Study Comm Meeting Minutes August 15, 2011

RED Study Committee

Local School Councils sub-committee

August 15, 2011

Present: Deb Baker-Moody, Chris Kapsalis, Mary Catherine Jones, Colleen Mackinnon, Sue Thibault, Elaine Pinckney

Local Councils – to provide community members with an opportunity to be meaningfully involved in their local school in areas for which they are passionate; to encourage more community involvement than we currently enjoy

            Membership: 5-7 members

Representation:  parents and community members

            Selection: appointment by ? or vote at yearly meeting

            Officers: Chair and Vice Chair

§  Responsible for facilitating meetings and reporting to RED board

Agendas:

§  Prescribed topics for the year (cyclical – perhaps in a 3-year cycle)

o   Input: Budget and Policy

o   Presentation: School Climate, Curriculum, Programs

§  Determined and distributed for the year

Challenges:

§  Who would serve if there’s no authority or even semblance of authority? – structured process (voting) for determining which items would be reported to the RED board

§  How to determine facilities needs? – 5 year facilities plan

§  Would it consume too much local administrator time? – they no longer would need to be at each and every board meeting for the duration; some administrators currently attending similar meetings

Questions:

§  Is there a way to allocate costs so that no one community is a “loser” in terms of tax rate?