Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-04-26-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, April 26, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:32 P.M. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson (joined remotely) Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk Eileen Jay, Vice -Chair Larry Freeman Deepika Sawhney 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 convened in person at the LPS Central Office. 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 Mr. Freeman • Mr. Freeman announced that the Human Rights Committee is co -sponsoring with CALex an event called My American Story. More information is available on the CALex website. • He reminded members that April is Autism Month and encouraged learning something new and getting involved in the autism community. • The HRC thanks Dr. Hackett for her participation in the MLK Day Conversation on Race. • Lastly, the William Diamond Junior Fife and Drum Corps is back in person to celebrate its 20th Anniversary on Friday May 6th at 6:30 PM. JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT Ms. Cuthbertson thanked the Town Celebrations Committee for the Patriot's Day festivities. Ms. Jay • Ms. Jay announced that tomorrow there will be a public hearing of the Ad Hoc Stone Building Feasibility/Reuse Committee. They will be giving a report and taking public comments on suggestions for how the Town might use the Stone Building that is next to Follen Church and had formerly been used as a branch of Cary Library. • May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Approximately twenty LHS students from different cultural groups have created an agenda for the month to celebrate! There will be a showing of the film Far East Deep South and art exhibits at the Cary Library, a cookbook will be published for the community, as well as a 5k run/walk. In addition, during May, the Town and Cary Library will display banners honoring the contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Ms. Jay asked everyone to take a look at the fourteen AAPI banners located in the Town Center. Ms. Sawhney • Ms. Sawhney announced that Town Meeting has ended, and thanked the Town Meeting Members and the community. • Ms. Sawhney has noticed that in schools, things are slowly returning to normal. Given that applications for field trips may be forthcoming, she worked on an international field trip form. • She spoke about the working group for Article 97 that is looking at school -municipal land swaps that may be needed for building of a new/renovated high school. Ms. Lenihan added that the new high school plans will affect everyone, not just those who have children that will be attending LHS, because it is in the middle of town. It will be the largest building in the community and it will hopefully be able to be used for other things on the weekends. Dr. Hackett also added that a walk-through of the site will happen in May and that in September there will be a community input session. She also said that process wise, we are "ahead of the game" and to "stay tuned". Sara Mei said that since last week was vacation, LHS Senate did not meet. She talked to some students, counselors, and educators about graduation requirements before and after the break. Sources of Strength is planning to repaint the wheel in the quad on May 6th. Ms. Lenihan mentioned the LHS project again. She spoke with the PTA President about having a LHS Project liaison role added to their board. JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT COMMUNITY SPEAK Heather Hartshorn: She is a former Lextended Day parent and a lifetime resident of Lexington. She is speaking as the Executive Director of Lextended Day. She called the School Committee's attention to the fact that Kidsborough's promises "have already begun to erode" They have seen a decline in the number of teachers that have been offered positions. One of her concerns is about the support for children with disabilities. She believes that LPS is hiding behind "the pretty procurement process." Casey Lan, 38 Normandy Rd: Stated that "we're very lucky to be in a community where everyone, the school, the town, everybody bonded together to support diversity, equity, and inclusion for the greater good so that everyone can live and thrive in the community together." She thinks it's great that so many parents are happy with Lextended Day but that they may not realize the lack of support and access kids with disabilities have in this program. She asked "what are we asking the happy parents to give up?" There's a chance that they will continue to be happy with Kidsborough. Ms. Lan reminds the School Committee that "we always need the majority support for the minority, otherwise discrimination could never be eradicated" She asked the community to give Kidsborough a chance and thanked the School Committee for supporting a program that is for every child. Katherine, 138 Emerson Garden Rd: She is new to Lexington this year, and Lextended Day has been a highlight for her daughter. They have been supportive and helped her through situations where she felt bullied. She feels blindsided and that this decision was sprung on us. She asked, "if the same educators will be hired back, why would we pay an outside corporation?" Her daughter then spoke to the School Committee and said that Lextended Day has been wonderful to her. Adrian Oliver Porras, 4 Marlboro Rd: He has lived in Lexington his whole life, he attended Bridge Elementary, Clarke Middle and graduated from LHS. He recalls the time he spent at Lextended Day fondly. He states that replacing a long-standing, well -liked, highly -effective nonprofit with a for-profit entity is wrong. He thinks getting rid of Lextended Day will lead to worse experiences for students and that it will be a mistake. He urged the School Committee to allow Lextended Day to continue to serve our community. Derek Buhl, 58 Baskin Rd: He would like to reiterate a few of the points made by his wife at the last School Committee meeting on this topic; Kidsborough as the selected after school program. They claim to offer a variety of content and they allow students to choose what they want to do, but this is what his children already experience at Lextended Day. He also stated that we would JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT be replacing a nonprofit organization for a for-profit organization. His daughter has freedom at Lextended Day and she recently tried a drama class. Lextended Day helped his sons with social activities and social interaction skills. Mr. Buhl brought up that there's only going to be one behavior specialist provided by Kidsborough and how offering 200% greater profit either means that they are paying their staff less or charging more. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT • Congratulations and Celebrations o Lexington Public Schools was named one of the Nation's Best Communities for Music Education! K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator Jared Cassedy applied on behalf of the district; he believes this award is for the community. o Dr. Hackett visited the K-12 Performing Arts Department. In her report she writes about her visit to middle school drama and different music classes at the high school. She says that the teaching she saw was phenomenal, the kids were "entirely enthralled" and every class was fabulous. She also got to see the younger students watch the older students perform at the Choral Extravaganza. She states the importance of arts in Lexington Public Schools. • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion o Dr. Hackett brought up the question of how DEI works in LPS athletics. On Tuesday, April 5th, Athletic Director Naomi Martin participated in a convening of State officials, school administrators, and athletic directors to start a conversation about collectively committing to educate and address hate and bias incidents in school -sponsored athletics. Dr. Hackett prefaced that we do a lot of this already and that we will build upon that good work. The Attorney General's office recently sent out school sports guidance; this was used as a resource. Dr. Hackett announced the following updates: ■ Effective immediately, any student athlete, coach, official, administrator, spectator, or other person at a contest or practice involving Lexington High School student -athletes, coaches, or teams who engage in or use discriminatory/ harassing/bullying actions, language, or behavior, or who is in possession of such signage or props will be addressed, removed from the facility or playing area, and reported to the MIAA using the MIAA Discriminatory Incident Reporting Form. ■ Lexington administrators, teacher -coaches and student -athletes look forward to the opportunity to participate in Attorney General Healey's collaborative conference in late August/early September to address best JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT practices for building, supporting, and fostering positive environments in athletics and prevent, report, and address hate incidents. ■ Lexington administrators, teacher -coaches, and student -athletes also look forward to Attorney General Healey's regional workshops in the Fall of 2022 in collaboration with Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society. These two-day interactive trainings will utilize the "train -the -trainer" model to help equip participants for bringing programming back to their schools and leagues to train others. ■ Beginning in the Fall of 2022, all Lexington interscholastic student -athletes will be required to read and sign the MIAA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Pledge before being allowed to participate on our teams. ■ Lexington also looks forward to actively engaging with the Middlesex League superintendents, principals, athletic administrators, coaches, and student -athletes on initiatives to promote a more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse environment at all of our games both on the playing field and off. • LPS COVID-19 Update o We have seen an uptick in cases post -April break. Dr. Hacketts states that people seem to feel safe, and it seems to be a pretty stable environment. It is helpful that we are a community that is highly vaccinated. o Dr. Hacket has received questions about lunch time. Principals are encouraging students to eat lunches outside when they can. She hopes that this will continue long after the pandemic. • Upcoming Events o On Thursday, April 28 at the Cary Library (or Eventbrite) at 7 PM will be the showing of Far East Deep South for free to kick off celebrating this year's Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. o LPS Core Values Celebration on June 13, 2022. Our last celebration of the year will be on Monday at 6:00 p.m. in the Central Office Gymnasium. You can view the full Superintendent's report here. School Committee Member Questions/Comments: Mr. Freeman found Dr. Hackett's comments about DEI in athletics to be very heartwarming and encouraging. Ms. Sawhney asked if the athletic update could be shared with those involved in club sports as well. JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT Ms. Lenihan thanked Dr. Hackett for addressing lunches outside. She also spoke about COVID and encouraged everyone to use sunscreen when eating outside. She is also grateful for the DEI initiatives in athletics and hopes that it goes beyond the MIAA Discriminatory Incident Reporting Form. NEW BUSINESS A. Farmers' Market IAfinery ecuest - House Bear Brewing House Bear Brewing, LLC is requesting to sell mead and cider at the Lexington Farmers' Market. School Committee approval is needed because the Farmers' Market is currently located at the LHS practice field on school grounds. Ms. Jay moved to allow House Bear Brewing, LLC to sell Mead at the Lexington Farmers -'Market for the 2022 season from May 31, 2022 through November 22, 2022 at the Lexington Farmers' Market grounds; Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. B. Vote on K-5 After School Program Agreement At the April 11, 2022 School Committee meeting, Mr. Coelho, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, informed the committee about the procurement process for the K-5 After School Program. He explained that after reviewing the vendor proposals, the Review Committee is recommending awarding the after school contract to Kidsborough of Hopkinton, MA. • Dr. Hackett started off by saying that this is not an easy discussion to have, and that Lextended Day has been a good partner to us and they provided great services to Lexington Public Schools families. Dr. Hackett is thankful for the dedicated Lextended Day staff and board. She also recognizes that this recommendation comes as a surprise to many in the school community. • The document Follow -Up to (questions from 4111122 was reviewed by Dr. Hackett. She explained that Chapter 30B is a law in Massachusetts that works for procurement of supplies, services and real property. It contains procedures to ensure open and fair competition for contracts paid for with public money. The 30B process was developed so that there can be no predetermination regarding who the bid will be awarded. Dr. Hackett added that after the bid process is over, there can be discussion on the outcome, JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT it is not a done deal. She suggests in the future creating a Finance Subcommittee of the School Committee. Dr. Hackett also wanted to point out that David Coelho is our chief procurement officer, and Deb Harvey is our procurement operations manager. Although it is true that Mr. Coelho has only been here for three years, Ms. Harvey is a long time employee who helped oversee this process. • Dr. Hackett explained that we could either award the bid to Kidsborough as recommended or cancel it and start the bid process again which will take about five to six weeks to procure. Dr. Hackett wanted it to be clear that we do not make money on this program, the money goes to facilities, not the school system, and financial gain for LPS was not a motivating factor. She also pointed out that the staffing ratios are determined by the State. In addition, non profit versus profit is not a selection of criteria in the procurement process. Dr. Hackett addressed the concern of switching a local business with a big business; she explained that Kidsborough is a local family owned company that wants to be a part of our community. Also, even though Kidsborough only has one behavioral specialist, our current vendor has none. Dr. Hackett recognized that Kidsborough will not be able to meet the needs of all special education children but they do have experience in many areas. She also stated that this program is not an extension of the school day, it is completely independent of LIDS. • Dr. Hackett addressed the timeline and how there was only a three day turnaround for volunteers, a notification went out on March 3rd saying that in three days there will be a selection. Twenty people responded, they selected the first five people to respond to ensure a fair bidding process. Dr. Hackett added that it would be impossible to represent every group of the community. • Dr. Hackett recommends that the School Committee approve the Kidsboroughs contract; mourtilwi1 IM School Committee Member Questions/Comments: Ms. Cuthbertson brought up that they have received many emails asking why the community hasn't seen any proposals on this. She stated that Mr. Coelho explained that as part of the process, the materials can only be shared after the contract is awarded. Dr. Hackett added that included in these documents are testimonials of children with disabilities and other personal information. Ms. Cuthbertson pointed out that everyone has recently gone through a lot of change and that the idea of another change is challenging for the community. She acknowledges community input as being very valuable but also sometimes decisions have to be made without surveying everyone. Dr. Hackett wanted to clarify that Kidsborough never said they were going to hire everybody from the current after school program; they are going to make efforts to hire 50% of the current JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT Lextended Day employees. And even though the pay is none of our concern since we don't run the operation, it is our understanding that Kidsborough will be offering competitive rates. Ms. Cuthbertson pointed out that having a multi -community company in Lexington could add additional resources. Many kids are not able to participate in Lextended Day which could be a resource issue. Dr. Hackett added that this could be true but there is also an approval process with the EEC [MA Department of Early Education and Care]. Other new information she learned is that the policies have been structured so that only so many rooms are available. So we limit some of the opportunities because we have to exist with other groups that need access to community facilities. Mr. Freeman recognized how much time and effort Dr. Hackett and her team have put into this. As a parent who has used Lextended Day for many years, and who had a great experience, he does not question the outcome. However, he does question the part of the process where parents received an email to participate in a meeting three days later and the first-come, first -serve way selection process occurred. He feels like the special education portion of Kidsborough is overrated, he has not read any other commitment towards special education other than the one behavioral specialist. Mr. Freeman was unaware that parents of children with special needs were having an issue with Lextended Day. He mentioned that the School Committee received a lot of support for Lextended Day, but they did for Kidsborough as well. He hopes that if Kidsborough is awarded this contract that there will be a lot of oversight to make sure that they do deliver on all of our expectations. Dr. Hackett replied to the concern of selecting people in order of how they responded; this is an important thing for us to reflect on. This was thought to be a fair way to do it but she will discuss a better way going forward. Dr. Hackett also stated that Kidsborough has a lot of expectations from the community. They won't be perfect but they are motivated to deliver. And if they don't, we have a built-in process that allows us to address those issues. She added that we control the process ultimately and that if we don't get what we think our families need, then we will look in a different direction. She also said that surrounding communities that use Kidsborough have had a positive experience and no regrets. Ms. Sawhney got stuck on the word "procurement process" We are actually selling time in our facilities. We are the vendor for Lextended Day and Kidsborough. Dr. Hackett states that the contract is about space and quality of service. Ms. Sawhney is understanding of the concerns of elementary parents. She asked about whether Kidsborough employees are finger -printed & coried. Dr. Hackett replied yes, and that there is State level supervision by the EEC on programs like this. Ms. Sawhney asked, "How do we help our students in Lexington become more JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT successful?" She understands that there will be hiccups in the beginning but asks how we help our children have a good experience. Dr. Hackett responded that we can definitely offer support, this will be offered by the people in the Finance and Operations office. We have to be mindful of our own operations and that Kidsborogh should be of theirs. Ms. Sawhney also brought up the implicit LIDS expectations around things such as DEI. We have these expectations in the community; Ms. Sawhney asked how we communicate these to Kidsborough. Dr. Hackett replied that we will be very clear with the provider about what we expect and who we are. Ms. Sawhney suggested meeting members of Kidsborough, Dr. Hackett said that if they are awarded the contract, the School Committee should most definitely meet them in person. She has spoken with Kidsborough and they are keyed into community needs and are passionate about this work; it is not the big corporate office setting or a cookie cutter experience. There will be opportunities for kids to unwind or get support if needed. Not having a regimented schedule was an important part of the procurement process. Ms. Jay can see why this is really difficult, many people have had good and wonderful experiences with Lextended Day. She thinks what came through in a lot of the communications is that running an after-school program like this ultimately is about building relationships. She hopes that overtime this can be done with Kidsborough as well. Ms. Jay appreciates Mr. Freeman for pointing out that there are people who are really happy with Lextended but that there are also concerns about inclusion of all of our students, especially special needs students. As said previously, the majority needs to help the minority and that this is, in some ways, a job of the community. Ms. Jay stated that our values have been very much about inclusion and allowing students to participate to the fullest extent. She knows that it is impossible to know how that will turn out with the new provider, but she hopes that by having this behavioral specialist and taking an inclusive approach, they could possibly include students who were not served before. Ms. Jay added that Kidsborough is open to talking to members of our community to see what the needs are, and they are open to assessing interest in doing a before school program. She acknowledged that going through change is hard. Dr. Hackett wants to be perfectly clear that we will probably still have people who get turned away because we don't have enough slots and that we will probably have kids with special needs whose needs won't be met by Kidsborough. She wants people to be aware that we are still going to have some of the same challenges. Ms. Lenihan asked if the capacity at each school is going to be the same or more or less. Dr. Hackett replied that we are not talking about a decrease in slots, she again brought up having Kidsborogh come in to answer some questions. She also said that we should track the participation rates so comparisons can be made. Also, Mr. Coelho meets monthly with the JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT program providers so this could be a means of communication. Ms. Lenihan reiterated that this is a separate program from LPS and that there's a possibility of Kidsborogh offering a before -school program like they do in other communities. Dr. Hackett received an update that the bids were written to provide the same capacity that we have now. Sara Mei stated that she never participated in Lextended Day first hand, but when she was in Middle School, she and her friends would go over to Fiske and see all the kids outside having fun with Lextended Day. She also asked students at the Joy In Learning visit at Harrington what their favorite part of their day was and one response was "music, gym ... and Lextended Day." She asked that student what she liked about Lextended Day and she replied that she gets to go outside and play, read a book, or whatever she wants. Sara Mei, on the other hand, is aware of the importance of having a behavioral specialist with Kidsborough. She said, "in my mind, if we can help one more child, then that's one more life that we made better." Dr. Hackett added that it is great to bring it back to the kids' experience and that earlier she failed to say that the little girl who spoke after her mother's comment was the most brilliant speaker of the evening! Also, in terms of the before -school program, there would have to be a query to the community to asses interest and Mr. Coelho has to reach out to the Inspector General's office to get clarification if a new bid is required (or a secondary process). Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to award Kidsborough out of Hopkinton, Massachusetts a three-year contract (July 1, 2022 — June 30, 2025) with two (2) one-year options for a vendor to rent space in LPS elementary schools for an After School Structured Program; Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. C. Possible Vote on Elementary Half -Days for FY 22-23 Dr. Hackett explained that there was a concern from the LEA about the School Committee's approval of the FY 22-23 calendar SC Response to LEA Letter. Dr. Hackett recommended that the School Committee not vote on this tonight since we are still waiting to hear back from legal counsel. It sounded like there was an assumption that a vote was taken to eliminate the half-day Thursdays, she wanted to clarify on behalf of the School Committee that that is not at all what occurred. The current challenge is whether this is impact bargaining or if it's a condition of mandatory bargaining. We will work with the LEA on this and report back with a recommendation. The vote was tabled until the next meeting. JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT COMMUNITY SPEAK Maggie Heffernan 223 Lowell St: She attended the meeting tonight to voice her support for the Lextended Day program. She is an alum of the Lextended Day program and her heart dropped when she heard of the potential change in providers. She would like to highlight the importance of consistency in education. She would have hoped that after all of the upheaval of COVID that we could have kept the after-school program consistent for kids. She has worked in the world of special education and she completely agrees that a behavioral specialist is valuable and important. She wishes that this was something that could have been fixed within Lextended Day because all students deserve equal rights to participate. She thanked Lextended Day for helping to shape her as a person and is devastated that the program is no longer. Mona Roy, Bertwell Rd: Ms. Roy thanked LPS and the School Committee for their vote, and for taking different perspectives into consideration. People have felt heard tonight, including herself. She predicts that more inclusion will make everyone happy down the line. Sarah Conrad, 176 Cedar St: She is the president of Lextended Day's Board and is disappointed in the vote. She put out a request to LPS and the School Committee that communication improves. She added that there has not been any feedback on some of the concerns with the program. She is for inclusion and she hopes that that's something that comes from Kidsborough. She is sorry to hear that there was never a push for Lextended Day to do better with special education because that is something that would have been embraced. She appreciates the thoughtfulness that has gone into this process but she asks that "LPS and you all do all that you can to ensure that it lives up to this desire of greater inclusion" CONSENT AGENDA Ms. Sawhney moved to approve • Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval o April 22, 2022 - Payroll in the amount of $4,172,138.73 o April 29, 2022 - AP Warrants in the amount of $1,822,716.33 Ms. Jay moved to approve • Minutes o January 11, 2022 Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to approve the entire consent agenda; Ms. Jay seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote, approved 5-0. JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT ADJOURNMENT Ms. Sawhney made a motion to adjourn at 8:32 PM, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. JK 04/26/22 - DRAFT