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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-28-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, March 28, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 5:35 P.M. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson Eileen Jay, Vice -Chair Larry Freeman Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk Deepike Sawhney was not present during the vote to enter Executive Session. The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. The School Committee convened via 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. EXECUTIVE SESSION Exemption 3 - For the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation, as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body. Ms. Lenihan made a motion to enter Executive Session at 5:36 PM, roll call vote passed 4-0. The School Committee adjourned Executive session and entered regular session at 6:21 pm. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson Eileen Jay, Vice -Chair Deepika Sawhney Larry Freeman Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Sara Mei JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent NEW BUSINESS Discussion of Town Meeting Articles Article 10E - Center Bathroom/DPW Maintenance Building Renovation Project • Ms. Lenihan explained that at the last meeting where Town Meeting articles were discussed, the School Committee did not go over Article 10 (Community Preservation Committee Operating Budget and CPA Projects and in particular Article 10E (Center Bathroom/DPW Maintenance Building Renovation Project). Ms. Lenihan says that the reason for this proposed article is because the Center Recreation bathrooms are in great need of renovations to be safe and functional. This area is close to Lexington High School so there were some concerns on how this project could affect the renovations of LHS or the construction of a new High School. • Ms. Jay asked if the new figure is $615,000. Mr. Cronin replied that the amount is $680,000. Ms. Jay understands that the bathrooms will be renovated but wanted to know if any of the current stand alone storage would be included in the project. Mr. Cronin clarified that there are two different pieces of storage, one is on the DPW side of the current building that will be impacted; garage bays will be added and the roof line will be lifted to store the DPW's equipment. Ms. Jay asked about the number of containers we currently have, Mr. Cronin replied that there are 5. One of those containers belongs to the DPW so it will be put into the new storage facility previously mentioned. One of the other containers belongs to the Little League, one to football, and the remaining two belong to the High School athletic program. So we find the solution of space/storage for the High School, these containers will remain. Mr. Cronin added that storage for the outdoor/recreational/track equipment will be written into the plan for the high school renovation. Ms. Jay asked if it's correct that Article 10 does not include any of that storage and a separate appropriation would be needed to include them. Mr. Cronin replied that that is correct. • Ms. Lenihan asked if the current storage containers that hold LPS athletic equipment will remain where they are currently, Mr. Cronin confirmed that is correct. • Mr. Freeman asked Mr. Cronin about how the new high school plan could impact this $680,000 investment. Mr. Cronin replied that due to this structure being 16 feet away from the property line and the neighbors, it is unlikely that another structure would be built in that same area. JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT • Ms. Lenihan followed up with the example of how even though nothing was being built where the Farmer's Market is located, it still had to move for the duration of the Center StreetScape. She would like to know if it's possible to know that the bathrooms would never be affected by the construction. Mr. Cronin replied that he would never say never, but he did say that it is highly unlikely that the building would be impacted. • Mr. Cronin added that the current "boys" and "girls" rooms have a multi -stall setup that is not inclusive, they are not well lit, and the girls room is located on the backside of the building. The plan is to have 6 separate non -gendered restrooms and the family bathroom will face the field for supervision. Ms. Lenihan reminded everyone that sometimes highly unlikely things happen. • Ms. Sawhney states that she went to the area where the bathrooms are located today. She would like to know if the planning for the renovated bathrooms just includes the bathrooms or the surrounding area and access road as well. Mr. Cronin responded that the current footprint of the bathrooms is not changing, it is just being reconfigured (there will be no additions or changes to the roofline) and that nothing else in that area should be impacted. Ms. Sawhney asked if the bathroom building is going to remain at its current angle, Mr. Cronin answered that this is correct. Mr. Cronin explained that five of the bathrooms will be facing the tennis court/pickleball area and the family bathroom will be perpendicular to the others and will face the fields. • Ms. Lenihan read a statement for Town Meeting that represents the School Committee supporting article 10E. Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to support the passage of Article 10E, Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (approved 5-0). Article 11 - Recreation Capital Projects Ms. Cuthbertson has in her notes that the School Committee wanted to revisit Article 11, the Recreation Capital Projects. Ms. Sawhney thinks that the School Committee wasn't sure if we needed to vote on that one or not. Ms. Lenihan does not think that the School Committee needs to vote. Ms. Sawhney agreed that she does not think we need to vote either but if they did, she would support it. Ms. Lenihan proposed skipping the School Committee Member Announcements and Liaison reports because of the time constraints. Sara Mei did mention that she enjoyed the Joy In Learning celebrations! JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT COMMUNITY SPEAK Carissa Black, 143 Bedford St.: Felt compelled to comment after seeing half-day Thursdays on the calendar. She pointed out that she made a similar comment last year about how fantastic half-day Fridays are for working parents and how it's difficult to find care on Thursdays. Superintendent's Report • Dr. Hackett announced that we have a new principal at Estabrook, Gerardo Martinez. • We are still testing for COVID-19, some schools have had higher positive rates after the mask mandate was lifted but in general LPS has not. • Dr. Hackett pointed out that the 2022-2023 School Year Calendar has taken a little bit longer because of thoughtful discussions and negotiations with the LEA. She was asked if the school calendar could be published two years in advance. Dr. Hackett would like to get to the point where that is possible in the future. The full superintendent's report can be viewed here. Proposed 22-23 Academic School Calendar Caitlin Ahern, Director of Elementary Education, joined the meeting to talk about the school calendar. Ms. Ahern stated that the calendar is similar to the pre -pandemic one. She confirmed that half-day Thursdays were in place at the elementary level before the pandemic. The shift to half-day Fridays was done as part of union negotiations agreed upon by LPS administration and the unions in the MOAs that took effect for the last two years during the pandemic years. However, Thursday half -days are written into the teachers' contracts, and terms will revert back to the existing contract when the MOAs expire next year. August 29th is the first day for all staff; students will return the next day on August 30. Kindergarten has half days for the first week and there is a transition day for 9th Graders. All school closures, half days, professional learning days, conference days and other information is listed on the calendar. • Ms. Sawhney asked how in depth we want to go into this now, and if the half days for students PK -12 in blue could be explained. Dr. Hackett answered that is going to be "the first pass" of the calendar; she would not recommend rushing a vote at this time. Ms. Ahern explained that the dates in blue are the district -wide half days, four dates are for JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT professional development and one is the day before Thanksgiving and the other is the last day of school. • Ms. Lenihan brought up how parents would like the half day to be on Friday; she asked if this could be revisited. Dr. Hackett replied that there can be a conversation to see what the options are. Mr. Freeman also would like to revisit the half-day Thursday. As a parent himself, Thursday half days can be very problematic. Dr. Hackett wanted to point out that this is a half day for the students, not the educators and that she is happy to check on this more. • Ms. Jay added that it would be helpful for everyone to understand the different factors that went into the decision of the days, one of which is the benefit to the educators. Dr. Hacketts responded that many arguments could be made on the calendar such as keeping what is familiar, but also that it has been on Friday for the past two years. A concern is around educators having the most productive time to do necessary collaborative work, sometimes this can be challenging to get done at the end of the week. • Ms. Sawhney would like to know if 100% of the students' parents who want a parent -teacher conference can be seen in those six days. Also, the Middle School only has two days of conferences and the High School only one. Parents are asked to not take up time if they feel as though their child is doing all right, she feels that every parent should have the right to meet with their child's teacher. Ms. Sawhney asked if there is a way to add time for parent -teacher collaboration. • Ms. Cuthbertson added that the longer the decision takes on which day will be the half day, the harder it could be for families in terms of scheduling. She asked, what is the sign-up time frame for Lextended? Dr. Hackett said that we can get that information for the next meeting. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Vote on School Choice Dr. Hackett explained that in Massachusetts there are different choices you can make around which school you send your child to. Communities need to decide if they will participate in School Choice which would allow students that live in other towns the ability to go to school in a different town. If the community has fewer students, it is in that community's best interest to JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT accept School Choice for higher enrollment rates which translates to more funding. Districts that are overcrowded tend not to be a School Choice District, and that is where Lexington falls. We would love to be able to have staff members enroll their children, be able to enroll families that can't afford to live in Lexington or have moved, but the reality is that Lexington is overcrowded. Dr. Hackett's recommendation is to not participate in the School Choice program. Ms. Jay made a motion that Lexington Public Schools will not participate in the School Choice Program for the 2022-2023 school year; Ms. Cuthbertson seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (approved 5-0). Vote one SC Member to the Nominating Committee for the Executive Board of the Cary Memorial Library Board of Trustees Ms. Jay is the current School Committee representative on the Cary Library Executive Board. Ms. Lenihan was the nominator. Ms. Jay is fine with continuingin this position. Ms. Lenihan is willing to be on the nomination committee. Ms. Cuthbertson moved to appoint Ms. Lenihan to the Nominating Committee for the Executive Board of the Cart Memorial Library Board of Trustees; Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (approved 5-0). Approval of Food Service Agreement • Mr. Freeman would like to know if this is a renewal or a new contract and how long have we been using Whitsons. Dr. Hackett asked Mr. Coelho, the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, to join the discussion. Mr. Coelho replied that we have been with Whitsons for at least five years, he thinks that it could be another five years before that. This would be our third contract with Whitsons, it is a year-to-year operational contract. Mr. Coelho explained the bidding process, Whitsons had what would be in our best interest. • Ms. Sawhney asked if the equipment that is currently in the kitchens in schools belongs to Lexington. She saw on page 9 there was mention of an employee needing to be present at the time of operation. Mr. Coelho answered that the equipment belongs to Lexington The kitchens can be used whenever but a staff from Whitsons would need to be on site during to make sure nothing gets broken. Ms. Cuthbertson explained that with her experience with the PTO is that you contact Whitsons if you are having an event, they send an employee to make sure everything is being used correctly. JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT • Mr. Freeman added that he has additional questions. Ms. Lenihan asked Mr. Coelho if it's crucial that a vote is made on this tonight. Mr. Coelho said that we can certainly postpone the vote if more time is needed for questions. The vote on this agenda item has been postponed to the next School Committee meeting. CONSENT AGENDA Ms. Sawhney moved to approve the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval • March 11, 2022 - Payroll in the amount of $4,174,116.97 • March 18, 2022 - AP Warrant in the amount of $1,590,204.45 • March 18, 2022 - BMO Warrant in the amount of $28,757.01 • March 25, 2022 - Payroll in the amount of $4,138,767.42 Ms. Cuthbertson moved to approve the following consent agenda items: Donations • Approval of a $600 donation from MIT to the Lexington High School Aerospace Club Ms. Jay moved to accept the entire Consent Agenda; Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (approved 5-0). Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7.21PM; Ms. Jay seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote (approved 5-0). JK 03/28/22 - DRAFT