FACULTY MEETING MINUTES
South Royalton House
South
PRESENT: Richard Anderson, Cara Berryman, Dennis Bonanza, Jim Candon, Jeff Cassarino, Kathi Cassidy, Diana Chapman, Al Clark, Chris Colwell, Sheila Commo, Anne Cote, John Cross, Kris Degenhardt, Pauline Dwyer, Anne Emerson, Jenny Estey, Lisa Harrington, Audrey Irons, Anna Jeffrey, Dan King, Mary Koen, Sue Kuzma, Mark Lather, Steve LaTulippe, Dianne Lawrence, Tod Lessard, John Long, Bob Lucenti, Mary McCallum, Mo McIntyre, Katherine Miller, Maryanne Murphy, Mary Nelson, Broni Plucas, Mary Poulos, Gene Rembisz, Bob Salzman, Bob Sattelberger, Bobbi Shutts, Lynn Sibley, Guy Smythe, Dave Strong, Claire Swaha, Peter VanWageningen, Bob Walsh, Tony Washburn, Tom Woods
Guests: Bill Bennett, Dwight Davis, John Gorczyk, Sam Robinson
ABSENT: Wade Cole, Alan Frost, Barb Hagen, Paul Major, Mary Jo Scott, Scott Tomlinson
Introductions and
Announcements:
Bob Lucenti called the meeting to order at
Roll call was taken by Sheila.
Dennis Bonanza made a
motion to accept the meeting minutes of September 29, 2005. Mary Nelson
seconded the motion. The motion was called, and it passed unanimously.
Bob Lucenti introduced CHSVT State Education Advisory Board member, Dwight Davis and recognized him for all of the work that he has done to advocate for CHSVT and its students.
Steve LaTulippe introduced Bill Bennett and Sam Robinson from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Bill Bennett distributed a handout called Preparing for Accreditation and gave a history of the NEASC. Bill discussed the steps needed to gain accreditation with NEASC and opened the floor to questions and discussion. Sam Robinson discussed with the staff, the actions needed for the preparation of NEASC to visit the facilities as part of the accreditation process. He also distributed a handout called Standards for Accreditation and Indicators and discussed the standards that need to be met before CHSVT can meet approval. Much discussion and many questions followed that were answered by Bill, Sam, Dwight, Steve and Bob L. One question was asked that was answered by Dwight that led to discussion about the Independent School Law and Dwight explained that if CHSVT is approved by NEASC as an independent school, then state approval is not required.
Lunch Break
John Cross made a
motion to move forward with accreditation approval with NEASC. Jim Candon
seconded the motion. Dennis wishes to discuss what moving forward means.
Bob Lucenti amended the motion to state that we are moving forward with "pursuing accreditation". The staff asked to hear Bob's thoughts about the NEASC. Bob feels that CHSVT is a noteworthy cause and would like to see the staff properly recognized and feels that being accredited with NEASC would do that. Bob briefly discussed the concerns with the Attorney General's office as to whether we are a public or independent school. Bob is currently working with the Department of Education to prepare for the Legislative session in January in determining our status as public or independent. There were concerns about the street sites closing due to special education issues and students who are not under custody of the DOC needing funding that is not available. Bob reassured the staff that the street sites would remain open and that we even have the support of Commissioner Hofmann who also supports maintaining the sites.
A question was asked as to how much accreditation would actually cost. Steve said that it would cost approximately $3,500 - $4,000 for meetings and accommodations for Mr. Bennett and his team. The school yearly payment would be based on attendance of 380-425 students. A discussion ensued about the pros and cons of accreditation. John Gorczyk commented on drop out rates, budgets, legislative policies, and the difficulties that CHSVT has had with the Department of Education and how all of this has affected the school and the accreditation process with the DOE. Discussion ended and the motion was called. 46 were in favor and one opposed. The motion carried.
Bob L. announced the retirement of Mary Jo Scott. He showed
the staff the framed picture of the CHSVT logo that will be presented to her
and invited all staff to join the NWSCF on Friday, October 28th at
Steve L. announced that Eric Marchese
will be starting as the new correctional instructor in
Mary K. announced that Sharon Strange will be joining the
Mo announced that this is the first time in a very long time that we will be fully staffed!
Steve L. introduced Broni Plucas as our newest employee. She
has also joined the
Maryanne Murphy wished that Mary Jo had been able to attend this meeting as many of them would like to have commended her on her many years as a great correctional instructor. She will be missed.
Local Site
Announcements:
Mary Poulos announced that Barb Hagen will be teaching a course on food safety on November 14th and 16th from 9-1 at NWSCF. This course will certify instructors to teach "Serv-Safe" to students. Please call/email Barb with any questions.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Library Committee
- Guy Smythe
Guy announced that the committee is working on standardizing information and will be meeting with central office next week and will send new information to the staff after that. Mary McCallum has a book about teaching Buddha if anyone is interested in using it in a class.
Technology
Committee - Pauline Dwyer
Pauline announced that we would need to vote on two
vacancies on the technology committee at the November faculty meeting. She is
looking for volunteers to fill the positions. The next committee meeting will
be on November 9th, in
Local Standards
Board - Mary Poulos
Mary announced that on October 18th, Jim Candon was appointed by the State Board of Education to a three year term with the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators. Mary is ready to go ahead with the pilot project for electronic portfolios. The following instructors are involved with the project: Bobbi Shutts, Mark Lather, Scott Tomlinson, Pauline Dwyer, John Cross, Al Clark, Chris Colwell and Dan King. Mary reminded all faculty to make sure that if you have address, name changes, etc. that you notify the licensing board. Mary said that there was some confusion on what constitutes re-licensing credit. Mary left two handouts to be used if desired. One is an overview by Sue Kuzma of the workshops that she has taken. The other handout is the Policy On Approved Professional Development Activities For Educators. It is now acceptable to take workshops instead of three credit courses for relicensure. Sue Kuzma is still missing some licenses and IPDP's.
Curriculum
Committee - Tom Woods
Tom reviewed policy discussed at the curriculum meeting in September pertaining to prior learning credits. A request to use the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) as a means to award credit was considered. Since the TABE generates grade level scores, it was suggested that the same guidelines for awarding credit be used as with the Woodcock Johnson III Test of Academic Achievement. The committee will write up guidelines for the handbook for issuing prior learning credit. Mary Koen reminded staff that there is a special education checklist on the current manual on the web that should be included in the files for all new enrollees and anyone can access it and complete it. A new form was designed to electronically send the credit request and syllabus on one page to central office. The committee has been working on revising and streamlining the form. The committee is advocating to gain access to the transcript database, if only for read only status, to allow instructors to view current credits for a student so that Sheila would no longer have to send that information out. A question was asked as to who should be awarded transcripts. The answer is that all students should be receiving transcripts regardless of age or graduation status. The big discussion of the day was how to count the assessments for the monthly reports. Tom put the question out to the entire staff and went around the room to get everyone's opinion. There were varying degrees of opinions on the assessments and what to count, how to count, why to count, and where to count. After much discussion, Tom stated that the committee would take this information back to their meeting and come up with some guidelines and agreements to vote on for the next faculty meeting in November.
Curriculum Content
Committee - Jim Candon
Jim stated that the curriculum and the curriculum content committees met jointly to discuss the assessments and have not decided on a recommendation. He reminded the focus groups that there are still several who have not met and need to meet before November 21st. The science focus group has defined Physical Science, Life Science, Earth Science, and Biology as the four core courses. He is waiting for the recommendations for core courses from the other focus groups.
Special Education
- Mary Koen
Mary said that it is child count crunch time. The facilities need to be doing IEP's evaluations, and eligibility planning. Diana Chapman shared that they had two guests at their last meeting. Bob Lucenti dropped in and discussed funding, student hours and the computer system. They agreed to keep independent study courses. Commissioner, Rob Hofmann, stopped in to introduce himself to the Special Education Committee.
SELECT COMMITTEE
REPORTS:
Chapter One/Title
I Compensatory Education - Mary Koen
Mary K. briefly talked about pre/post testing, TABE testing, and Title I reporting including student participation for students 22 years and under (new clarification - 21 year olds without HSD are included in #'s for Title I).
Beryle Gardner -
Cara Berryman
The original winner of the Beryle Gardner award has been located. He is planning his higher education now and will be able to use his winnings for those future endeavors. Blanche Kelley is very interested in writing a piece about the winner for the Retired Teachers Association. She will work with Cara to receive this information.
CENTRAL OFFICE
INFORMATION:
Mo wanted to make everyone aware that November is open enrollment for health insurance changes. Information came in everyone's paychecks and will also be coming in the mail. Mo reminded everyone that they should be using the new forms in the budgeting and purchasing manual including the stipend request forms. Old forms will be returned and not processed. Also, check your quarterly budget in the computer. She reminded everyone that they need prior approval, ten days in advance, before attending conferences/workshops.
Steve reminded faculty to make sure that adjunct information is sent to central office before they teach.
NEW BUSINESS
Security Training
for Non-Security Staff - Bob Lucenti
Bob asked how many staff members had received security training. Corrections is concerned with non-security staff being in a security environment and does not feel that they are adequately trained to handle situations should they arise. Bob posed the question, should CHSVT faculty be required to take the five week security training at the academy? Discussion ensued about the pros and cons of the training and how many weeks should be taken. It was also mentioned that most adjuncts are not properly trained either. After much discussion, Bob informed the staff that he will bring all of these concerns to the proper authority and update the staff with information as it comes to him.
Correctional
Instructor Job Description - Bob Sattelberger
Bob S. is interested in possibly forming a committee to look at the reclassification of the Correctional Instructor job description. Should the instructor position be changed to a school year position instead of year round? Bob S. is looking for suggestions and options for reclassification, contracts, adjuncts, etc. Bob Lucenti agreed that forming a committee would be fine and can be done during school time as long as a result was forthcoming.
Bob Lucenti called
for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jenny Estey made the motion and Dennis
Bonanza seconded the motion. The motion was called and passed unanimously. The
meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully Submitted,
Sheila Commo