RANGELEY — The Rangeley Lakes Regional School Board of Education met Sept. 8, at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School, and recently released the minutes from that meeting.

School board members present included Ginny Nuttall, Pamela Ellis, Barbara Burgess, Harold Schaetzle and Mary Vacarro.

Brian Foster, Superintendent, and Sherry Connally, Principal, were also at the meeting.

Following the call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance, the previous meeting's minutes were accepted with a slight change.

Since there were no adjustments to the agenda and no public comments, the meeting moved on to comments from the chair, superintendent and principal.

The chair reminded the board of the upcoming MSMA Fall Conference scheduled for Oct. 22 and 23. It was also noted that the board needs to select a member to the MSBA Delegate Assembly. The annual meeting is held during the fall conference and will be placed on the next school board agenda.

Superintendent Foster reported on attendance at the Aug. 28 Superintendents' Workshop with the commissioner. He noted that the focus of the workshop was on current budget concerns and the current status of the seasonal influenza and H1N1 state and CDC plans.

Foster also reviewed the change made as the result of concerns at the last meeting regarding the traffic pattern at the school for buses and cars.

Then he reviewed the spreadsheet on student enrollment as of Sept. 4. The total enrollment is 207 students.

Principal Connally reported that the soccer season had started. She also informed the board that she attended a workshop recently on the NECAP assessment, which is replacing the MEA. This will be given in October with reading, writing and math for grades 3 to 8. Science will be assessed in May using the MEA for grades 5 and 8, she noted.

The new high school laptops have started to be assigned and software is still being installed, Connally told the board. She also reported that teachers are using the new smart boards.

She announced that there will be an upcoming substitute training and that teachers would be meeting that week with the principal to review tiers for teacher evaluations this year.

She noted that there is also scheduled a PTA meeting and that the school newsletter is going out electronically.

Under old business, the board discussed the work completed at the Sept. 4 goal workshop. The board selfassessment and progress on goals were reviewed. The calendar of monthly board activities was also reviewed. The board discussed establishing a committee to work with it on the transition to the new school board after the referendum on the reorganization plan. The next scheduled board workshop is Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m. at the town office conference room.

Under new business, the board reviewed the spreadsheet of student enrollments as of Sept. 4. It was noted that K-12's total enrollment at 207 is down from last year, due primarily as a result of graduating the largest senior class and because several students moved out of the district.

There was a discussion of staffing needs at the first grade level given the number of students. A possibility of a pre-K (4-year old) program may be looked at in the future.

The principal reviewed the results of MEA testing by presenting a spreadsheet comparing results from 2004 through 2009. There have been increases in literacy scores; but math scores are an area of concern. It was noted that this is the first year of implementation of the K-8 math curriculum. A discussion of setting staff math goals followed.

Necessary professional development and differentiation of instruction were also discussed as were SAT results for 11th graders. It was noted that there were a number of positive results in the student scores.