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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-08-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, March 8, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:32 P.M. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson Eileen Jay, Vice -Chair Larry Freeman Deepika Sawhney Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Sara Mei SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent David Coel, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. The School Committee convened in person in the LPS Central Office and on Zoom. 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 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. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS • Ms. Cuthbertson announced that on March 10 at 6:30 p.m. LexSEPTA is hosting a Special Education Q&A with Ellen Sugita (Director of Special Education) and Dr. Hackett. She also welcomed Mr. Freeman and congratulated Ms. Jay on her reelection. • Ms. Jay thanked all of the voters of Lexington and congratulated Mr. Freeman for becoming the newest member of the School Committee. • Ms. Sawhney has been attending the Appropriation Committee meetings as well as the Recreation Committee meetings. She asked, on behalf of the Recreation Committee, for parents and students to please be respectful and read signs on our recreation LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK department fields, especially Lincoln Field. The fields have sustained damage from people shoveling snow off of them. She also mentioned that it is so good to have Mr. Freeman and Ms. Jay! • Sara Mei announced that Sources of Strength and LHS Senate are partnering together to work on Mental Health Week. Additionally, Senate is working on an eighth grade FAQ document with the counseling department and continuing to work on the door painting project. Sara attended a MASC Student Representative meeting this weekend and they discussed how to increase outreach to students in our schools, networking, and creating subcommittees to work on different projects. She congratulated Ms. Jay and Mr. Freeman! • Mr. Freeman thanked everyone for the warm welcome and he thanked the citizens of Lexington for voting for him. • Ms. Lenihan mentioned that the Select Board asked the Vision for Lexington Committee to organize a town -wide survey every five years that looks at issues about economic development, public education, the environment, climate, and physical characteristics of the town. This survey is used to inform the decision-making processes for the town going forward, this is an opportunity to have your voice heard. The survey closes on March 16th, you can locate the link on lexingtonma.gov/surveys. COMMUNITY SPEAK No speakers. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT • Congratulations and Celebrations o Last Sunday the Lexington Wind Ensemble, chaperones, and Dr. Hackett went to New York City. Jared Cassedy and our talented students performed at Carnegie Hall last Tuesday night and they won the Gold Award! They also did some sightseeing with our counterparts from Germany. o Educators, counselors, and students made a video for incoming high school students (9th Grade Transition video), Sara Mei helped out with this! o We had four Lexington 10th graders from our History Club and/or Debate Programs compete on March 5, 2022 at the Academic World Quest Competition at Bridgewater State University, outstanding job to Elias, Aaron, Alex and Josh! • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion o Our DEI Student Advisory Council is working on a project to promote diversity in children's literature. They are currently looking for middle and high school students to share their favorite children's books (past and present) that provide mirrors for historically marginalized and silenced groups. o ELL educator Deirdre Schadler has been working on a project called "Welcoming All New Families to LPS;' in effort to affirm our mission of We All Belong. This LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK project was originally developed with new ELL families in mind, but it quickly grew to encompass all new families. • LIPS COVID-19 Update o Dr. Hackett shared the Board of Health Recommendation. In light of recent developments, specifically the aligning of the Center for Disease Control, the Mass Department of Public Health and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Dr. Hackett is going to be asking the Board of Health to lift the mask mandate effective tomorrow or soon thereafter. Dr. Hackett's three recommendations are: ■ I recommend the Board of Health lift the mask mandate for all, including PreK students, effective immediately. (This recommendation is consistent with CDC and MA DPH guidance, and it ultimately gives students/families and staff a choice about whether to mask or not). ■ I recommend that the Board of Health discontinue the practice of requiring masks on school buses or vans, consistent with CDC and MA DPH guidance (and DESE). ■ I recommend that the Board of Health continue to follow the CDC guidance as it relates to masking, and we reserve the right to reinstate masks in schools at any time the CDC says it is needed. o Overall, we are at about 86% vaccinated and at the High School, 94.1% vaccinated. o Lexington Children's Place (LCP) has high levels of unvaccinated students, this has a lot to do with access to the vaccine, people waiting to see what the impacts are, especially on our littlest ones. o Dr. Hackett will be suggesting to the Board of Health tonight to lift the mask mandate for all, we strongly encourage masks for the unvaccinated, but we shift our focus a bit and stop mandating it. o Nurses can ask students to wear a mask if they appear to be symptomatic. o We have about 1,800 people participating in the weekly pooled testing and about 3,900 people participating in the antigen at home testing. Our next vaccination clinic is on March 25, 2022. Dr. Hackett left the School Committee meeting to join the Board of Health meeting. NEW BUSINESS Policy Update Ms. Cuthbertson mentioned that we got an update from MASC on March 3rd about Non -Discrimination Policys. She explained that MASC is going through their policies, this update is from the Attorney General's Civil Rights Division. There are several different policies, all related to non-discrimination, harassment, and things like that. We will be adding these to our LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK list of policies to update in the near future. She will bring them to the School Committee when they are ready for reading and vote. Discussion of Town Meetine Articles Ms. Lenihan explained that at Town Meeting, when an article is brought up there can be times when different committees and boards will be asked for their opinion. Some of the articles contain school -related issues, the School Committee is present to take a position. The School Committee voted on positions for the following Articles: Ms. Sawhney made a motion to support Article 4 - Appropriate FY2023 Operating Budget; Ms. Cuthbertson seconded, (Passed 5-0). Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to support Article 9 - Establish and Continue Department Revolving Funds; Ms. Sawhney seconded, (Passed 5-0). Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to support Article 15 - Appropriate for School Capital Projects and Equipment; Ms. Sawhney seconded, (Passed 5-0). Ms. Sawhney made a motion to support Article 16 (sections B, F, and G) - Appropriate for Public Facilities Capital Projects; Ms. Cuthbertson seconded, (Passed 5-0). Ms. Jay made a motion to support Article 19 (section D) - Establish, Amend, Dissolve and Appropriate to and from Specified Stabilization Funds; Ms. Sawhney seconded, (Passed 5-0). Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to support Article 27 - Zero Waste Resolution; Ms. Sawhney seconded; Ms. Sawhney seconded, (Passed 5-0). School Committee Roles & Liaisons Assign eats Ms. Lenihan explained that Mr. Bokun's subcommittee and liaison positions need to be reassigned. One major role that Mr. Bokun held that needs a new representative is for the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Mr. Freeman volunteered to take that position. He would become the LPS school representative who is a voting member of the HRC. Ms. Cuthbertson moved to approve Mr. Freeman as the School Representative for the Human Rights Committee; Ms. Jay seconded, (Passed 5-0). In addition, Ms. Jay agreed to be the School Committee's non-voting liaison to the Human Rights Committee. Dr. Hackett returned to the School Committee meeting. LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK Mr. Coelho reviewed the document. He explained that at the midpoint of the year, we were projecting from that time period, a potential turn back of $1.72 million. In the first quarter, that was $1.34 million. That is about 1.4% of the total operating budget for FY 2022. A little over a million dollars is due to surpluses that we find in the Salary & Wage portion of the budget and $706,000 is resulting from the Expense portion. This does not include the $500,000 allocated to us from Annual Town Meeting (ATM) from the Special Education Stabilization Fund. We predict that we will not need it so that money will go back into the Stabilization fund. We are currently at 34.01 FTE vacancies. On the expense side, most of the surplus is being generated through our Out -of -District tuitions. One of the areas that shows a significant deficiency is in the Special Education Consultants area, which is projected to be $170,000. We will also have some additional money from a lot of different categories and smaller "pots" to cover this. Mr. Coelho also spoke about the impact of inflation. He added that in Legal Services, we anticipate a surplus. In conclusion, "we are in pretty good shape." School Committee Questions/Comments on the FY 2022 2nd Quarter Financial Report Ms. Cuthbertson wanted to make sure that services are being covered, even if from outside agencies. Mr. Coelho confirmed this and explained that these agencies put people into the classrooms and are assigned to essentially perform duties that we don't currently have staff for. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that it's not ideal because we would rather have permanent people in those positions but at least things are covered. Ms. Jay wondered how much consulting is included for the next fiscal year budget. Mr. Coelho replied that when we put budgets together we look at what our usage has been and what the horizon looks like. He explained that the first year of the pandemic was chaotic, not knowing where everything was going, and that the second year was actually more difficult. The budget is built on things supporting one another, for example, "if we don't have tuition, you can move that here and there." He also added that we did not reduce the budget for consulting. Ms. Sawhney mentioned that it would be great to see a spreadsheet every quarter, this would be helpful for them to understand what is happening in our schools. She added that Mr. Coelho has kindly agreed to send some numbers. She asked Mr. Coelho if she could sit down with him to help better understand the circuit breaker. Ms. Sawhney also brought up being more responsible with our use of materials and suggested giving schools incentives for saving. Mr. Freeman added that he thinks we should look towards reducing the amount of paper we're using. He suggested increasing the technology budget to do that. Ms. Jay referenced Table 3, she asked Mr. Coelho, "How are we doing this year with budgeting for substitutes? Are we seeing a higher need this year, and by how much?" Mr. Coelho LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK responded that we budget a little over $718,000 for per diem substitutes and right now we are projected to spend $885,000. Ms. Jay also asked if we can use ESSR funds for substitute teachers, Mr. Coelho replied that there are provisions that could be used for leave that are related to COVID-19. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT (con't) Dr. Hackett resumed her Superintendent's report. • Recent Communications o In Solidarity with Ukraine o COVID-19 Mask Mandate Updates Dr. Hackett announced that the Board of Health unanimously voted to lift the mask mandate town wide effective at 12:01 AM on March 9th. o A Big Day for Lexington Public Schools! Dr. Hackett shared the fantastic news that we got an invitation into the "eligibility period" for the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). This starts our journey of five plus years in building a new or renovated High School. Dr. Hackett explained that there is a 25% reimbursement rate (25 cents on $1), so for example, if the renovation or new school will cost $400 million, the MSBA will cover $100 million which is defrayed from the burden on taxpayers. This is substantial because neighboring districts have had to foot the entire bill. By the end of this year, Dr. Hackett will share our 2 -year goals, there will be 5 -year goals along with many targets and benchmarks to hit throughout the process. Dr. Hackett also explained that the MSBA has established a formulation of a School Building Committee that guides the work, decision making, and the voting process. Typically on building committees there is a municipal person, a school committee person, often the principal (non-voting member), people who serve dual roles as both the citizen and maybe an architect. The MSBA requires an owner's project manager and a design team. Dr. Hackett has included links in her report for the whole process. View the full Superintendent's report here. School Committee Questions/Comments on the Superintendent's Report Ms. Cuthbertson commented on the earlier portion of the report. She loves that the Student Advisory Council is working with the DEI team, "It's awesome to have student voice in all of this." NEW BUSINESS (continued) LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK Superintendents [Wid-Cycle Review Dr. Hackett explained that every two years, we work together on goals and think about what is the most important work that needs to get done right now. The strategic plan has helped guide the work. This is our second installation of two year goals. Dr. Hackett will give an update on the progress related to our collective goals (we have several goals that are linked to the strategic plan). She also wanted to emphasize that we have made a great deal of progress during these difficult times, and she gave a heartfelt thanks to the school community and School Committee for leading this work. Dr. Hackett explained the structure of the goals (actions and status) and she went over the document. • The first goal area is Addressing and Narrowing Equity Gaps. The two parts to this are: the work around the annual report for eliminating systemic barriers in Lexington Public Schools, and developing a comprehensive PK -12 DEI curriculum framework. • The second goal is to Redefine Success. The first strategic priority of this goal is to redesign the Lexington High School graduation requirements to better reflect both traditional academics and those personal qualities and characteristics that our young people need to succeed in life. We do not have a recommendation yet but we will by April 4, 2022. The second part of this goal is to have a party! On March 15, 2022 in the Clarke cafeteria, there will be a Core Values Celebration. The purpose of this is to recognize members of our school community who make contributions to our schools in some way. • The third goal area is Cultivating Student Agency. The status of this is complete, this has to do with Project Based Learning Academy (PBLA), which started when we were remote. • Plan and Innovate for Sustainable Change is the last goal. By April 2021, we finalized and published the "LPS 10 -Year Master Plan" and the "LPS Master Planning Compendium" to ensure that the school system's priorities are clearly defined, and there is a clear process in place to periodically review enrollment, unanticipated changes, and ongoing capital needs. School Committee Questions/Comments on the Superintendent's Mid -Cycle Review Ms. Cuthbertson likes hearing about the internship opportunities! Sara Mei looked at internships because that is not something the High School has right now. She explained that there are TA opportunities in which students can help out others in lower level classes. Ms. Jay pointed out that these were two year goals, she asked if we are at the end of those two years. Dr. Hackett replied that yes, these goals were for 2020-2022 and they end at the end of this year technically and we will have completed everything by that time. She encouraged the focus to be on the High School project for the next cycle, there will be conversations about that. LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK COMMUNITY SPEAK Zhechun Zhang, 3 Baker Ave: He congratulated Larry and Eileen on a competitive race and also to Dr. Hackett for taking a data -driven approach in making decisions related to COVID-19. CONSENT AGENDA Ms. Cuthbertson read the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. February 25, 2022 - Payroll in the amount of 54,211.492.54 b. March 4. 2022 -AP Warrant in the amount of 51,022.638.31 Ms. Jay read the following consent agenda items: International Field Trips a. LexingtonHigh School International Field Trip to Madrid { Salamanca, Spain during February 15, 2023 to February, 25, 2023 Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items: Donations a. Approval of an anonymous donation of $1,454.34 Ms. Jay moved to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Cuthbertson seconded, (Passed 5-0). Mr. Freeman made a motion to adjourn at 8:48 P. M.; Ms. Jay seconded, (Passed 5-0). LSC 03/08/22 - DRAFT JK