Opening
Action Items
Information Items
Executive Session
Adjournment

Opening

The meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m. The agenda and minutes of the September 10, 2007 meeting were motioned for review and approval and were board approved with the following corrections:

The Treasurer suggested and the members agreed that items involving the Business Manager should be moved forward so that he could be excused to break his fast. Further, the President suggested and the members agreed to take a ten-minute break at the appropriate time to allow meeting participants to also break their fasts.

Action Items

• Approval to Proceed with International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) Implementation
The Board President outlined the process that had been taken by the school administration to inform the Board about the program and its reasons for seeking formal approval of the program for implementation at the school. This included work with the Program Committee in 2006-07, a discussion at the Board level and a formal presentation by the Elementary School Principal and Elementary School Curriculum Coordinator to the whole Board at the September 2007 meeting.

The motion to approve the school’s adoption of the IB PYP for the Elementary School, which the board approved unanimously was made by Diane Lindsey and seconded by Anne Williams.

• Adoption of the Mission, Vision and Belief Statements (Strategic Plan)
While there was a general consensus that the drafts that had been distributed captured the essence of what the board discussed at the strategic planning retreat, there remained sufficient reservations to postpone a vote on formal adoption.

Tom Pado, the Middle School Principal, suggested that guiding questions and definitions for the mission, vision and belief statements be distributed so that all members were in agreement as to what the final products would look like.

It was agreed that the Board’s consultant, Keith Cundale would use the feedback that he had previously received from Board and staff members and redraft the statements accordingly. He would then distribute these to the Board in advance of the November meeting. At that meeting the Board would discuss the drafts in a working session and vote on final versions of the three statements.

Philip DeCosse raised the issue of the longer vision statement, that he said he like in principle, as it captured the essential elements discussed at the strategic planning retreat. The board agreed to discuss that statement at its next meeting, as well.

1) A Board member commented on the fact that the 8th and 9th grade class trips were both going to Hong Kong this year, and wondered whether this would affect the engagement of 9th grade students in the future.
2) There was a brief explanation as to the 5-year timeline for curriculum development. A Board member mentioned that the previous curriculum coordinator had stated that the development was essentially completed last year. The Board President reminded the members that when the work was begun it was thought to be a 5-year project.
3) More on the calendar. The issue of cultural sensitivity was raised by the ES Rep. The Superintendent explained that a committee of staff members labored long and hard on the calendar and obviously missed some things.

Strategic Planning Update
The Board members were asked to review the draft of a gap analysis done by the administration, which was to be discussed in full at the November meeting. They should be looking to make sure that it captures the priorities suggested by the AI process and at the Board workshop. The November meeting would provide an opportunity for the Board, with Keith Cundale as a facilitator, to agree upon the priorities for goals in the area of Program.

Ingrid Wibom asked the Superintendent how he planned to involve the professional staff in the development and implementation of the strategic, as so many of the issues identified were naturally related to teaching and learning. The Superintendent was to consider the question and report back to the Board.

Policy Revision
Philip DeCosse presented a structure for the revision of the Board Policy Manual that would contain three discrete documents: A Board Handbook that contained Board procedures and operations, A School Procedural Handbook that was the province of the administration, and a Policy Statement/Policy Manual that would include essential policies that give direction and state priorities. The Policy Committee members will sort the present policy manual accordingly and report back to the Board regularly.

There was a motion made by Diane Lindsey to endorse the approach to the policy work described by Mr. DeCosse, which was seconded by Michel De Knoop. The Board unanimously passed this proposal.

Other Business
The Board President addressed the issue of the time spent at Board meetings discussing issues that either were not Board issues or could be handled outside of the Board meeting. She suggested that for November the Board not discuss reports unless the Board member had attempted to contact the report’s author and felt that an issue needed to be discussed by the full Board. Non-Board members while invited to attend the meeting, were not required to be there. The November meeting’s agenda would include action items and working sessions on strategic planning and policy revision.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.