HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-06-11-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday,June 112024
Meeting Minutes
AGENDA:
CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:07 PM
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
Sara Cuthbertson, Chairperson
Deepika Sawhney, Vice-chair
Kathleen Lenihan, Clerk
Eileen Jay
Larry Freeman
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT
Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent
The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary.
The School Committee convened at the School Committee Meeting Room at Central Office and
remotely. Members of the public can view and participate in person or 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 REORGANIZATION
Ms. Cuthbertson explained that after the new Chair is nominated and voted on, then that new
chair runs the rest of the nominations.
Mr. Freeman moved to nominate Ms.Jay as Chair, Ms. Lenihan seconded. No
additional nominations, vote passed 5-0. Ms. Jay is the new Chair.
Ms. Cuthbertson moved to nominate Ms. Sawhney as Vice Chair, Mr. Freeman
seconded. No additional nominations, vote passed 5-0. Ms. Sawhney is the new
Vice-Chair.
Ms. Lenihan moved to nominate Ms. Cuthbertson as Clerk, Mr. Freeman seconded. No
additional nominations, vote passed 5-0. Cuthbertson is the new Clerk.
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT
CONSENT AGENDA
Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items:
Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval
a. May 31, 2024- Payroll in the amount of$5,088,707.29
b. June 7, 2024-AP Warrant in the amount of$2,279,128.53
Ms. Sawhney recused herself from the rest of the consent agenda.
Mr. Freeman read the following consent agenda items:
Minutes
a. April 23, 2024
b. May 7, 2024
Ms. Lenihan read the following consent agenda items:
Donations
a. $10,000 Donation to Help Defray the Cost of the HBCU Tour for Students from an
Anonymous Donor
b. $600 Donation to the Visual Arts Department at Lexington High School from
Deepika Sawhney
Ms. Cuthbertson motioned to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Lenihan
seconded. Ms.Jay took a roll call vote,passed 4-1 (Ms. Sawhney recused herself from
the vote).
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS
Ms. Lenihan congratulated the graduating Class of 2024! She also mentioned the Design
Workshop for the new LHS building project, which took place last Thursday. There will be a
Communication Subcommittee meeting of the School Building Committee (SBC) tomorrow
morning.
Ms. Cuthbertson also congratulated the graduates and spoke about how well the graduation
was run. She was also able to tag along on some tours with the Student School Building
Committee prior to the design workshop. She thanked the students for participating, saying, "I
think that helps a lot to hear from the kids." Ms. Cuthbertson and the School Committee
attended the LHS PTO's end-of-year celebration last night.
Mr. Freeman attended the second annual My Truth Essay Writing competition and announced
that LexPride is holding a benefit fashion show on the 22nd.
Ms. Sawhney thanked Phala Chea, Coordinator of PreK-12 English Learners Education, and staff
for inviting the School Committee to the Joy in Learning celebration this past Tuesday. She also
thanked the Chair from the Chinese Americans of Lexington (CALex) for the June 8th festival.
Ms. Sawhney also thanked the Indian Americans of Lexington (IAL) for inviting her and Mr.
Freeman to their "chai and chat" gathering and to the Social Studies department for providing
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT
curriculum for them to discuss.
Ms. Jay shared in-depth her visit to Fiske, where she observed literacy lessons in action in
kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. She found this very helpful in her understanding of our
literacy curriculum and process.
COMMUNITY SPEAK
Nalini Datta,Jocelyn Chen, and Caroline Ehmann (in person) - Lexington High School students
from the Envirothon Team gave a presentation on the harms of plastic water bottles and
explained their proposed plastic bottle policy.
Olga Guttag-273 Emerson Rd (virtual): She thanked Ms. Lenihan for speaking with her about
the high school project and the School Committee for scheduling informational meetings for the
public about the project. Ms. Guttag also brought up the request that she made back in March
for an org chart of LPS administrative staff. Dr. Hackett informed her that such a chart was
published on the website. She could not find it, so Ms. Lenihan sent her the post. This org chart
"doesn't give the information necessary to figure out what the staffing really is"; she is looking
for a list of salaries and responsibilities.
Amy Morin-22 Hamblen St (virtual): She is the co-president of the Lexington Education
Association (LEA) and the Chair of the Unit D bargaining team. During New Business, she asked
that the School Committee vote to ratify the new successor agreement. Ms. Morin also
announced that she would be stepping down as co-president of the LEA. She thanked the
School Committee and everyone in Lexington Public Schools.
Lin Jensen-133 Reed St (virtual): She is speaking to support the Envirothon Team. She pointed
out that they have won awards and worked on the proposed policy all year. Ms. Jensen hopes
that LPS will implement this policy when operations are ready.
Dawn McKenna-9 Hancock St (in person): She spoke about the Community Speak portion of
School Committee meetings; she finds it "very difficult and cumbersome." She spoke about the
history and how "the purpose of speaking in public for people like myself and other citizens that
are here is to talk about particular matters." Ms. McKenna requested that the School Committee
add this topic to an agenda, and she advocated for the importance of letting the public speak.
Sarela Bliman-Cohen - 17 Dane Rd (in person): She thanked Ms. Lenihan, Dr. Hackett, and the
School Building Committee for the charrette. She would like more people signed up on
ParentSquare to expand on communication. Ms. Bliman-Cohen is in support of the new high
school but is looking for something that would cost less. She asked if the SMMA could come up
with another option.
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT& COMMUNITY REPORT, SPRING 2024
Dr. Hackett reviewed her Superintendents Report with the School Committee. The highlights
from her report include:
• Superintendent Shoutouts
o LHS Graduation
o Celebrating Eid al-Fitr
o Celebrating Our Students' Achievements in Video Game Design
o The Big Backyard Program
o Credit for Life
• A New Director of Elementary Education; Andrea So
o Andrea joined the School Committee and spoke about how she is looking
forward to working in Lexington.
• LPS Special Education Enrollment Review
o Dr. Kavanaugh, Director of Data & Strategy, reviewed the enrollment memo.
School Committee Questions/Comments:
Mr. Freeman asked, "Do we outplace students based on the lack of space or just strictly on the
least restrictive environment?" Ellen Sugita, Director of Special Education,joined via Zoom, she
replied by stating, "We outplace the majority of students because they need more than we can
give them in the district." She added that students have been outplaced due to space but they
have been brought back.
Ms. Lenihan suggested talking about issues of space and out-of-district placements sometime in
the fall.
Ms. Cuthbertson agreed that it would be good to discuss it. She also mentioned that if we
create more space, more people will come to the district. She also added, "When you're looking
at our ILP students with more intensive needs, they need access to a lot of infrastructure right
near their classroom at any given time, and having some of our most vulnerable students placed
in a classroom like that, it's probably not where we want to be going."
Mr. Freeman added that he's heard that it is hard for families who have been outplaced to come
back.
Ms. Sawhney would like to understand the bullet point that says, "White students tend to be
over-represented, and Asian students are underrepresented among the out-of-district student
population." Dr. Kavanaugh explained, "One thing we periodically encounter is some of the
cultural differences and the stigma associated with receiving additional services or being labeled
as special education." Ms. Sugita also added that her experience is that Asians "seem to be
more reluctant to go out of district" and "in Lexington, for the Asian parents to accept that their
student needs more than the Lexington Public Schools can provide for them in the district." Ms.
Sawhney wants to make sure that we support families and help them navigate the system. More
discussion of the data was had.
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT
Ms. Jay asked about the interaction of space and staffing at Fiske and Estabrook. The Fiske ILP
was overcrowded two years ago, so another program was opened at Estabrook. She assumes
that the staff was redistributed accordingly.
Ms. Cuthbertson asked what is the limit of how many adults and students we should have in a
program. Ms. Sugita replied that we have a recommended caseload cap, each teacher has a cap
of about 6 students, regulations 8 to one teacher.
NEW BUSINESS
A. June 2024: S ecial Education Enroll en eview
Data provided for informational purposes.
B. Awarding ®Year Contract for Employee Assistance rora Services
Mr. Coelho, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, explained the proposal. Deer
Oaks EAP Services bid $85,680.00 over the 5-year contract. Dr. Lyons, Assistant Superintendent
for Human Resources and Staff Support, spoke about the difference between Wellness
Champions and EAP's, "So the EAP is a sort of a centralized clearinghouse to be able to find and
connect people with resources that may help them through rough patches"
Ms. Cuthbertson moved to approve awarding a five-year contract to Deer Oaks EAP
Services to provide the Lexington Public Schools'Employee Assistance Program
Services for the term beginning July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2029, Mr. Freeman seconded.
Passed 5-0.
C. Vote to Approve 2024-2026 Innovation Plans
Dr. Kavanaugh explained that this is the second round of the new template of innovation plans
and "we want these plans to reflect the work that is actually happening [in schools]"
Ms. Jay mentioned social justice standards and the importance of having a comprehensive DEI
curriculum.
Individual School Innovation Plans:
a. Bowman
b. Bridge
c. Estabrook
d. Fiske
e. Harrin ton
f. Hastings
g. Clarke
h. Diamond
i. Lexington High School
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT
Ms. Lenihan moved to approve the Schools Innovation Plans for the 2024, 2025, and
2026 school years, Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed 5-0.
D. Vote the 3-Year Successor Agreement (FY24-FY 26) between the School Committee and the
Lexington Education Association for Unit D
Dr. Lyons and Mr. Coelho gave a summary of the Unit D contract.
Ms. Lenihan moved to approve the 3-Year Successor Agreement between the School
Committee and the Lexington Education Association for Unit D, Ms. Cuthbertson
seconded. Passed 5-0.
END-OF-YEAR EVALUATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
Ms. Cuthbertson gave a quick overview of the evaluation process, "We evaluate the
Superintendent annually at the end of the year. This is required by DESE as well. We use a
standard evaluation tool that includes district and professional, so it has a professional practice
goal for Dr. Hacket and district and student learning goals, and then it has a set of performance
standards for DESE, and then we have comments at the end" Ms. Cuthbertson went through
the sections that Dr. Hackett was evaluated on:
Professional Practice Goals:
• Plan and Innovate for Sustainable Change
• Cultivating Student Agency
Standards:
• Standard I: Supt's Performance Rating for Instructional Leadership (Curriculum,
Instruction, Assessment, Evaluation, and Data-Informed Decision Making)
• Standard II: Supt's Performance Rating for Management and Operations (Environment,
Human Resources Management and Development, Scheduling and Management
Information Systems, Scheduling and Management Information Systems, Scheduling and
Management Information SystemsLaw, Ethics, and Policies, Fiscal Systems)
• Standard III: Supt's Performance Rating for Family and Community Engagement
(Engagement, Sharing Responsibility, Communication, Family Concerns)
• Standard IV: Supt's Performance Rating for Professional Culture (Commitment to High
Standards, Cultural Proficiency, Communication, Continuous Learning, Shared Vision,
Managing Conflict)
Ms. Cuthbertson read highlights from the Chair's summary evaluation that was a composite
report based on School Committee members' superintendent evaluations.
POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS
• Ms. Lenihan requested a retreat to discuss "who's doing what"
• Ms. Sawhney requested to add Envirothon students and Whitsons.
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT
ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Lenihan made a motion to adjourn at 9:22 PM, Mr. Freeman seconded. Vote
passed 5-0.
JK 6/11/24-DRAFT