HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-04-03-SC-min
LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday, April 3, 2006
School Administration Building, Conference Room
1557 Massachusetts Avenue
Present: Superintendent Paul Ash, School Committee Chair Helen Cohen, Tom Diaz, Tom
Griffiths, Olga Guttag and student representative Toni Maeck.
Minutes taken by Leora Tec.
The meeting was convened at 7:03.
I. Call to Order and Welcome (Helen Cohen)
II. Superintendent’s Report:
A. Congratulations to the 2006 recipient of the Margot Stern Strom Teaching Award,
given by Facing History and Ourselves, Adrian Billingham, a Lexington High School
teacher.
B. The 2006 participants in the “Pursuing Justice Summer Institute in American
History” will be Alison Lindquist of Bowman School and Len Swanson of Bridge
School.
C. Mary Sullivan Kelly: There has been a change in the AIM program in the High
School: We have begun a partnership with Walker partnerships in Needham. They
have assumed a direct day-to-day leadership role; we also buy consulting from them.
It is a wonderful opportunity. We are contracting because we have lost two directors
of the program as well as the social worker and have had to make four or five outside
placements since September. This partnership should avoid more outside placements.
We will continue with Walker next year.
D. Paul Ash received a formal letter from Tom Markham stating that our assessment will
be lowered given that we will not be using a teacher from Minuteman Tech at Clarke
and Diamond.
III. Members’ Reports / Members’ Concerns:
Tom Griffiths: I heard the wind ensemble in HS. They are wonderful.
Helen Cohen: I had a conversation with Jeanne Krieger. The Selectmen have $265K that
they don’t have to spend, can that money go to them to reduce at-risk municipal items? It
will come up in summit meeting tonight.
IV. Action Items:
A. Vote on FY’08 Budget: —
If all override questions pass, Dr. Ash recommends the School Committee adopt a level-
service FY’08 budget with a few enhancements.
SC Meeting 4-3-06 page # 1
To the question of why now, Dr. Ash responded that it makes sense for the School
Department to make good use of the resources they have over the next two years before
beginning new initiatives. Also people are asking what is going to happen in FY08?
There was a discussion about what “with a few enhancements” means, and whether it is
politically wise. The Committee agreed to defer action on this item for now so that Dr. Ash
could digest their comments.
B. School Committee recommendations on Town Meeting Articles
The Committee decided not to take a position on Article 35, regarding the municipal
parking lot.
The Committee decided to put Article 15 on the agenda for Wednesday, April 5th.
Motion to support Article 28a regarding funding for sidewalk improvements (Guttag,
Griffiths). The motion passed 4-0.
C. Vote to request the Selectmen not place Question #4 on the ballot and to support the March
30, 2006, Summit Meeting recommendation:
Motion to request that the Selectmen not place so-called Question 4 on the ballot and
th
to support Mr. Carl Valente’s memo of March 30 (Diaz, Guttag). The motion passed
4-0.
Motion to go into executive session for the purposes of collective bargaining to return
to public session at 8:00 pm at the summit (Diaz, Griffiths). The motion passed 4-0.
The next meeting of the School Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, April 5, 2006, at 6:30 p.m.
at the School Administration Building Conference Room, 1557 Massachusetts Avenue.
SC Meeting 4-3-06 page # 2