The topic of the first 45 minutes of the meeting was an update on construction projects and change requests given by Terri Dolan. Board Member Jiudice took issue with the quality of some the work being done at North Junior and went so far as to say that some of the work did not merit being paid for at all.

Jiudice also sharply questioned some water testing that was done at North Junior. He said the City Water Department had not been contacted at that it would be a big problem if a camera was inserted through the line.

Under discussion were some large (million dollar plus) contracts for Meadow Hill and Temple Hill. There will be large asbestos abatement contracts for both because the boilers in both buildings will be removed and replaced. There will also be athletic field construction. The possibility of there being a special shot put field was mentioned.

Dr. Bolton presented the Special Education update. He presented new one-page format summaries to the Board--a pink one for primary, and a green one for secondary. There was discussion about what would consistute non-compliance. Once certain threshholds of enrollment are passed, additional teachers would be required.

There was some discussion about new textbooks and whether the teachers versions would include cd-roms.

There was a question from Board Member DeMarco about an apparent late request for an overnight trip. He pointed out that there was a problem last year with a trip that was requested on short notice. Proper notice is apparently at least 60 days. There was some discussion and it seemed that the request may have been submitted close to the required timeline, but been delayed in processing on the administrative side.

Dr. Bolton put forward a proposal to spend $26,808 on software licensing for some ELA related software to be used at Heritage, South Junior, and the Twilight Program. The target users would be ESL and Special Ed students in grades 10 and 11 who are scoring in the 1, 2, and low 3 ranges of the state assessments. The product, Achieve 3000, would be used by somewhere between 350 and 600 students.

There was a proposal about the in-school suspension program (I think for grades 7 and 8). Board Member McAfee questioned incurring this expense, given the budget situation. The reply from Board Member Popitti was that the program would only be fully implemented if it passed the break even point, at which it is cheeper to do an in-school program compared to home teaching.