Politics & Government
BOE Meeting: A Full Agenda and a Late Night
A discussion of the labor complaint by the bus owner-operators and requiring a personal financial literacy course for high school graduation were among the agenda items.
In addition to debate regarding a , the Board of Education discussed its financial situation, a pending labor complaint filed by the Newtown owner-operator and a capital improvement request during its Tuesday meeting.
Financial Report
A review of the BOE Budget Summary Report as of November 30th was made by Ron Bienkowski, Business Manager for the Newtown Schools. Bienkowski indicated that the budget would be very tight for the remainder of the year. Areas running over budget include salaries due to educational assistants, special educational services and a nurse requested by Fraser-Woods School. Professional Services are high because of special education legal services, a significantly increased need for speech and hearing services, and other legal fees due to the labor board hearing.
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Financial Literacy Course
The board unanimously approved making the Personal Financial Literacy course a requirement beginning with next year’s incoming freshman or the Class of 2017. Board members felt this was an important class for students to take before they are out of high school.
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Schedule of 2012 Board of Education Meetings
The approved schedule is attached or can be found on the district website.
Owner-Operator Labor Board Discussion
The BOE’s attorney Floyd Dugas gave some background and an update on the owner-operator labor complaint with the State Board of Labor Relations. There were several key points.
- At the informal hearing, the labor board agent expressed reservations, in his opinion, that the owner-operators were employees.
- The first hearing is scheduled for December 29th, 2011 at 1:30pm for three hours.
- Most likely, there will be two or three hearings spread out over several months.
- Dugas did not think it was likely there would be a decision before mid-summer.
To view the complete discussion, see the attached videos.
Request for An Additional Section of CPB Math III at the High School
Karen Sherman, chair of the high school math department, asked the BOE for approval to add another section of CPB Math III at NHS. This addition would equal approximately $5000 and was unanimously approved by the BOE.
Special Appropriation Request to the Board of Finance
The board approved a request to the Board of Finance for a special appropriation to complete several building and site maintenance projects. The money would come from a capital non-recurring fund that was previously funded by a BOE surplus.
