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Superintendent Candidate Update
One of the interim superintendent candidates, Jeffrey Herr, is in Windham to meet with the School Board. The School Board sent an AlertNow to School District parents late Monday night informing the public that there will be a second Meet and Greet (there was one held today that was not publicized) on Tuesday morning, June 30, at 7:30am at the Village Bean in Windham. Mr. Herr is one of three interim candidates. The School Board has indicated that it will afford the other two candidates, Mr. Adam Steel and Dr. Tina McCoy, an opportunity to meet the public later this week. School Board Meeting There is a School Board Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at 7 PM in the SAU Conference Room. (The SAU is located on Rte 111.) The only item on the Agenda is Administration Contracts. The meeting will be recorded but not televised live. Please attend or watch for a LINK update later this week. If you benefit from the information provided by Windham LINK, please let your friends and neighbors know and follow us on FB for more updates. Thank you for taking the time to be informed.
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Windham LINK attended the June 2 and June 9 School Board meetings. The following is an update based on our understanding of the proceedings.*
Administrator Contracts It has come to the attention of the public that there has been a delay in issuing contracts to the Windham School District Administrators, who would typically expect to see their contracts in April or early May with a July 1 start date. Administrators (which include Directors) are part of the non-union pool of School District employees. They have been working with the District to amend the terms of their compensation and benefits for over a year. At the June 2 meeting, Dennis Senibaldi made a motion “to approve the signing of Administrator's contracts, as they currently are, with revisions to happen as soon as possible that are considered fair and equitable by Administrators and the District.” The motion was seconded by Rob Breton. The motion failed 2-3. (Tom Murray, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Ken Eyring opposed.) At the June 9 meeting, the Board took action to direct the Superintendent to issue signed contracts to the Administrators with benefit packages at the status quo and with no more than a 3% raise (herein referred to as “current contracts”). Subsequent to that action, there will be negotiations between Board and Administrator representatives, which, if successful, will result in new contracts with new benefit and salary parameters, and the current contracts will be null and void. If the negotiations are not successful, then the current contracts will be revised to reflect raises (3% +/-), based on merit increases recommended by the Superintendent. Survey On June 2, the Board discussed conducting a survey to gather information about education issues and public opinion about facilities. Preliminary quotes for the survey range from $8,300 - $27,000, depending on the scope of outreach. Based on these quotes, the Board voted 3-2 to move forward with the survey with Panorama Education as proposed. (Rob Breton, Dennis Senibaldi opposed.) On June 9, former School Board member Jerome Rekart addressed the Board and offered to conduct a survey on behalf of the District at no cost. Dr. Rekart is the Director of Research and Analytics at College for America at SNHU. He suggested this would be a fiscally prudent use of local resources. He also spoke of the potential to bring together former and current School Board members. Center School Roof Business Administrator, Adam Steel, along with Russo Bar, a professional firm hired by the District, recommended the replacement of Windham Center School roofs sections “C & E” this summer. On June 2, a motion was made by Dennis Senibaldi, "to replace the roofs as outlined by the Business Administrator for Windham Center School roof sections C & E.” The motion was seconded by Rob Breton. After discussion, the motion failed 1-4. (Tom Murray, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Ken Eyring, Rob Breton opposed.) Superintendent Search Interviews of potential Superintendent candidates will begin this week. If the Board does not find a suitable candidate, they will appoint an acting or interim Superintendent. There has been extensive public input encouraging the Board to appoint an interim Superintendent, rather than going through a search process. On June 2, Superintendent Winfried Feneberg said that he does not want the Board to underestimate the job at hand. He stated, “It is a complex job”, and went on to say the Board should, “be mindful that as much transition time as you can give whoever comes in is going to be beneficial to the District as well as the person.” Golden Brook School Facilities/Option 2+ During the June 2 meeting, Tom Murray asked that other professionals be brought into the Option 2 review process. A motion was made by Dennis Senibaldi "to move forward with Phase 2 of Option 2 as prescribed by the Business Administrator." The motion failed 3-2. (Tom Murray, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Ken Eyring opposed.) Phase 2 would be for the Board to authorize the Administration to engage an architect, civil engineer, and construction manager to develop potential conceptual designs for Option 2, choose a preferred conceptual design and obtain input and to further develop the design, site plan, and project budget by September 1, 2015 for a total of $87,500 (Note: These monies were approved in the FY2016 budget that was passed in March 2015.) On June 2, a second motion was made by Tom Murray "to engage groups B & C with K-8 educational experience and disclose that they have worked for or with any school board member in the past." The motion passed 4-1. (Dennis Senibaldi opposed.) During an update on June 9, it was reported that two other firms have agreed to meet with the District on a pro-bono basis and provide input on Option 2. The timeline for Phase 2 has been pushed back to October, 2015. The next School Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 7 PM. For more information, please visit www.WindhamLINKtoEducation.com. *Meeting Minutes and video recordings are available on the SAU95.org website under the School Board tab. The Windham School Board will be holding a meeting on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 7:30 PM at the Windham Town Hall. Please join Windham LINK at the meeting to show your support for our schools, teachers, and administrators. Following is an update from the June 2, 2015 School Board Meeting.
Administrator Contracts During public input it was asked if all of the Windham School District Administrators and Directors have been offered contracts for the coming school year. Those who are certified were renominated in April and typically would expect to see their contract in April or early May with a July 1 start date. Administrators and Directors are part of the non-union pool of School District employees and have been working with the District to amend the terms of their compensation and benefits for over a year. The district’s Business Administrator, Adam Steel, who has been acting as a liaison between the Administrators and the Board, stated the negotiations began because in his opinion the “Administrators wanted to be adequately compensated.” He went on to say, “They (the Administrators) would prefer contracts. They are nervous and anxious about it.” After public input and Board discussion, Dennis Senibaldi made a motion “To approve the signing of Administrator's contracts, as they currently are, with revisions to happen as soon as possible that are considered fair and equitable by Administrators and the District.” The motion was seconded by Rob Breton. The motion failed 2-3. (Tom Murray, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Ken Eyring opposed.) Roofs Business Administrator, Adam Steel, along with Russo Bar, a professional firm hired by the District, recommended the replacement of Windham Center School roofs sections “C & E” this summer. A motion made by Dennis Senibaldi, "to replace the roofs as outlined by the Business Administrator for Windham Center School roof sections C & E.” The motion was seconded by Rob Breton. The motion failed 1-4. (Tom Murray, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Ken Eyring, Rob Breton opposed.) Survey The Board discussed conducting a survey to get information from school staff and the public about education issues, including public opinion about facilities. Preliminary quotes for the survey range from $8,300 - $27,000, depending on the scope of outreach. Based on these quotes, the Board voted to 3-2 to move forward with the survey with Panorama Education as proposed. (Rob Breton, Dennis Senibaldi opposed.) Superintendent Search The School Board is creating an Interim Superintendent Search Committee. Interviews of potential candidates will begin in mid-June. If the Board does not find a suitable candidate at that time, the Board will appoint an acting or interim superintendent. Rob Breton suggested that the Board appoint Adam Steel as acting superintendent to take advantage of the time that Superintendent Feneberg is still here. One resident expressed disappointment that the Board did not take into consideration the extensive public input that encouraged the Board to appoint an interim superintendent, rather than going through a search process. Mr. Feneberg said that he does not want the Board to underestimate the job at hand. He stated, “It is a complex job”, and went on to say the Board should, “be mindful that as much transition time as you can give whoever comes in is going to be beneficial to the District as well as the person.” Golden Brook School Facilities/Option 2+ During last week’s meeting, Tom Murray asked that other professionals be brought into the Option 2 review process. He also noted that he would like to use the survey data and information to then make an informed decision. A motion was made by Dennis Senibaldi "to move forward with Phase 2 of Option 2 as prescribed by the Business Administrator." The motion failed 3-2. (Tom Murray, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Ken Eyring opposed.) A second motion was made by Tom Murray "to engage groups B & C with K-8 educational experience and disclose that they have worked for or with any school board member in the past." The motion passed 4-1. (Dennis Senibaldi opposed.) There is a lot going on in the Windham School District. Windham LINK would like to encourage you to be part of the process and attend a School Board meeting, write a letter, and/or thank a teacher TODAY. Your support matters and does make a difference. Thank you! The next School Board meeting is at 7:30pm on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at the Town Hall. The Agenda has been set for the Tuesday, June 2, 2015 School Board Meeting which will be held at 7 PM at the Windham Town Hall. (Please note the change in location.)
Opening remarks are expected to include an update by Business Administrator Adam Steel on Option 2 and specifically he will be reporting on the consultation that was had with architects, site/civil, structural and MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) engineers, the Fire Department, Administrators, School Board members, and Facilities Committee representatives. Mr. Steel is requesting $87,500 to contract with Eckman Construction, Lavallee Brensinger, and Tighe & Bond for the purpose of developing a conceptual site plan, a code-compliant conceptual building design, and a project budget for the proposed GBS renovation/addition and the Middle School renovation. Some of the information that can be found in the Agenda Packet for the 6/2 meeting is:
Meeting Agenda Items for June 2nd Include:
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