Minutes May 7, 2014

Minutes

CHAPPAQUA CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Chappaqua, New York

 

Date:

May 7, 2014

 

Time:

7:30 p.m.

 

Place:

Horace Greeley High School

 

Present:

Board of Education
Jeffrey Mester, President
Karen Visser, Vice President
Alyson Gardner Kiesel
Warren Messner
Victoria Tipp

 

Staff Members
Present:

Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent

Mr. Eric Byrne, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum

Mr. Andrew Selesnick, Assistant Superintendent for Leadership, and Instruction

Mr. John Chow, Assistant Superintendent for Business

Theresa Markley, District Clerk / Adm. Asst. to Superintendent

 

Visitors Present:

Members of the community, PTA and administration and staff

 

President Mester called the board meeting to order at 7:50 p.m.

Alyson Kiesel moved to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the employment history of a particular person. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Alyson Kiesel moved to adjourn the executive session and reconvene the public session at 8:10 p.m. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

President Mester welcomed everyone.

Presentations:

Public Hearing for School Budget and Library Budget for 2014-15

Green Campus for an Enduring World

Chappaqua Library Director Pam Thornton presented the library budget. Budget is 2.09% over last year because the library board wanted to give everyone a 2% raise.

Maintenance costs have increased. Programming has been cut and we are hoping that Friends of the Library will help us by picking up some of those costs. We are still part of Westchester Library System, but we do some computer repairs on our own. The library saved on electricity with the energy audit performed in collaboration with the school district.

The public library budget is $2,963,384. The library has a new partnership with New Castle Media. They use the projection room space. Our book sale is scheduled for the first week in June.

John Chow gave the same presentation from the April 23 board meeting for the adoption of the budget. The exceptions were changes to some numbers such as a decrease in property taxes by $150,000 to $1,738,232; State Aid increased by $300,000; appropriation of fund balance decreased by $150,000. At the last meeting it was decided by the board that the $300,000 increase in State Aid will be used to reduce property taxes by $150,000 and fund balance by $150,000.

The budget increase is 1.77% to $116,856,988 of the adopted 2014-2015 budget and that remains the same.

Green Campus for an Enduring World.
Students: Cavin Park, Anan Sarahaf, Nicolo Margelon, Sakib Rasul

This small group of students is influential in green campus issues. Their goal is to bring sustainability to the school and teach students what sustainability really is about. Some new ideas include rainwater harvesting used for flushing toilets, pave with floor tiles that use footsteps to generate energy and horizontal wind turbines. He explained the pros and cons and general usage for each of these new tools. Tiles are programmed to light up when stepped on and can be used to charge cell phones.

PTA member Lucille Rossi introduced some ideas to provide funding for these programs. For example, box tops produced about $4000 over lifetime of district use. With only reminders to sign up, Target Red Cards has generated over $31,000 with 190 current cardholders. If we reached out to the community with a more cohesive program, we could do much better. She also presented a mockup of a tracking and reporting system which requires a project manager such as a Chappaqua PTA district-wide chair to manage.

Different options were discussed by board members including an additional performance contract.

1.

Information

1.1

President's Report

President Mester reported that the Town of New Castle has asked the district to announce the master planning process is occurring now at Bell and May 15 and 21.

1.2

Superintendent's Report

1.2.1

Seven Bridges update

Andrew reported there are three candidates. Each will spend a full day in the district and a final recommendation will be made by end of May.

1.2.2

Chappaqua School Foundation (CSF) Fund raising Gala

The fund raising gala was impressive and students were there to participate and demonstrate some of the many tools for learning provided by CSF grants.

1.2.3

Grafflin Coffee and other items

Close to 40 people were engaged about the k-8 math review. We continue to evaluate math programs.

Robotics camp is filled and has a wait list. There are five girls and 25 boys in the class.

Writers camp for grades 4-8 has 24 kids. There are 14 girls and 9 boys and we are still accepting applications. The high school writers camp has 11 boys and six girls.

Questions and Comments

2.

Organization

3.

Approvals

Warren Messner moved to approve minutes, as amended. Victoria Tipp seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

3.1

Minutes of March 12, 2014

3.2

Minutes of April 23, 2014, Executive Session

4.

Recommended Action: Personnel

Dr. McKay made the following recommendations:

4.1

Instructional

Resolution:

"BE IT RESOLVED that, the Board of Education hereby appoints the individuals listed as per diem substitute teachers to be employed on an "as needed" basis":

Allison Ascher,

Colleen Haggerty,

Salvatore Santoro, and

Heidy Sica.

Resolution:

"BE IT RESOLVED that, the Board of Education hereby authorizes the attached Agreements for Services for the individuals and agencies listed below effective for the 2013/2014 school year, or earlier at the discretion of the Board of Education":

Dana Bassuk,

Michael Bierbauer, and

Pam Cartelli.

Resolution:

"BE IT RESOLVED that, the Board of Education hereby appoints Laura Abbatantuono from the Preferred Eligible List to the position of Teacher of Music, effective August 28, 2014, Step 10, D(BA+90) with Masters, $116,027."

Resignation for Purposes of Retirement:

Ms. Noreen Tierney, Teacher of Elementary Education, Westorchard Elementary School, effective June 30, 2014.

Ms. Joy Van Leeuwen, Teaching Assistant, Westorchard Elementary School, effective June 30, 2014.

Request for Parental Leave of Absence:

Ms. Amy Durante, Teacher of Foreign Language, Robert E. Bell Middle School, effective June 2, 2014 through January 30, 2015.

Appointment: Administrative

Ms. Rhonda Pfeiffer, Per Diem CSE/CPSE Chairperson, District wide, effective May 5, 2014 through June 30, 2014 (or earlier at the discretion of the Board of Education), $600/per diem.

Jeffrey Mester moved to approve the recommendations. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

4.2

Non-Instructional

5.

Recommended Action: Other

5.1

Alyson Kiesel moved to approve CSE Summaries reported to Board on May 2, 2014. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.2

Victoria Tipp moved to appoint personnel for budget/election May 20, 2014. Warren Messner seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.3

Karen Visser moved to appoint Board of Registration to serve for 2014-15. Victoria Tipp seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.4

Warren Messner offered a Tax Anticipation Note Resolution adopted May 7, 2014, authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $4,500,000 Tax Anticipation Notes in anticipate of the receipt of taxes to be levied for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. Alyson Kiesel seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

"Resolved, by the Board of Education of Chappaqua Central School District, in the County of Westchester, New York, as follows:

Section 1. Tax Anticipation Notes (herein called "Notes") of Chappaqua Central School District, in the County of Westchester, New York (herein called "District"), in the principal amount of not to exceed $4,500,000, and any notes in renewal thereof, are hereby authorized to be issued pursuant to the provisions of Sections 24.00 and 39.00 of the Local Finance Law, constituting Chapter 33-a of the Consolidated Laws of the State of New York (herein called "Law").

Section 2. The following additional matters are hereby determined and declared:

 

(a)

The Notes shall be issued in anticipation of the collection of real estate taxes to be levied for school purposes for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2014 and ending June 30, 2015, and the proceeds of the Notes shall be used only for the purposes for which said taxes are levied.

(b)

The Notes shall mature within the period of one year from the date of their issuance.

(c)

The Notes are not issued in renewal of other notes.

(d)

The total amount of such taxes remains uncollected at the date of adoption of this resolution.

Section 3. The Notes hereby authorized shall contain the recital of validity prescribed by Section 52.00 of the Law and shall be general obligations of the District, and the faith and credit of the District are hereby pledged to the punctual payment of the principal of and interest on the Notes and unless the Notes are otherwise paid or payment provided for, an amount sufficient for such payment shall be inserted in the budget of the District and a tax sufficient to provide for the payment thereof shall be levied and collected.

Section 4. Subject to the provisions of this resolution and the Law, and pursuant to Sections 50.00, 56.00, 60.00 and 61.00 of the Law, the power to sell and issue the Notes authorized pursuant hereto, or any renewals thereof, and to determine the terms, form and contents, including the manner of execution, of such Notes, and to execute arbitrage certifications relative thereto, is hereby delegated to the President of the Board of Education, the chief fiscal officer of the District.

Section 5. The Notes shall be executed in the name of the District by the manual signature of the President of the Board of Education, the Vice President of the Board of Education, the District Treasurer, the District Clerk, or such other officer of the District as shall be designated by the chief fiscal officer of the District, and shall have the corporate seal of the District impressed or imprinted thereon which corporate seal may be attested by the manual signature of the District Clerk.

Section 6. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

5.5

Alyson Kiesel moved to approve a contract with Educational and Management Services, Inc., who provide services for filing STAC forms, effective July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, at an annual rate of $21,000. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.6

Jeffrey Mester offered the following resolution,

"WHEREAS, the District owns the attached list of items which are no longer useful or necessary for school district purposes and of no value to the School District;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board hereby declares such items to be surplus property and of no value to the School District and authorizes the disposal of such equipment in a prudent manner in accordance with law."

Victoria Tipp seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.7

Warren Messner moved to approve Bid #894 RENEWAL for second one-year term - Driver's Education - PAS Auto School at $445 per student for summer session and $445 per student Fall/Spring session. Alyson Kiesel seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.8

Alyson Kiesel moved to approve Bid #896 RENEWAL for second one-year term - Door hardware and Door replacement - Hudson Valley Door and Hardware - average hourly rate $144,38; average charge for parts $411.54. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

5.9

Alyson Kiesel moved to approve Bid #915 - Asbestos Abatement and Removal - Greenwood Abatement Consultants, Inc. Part 1 estimated for future work $21,765; Part 2 pricing for various services $8,960 for a total of $30,730. Victoria Tipp seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

6.

Facilities

Karen Visser reported that she met with district administrators to review the high school cafeteria redesign.

7.

Financials

8.

Notice of Future Meetings -

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - Budget Vote and Election of Board Members, 7:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. at Horace Greeley High School.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - Board meeting at Horace Greeley High School, 7:30 p.m.

Presentations:

Tenure Teacher Recognition

Walkabout scholarship

China Trip Students

9.

Adjournment

Alyson Kiesel moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:17 p.m. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Theresa Markley, District Clerk

Jeffrey Mester, Board President