Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-14-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, September 14, 2021 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:31 P.M. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson Eileen Jay, Vice -Chair Scott Bokun Deepika Sawhney Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Sara Mei SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. The School Committee is convening in-person in the Select Board's Meeting Room. Members of the public can view and participate in the meeting webinar from their computer or tablet by clicking on the link provided with the meeting agenda. This is the first hybrid meeting. Please note that this meeting is being recorded, and that attendees are participating by video conference. This evening's meeting is being broadcast live and also taped by LexMedia for future on -demand viewing. All supporting materials that have been provided to members of this body are available on the Town's website unless otherwise noted. There was a moment of silence for the twentieth anniversary of September 11th. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS: • Mr. Bokun attended the September meeting of the Human Rights Committee. The HRC has new officers. At the Planning Board meeting, Charles Hornig, Chair, presented a few warrant articles that they are working on for the upcoming Town Meeting, one of which is a DEI article. The Planning Board is holding public hearings on the upcoming Town Meeting articles that involve zoning issues on September 22 at 7 pm. Mr. Bokun also announced that it is Suicide Prevention month, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 -800 -273 -TALK (8255) for free 24/7 support. LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK • Ms. Cuthbertson announced that the first Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) meeting of this year is next Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 6:00 pm. It will be in person at the Community Center outside in a tent. • Ms. Sawhney attended the Permanent Building Committee (PBC) meeting last week. The topic was the new police station design, they are taking community feedback. Ms. Sawhney also mentioned that the Recreation Committee discussed lighting and their Capital plan. • Sara Mei announced that LHS Senate meetings will start tomorrow. There have been scheduling changes and that pooled silva testing started at LHS today. Sara thanked all of the LPS staff for helping to get everyone safely back to school. • Ms. Lenihan stated that the fall Special Town Meetings will be on 11/08/21, 11/09/21, 11/10/21, 11/15/21, 11/17/21 and 11/18/21. • Ms. Jay announced that we got a reminder from the METCO office that, from 9/15/21 to 10/15/21, it's Hispanic Heritage Month. COMMUNITY SPEAK Amy Morin, 22 Hamblen St: Vice President of the Lexington Education Association (LEA) and a SIA at Maria Hastings Elementary School. She has two children, both attend Diamond Middle School. She states that Unit C members do not have appropriate technology provided to them and asked for help with getting devices to those staff members who need them. Carissa Becker, works at Lexington High School: She is a Student Support Instructor and the representative for Unit C on the board of the Lexington Education Association. She received an email today from a Unit A educator. She read the email to the School Committee, it states that staff have not received devices from the Technology Department yet. She is asking the School Committee to reconsider the tech budget so all staff can receive devices. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT • Congratulations and Celebrations o Dr. Hackett is happy to be back to in-person meetings! o Great start to the year, kids are happy and learning. Dr. Hackett had the pleasure of visiting all ten of our Lexington Public Schools. • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion o Restructuring was done at the High School to allow for a position dedicated to restorative practices. • LPS COVID-19 Update o COVID vaccination clinics, school-based flu clinics, and community flu clinics are scheduled. o Dr. Hackett acknowledged the hard work of our nurses. o Communication around contact tracing will change (there will be no more communication on weekends). Updates will be posted on the Dashboard. o Test and Stay protocols are very complicated. Dr. Hackett asked families to manage symptoms that occur outside of school at home. LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK o Test kits were assembled by teams. • Religious Holidays on the LPS School Calendar o Discussed under the Unfinished Business section of the meeting. • Transportation o Problems have been occurring at the building level (lots of new staff and congestion). Buses are on time, they are all tracked by GPS. Dr. Hackett reminded everyone that there is a later start time this year, we will continue to work on this. The full Superintendent's Report can be found here. School Committee Questions/Comments: Ms. Cuthbertson stated that assembling the testing kits took a lot longer than last year, she is concerned that this process is not sustainable. Ms. Sawhney asked if our nurses will be helping the municipal side with contact tracing again this year. Dr. Hackett said she doesn't think so. Mr. Bokun asked how the vaccination clinic went. Dr. Hackett states that there were under 30 people that attended. Ms. Jay asked about the upcoming vaccination clinics, one on October 1, 2021 and the other on October 15, 20221. These both take place during school hours, so is this more for Lexington residents? Ms. Jay asked if the hours could be extended and if some of the vaccination clinics could be held at the Middle Schools. Dr. Hackett replied that the vaccination clinics are open to all Lexington residents, staff members, and their families. In later months, the clinics will be held at other schools. Ms. Lenihan had questions about "test and stay." Testing and stay in school contradicts staying home if you have symptoms. Can the test be given to students to take home? What is the time frame? Dr. Hackett responded that we are following guidelines from the state, we are not able to give out tests to be taken home. Dr. Hackett stated that this process is "far from perfect but better than nothing" Ms. Lenihan encouraged parents to get PTO student directories. LPS TECHNOLOGY CAPITAL BUDGET PRESENTATION Thomas Martellone, Director of Technology and Innovation, went over the slideshow. The District provides Grades K-2 with iPads (one per class), all Grade 3-12 students with Chromebooks (1:1), staff devices, projectors, document cameras, and network infrastructure. Mr. Martellone presented a one-year Capital Budget Purchasing example that included typical lifespan cycles and replacement of devices. For the FY2023 budget, Mr. Martellone outlined the cost of replacing LHS switches ($40,000), San and host devices ($200,000), and district -wide switches ($90,000), some of which qualify for a -rate reimbursement (40%). Each year, he builds LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK into the budget about $300,000 for capital network projects, which comprise about 1/5th of the budget. Whenever possible, the Technology Department tries to find cost savings by assessing technology needs, enrollment, device lifespans, and pricing changes. This helps to maintain an even capital budget, as seen in the 5 -year capital plan (approx. $1.3-1.4M per year). To help save money for the Town, the Department works with vendors to try to sell back used devices. When there are unexpended funds from capital budgets, money is turned back to the Town (e.g., FY18: $30,766.27; FY19: $243,578.34). School Committee Questions/Comments: Ms. Sawhney is happy to hear that there is a Chromebook buy-back program. She asked which budget that technology used by the special education department comes from. Mr. Martellone replied that specialized requests may be through the Special Education budget, but most technologies come from the Technology budget. Ms. Sawhney also asked about partnering with the municipal side, Mr. Martellone stated that we do work the Town on our technology needs. Mr. Bokun asked for e -rate to be explained. Mr. Martellone replied that it is a federal program, they cover the internet and equipment used by students (not for Central Office). Ms. Jay asked if there were any technology expenses that were covered by the COVID relief program. Mr. Martellone stated that at the end of 2020, we got a significant amount of devices back from the Middle Schools and the High School; those devices then went to the Elementary Schools who were in need. We were fortunate to have these available and we were also ahead of the curve with ordering. Mr. Coelho spoke about technology programs (Zoom licences, Seesaw, Gaggle) that were needed because of COVID. Ms. Jay then asked if there was a surplus from last year, Mr. Coelho replied that they are still finalizing numbers but expect there to be some left over funds that can be returned to the Town. He expects there to be savings since other programs (travel, mileage) did not take place. Ms. Cuthbertson mentioned that earlier in the meeting some Unit C members spoke about not having devices. She asked about the process to make sure all staff have devices needed to do their jobs. Mr. Martellone stated that in the past, Unit C members used devices that were in schools (on carts located around buildings) and they were not assigned personal devices. Mr. Martellone is working on getting devices that are out in the district into the hands of those in need. He will follow up with schools about the comments from the Community Speak. 0611 N&III:101LTA Ikyi 111111 Second Reading and Vote of Policy IJNDB: Staff Standards for the Acceptable Use of Tec noloy in Lexington Public Schools Mr. Bokun moved to accept the Policy IJNDB Staff Standards for the Acceptable Use of Technology in Lexington Public Schools. Seconded Ms. Sawhney, (Approved 5-0). LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK Second Reading of Policy IJ D Ap Student Standards for the Acceptable se of Technology in Lexington Public School Ms. Cuthbertson went over changes that were made. This is a new policy so it will have a third reading at the next meeting. Mr. Martellone stated that this policy will be sent out to students and families every year. NEW BUSINESS Update on COVID-19 Testing Protocols This was discussed earlier in the meeting. Discussion on Letter to State Reoresentatives Regarding Plans for COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement for School Attendance Ms. Lenihan drafted a letter to State Representatives asking that COVID vaccinations be required for school attendance. She sent the latter, as an individual, to Senator Friedman, Rep. Ciccolo and Rep. Barrett. She got about 45 signatures on the letter. Ms. Lenihan asked her colleagues if they were interested in sending a similar letter from the Lexington School Committee. Members expressed interest in doing so. Mr. Bokun proposed inviting parents to sign the letter as well. Ms. Lenihan will make minor changes to the letter. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Religious Holidays on School Calendar Dr. Hackett proposed removing all of the holidays and just listing "no school days" and linking another document that lists all of the holidays along with detailed information about the holidays. The School Committee discussed keeping the holidays listed or not having any. Mr. Bokun liked this idea, the purpose of the calendar is for parents to know when their child needs to go to school and when they don't. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that the listed holidays are symbolic and they do have an impact on students. She is okay with the calendar being cleaner as long as it's clearly communicated that the holidays will still be recognized. Ms. Jay mentioned that it is important to list cultural holidays as well as religious ones. She believes that listing "no school" without explanation could confuse people. Her preference would be to find a way to include the other holidays on our calendar or to have a link that has a simple chart with the holidays. Ms. Sawhney would like to know what the process would be if someone from the community asked for a holiday to be added to the list. LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK Dr. Hackett replied that we do not have a process yet since this is the first discussion. She suggested asking the community once a year. Ms. Lenihan thinks that having a separate item listing the holidays gives more flexibility. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that we want to be that community where everyone is valued. It could be hard to ask families to advocate for their holidays. Dr. Hackett will send this idea out to the community and she will create a sample to present to the School Committee. No vote will be taken tonight. COMMUNITY SPEAK Nadine Tessabehji, 499 Lowell St: Thanked the School Committee for addressing this issue of holidays. She states that having holidays listed on the calendar increases awareness. She agrees with Dr. Hackett's recommendation since the calendar is crowded, but suggested instead of a link with the list could there be a page 2 or a box at the bottom. She spoke about being inclusive and asked, "How do we decide which is a day off?" She would like the district to sit down and discuss "all or nothing." Amber Iqbal, 49 Courtyard PI: She states that her children get excited to see Eid and Ramadan on the calendar. Having these holidays listed brings the community together. She would like the holidays to remain on the calendar. Carissa Black, 143 Bedford St: She would like to strongly advocate for continuing to notify at least elementary families of a COVID case. Since elementary kids are not vaccinated, it is important for more timely communication. Gauri Govil, 16 Longfellow Rd: States that the removal of Diwali was noticed and she asks for it to be brought back. Sally Elkholy, 5133 Lexington Ridge Dr: She thinks that having holidays listed on the calendar helps kids and the community in general to learn about holidays that we have not heard of before. This helps our children be more inclusive and accept diversity. She asked for all of the religious holidays to be included. CONSENT AGENDA Mr. Bokun read the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. September 10, 2021- Accounts Payable in the amount of $1,365,178.30 b. September 10, 2021- Payroll in the amount of $3,931,767.66 Ms. Jay read the following consent agenda items: Approval of School Committee Minutes LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK a. August 31, 2021 Ms. Cuthbertson moved that the School Committee vote to accept the whole Consent Agenda, Ms. Sawhney seconded. (Approved 5-0). Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to adjourn at 10:13 P.M.; Ms. Sawhney seconded. (Approved 5-0). LSC 9/14/21 - APPROVED 9/28/21 JK