Central Aroostook RPC Meeting
June 18, 2008
6:00 pm
Easton Elementary School Cafeteria
SAU’s Participating: Bridgewater, Easton, MSAD #42, MSAD #45
Members Present:
Bridgewater: Wayne Bradbury; Nina Bradstreet; Duska Kingsbury; Roland “Butch” Richardson; Terri Allen; Ellen Schneider, Assistant Superintendent (Liaison)
Easton: Dave Hopkins; Tom Osgood; Norm Trask; Frank Keenan, Superintendent (Liaison)
MSAD #42: Greg Day; Nate Smith, James McClay; Todd Grass, Carolee Hallett; Roger Shaw, Superintendent (Liaison)
MSAD #45: Daren Churchill; Theresa Cochran; Jerry Dow; Tim Humphrey; Jan Greico; Michael McIntosh, Ed Buckley, Superintendent (Liaison)
Non-Members Present: Gerald Clockedile (RPC Facilitator); Kim Hall, Recording Secretary
Members Absent: Mike Corey (Easton); Andrea Powers (MSAD #45)
The meeting was called to order at 6:10 PM in the Easton Elementary School cafeteria by Chairperson, Tom Osgood. Members were asked to complete the sign-in sheet and new members were asked to list their name, affiliation, phone number and email address on the back of the sign-in sheet to allow them to be added to the listserve. Mr. Osgood reported that his wife had declined his request to act as Secretary to the committee and introduced Kimberly Hall (Administrative Secretary to Mr. Keenan) who would be taking minutes at this meeting. Prior to introductions, Mr. Keenan asked to clear up a miscommunication from the previous meeting regarding finances. He stated that the amount of money allocated to each RPC for miscellaneous expenses was actually $5000, not $2500 as originally stated at the 6/11 meeting. This money needs to be requested by the Chairperson of the RPC and, he continued, Mrs. Hall has the forms to be completed and submitted as soon as they can be signed by Mr. Osgood. (Addendum: The request forms were signed by Mr. Osgood following the meeting and faxed to the DOE by Mrs. Hall on 6/19/08). Each member then introduced themselves and all new members were welcomed.
Following introductions, Mr. Osgood turned the floor over to Co Vice-Chair, Michael McIntosh. Mr. McIntosh referenced a conversation held after the first meeting and a subsequent email from Mr. Osgood encouraging members be open and honest with each other and the need to feel free to speak their minds at the meetings. The email resulted in some RPC members misunderstanding Mr. Osgood’s intentions and feeling that the email was condescending. Mr. McIntosh expressed his confidence in Mr. Osgood as Chair and stated that the circumstance points out the need to recognize that this was a case of a misunderstanding stemming from unfamiliarity with one another. Mr. McIntosh expressed support for Mr. Osgood’s request that all parties work in an open, positive manner in this challenging task ahead. Mr. McIntosh then presented three issues that some members felt required clarification.
Mr. McIntosh requested that information about future meetings of the RPC be released to the media to allow for more public participation in the meetings. Mr. Clockedile recommended that information be disseminated as this may foster public support. Mr. Keenan offered that Mrs. Hall would be able to handle releasing information to the press via email. Approved by consensus.
Mr. McIntosh requested the committee to consider rotating the meeting place to allow for at least one meeting in each of the 4 member districts. Although Easton is the most centrally located, this would allow members the opportunity to visit the other districts. It would also allow for participation by the public in the various districts. It was discussed and determined that Mr. Osgood would be responsible for coordinating with the contact person from each district to schedule meetings. Approved by consensus.
At this point Mr. Trask raised the concern that these issues had been brought up and voted on at the last meeting and felt that continuing to revisit previous topics after they had already been voted on may not be the best use of the committee’s time. Mr. McIntosh stated that this was for clarification only, to ensure that all members had the same understanding. Mr. Clockedile also stated that throughout this process there would be topics that would need to be revisited and discussed more than once and many issues would require discussion between the time they are presented and the time they are voted on.
Mr. McIntosh raised a question regarding the decision make process for the RPC. A discussion ensued regarding how voting would take place. It was determined that a quorum of 3 of 4 SAU’s were required to vote. However, the final plan would need to be a unanimous vote by all 4 SAU’s. Mr. Shaw brought up the issue of when the individual SAU RPC’s would meet. Mr. Clockedile explained that the individual RPC’s could meet whenever it was convenient. It was also stated that many issues would need to be presented at one meeting and decided at another to give members time to discuss.
At this time Mr. Osgood turned the meeting over to Mr. Clockedile to address the group prior to the sub-committees convening to begin the group work. Groups were advised to begin with something easy to have early success, but to make sure the more difficult issues addressed early enough to be completed.
Mr. Clockedile presented 4 sample consolidation plans from around the state for groups to use as a reference tool. One plan has already been approved by the DOE and by referendum; one has been approved by the DOE but has not gone to the people for their vote and two plans have not been submitted to the Department yet. Mr. Keenan offered to make copies of the plan that had been approved by the citizens so that each sub-committee would have a copy.
At 7:00 pm groups were instructed to split into their assigned sub-committees to begin work. The entire committee was told to reconvene at 8:30 pm. Mr. Osgood also requested that a spokesperson for each SAU be determined and he asked to have those names before the end of the meeting.
At this point it was noted that there have been changes to the membership for sub-committees. Sub-Committee membership is as follows:
Governance: Norm Trask (Easton); Jerry Dow (MSAD #45); Jan Greico (MSAD #45); Nate Smith (MSAD #42); Wayne Bradbury (Bridgewater) {no changes}
Finance: Mike Corey (Easton); Mike McIntosh (MSAD #45); Theresa Cochran (MSAD #45); Butch Richardson (Bridgewater); Carolee Hallett (MSAD #42); Terri Allen (Bridgewater); James McClay (MSAD #42)
Contracts/Educational Planning: Duska Kingsbury (Bridgewater); Greg Day (MSAD #42); Tom Osgood (Easton); Daren Churchill (MSAD #45); Tim Humphrey (MSAD #45)
Disposition of Property: Andrea Powers (MSAD #45); Cary Schumacker (MSAD #45); Dave Hopkins (Easton); Todd Grass (MSAD #42); Nina Bradstreet (Bridgewater)
Mr. Osgood called on members to reconvene to full committee at 8:35 pm. At that time sub-committee spokesmen gave their individual reports as follows:
Finance Committee: Spokesperson Mike McIntosh reported that the Finance Committee had had good discussion with some tentative options which will be presented at the next meeting. Their plan is to obtain more information from the SAU’s for the next meeting.
Disposition of Property: Spokesperson Todd Grass reported that the Disposition of Property Committee reviewed the VFA reports on each SAU to determine the viability of all buildings. They discussed current and planned use for the buildings. They will be working to obtain deeds and blueprints to review at the next meeting.
Contracts/Educational Planning: Spokesperson Greg Day reported that the Contracts/Education Planning Committee spent their time comparing salary scales, seniority, low- mid- and upper range salary averages, and other common factors in the master teacher contracts for the individual SAU’s. They will be obtaining additional information from the SAU’s regarding health insurance benefits, sick days, retirement and stipend positions to review for the next meeting.
Governance: Spokesperson Norm Trask reported that the Governance Committee discussed the population of the individual SAU’s to determine possible percentage representation of the new governing board. They are struggling with the issue of how the distribution will be determined, weighted votes and other matters. It was requested that the Governance Committee members discuss matters with the members of their local RPC’s to determine their opinions. The committee plans to continue discussions at the next meeting.
After all sub-committee reports had been given, Mr. Osgood asked if there were any additional comments or questions from the group. There were none. He proposed the date of 7/2/08 for the next scheduled meeting; however, that being the week of the 4th of July holiday, it was a conflict for numerous members. It was then suggested that 7/9/08 would be better and the committee also requested that a 2nd meeting be scheduled at this time to better enable members to adjust their calendars if necessary. The following meeting will be held on 7/16/08. Both meetings will be held at the Easton Elementary cafeteria and will begin at 6:00 pm.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:55 pm by Chairperson, Tom Osgood.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kimberly Hall
Recording Secretary
Central Aroostook RPC Membership
Name Community Phone E-mail
Terri Allen Bridgewater 425-2161 polyop61@hotmail.com
Wayne Bradbury Bridgewater 227-2828 janet@pioneercable.net
Nina Bradstreet Bridgewater 429-8130 ninab@stepstones4youth.org
Duska Kingsbury Bridgewater 425-7149 duska@pwless.net
Butch Richardson Bridgewater 429-8811 rrichardson2ainop.com
Ellen Schneider* Bridgewater 764-4101 ellen.schneider@sad1.org
Gehrig Johnson* Bridgewater 764-4101 gehrig@sad1.org
Norman Trask Easton 764-4193 ntrask@curriertrask.com
Michael Corey Easton 488-6917 mcorey@hydroblendinc.com
Tom Osgood Easton 488-6932 tosgood@mamusg.com
Dave Hopkins Easton 227-3446 dhopkins@ces-maine.com
Frank Keenan* Easton 488-7700 frank.keenan@eastonschooldistrict.org
Roger Shaw* MSAD #42 425-3771 rshaw@sad42.k12.me.us
Nathan Smith MSAD #42 429-8095 polisciguy02@hotmail.com
James McClay MSAD #42 227-8606 jmcclay@amhc.org
Greg Day MSAD #42 425-5301 gskkday@verizon.net
Carolee Hallett MSAD #42 425-2242 carolee@07me.com
Todd Grass MSAD #42 429-9497 toddgrass@hotmail.com
Daren Churchill MSAD #45 455-4046 dschurchill@verizon.net
Andrea Powers MSAD #45 455-1002 townmanager@washburnmaine.org
Jerry Dow MSAD #45 455-5913 perhamtown@yahoo.com
Michael McIntosh MSAD #45 455-4812 m_mcintosh@yahoo.com
Jan Grieco MSAD #45 455-4907 jangrieco@ainop.com
Theresa Cochran MSAD #45 455-5865 tcochran@ainop.com
Edward Buckley* MSAD #45 455-8301 edpbuckley@yahoo.com
Cary Schumacker MSAD #45
Tim Humphrey MSAD #45 455-4988 jandthumphrey@aol.com
Jake Clockedile Old Orchard 205-5334 ggclock@gwi.net