Milford School Board 3/17/08

We held our first meeting of the new school board on Monday 3/17/08. Newly-elected member John Parker and I were sworn in prior to the start of the meeting.

I usually enjoy the first meeting of the year. Everything seems fresh and new, and we get to look forward to trying to make improvements. Much of the activity during the year is geared towards providing good choices for voters on the March ballot, and it is somewhat satisfying to finally finish the process. The final outcome is not always what I had hoped for, but it is good to have a completion of some type. The March elections are a bit like taking finals at the end of the year; you study and do the best you can during the year with the hope that there is confirmation of your work by doing well on the final test.

We held a "non-meeting" before the regular meeting to discuss contract negotiations. This type of meeting is specifically excluded from the right to know law, and the discussion is confidential.

Elections and Appointments

The first meeting of the year is an organizational meeting. We made the following elections and appointments:

Peter Bragdon - Chairperson
Paul Dargie - Vice Chairperson
No Secretary was elected; there is not much of a need for this position

No Truant Officer was appointed; we will search for a candidate

Paul - Professional Development Committee
Bert Becker - ATC Regional Center Advisory Committee
Paul - Technology Committee
John Parker - Wellness Committee
No appointment - PEG Committee
Paul - High School Renovations Committee
Paul - Athletics Fund-Raising Committee
Paul - Finance Committee
Bert - Finance Committee
Bert - Policy Review

Bob Willette, while no longer on the board, was kept as the board representative on the Bales Study Committee

Public Comment

Bob Willette spoke at some length discussing Milford's test scores.

MathCounts Presentation

Mrs. Page made a short presentation to the board regarding the MathCounts team at the Middle School. She has been the coach for the team for a long time, and has done a great job with it. She had three current members of the team with her, and they each discussed an aspect of the team. The team recently competed at the Keene regional competition, and will be going to the Plymouth State College state meet soon.

My daughter was on the MathCounts team about five years ago, and I was able attend the Plymouth state meet. It was a great event - the kids were all excited about Math, which can be a difficult thing to get them excited about.

Superintendent's Report

* The district has started an internal newsletter called Milford Minutes. The first issue was distributed to board members.

* The annual job fair is this Thursday. This has been a great way to get quality candidates for anticipated openings.

* The workshop day on voting day went well. There were a variety of programs available including responsive classroom, personalized profiles, and CPR training.

* The recent 11th grade NECAP scores were reviewed, with a comparison to state scores. In summary, Milford's results were very close to the state average, but the scores for both seemed low, especially for math. It is not clear if the problem was that students in general are not able to complete work at grade level expectations, or if there was some sort of a problem with the test. I'm guessing that at least some of the blame is due to the test. For example, I find it very hard to believe that 17% of 11th grade students are proficient with distinction on Reading, but only 1% or 2% are proficient with distinction in Math. There is usually a much higher correlation between the two categories than that.

* Laurie Johnson announced some grants that had been won: $10K for e-portfolio development, $10k for various items such as professional development reading improvement, etc.

Calendars

We set up the school board calendar for the year, with all the standard events scheduled.

We approved the school district calendar for the 08-09 year. School starts on 8/27/08 and Christmas break is 8 weekdays: 12/24/08 to 1/2/09. The last day of school without snow days is Monday 6/15/09, which means that the real last day will be around 6/18/09 or 6/19/09.

School Board Goals

Each year the school board sets their goals for the year. Each member can bring up options at the first meeting of the year, and we set the goals at the second meeting. The final list is usually a subset of the ones that are first presented. These are the potential goals for the year:

* Develop plans for a 09-10 start-up for a public kindergarten program in Milford. This is likely to take the form of adding portables to Jacques to create the space needed for the program.

* Develop plans for the presentation of a warrant article on the 2009 ballot for the construction of permanent space for public kindergarten. This is likely to be a proposal that is similar to the one that was article one on this year's ballot.

* Negotiate with the Teachers bargaining unit and the Support Staff bargaining unit with the objective of agreeing to contracts that will be presented to the voters on the 2009 ballot.

* Develop action plans based on the final Bales Study report due in June.

* Do some sort of activity regarding the potential severe Retirement System cost problems.

* Do some sort of activity regarding the development of gangs in Milford. This might involve working with law enforcement professionals in some manner.

* Manage the High School, Track, and Bales Roof renovation projects.

* Subdivide the Heron Pond lots.

* Negotiate with Mason regarding having their Middle and High school students attend Milford schools on a tuition basis, perhaps starting in the 09-10 school year.

* Do some sort of activity regarding the poor test scores, especially the 11th grade math scores.

* Start a conversion of our district policies to match the model policy format used by the New Hampshire School Board Association.