HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-12-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Meeting Minutes
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CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:06 PM
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
Deepika Sawhney, Vice-chair
Kathleen Lenihan, Clerk
Eileen Jay
Larry Freeman
Sara Cuthbertson, Chairperson, did not attend. Ms. Sawhney will chair the meeting.
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT
Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent
The minutes were tal<en 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.
CONSENT AGENDA
Ms. Lenihan (a-cJ and Ms.Jay(d-gJ read the following consent agenda items:
• Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval
a. November 17, 2023 - Payroll in the amount of$4,745,049.48
b. December 1, 2023 -AP Warrant in the amount of$1,976,638.09
c. December 1, 2023 -AP Warrant in the amount of$2,100.00
d. December 1, 2023 - Payroll in the amount of$4,753,223.37
e. December 15, 2023 - BMO Warrant in the amount of$55,418.09
f. December 15, 2023 -AP Warrant in the amount of$1,178,807.34
g. December 15, 2023 -Supplemental AP Warrant in the amount of$11,700.00
Mr. Freeman read the following consent agenda items:
• Minutes
October 10, 2023
November 7, 2023
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED
Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items:
• Donations
a. Anonymous Performing Arts LHS Orchestra ASTA Competition Trip Donation for
$3,000
b. $1,000 Donation for Lexington Math Team from the Russian School of
Mathematics
Ms. Lenihan motioned to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Jay seconded. Ms.
Sawhney took a roll call vote. Passed, 4-0.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS
Mr. Freeman announced that the Human Rights Committee is looking for input and support
from the community in the planning of the 2024 Martin Luther I<ing Day celebration. He also
attended the PTO/PTA Presidents Council (PPC) meeting with Ms. Jay.
Ms. Lenihan announced that the next School Building Committee meeting is on December 21st
at 4:00 PM. She also said the Calendar Working Group has identified other districts whose
calendars interest us. The group will find out how they made their decisions. The plan is to
make a recommendation to the School Committee in February and in March hold community
forums.
Ms. Jay attended the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) meeting where they discussed the
Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) with the community. She also mentioned attending the PPC
meeting, and policies on fundraising were discussed.
Ms. Sawhney attended the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) Legislative
Committee meeting. They pass resolutions every year, they currently have a backlog of
resolutions and they would like some guidance as to which three are most important for them
to focus on. Ms. Sawhney will send the members of the School Committee a link to the
spreadsheet with resolutions and a Google Doc, requesting that each committee member pick
their top three resolutions. Ms. Sawhney attended the METCO School Committee meeting on
November 28th in Boston and the annual METCO conference.
COMMUNITY SPEAK
Todd Burger (in person), 386 Lincoln St.: He has been a resident of Lexington for 33 years, and
he is also a member of Town Meeting. He has worked in transportation and vehicle fleet
management. He thanl<ed the Superintendent and all of the school board for their service in the
community. Mr. Burger spoke about how the School Committee received $300,000 for the
purchase of electric school buses many months ago. He states that there are unexcusable
reasons why we have failed to purchase electric buses. He is asking the School Committee to
take action on this. He would like to see a presentation on how we plan to replace the bus fleet
within the next three years.
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED
Robin Stizhak- LEA co-president: "Tonight I am speal<ing on behalf of my Unit D colleagues. This
Unit umbrellas under which Student Support Personnel is further categorized into Clerical staff,
recess and lunch aides, etc. I also need to couch my comments with the acknowledgment that
last year's Unit A contract struggle was contentious. In speal<ing in support of my Unit D
colleagues, I am questioning systems and institutions, and not individuals. And at the same
time, I cannot soften the hard truth that LPS does not pay our Unit D staff what they are worth.
The very people who literally allow us to run our schools do not make a living wage. Whereas
there are always some people who don't take a job seriously, most ESPs will tell you how deeply
committed they are to our students, despite the fact that they cannot always make ends meet
on their current wages in this economy."
Amy Morin - LEA co-president: "LPS has a history of giving money back to the town every year. I
know it is different monies and can be explained away in all sorts of ways. The problem is that
there is New England thrift and then there is an abandonment of our values on the backs of our
own workers. A carton of eggs is $2.09 whether you make $20 an hour or$50K a year. There are
many vacancies across the district and one of the reasons I have been told as to why we cannot
fill those positions, beyond the fact that this is across the nation, is because "people do not
want to work:' The workforce has absolutely changed. People do not want to work for
insultingly low pay while also being treated like "the help:' For ESP Appreciation Day or
National Administrative Professionals' Day, instead of snacl<s and platitudes, we are asking for
actual support in the form of a wage that allows Unit D educators to survive on one job,
because one job really should be enough:'
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Dr. Hackett reviewed her Su��rira��r�d�r�t"s R���rt with the School Committee. The highlights
from her report include:
1. Congratulations and Celebrations
• LHS Teacher Beckie Rankin Receives Nelson Brool<s Award!
2. We All Belong
• List of upcoming Holidays and observances
• Critical Reflections on Racial Equity with Dr. Dionne McLaughlin
• IDEAS Student Leadership Conference was on Friday, December 8th
• Parent feedback from the METCO meeting
• Dr. Hacl<ett visited Estabrook
3. New or Renovated Lexington High School
• Community Forum #2
• School Building Committee Meeting
• Visioning Committee Workshop #1
• Lool<ing for Ways to Get Involved
4. Science Inspires Middle School Minds
• Goal to engage the community in speaking to Middle school students about
science.
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED
School Committee Questions/Comments:
Ms. Sawhney heard at the Boston METCO meeting that there was a yearning for relationships
between students, parents, and teachers. Parents would like their children to be more involved
in the community. She also heard that the parent-teacher conferences are hard for those
parents to attend. Dr. Hackett added that parent-teacher conferences have a virtual option.
Mr. Freeman heard the same things during the breakout sessions with parents at the METCO
meeting, wanting a stronger and more regular relationship between parents and teachers.
Parents also spol<e about how they don't really know what students are doing in classrooms
day-to-day.
Ms. Jay also discussed the concerns she heard at the METCO meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Update on i�h P�rfc�r an�� �aildir� P�li��
Maggie Peard, the Sustainability and Resilience OfFicer for the Town, and Mike Cronin, Director
of Public Facilities, explained the new policy they are proposing. The purpose of the policy is to
identify any performance issues in our buildings, particularly those that negatively impact
occupant health or the environment. The policy will establish metrics to track at the building
level for all town-owned buildings, it will set up a review and reporting process. It will tracl<
energy use, air quality, water use, and renewable energy at each building. Part of this policy is to
create a stakeholder group comprising facility staff, health staff, the Sustainable Lexington
Committee, and Maggie's position. According to the policy, data collection will be over a
two-year phase. After two years, the stakeholder group will start setting targets based on the
collected data and action plans for the failing buildings.
School Committee Questions/Comments:
Ms. Lenihan is always excited to discuss standards for health and buildings, especially air quality.
She would like air quality to be specifically called out in the policy. Dr. Hackett pointed out that
there is a whole section about CO2 levels. Ms. Lenihan missed the attachments but is excited to
read through them.
Ms. Jay spoke about how this policy is for existing buildings. She asked if the standards and
targets for newly designed buildings are the same for existing buildings. Ms. Peard explained
that all of the standards they will be setting would be building-specific and vary depending on
which metrics they are looking at to see if it's possible to get them to the same level as new
construction buildings. They probably won't be able to meet new construction thresholds
immediately. Ms. Jay asked if that would be the goal or if it would be establishing something
different for existing buildings. Ms. Peard replied that it would really depend on the metric. Mr.
Cronin explained that this policy will give us information to help us understand what's
happening in the buildings and where we need to make changes in the long-term capital plan.
Ms. Jay asked how the building would be prioritized, and Mr. Cronin explained that it would be
based on the data collected within the first two years. The Department of Public Facilities will
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED
look at which buildings we need to invest in and use that information to draft a capital plan that
will then be presented to the School Committee.
Mr. Freeman asl<ed if it was intentional that Sections 3 and 4 in the policy were not bolded. Ms.
Peard responded that this was just a formatting issue and that she would fix it. Mr. Freeman
pointed out that in Section II - Responsibility, the second paragraph, second sentence, it says the
Town Manager is authorized to adopt additional guidelines, objectives, etc. but it does not say
the Superintendent of Schools has the same authorization. He asked why that is, and Ms. Peard
responded that that was a good question and it could be because the Town Manager was
bringing forward the guidelines and objectives. She is open to hearing why the Superintendent
should be included in that. Ms. Lenihan pointed out that Mr. Cronin reports to the
Superintendent as well, which would be a good reason to add the Superintendent.
Ms. Sawhney pointed out that at the top of the policy, it states the "Board of Selectmen:' It is
now the "Select Board." Ms. Peard will make this edit.
Ms. Lenihan spoke about bringing in outside air and how climate changes could affect this. Mr.
Cronin added that all of our equipment that brings in outside air has MERV 13 filtrations.
Ms. Sawhney mentioned that since this is a new policy, it will have to be presented to the
School Committee two more times.
B. F�24 Fir�t u�rt�r ��6�crrt
Dave Coelho, the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, went over the Fiscal
Year 2024 First Quarter Report. He explained that we currently carry a surplus of approximately
$962,368 and that the first quarter tends to be a very cursory experience in getting down to the
final numbers.
The impact of transportation changes and needs were discussed and the different
categories/line items in which money is reserved or could be spent to cover other deficits.
Mr. Coelho stated that we are in a good spot but there is always a lot of volatility in the big
items.
Ms. Sawhney spol<e about the influx of refugee families into Massachusetts and how it would be
easier if our school system had one set of families that stayed through at least a whole school
year. Dr. Hacl<ett spolce about the importance of paying more for transportation so that the
families we have attending our schools can stay together. She added that the staff have been
supportive and that we have "Community Closets" at schools that contain items such as clothes
and snacks for whoever needs them. Mr. Freeman spol<e about how Matthew Small's name has
come up in every conversation about the refugees staying at the hotel in a very positive way. Dr.
Hackett praised Matthew for everything that he had done. Ms. Lenihan suggested meeting with
the Select Board to discuss how we could better help the refugees. Ms. Sawheny added the
need for a policy for managing sheltered families to not burn out volunteers.
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED
Ms. Sawhney reported on her findings after noticing that the warrants were over four million
dollars every two weeks. She brought up salary and wages and the chart on page 7, the line for
Unit A LEA. The line item went from $782 for the FY23 request to adding twenty more people
for FY24. Ms. Sawhney asl<ed what the expected request for FY25 is. Mr. Coelho responded that
requests for FY25 FTEs have been submitted, and they are sorting through them. He added that
there are reductions due to students transferring to other programs, which means we will shift
to accommodate other needs. Mr. Coelho projects that the FY25 FTEs will be around the current
1240, ensuring the number will include some flexibility.
Ms. Jay brought up the Special Education consultants and asked where we stand on Unit C
vacancies. Mr. Coelho replied that as of the end of September, the district had a total of 30.7
FTE vacancies, 20.77 of which are Unit C. Dr. Hackett added that the average number of
vacancies was around 25 (pre-pandemic), Mr. Coelho explained various reasons for high
vacancies and how this is the nature of the budget and we are getting back to normal.
Mr. Freeman added that the budget and numbers do not cover the continuity of the education
and relationships of the child.
C. FY 23 E�d af Y��r Fi��r�c� � �rt
Mr. Coelho explained that every year, every district in the Commonwealth has to submit an
End-of-Year Financial Report to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
This is an extensive report, and it takes a lot of time because we have eleven locations, and it's
very detailed. Mr. Coelho stated that we are waiting for Schedule 19, which is the Town's
expenditures for things lil<e debt service and items they have allocated to the schools, like the
accounting system. Once those numbers are in, they will be entered, and the report will go to
the Superintendent for her to review and sign, then the School Committee chair, and then onto
the Town for signature and then finally uploaded to DESE. Mr. Coelho explained that the EOYR is
due to DESE by the beginning of October and that we are late, which is typical for districts.
Ms. Sawhney pointed out a suggested motion listed on the report. Mr. Coelho apologized and
said that it was from an old report. She also confirmed with Mr. Coelho that this report is just an
FYI.
COMMUNITY SPEAK
Todd Burger (in person), 386 Lincoln St.: He is happy to participate as a community member in
any of the panels and internal discussions of the staff that are struggling with the decisions of
sound electric buses. He recently had an unofFicial conversation with someone in the Police
Department about transitioning their fleet. He was able to answer many questions about issues
they were struggling with, he feels like he could help the schools in a similar way. Mr. Burger
personally wrote the manual that is used by transit authorities across the country for small
buses for the federal government. He also helped the federal government establish the first
operational standard for the purchase of city buses and is a five year owner of an electric
vehicle. He adds that he has hands-on experience with electric vehicles and before his career he
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED
was an auto mechanic.
P SSI�LE��T'I� 11"E 5
• Ms. Lenihan requested the addition of"This NYT article highlighted a CTE study finding
that children who played football in their younger years" and "Electrification of Buses."
• Ms. Sawhney added "Student Reps to the School Committee in keeping with MA regs"
and it was briefly discussed among the School Committee and Dr. Hackett. Ms. Jay read
Massachusetts law regarding selecting student representatives for the School
Committee. Mr. Freeman stated that laws are "not designed for marginalized people."
Ms. Jay and Dr. Hackett discussed how this will be an equitable process.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Freeman made a mofion to adjourn at 8:05 p.m., Mrs. Lenihan seconded. Ms.
Sawhney took a roll call vote. Passed 5-0.
JK 12/12/23 -APPROVED