OTTER VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNOFFICIAL MINUTES October 21, 2015 School Board Members Present: Jim Rademacher-Chair, Dick White-Vice Chair, Ellen Kurrelmeyer, Angela Ouellette Student Board Members: Charlotte Winslow and Jonna Keith School Board Members Absent: Sue Bloomer, Peter Werner, Thomasina Magoon, Kevin Thornton, Rob Howland Administration Present: James Avery-Principal, Geoff Lawrence-Associate Principal Others Present: Steven Keith-Athletic Director, Jeff Hull-Theater Arts Teacher 1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:07 pm by Jim Rademacher, Chair. There was no quorum at this time, so it was decided to go over items not requiring a vote. It was noted that a past OV grad, Jake Lacy is in the new movie Love the Coopers. 2. Opportunity for Citizens to Address the Board There was no discussion held. 3. Presentation from Steven Keith, Athletic/Activities Director Mr. Keith gave an update on athletic teams for the fall season including the number of teams and also the number of student participants. Ellen Kurrelmeyer asked if we have more teams now than we used to and if so, how did we do it with only two fields. Mr. Keith said we have the same number of teams but we used to send middle school teams to other fields such as Lothrop. We did not have any cuts in the fall sports. Some of our teams are right on the edge of how many students the sport needs. Sometimes we are spread thin. Some suggested long term ideas for athletics: Outer field parking needs to be looked at. The middle school/JV scoreboard is no longer able to be repaired. Mr. Keith is looking into options. It would be great to have some netting around Markowski field to stop balls. The baseball field needs some sort of sun screen for the pitcher’s mound. Page 1 of 5

Mr. Keith has received quotes regarding replacing our sign out front with a marquee display which could be changed electronically. Ellen Kurrelmeyer inquired as to whether or not this will need to go out to bid. Steven and Brenda Fleming are working on this. Angela Oullette asked about the broken pipe on the baseball field. The pipe has been fixed and Kyle Watrous has ordered a part for the leaking valve and he will replace it and then it should be completed. Dick White asked as far as the athletic budget is concerned, how are we doing? Mr. Keith said things are good. In a few years he would like to do some uniform replacements as well as some soccer goals. We have 3 sets of quick clip goals and we have 4 fields. These cost about $1500 to $2500 per pair. Field hockey goals are in good shape but are very old. Mr. Avery stated we have also benefited from the Activities Association and Football Club. The Association has sent a couple student athletes to conferences and also has renovated the bank space in the lobby for concessions for athletics and productions. Wrestling Club does their part as well as others. Mr. White asked Mr. Keith if there is anything you personally need? Mr. Avery stated we need bodies. Steven is mowing fields, cutting grass and lining fields. He could always use secretarial help as well as a field maintenance person. Kyle Watrous is in the same boat with prepping fields instead of doing other things in the building. These are challenges as we are faced with Act 46. In a perfect world he would have secretarial staff as well as fields people. Interns and TA’s have been great help with lining fields and the community comes to bat because they respect Steven. Kyle and Steven work out a schedule to work on fields to get them ready for games. Mr. Avery said he would like to say the health and the growth of the activities is due to Steven’s common sense and his ability to work with people. It’s a direct reflection of the leadership he provides us. Mr. Avery said tomorrow he will attend the Vermont state Teacher of the Year recognition ceremony at UVM to recognize Jeff Hull. Mr. Avery read what was presented to Mr. Hull at the end of the year luncheon, written by Mr. Lawrence. Mr. Hull led a group of students to The Fringe Festival in Scotland. Jim had the pleasure of having dinner with Mr. Hull and his wife and a benefactor who gave funds to help students to go. Scotland – there were 25 shows to see. The Scottish Foundation paid for tours and tickets to shows. Students had to provide souvenir money. We performed 4 shows each with about 10 to 30 people watching. We usually had about 20. We received an award for outstanding production. The award is in the main office at OV. We have now been nominated to go again Page 2 of 5

in 2017. Maybe every 4 to 5 years would be a new generation. It was a very life changing experience meeting students from other countries, learning cultures. One student wants to live there now and give the haunted ghost tours. Our student’s acting levels got better as they watched other performers and actors. There were workshops however we opted not to attend because it costs extra. Some of our students were able to talk to some of the main actors and had one on one conversations getting information. We saw Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe and the students ended up understanding Shakespeare by the time it was over. Dr. Rademacher thanked Mr. Hull for his many years of service and gave congratulations on his award and hopes to have him for many more. 4. Student Report Jonna Keith advised homecoming was very successful with 4 wins. Student Council decorated the gym for a dance. Ms. Bly is the new high school Student Council advisor. The group is coming together. On October 3rd they had a blood drive. The musical Cinderella is rehearsing and getting closer to performance times. Today was Breast Cancer Awareness Week for the American Cancer Society. The whole school went on the football field and made the ribbon. The students collected over $1200 in advisories so far to contribute to the Cancer Society. Call backs have started from advisories. Students are actually going back to talk to teachers. YATZ is working on a survey for students asking how advisory and call back are going for them. Another survey asking about student life and what they are learning is also being formed. Charlotte noted some students have said their grades have improved because of going to call backs. 5. Principals’ Report Mr. Avery was glad Charlotte spoke about advisory and call back. It is an academic support component directed by students and teachers. Either can ask to see the other. Our goal is for students to direct where they need to go. We are looking at numbers of failures. Mr. Lawrence addressed the ineligibility list, comparing incompletes or failures from this marking period and compared them to a year ago. One thing he found is the 7th and 8th graders are not making the strides we had hoped for yet. The high school students are. Last year in 9th grade 27 students had a failing grade, this year as 10th graders 17 students had a failing grade. We’ve seen definite improvements however we are not sure whether it is due to call backs or not as of yet. We will look more at the system to try to determine more. Mr. Lawrence said teachers are still getting used to the system including the online system. There is a tremendous amount of school energy being put into this. The teachers are working very hard scheduling students and planning what to do with them at call back as well as planning successful advisory activities. Molly Nitka, is our Advisory Call Back Coordinator. She has put a lot of time into this initiative. She brings forward a positive can do attitude to get this to work. She is helping Page 3 of 5

faculty members use the software and coordinating a plan for advisory groups. This is our primary focus currently. We’ll need to make some adjustments including longer transition times between classes. It used to be 4 minutes passing time now 3, we might want to do 5. The 20 minute break was really counted on by faculty and students to take care of things like eating and bathroom breaks. If a faculty member doesn’t have planning time until the 4th block, they are going straight without the 20 minute break. We are in the finals stages of bringing the Han Ban Chinese teacher to OV. We have exchanged the monies for the visa. We are hoping for her to be here by November 16. Mr. Avery started this process in January of 2014. She will be here until June of 2018. We have temporary housing for her. Mr. Jeskie has been doing some apartment searching for her. 6. Finance Buildings & Grounds Ellen Kurrelmeyer stated there are bills in the amount of $1,226,608.84. There is no quorum to vote on approving these. A representative from the lockers company came and presented an impressive product for new lockers. After some welding, there are now new doors on the boiler room. Otter Valley budget mailing went out as well as the information being distributed on the OV Facebook page and email list. Mr. Avery will try to share information through Twitter as well. We are developing a full page advertisement showing an energy usage graph before and after the renovations for the Reporter. Ellen feels it is better to print and distribute to towns because newspaper readership seems to be down. Angela Ouellette stated there are a lot of elderly people that are not looking on line. 7. RNESU Board Report Carousel meetings were held. 8. Unfinished Business/New Business Dr. Rademacher will be going to the VEHI meeting and getting authorizations from other boards to speak about 2 things. In VEHI’s annual report is their mission statement. They are supposed to provide value that is not out there on the market, not necessarily competing. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield programs they have now, separating teachers out through VEHI allows the cost to be less because apparently teachers are less of a risk. He will bring this up again. They are working on offering some lower cost programs and this has to go through legislature for approval. The people at the Rutland meeting were talking as if it were a done deal. It is not. You can’t compare the VEHI and Blue Cross programs because deductibles and maximums are different and it doesn’t really allow for cost comparison. The meeting is being held Friday morning. Page 4 of 5

9. Executive Session Angela Ouellette moved, seconded by Ellen Kurrelmeyer, to enter into executive session with Jim Avery and Geoff Lawrence present, for the reasons of negotiations for which premature general public knowledge would clearly place the parties involved at a substantial disadvantage. By consensus, the Board entered into Executive Session at 7:30 PM. The Board came out of Executive Session at 8:15 PM. There was no action taken. 10. Adjournment A motion was made by Dick White and seconded by Angela Ouellette to adjourn the meeting at 8:15 PM. The motion passed.

Respectfully submitted, Cathy Louttit Substitute Recording Secretary

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