Farmington River Regional School District
Farmington River Elementary School
555 North Main Road, Otis, MA 01253
Monday November 6, 2017
Meeting #355
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: Michael Saporito and Ron Pachulski
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:57p.m. by the chair, Nicholas DellaGiustina.
Community Participation:
- Approval of Minutes of Meeting #354: The minutes of Meeting #354 were approved as submitted. Moved by Carol Lombardo, Seconded Jess Drenga. Vote unanimous.
- Michael Saporito, Director of Student Services to speak: Michael wanted to speak to the School Board to update them on the Special Needs Services. Michael stops in every couple of years to update and discuss funding, audits, and status on the program. We are in compliance with the state regulations and in the recent audit, the program is excelling and following proper guidelines for funding. We are at a Level 2 status at this time, Level 1 being the highest. With that said, the state will let out the ranks in January about the Level of the school. Our preliminary indication form the Office of Quality Assurance states that we will more than likely be ranked a Level 1 School in Special Education. Michael is pleased with how the program is running and how much the program has grown.
Overall Michael is pleased with the progress of the Special Education Program has shown, and he also thanks the people involved with maintaining the Program. He thanks Jane Gleason and all the SPED Teachers involved in teaching and working with the students.
Michael left written information with The School Committee for referencing if anyone wanted to review the Special Education Program.
- Principal/Superintendent monthly update: Tom Nadonly informed the School Committee on the latest updates. There is a Superintendent based group in Berkshire County called the Berkshire County Education Task Force that is pushing for regionalization. Tom talked to Smitty Pignatelli and Smitty feels it is a blackhole that we keep throwing money into and it is not going anywhere. This group has requested a letter of support. The School Committee decided unanimously not to support this group since they already participated and visited this avenue already.
The School is going to have the Veteran’s Day Celebration. The Celebration is a welcomed event for our resident Veterans. This is a very successful event, the students and Veterans enjoy the honor and participation.
Unfortunately the Berkshire Theatre Group will not be able to come and work with our 6th grade students this year. The block of time needed to blend in with our academics is not possible with our new departmentalization schedule. Tom is going to try to coordinate a possible after school program with them in the Spring.
- Financial Update: Jane Gleason was in to go over the financial updates. We received more
than expected for our Chapter 70 aid, and we received ERate reimbursement which is for
routers and internal hardware purchased last fiscal year. We didn’t get the reimbursement last
fiscal year as anticipated. We received the money in August of this fiscal year, which is fine.
Laurie Flower will be able to utilize the money this year for replacement laptops and chrome
books for the students.
Some tuitions are not in yet as well as school choice, so the numbers discussed should be
expected to change.
We did overspend on the Science Program, but it was necessary. Last year we used School
Choice, but since we did not receive those monies yet, we could not utilize the funds. We did
save money on busing due to an updated contract and different routes used. Health Insurance
for active employees has decreased due to staff changes. Retiree Insurance increased some,
but the overall expenses have decreased.
- Motion to move into Executive Meeting: To enter Executive Session under MGL 39, Section 23B, Part 3. We will reconvene in General Session only to adjourn. Moved by Jess Drenga, Seconded Carol Lombardo.
Roll Call: Nicholas DellaGiustina-yes, Jess Drenga-yes, Hillary Howard-yes, Carol Lombardo, Billie Pachulski-yes, John Skrip-yes, Arlene Tolopko-yes
- Motion to adjourn: Motioned by Carol Lombardo, Seconded by John Skrip. Vote was unanimous. Meeting adjourned 7:40P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa DellaGiustina, secretary
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