Nottingham School Board

Public Session
February 17, 2010
Official Minutes as of March 3, 2010

School Board Members Present: School Board Members Absent:

Jack Caldon, Chair
Amy Plante, Vice Chair
Dawn Fernald
Frank O’Hanlon
Gail Powell

Others Present:
Michael Ludwell, Superintendent
Michelle Carvalho, Principal
Terry Leatherman, Assistant Principal
Lorraine Ferland, School Board Secretary

Visitors
Debbie Davis

Opening
Dr. Caldon called the meeting to order at 7pm.

Non Public Session

A non-public session was held.

Public Comments
Ms. Davis asked for a list of ingredients for the school lunch and questioned what was
served for breakfast.

School Board Business

A. Approval of School Board Minutes—Public/Non-Public Minutes
Mr. O’Hanlon made a motion to approve the non-public minutes of January 6, 2010.
Ms. Plante seconded.
Motion unanimously approved.

Mr. O’Hanlon made a motion to approve the public minutes of January 20, 2010.
Ms. Plante seconded.
Motion unanimously approved.

There were changes:

Page 2, 4th paragraph, add ‘questionnaire’ after trifold.
Page 2, Principal’s Report, 3rd paragraph, add ‘Department of Education’ before ‘Title
1.’

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 NOTTINGHAM SCHOOL BOARD February 17, 2010 Public Session

Page 2, Principal’s Report, 4th paragraph, change ‘7/8th’ to ‘4th through 8th’ and
change ‘their’ to ‘the 7th/8th grade…’

Mr. O’Hanlon made a motion to approve the non-public minutes of January 20, 2010.
Ms. Plante seconded.
Motion unanimously approved.
Mr. O’Hanlon made a motion to approve the public minutes of February 1, 2010.
Ms. Plante seconded.
Motion unanimously approved.

B. Principal’s Report
The Girls’ basketball team won the Southeast League champions. They won by 3
points against Barrington.
The Boys’ basketball team was the runner-ups for the Southeast League.
There was an Alumni basketball game. Ms. Carvalho thanked Carl Edin for putting
this together.
Department of Education Title 1 evaluation was completed on Thursday. Ms.
Carvalho thanked Ms. Fernald for representing the School Board.

NECAP results were available at the end of January.

The results for reading were higher than last year with 80% of students that are
proficient.
The results for math were lower than last year with around 75% of students that are
proficient.
The gap has closed between the state and Nottingham; the state is still higher however
Nottingham was higher in grade 8.
The SINI/DINI plan is to target math for 3rd graders.

A Reminder to community: send in your Building Committee questionnaires

The next Building Committee meeting will be February 25 at 7pm.

Knights Unite are putting on a Winter Carnival on Friday, February 19.

Old Business
A. Dover Tuition Negotiation Update
Dr. Ludwell distributed a letter that will be mailed to the outstanding Coe Brown
accounts.
They are still waiting to hear about Dover Tuition calculation.
Dr. Caldon said the tuition should be based on high school tuition, not paying for the
lower schools.

B. Other
Deliberative Sesssion
Ms. Plante said that this was the largest audience that attended the Deliberative
Session since she’s on the Board. She thanked the community for showing up.

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 NOTTINGHAM SCHOOL BOARD February 17, 2010 Public Session

Dr. Caldon said that talking to the PTA really helped and Ms. Fernald also sent a
thank you note for the community.
Ms. Fernald said the process of the Deliberative Session is still intimidating. Perhaps
a list of basic rules can be distributed before the meeting.

Mr. O’Hanlon suggested a recap of the Deliberative Session for the community. Ms.
Plante said the School Board sent out a flyer about the proposed budget a few years
ago.

Ms. Powell said a brief summary would be beneficial. She commended the Board on
having Budget Workshop meeting before the Deliberative Session. She suggested
feedback to the community about the budget. Ms. Powell suggested having a meeting
with Budget Committee to talk about the school and town employees.

Ms. Carvalho said that the 5th grade going to 6th grade will be discussed at the 2nd
March meeting.

Dr Caldon made suggestions on the budget packet.

Ms. Plante said the only option given the timing of the community newsletter is to
have a separate flyer or post at certain places in town. It was decided to send a flyer
with information about warrant articles, default budget and proposed budget.

Dr. Caldon said there is an Open Moderator position.

Town/School Employees
Ms. Plante would like to know the average increase for the employees in the
collective bargaining groups.

Delegate Assembly
Ms. Plante went to the Delegate Assembly in January. She suggested inviting
representatives to the local or joint meeting to talk about evergreen clause, shift in
retirement cost, etc. Dr. Caldon suggested the joint meeting.

New Business
A. Monthly Enrollment Report
B. Other
33 kids are accepted into Coe Brown; that is the highest number of students to be
accepted.
Ms. Plante asked about a self-evaluation for the Board and how to improve, etc.

Financial Business
A. Bills and Manifests were reviewed and signed.

B. Operating Budget Statement (2nd meeting of the month)

The operating budget was discussed.

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 NOTTINGHAM SCHOOL BOARD February 17, 2010 Public Session

Dr. Caldon said he has never seen the fund balances so low. He suggested a tight rein
on spending.

Set Next Agenda

Items to include: calendar (2nd meeting of March), update on Dover tuition negotiations,
Winter Carnival, building committee meeting update, Board evaluation.

Future Meeting Dates

March 3, 2010 7pm School Board Meeting
March 16, 2010 7pm Joint Board Meeting
SAU Office
March 17, 2010 7pm School Board Meeting

Adjournment
Ms. Fernald made a motion to enter into non-public session per RSA 91-A:3 II c at
8:15pm.
Mr. O’Hanlon seconded.
Roll Call was taken. Dr. Caldon-yea, Mr. O’Hanlon-yea, Ms. Plante-yea, Ms. Fernald-
yea, and Ms. Powell-yea.
Motion to move into non-public unanimously approved.

The meeting returned to public meeting at 8:25pm.

Ms. Fernald made a motion to approve the placement requests.

Ms. Plante seconded.
Motion unanimously approved.

Ms. Plante made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:27pm.

Ms. Fernald seconded.
Motion to adjourn unanimously approved.

Respectfully Submitted by Lorraine Ferland, School Board Secretary