HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-01-24-SC-min
Lexington School Committee
January 24, 2006
LHS Media Center
251 Waltham Street
Present: Superintendent Paul Ash,School Committee: Chair Helen Cohen, Scott Burson,
Tom Diaz, Tom Griffiths, Olga Guttag and student representative Toni Maeck
Minutes taken by Leora Tec.
I. Call to order and welcome (Helen Cohen 7:41 pm):
II. Public comment
Lily Eyraud (LHS student): We should reinstate the Drug Prevention program
run by Julie Fenn and Beth Mintz. Would like them both full-time.
Brittany Lopes (LHS Student): We stop in to see Julie often and she does a lot
more than 10 hours.
Marissa Fiore (LHS Student): Over 100 students signed up for the program. We
have a petition with a couple hundred signatures.
Devin Shaw (LHS Student): The program is also to help kids who are nervous
about peer pressure. We are role models for them. It’s not only about drugs and
alcohol.
Pedro Barbosa (LHS Student): It helped us to talk to little kids. We love Julie
and Beth.
Emily Fenn (LHS Student): Middle schoolers meet high schoolers and feel free
to say hi. We have adult teen dialogue nights.
III. Superintendent’s Report
1. Thursday is the public hearing on the FY07 budget. The whole evening is for
citizens to speak.
2. There is a proposal to increase state aid to schools to a minimum of $2,000 per
child. We currently get $862 per child, so if this goes through we would
receive $6,000,000 more. School committees have been voting to support this
legislation.
IV. Members’ Reports/Members’ Concerns
Tom Griffiths:
1. Financial Review Committee and Senior Center Siting Committee are
proceeding nicely.
2. A troubling comment at the Selectmen’s meeting: one Selectmen said that
since the schools got their money early, any surplus when health care is taken
out should be given to the town.
Tom Diaz:
1. He wants to remind administrators and elementary principals that high school
students will be counting “idlers,” that is people idling their cars, at the
elementary schools.
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2. Planning Board meeting: they discussed the inclusionary housing motion, by
which a warrant in Town Meeting would regulate rental and sales prices to
make more affordable housing. This could add more than 100 affordable
homes
Scott Burson:
The Cary Memorial Library Foundation raised money to support operations of the
library and will make a second large transfer of $50,000 to trustees of library to
buy materials.
V. Discussion Items
A. Recommended Grades 6-8 budget (Helen Cohen and Tom Griffiths)
In general:
100 more students at Diamond
Administrative expense budgets up 18% at Diamond and down 19% at
Clarke
Clarke has a Learning Center and Diamond has a literacy program. The
principals think this does not mean there is an inequity between Clarke
and Diamond.
Professional development funds requested in many departments
Additional Expenses Comments
FTEs
Science none Increases at both C and D
Business Increases at C and D
(keyboarding) none (including $1500 for
software at D)
Info. Tech. none Increases at C and D
(including CAD software
at D)
Math .5 for both C More supplies for both C
and D and D, more textbooks at
C
ELA, debate, none In ELA: 37% decrease in
speech and C; 2.2% increase at D; In
journalism speech, journ. and debate:
205% increase
Social Studies .05 to dept head 37% decrease in supplies
at D at C; 13% increase in
supplies at D
Clarke none No increase
Learning
Center
B. Recommended Grades K-12 Budget (Scott Burson and Tom Griffiths)
Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development:
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Lynne Sarasin: We need both horizontal alignment of curriculum and
vertical coordination so that it’s coherent and smooth. Major items for FY07
are training for Scott Forseman, self-study, and reviews of English,
Mathematics and Wellness/Health. Lynn Sarasin also pointed out that the goal
is to make professional development funds easier to track. There is a request
for an additional 1.0 for an Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum,
Instruction and Professional Development (to replace the current .6 Assistant
to the Superintendent), and an additional .5 administrative assistant. $51K is
requested for professional development and $40K for conference fees and
travel. There is a decrease of $12K for consultants and a decrease of $22K for
in-state travel. $30K is requested for contracted services for program
evaluation and curriculum review.
Library/Media
No staffing changes. $20K is requested for equipment and an additional $8K
for supplies.
K-12 Technology
Staffing increases: 2 FTE field technicians and a 0.1 FTE database
administrator. Expenses increased 48.57% from FY06.
K-12 English Language Learners
In order to comply with state mandates the following additional staff are
requested: 1 FTE ELL Director; 1 ELL Teacher (Gr. 6-8); 3 FTE ELL
Teachers (K-5); and 1 FTE ELL (high school). ELL instructional assistant
hours will be reduced by 100 hours in the elementary level and increased by
40 hours at the high school level.
There is an $8K increase in expenses in order to bring our program into
compliance.
K-12 Physical Education and Wellness
The Superintendent is proposing that the administration of this program be
moved from the Athletic Director to a Director of Physical Education and
Wellness.
Staffing: elimination of a .75 FTE Health Coordinator; and the addition of a .5
FTE Health Curriculum Specialist, a .25 FTE increase in middle school health
teachers, a .25 increase to the elementary health teachers and a .5 FTE 6-12
Health Prevention Specialist.
Contracted services increase by $17K. The FY07 budget attempts to make a
more realistic estimation of costs for repairs and maintenance of physical
education equipment at $7000.
K-12 Visual Arts
Staffing: .2 FTE increase in visual arts.
Funding: 18% lower than in FY06.
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K-12 Performing Arts
Staffing: .6 FTE for a K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator is requested.
Funding: 58% increase from FY06, much of it for repair, maintenance and
replacement.
Superintendent’s Office and School Committee Expenses
(See above for replacement of .6 FTE Assistant to the Superintendent
position by 1.0 FTE Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and
Professional Development position).
Funding for the Superintendent’s Office decreases by 20% for FY07. Funding
for the School Committee, mostly for legal expenses, increases from $125K to
$145K from FY06 to FY07.
Human Resources:
No staffing changes. A 28% increase in expenses but a 10% reduction in the
amount budgeted for substitutes.
Central Office- Finance and Operations
No staffing changes. Transportation expenses increased by 4% and print shop
expenses increased by 12%.
Olga Guttag brought up the fact that she will not be ready to vote on the
st
budget by January 31. The Committee agreed they would postpone the vote
th
to 5:00 on February 7 pending Paul Ash checking his calendar. The meeting
will take place in the Central Office.
Facilities
Staffing: There are requests for 1 FTE Facilities Manager, 1 FTE Building
Technician and 4 additional custodians.
Funding: the requested budget would be a 22.49% increase from FY06. Bill
Hartigan is proposing a preventative maintenance program for LHS the two
Middle Schools and Harrington.
Discussion regarding why we would only do preventative maintenance on the
newer buildings: It depends on when and if we are anticipating rebuilding.
The amount proposed for the preventative maintenance is below the industry
standard, though it is not unusual to be below that standard. According to Bill
Hartigan, in a year or two we will come to an equilibrium.
C. FY07 Recommended Capital Plan and Five-year Plan
The plan has been revised. The major change is we removed safety items that
are not capital items. We have added strategic planning funds for elementary
schools ($40,000 to work with an architect). Another major change is the
auditorium repair program for LHS has been reduced from 5 years to 3 years.
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Discussion on whether to put technology on an override, and whether
technology should be included in capital or operating expenses.
Motion to support the Superintendent’s capital budget to take to Capital
Expenditures Committee (Guttag, Griffiths) passed 4-0 (Scott Burson not
present).
Tom Griffiths proposed increasing SALDIF to $650,000 to decrease budget by $250,000.
Paul Ash agrees.
VI. Action Items:
FY07 Calendar:
Motion to accept FY07 calendar as is (Guttag, Diaz) passed 4-0 (Scott
Burson not present).
VII. Motion to adjourn (Tom Griffiths, Olga Guttag) passed 4-0 (Scott Burson not
present). Meeting adjourned at 11:25 PM
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