Watertown Board of Education

Regular Meeting

Minutes

Meeting Date: September 12, 2005

Meeting Time: 7:30 p.m.

Meeting Place: John Trumbull Primary School Library

Members Present: Ms. Mary Ann Rosa, Board Chairperson

Mr. Victor Vicenzi, Vice Chairperson

Ms. Mary Colangelo, Board Secretary

Ms. Maureen Caine, Board member

Ms. Gina Calabrese, Board member

Ms. Mary Dzioba, Board member

Mr. Charles Fenn, Board member

Mr. James Marks, Board member

Ms. Joanne Pannone, Board member

Dr. Joseph Erardi, Jr., Superintendent of Schools

Dr. Philip Pelosi, Assistant Superintendent of Schools

Ms. Betsy Hackett, Director of Special Services

Absent: Mr. Todd LoFrese, Director of Operations/Technology

Ms. Amelia Grover, Director of Budget and Financial Planning

Press: Mr. Tommy Valuckas, Waterbury Republican American Mr. Jim Taylor, Town Times

Guests: Erica Bigham, Angela Ciochetti, Sara Ciochetti, Sarai Clock, Kristen Houle, Brittany Julian and Stephen Knoll. Kaitlyn Lafferty, Rachel Mennis, Alison Monroe, Bryanna Murphy and Erin Murphy. Alex O’Dell, Michelle Pilecki, Victoria Ranaudo, Lauren Rollins, Matthew Shea and Jeffrey Shimkevich.

Other interested citizens: Mr. Thad Hasbrouck, Mrs. Kathleen Scully, Mrs. Pat Corvello and Ms. Lisa Rommel. Mr. Charlie Beliveau, Mr. Whitey Greenwood, Mrs. Sandy Greenwood, Mrs. Cindy Murphy, Mr. Keith Breiner and Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bridge.

A. Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 PM

Ms. Mary Ann Rosa, Chairman, convened the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

B. Salute to the Flag

Ms. Rosa led the pledge to the Flag.

C. Recognition

The Board of Education wishes to recognize a number of Watertown and area town students who have given so generously of their personal time to volunteer in the district’s summer school program.

The Board of Education would like to present a Certificate of Excellence for Civic Responsibility…Volunteering to Help Others to:

Dr. Erardi: Tonight’s meeting will start with a very special recognition program that I think all Board members and this community should be very proud of. During this past summer there were a number of students who chose, without compensation, to get up early and to support the needs of our special summer school program that took place at John Trumbull where we are sitting this evening. The Board of Education is truly pleased to recognize the following students:

Dr. Erardi then introduced each of the students listed below while Ms. Rosa presented them with their certificate.

Erica Bigham – Swift Middle School

Angela Ciochetti – Swift Middle School

Sara Ciochetti – Polk School

Sarai Clock – Swift Middle School

Kristen Houle – Watertown High School

Brittany Julian – Watertown High School

Stephen Knoll – Watertown High School

Kaitlyn Lafferty – Watertown High School

Rachel Mennis – Swift Middle School

Alison Monroe – Watertown High School

Bryanna Murphy – Watertown High School

Erin Murphy – Heminway Park School

Alex O’Dell – Wamogo Regional High School

Michelle Pilecki – Watertown High School

Victoria Ranaudo – Watertown High School

Lauren Rollins – Wamogo Regional High School

Matthew Shea – Watertown High School

Jeffrey Shimkevich – Watertown High School

Dr. Erardi: On behalf of the entire Board and the entire community, thank you very much for your summer donation. Students please remain standing we have one more community presentation.

Ms. Rosa: Very often as we go through different times in the school year, we hear about people who are not involved or interested. The students at their level and their age have shown a tremendous effort in helping us. We also would like to honor tonight two people that come on a regular basis to meetings and are the exact opposite of apathy. They are a perfect example for the community and we would like to recognize them this evening for their time and their interest and commitment: Whitey and Sandy Greenwood.

Ms. Rosa presented the Greenwoods with their certificate.

C. Public Participation

Ms. Sandra Greenwood, 156 Belden Street, Watertown:

Hello, I just wanted to say thank you very much and this was a big surprise, thank you. I don’t like standing up here but I wanted to say thank you.

Ms. Rosa: Thank you for caring enough to come.

Keith Breiner, St. Mary Magdalen School Board Association:

Good evening, right now we have a problem with busing at our school and I have spoken to the Superintendent and he has been very accommodating trying to work around this schedule. We have students that have been getting there after an hour and a half bus ride. The temporary solution that we have concerns me because it has cut a 27 mile bus route down about 6 miles approximately from what is was which may get the students there on time, obviously that will have to be seen. However, one of the buses will not pull into the school parking lot. I believe it is just going to drop the children off right on Buckingham Street. I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with how our students enter and the cars exit but we go through the turn around. What this is going to do is, it is to put the students out on Buckingham Street facing outgoing traffic, which is a big concern of ours. We don’t know exactly when the bus is going to arrive at the school so to try to pull someone out there is a little unrealistic. Right now the best that they could come up with is the older students are to watch the younger students. I don’t think that this is a real safe idea. I don’t know if you can get that bus to come into the circle at least that would probably alleviate some of my concern as far as the safety of the children. I do understand that this was done so that the bus going to John Trumbull after dropping the students off isn’t delayed in our parking lot. I do understand that but I have to be concerned with the safety of our students. Ultimately, we would love to see a third bus. I know the way budget constraints are in this town and we go through the same thing. I just hope that we can work together to resolve this. Again, I do appreciate the effort that the Superintendent and Todd also have put out.

Ms. Rosa: Thank you for bringing this to our attention

Mrs. Cindy Murphy, 179 Gilbert Road:

I know I am preaching to the choir because you are the ones supporting us but if I could get the word out to other people, I would really be happy. I am a Special Ed teacher in the school system. I also am a parent of two of the children that were honored and the aunt of one of the others so we are involved. The Special Ed. Department is working toward inclusion, and inclusion is special ed. students being in the mainstream population as much of the day as possible. We have students in from other towns around us who come in with I.E.Ps that have assistance in the regular classrooms throughout the day. We are not going to be able to fulfill our students’ I.E.P.s if the budget doesn’t pass because right now we are stretching the paraprofessionals and instructional aides as far as they can possibly go. We have used creative scheduling to get the kids that need the assistance in the classroom their help. I am speaking about kids that I feel passionate about. I want them to feel the success. When I think back to the special ed. kids, and I’m sure it is the same with most of you, where did we see them? We saw them in homeroom, maybe in the lunchroom and we saw them in gym class because it was mandatory. That is not what it is like now. These kids are in the classroom. They are accepted. They are treated just like the other kids and they are accepted. This makes the long-term process that they’ll be accepted society much easier. If we don’t help this process and I know again, I’m not speaking just to you, but if our budget doesn’t pass, my kids aren’t going to get what they need and I just want people out there to know that we really need to pass the budget. So, tell a person who will tell a person so that we get more than a quarter of our voters out voting for this budget. Thank you.

Ms. Rosa: Thank you for your comments. They are very important and, hopefully, the press will point that out to the public.

Report from Student Council Representative – Mr. Matthew Dzioba

Good evening Dr. Erardi, Dr. Pelosi, Mrs. Hackett, Ms. Rosa, members of the Board of Education and public. As this year's Student Council representative to the Board of Education, I want to start off by first expressing my excitement for the year to come. I look forward to working with this board by not only keeping you informed about what is happening at the High School, but also by relaying the concerns and opinions of the students of Watertown High. I am honored to be able to be the representative of the student body that I am so proud to be a part of.

School has been in session of a little over a week, but already some very exciting things are beginning to take shape. First off, I'd like to highlight some of the changes you are already aware of. As always, students were enthusiastically welcomed back by teachers and staff, and among this faculty, several new faces were visible, including new teachers in art, music, science and more. Furthermore, the High School has seen a change in administration, including the promotion of Mr. Hasbrouck as the new Principal. On behalf of the Student Council, I would like to welcome all the new faces at the High School, and to wish the best of luck to Mr. Hasbrouck and the new administration for the year to come. The student council looks forward to working with all of them.

Another major change is apparent in the halls of the High School. This year, the student population has reached approximately one thousand pupils, the largest student population the building has ever housed.

Despite this crowding, the student body has already begun to move forward to a productive year. Only two days after the start of the school year, groups and organizations from the High School began to mobilize to offer assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast. The student council has already started collecting money for the Red Cross disaster relief fund, and DECA has been collecting goods such as water, clothing and blankets to send down to the devastated area. The National Honor Society is currently in the process of planning a Pancake Breakfast fundraiser to benefit hurricane victims, and has set a tentative date of Sunday, September 18th at the Oakville VFW. Final plans and time will be confirmed in the next few days, and those interested should call the High School for further details.

Students involved in athletics have been hard at work preparing to kick off the start of their regular seasons. The Boys’ Soccer team will hold their first home game this Friday at 4 o'clock at Veterans Park. Girls’ soccer will also play their first home game tomorrow at veterans at 3: 45, Field Hockey plays at WHS Tuesday, September 20 at 3:45, and the High School Cross Country team will kick of their season with their first meet tomorrow at Veterans at 3 o'clock. The WHS Volleyball team plays their first home game in the high school gym this Friday at 5: 30, and the girls’ swim team will start their season this Friday at the WHS pool at 4 o'clock.

Seeing as how the school year is just beginning, the various clubs are still in the process of organizing for the year to come. In the next two weeks, groups like the Student Council, Future Business Leaders of America, Dance club and more will be meeting to kick off their school year activities. I hope to have a full report of their progress for you on the 26th. Furthermore, I plan on keeping the board informed of the various events, meetings and games throughout the school year.

The first week of school has gone off with a smooth start; however, it is important to note that students of the High School are aware of the difficulties that we will face in the next year. We have seen the direct result of budgetary difficulties. However, students are eager to meet these problems head on. Already, students are beginning to show an interest in their civic responsibilities. Tomorrow, members of the National Honor Society will be calling voters to remind them to participate in the budget referendum that will be taking place tomorrow until 8 p.m. Students look forward to expressing a positive message to the people of Watertown through community involvement throughout the coming year. Thank you.

E. Budget Summary – (Information Only – No Action Required)

There were no questions regarding the budget summary.

F. Committee Reports:

1. Advertising Committee, James Marks, Chair

Mr. Marks: We are still awaiting proposals from Coke and Pepsi, I can report now that we have been invited to join the Park and Rec meetings where they are going to discuss advertising, so we can coordinate efforts and not be working at cross purposes.

2. Athletics and Facilities Committee, Mr. Victor Vicenzi, Chair

Mr. Vicenzi stated there was no Report tonight.

3. Curriculum & Instruction Committee, Gina Calabrese, Chair

Ms. Calabrese stated there was no Report tonight.

4. Policy and Labor Committee, Mary Colangelo, Chair

Ms. Colangelo: No report, but we will be meeting on Monday evening, date and time to be announced.

5. Cablevision, James Marks

Mr. Marks stated there was no Report tonight.

G. Communications - Secretary

Ms. Colangelo stated there had not been any correspondence.

H. Minutes

1. Regular Board of Education Meeting – August 22, 2005

Motion presented by Mr. Marks seconded by Ms. Pannone that the Minutes of the Regular Board of Education meeting of August 22, 2005 be approved as presented.

Motion Passed

(7-In favor, 0-Opposed, 2-Abstained)

In Favor: Ms. Rosa, Mr. Vicenzi, Ms. Calabrese, Ms. Dzioba, Mr. Fenn, Mr. Marks and

Ms. Pannone

Abstained: Ms. Colangelo and Ms. Caine

I. Superintendent's Recommendations and Report

1. Appointments – (Information Only – No Action Required)

a. Ms. Amanda Geddis to the position of Co-Advisor for the Junior Class at Watertown High School for the 2005-2006 school year at a contractual stipend of $447.50.

b. Ms. Michelle Goldfarb to the position of Co-Advisor for the Junior Class at Watertown High School for the 2005-2006 school year at a contractual stipend of $447.50.

c. Ms. Susan Hourihan to the position of .6 Art Teacher at Watertown High School effective for the 2005-2006 school year, being hired on Step 3, with a Masters Degree, with two years of experience, at a contractual salary of $24,424.00.

d. Ms. Wendy Hulme to the position of Special Education Teacher at Judson School effective for the 2005-2006 school year, being hired on Step 3, with a Masters Degree, 2 years of experience at a contractual salary of $40,707.00.

e. Ms. Barbara Mordenti to the position of Secretary I, Grade II, in the Vice Principal’s Office at Watertown High School effective August 29, 2005, for 7.5 hours paid per day, 11 months per year, at an hourly rate of $13.24.

f. Ms. Wendy Nield to continue in the position of long-term substitute .5 Developmental Preschool Teacher at John Trumbull Primary School effective August 29, 2005 for four weeks, being paid on the first step of the Watertown Education Association’s contract of $35,350.00 prorated.

g. Ms. Audra DeFoe to the position of long-term substitute .5 kindergarten teacher at John Trumbull Primary School commencing August 30, 2005, being hired at the substitute per diem rate of $65.00 for the first ten days and on day eleven, placed on the first step of the Watertown Educator’s Association contract of $35,350.00 prorated.

2. Resignations – (Information Only – No Action Required)

a. Ms. Nancie Jankowski from the position of school nurse at St. John’s School effective October 21, 2005 for the purpose of retirement.

b. Ms. Mary Lou Guerrera from the position of Library Clerk at John Trumbull Primary School effective August 30, 2005 for personal reasons.

3. Ryan Murphy Scholarship

Dr. Erardi: I’m awfully pleased to let Board members know that Ryan Murphy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bridge are in the audience tonight and are here this evening to be a part of the formal acceptance. There doesn’t need to be a Motion of action but just an affirmation of the Ryan Murphy scholarship that will be coordinated by Mr. Hasbrouck, the administrator at the High School and in partnership with Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bridge. The criteria is, as it is shared in the Board packet, the recipient will be a student in good standing, a graduate who plans to pursue a Voc-Ed. training in a planned program and a student or parent who demonstrates financial need. I have worked with Ryan’s folks over the last month or so to put this together. This is not new to the Board of Education, but I just wanted to take the time to recognize the real hard work Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bridge have done to make this happen. I know that we will all be excited this spring to honor the first recipient of the Ryan Murphy Scholarship. Mr. Hasbrouck, I don’t know if you have anything to add in regards to the scholarship or Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bridge, if you have anything to add? No, are there questions from the Board at all regarding the Ryan Murphy Scholarship?

Ms. Rosa: It will be an honor to award a scholarship in your son’s name. I’m sorry on behalf of the Board that this is a necessary thing to do, but hopefully, this will honor his memory as you would like to be honored.

Dr. Erardi: Thank you folks.

A scholarship in memory of Ryan Murphy, a Watertown High School student who tragically passed away this year in an automobile accident, has been set up by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bridge.

The Ryan Murphy Memorial Scholarship will be offered to a graduating senior of Watertown High School who meets the following criteria:

1.) Student in good standing;

2.) Student plans to pursue vocational educational training in a planned program;

3.) Student/parent/family demonstrates financial need.

The scholarship will be a one time award per recipient and the monetary award will be determined by the oversight committee.

The Thomaston Savings Bank is the oversight for the account.

(See Attachment A.)

4. Superintendent’s Evaluation Tool

Attached for your information is a copy of the Superintendent’s Informal Evaluation Tool. (See Attachment B.)

Dr. Erardi: Although we have discussed this tool before, this really comes to you as a first reading. Are there any comments or questions?

Ms. Colangelo: I’d just like to comment that I think this is a much better tool than what we were previously presented. I think it is something that we can evaluate properly.

5. Procedures to Address Potential Students from New Orleans

Attached for your information is prepared information on procedures to address potential students displaced from New Orleans, LA arriving into the Watertown Public Schools. (See Attachment C.)

Dr. Erardi: These are guidelines that Central Office put together for our site level administrators to be prepared for the potential of New Orleans students coming to Watertown. We have received about three or four phone calls and expect approximately three or four students. I think the interesting part of the guidelines and again, it is a template that the State Department has recommended, is to simply allow the students to attend. We can’t worry about health records because many times they no longer exist. We can’t worry about school records because they no longer exist. We were told as recently as Friday that over time FEMA will look to reimburse the local districts but I think the guidelines represent a very good faith effort on the part of your school district to make sure that not only that child but that child’s family, are welcomed with open arms to a public school education and to the community of Watertown. I will keep the Board closely informed if and when we do have a student or students who actually enroll. We have had phone calls, but at this point, we do not have any students enrolled from Louisiana or Mississippi. Do Board members any questions at all about this?

Ms. Rosa: There are some costs that students frequently confront for school, supplies, notebooks, pens that kind of thing. I would assume we can find a way to cover those costs if those people do come?

Dr. Erardi: We were told, Ms. Rosa, just today, that if there is a child coming from the Hurricane hit area, that the State Department has coordinated with I believe Kids First, that upon a phone call, a backpack filled with supplies will be at your school door. So I think the State is doing its best job and we are prepared to do our’s.

6. Superintendent’s TV Show

Dr. Erardi: This is an open invitation to any Board member who would like to be on the Superintendent’s TV show, all applicants are welcome.

The Superintendent of Schools will host a monthly TV show on the third Thursday of each month at 9:30 p.m. The show will be video taped from Cable V in Litchfield at the present time, and when the new Media Center at Watertown High School becomes operable, the show will be taped from that location.

The monthly show will feature highlights from each of the six Watertown schools. The first show will feature the 2005 Teacher of the year, Ms. Paulette Koosed.

Mr. David Hoffman, the District’s Media Consultant, is coordinating this event.

6. School Opening

Administration will brief the Board of Education on the 2005-2006 school year opening. Included within the information will be an update on enrollment, transportation, staffing, and instruction.

Dr. Erardi: I have a number of comments as will the administrative team. Let me start by sharing with you that despite all of the constraints that we know we are under coming from our site level administrators, it is their belief that the opening was smooth. It was right for children. It was good for staff and that we had a very, very uneventful first day, and uneventful is a very good thing. I’d like to touch on a couple of things and then defer to Dr. Pelosi regarding curriculum and instruction for the beginning of school. Transportation, I’d like to start there, Mr. LoFrese could not be here because of a personal commitment. Transportation, from the bigger picture of students that stood, they were picked up, they were delivered and they were returned. From the micro of the responsibility that we have for all students; I can share with you that the concern of the community member who spoke this evening is a real concern. I think it is unconscionable to have a five-year old kindergartener on the bus for 1-1/2 hours before be or she arrives to school and that is what we had. We had two buses that take care of our Catholic schools in this community and because of enrollment and because of the change of bus stops and the student outlay of pickups, that was the case of one bus being approximately a 27 mile route and one student being on the bus for 1-1/2 hours. We are doing our absolute best to look at that situation and alleviate that, what our plan is going forward is number one, student safety and that will never be compromised. Number two, is to utilize two or three of the John Trumbull buses to pick up more than a handful of our students heading to St. Mary’s, eliminating stops and hoping that we are able to deliver in under an hour to St. Mary’s and back. It’s a work in progress, the easy solution is a third bus, and we do not have the money at this particular time to do that. If we have to go that route, we will and I will bring that back to the Board of Education. I am very appreciative of the executive board of St. Mary’s working with us and we’ll get there, the comments again, this evening by the community member were absolutely accurate.

I’d also like to share with the Board what we expected and what transpired. We knew that class size was going to be perhaps the largest in this District’s history. I’ll give you three or four examples throughout the school district. Grade 5 at Polk, class size is 28 or 29 students. Heminway, I believe, four classes as of today with over 30 students. The number crunch is significant at Swift; in Grade 7 and 8 combined we have nineteen classes that are over 28 students. The breakdown at Swift, if you are interested, I will share with you is, Grade 7, over 28 classes, three English classes, three Science classes, two Math classes, two Reading classes, two Chorus classes. Grade 8, two Spanish classes, two Math, one Phys. Ed and two Chorus classes. At Watertown High School, all of our classes are just simply large; our greatest concern at this point seems to be in the Science department with our Labs and the concern with Lab safety with the number of students that we did not project, because of the growth at the High School over the summer. I’d like to defer to Dr. Pelosi for the curriculum update for the start of the new year.

Dr. Pelosi: The curriculum as you know, several areas of the curricula have been revised and are presently being implemented at this time.

We have the:

Science curricula in Grades K-8

Social Studies, K-8

Language Arts, which will include Reading as well as Writing, K-8

Phys. Ed. 6-8

Mathematics K-8

These are all new curricula that are being implemented this year. We also have, due to NEASC; every course at the High School is reformatted and/or revised. We have uniform assessments, most likely four on every subject area that was mentioned as well as specific rubrics and a timeline so teachers are teaching to the curriculum and that is being assessed as being taught. All of this is new, we have our vertical teams which will begin meeting in October to discuss how it is going up to this point, what is working, what isn’t, what are the concerns if any, it’s still relatively early, but we have had some concerns and some excellent suggestions. We’ll also use our protocol days to look at student work to see how the students are actually performing, given the new curriculum. In progress we have Music K-8 being revised, Art K- being revised.

We do have each administrator not only sitting on a curriculum committee but also presented to his or her staff, on August 29, an overview of the curriculum and we meet prior to that and delved into all of the assessments and worked backwards to reach specific objectives. So the administrators are deeply entrenched ensuring that what has been written and what the Board has approved, and what Curriculum and Instruction has approved, is being appropriately implemented. Again, we have many initiatives, hopefully with the class sizes as large as they are we can successfully reach all children. I’m sure teachers are making every attempt to do so. Any concerns that we have we will return back to Curriculum and Instruction Committee and the Board. On behalf of the students I’d like to thank, especially C & I for their diligence and listening to the teachers and asking those tough questions and also to the Board for also listening and supporting the curriculum initiatives.

Dr. Erardi: I’d like to add information from one of our community members who teaches in one of our buildings who spoke this evening. I’d like to give the Board a sense of where we are with pupil services and our staff and our student population. I’ll use Judson School as the example, which closed last year with 46 students who required special needs. They opened this year with 56 students who required special needs. One of the things that this Board was able to accomplish was to project the increase in population and to support Judson from 2 to 3 Full-time Special Education teachers. What we did not anticipate until the first day of school was the complexity of the individual needs of many of the students who arrived to us through the summertime. The comments that were made this evening are absolutely true. Our special needs staff throughout the District is stretched as well as our regular ed. staff. Mrs. Hackett, I don’t know if you have anything else to add in regard to pupil services?

Ms. Hackett: We are doing the very best we can with the staff that we have and the people are working well. We have our own vertical groupings and we meet on a monthly basis with the different teams so everybody knows. So far the reports are positive and people are working very hard. They are a good staff. They are a very good staff.

J. Report from the Chairman

Ms. Rosa: I want to take this opportunity to say in front of the press, we need your assistance tomorrow morning. We need for you to encourage people to go out and vote. The numbers that you just heard and the growth in the various schools and the number of students per class make it absolutely critical that we retain all of the staff that we have. Any further reduction in the budget, I don’t know how we could possibly address it, we just don’t have any where else to go, we are down to the bottom line. I’m certain we are not 169th in funding in the State; I think we are probably 180 and we are so low it is ridiculous. Please, don’t automatically assume your neighbor knows it is the day to vote, call them and any family member you know and certainly we hope the press will support us and encourage people to go out and vote.

K. Action Items – Adoption of Items to be Approved by Consent

a. Consideration of the Approval of The Superintendent’s Goals – Second Reading

The Superintendent’s goals for the 2005-2006 school year were presented to the full Board for the first reading at its meeting on August 22, 2005 and are being presented this evening for the second reading and for Board approval. (See Attachment D.)

It is recommended that the Board approve of the Superintendent’s goals for 2005-2006.

Motion presented by Mr. Vicenzi, seconded by Ms. Pannone that the Board approve of the Superintendent’s Goals for 2005-2006.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

b. Consideration of the Approval of the Acceptance of Gifts

1. The Taft School would like to donate to Judson School 18 iMac computers for classroom use with an approximate value of $2700.00.

Motion presented by Mr. Vicenzi Motion seconded by Mr. Marks that the Board accept the gift from Taft School to Judson School of 18 iMac computers for classroom use with an approximate value of $2,700 and a letter of thanks to be sent to the donor.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

2. The Community Crusade for Children, Inc. would like to make a monetary donation of $126.08 to the Watertown Public Schools. This money represents proceeds generated from the donation containers for the 2nd Qtr. 2005 at Rite Aid.

It is recommended that the Board accept these generous gifts and letters of thanks to be sent to the donors.

Motion presented by Mr. Vicenzi seconded by Ms. Colangelo that the Board accept the gift from The Community Crusade for Children, Inc. who would like to make a monetary donation of $126.08 to the Watertown Public Schools and a letter of thanks to be sent to the donor. This money represents proceeds generated from the donation containers for the 2nd Qtr. 2005 at Rite Aid.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

c. Consideration of the Approval to Authorize the Superintendent to Donate Four Ledger Books to the Watertown Historical Society

It is recommended that the Board authorize the Superintendent of Schools to turn over four ledger books representing school years in the 1880’s to the Watertown Historical Society. These books had been stored in the attic of the Board of Education offices at the Munson House.

The Historical Society wishes to preserve these books and wants to place them on display for public viewing at the museum.

Motion presented by Ms. Colangelo seconded by Ms. Pannone that the Board authorize the Superintendent of Schools to turn over four ledger books representing school years in the 1880’s to the Watertown Historical Society.

Motion Passed Unanimously

(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

L. Future Agenda Items

No items were requested to be placed on a future Agenda.

M. Public Participation

There was no one wishing to address the Board at this time.

N. Adjournment

Motion presented by Mr. Vicenzi seconded by Mr. Marks to adjourn the Regular Board of Education Meeting of September 12, 2005

Motion Passed Unanimously

(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)

Meeting adjourned at 8:14 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted:

Mary Colangelo, Board Secretary

Barbara Mordenti, Board Clerk