Date: Thursday, April 14, 2005
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Woolwich Central School Library

Attendees: WCS Committee and Selectmen
In attendance: Sabrina Doak, Paul Seaman, Vicki Merrill, Forest York, Randy Howell, Tom Soule, Principal, David King, Selectman, Lloyd Coombs, Town Administrator, Hans Von Willigen, citizen (William Shuttleworth, Superintendent was excused due to an unexpected family commitment)

Goal : To improve communication between school committee and selectmen

AGENDA

1. Woolwich Central School Budget (2005-2006)

• Explanation, questions and answers
  The School Budget, Management Summary and Tuition Cost Savings spreadsheet were distributed.

  Discussion:

  David King would like to see a few revisions to our budget:
  a. Include a line item in our budget every year to fund the maintenance and repairs to the school. This way there will always be funds in the emergency/repair account. He would like the funds allocated for the furnace in Article 20 to be replaced. He is concerned about having enough money for other large repairs that may be needed (ie: roof leaking, etc.)

  The board members agreed to this. Details need to be discussed.

  b. Have the School Budget Articles be worded like the Municipal Articles. The municipal articles are "capped". They are written so that the town can not increase the recommendation. The town's recourse would be to develop a petition and then hold a "special town meeting" for another vote.

  The board members did not agree nor disagree to this recommendation. This needs further discussion.

  c. Ensure that Article 20, for the Boiler does state where the funds will be coming from.

  Lloyd will verify.

• Plan for future budget reviews
  The goal in the future is to meet with the selectmen prior to the Town Warrant Deadline. This will probably mean that our process will need to start earlier. Lloyd pointed out that this was the first time the School Budget was in the Town Warrant since 1992!! The selectmen and public were pleased. The School Committee is proud of that too and wants to keep up the good work. Mr. __________ attended the meeting with that exact concern in mind. He wondered why it wasn't in the Town Warrant and was concerned because the school budget is larger than the municipal. It was also noted that a narrative, like the management summary report that William Shuttleworth developed, would be an excellent supplement to explain the budget without printing all of the detail sheets of the school budget. The school board agreed to implement this process.

2. New School &endash; Site Location

• Who should be involved
• Determine Roles
• How to work together to select a site
• Determine how to communicate on CSD and Funding updates
  Discussion:
  The School Committee will take the lead to establish a " New School Site Committee". This committee will include representation from the following town representatives:
• School Board
• Selectman
• Public
• Planning Board (Zoning Issues)
• Long Range Comprehensive Committee (Large Tracts of land)
• Conservation Committee
• Road Commissioner
• Fire Department

Also to be included are representatives from the:

• State
• Midcoast Council for Business Development (MCBD) located in Brunswick.
  They can act as a facilitator and provide insight.

Another concern that came to light is that we need to finalize our goal regarding the "grades and towns to be included in the new school". All agreed that we need to pick a target / plan to work towards. There are many options and we need to work on the one the town wants. It will be important to keep posted on the concurrent committee for a CSD. Many concurrent committees will need to work together in this process.

The school committee will take the lead on both of these action items.

Once the School Committee takes the lead and assigns our representative then the Selectmen will send a notice to all of the above Town committees and ask for a representative that is willing to contribute and come to the meetings. The committee chair and/or co-chair will contact the state and MCBD after discussion with the team members.

The meeting adjourned at 7:20 PM.

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