Draft: August 19, 2004

Approved: Sept. 1, 2004

School Committee meeting August 18, 2004

Under Report of the Secretary

Business Meeting

Ms. McRae called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Members present: Walter Rumery, Ben Meiklejohn, Tae Chong, James DiMillo, Teri McRae, Stephen Spring, Otis Thompson

Members not present: Jonathan Radtke-Chairperson

Report of the Chair

Ms. McRae was filling in as Chairperson for the meeting in Mr. Radtke’s absence.

Ms. McRae:

Announced the formation of the East End Area School Naming Committee and asked any interested School Committee members and community members to contact either Mr. Radtke or Central Office.

Report of the Superintendent

Superintendent O’Connor:

Announced resignations and discontinued positions:

1. Resignations –

Sally Loughlin, Director of Educational Planning 5 yrs, effective August 13, 2004

Ruth Doody Peaks/Special Education 4 years, effective August 31, 2004

2. Discontinued Position: Eff. 08/31/2004

Joan Martay Director of Safe and Smart 4 yrs Termination of Grant funding

Mr. Meiklejohn expressed his gratitude for the work that Ms. Loughlin has done in the Portland Public School system.

Mentioned that a letter had been sent recently to Ms. Query of Odyssey of the Mind with guidelines for the formation of a booster organization, which was in response to the group’s earlier inquiry regarding booster organizations.

Mentioned that Bruce Wellman had worked in the district with the School Improvement Teams on August 11 and 12. On August 13^th he worked with members of the Study Circles groups looking at what data is and is not as well as demographic and MEA data.

Mr. Allen updated the Committee on the completion of co-curricular handbooks and provided them with a copy of the handbooks. He thanked the Co-Curricular Subcommittee members for their work on this project - Kathleen Rossi, Jim Ball, Gary Groves, Scott Shibles, and Lenny Holmes.

Report of Committees

East End Area School Building Committee – no report
Policy Committee – next meeting is Tuesday, August 24^th, 4:30 p.m. in Central Office
Finance Committee – Ms. McRae indicated that a third member is needed for this Committee.
Legislative Affairs Committee – No report. Mr. Thompson indicated that the Committee should begin discussing the tax cap initiative. Superintendent O’Connor indicated that a draft resolution and talking points would be included in packets this week.
Other Committees and/or member concerns –

Mr. Meiklejohn – Cable TV Committee met last week and discussed a)TV3 annual report, b) Time Warner performance information report, c) met in Executive Session to update the Committee on negotiations.

Mr. Spring – indicated he had met with Ainsley Wallace of YouTHINK regarding a student representative on the School Committee and requested that a letter be sent to the students from the School Committee welcoming student representation on the Committee. Mr. Meiklejohn, Chairperson of the Policy Committee, indicated he would write the letter.

Mr. Rumery – inquired whether Time Warner is still providing funding. Mr. Meiklejohn advised that the contract is still in place and funding is at the same level.

Mr. Chong – reported on a conference he attended recently in Seattle, Washington. There were 36 participants and he indicated that Portland Public Schools is very progressive and doing a very good job compared to some other districts across the country.

Report of the Secretary

Mr. Chong moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of the August 4, 2004 meeting.

Consent Items - No report

Old Business - No report

New Business - No report

Consideration and action to approve the Personnel items listed below:

Election: Effective August 19, 2004

Susan Steele Director Portland Partnership Pay Grade 15 Step 8 $60,655

BA/UMO, Orono, ME.

Elections: Eff 09/01/04 for the 2004-05 school year (*pending negotiations)

Erin Frazier Peaks/Cliff/Special Education M-5 $15,534.80*

MS/USM, Gorham, ME

Margaret Lane Lincoln/Grade 8, Language Arts/Social Studies B-1 $30,202*

BA/USM, Gorham, ME

Jennifer MaCoy King/ESL M-12 $46,885*

M.Ed./Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Rebecca Stuart Reiche/Intermediate B-2 $31,640*

MA/Gordon College, Wenham, MA

Matthew Wentworth PATHS/Masonry B-7 $37,968*

Peter Moxhay, Theoretical Math Specialist Pay Grade 14, Step 7 $52,116

PHD/University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN

Elections: 1 Year Only: Eff 09/01/04 for the 2004-05 school year (*pending negotiations)

Jayne Boulos District/Psychological Service Provider M-4 .5 $18,696.50*

MS/USM, Gorham, ME

Elaine Colella King/Reading M-8 $42,283*

MA/University of New Mexico

Sarah Gavitt Moore/Science B-1 $30,282*

BS/St. Joseph’s College, Standish, ME

Tina Veilleux District/Nurse B-7, .7 $26,577.60*

BSN/USM

Re-Elections: Eff 09/01/04 for the 2004-05 school year (*pending negotiations)

Pamela Kasabian Adult Ed/Reading B-4 .75 $25,887.75*

BA/Northeastern University, Boston, MA

Unpaid LOA:

June Pemberton Lincoln/Language Arts/Math 1.0 Personal Eff. 09/01/2004-01/28/2005

Catherine Smith PHS/English 1.0 Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Eff. 09/01/2004-08/31/2005

Change in Degree: Eff 09/01/04 for the 2004-05 school year (*pending negotiations)

Kyra Adkins PHS/Science +$2,876*

MS/USM, Gorham, ME

Kathleen M. Conley Presumpscot/Special Education +$2,876*

MS/USM, Gorham, ME

Mr. Chong moved, seconded Mr. Thompson and voted unanimously to approve Personnel items as listed.

Mr. Spring – congratulated Catherine (Kippy) Smith on her one year appointment to work with Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Schools.

Mr. Meiklejohn – welcomed everyone to Portland Public Schools.

Committee Focus on Educational Issues

Mr. Thompson – inquired about the multilingual pre-school program and if it could be funded locally. He would like to discuss this before the budget process begins this year.

Superintendent O’Connor indicated that when the pre-school program first started Portland Public Schools did not have a full day kindergarten. However, Portland Public Schools now offers full day kindergarten.

Mr. Spring –

Asked if the Committee could look at the dishwasher proposal at King Middle School. He would also like the Committee to review the K-8 elementary configuration, which was discussed last year.

Superintendent O’Connor indicated that the Study Circles group – School Choice/Configuration - would be looking at the elementary facilities plan. She also mentioned that a Riverton Building Committee is being formed and this group will also be looking at the elementary facilities plan.

Ms. McRae mentioned that further research had been done regarding the dishwasher. She supports the student’s proposal, however, it was determined that this would not be a viable option.

Mr. Thompson and Mr. Spring - feel the student proposal regarding a dishwasher is a good proposal, important to get students involved, Committee should find a way to support their proposal.

Requested a presentation by high school students on their work over the summer regarding the future of schools.

Superintendent O’Connor mentioned that she met recently with two teachers regarding this work.

Mr. Meiklejohn – requested a workshop on Creative Arts being offered in the schools and student accessibility to participate in Creative Arts.

Mr. Rumery – inquired about status of Biotechnology Program at PATHS. Superintendent O’Connor reported that the General Advisory Committee (GAC) decided not to fill the position this year and that committee will be reviewing the program and position at their upcoming September meeting.

He also asked if the middle school programs would continue at PATHS this year. Mr. Allen indicated that they would.

Public Comment Prior to 11:00 PM – No members of the public addressed the Committee.

Adjournment

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:41 p.m.

Respectfully submitted

Mary Jo O’Connor

Superintendent of Schools