2014-01-30-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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2014-01-30 Minutes The number of special needs students is growing at the youngest levels. The number of homeless children has increased to about 30, only partially because some homeless families have been placed at the Bedford Street hotel. The time it takes to evaluate a teacher is increasing because of new state standards. The budget includes anew Director of Planning and Assessment, whowill provide technical support for data collection and analysis. The person will have an advanced degree. The Department of Student Services will be reorganized withnew department names. The major budget drivers are legal requirements, enrollment increases, contractual increases, and program improvements. Staff profilingis not currently available but an effort will be made to compile thisdata. Most of the structure is now in place for tracking staffpositions; the next step is to train staffin how to make a staffing request. Budget administrators are being remindedthat the approved budget book controls where and how much money is spent. There isn’t a separate line item for energy planning and training. In recent years, safety and security demands have changed significantly; the School Department, Police Department, and Fire Department meet annually with their crisis teams to maintain formalized and coordinated emergency response measures. Developing those measures took more time than is now required to update and maintain them. School bus usage has been increasing annually since 2012 when the bus fee, if one signed up early, was reduced to $300. There are continued efforts to offer expanded after-school transportation programs at the elementary schools. The Lexpress/School Bus Flexpass is very helpful for middle and high school students. Unfortunately,traffic around the schoolsis still an issue, probably because of increased enrollment and because of the inefficient traffic patterns on school property. The cost of eliminating the school bus fee would be $700,000 to $800,000 and it isn’t clear that this would eliminate the traffic problems. One bus costs $128,000 a year. The buses are essentiallyfull; ridership data will be presented to Town Meeting. Collecting overdue fees from parents can sometimes be challenging;small claims court is one option. Students are not allowed on the bus if they haven’t paid; students can’t participate in their high school graduation if all fees aren’t paid. The School Department has requested funding for two new capital projects: Traffic mitigationdesign; Bridge Elementary School and Lexington High School (LHS) will be addressed first. Replacementof defibrillators; theyhave reached their eight year life span. There are a couple of errors in the budget book: middle school fees will not be increased;anda figurein the text isnot consistent with some information in a table. Thereare plans to close out the Avalon Fund. The Financial Assistance Fundis only used for athletic activities and pre-school transportation. Per-pupil costs were calculated in 2009 based on a methodology that included supplies and instructional material.The methodology could be used again. th New bids for the LHS modular buildings are expected on February 11. 2