Farmington River Regional School District
Farmington River Elementary School
555 North Main Road, Otis, MA 01253
Monday, November 7, 2016
Meeting #343
MINUTES
Members Present: Nick DellaGiustina, Jessica Drenga, Hillary Howard, Carol Lombardo, John Skrip, Arlene Tolopko, Tom Nadolny, and Jane Gleason
Absent: Sandra Snyder
Guests: Kathy Couch
Community Participation: Kathy Couch was present to discuss ongoing busing issues that she feels needs to be addressed. Buses are not arriving to school in a timely manner. The School Committee asked Tom about this issue. Tom has been working on it, but will get in touch with the busing company and set up a meeting to rectify the situation and come up with a solution to stop this issue.
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by the chair, Nicholas DellaGiustina.
Approval of Minutes of Meeting #342 Executive Minutes, #342 : Jess Drenga motioned to approve minutes #342 as corrected. Arlene Tolopko seconded the motion. John Skrip motioned to accept Executive minutes #342 as submitted. Unanimous vote yes on both.
Update on new Busing Policy: Tom Nadolny presented an updated bus discipline policy for the School Committee to vote on. Carol Lombardo motioned to approve, Jess Drenga seconded the motion. The vote was unanimously passed. A copy of the new policy will be sent home with report cards and will be included in the Student Handbook for next year.
Update on school and staffing: Tom updated the school’s monthly reports. The school concert was moved from December 20th to December 22nd due to a conflict with Berkshire Hills concert on the same night. The concert is going to continue in the same fashion as last year. Grades K-3 will perform during the day at 2pm, and Grades 3-6 will perform at night starting at 6pm. The parents’ feedback was positive to the change last year, so we will continue the concert in this manner.
Jane Gleason announced to the School Committee that she is retiring at the end of this school year in June. The Administration has asked Jane to consider staying on part time to aid in the budgeting process for the school and training the staff who will be taking over her duties. After some thought, Jane accepted a two day work week. She feels this will help in training. Jane also suggests the school needs to consider hiring for her replacement by December of 2017. This would give the new staff member experience through the budget season.
Move to executive meeting to discuss upcoming negotiations if necessary: Nick DellaGiustina motioned to move to executive meeting
Roll Call: Nicholas DellaGiustina-yes, Jess Drenga-yes, Hillary Howard-yes, Carol Lombardo-yes, John Skrip-yes, Arlene Tolopko-yes
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa DellaGiustina, secretary
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