HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-22-SC-min
LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Lexington Town Office Building, Selectmen’s Meeting Room
1625 Massachusetts Avenue
Present: Superintendent Paul Ash, School Committee Chair Tom Diaz, School Committee
Members Margaret Coppe, Tom Griffiths and Ravi Sakhuja. The minutes were taken by
Leora Tec.
The meeting was convened at 7:35 pm
I.Call to Order and Welcome (Tom Diaz)
II.Superintendent’s Announcements
The LHS economics team just won the Citibank Novice Team Award in the 2007 High
School Fed Challenge Competition at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston award for
2007. They were coached by Rachel Lecomte.
III. Discussion Items
A.2008-2009 School Calendar (10 minutes)
Paul Ash: At the next meeting we will ask for approval of the calendar. Today is for
discussion. We sent this attached to my newsletter. We are waiting for staff and
principal comments including on October 31.
Lynne Sarasin: I had some conversations, the majority of the principals think Friday,
October 31 should be a full day. It would take kids away from elementary conferences.
They want kids in school for harvest celebrations. I talked to Jerry Michelson about
FY 09. We talked about doing something at 3:15 so the trick or treating was not in
competition with elementary conferences. We will continue the conversation.
Robert Manzano is an international speaker and will not commit to a day before nine
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months out. We are trying to book him for Oct. 16. We have also mentioned election
day. I spoke to him personally. He made note of our requests.
B.Report on Food Services (30 minutes)
Mary Ellen Dunn: Nancy Wiseman Food Service Director, is here, and Jack Jones
and Kerry Brian are with her.
Nancy Wiseman presented her report on the LPS food service. Committee and public
had power point. They won the award for the most creative out of 100 in the region.
Revenue has gone up in 2006-2007 though the number of meals sold has gone down.
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The discussion included the question of whether participation went down because of
price increases or because of the Wellness Policy; a suggestion by Mary Ellen Dunn
for premium meals at higher prices; the benefits of standardizing the meals across
schools (Ms. Wiseman has done that) and focus groups.
C.FY07 Budget Projection (30 minutes)
Mary Ellen Dunn: April financial report is in the packet. $40K balance thru the end
of the year. Some adjustments made for grant transfers and changes in SPED since the
last report. Trying to close out all open purchase orders, and we want all bills paid by
the end of June. Funds held in reserve for students in SPED account for kids not yet
placed.
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There will be another monthly report on June 19 and then one in the summer.
Tom Griffiths: When will you have a good idea, when will you know about late
invoices.
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Mary Ellen Dunn: Books have to be closed by July 15. Fiscal year end is not the
focus of people in schools. I will reserve 50K to take care of late bills.
IV. Action Items
A.Vote to Eliminate Weighted GPA, Starting with the Class of 2009, and Discussion of
the Development of High School Rubrics
Mr. Diaz indicated that Helen Cohen supports Michael Jones’ recommendation, but
she has a new grandchild and could not be at the meeting tonight.
Motion to eliminate weighted GPA starting with class of 2009 and accept other
recommendations of Dr. Jones (Griffiths, Coppe).
The discussion involved whether or not students could get a weighted GPA if they
wanted one and how courses of differing difficulties were weighted.
The motion passed 4-0.
There was a brief discussion of the junior prom, which was deemed to be successful.
This was the first time that students were transported to the prom by bus.
B.Vote to Approve the Memorandum of Understanding with the Board of Selectmen to
Create a Town-Wide Department of Facilities (25 minutes)
Paul Ash noted that this memo creates one town wide facilities department with a
director who reports to the superintendent and the town manager. This is a marriage. It
will ebb and flow. I enthusiastically recommend this memo of understanding. Mary
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Ellen Dunn will be the day to day supervisor and Carl Valente and I will be the
ultimate supervisors.
Budget. I will present a budget to the School Committee with the number of
custodians we need for our schools then cost of custodians, electricity etc…then would
go to a shared budget. I would still evaluate the need but the dollars would appear in a
shared budget. The same thing will happen on the municipal side. There are also
shared employees. We have to work out the mechanics about how the boards would
review that structure. The money will be in a shared account, but not for FY08.
Motion to accept recommendations in the Memo of Understanding signed by the
Selectmen Monday night to create a town-wide department of facilities (Griffiths,
Sakhuja) (Helen Cohen was supportive). Approved 4-0.
Carole Pilarski: Foreign Language Awards night: Our students did extraordinarily
well. Seven different exams were given. 400 students received national honors. 1000
exams were taken.
C.Vote to Appoint School Committee Representative to Serve on EDCO
Board of Directors
Motion to nominate Tom Griffiths (Sakhuja, Coppe). The motion passed 4-0.
D. Changing the Date of the Next School Committee Meeting
They agreed to reschedule the School Committee meeting to June 12 at 7:30 including
an executive session.
VI. Motion to go into executive session for the purposes of collective bargaining not to
return to public session (Griffiths, Coppe).; Coppe-aye; Diaz; aye; Griffiths-aye;
Sakhuja-aye.
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