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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-01-11-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 11, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 8:03 A.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 David Coelho, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Dr. Maureen Kavanaugh, Director of Planning and Assessment Julie Fenn, Assistant Coordinator PE, Health and Wellness The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. The School Committee convened via zoom. Remote meeting announcement: 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. Please note that this meeting is being recorded, and that attendees are participating by video conference. This morning'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. NEW BUSINESS Ms. Lenihan announced that the meeting will start with some New Business. This includes agenda items not covered at the last School Committee meeting on January 4, 2022 due to lack of time. LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK Covid-related Questions Before addressing New Business, Ms Lenihan asked the School Committee if they have any questions or feedback related to COVID. Ms. Cuthbertson said that she has been hearing lots of questions about concerns over classroom notifications and children getting exposed. She thanked Dr. Hackett for answering her questions about this via email. Sara Mei has heard some concerns from high school students and the updated 10 -day isolation period. They are worried about missing that much school and having to make up the work when they return. Dr. Stevens and the counseling department sent out a letter addressing these concerns. Ms. Lenihan brought up lunch, as it is now too cold to eat outside. Dr. Hackett replied that we are doing the best we can! Dr. Hackett addressed the windows being open on buses, she spoke to the METCO director, Dave Coelho, and Elaine Celi and told them that if you need to close up the windows then "do what you need to do" We know that fresh air is the best option but not if it is freezing out. Lunches are also a challenge, we have been keeping doors open but this is causing issues with Facilities. There are no good answers here, but the good news is that we (LIPS) have now vaccinated 6,000 members of the Lexington community! Dr. Hackett stated that our COVID rates are spiking, we knew that would happen after the break. They are collecting data and will post more information. Dr. Hackett spoke about the recent COVID communication. If staff are well enough and they tested negative, they could come back on Day 6. The communication of positive cases is going to be a bit different during this surge; we are asking people to check the Dashboard. The definition of "fully vaccinated" has changed. Dr. Hackett encouraged everyone to get boosted. We may be changing the guidance in three weeks from now. LPS is seeking people to apply to serve as classroom substitutes at all levels. So far, 25 substitutes have been signed up! Ms. Sawhney would like the chart DESE made about when to isolate to be posted on our website. She then asked Dr. Hackett what the need for substitutes is. (we need 50 and we have 25?) Dr. Hackett replied that more is better and asked people to keep signing up. Sara Mei asked about student boosters, Dr. Hackett said that we don't have an update on that right now. Ms. Lenihan asked if the Dashboard posts the percentage of students participating in pooled testing and if teachers are required to participate. Dr. Hackett replied that, per the MOA, teachers are required to participate in pooled testing. She is not sure if the percentage of LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK students participating is posted on the Dashboard. Dr. Hackett stated that participation is low. She reminded everyone that these are PCR tests and it's a great resource for testing, especially since tests are hard to find. Ms. Lenihan added that these are saliva tests. Sara Mei said that the number of students participating in pooled testing is starting to increase. Ms. Sawhey gave a shout out to all of the educators! Center Recreation/LHS Working Group A joint municipal/school working group is being formed to look at issues related to land use in the Center Recreation and Lexington High School area. • Ms. Lenihan stated that there needs to be two School Committee members present at this meeting. • Dr. Hackett described that we are trying to be proactive in terms of land for the building project at the High School. • It was decided that Ms. Lenihan and Ms. Sawhney will attend. A�roval of School us Transportation Services Contract Mr. Cohelo described the bid that is being presented. It is from our current bus vendor, C&W. It is for 5 years, 36 buses for $18, 961, 488.00. • Ms. Jay asked what would happen if LPS switches to electric buses during the contracted time with C&W. Mr. Coelho explained that the vendors know Lexington's plan to implement electric buses before they submit their bid. It was agreed that the bus company would provide the bus drivers and the service, and LPS would provide the electric buses, fuel and other infrastructures needed for electric buses. Ms. Sawheny added that even in a regular contract, buses are turned over, buses can only be so old so the process of acquiring new vehicles is not new. • Sara Mei asked how many buses we have in our fleet and how long it would take to change to all electric buses. Mr. Coelho replied that right now we use 36 buses. The contract allots 10 buses in 5 years, so it would be roughly 15 years. Every bus contract is for 5 years so that amount allowed in each contract could change in the future. Mr. Bokun made a motion to award Lexington Public Schools' School Bus Transportation Services Contract with C&W Transportation, Inc. from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2027; Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (Approved 5-0). UNFINISHED BUSINESS LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey ORBS) Discussion Presenters: Dr. Maureen Kavanaugh and Julie Fenn Dr. Kavanaugh and Ms. Fenn presented data from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that was given to LHS and middle school students. They reported on trends and highlights in these areas: • Substance Use • Violence, Bullying & Harassment • Mental Health, Suicide Ideation & Self Injury • Self Reported Impacts of the Pandemic Ms. Cuthbertson asked: How do you identify students and how do parents find out about the family support group? Do people in the general population know about it? Are you seeing people willing to come to the support group? Ms. Fenn explained that they are doing different media campaigns to get the word out and they have seen an increased interest. They are currently meeting once a month and they are still virtual. It is a partnership between the LIPS prevention specialists and the Town's Human Services social worker. Counselors and deans at the high school make referrals. Ms. Cuthbertson mentioned that the Interface referral service is slow. Ms. Fenn responded that there is an increase in people using the referral service and a shortage of therapists and mental health services. The wait list is the biggest challenge. Ms. Sawhney's biggest area of concern with the data is the fact that we want all our students to have a trusted adult in the school system, and you hope that there is one or more trusted adults at home that they could go to with their concerns. She was hoping, since this survey was taken last year during the pandemic, there would be zero need since students were home. How come we had the numbers that we had? Job loss and job change in families can add a lot of stress, this occurred a lot during the pandemic. Ms. Sawhney pointed out the uptick in LQBTQ+ population at risk. What are we going to do to support them? Finally, Ms. Sawhney would like more data on the Asian population and our English language learners. She wants to make sure that we are reaching and serving them. Mr. Bokun asked Ms. Fenn about the Sources of Strength Program and how students access it. Ms. Fenn replied that she does not oversee that program; it is done by the counseling department. Dr. Hackett pointed out that Sara Mei is in the program. Mr. Bokun also brought up the different stress levels shown in the pie charts: 50% of high school students are worried about their workload and about their future. He would like to look into this more and to find a way to get the students less stressed. He also thanked everyone for their hard work. Ms. Jay thanked everyone for putting together this data. She said that we really need to take care of our transgender and non -binary students. Ms. Jay brought up the rate of electronic bullying in Middle Eastern, North African and Arab Americans students was higher than many of LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK the other subgroups, and that there is somewhat of a higher rate of suicide ideation in Hispanic and Latinx students. She asked if these students are coming forward or if it is on our radar on how to support them. Ms. Fenn responded that this continues to be a focus and thanks to the work of Dr. Kavanaugh, we were able to hone in on those groups. We are definitely looking at them more closely. We are doing everything we can to educate and look at ways to support students. She mentioned that even in the best of family environments, kids aren't always going to feel connected in the ways they need to be developmentally. Solutions to this are being looked at across many departments. Dr. Hackett mentioned that our young people talked about their greatest influence is their family. This is a community with very high expectations. We were surprised that when they were home, there were still issues reported. From the school side, we can work to make environments better and bring down stress levels for children. When we talk to young people often they say that the pressure comes from the home. Sara Mei added that this year there has been a lot of talk about culture comparison at the High School, students think that they are defined by the AP classes they take. Students struggle with not disappointing themselves or their families. She thinks that more communication would be helpful. Sara Mei noticed while looking over the data that there were notable variations in the subgroups especially in the LGBTQ+ community. In the category of mental health, the percentages were pretty similar across the board; 1 in 3 students reported concerns which raised a red flag for Sara. She would like to know how much learning loss due to the pandemic was SEL (social and emotional learning) loss. In LHS Senate, they were talking about redefining student success. How do we take away some of the unhealthy student and parental expectations while still maintaining a competitive and motivated school environment? Sara suggested project based learning, emphasizing reflection, more intentional goal setting and shifting away from numbers and grades and more on what skills can you accomplish. Ms. Lenihan said that the questions asked about the pandemic were interesting. It highlighted that it is really hard to live through a terrible pandemic for everyone. She also noticed that there were numerous questions about sex and one of the questions was about access to condoms. 4% of students responded that they have no way of getting them, Ms. Fenn replied that we have tried to do more education around where to access them both through the counseling and nursing department and in health classes. Perhaps this topic could be revisited by the School Committee Policy Subcommittee. Sara Mei asked if this survey was the first to be administered after the later start times. Dr. Kavanaugh responded yes. COMMUNITY SPEAK LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK Mona Roy, Bertwell Rd.: She stated that she was at the SHAC meeting where there was a joint presentation and her recollection is that there was a commitment to talk a little bit more about these data with regards to the breakdown for Special Education students. The disproportionate impacts not only of the pandemic but in general on this population will continue to be discussed. Every comment made today applies even more to Special Education kids, whether it's social isolation, getting the support they need, social/emotional learning, and academic pressures. She brought up Sara Mei's comment about how your social standing seems to depend on what classes you take. Is there any plan for the School Committee and LPS school district to revisit this data? Ms. Roy also wants to make sure that we understand the definition of intersectionality, it's when race intersects with someone else. She is concerned that she didn't hear much mention of the Special Education demographic. CONSENT AGENDA Mr. Bokun read the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. December 17, 2021 - Payroll in the amount of $4.,171,721.05 b. December 31. 2021 - Pavroll in the amount of 54.200.970.$7 C. January ?, 2022 - AP V1(arrant in the amount of X917,546.24 Ms. Jay read the following consent agenda item: Approval of School Committee Minutes d. October 26, 2021 e. Ms. Cuthbertson read the following consent agenda items: Donations f. Approval of X200.00 from Lueders Environmental, Inc. to the school departments g. Approval of $505,65 to Jonas Clarke fiddle School from the Epilepsy Foundation h. Approval of $900.00 Class �ifis to Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Classes from the PTCI Ms. Sawheny read the following consent agenda Item: International Field Trips i. Lewinton High School International Field Trip to Paris /Antony, France during February 14 - 25, 2023 Ms. Sawhney moved to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Cuthbertson seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (Approved 5-0). FY2023 RECOMMENDED SCHOOL BUDGET - PUBLIC HEARING LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK At 9:10am, the School Committee opened a public hearing to discuss the Superintendent of Schools' FY2023 Recommended School Budget. • Dr. Hackett said that since the School Committee has seen this presentation before, it will be gone over a little bit more quickly. The purpose for today's meeting is to hear from the public. • Dr. Hackett stated that the timeline for budget development starts in August and it takes about 350-400 hours. Part of the budget process includes four Budget Summits with participation by the Select Board, School Committee, Appropriation Committee, and Capital Expenditures Committee. • There is a revenue allocation model, essentially we have a 74/26 split. They figure out what it takes to run our base budget and how much extra money we have for the town, then it's divided between the municipalities and the schools. Schools get 74% of whatever that extra is. The municipal side gets 24%. The split is associated with the size and number of employees, etc.; the school side is larger. • This year there was about $7.2 million dollars in additional revenue over the previous year, after they pulled out "set -a -sides." This is divided between the municipal side and the school side using the same 74/24 split, so the schools gained about $5.3 million. Our total school allocation is about $128.2 million. An overall increase of about 4.38%. There is a slide with the increases year after year. • Budget has a lot to do with enrollment. Last year we had about 290 fewer students, this year we have about 111 fewer students. The reduction in enrollment is largely due to the pandemic. This is not unique to Lexington. Dr. Hackett spoke about where students transfer to. • We have been tracking staffing changes. We have been reallocating positions instead of adding when it makes sense. Last year we decreased 6.0 FTE and this year we decreased 1.3 FTE. Salary and wages were also broken down in pie charts. • Mr. Coelho took over the presentation to provide further details. He described the process of working with department heads, ETS's, finance staff to see where we are required to keep staffing and where we can move staff around. Future enrollment gets factored in when looking at staffing, this gives us flexibility. • There is a slide that shows where our revenues and allocations come from and where we are spending relative to prior years. Our salary line item went up 7% and expense line item went up 8%, for a total impact of 4.38%. The Special Education Stabilization Fund is sort of a reserve, it is pulled out and listed separately for better comparison. Currently in FY 22, Mr. Coelho does not see us needing to utilize this pool of money. He believes that we can fit our current tuition needs in our current budget. • We have to constantly look at fixed costs, offsetting the operating budget with revolving funds and maximizing the reimbursements we get from the Circuit Breaker in Phase 1. Phase 2 addresses staffing needs based on mandated requirements and Phase 3 looks at what we have to do to stay in budget. • Some risks we go into the budget process with is the impact on the local economy and Town revenues due to lingering pandemic issues, Chapter 70 State Aid, Federal 94-142 LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK Grant Aid and enrollment rates for transportation, athletics and food service programs. Vaccine distribution and efficacy play a role in enrollment. The shortage of substitutes is an impact that is factored in. Inflation is also a risk. For this budget we are using a 4% inflation rate, in prior years it has been around 2%. We must also plan for future disruptions. • Artwork is on display on the front and back cover of the budget book. There is also a special thanks slide. COMMUNITY SPEAK Carissa Black, 143 Bedford St: She is one of the co-chairs for Lexington SEPAC, she is commenting on behalf of SEPAC. They have reviewed the budget from both last year and this year. It is a little difficult to follow all of the different mandates vs. enrollment but it seems like there is an overall reduction on Special Education staff. She acknowledges that there has been some explanation that was due to some changes in enrollment in various programs and also potential student needs that have changed over the past couple of years. She would like to confirm that this is the case and inquire whether any of the staffing reductions are resulting in student -to -staff ratios going up over time. The concern is if, in fact, the student -to -staff ratio in Special Education programs or the resource room are going up over time, students will be receiving less support. Ms. Black asked the following questions: 1. Can you comment on how the Special Education staffing reduction is impacting the student -to -staff ratios? 2. To help us better understand the budget impacts at a high level, is it possible to provide a table of the number of Special Education students in LPS and staff overall, as well as in specific Special Education programs so that we can understand how this has changed over time? School Committee comments/questions: Mr. Bokun had a question from page 41 about Bowman Elementary School. He noticed that Principal Corduk mentioned an expense budget request to help with their library. Mr. Bokun is wondering if this is included in this budget. Mr. Coelho responded that it is not included in this budget as he is planning to purchase the furniture at the end of this fiscal year with funds that are available. Dr. Hackett commented on the Special Education concern that caseloads are increasing and the number of FTE's are decreasing. It is hard to tell what staff is needed because of the unique needs of the children we serve. There's no desire to increase caseloads. There is a desire, however, to be more inclusive in the work that we do which may lead to staffing changes. It is hard to compare one budget to the next because there are so many different moving parts. Dr. Hackett also stated that we can add more information about the data as requested in the comments. Mr. Coelho added that this is a process that is very deliberative. We make sure that LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK students are getting the services they need from one grade level to the next. Dr. Hackett said that we will add in what percentage of the budget is dedicated to Special Education. Ms. Cuthbertson mentioned that the LLP program enrollment has dropped significantly because the students are now being served more in their geocoded schools. It is hard to tell this by looking at the budget. She thinks it may be helpful overall for us to know what is happening that is leading to that shift. Are we putting efforts into identifying students earlier and that is how we are able to do that, or are we adding training to staff in geocoded schools, or are we just moving people around? (Page 3). Ms. Jay asked Mr. Coelho about the enrollment section, she noticed that there's a reduction of 1 FTE each in the K-12 and the 9-12 Language Learning Programs, are those the ELL programs? Mr. Coelho responded that no, those are LLP programs. Ms. Sawhney thanked Dr. Hackett for forwarding a list of questions to Mr. Coelho. She thinks that the budget book reads better than previous years, a lot clearer. She trusts LPS that we will pivot as and when needed because we have continued to make progress on curriculum, training and whatever else is needed or planned for in 2022. She has some questions for Mr. Cronin, she will share the responses. One of the things she has been thinking about is the expense budget, it is growing at 7.8% for FY 2023. She knows a lot of that is because of supply chain issues and inflation. She asked how we can be more sustainable in how we use products. Dr. Hackett responded that the 7.8% is the lowest it has been since she has been here. The other thing to note is that we did not add a cost of living adjustment to those numbers last year. The third point is that grants offset things, so it is difficult to compare the expense budget from year to year. Mr. Coelho added that you have to go over the items that we buy, is it better to purchase a more expensive piece that will last longer? Items such paper, pencils and markers have a short lifespan and have to be continually replenished. They are consumables, we do look at fixed costs like subscriptions. The increase of 7.8% is in three main areas: special education tutions and two transportation line items. We revisit those per pupil expenses so that we are putting our money where it's best used and what are we buying, and how can we be smarter about reducing waste, getting kids the programs they need in the most cost effective way. Dr. Hackett added that we have very little control over what remains, this changes and fluctuates with needs. There will be one more budget hearing on January 24th. Ms. Sawhney made a motion to adjourn at 10:02 A.M.; Mr. Bokun seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (Approved 5-0). LSC 1/11/22 - Approved 4.26.22 JK