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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFINAL School Committee Minutes July 6 2021.docx.pdf FINAL MINUTES MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL DISTRICT REGULAR SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING JULY 6, 2021 6.30 P.M. VIA REMOTE PARTICIPATION Present Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton) Jeff Stuhn,Vice-Chair(Needham) Alice DeLuca, Secretary(Stow) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) Steve LeDoux(Concord) Ford Spalding(Dover) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster) Judith Crocker(Lexington) Absent. Dave O'Connor(Bolton) Weighted Vote Weighted Vote present at start of meeting 92 85% Others Present Dr Edward Bouquillon,Dr Amy Perreault, George Clement,Anthony Chiariello,Katie Bouchard, and Julia Pisegna Note This was the first meeting of FY22 The Covid-19 worldwide pandemic was declared in March of 2020 and continues in its 16th month—continuing to affect decisions for the coming school year 1 CALL TO ORDER OPEN SESSION The Chair called the meeting to order at 6.31 p.m. 2 ADOPTION OF REMOTE PARTICIPATION VOTE To adopt remote participation by all members of the Minuteman School Committee pursuant to and in accordance with Sections(2)and(3)of the Executive Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law made by the Governor of Massachusetts on March 12,2020, such adoption to be effective until said Executive Order is rescinded or the Commonwealth's State of Emergency as referenced in said Executive Order, is terminated, whichever happens first ACTION 2021 #159 Moved(Stulm)and seconded(DeLuca) To approve remote participation VOTE 7 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 80 27% Weight needed >40 13% Names of towns opposing or abstaining none Final percentage results of vote 80 27% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulin,Vice-Chair(Needham) (Yes) Alice DeLuca, Secretary(Stow) (Yes) 3 PUBLIC COMMENT Dr Bouquillon announced that no public comments were received 4. GOOD OF THE ORGANIZATION,Pam Nourse Mr Ruderman shared that he was pleased to see in an email correspondence that Dr Bouquillon and members of the administration will be holding a meeting with the LABBB Program to look at what possible options remain for offering LABBB services on the Minuteman campus,and he thanked Dr. Bouquillon. Ms Crocker thanked the administration for a wonderful graduation ceremony that was enjoyed by both students and parents Dr Bouquillon shared that he was notified by Governor Baker that Minuteman was successful in round 3 of the Career Technical Institute Initiative (CTII) grant application for Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI) He noted that while the information is embargoed,he was notified that he could inform his Board, and reported that MTI was awarded the maximum amount of $480,000 to train people in advanced manufacturing,biomanufactunng, allied health professions Committee Chair Pam Nourse congratulated Dr Bouquillon on the wonderful news Dr Bouquillon also reported that we received the Massachusetts Work Immersion Network (MassWIN) Award which funds academic teachers,special education teachers,and vocational teachers to participate in a paid internship in a work environment Minuteman has two staff members who were successful and who will receive a stipend of$5,000, along with transcript credits Lastly, Dr Bouquillon shared that as a result of the new building, the Superintendent's Office and the Business Office merged, a step that was planned for in the architectural and design process in accordance with the MSBA formula which limits the size of district offices These offices are now combined into one office Based upon this merger, the reorganization has been in development for some time. Dr. Bouquillon has worked with consultants and other vocational school supenntendents to improve the effectiveness of our offices and maintain a high level of customer service Dr Bouquillon also worked with Jeff Lawrence, consultant with Organizational Agility Advisors, in preparation for the potential reorganization He reported that the Director of Finance and the Human Resources Coordinator have resigned He shared that the premise for this work is to have a better understanding of our individual strengths and how to leverage these in the framework of collaboration and team development He noted that details are still in progress, but that the current executive administrative staff will assume some of these responsibilities within the existing administrative team 2 The Executive Team retreat is scheduled for the upcoming weeks and Jeff Lawrence will help identify any training and professional development needed,as well as recognizing that the licensure process needs to be part of this reorganization Dr Bouquillon will continue to update members on how workflow and procedures might be changing in the district office, as well as how the administration might better position themselves to help lead on the review of future policy work of the School Committee and subcommittees Committee Chair Pam Nourse shared that Ms Leone has been reappointed as the Minuteman School Committee representative for Lancaster She noted that the updated Weighted Voting Chart was included in the packet (page 3), and that the weighted vote is formulated each year in accordance with the Regional Agreement She asked about the 4- year rolling average total enrollment of 336 Dr Bouquillon shared that he assumed this was the number from the October 1 report last year Ms DeLuca stated that it would be helpful to have the backup documentation for this table Dr Bouquillon and Mr Mahoney will review the chart tomorrow and resend it to Committee members Committee Chair Pam Nourse shared that as this is the last meeting for the 2020-2021 school year, we reflect back on the goals of School Committee for the past year. She noted that the first overall goal of the School Committee was to support the administration in providing high quality education to students in the current environment She shared that while all goals are important, this is the reason we are all here She stated that all of the successes over the past year are due to the talented and committed team of faculty and staff, and that in this past year of unprecedented challenges, everyone rose to the occasion. On behalf of all School Committee members, she shared they are all extraordinarily thankful for all the members of the team and thanked the phenomenal leadership of Dr Bouquillon Dr Bouquillon thanked Ms Nourse for her compliment and for acknowledging the staff and teachers He shared that the School Committee is strong and focused on the things they are working on together which has made a tremendous amount of difference for all, and he is grateful for their collaboration and support Ms Nourse noted that the second goal was to work together towards the completion of the athletic fields project,and thanked Dr Bouquillon,the administration,Finance Committee,the Building Committee, and Mr Spalding for the wonderful athletic fields that the students will have Ms.Nourse then called on each Subcommittee Chair to share their update. Mr Ledoux shared that one year ago, he was the only member of the Finance Subcommittee due to the retirement of Mr Horton and the departure of Belmont and their rep, Mr Gammill They were replaced with Ms Leone and Mr Ruderman who have been great members, always asking a lot of good tough questions as the year progressed He stated that one of their goals was to review and understand the annual budget and non-budget accounts as they go through the budget process and hear the recommendations of each department and work through all the iterations of the budget that the Superintendent has worked through before the School Committee final view He noted that they also review the up-to-date budget reports each month which illustrate how we are doing expenditure wise, including the revolving funds The group also ensures that issues from the annual audit are addressed He noted that while we had the audit presentation a few months ago,it was the first audit that he has seen that did not include a Management Letter recommending changes This made their job a lot easier this year 3 They also reviewed recommendations in policies in Section D, Fiscal Management, and examines the per student costs though he noted that part was not reviewed due to all the other issues taking place,in addition to developing opinions regarding financial items that came before the Board. They were also very involved with how the fields were going to be financed and reviewing the recommendations for the end of year transfers that the Committee will be voting on He shared that it was a busy year,in addition to being a transition year for the Committee with the two new Finance Subcommittee members Committee Chair Pam Nourse thanked Mr Ledoux,Ms Leone, and Mr Ruderman for all their work with the Finance Committee Mr Spalding provided an update on behalf of the School Building Committee Mr Spalding shared that the building project was completed and is operational There are still some items remaining to close out the building,with the largest item being the growing of the grass in the area of the wetlands He reported that until that is complete, we will not receive our final Certificate of Occupancy from the Town of Lincoln He suspects that will probably be done in the fall, but progress is being made slowly but surely Mr Stuhn provided an update on behalf of the Communications, Access, and Admissions (CAA) subcommittee which began in September to work on full admission to the school He noted that we have now reached beyond full admissions from in-distnct students, the focus shifted, and changes were then made in order to accommodate the new reality of having a school with a possible waiting list (Ms Leone arrived at 6 38 p m) Ms Leone provided an update on behalf of the Superintendent's Evaluation and Negotiations Subcommittee The survey was sent to members and Ms Leone will coordinate with Mr O'Brien so that the final report will be submitted to the State prior to the end of the month She noted that nothing else needed to be done seeing that salary negotiations for Dr Bouquillon's contract have already been completed Mr Stuhn thanked Ms Leone for her work on the evaluation She noted that the survey was put together by the administration and she found the new format to be very easy Ms. DeLuca provided an update from the Policy Subcommittee and reported that the major goal of getting the Policy Manual updated online is close to completion with the remaining work to be completed on the footers The next project is Section I which she and Ms Crocker have been going through policy by policy and companng them to MASC, and that Section B is with the attorneys While they did not meet the goal of having everything complete regarding getting the Policy Manual online, it is very close Committee Chair Pam Nourse acknowledged the work of the Policy Subcommittee and thanked Ms DeLuca,Ms Crocker, and Dr Perreault for all their work Ms Nourse also thanked all the members of the School Committee for all their hard work and active participation in the meetings and in their subcommittees which has led to a lot of successful work moving our goals forward 4 5 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT a Review of Approved 2021 Teacher Summer Work Dr Bouquillon shared that as in past years, money received from the federal Perkins Grant, which fiscal year ends September 30th, was used to support teacher work over the summer He noted that the academy development team was reenergized for 2021-2022 He thanked Ms Bouchard and Mr DiPaolo for their work in reengaging staff, especially after COVID put things on hold for some time, and there is now a larger academy development team There were approximately$35,000 worth of proposals submitted, and all of the 25 proposals submitted were funded to some level The five projects submitted and funded for the academy development team included cumculum mapping, which is a system used where teachers on the academic side and the vocational side can look up any other teacher's curriculum to see where they are working on that day and be able to draw on opportunities to integrate.The second project funding was for school-wide integration.Others included integration of career and technical curriculum with academic curriculum, core foundational beliefs, work to improve the portfolio and senior projects which is a requirement for all seniors to graduate, as well as the integration of the LEED curriculum for the photovoltaic system He noted that Eric Marshall, Chair of the Science Department, is working with all of the science teachers to incorporate ten hours of sustainability curriculum into all of the science classes so that all students will receive a sustainability component which gives us compliance with the LEED credential Lastly, the Wednesday academy time project which allows for time during every week where the academies would work together on integration projects, senior projects, and other projects as teachers work together on how to best use that time There was an additional project funded, outside of the Perkins Grant, for continuing to develop our peer leadership program These are typically juniors who receive training over the summer and during the fall to work with Mr Chianello on admission recruitments, marketing, enrollment, and mentonng of the freshman students Dr. Bouquillon shared that he is pleased with the work of these projects. He will be receiving a summary of the work completed over the next couple of weeks,and this information will be used during the Executive Retreat where we will begin to implement some of the changes recommended by the teachers b School Building Report and Athletic Fields Prosect Update Mr. Spalding provided additional items to his previous report. He shared that while there have been a few leaks from the roof, which often happens with new buildings and most of them have been resolved He reported that the leak in the Environmental Department has been investigated and requires the removal of some of the roof in that area This work will be done over the next 16 weeks, A new membrane and installation will be placed,all of which will be taken care of by the contractor who installed it On the athletic side,Mr Spalding shared that he has been on site and is very excited He reiterated that the athletic fields are the icing on the cake for the school and encouraged members to stop by and see the progress He reported that the project is on time and on budget The baseball field is scheduled for completion in late August,football field and track date of completion is set for mid-September, and the softball field area is scheduled for late September The concrete has been installed and really shows what the project is going to look like The track and walkways around the stadium 5 have been installed This process takes approximately 30 days to cure, and then work will begin putting down the turf above the three feet of gravel He noted that with the three inches of rain recently,the drainage system is working beautifully The lights poles have been installed and fencing installation will begin soon Work on the softball field will begin in approximately three weeks He shared that the general contractor, Heimlich Construction, is doing a fabulous job, and the Skanska team commented on the wonderful job they are doing also He shared that when he stood in the middle of the whole complex,he noticed that it is all framed by mature trees, except for the space off to the west when looking at the building. He can picture young kids telling their parents that they want to come to Minuteman, Mr Stulin stated that he shares Mr Spalding's excitement that after all the years of talking about the athletic fields, we were able to very intelligently complete that portion of the project, especially considering all of the restrictions, so that in the fall, students will be back on campus in a truly excellent sports environment despite the incredible obstacles overcome to come to this point Ms DeLuca shared that Mr Stulin has inspired her to say that anyone who has been following this school for the past 20 years,the fields have been the culmination of a very long project to bnng equity to vocational students,and that a very long time ago,they did not have music,they did not have art,they had sub-standard fields, and in light of the words pnvilege and equity, it was not the same. It was not equitable, and now they have a fine school It is more than just the school, it is a trajectory of improvement for education in general, and a celebration of that culmination in these fields, and she thanked Mr Spalding and Dr Bouquillon Mr Spalding shared that he has had the opportunity to see many high schools and see their athletic fields and that nobody will even come close to what we are doing. Mr Stulin stated that the price was very reasonable, the timing of it helped, and we will get a lot for our money as we did on the school building d. Enrollment Canacity Proiects and Update Dr Bouquillon reported that the athletic fields project looks very promising in providing some additional funding for the capacity building projects, and while we may not know that for a few months, he does believe the project will come in under budget for the athletic fields He shared that they would spend all the money borrowed for lighting,but there is$1 2M,which was voted on by the School Committee, out of the Capital Stabilization Fund if it was necessary to expend it, and he is hopeful that we are able to conserve some of that,in addition to the transfers which will add more to the budget for the capacity projects His sense is that is that we have enough funding to complete the North building, which includes the completion of the metal fab shop and will free up space at that end of the building for advanced manufactunng and welding He shared that he held a tour of the building on the east end of campus, which includes an approximately 16,000 square foot building The group included the architects, members of the Advisory Committee of the Animal Science Program, a consultant who equips dental offices and veterinary hospitals They toured the space, and he hopes to have a design process in place towards the end of the summer 6 He also reported that our Animal Science Program was recently officially approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education e State CTE Admissions DESE Approved Dr Bouquillon reported that the Board of Education approved new regulations for admissions but overall, the top 10 changes previously distributed to members, were voted on The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has yet to share any update or guidance on implementation of these changes and regulations He stated that he believes these changes will impact the 2022-2023 admissions cycle The DESE will meet with MAVA in August and Dr Bouquillon will attend Dr Bouquillon provided testimony to the Joint Education Committee, Chairman Peisch, and Chairman Lewis from Western Massachusetts regarding several bills which are in Committee He expressed the need to expand access, to add additional seats, to make the process easier, as well as the need for the establishment a Deputy Commissioner for CTE in the Department of Education d Annual Town Meeting Update Dr Bouquillon shared that all nine member towns have passed the budget e MAVA Leadership Update Dr Bouquillon announced that Steve Sharek is the new Executive Director of MAVA and Ernie Houle is the President of MAYA, both of whom previously worked at Minuteman, and Dr Bouquillon will be co- chair of the Legislative Committee for MAVA in the coming year Mr Ruderman shared that if he is reading the notes correctly-the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education(DESE)has written into their requirements for the coming years that admissions will be governed by a strict in-district-applicant-first rule and he would like to know what they mean by the program, is it program by program as the notes in the School Committee packet indicate? Does that mean per shop as space is available? Dr. Bouquillon responded that there has been no change in the regulations around accepting qualified in- district students. Mr Ruderman clarified his question as the notes read all qualified students from within the district will be admitted into the program,and wondered if that mean that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was differentiating by shops,rather than by school? Dr Bouquillon stated that they have always had that language, and that the problem with that language is that most applications for 8th graders ask the applicants to put in three shops that they are most interested in and sometimes they are ranked 1-2-3 to indicate what shop they are more interested in,but in reality, a student is not placed into a program until after exploratory is completed He stated that it is confusing and a grey area because students do not apply to programs,they apply to Minuteman Students then go through an exploratory process, and at the end of that process,a program is made available to them He stated that that has never been clarified or dealt with in any kind of DESE regulations despite years of asking for it 7 Mr Ruderman shared that he sees this as a point of contention and that itis unfortunate that we do not have guidance on this at the State level He reads the plain words, and he knows that parents are going to read the plain words also and suggests that we are going to have to offer an explanation of what this means if the State does not, and perhaps they are setting us up for failure here,but this point remains unresolved in his mind Committee Chair Pam Nourse stated that there will be further discussion on these topics, and while the State has not put out any guidance yet,we do anticipate that it will be coming at some point and there will be other opportunities to continue this discussion 5 FINANCE REPORT a Approval of FY21 Transfers VOTE To approve FY21 transfers,as presented Dr. Bouquillon expressed his thanks and appreciation to Mr. Mahoney for staying on as a consultant as we continue to move through this reorganization period during the summer and fall. Mr Mahoney detailed the information which was included in the packet on page 19 He shared that at this time of year, we "clean up the books" so that all function code balances are positioned in a surplus position and identified areas where there are over expenditures,as well as other areas where we see excess balances in an effort to balance those out when the auditors come in and close the books He detailed the summary budget transfers(page 19)which totaled$1,319,000 and the items listed on the transfers from account as identified as surpluses, followed by the items identified below as some of the areas where we needed funding He noted that the unique thing about what we are proposing this year is moving $550,000 into the stabilization reserve account which speaks to Dr Bouquillon's previous remarks regarding funding opportunities for campus expansion He noted that given some of the surpluses that we were able to identify this year,he believes there is an opportunity to allocate some of those surpluses from the district budget into the stabilization reserve fund with an authorized transfer from the School Committee which will increase the stabilization fund so that upon completion of the athletic fields,we can identify what the balance left over is of the$1 2M which was authorized for the athletic fields,add an additional$550,000 for work on the buildings as Dr Bouquillon previously descnbed, and part of which would be accomplished by this vote Mr Mahoney proceeded to page 20 of the packet and detailed the summary analysis where we project where our excess and deficiency (E&D) balance will be as of year-end, with the excess and deficiency taking the fund balance from the previous year and adjustments of revenue received in excess of what we anticipated, as well as the unexpended balances that were remaining as of June 30th and deductions used in fiscal 2022 to balance the budget,in addition to some revolving account deficits incurred,such as food services as a result of the environment we were working in(COVID-19 pandemic) He continued down page 20 to the line item for the stabilization account of$550,000 meaning that amount will come out of the fund balance and move over into the stabilization account, with the bottom line entitled projected E&D on 7/1/21, we are anticipating a balance of approximately $696,000, which is slightly better than where we have been in past years, in addition to maintaining the $796,000 (sic) we also have the ability to allocate the$550,000 8 Mr Mahoney described pages 21 and 22 which goes through the line items by function codes which were reviewed in detail at the previous Finance Committee meeting He noted that vote which he is asking for is for authorization to move forward with the transfers as presented, and he invited questions from members Mr Stulin asked for confirmation that the food services deficit is a result of COVID, and not something that we anticipate moving forward Mr Mahoney confirmed that was correct Mr Stuhn stated that considering all the financial impacts of COVID, as well as the unanticipated expenses and the grants we were able to receive from various sources,he is happy to see how the budget went and these transfers Mr Mahoney noted that at this time last year, Dr Bouquillon was rolling out some of the staffing adjustments being made as a result of COVID, we were unsure of what to anticipate as far as State aid goes, so we knew moving into this fiscal year that we had capacity in our staffing and health insurance, in addition to transportation costs being less, and because of the way the model went, it provided some surpluses which we can now use for an opportunity to expand the campus Mr Stuhn noted that it is fairly good news financially at the end of this year partly because of the State aid and partly due to the good planning Mr Ledoux shared that the Finance Committee is very happy also and they unanimously recommend this expenditure plan ACTION 2021 #160 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Ledoux), To approve the FY21 transfers, as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed. >46.42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulm(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) b Approval of List of Monthly Donations VOTE To approve the list of monthly donations, as presented Mr Mahoney presented the list of five monthly donations, included in the packet on page 23, for the School Committee to accept with gratitude from the donors 9 ACTION 2021 #161 Moved(Ledoux)and seconded(Leone), To approve the list of monthly donations, as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining Final percentage results of vote 92.85% Final status of the vote.. Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stuhn(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) c Approval of Disposal of Surplus Property VOTE To approve the disposal of surplus property,as presented Mr Mahoney reported that when surplus property is identified,we seek approval by the School Committee to authorize the disposal of surplus items pursuant to School Committee policy. There is an extensive list of technology items which we are seeking to dispose of, and he asks for a vote to support this request Mr Stuhn asked the age of the computers and whether they lasted the anticipated lifespan expected when they were purchased Mr Mahoney responded that he did not have that conversation with the Technology Director specifically, but he does know that we were on a revolving inventory management of our technology and that we have had to expand our method of capability of these machines as a result of the virtual learning so there may have been some early obsolescence as a result of that Mr Stulm stated that when you purchase technology,you make a guess as to how long it will last because you cannot anticipate 100%future needs and he is hopeful that the lifetime of this equipment,whether more or less time, is used to instruct us for the future of understanding better how long laptops and teacher computers can last,though this past year was an exception,because not only did they have to go onto Zoom on a regular basis,the amount of software used on a daily basis was greater than anticipated Ms DeLuca asked if we have been able to replace equipment noting that there have been significant delays due to the pandemic Dr Bouquillon responded that the supply chain is still strained and that is the reason we are trying to order things in advance,and we anticipate learning in the next week whether all of our 1-1 devices will arrive for the incoming freshman class in August or in September He shared that Victor Woodroffe, Director of Technology, has been very proactive regarding purchasing, and though we are on track, we are still not 100%certain that we will be fully equipped for this fall and added he is not aware of anyone that can 10 ACTION 2021 #162 Moved(Ledoux)and seconded(Leone), To approve the disposal of surplus property, as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining Final percentage results of vote 92.85% Final status of the vote.. Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stuhn(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) 7 SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS a Strategic Planning Subcommittee Update—Ford Spalding Mr Spalding thanked Mr Mahoney for his participation in recent meetings He reported that the Superintendent's search firm search resulted in two candidates - Massachusetts Association for School Committees (MASC) and New England School Development Council (NESDEC) Both companies submitted proposals, and both met the criteria for an interview On Thursday, July Pt, Ms Nourse, Ms DeLuca, and himself met with each firm for a separate one-hour meeting each Representatives from NESDEC included Dr Art Betterncourt,Dr Michael Palladino and Dr Carolyn Burke Mr Glenn Koocher represented MASC The Strategic Planning Subcommittee developed 11 questions in advance that were asked to each firm,and both firms represented their services professionally and in great detail, and both firms are qualified to assist us in our search After the interviews,the group met and discussed the applicants,proposals and answers to their questions, and a motion was made to recommend to the July 6th School Committee the Massachusetts Association for School Committees (MASC) to provide technical assistance and support for our Supenntendent's search process, and the vote was unanimous Mr Spalding shared that the decision was made on the following factors 1) they have experience and were successful in searches for vocational schools, including recent ones such as Greater New Bedford Vocational, Blue Hills Vocational, and Essex Technical They were impressed with MASC's first-hand knowledge of Minuteman and vocational education in general Mr Koocher will be the MASC representative to lead our search Mr Spalding then made the following MOTION to enter into a contract with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees(MASC)not to exceed $15,000 to provide Superintendent search services to Minuteman lead by Glenn Koocher 11 Ms Crocker thanked members of the Strategic Planning Committee for all their hard work Mr Ledoux asked Mr Spalding to explain in further detail the tasks that the consultant(MASC)will undertake. Mr Spalding explained that they will assist a future search committee in the process of working with the information that was developed after the two School Committee retreats to develop a profile, which will eventually be voted on by the School Committee, before it is made public, They will assist in the advertising piece which will be sent the community at large for a nation-wide search They will also help in the formulation of a search committee,identifying the types of people that we would like on the committee and who they might represent, and will assist us through the entire process They will advertise for candidates through a full search using their extensive channels They will also assist in the screemng of the candidates, along with the committee, and we will present the candidates to the School Committee for approval The committee will not be an appointment committee,but rather will find appropriate candidates for the School Committee to select The timeframe set was to form a search committee whose members would be appointed by the School Committee by September, followed by advertising for potential candidates and hopefully the appointment of a successful candidate by January of next year and a start date at the end of the school year Mr. Ruderman asked for confirmation that MASC assisted New Bedford Vocational with their search satisfactorily with their School Committee, and Mr Spalding confirmed that was his understanding Ms Leone asked about the size of the search committee, and Mr Spalding noted that it has yet to be defined but estimates under 12 members Ms Leone remarked that too big gets to be cumbersome and too small gets to be exclusive VOTE. To enter into a contract with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC)not to exceed$15,000 to provide Superintendent search services to Minuteman lead by Glenn Koocher, as presented ACTION 2021 #163 Moved(Spalding)and seconded(DeLuca), To enter into a contract with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC)not to exceed$15,000 to provide Superintendent search services to Minuteman lead by Glenn Koocher, as presented VOTE. 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) 12 Jeff Stulm(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) b Finance Committee Update—Steve Ledoux Mr Ledoux noted that their last meeting focused on discussions regarding the end-of-year transfers and he had nothing additional to add c Communications,Access, and Admissions (CAA) Subcommittee Update—Jeff Stulan and Anthony Chiariello, Assistant Principal of Admissions VOTE To direct the Superintendent to explore the long-term financial stability and diversity of the district under the new state Admissions Regulations, including additional membership and community-based solutions Mr. Stulin reviewed with members three major items that were discussed at the last CAA meeting as follows. 1) How the changes voted on by the Massachusetts DESE and mandated by the DESE impact our admission and slot allocation procedures He explained that there are sub-questions included in that question, for example,what is the meaning of a qualified student?He noted that if we are required to take all qualified in-district students first,we need to be careful in how we define qualified students 2)Under what circumstances do we offer slots to out-of-distract students? He shared that if there comes a time in which we have slots available in the school and there are currently no in-district students vying for those slots, we have to give them to out-of-district students and that include a process which would need to be coordinated and kept within the rules He noted that the lack of clarity from the State makes our job extremely difficult in defining how to move forward but suggested the reorganization of MAVA may be helpful in creating the line of communications with the State to assist with these issues He further shared that we need to address the Admissions Policy and slot allocations policy based on the new rules 3) In addition,he noted two other items that need to be addressed 1) Should we explore adding a new member town? He explained that should we add another member town, we would become more financially stable over the long term because we still do not know if the number of applicants to the school is a new normal or just temporary, so by choosing to add a new appropriate member town, we would have more long-term financial stability,but then fewer slots would be available to the current member towns 2) What does diversity mean for Minuteman? 13 He shared that diversity is a topic where there is a lot of disagreement as to what it means, and it could mean different things for different schools, and in order to move forward more formally on this topic,we need to explore the opportunities and financial impacts of these items He explained that the motion before the Committee this evening will give the Superintendent the authority to start exploring these issues,which would require some financial analysis, and noted that with respect to bnngmg in an additional town, our member towns would have to vote to approve that VOTE To direct the Superintendent to explore the long-term financial stability and diversity of the district under the new state Admissions Regulations; including additional membership and community-based solutions Ms Leone asked if the conversations with any new member would include how we allocate slots to that new member because they would come in with a zero four-year rolling average Mr Stulin shared that the entire process of what it means for a new member town to come in and how that impacts what the Regional Agreement says,as well as how we want to handle the financial part, and is all something that would need to be discussed further and all member towns would have to vote to approve it ACTION 2021 #164 Moved(DeLuca)and seconded(Leone) To approve the Superintendent to explore the long-term financial stability and diversity of the district under the new state Admissions Regulations, including additional membership and community-based solutions VOTE• 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining none Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulin,Vice-Chair(Needham) (Yes) Alice DeLuca, Secretary(Stow)(Yes) d Supenntendent Negotiations and Evaluation Subcommittee-Jennifer Leone Ms Leone thanked Mr O'Brien and members of the Executive Team who put together a synopsis of the accomplishments of Dr Bouquillon for the past year and the challenges he has faced Mr Stulin remarked that he thought it was a very good and sensible process which included only four areas to cover which allowed members to focus on them easily and the evidence was very clear 14 Ms Leone agreed that the process was very clear, straight forward, and the supporting documentation justified the evaluation She will submit the information to the DESE by the end of July The Chair will need to sign it Ms Nourse agreed that it was a very good process and noted that no vote is necessary Mr Stulm stated that the accomplishments of Dr Bouquillon from the beginning of the year when we realized that we were going to have so many students applying to the school, he moved forward with a sensible idea for increasing capacity in a remarkably short period of time and in a manner that would allow a lot more students to come to the school without over-burdening member towns He commended Dr Bouquillon on his plan which was coherent, imaginative,unexpected, and a great benefit to our member towns It will allow a lot more students to attend with very little financial impact He shared that he wanted to emphasize that because he has not known any leaders m this profession who would have been able to do the same 9 SECRETARY'S REPORT,Alice DeLuca a Approval of Draft Minutes of June 8, 2021 Ms.DeLuca presented the draft minutes of June 8t",2021,for approval. There had been no comments/edits suggested VOTE To approve the draft minutes of June 8,2021,as presented ACTION 2021 #165 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Crocker), To approve the draft minutes of June 8,2021, as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulm(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) 15 8 REORGANIZATION/ELECTION OF OFFICERS a Process Ms Nourse noted this is the traditional time for electing officers for the new year She noted that we are a small School Committee and invited all members to think about stepping into leadership for the School Committee The School Committee took the following vote for the reorganization to occur. ACTION 2021 #166 Moved(DeLuca) and seconded(Leone) To allow the Superintendent to preside temporanly VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present. 92.85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining. none Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stuhn(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) b Nomination for Chair The temporary Chair,Dr Bouquillon, opened the floor for nominations for the office of Chair Ms DeLuca nominated Pam Nourse if she is willing Dr Bouquillon called for other nominations There were no other nominations When asked if she would be willing to serve,Ms Nourse responded in the affirmative,but noted that she is willing to do it for one more year and wanted to note that so that others can begin to think about stepping into the role as Chair The following vote was taken ACTION 2021 #167 Moved(DeLuca)and seconded(Spalding) To appoint Pam Nourse as Chair for 2021-2022 VOTE members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining none 16 Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote• Unanimous Roll Call. Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulin(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) c Nomination for Vice-Chair The newly appointed Chair,Ms Nourse,then asked for nominations for the position of Vice-Chair Ms. DeLuca nominated Steve Ledoux. Ms.Nourse called for other nominations. There were no other nominations. Mr Ledoux affirmed his willingness to serve in this capacity, and the following vote was taken ACTION 2021 #168 Moved(DeLuca) and seconded(Leone) To appoint Steve Ledoux as Vice-Chair for 2021-2022 VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining none Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote. Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone(Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulm(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) d Nomination for Secretary The Chair asked for nominations for the position of Secretary Mr Stulin nominated Alice DeLuca Ms Nourse asked for other nominations There were no other nominations Ms DeLuca affirmed her willingness to serve in this capacity, and the following vote was taken 17 ACTION 2021 #169 Moved(Stulm)and seconded(Crocker) To appoint Alice DeLuca as Secretary for 2021-2022 VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present. 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining none Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton) (Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover) (Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stuhn(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) Ms.Nourse gave a special thank you to Mr. Stulm for his service as Vice-Chair and as part of the Officers meetings over the past year 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business,the School Committee took the following vote ACTION 2021 #170 Moved(Leone)and seconded(DeLuca), To adjourn the meeting VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Names of towns opposing or abstaining. Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Final status of the vote Unanimous Roll Call Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton)(Yes) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) (Yes) Steve LeDoux(Concord)(Yes) Ford Spalding(Dover)Yes) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster)(Yes) Judith Crocker(Lexington)(Yes) Jeff Stulm(Needham)(Yes) Alice DeLuca(Stow) (Yes) 18 Respectfully submitted, Julia Pisegna Alice DeLuca District Assistant Secretary 19