the $41,000 while we are
determining what would be the best program for Bartlett. Vicki
Varrichione would like to know if this is something that could be
pursued without any cost to the taxpayer, which was affirmed. She is
concerned that if this is voted down it sounds like we don’t support
enrichment. Nancee countered that it says that we are already providing
those opportunities for no more money. John Murphy noted that we
just spent $25,000 for asphalt and we won’t support $41,000 for the
children. A woman in the audience agreed with John, stating that while
the school does a great job this would encourage people to develop this
type of program. She supports it.
Rob Clark
noted that he also did not vote for this article, We have a strong
recreation department and his feeling is that we should take the $41,000
and put it into the rec. for enrichment. We wouldn’t have any control
over the funds then, so how about giving it to the teachers? More money
for the great job they are doing. He understands what John is saying
about spending money for asphalt but to pick a number out of the air
with no backbone doesn’t make any sense. Bill Fabrizio noted that
the United States is well behind the rest of the world in Math and
Science. Bartlett is doing a great job but we can only go up from here.
We aren’t after mediocrity. A woman in the audience noted that if we are
going to spend $41,000 then we needed to expand the students served, not
narrow it down. Nancee agreed, noting that nationally, enrichment
programs serve an elite body of students. Rob Clark noted that we
have a good rec. program; does it need more enrichment, yes. If this
article were to put $41,000 towards a program we already have that would
be okay but nothing is spelled out here. Where is the money going to be
spent? A member of the audience asked who would be responsible
for this money and Frank noted that is the problem with this article. No
one has a problem spending the money for enrichment but we have no
specifics. USFirst is a self-funded program and we don’t know who would
be administering it. The rec. department can’t get an assistant so why
should the school district give the $41,000 to them? What teacher is
going to get a stipend for providing the program? Our teachers are
already doing this in school, If the community thinks this is something
we need to look into then we spend this year discussing it and bring it
forward next year. Henry noted that he thought the Board would be
responsible for administering these funds. The Board would have
authority regarding program specifics to say yea or nay. Nancee noted
that there is nothing in the article that says the Board would be
responsible for administering this and the Board might not want that
responsibility. Vicki Varrichione wants to know if the Board
would disallow enrichment that wasn’t for Math or Science and Nancee
noted that the Board has not agreed to administer this fund. Bill
Fabrizio feels the principal should administer it as it is part of his
budget. Rob Upton noted that he doesn’t want the Board to administer
this. The Board isn’t prepared and he agrees with Frank’s suggestion
that this be brought back next year. A member of the audience asked if
the article could be changed and was informed that only the amount can
be changed. Nancee noted that if this money is approved we are asking
the taxpayer to put these funds in a holding pattern for an indefinite
period of time. Who is going to watch these funds? No one wants to do
it. There was no further discussion. The motion failed by voice
vote.
The Moderator noted that before moving onto Article II, Rob Clark
would be auctioning off the cakes that are available. This auction will
benefit the Unified Arts Program. All cakes sold promptly.
ARTICLE 11: To transact any other business that may legally come
before this meeting. A motion was made to accept the article and
seconded from the floor.
Gail Payne
asked that the Board consider carefully what was said tonight. There was
a sense that folks are interested in a Math and Science program and that
is very different from a recreational program. She hopes the Board will
look into this for next year. The Board agreed that this would be
discussed further.
The Moderator thanked the National Junior Honor Society for babysitting
tonight.
A
motion was made from the floor by Vicky Varrichioni, seconded by
Bill Fabrizio, to have the Bartlett School Board explore a
Math/Science Enrichment Program and to bring it to the public next year.
The motion passed by voice vote.
A
motion was made from the floor by Bill Fabrizio to adjourn.
Motion was seconded and meeting adjourned at 8:16p.m.
Resectfully submitted by
Martha D. Tobin
Acting Recording Secretary
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