May 6, 2020 Minutes
Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting
of
RSU #74 Board of Directors
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
6:00 p.m.
At
Carrabec Community School
Robert Demchak, Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m.
Directors Present: Judi Dunphy, Robert Demchak, Troy Dunphy, Grace Carreiro, Dwight Barron, Kevin Sousa, David Royce, Bobbi Sue Harrington, Valerie Pinkham, Robert Lindblom, Mike Cahill, Deron Whittemore, Ellen McQuiston, and Laura Layman.
Directors absent with notification: Heather Longley
Directors Absent without notification: None
Staff Members Present: 9
Students Present: 0
Citizens Present:0
Agenda Item #1 ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
Add agenda item # 4.A.2 Resignations – Janet Boothby – Special Education Ed Tech III - CHS
Eddie Ellis – 7th Grade Teacher - CCS
Add agenda item #4. A.3 Nominations – Stacey McCluskey – 5th Grade Teacher – Solon
Edit agenda item #7 to say – to see if the Board will take action to opt out of the after school, school nutrition program per LD577.
Upon motion by Deron Whittemore and seconded by Troy Dunphy the Board voted by roll call to add the adjustments. Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. McQuiston asked to add the following agenda items to the agenda as 6.a.
#1 To see if the Board will reimburse the towns with any savings.
#2 To see if the Board will freeze or reduce contracted salaries.
#3 To see if the Board will reduce any salaries above $50,000.
Mr. Demchak spoke and said that these could not be added for legal reasons.
Ms. McQuiston asked to add agenda item 6.a. To see if the Board will discuss the assessment of the current distance learning plan.
Upon motion by Ellen McQuiston and seconded by Bobbi Sue Harrington agenda item 6.a was added.
Agenda Item #2 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD MEETING OF APRIL 1, 2020.
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by Ellen McQuiston the Board voted by roll call vote to approve the Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of April, 2020 with edits. Motion passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #3 PRESENTATIONS: Brian Twitchell gave a presentation on how Google Classroom works.
Agenda Item #4 REPORTS:
A.) Superintendent’s Report
Mr. Tracy spoke about thanking the teachers for teacher appreciation week. He talked about the article in the newspaper about RSU #74 and the food program. He also talked about how he is working on the hiring process for the Principal/AD at CCS in hopes to bring a candidate to the June meeting, the letter he received from the town of Anson, and High school graduation.
Upon motion by David Royce and seconded by Troy Dunphy the Board voted by roll call vote 12-2 to direct the Superintendent to offer a 30-day grace period to all four towns in the district. Motion passed.
1. Appointments: None
2. Resignations: Janet Boothby – Special Education Ed Tech III - CHS
Eddie Ellis – 7th Grade Teacher - CCS
3. Nominations: Stacey McCluskey – 5th Grade Teacher - Solon
B.) Administrators: Written Reports were mailed to Board members and are available online at www.carrabec.org.
C.) Committees: None
Agenda Item #5 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
On behalf of the RSU #74 Board of Directors, I want to make it clear that we encourage public comment during the Public Comment portion of this meeting. There are restrictions, however, on what is allowed to be discussed publicly. Those comments are limited to policy and procedures in general terms.
Comments or complaints that may pertain to personnel and/or personnel issues should be raised through RSU #74 School Board Policy JII/KI/GBK. This policy outlines the procedures to be followed.
Each individual choosing to speak tonight will be provided with 3 minutes so that we can hear from as many members of the public as possible.
The RSU #74 Board of Directors will follow RSU #74 School Board Policy BEDH/KD in that public participation will be limited to no more than 30 minutes in total length and that all comments at a regular meeting may deal with any topic related to the Board of Directors’ conduct of the schools. The Board of Directors shall give due attention to comments and contributions from the audience but shall not respond or take any immediate action.”
For those who wish to participate, please note that in order to keep things running smoothly, we do have a number of guidelines that people need to follow when making public comment. Those include the following:
1. Please address your thoughts to me, the Chair, and the rest of the School Board.
2. We expect all members of the public to remain civil during the public comment period. This includes the speaker, as well as members of the audience. This means you may not share gossip, make defamatory comments, or use abusive or vulgar language.
3. Individuals should not provide thoughts/reactions/commentary unless recognized by the Chair. We request that you do not clap, boo, or provide similar reactions.
4. Comments about specific individuals, including students and school employees, have the potential to violate the rights of those individuals, and will not be tolerated.
If the Board has specific procedures or policies with respect to the matter on which you are commenting, I may redirect you to those policies rather than allow you to continue. If another commenter discusses the issue you wish you discuss, you may address the Board, but please try to reduce repetition.
Please note that if you violate these rules or exceed the time allotted to you, I may give you a warning or ask you to stop. If you choose to continue, you will be asked to leave and escorted out.
On behalf of the Board, we appreciate your interest and look forward to hearing from you. I will now recognize the first speaker – are there any individuals present that would like to address the Board?
Tammy Murray called in and communicated information to the Board regarding the tax assessments.
Ms. Oliver called in and asked when the last day of school was.
Agenda Item #6 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL DIRECT THE SUPERINTENDENT TO SEEK A SNOW DAY WAIVER (4 DAYS) AND MOVE 2 TEACHER PD DAYS TO AUGUST.
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by David Royce the Board voted by roll call vote 12-0-1 to direct the Superintendent to seek a snow day waiver (4days) and move 2 teacher PD days to August. Ellen
McQuiston abstained. Motion passed.
Agenda Item #6. a. TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL DISCUSS THE ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT DISTANCE LEARNING PLAN.
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by Kevin Sousa the item was open for discussion.
Agenda Item #7 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL TAKE ACTION TO OPT OUT OF THE AFTER SCHOOL, SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAM PER LD577.
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by Deron Whittemore the Board voted by roll call vote to have the Board take action to opt out of the after school, school nutrition program per LD577. Motion passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #8 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL APPROVE THE FOLLOWING TEACHER NOMINATIONS AS REQUIRED BY STATUE FOR MOVEMENT FROM PROBATIONARY CONTRACT TO CONTINUING CONTRACT.
Andrew Ferrari
Jennifer Hebert
Randall Rothert
Upon motion by Robert Lindblom and seconded by Troy Dunphy the Board voted by roll call vote to approve the above teacher nominations as required by statue for movement from probationary contract to continuing contract. Motion passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #9 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL APPROVE THE FOLLOWING TEACHER NOMINATIONS MOVING FROM 2 YEAR OF PROBATIONARY CONTRACT TO A 3 YEAR PROBATIONARY CONTRACT.
Alicia Bedard
John Berube
Amy Cates
Lori Conway
Heidi Day
Lacey Frost
Michael Golden
Richard Mason
Heather Vaughn
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by Deron Whittemore the Board voted by roll call vote to approve the above teacher nominations moving from 2 year of probationary contract to a 3-year probationary contract. Motion passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #10 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL APPROVE THE FOLLOWING TEACHER NOMINATIONS MOVING FORWARD FROM 1 YEAR OF PROBATIONARY CONTRACT TO A 2 YEAR PROBATIONARY CONTRACT.
Mara Dale
Bruce Dostie
Lauren Heulitt
Keith Holland
Blaise Kandiko
Angela Larlee
Melody Rich
Doug Larlee
Paul Thompson
Upon motion by Dwight Barron and seconded by Deron Whittemore the Board voted by roll call vote to approve the above teacher nominations moving forward from 1 year of probationary contract to a 2-year probationary contract. Motion passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #11 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL APPROVE CHANGES TO THE 20/21 STUDENT CALENDAR PER REVISIONS.
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by Kevin Sousa the Board voted by roll call vote 9-4 to approve the changes to the 20/21 student calendar per revisions. Motion passed.
Agenda Item #12 TO SEE IF THE BOARD WILL APPROVE THE NEW THREE-YEAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TEACHER CONTRACT PER THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE.
Upon motion by Troy Dunphy and seconded by Kevin Sousa the Board voted by roll call vote 12-1 to approve the new three-year collective bargaining teacher contract per the recommendations of the negotiations committee. Motion passed.
The Board Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 8:22 pm.
________________________________
Michael Tracy
Superintendent