ACT 46 STUDY COMMITTEE
Representing the Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District, Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District, and the Vernon Town School District
http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us
NOTICE OF MEETING
The Act 46 Study Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at the Guilford Central School.
AGENDA
I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m. – Alice Laughlin, Committee Chair
II. REVIEW, PRIORITIZE AND ESTABLISH DESIRED OUTCOMES FOR MEETING BY CHAIRPERSON.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – February 11, 2016
IV. REVIEW COMMITTEE MEMBER ROLES AND PUBLIC COMMENTS BY CHAIRPERSON
V. RECOGNITION OF GROUPS AND/OR INDIVIDUALS
VI. CONTINUE CONSIDERATION FOR STUDY COMMITTEE REPORT:
Discuss Act 46 Implications for Town Meeting and Possible Actions to Mitigate
Review Matrix of Phase 2 Options Versus SC Concerns – Specifically Elementary Union with School Choice Grade 6/8-12
Discuss Self-Study Option
Other Related Topics, as Needed
VII. REVIEW SCHEDULE OPTIONS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
VIII. FUTURE MEETINGS, DISCUSSIONS
IX. ADJOURNMENT
……
Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District,
Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District and Vernon Town School District
Act 46 Study Committee
Work Session Agenda, Minutes and Action Items for
Thursday, February 11, 2016 – 6:00-8:00 PM – Putney Central School
Present
Brattleboro: Kim Price*, David Schoales**, Jill Stahl Tyler*, Mark Truhan*
BUHS/ BAMS/WRCC: Ricky Davidson*, Ian Torrey*
Dummerston: Kristina Naylor** ***, Amy Wall* – Clerk
Guilford: Beth Bristol*, Alice Revis**
Putney: Richard Glejzer**, Alice Laughlin* – Chair
Vernon: Matt Coombs*, Walter Breau**
* denotes voting member, ** denotes alternate voting member, *** denotes ex officio member
Also present
WSESU: Lyle Holiday – Curriculum & Assessment, Frank Rucker – Business Manager, Ron Stahley – Superintendent
Others: BCTV staff, members of the public including Deb Hebert, Jody and Paul Normandeau, Charles Fish,
Regina Dyer, Ines McGillion, Paul Smith, Steve Hed
Committee Guidelines
1. Work sessions will start and end on time.
2. Work sessions will last 2 hours unless decided otherwise by the Committee.
3. Members will give and receive with good intentions.
4. Members will follow “3 before me” as a guideline so all members have the opportunity to speak.
5. Members will conduct Committee business in front of the group.
6. Members will understand that silence on the part of another member does not imply agreement.
7. Members will site sources of evidence during discussion.
8. All members will be included in conversation and no side conversations will be conducted during the work session.
9. Members will stay on topic during discussions and will request the Clerk make note of additional topic(s) for future discussion.
10. Members will engage in the work at hand and administration will provide the space and support as needed to do so.
Agenda Items Led by
– Call to order Alice Laughlin
– Review, prioritize and establish desired outcomes for meeting Alice
– Approve of minutes of previous work session Alice
– Review Committee member roles and public comments Alice
– Recognize groups and/or individuals Alice
– Review Draft Document Comparing Act 46 options Jill, Beth
– Continue Consideration for Study Committee Report Alice, Ron Stahley, Frank Rucker
– Update from Working Group on Phase 2 RED Variations
– Review Financial Model Data
– Continue work on Worksheet, Executive Summary and Articles of Agreement
– Language re: Town vote on school closure/relocation of grade(s)
– Vernon school choice for Grades 7-12
– Itemized cost savings, expenses, and draft unified budget
– Wording to formalize plan for providing public input in a unified district
– Requirements when a town wants to withdraw from a unified district
and develop wording
– Review School data by grade – class size, student to teacher ratios, etc. Alice, Ron
– Leadership Councils – Roles, responsibilities, composition Alice, Ron, Richard Glejzer
– Educational Programming – Define “core” programming, Propose plant to Alice, Ron
implement in a unified district during the first years of operation
– Timeline – Continued work, possible action, report completion Alice, Ron, Amy Wall
– Other related topics, as needed
Work Session Minutes:
Chair Alice Laughlin called the work session to order at 6:04 pm with a review of the agenda. She welcomed the public present and provided a brief summary of the Committee’s guidelines during a work session. On a motion made by Mark Truhan, seconded by Kim Price and so voted, the minutes of the January 27, 2016 meeting were accepted as written.
Information on Phase 2 RED variations was provided by members of the working group – Alice Laughlin, Kristina Naylor, Matt Coombs, Kim Price, Alice Revis. Numerous configurations were examined and deemed possible including creation of an elementary union with Grade 6/8-12 choice. Because of the history of school choice to Vernon, the Conventional model or MUDD model are possible if Vernon does not participate. In this scenario, Vernon would be an “advisable” not “necessary” member of this new union. It would remain in the SU and would pay an assessment for SU services. It would not have accesses to shared programming/services and other outcomes of a consolidated union. It could join the consolidated union at a later date. Vernon will have a town forum on February 22 and hopes to have a better feel on the issue of school choice. Wording for town vote (for example, if not AM, then CM) which would allow the formation of a consolidated union if any town voted not to participate will be investigated by Ron. Also, it was determined by the committee that looking at Phase 2 options in order to address concerns might provide a means of narrowing the scope. The group listed the following concerns: school choice (within union and outside of union), voting equity, board composition, preservation of town meeting, school closing, sustainability, program equity, administration, school culture, SPED $ – direct bill costs, middle school, transportation, contract negotiations and costs/savings.
Members of the public shared their thoughts, concerns and/or questions on the importance of Town Meeting in outlying towns, support for investigation of other options, concern about the complexity of a larger budget, and emphasis that many questions remain to be answered.
The draft timeline was reviewed and adjustments are needed. Ron Stahley and Alice Laughlin will clarify the time needed by the AOE and the State Board of Education. They will provide this information to Amy Wall. She will update the draft timeline for review/discussion by the Study Committee at an upcoming meeting
.
Ron Stahley reviewed information on class size and student to teacher ratios at schools within WSESU. State policy for model class size is:
– Kindergarten 20 students maximum
– Grade 1-4 16-18 students maximum
– Grade 5-8 25 students maximum
– Grade 9-12 18-25 students maximum.
The recently released Picus-Odden study (“Evidence Based Methodology…”) recommends 17 students to 1 teacher for highest efficiency. Ron pointed out that over the last 3 years, there were 25 classes in SU schools with 9-13 students for 1 teacher. While the overall averages are near the model class sizes for Grades K-8, greater efficiencies and effectiveness could be realized through sharing of staff and offering parental school choice particularly for K and Grade 1. Ron and Frank will investigate preK recommendations and numbers. BTSD enrollment was cited as an example of managed enrollment to address fluctuations in student numbers.
Frank Rucker provided an example of a consolidated union budget by function. This is based on actual FY16 information. Frank mentioned the Picus-Odden study (“Evidence Based Methodology…”) and shared that Academy and Oak Grove schools in Brattleboro were included as case studies in the report.
Future work sessions are scheduled as follows:
– 02/24/16 from 6-8 pm at Guilford School
– 03/02/16 from 6-8 pm at Academy School
– 03/10/16 from 6-8 pm at Putney Central School
– 03/22/16 from 6-8 pm at Dummerston School.
Agenda items for next meeting on 2/24/16 include:
– Discuss Act 46 implications for Town Meeting and possible actions to mitigate
– Review matrix of Phase 2 options versus SC concerns – specifically elementary union with school choice Grade 6/8-12
– Discuss self-study option
Agenda items for 3/2/16 and future meetings:
– Continue review of financial model data – Accelerated Merger
– Continue work on the Worksheet, Executive Summary and Articles of Agreement
– Language re: town vote on school closure/relocation of grade(s)
– Vernon School Choice for Grades 7-12
– Itemized costs savings, expenses and draft unified budget, when available
– Wording to formalize plan for providing Public Input in a unified district
– Requirements when a town wants to withdraw from a Unified District and develop wording
– Continue review of school data by grade (including preK) – class size, student to teacher ratios, etc.
– Discuss School Leadership Councils – roles, responsibilities, composition
– Define “core programming” and propose plan to implement in a Unified District during the first years of operation
– Review proposed time line – continued work, possible action, report completion, coordinated public forums and
community vote
– Discuss public information campaign and identify key components needed to inform voters and address issues/concerns
– Other related topics, as needed
On a motion made by Matt Coombs, seconded by Kim Price and so voted, the work session ended at 7:58 pm.
Action Items before next meeting and Responsible party
– Forward financial and legal questions to Alice at alicelaughlin@rocketmail.com All
– Forward general questions to Amy Wall at amhbeg@gmail.com All
– Monitor Grant request to AOE Ron
– Compile Committee member/public questions Amy
– Continue ongoing revision/additions to Act 46 FAQ Amy
– Ensure info is posted on Act 46 Study committee page on WSESU website Amy, Kim
– Provide financial data including itemized cost savings, expenses and Frank
proposed budget for unified district and other configurations
– Seek legal counsel re: wording for town vote of school closure/elimination of grade(s) Ron
– Clarify if provision for school closure during first 5 years is possible – other cite 4 years Ron
– Continue review of Executive Summary with Articles of Agreement and Worksheet All
– Develop matrix for Phase 2 RED options versus SC concerns Amy, Kristina, others
– Investigate town vote wording that will allow for a secondary configuration to be Ron
approved if the primary configuration is not possible because a town does
not approve (i.e. If not AM, then CM).
– Determine model class size and actual class size for preK Ron, Frank
Respectfully submitted, Amy Wall – Committee Clerk
class size
“State policy for model class size”
Those are somewhat big class sizes. When I taught, I always felt the best way to teach was one on one (obviously not a choice for public schools) but if their had to be a group, maybe 10 maximum would be all that I could have honestly kept track of and done a good job with. Those 10 would need to be high-performing, too. 10 at-risk students to one teacher would be a a challenge.
20 in a kindergarten might require a lion tamer!
…
Vernon seems to be considering opting out of joining the union (or looking at that option)?