Nancy Carter moved and Anne Segal seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the regular meeting of February 11, and the nonpublic session of February 11, as submitted. The motion passed unanimously.

3. Communications and reports

a) Report of Chair:

Board Calendar - The Chair announced that the next regular Board meeting will be Wednesday, April 14, 7:30 p.m. in the Ray School Multi. Discussion then followed concerning changing the starting time of future meetings. Consensus of the Board was that Hanover School Board meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. for all future meetings.

Annual Hanover School District Meeting - The Chair announced that the Annual Hanover School District Meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 10, 7:30 p.m. in the Bernice A. Ray School Music Room.

Special Dresden District Meeting - The Chair also announced that there will be a special Dresden District Meeting for the athletic fields on April 12 and 13. The discussion phase will take place on Monday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., in the Hanover High School Gym, and the voting phase on Tuesday, April 13, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Tracy Hall for Norwich residents and Richmond School Gym for Hanover residents.

Letter to the Editor - Mr. Cassidy distributed a draft copy of a letter he is planning to send to the Valley News encouraging voting members of the Hanover community to attend the District meeting. Board members offered suggestions and discussed other ways to get the voters to attend the meeting.

b) Principal's report: Principal Bruce Williams reported that enrollment remains steady.

4. PTO Gifts

This item was added to the agenda, as Mitsu Chobanian, representing the Ray School PTO, was present to present the PTO gift awards and ask for Board acceptance. Ms. Chobanian said that the PTO has chosen to fund all or part of six proposals for a gift total of $1,433.90. She described these proposals and the rationale for the funding.

Larry Pilchman moved and Anne Segal seconded a motion to approve the PTO gifts as proposed and attached to the original minutes of the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

6. Acceptance of anonymous gift

Mr. Williams opened the discussion saying that an anonymous gift of $20,000 intended to honor the special education department has been given to the school. He said the gift was earmarked for training and a program to teach social skills to students which would cost approximately $7,500. He emphasized that this would be a one time program ending with school year 2004, and would not be budgeted for future years. Discussion followed during which concern was expressed that such a gift might indeed obligate the District in the future to provide such a program. Following the guidelines of Policy KHE - Gifts, members of the Board felt that they needed more clarifying information about plans for the remainder of the money and the time frame in which this money would be used.

Nancy Carter moved and Larry Pilchman seconded a motion to accept an anonymous gift of $20,000. to support several projects for the Learning Center at the Ray School. The motion failed, 3 yes, 3 no (Asmus, Cassidy, Segal).

The Board asked that Mr. Williams provide it with more detailed information. This item will be brought back to the April 14 meeting.

7. Report of Committees:

Ed Planning Committee - Mr. Williams reported that the Committee is planning to meet on March 4 and will have a report at the April 14 meeting.

8. Superintendent's report: -

a. Hanover Finance Committee - Mr. Greenbaum reported that members of the Hanover Finance Committee would not be in attendance at this meeting, but will attend a public hearing on the proposed changes to the Finance Committee Charter on April 5, 7:30 p.m., in the Hanover Selectboard meeting room.

b. Folders for the District Meeting - Superintendent Greenbaum distributed and reviewed Board members' folders in preparation for the District meeting. Kari Asmus reported that she talked with the Hanover Trustees of Trust Funds regarding the proposed Expendable Trust Fund to be known as the Tax Stabilization Fund (Article 4). She said that in order for the fund to earn a high interest rate, it would be necessary to amend the Article to include a time restriction for removing the funds. After discussion, consensus of the Board was that a motion amending the Article would be presented by John Chamberlin at the time of the District meeting.

The Board also discussed waiving the reading of the entire Warrant by the Moderator in order to reduce the redundancy.

9. Public comments

There were no public comments offered.

10. Propriety of Board members' actions

Anne Segal began a discussion about the propriety of individual Board members' actions with regard to letter writing, distributing handouts, and other materials without the knowledge of the Board Chair and fellow Board members. After discussion, Chair Cassidy asked that Board members strive to keep everyone informed and reminded fellow members that it is important to make every effort to clarify how they are speaking at the moment (whether as private individuals or as Board members on behalf of the Board).

11. Business requiring discussion

a) Draft SAU Mission Statement - Board members reviewed the current SAU Mission Statement, proposed revised statement, and the Hanover High School Mission Statement. The revised draft will be brought back to the April 14 meeting for Board approval.

b) Discussion of 2004-05 school calendar - Superintendent Greenbaum reported that Administration was still receiving input from faculty and would bring a final draft calendar to the March 23 Dresden Board meeting for Board approval. At the April 14 Hanover Board meeting, Board action on the calendar would need to mirror that of Dresden.

12. Business requiring action

a) Nominations -

The Superintendent placed in nomination staff members for the 2004-05 school year as listed and attached to the original minutes of the meeting.

Larry Pilchman moved and Anne Segal seconded a motion to elect nominated staff members for the 2004-05 school year as listed and attached to the original minutes of the meeting. This motion is subject to the passage of the Hanover School District Warrant Articles 7 (teachers' contract) and 9 (budget) on March 10, 2004. Failure of either of these articles to pass will render this action null and void. The motion passed unanimously.

b) Resignation

John Chamberlin moved and Anne Segal seconded a motion to accept the resignation of Maureen Keleher effective June 30, 2004. The motion passed unanimously.

13. Adjournment

Nancy Carter moved and John Chamberlin seconded a motion to adjourn at 9:48 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting adjourned at 9:48 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary B. Davis
Recording Secretary