Superintendent’s Report
- Dr. Kenneth R. Dassau
To the Citizens of the
I am very pleased to report that as you read the warrant articles for 2007-2008 you will note that the School Board and Budget Committee have voted to recommend all of the warrant articles with one exception. I want to express my thanks to the Budget Committee for their many months of hard work and their vote of support of the school board articles.
Operating Budget Article One. The Budget Committee voted unanimously to support the district operating budget as proposed by the school board. The passing of Article One in March will break the cycle of the district operating under default budgets, or less, since 2003.
Negotiations. In August, during my opening remarks to faculty, I acknowledged that this year was going to be another busy one. We faced several new challenges, as well as the perennial ones - our high school accreditation visit, teacher and support staff negotiations, building a budget that our school community could support, and the performance of our students on state and district assessments. And, of course, for our teachers all this is in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities. I asked the faculty not to let the politics of this list be their focus, but instead to continue to focus on what they know best --student instruction and the assessment of learning.
In a year in which both the teachers and support staff have worked under expired collective bargaining agreements, I want to thank the teachers and staff for the high level of professionalism they demonstrate daily. They are a great group! Sadly, after many meetings between the teachers’ union and the school board they were not able to reach a negotiated agreement, and so there will not be a warrant article for a teachers’ contract for your consideration this year.
On the other hand, the school board and support staff were able to reach a negotiated agreement. Please show your support of our district’s secretaries, paraprofessionals, custodians and maintenance staff and vote “Yes” on Article Three.
Adequate Yearly Progress/ No Child Left Behind. Adequate yearly progress as determined by the No Child Left Behind Act is only one measure of how our schools are doing. In Dr. David Hodgdon’s curriculum report. He will address the district’s work in curriculum and instruction responding to past reports. Further information will appear in each school’s principal report
Facilities. I want to thank the members of the Facility Committee for the countless hours they spend attending meetings, their attention to details, and moving the approval of the agenda items through the full board. The Facility Committee is chaired by Karen Cota. Members are: Colline Dreyfuss, Jon Kenyon, and Tim Peloquin.
In accordance with board policy, the Facility Committee of the School Board is required to have three bids for all projects over $5,000. Procedurally, however, the facility committee requests three estimates, when obtainable, for all projects regardless of cost. Combining new guidelines, close attention to detail and the expertise of our maintenance staff, we have successfully completed projects from previous years – either on or below budget – and with little disruption to our students.
Last year, the facility projects throughout the district focused on health and safety related items as outlined by the Facility Committee. The projects this year included such items as duct cleaning for all schools, some asbestos abatement in Cutler, a replacement fuel tank cover at Emerson, and slate repairs on the roof in Troy, to name a few.
This year also included two
unforeseen projects which were funded through our 2003 School Building
Maintenance Expendable Trust. Those two
projects were re-rigging of the stage at the
The administration and the facility committee are working toward a comprehensive report of all our elementary school roof conditions. This report will help us plan for repairs or replacement in the future. The Monadnock Regional Middle School High School roof plan will be addressed in the Master Plan proposed in Article Four on the warrant this year as it requires a broad scope of detail. Please visit the district web page to view the district’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).
Acknowledgements. This year the
School Board had five members leave, for a variety of reasons, before the
completion of their elected term of office. I want to acknowledge these persons
for their service to the district: Dick Thackston (
In closing, I want to express my sincere thanks to the many persons, community members, parents, and staff who have taken the time to attend the often lengthy board and budget committee meetings. Attendance at meetings allows the public to gain information, ask questions and express opinions. I encourage the Monadnock community to read the enclosed reports, review the information here and on the district web page under Deliberative Session at www.mrsd.org, and show your support for our district’s students, faculty, staff and administration by voting “Yes” for all of the school board warrant articles this March. By doing so we can continue the curriculum and facility work the Board has begun and provide our students with the education and schools they need and deserve.