MINUTES OF THE TRANSITION TEAM MEETING HELD FRIDAY,

MARCH 30, 2007 AT 4:00 P.M. AT THE HUSE SCHOOL



Members Present: David Barber, Ross Berkowitz, Jean Flink, Chet Garrison, Bill Haggett, Darla Jewett, Tom MacDonald, Kristin Malin, William Shuttleworth, Eloise Vitelli, Mark Westrum


Members Absent: David Miller, Julie Rice


Others present: Chet Horne, Diann and David Longstreet, Don Cowing, Tim Harkins, Bob Kalish, Susan Corrente, and Wayne Dorr


1.0 Call to order


2.0 Opening Remarks

None


3.0 Adjustments to Agenda

None


4.0 Old Business

4.1: Ground rules: By consensus the team deleted the ground rule about time and place of meeting.

4.2: Approve minutes of March 23, 2007: Mark moved to accept minutes as written, Darla seconded the motion, Kristin Malin asked that list of members be listed alphabetically, and that members not in attendance be listed; identified Bill Stockmeyer as an attorney with Drummond and Woodsum and that Alan Cartright represents the Maine Children's Alliance; asked for clarification of intent of board chairs to respond to questions posed on web site (it was determined that they would respond as comments/questions are directed to their e-mail address); Kristin further wanted it clarified that the vote regarding the school debt motion was a 6 in favor, 1 against (Kristin) and two abstentions; noting that she wanted her dissenting vote to indicate that she thought that there was not yet enough information at hand to vote on this matter. With these changes, motion to accept the minutes was approved unanimously. It was agreed that William would get someone to take minutes of these meetings.


4.3: Website Update: Website, www.bathunion47.org is up and running. Minutes, once approved, will be sent by board chairs to the web master, David Ingmundson, for posting. We will work to provide a link to track legislation. William was asked to send Educational Excellence Report to Chairs for posting, listing it as an attachment to the report.


4.4: Chet updated the committee that he, David Barber and William met with Ron Bancroft, a business consultant and Mike Moore who works for him (a former school superintendent) to discuss issues related to consolidation and during that meeting, the two of them offered their services as consultants. Bill H. felt we should define what we want them to do before we hire a consultant. Tom M. asked that we develop a scope of services before we hire a consultant. Kristin indicated that Alan Cartright with the Maine Children's Alliance had a staff member, Janet Eastman, who also might be available. Susan C. indicated that in developing the scope of work for a consultant that we make sure we are always aware of the language of our bill and work with Mr. Stockmeyer, from DMW Law to develop timely legislation to support our initiatives. Consultant and team must be acutely aware of the timeline for legislation and that timeline guide the work of this committee.


Eloise indicated in discussing our work, that Emily Kane at the state level, our own language may be moot if state legislation moves ahead of our time table. Bill H. indicated that we should develop our legislation irrespective of state legislation and that we need to be ready to go in a month.


Darla cautioned that the Transition Team is altering the text of the RTF report and that we need to keep up with the changes as they are made. After considerable discussion, Susan C. cautioned that we not get caught up with an elaborate consultant structure; instead we should be creating a lean and mean structure using a format that she has articulated that we use, and then move all elements that support our legislation to Bill Stockmeyer.


Darla moved to empower our Chairmen to select a consultant who will revise our report in accordance with decisions made at meetings, conduct requested research, keep track of our process at meetings, and perform other duties as requested. Mark W. asked that William be added to this committee, Mark seconded motion. Motion passed unanimously.


Follow up discussion centered on the need to begin to inform public and get feedback. Bill H. again reminded the committee that we need to act quickly. Kristin commented that the public feedback may identify key issues as we continue our work. Ross indicated that we need to be very clear what the purpose of these public meetings is before we go out and schedule them.


5.0 New Business

5.1: New High School: After much discussion, Bill H. moved that our legislation be written to permit joint application of new schools in the region, as needed, as supported and approved by the new regional board; Darla seconded motion; motion passed unanimously.


It was then moved by David B, seconded by Mark W, to acknowledge that the superintendent will initiate applications for new school construction as approved by the boards; motion passed unanimously.


5.2: School Ownership: A lot of discussion regarding this topic ended in moving it to the next meeting. The ownership of the vocational center was discussed. We need to clarify how schools that are no longer used for educational purposes can be transferred back to the community. Without a vote, but in general consensus, the TT affirmed our commitment to joint ownership of buildings pending due diligence and fact finding.


  1. Other Business

6.1: In other business, Bill H. distributed a letter asking that both boards affirm that they will not take public action on the work of the TT. After much discussion, he withdrew his letter and there was some attempt to clarify the conversation that took place at the joint board meeting with SU 47 and Bath that resulted in a news article that Bill was referencing in his letter.


6.2: Mark W. moved to extend the meeting to 6:30 p.m. Darla seconded the motion, motion passed 6-2.




  1. Public Comment

7.1: There was public comments that focused on the need to get information out to the public, concerns or perceptions that SU 47 towns are going to have to absorb a great deal of Bath's debt, that the SU 47 schools are not in great need of repair, unlike Bath schools and how public information should be disseminated.


  1. Closing Remarks

The board then spent time trying to come up with meeting times and the TT scheduled the next meetings for April 4th, 4:30 to 6:30, April 18th from 4:30-6:30 and on April 21st from 9am to 1 pm.

William indicated that he had scheduling conflicts with all of these dates and would support the TT by providing any requested back up support.


Meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m.


Respectfully submitted,




William C. Shuttleworth

Superintendent