Farmington River Regional School District
Farmington River Elementary School
555 North Main Road, Otis, MA 01253
Monday June 5, 2017
Meeting #349
MINUTES
Members Present: Nick DellaGiustina, Jessica Drenga, Hillary Howard, Carol Lombardo, Billie Pachulski, John Skrip, Arlene Tolopko, Tom Nadolny and Jane Gleason
Absent: none
Guests: none
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by the chair, Nicholas DellaGiustina.
Community Participation: none
- Approval of Minutes of Meeting #348 and Executive minutes #348: Carol Lombardo motioned to approve minutes #348 Jess Drenga motioned and Carol Lombardo seconded the motion. Unanimous vote yes.
- Principal/Superintendent monthly updates on school and staffing:
Mr. Nadolony informed the School Committee that Teri Scott is now officially retired as of the 30th of April. The PreSchool Teacher’s position was posted and Nanette Higgins was hired as a long term Teacher Substitute. According to the contract Tom was able to hire Nanette so there was not a posting. Therefore, Nanette will now be the school’s new teacher. Tom feels she will be a great addition to our staff.
Mrs. Martin the 2nd grade teacher will be teaching the 3rd grade class next year so that the students get a routine and structured year next year. This was due to Mrs. Martin’s maternity leave this year. Mrs. Tracy is the current 3rd grade teacher who will be out on maternity leave this coming year.
Next year there will be another maternity leave. Unfortunately the teacher is the 3rd grade teacher. This will be the class that had the same situation this year. Mrs. Martin graciously offered to teach the 3rd grade class next year so the students will have stability and routine throughout the year. Mrs. Martin is the 2nd grade teacher now. She will continue with the same class next year, and then go back to 2nd grade in the 2018-2019 school year. A long term teacher sub will be assigned to the 2nd grade class of 2017-2018 until Mrs. Tracy returns from leave, which is in December.
The 3rd grade had their annual wax museum this week and it was a success.
Mr. Nadolny, as requested, researched extensively on the Blizzard Bags. Tom sent a link to the School Committee with all the information and the layout of an existing school’s procedure on this concept. He also attended a meeting on this topic at Gateway, who piloted this program this past school year. Tom would at least like to pilot this idea to see if it is worth the effort on behalf of both the teachers and students. When presented to the Teachers, the majority of the teachers were interested in trying this program out. Some of the School Committee members have a few concerns, but are willing to look over the information presented to them and in the July meeting will go over this item again and vote on moving forward or not. Tom will present a sample packet for the next meeting.
Last topic Mr. Nadolny wanted to bring to the School Committee attention is to see if it is fiscally possible to bring an Early K program to the school. Jane is going to see if this is affordable for the school to do. More research will be done before the next meeting.
- Discuss and vote on the 2017-2018 School Choice Program: This is a yearly vote we
have to take to accept choice students. We take students in and our students go out for
school choice. School Committee voted and it was unanimous to vote yes to this procedure.
- Discuss 2017/2018 School Calendar: Just an FYI that the Teachers voted to start school
before Labor Day. The calendar is now approved for the 2017-2018 school year.
- 2016-2017 Financial Update: Jane just needed a few line item transfers to be approved to
balance the budget.
- Vote to move to Executive Meeting: Unanimous..7:50pm
Roll Call: Hillary Howard-yes John Skrip—yes Nick DellaGiustina-yes
Jess Drenga—yes Carol Lombardo–yes
Arlene Tolopko—yes Billie Pachulski—yes
- 7. Adjournment: Jess motioned to adjourn at 7:34pm, John seconded the motioned. Passed
unanimously.
Respectively Submitted,
Teresa DellaGiustina
tld