REDDING BOARD OF EDUCATION
Regular Meeting Minutes
September 5, 2017
ATTENDANCE:
Board of Education: Denny, Florkowski, Gaspar, Hoffman, Irwin, Miller, Whaley
Administration: McMorran, Pierson Ugol, Reiss, Martin, Wallin, Hammond, Basta, Torre, Visners
Others: 17 members of the public/staff
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Melinda Irwin called the meeting to order at 7:31 pm.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion: move that the Redding Board of Education approve the minutes of the June 26, 2017, meeting as submitted with one correction – the second motion should read, “Move to authorize Dr. McMorran to cooperate with the process and procedures review.” Approved. Unanimous.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENT
Mrs. Denny discussed the concerns she heard from members of the community regarding the quality of our schools. Mrs. Denny identified the many improvements to the program approved by the Board over the last ten years.
H. Whaley wanted to know how many students have signed up to participate in the ORF music program.
M. Hoffman spoke to the history of the Health Insurance Reserve and distributed a Redding Health Insurance Historical Analysis.
M. Irwin welcomed the new administrators to the District. She also asked for more information about the vertical alignment of the math program.
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION
Redding School Dress Code – Mrs. Whaley discussed the disparity between each school’s dress code and how the policy, especially for JRMS, is out of date. She asked that the administration take a look at the policies and try to create one unified code.
School Schedules and Changes – JRMS has changed the block days from 90 minutes to 75 minutes over three days. During those days, all other classes meet for 30 minutes.
Teacher Summative Evaluation Rating for 2017 – JRMS teacher evaluations resulted in nine leaders, 40 effective, and two structured support.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Chris Parkin, 19 Indian Hill Rd., Redding, asked about the special education prevalence rates. He also explained that the health insurance reserve number was determined via a recommendation from our health care administrator, Anthem.
Nancy Cavillones, 58 Side Cut Rd., Redding, expressed approval for reviewing the language of the middle school dress code to make it gender equitable.
Mike D’Agostino, 18 Glen Hill Rd., Redding, also spoke about the dress code.
Brenda Phelps (Mars), 2 Indian Hill Rd., Redding, also spoke about the dress code.
Colleen Pilato, 38 Portland Ave., Redding, stated her desire to work on the mission and vision of the district in a forward-looking manner.
Laura Hoeing, 42 Umpawaug Rd., Redding, said she was grateful for the leadership of the Board Chair.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENT
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: move to adjourn the meeting. Miller, Hoffman. Approved. Unanimous.
The meeting adjourned at 9:25 pm.
Submitted by
Allyson Florkowski, Redding Board of Education Secretary
Reported by
Allyson Florkowski