Norton School Board Meeting Report- Monday March 3, 2014

Norton School Board Meeting Report
Monday March 3, 2014-

Last Night's Norton School Board Meeting began with approving the February 8th and 10th meetings which the board approved and the student representatives were there to discuss the English Honor Society events and they went to the Yelle School for the Special readings and all sorts of activities going on at the high school and they reviewed the 2014-2015 School calendar option with the start date after Labor Day and changes in the school vacation and they announced the 2014/2015 school calendar and they are discussing the elimination of February Vacation and discussing the March Vacation possibilities and the benefits of the 4 make p days which is school will be out in June and November 25th, 2014 will be the start of Thanksgiving Break 2014 and look into the schedule putting teachers to work starting school in August and having students start school on either the day after Labor Day in September or the Wednesday after Labor Day and also discussed changes in the scheduling in case of more snow days and also considering the teacher evaluation days and districts are considering 2 professional days a year or either eliminating April vacation or moving the spring vacation to March and the traditional calendar will be following and also focusing on FY15 and they will discuss it to the teachers union on the thoughts of making changes to the school calendar, and School Board member Andrew Mackie considered a survey on what to do on the day before thanksgiving and the options are looking on the day after New Years Day for school to be back in session after the December break and also looking at the day before labor day with the teachers and students and considering plans on what to do on election day and will be decided in a survey.

Also tonight they all approved those meetings on the February 24th meeting and they went on to the user fees and there were a lot of programs and budget cutbacks during 2005-2008 and user fees were necessarily to keep things going and since 2008, the enrollment is down and the parking fees are deposited and the school budget is $91,000 and considering the start times of the schools and the transportation expenses and also looking into athletic and bus fees and considering things on how to discuss the fees for all sorts of schools and how will put and impact on families who have kids attending Norton Schools and Supt. Baeta will have to discuss the elimination of fees through the school committee and the committee will plan on what to do with those fees. Mr. Kevin O’Neil wants the budget to be part of the process. Board o selectman, Robert Kimball cam in to discuss the Gold Star Committee and discussed on what to do with the Msg. Trent plaque which is going to be done on the High School Building Dedication on March 29th, on the same day that the High School is going to dedicate the science lab in honor of Mr. Peter Leddy and considering and considering on where to put the plaque of Msg. Trent at the high school. The Committee approved the idea and drawing the idea of using some generator to use for electricity for the sporting games and school events and those who in favor of approving the school choice program and they discussed the school choice program through the PowerPoint and they discussed on what to do on the school choice program and they discussed the ideas of how people from surround communities go to the nearby school districts and discussed the enrollment trends and a NESDEC study suggested a loss of 98 more students for 3 years and Baeta’s review suggests a loss of 49 students for Next year alone and the state formula which is the state chapter 70 formula recommended for grades 1-3 and 6-10 to 10 seats a grade and Grades 4-5 to 5 seats per grade and Norton Needs to do this as it is a great school system to the community and the committee will have to do a revote on school schoices which will mean grades 4-5 and 9-10 at 5 seats a grade which the committee opposed.