1975-09-29-SC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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rt n'7 7Y LEX1 i av;U;v, Cv": Page 199 September 29, 1975 Dr. Charles Halbower of the Arthur D. Little Co. , Inc. was present to discuss the Management Study which was conducted during the summer and the MANAGEMENT resulting comments of this study by central office administrative staff. STUDY Dr. Halbower described the procedure which was used to gather the needed information. One hundred and one persons, including 92 staff, 5 school committee members and 4 town management members were asked to support the majority of the eight recommendations listed in the study. He then disclosed that Dr. Fobert's March 20, 1974 memo, in which he outlined plans to reorganize the work assignments for the six central office staff, was not received by him and therefore, was not used as a reference point while the study was being conducted. Some reference material which had been used included some information dated 1969 and the recent Citizens Committee report on Guidance. Mr. Spiris said he was shocked that Dr. Halbower hadn't seen the memo. Mrs. Swanson asked Dr. Halbower how he tested issues which were raised. He said, after interviewing staff he discussed the issues with Dr. Fobert, Dr. Monderer and Mr. .Maclnnes. Mr. Spirts followed with a review of various areas of the study which, in his opinion, needed back-up data to confirm Dr. Halbower's findings. Some of the questions which were asked by the committee were as follows: Mr. Rotberg asked how specifically can the School Committee improve staff morale. He was told that the development of data base programs which could redistribute resources and improve programs would help. ..He said it would not eliminate the conflict but would start off with the kind of information that the School Committee did not have available previously. Mr. Rotberg then asked how we can build credi- bility on the establishment of the data and was told that LEAD and LIRSP could be used as good examples. Mrs. Berchtold noted that Dr. Halbower had spoken to Chairpersons and Department Heads and asked if he could shed some light on what he found in these conversations. She was told that there were discussions at the high school level with the staff regarding availability of secretaries, telephones, the degrees to which department heads could be more effective throughout the high school, and curriculum planning. Asking if he made any recommendations on staffing at the high school level, Dr. Halbower replied that none were made that would have any significant impact. Mr. Wadsworth asked how Lexington supervisory personnel compared to other towns. He was told that Lexington staffing was quite "lush" compared to other towns in the United States but not so when compared to communities similar in wealth and size. Mr. Brown made a MOTION which was seconded by Iir. Wadsworth to ask Dr. Halbower to review Dr. Fobert's March 20, 1974 memo and report back to the School Committee. This would be done at no extra charge. Dr. Halbower agreed to review this information and respond without any additional fee.