HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-29-SC-min
Lexington School Committee
March 29, 2006
Central Office
1557 Massachusetts Avenue
Present: Superintendent Paul Ash, School Committee Chair Helen Cohen, Tom
Diaz, Tom Griffiths, Olga Guttag and Ravi Sakhuja. Minutes taken by Leora Tec.
I. Call to order and welcome (6:38 pm):
II. Members’ Reports/Members’ Concerns:
Olga Guttag: The EDCO Board of Directors meeting which will be attended by many
th
local legislators is on April 7 – all SC members are invited to help lobby for more state
aid. The bill for more METCO funding is moving along.
Tom Griffiths: He wants to vote not to request $40K from Capital Expenditures for
planning for elementary schools, but instead to take the money out of extraordinary
repairs to the White House.
There was a discussion of the amount of money left. Dr. Ash indicated that the only
upcoming expense that he knew about was putting a steel beam in the conference room in
the White House.
Ravi Sakhuja: I would like to have information 24 hours before meetings.
Discussion about this. Helen Cohen will take responsibility for notifying people of
meetings that come up. It is valid to call and not email with a change.
Helen Cohen: She met with Paul Ash, Olga Guttag, Carl Valente, Bill Hartigan, Jon
Himmel, and Phil Poinelli. They discussed possible expanded costs but no decisions were
made. In a couple of weeks will get the information we need and make decisions.
III. Discussion Items
A. Superintendent Evaluation- Community and Staff Feedback
Helen Cohen and Olga Guttag serve on the evaluation subcommittee. They will discuss
the draft of the report with Dr. Ash before showing to the Committee, and will also ask
the staff, principals and PTA presidents to evaluate him. They thanked Dr. Ash for being
interested in 360 degree feedback.
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IV. Action Items:
A. Motion to remove the $40K request from the Article 32 subarticle a and the
$50K from the Article 32, subarticle e (Griffiths, Diaz). The motion passed 5-0.
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B. Motion that we request that Town Meeting approve our use of $40Kfrom last
year’s administration building appropriation for extraordinary repairs instead
for the development of a strategic plan for the remaining four elementary
schools (Griffiths, Diaz). The motion passed 5-0.
C. School Committee Recommendations on Town Meeting Articles 21, 22, and 35.
Olga Guttag pointed out that Articles 21 and 22 restructure tax relief for seniors to
work off part of their property taxes by working for schools.
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Motion to support Articles 21 and 22 (Guttag, Diaz). The motion passed 5-0.
A straw vote was taken in support of Article 28a on sidewalk improvements, the
Committee was unanimously in favor.
Paul Ash reported on several places where money for SPED contingencies could be
obtained by means other than putting a ballot question for $280K to the voters:
1). Reallocate school budget line item surpluses without cutting regular education;
2). Go to the Appropriation Committee to request money out of the reserve fund; and
if still needed
3). Request the money from a stabilization fund from Town Meeting.
This may be a good mechanism for FY 07, but we may need better structures to build
reserve funds for FY 08 and onward.
V. Motion to recess at 7:35 until Town Meeting adjourns this evening (Diaz, Guttag).
The motion passed 5-0.
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