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Monday night the Historic District held their Eagle Board of Reviews for scouts who had completed all of the requirements for the rank of Eagle, the highest honor in scouting. Less that 4% of all scouts make it to this rank. Troop 13 is please to announce that Dennis Francoeur III has completed his requirements and was approved as Troop 13’s latest Eagle Scout. Dennis is a senior at TRHS, is now an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 13 and our second Eagle in 2008 for our small troop. Congratulations to Dennis for his hard work and dedication and to the volunteers who helped him with his Eagle Project and time in scouts. In addition the rank and merit badge (21+) requirements, Dennis’ Eagle Project included the design, approval and construction of an observation blind on a small island overlooking a blue heron rookery in the Danville Town Forest. The date for his Eagle Court of Honor is pending.

Great Job Dennis!

I haven’t seen this yet, and the agenda isn’t posted on the town site, but there was discussion on household hazardous waste, recycling, the Library (returned with data, bad assumptions, bad math), and recreation.

 

 Danville BOS Meeting 11/24/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The November meeting of the Conservation Commission complete and unedited. Enjoy!

 

 Danville Conservation Meeting 11/06/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There’s no more important element of the education process than the teacher. When a teacher is not in the classroom, the value of the educational experience is diminished. It’s clear to me that Timberlane students are deprived of the influence of a qualified teacher on a regular basis. It’s my understanding that Timberlane teachers miss 12 days of teaching each year. Another 10 days are lost to scheduled teacher development. Teachers also attend development activities during the academic calendar. Many more teaching days are lost to late starts. We’re talking about losing 15% of teaching days!

We can address the late starts, but when I have inquired about the other issues, the answer is always — “It can’t be helped, it’s in the contract.” Now that we are working a new contract, can we please try to improve our kids’ education by keeping the teachers in the classroom?

This contract should pay teachers for unused sick time. As I understand it, the average teacher is sick exactly the number of sick days in the contract. Ethics aside, paying them for unused days would provide an incentive to be in the classroom. We should also fund teacher development OUTSIDE the teaching day. School gets out at 2:30pm. Start the development activity at that time OR pay the teachers to come in on a Saturday OR give the kids the whole day off when the teachers are developing and extend the school year.

My goal for Timberlane is that the district provide 180 FULL days of QUALITY instruction to our children. The first step is to ensure that the children are taught by teachers 180 days per year. I’d appreciate your support on this.

I will not vote for any warrant to fund a contract that does not remedy this problem.

Here’s the complete, unedited, brief meeting. Enjoy!

 

 Danville Heritage Meeting 11/12/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here’s the complete, unedited, brief meeting. Enjoy!

 

 Danville Heritage Meeting 10/22/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

During this session, there is discussion of the Master Plan and a brainstorming session on things we might need in ten years that we haven’t even thought of — town pool anyone? Or how about soccer and foorball fields? More talk about needing a multifunction place to vote (um, how about the school, guys…that’s why they close it for election day).

One things for sure — they’re planning to spend our money.

Here’s the complete, unedited, meeting. Enjoy!

 

 Danville Planning Board Meeting 11/13/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hope you’re not too attached to the new $0.5M science rooms…or your money. One of the proposals for new school construction calls for demolition the less-than-six-month-old classrooms. Other scenarios ‘repurpose’ the expensive classrooms. This ‘mallification’ of the school is more about socialization than education according to the architects and may exceed 60% of the cost of new construction — which would make the project ineligible for state funding. Here is a link to the concepts presentation Courtesy of Peter Bealo.

I haven’t had a chance to watch this carefully, but wanted to post it quickly so people could help their school board reps decide which proposal to support.

The meeting ends with doomsday predictions for state funding (less support for kindergarten and construction). Mr. La Salle also added two holidays to the SAU calendar. He did this to save us money and suggested staff use vacation time or comp time (hang around a while after shift end) to account for the time — I’d like to see the list of people who use vacation days.

 

 TRSD School Board Meeting 11/20/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The November meeting of the Forestry Committee complete and unedited. Enjoy!

 

 Danville Forestry Meeting 11/05/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I haven’t watched this yet, and this week is cut off the Budget Committee schedule, but the Police Department budget is in the spotlight.  It’s a must see as the PD budget is up 15% and includes a new vehicle which will hold up well because it will seldom be used…oh and they need a place to store it.

Here’s the unedited meeting…

 

 Danville Budget Committee Meeting 11/18/08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download