Also Present: Patrick Michel, Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Pagano-Fuller, Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Mary Ryan Buchholz, District Clerk

President, Robert Stewart, called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.
1. Pledge to the Flag
President of the Board, Robert Stewart called for a moment of silence in the memory of past board member, Gerald Briggs.
2. Upon motion by Liza Glick, seconded by Tara Buckstad, the Board of Education upon recommendation of the Superintendent, voted to adopt the Agenda, as revised, to include G.m.
Yes: 8 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent: Housman

QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
B. Rebecca Concors, Student - Wanted to know if any action was taken with regard to student use of the YMCA weight room.

BOARD REPORT OUT
C. Liza Glick and Richard Feller – Attended the Federal Relations Network (FRN) Conference in Washington, DC on February 3-5, 2008. It was well represented with other school district’s board members from around the country. Hot topic of the conference was federal Medicare reimbursement funding for IDEA students. If aid is cut, it will cost NYS $44 million. Robert Stewart and Alyce Van Etten – Attended the RJK Middle School Restructuring meeting. Good progress is being made. The CEP plan will be in the next board agenda packet. It will be an action item on the first board meeting in March 2008.Tara Buckstad – Attended the pot luck dinner at Chase Elementary School on February 24th. Was very impressed with the IB representative, Maxine Bone’s presentation to the community. Put a lot of parents mind’s at ease for the new program. Pat Michel – CABC meeting went well. Hopes to have a larger community turn out at the next meeting. A printout of the PowerPoint presentation given at the CABC meeting is included in each board member’s agenda packet. Issues reviewed included; rollover and proposed budgets, state aid overview, and the solidifying changes that have been made in the last two years.

CONSENT AGENDA
D. Upon motion by Eugene Nesin, seconded by Richard Feller, the Board of Education upon recommendation of the Superintendent, voted to approve the amended Consent Agenda to include G.m. in the Information and Discussion section.
Yes: 8 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent: Housman
D.1.a. Minutes of January 24, 2008 – Regular Meeting
D.2 PERSONNEL
D.2.a. APPOINTMENT
Resolved, that the Board of Education of the Monticello Central School District, pursuant to Section 3012 of the Education Law and in compliance with Part 30.3 of the Rules of the Board of Regents, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, does hereby appoint Ruby Bass to the probationary position of Tenure Area, Teaching Assistant, at a salary of $18,000 per year, pro-rated, effective February 11, 2008 to February 11, 2011. New position.
D.2.b. APPOINTMENT
Resolved, that the Board of Education of the Monticello Central School District, pursuant to Section 3012 of the Education Law and in compliance with Part 30.3 of the Rules of the Board of Regents, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, does hereby appoint Kristi Fable to the probationary position of Tenure Area, Foreign Language Teacher, Step 14, at a salary of $60,159 per year, pro-rated, effective February 8, 2008 to February 8, 2010. New position.
D.2.c. TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT
Resolved, that the Board of Education of the Monticello Central School District, pursuant to Section 3012 of the Education Law and in compliance with Part 30.3 of the Rules of the Board of Regents, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, does hereby appoint Lauren Terwilliger to the temporary position of Tenure Area, Elementary Teacher, Step 1, at a salary of $ 38,687 per year, pro-rated, effective January 7, 2008 to June 30, 2008. Replacing Carolyn Joyner.
D.2.d. CHILD CARE LEAVE
Tavi Bockman, Third grade teacher at Rutherford Elementary School, requests a child care leave of absence effective March 15, 2008 to May 30, 2008. She is entitled to use up to 40 days of her accumulated sick leave for this child care leave.
D.2.e. RESIGNATION
Mary Lou Armstead, Cooke Elementary School Teacher’s Aide wishes to resign effective February 8, 2008.
D.3. CSE SERVICES
D.4. CPSE SERVICES
D.5 EXCESSED ITEMS

ACTION ITEMS
E.1. Old Business - None
E.2. New Business
E.2.a. APPROVAL OF CONSULTANT CONTRACT
Upon motion by Richard Feller, seconded by Alyce Van Etten, the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent voted to approve the Consultant Contract; Judge Josephine Finn.
Yes: 7 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 1 NesinAbsent: Housman
E.2.b. APPROVAL OF STIPULATION OF AGREEMENT WITH MONTICELLO TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION
Upon motion by Tara Buckstad, seconded by Liza Glick, the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent voted to approve the Stipulation of Agreement with the Monticello Teachers’ Association.
Yes: 8 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent: Housman
E.2.c. ACCEPTANCE OF GIFT
Upon motion by Tara Buckstad, seconded by Liza Glick, the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent voted to approve the Acceptance of Gift.
Yes: 8 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent: Housman
E.2.d. APPROVAL OF MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH BUS AIDES AND MONITORS UNIT
Upon motion by Jacob Billig, seconded by Tara Buckstad, the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent voted to approve the Memorandum of Agreement with Bus Aids and Monitors Unit.
Yes: 8 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent: Housman
E.2.e. APPOINTMENT OF IMPARTIAL HEARING OFFICER
Upon motion by Richard Feller, seconded by Alyce Van Etten, the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent voted to approve the Appointment of Impartial Hearing Officer, Ms. Wendy Brandenburg.
Yes: 8 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent: Housman

CORRESPONDENCE
F. Read aloud and passed on to Central Office.

INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION
G.a Compliance with Section 1708 of New York State Education Law Annual Visit to Schools – The High School was complete before this evening’s board meeting. Duggan, bus garage, Somerville Field, and central office visits will be scheduled. Somerville Field’s condition will also be added to a future meeting’s information and discussion.
G.b. Facilities Committee Construction Update – Tanks are in at the High School and Rutherford Elementary schools. Work was completed ahead of schedule. Chase Elementary school is next to having their tank replaced. The Excel project has been submitted to the state. District will have to wait until the state approves it. Once approved, Central Office will give the Board of Education a report, and then proceed with the bid process.
G.c. Recycling – Another dumpster dive will be conducted by the Superintendent and Bill Cutler next week at the elementary schools. Bill Cutler will then issue a trash analysis for the district. The Sullivan County Renaissance project is writing the DEC grant for the district. The funds rewarded will pay for a large part of the developing recycling project for purchasing recycling containers.
G.d. C4E – Contract for Excellence (C4E) – At the request of several board members asking for clarification on the changes to C4E, the Superintendent issued a detailed memo which was included in each board member’s agenda packet. The changes will also be shared at the next CABC meeting on February 26th.
G.e. Budget Discussion – CABC meetings have begun. Turn out was below of what was expected, due to prior scheduled town functions. Hope to have more members attend future meetings that have been scheduled for February 26th, March 4th, and March 18th.
G.f. Academic Walk Through Schedule – Pat Michel will be creating a schedule for the Academic Walk Throughs. The new Academy, Pre-K, and the 4 Teacher Team were several of the programs requested to be added to the schedule.
G.g. PBIS School Discipline Update – A cost/benefit analysis worksheet was included in the board agenda packet. The data outlined the instructional class time regained, for both students and administrators, due to the substantial decline of referrals in the RJK Middle School, compared to the same time last year.
G.h. CDEP (Comprehensive District Education Plan) Goals – The CDEP committee has been meeting on a regular basis. Many in the District believe it is important to have the CDEP goals spelled out, and aligned with the Board of Educations goals. The CDEP committee focuses on what has been going on and what changes need to be made.
G.i. Tenure Recommendations – A list of tenure recommendations was included in the board agenda packet. Superintendent would like to have the board members review it. They will be an action item at the February 21, 2008 board meeting.
G.j. Superintendent Evaluation – At the March 6th Board of Education meeting, there will be an open discussion at the end of the meeting concerning the Superintendent’s Evaluation process. Concerns and suggestions can be e-mailed to Pat Michel or Robert Stewart.
G.k. SQR Team State Visit – Carol Wilson of the State Education Department has visited our district’s SINI (Schools in Need of Improvement) schools recently. When she visits, she requests that the school operate in “business as usual” mode. The High School and RJK Middle School have shown some improvement. A School Quality Review Report form has been forwarded to Central Office. Carolee Wilson will call Kathie Pagano-Fuller and the schools principals to discuss specifics.
G.l. Grading – An organizational meeting between Head Teachers, Directors, Principals, and Administrators will take place on February 21, 2008 at 2:20 p.m. at the RJK Middle School. Information from that meeting will be forwarded to each teacher. Final grading policy will be presented to Board of Education for approval.
G.m. NYSSBA Memo – Robert Stewart gave to each board member, a copy of a memo he wrote to NYSSBA, with on the recommendation of our district’s Section 9 representative, Richard Feller. The memo addresses his concerns on the Resolution for National School Board’s National Convention. The memo represents Robert Stewart’s opinion and does not represent the opinion of other members of the Board of Education.

QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
I. None

EXECUTIVE SESSION
3. Upon Motion to go into Executive Session by Alyce Van Etten, seconded by Tara Buckstad at 8: 27 p.m. to discuss the evaluation of a particular person.
Yes: 9 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Housman, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent:
Motion to come out of Executive Session at 9:25 p.m. by Alyce Van Etten, seconded by Vivian Liff .
Yes: 9 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Housman, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent:

ADJOURNMENT
J. Motion to adjourn at 9:26 p.m. by Tara Buckstad, seconded by Richard Feller.
Yes: 9 Billig, Buckstad, Feller, Glick, Housman, Liff, Nesin, Stewart, Van EttenNo: 0 Absent:

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ryan-Buchholz, District Clerk

Return to Board of Education page