MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING OF February 16, 2023
Current Board Members-
North Berwick- Lauren Janousek, Kate Whalen, Lynn Manley
Berwick- Travis Doiron, Elva Lovejoy, Denise Mallett
Lebanon- Victoria Travers, Stephanie Hagenbuch, Nancy Neubert
Student Representative- Echo Balistreri
A meeting of the Board of Directors was held in person in North Berwick, Maine on February 16, 2023 at 6:15 p.m. with all members attending except Ms. Travers and Ms. Neubert.
Mr. Doiron made the motion and it was seconded by Ms. Hagenbuch to enter into executive session pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A §405(6)(B) Expulsion of Student.. All members voted in favor and the motion passed. In at 6:17 pm. Out at 6:47 pm.
Mr. Doiron made the motion and it was seconded by Ms. Hagenbuch to expel the student under consideration. All members voted in favor and the motion passed.
Ms. Janousek made the motion and it was seconded by Mr. Doiron to go into executive session pursuant to 1 M.R.S.A §405(6)(A) Employment of Employee. All members voted in favor and the motion passed. In at 6:50. Out at 7:00 pm.
There were 11 in the audience.
The vice chair shared the public input statement.
Public Input: None
Ms. Lovejoy made the motion and it was seconded by Ms. Hagenbuch to approve the minutes of February 2, 2023. All members voted in favor except Ms. Mallett and Mr. Doiron who abstained and the motion passed.
Student Report: Ms. Echo Balistreri, student board representative, shared with the board the student report:
RISE created a “Love is Respect'' pledge and brought it to all lunches on Tuesday (Valentine’s Day) urging students to sign and furthermore consider the significance of healthy relationships. After signing, students were able to pick a bracelet with the message and get fruit snacks.
Post February break we enter the month of March which contains no breaks. The Wellness Club and National Honors Society have been coming up with ways to alleviate some feelings of stress and burnout. Some of the brainstormed ideas include acts of kindness and pajama day.
Ms. Shannon Swiger, Director of Teaching and Learning presented our Noble 4 All work that has been going on this year. There was a sampling of committee members present ranging from elementary through high school. Riley Godsoe, grade 4 from NBES shared an overview for the elementary folks. The pace is fairly slow but actionable. Reflection and reflective practice, safety and positivity is the focus. The goal is to be sure that students feel welcome and seen. And we ask the overall question; Are the resources in the systems that we have reaching all of our learners?
Melinda Luders shared an overview from the middle school folks. The goal there is to examine and refine the current curriculum and resources to be sure we are providing equitable access to all of our students no matter their background. Activities to meet this goal for the 2022-2023 year:
- Reinforce ideas from the Universal Design Theory
- Continue building diverse classroom and school library book collections.
- Examine and refine summative assessments to be sure we are providing accessibility for all students (Wednesday Department Work)
- Relevant articles shared on the Daily Digest with follow-up discussions
AJ Dufort, principal of NHS and Morgan Lynch shared the work that the Noble 4 All committee is develping for NHS. They are working on the following:
-Integrating differentiated instruction in the classroom and Universal Design Theory.
-Professional Learning Groups read and discussed an article in the Skillful Teacher book on cultural proficiency.
- Department time was spent looking at assessments and grading to better approach a variety of needs and populations within the classroom setting.
The superintendent then shared a third reading of policy BBABB, Student Representatives to the Board. There was a draft policy reviewed and discussed. Mr. Doiron made the motion and it was seconded by Ms. Hagenbuch to approve policy BBABB, Student Representative to the Board. All members voted in favor and the motion passed.
Employment Update:
The Superintendent shared the resignation of Ms. Eliza Halbig of the Hussey School effective 2/24/23. Ms. Lovejoy made a motion and it was seconded by Mr. Doiron to approve the resignation of Eliza Halbig. All members voted in favor and the motion passed.
Superintendent’s report:
School Nutrition:
Abbey Hubbell was invited by the Maine School Nutrition Association to participate in the 2023 Legislative Action Conference in early March in Washington, DC. The Maine Association has noted Abbey’s strong leadership skills and contribution at the district and state level. She will represent the state well!
Noble High School:
Earlier this week, Noble High School hosted staff members from four West Virginia high schools as part of the Great Schools Partnership. Noble High School administrators and teaching staff talked about personalized learning, the high school structure, grading, and classroom configurations to name a few highlights. A tour and classroom visits were included as part of the visit.
Noble Middle School:
EXCEL teacher, Christa Bui, has been nominated for the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award. This award recognizes two outstanding National History Day teachers at the national level.
On another note, last Friday NMS student council hosted their first dance since the pandemic. Over three hundred students attended the dance.
NBES:
Tomorrow marks the twentieth year of the 100’s Day Celebration at North Berwick Elementary School. The tradition was started by former principal, Ron Robert and has continued since that time. The culminating event is a school-wide assembly-a well attended and anticipated yearly event.
Lebanon Elementary School/Hanson School:
The Lebanon Schools recognized World Kindness day by celebrating it throughout the week. Each theme of the day was a way to highlight different ways to show kindness to one another within the community.
Many students have participated in intramural activities. French Club, Legos, and Coding Club were three well attended intramurals.
Knowlton School:
Knowlton School is celebrating the 100th day of school with a community project to collect 700 toiletries. Once collected, the toiletries will be donated throughout the community. Knowlton has been celebrating Kindness Week. Students throughout the week recognize peers with kindness awards and teachers and staff are keeping track of the different acts of kindness throughout the week.
Hussey School:
Similar to students at Knowlton School, Hussey students participated in Spirit days for Kindness week. Hearts are displayed throughout the building recognizing what things students are
thankful for.
Math coach, Carrie Wilson, just concluded a very successful Math Club for 23 third graders. The next round will start up again in the spring.
Athletics:
Congratulations to the Noble Competition Cheer team. They placed third at the Class A State Championships last weekend. The top 3 teams in each class move on to New Englands.
We also congratulate the Noble wrestling team on winning the Class A South Regional wrestling tournament. Nine wrestlers qualified to compete in the Class A State Tournament this Saturday at Sanford High School.
Second Public Input:
Ms. Janousek shared PTO news throughout the district:
Lebanon:
Just finished their Read-A-Thon fundraiser and raised over $17k and had over 39,000 minutes read with 97% participation.
They have their big BINGO Night fundraiser coming up in March.
Then their final fundraiser of the year will be Penny Wars in May.
PTO just gave their 4th/5th grade $2000 to help fund charter buses for the Boston field trip in May.
Lastly they paid for Junk 2 Funk to be there with them for a week at the beginning of May. They will work with students all week and will put on a performance to close out their Day of Arts Celebration happening on May 10th.
North Berwick:
We had our Hula Hut tournament in January with over 100 kids registered and raised $1000.
First annual Adult prom last weekend and raised about $700 – though the final number is not in.
We are supplementing the classrooms with their 100 day collection celebrations – they collect 100 of different foods to donate to the local pantry, backpack program and one love pantry.
Voted to feed teachers for Conference night next month.
Mr. Doiron made the motion and it was seconded by Ms. Hagenbuch to go into executive session pursuant to 1M.R.S.A. §405(6)(A) Labor Contract Negotiations. All members voted in favor and the motion passed. In at 7:53 pm. Out at 8:14pm
Ms. Lovejoy made the motion and it was seconded by Mr, Doiron to adjourn the meeting. All members voted in favor and the motion passed.
Adjourned at 8:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Audra Beauvais