We gathered near the appointed time and settled into a few moments of silent worship.
We reviewed dates for our meetings over the next year. We will set the date for our March/April meeting as soon as we have the date for Mid-Year Meeting. We will meet July 21, 2007.
We approve the minutes of the last meeting.
Each September we read and re-affirm both the mission statement and the non-discrimination policy. We approve the mission statement of the school. We also approve the non-discrimination statement.
Following our suggestion from the July meeting, Jan has asked Barb Garlinghouse to be her support person. Barb accepted and they are scheduled to meet.
We discussed self-evaluating our work as School Committee. It is the sense of the meeting that the School Committee should be concerned with self-evaluation. We ask the Consultation Committee to explore the purpose and methods of doing this. The convener of the Consultation Committee will send an email to all School Committee members following each meeting, asking for comments on how the meeting went and any thoughts about our work in general. The Consultation Committee will report responses at the following meeting.
We approve continuing the appointment of Lucy Hansen as clerk of the School Committee and Callie Marsh as recording clerk. We appreciate their service.
We approve the recommendation of the Consultation Committee to move at this time $83,235 from undesignated donations to the endowment fund for the Bridge the Gap Capital Campaign.
We are glad to hear that the Foundation Trustees agreed to take responsibility for the gift that has been under the care of the administration over the past year, as the School Committee recommended in July. We thank Margie Figgins, Lucy Hansen, Jan Luchini, Dan Treadway, and Dan Schlitt for their work with the Foundation Trustees. Jan expressed much appreciation of the support from School Committee members in that visit. The gift continues to appear in the schoolÕs accounts, and will do so until Jan receives written affirmation of the change from the Foundation Trustees.
We are much pleased that the last laptop loan has been paid off, and thank Jan for her good fiscal stewardship.
We approve the refinancing of the loan for the four-plex, if we can lower the interest rate at a net savings.
We approve funding the changes to the facilities recommended by the State Fire Marshall from the Capital Campaign. The changed use of these funds falls within the goals of the capital campaign.
We approve the proposed budget for the year 2006-2007.
We approve the recommendation to maintain the current tuition for the year 2007-2008.
We recommend that the Facilities Committee include building accessibility on their priority list, and that they investigate costs particularly of making the dining room accessible.
We appreciate Marge SchlittÕs continuing gift of chocolate chip cookies for our meetings.
It is the sense of the meeting to approve the proposal for the sabbatical program. We will evaluate this program on an on-going basis, with special attention to its impact on the life of the community.
We ask the Consultation Committee to speak with members by phone in the coming days regarding sub-committee appointments.
We appreciate Rachel ThomsonÕs work on admissions, and find her report helpful. We encourage and support her efforts. We suggest that she have a full hour at the December retreat to present the report of the Image Audit.
We appreciate the progress Margie Figgins has made with the Bridge the Gap capital campaign. We heard her report with interest.
We thank Jennifer Warneke for her excellent progress on the academic program with both students and faculty. We are glad to hear how well the year has begun.
We are interested in the continuing extensive work of the Facilities Committee, and thank Joey Giffen-Hunter for his steady commitment to this work. We are happy that he has the assistance of Gus (Mike) Gustaveson and Bryan Jones, an intern, as well as that of a current parent.
We appreciate Mark QueeÕs and Dan CarterÕs work on the farm. We recognize how much effort goes into the land and the care of animals and plants. The farm program has done much to heighten community awareness of both the school and farm.
We miss Nan FawcettÕs presence today as she recovers from hip surgery. We hold her in the Light.
We thank Debbie Galusha and Sharon Haworth of the Human Resources Committee for their good work in sharing their evaluation with Jan. We heard JanÕs appreciation for the process and feedback. We read her goals for the next year with much interest.
We ask the Consultation Committee to plan the December retreat, to include Rachel ThomsonÕs presentation on the Image Audit, as well as a session to explore and clarify the work of the School Committee. We suggest that considerable time be spent on examining the job descriptions of the sub-committees to deepen our understanding of how the sub-committees can work; we also suggest that each sub-committee look at its role as described in the long-range plan, making suggestions for updates that might be appropriate.
We are grateful for Ed CloptonÕs service on the committee, and are sorry that he is leaving us.
We look forward to working together at the December retreat.
The clerk closed the meeting with a few moments of silence.
Callie Marsh
Recording Clerk