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CARR' MEMORIAL =.F" Page 7 LEXINGTON, MASS. 0217: January 12, 1976 On Monday evening January 12, the Lexington School Committee con- ducted a regular meeting at the Jonas Clarke Junior High School. The meeting began at 8:15 p.m. The following were in attendance: Mesdames Swanson and Berchtold, Messrs. Brown, Rotberg, Wadsworth and student representative Alan Wachman. Also present were Messrs. Spiris, Maclnnes, Monderer, Barnes and Miss Quinn. The January 5, 1976 minutes were reviewed. It was JANUARY 5, 1976 MINUTES VOTED: to accept the minutes of January 5, 1976. (Brown, Berchtold, Unanimous)(to be embodied in official minutes) Mr. Robert Gartside, 20 Loring Road, Boston University music pro- PUBLIC fessor expressed his concerns to the school committee regarding the cut- PARTICIPATION ting of specialists. He stated that the school committee was eroding bit by bit that which made the Lexington school system different. He felt specialists were incredibly overworked considering the ratio of teachers to number of students. He said transfer and reassignment of specialists to other schools would have a negative effect on children. Mr. Gartside felt the School Committee could save money in other ways such as using assistant principals as teachers, cutting administrative costs, etc. He further commented on the school budget by stating that he rejected the school department's proposal to add additional guidance counselors, and secretaries to help with Chapter 766. He stated that this type of money should be used to assist classroom teachers or for additional professional staff. He said if teachers had more time to work with students there would be fewer problems. He requested the School Committee reconsider its action. Mr. Joel E. Jensen, 60 Bloomfield Street, of the Munroe School dis- trict said he understood the possibility of closing Munroe School was due to administrative needs. He felt that administrative needs might be a priority, however, students should be the first priority in any school system. He said the disruption would not be worth it. Mrs. Swanson replied saying the School Committee had never considered closing Munroe School in order to make space for the Lexington administration. She said that good administration was a focus of the School Committee, however, it was not the reason for closing any school. Mrs. Marjorie Jensen, 60 Bloomfield Street, asked if cost estimates were available for the analysis of the current school administration building versus the Munroe School, and if Munroe School were operated as an administration building what the cost would be. She asked for all costs to be included. Mr. Spiris said it would be easy to deter- mine and would give a report at a future meeting. Mr. Robert Safford, of 12 Meriam Street, inquired of the School Committee as to what would happen if the declining enrollments begin to reverse themselves. Were there any contingency plans developed by the School Committee, and was it possible to set aside some money now that might be used in future years to build new buildings? Mrs. Swanson