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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinal Approved Minutes 12.13.11.pdf 13) MINUTEMAN A REVOLUTION IN LEARNING Final Approved 1/3/12 MINUTES MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING DECEMBER 13,2011 at 7.00 PM PAUL REVERE ROOM,MINUTEMAN HIGH SCHOOL PRESENT School Committee Members Alice DeLuca Stow (Chair) Ford Spalding Dover (Vice Chair) David Horton Lexington (Secretary) Dore Hunter Acton Jack Weis Belmont (amved at 7 09 PM) Cheryl Mahoney Boxborough Came Flood Concord John McGarity Lancaster Kemon Taschioglou Lincoln Jeffrey Stulin Needham David Manjarrez Sudbury (arrived at 7 13 PM) Mary Ellen Castagno Wayland School Committee Members Not Present Laura Morrissette Arlington (No representative) Bolton Donald Rober Carlisle John Blyzinskyj Weston Staff Dr Edward Bouquillon Superintendent Ernie Houle Pnncipal Camie Lamica Director of Business&Operations Elizabeth Rozan School Committee Administrative Assistant Student Representative Henry Maynard Acton Others Edward DeLuca Marjorie Daggett DeAnne Dupont Monica Foley Alan Taupier John Pelletier I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7 00 PM 758 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA 02421 T 781 861 6500 I F 781 863 1747 I TDD 781 861 2922 I minuteman org Serving Acton Arlington Belmont Bolton Boxhorough Carlisle Concord Dover Lancaster Lexington Lincoln, Needham,Stow Sudbury, Wayland and Weston II PUBLIC COMMENT There was no Public Comment III CHAIR'S REPORT Ms DeLuca highlighted the Minuteman brochure,and commended Jack Foley and his team for their efforts with the branding campaign The School Committee gave applause to her sharing Dr Bouquillon's recent report that 97%of the 2010 graduates were employed or enrolled in further schooling She called attention to the new meeting space and table, and commended Dr Bouquillon's assistant,Rose Cappucci,for arranging it She highlighted recent sightings of School Committee members and staff at various outreach efforts,including the Tn-town(Stow,Lancaster,Bolton)meeting in Lancaster(DeLuca,McGarity,Lamica),where they were thanked for work done on behalf of the school and its students, the Stow Selectmen's meeting on November 22(Bouquillon,DeLuca),the Carlisle Finance Committee meeting(Rober, Bouquillon,the related newspaper article had been previously distributed),the Building Committee meeting(Rober, Spalding,DeLuca),the meeting with Belmont officials on December 12(Bouquillon,DeLuca, Spalding,Weis),the School Committee orientation(Rober,Flood,with Spalding and Stulm) She also commended Principal Ernie Houle for the recent issue of Revolutionary Times, and noted that the Cosmetology team was the People's Choice award winner at the November open house She extended congratulations to them,and noted that the Principal is holding office hours at 6 45 AM! The Chair commended Ms Rozan for reaching out to Town Clerks to get information on Warrant closing dates She also mentioned the recent meeting in Boston on November 21 with Alice Peisch,chair of the Joint Committee on Education,and with MSBA's new interim director on Dec 1 (DeLuca,Bouquillon,Lamica, Spalding),as well as an anticipated letter from MSBA as a result of that meeting Ms DeLuca announced that the Superintendent's contract requires him to notify the School Committee in writing of the fact of the contract's pending expiration 15 months before the expiration date,which is June 2013 He has provided the Committee with the required notification The School Committee will be given an opportunity to vote on entering into negotiations with the Superintendent for a new contract at the January 3,2012 meeting,in open session She reported that School Committee members have expressed interest in various trainings The Attorney General's Office will offer online training on the Open Meeting Law in January-February,and will be doing large training events in the fall She has offered Minuteman as a centrally located and convenient venue for consideration as a location for one of these events There is interest in training on School Committee-Superintendent relationships and School Committee-town relationships,and there is interest in the MSBA process She also noted that she expects Lisa Dickinson, Senior Vice-President at UmBank,will give a presentation about funding options and bonding of capital projects at an upcoming meeting Ms Castagno referred to the November 2,2011 Officers'Meeting minutes relative to Dr Bouquillon's contract negotiation Ms DeLuca explained that,since that meeting,she sought and received clarification on the process,and reiterated that a request will come before the School Committee at the January 3 meeting to have the Negotiations Subcommittee begin the contract negotiation process with Dr Bouquillon Ms Castagno also asked for clarification on the process for SEPAC's reporting to the School Committee Dr Bouquillon confirmed that Kevin Lynn is in discussion with the SEPAC representatives,and that SEPAC will bring the report forward,not Mr Lynn IV. STUDENT REPORT Mr Maynard explained that he received two letters of acceptance,one from Northern Michigan University,and one from Huntington University in Indiana,Huntington is his first choice Ms DeLuca added that Mr Maynard is interested in computer animation V MINTUEMAN PARENT ASSOCIATION(MPA)REPORT DeAnne Dupont and Monica Foley distributed folders to each School Committee member,containing a meeting date magnet,information on goals,and information on the upcoming Comedy Night(Attachment A) Ms Dupont reviewed the MPA's 2011-12 goals and offered comments on each Mr Spalding commended the level of activity of the MPA Ms DuPont pointed out that the group has an active board and many interested and involved people He commended the fundraising efforts,and suggested that Advisory Council members,accessible through Mr Houle,might be a good resource He also commended the leadership in the Association for a job well done In response to Mr Maynard's Page 2 of 6 inquiry,Ms DuPont explained the nature of a 501c3 organization Ms Mahoney suggested working with Mr Houle also to gain access to community level activities to increase participation Ms DuPont called attention to the Comedy Night information in the folder,Ms Castagno affirmed that this has been a fun time in the past VI OVERNIGHT FIELD TRIP,FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA(FFA),JANUARY 2012 Ms DeLuca explained that this item was being pulled from the agenda Mr Houle explained that although paperwork was completed for this overnight trip,the conference was full,and no one from Minuteman would have been able to attend No action was taken for the reasons stated Mr Houle reported that on November 22,four members of the Future Farmers of America program competed in the Safe Equipment Operations Career Development Event at Bristol Aggie Senior Joe Debase,first time competitor at this event,took a bronze medal in tractor operations The score is based on a written exam,tool identification,identifying tractor defects,and operation on a course VII.SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT 1 Minuteman District Superintendent Goals 2011-2012 Dr Bouquillon presented the revised Superintendent Goals(2011-2012),shown in Attachment B,which were updated on 11/29/11,on the basis of suggestions made by School Committee members He asked for a School Committee vote on them,and the following vote was taken ACTION 11-12#65 On a motion of Mr Stulm,and seconded by Mr Spalding,the School Committee VOTED(10 for,with 2 abstentions)to approve the Minuteman District Superintendent Goals 2011-2012(updated 11/29/11),as presented 2 Other Reports Dr Bouquillon reported that visitors from Ireland,who are interested in preparing for 21St century schools through a career and technology curriculum,will be at Minuteman in February He reported that the State Advisory Board for Career and Technical Education will be visiting the school on December 14,and that collaborations are underway between Minuteman's Biotech Program and Mt Wachusett Community College VIII. EDUCATION PROGRAM PLAN DISCUSSION In response to the School Committee's desire to take a deeper look at the Education Program Plan,Dr Bouquillon explained that this will be done over the next few months He reviewed the Introduction and Overview sections of the report that was presented at the November 15,2011 School Committee Meeting(pages 1-9),as well as the Construction Trades&Transportation and Human&Commercial Services section(pages 10-24), shown in Attachment C He explained the inception of the plan,the work of Robert Vinson,the review by outside contacts,how the mission and philosophy of Minuteman and the six indicators of Educational Program Development tie together with the Labor Market data,and Green Jobs He explained the overview pages,and reviewed the employment projections and living wage estimates for the first two sections While it was suggested that the report could benefit from some editing, it was agreed that the report was a wonderful piece of work,with great content and information Questions and comments raised included defining Green Jobs, clarifying the work and nature of the Shore Educational Collaborative,using the Education Program Plan as a marketing tool related to 21St century work,reviewing how the proposed programs fit with community college collaborations,and the consideration of data quality metrics Dr Bouquillon welcomed specific editorial comments outside of the meeting and thanked Ms Castagno for catching the typo in the date listed on the bottom of page 7 of the report He referred to a citations page m the full report He also noted that he would like to see data related to wages and industry-recognized credentials He explained that no data is being collected regionally The cost of such data collection and who might be interested in making a commitment to fund this were discussed The need to look at the report in terms of the building project,specifically what programs would be appropriate for membership and how they would be practical for a new building,was also raised Listing Page 3 of 6 student majors over time and viewing enrollment in program areas by towns(identified by member and nonmember towns)were suggested Dr Bouquillon noted that he will present information next time on the Bio-Sciences,Business&Information Technology,and Engineering Technology clusters He will ask outside people to join him in the third presentation on proposed new programs IX SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE REPORT Mr Spalding asked for consideration of a motion to add School Committee Member Don Rober to the Building Committee He noted that his extensive experience and communication with the town of Carlisle has had a huge impact, and reassured the Committee that Mr Rober(who was absent)was interested in this appointment ACTION 11-12#66 On a motion of Mr Spalding and seconded by Mr Hunter,the School Committee VOTED UNANIMOUSLY to add Don Rober to the School Building Committee Mr Spalding reported that progress is being made on the School Building Committee A few other candidates are being considered,and he is aiming for 100%town participation The next meeting will be January 2,2012 at 5 00 PM,and going forward,the group will meet on the 4th Monday of every month,and possibly two times per month beginning in March At the January meeting,he hopes to have an MSBA representative give a presentation on the process up to the hiring of a Project Manager By the January meeting,he hopes to prepare an RFP for a Project Manager,with tasks outlined Mr Spalding explained there is no requirement that a member must be a resident of a District town,but a second member from a town must bring a specific skill to the table As a whole,the group must meet all the guidelines that MSBA sets forth Although so far,finding a Selectman who can serve has been difficult,overall his sense is that the more members,the better for good input IX.SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS 1. Finance Subcommittee Report Mr Stuhn reported that the next meeting of the Finance Subcommittee is Dec 14 at 6 30 PM He expressed his admiration for the Administration that needs to create a budget with little information in a short time frame In mid- December,the Administration will present the first draft of the budget,then four weeks later,there will be a Public Hearing Additionally,there will be staff attendance/presentation at all Town Meetings He also explained that Ms Lamica has presented a revised sample budget book that has a number of desirable elements,but implementing this is an ambitious goal requiring the creation of templates,and making decisions about what is appropriate information to include The process may take more time than is available this year In any event,Mr Stulm explained that there will be more detail this year than in the past,and that developing a new budget book is an evolving process requiring more than one year to complete [As an aside,Ms DeLuca explained that she and Dr Bouquillon were looking at information related to filing an on-line Capital Repair and Maintenance History,which was just received this evening She apologized if it appeared they were not paying attention] 2. Policy Subcommittee Ms Mahoney reported that the Policy Subcommittee held three meetings to date,and at the last meeting, spent considerable time drafting a Concussion/Head Injury Policy(EBBA_J)to comply with the January 1,2012 Department of Public Health's requirement (shown as Attachment D) Related to the draft,she referred to comments and suggestions received and incorporated in it She explained that the Subcommittee was working in a vacuum to create this draft,and after the proposed policy was forwarded to the School Committee,MASC distributed its template and recommendations for this policy She underscored that by voting the policy as presented,as a 1st Reading tonight, Minuteman will be in compliance with the state mandate This policy will function as an interim policy of the District until a final policy is in place The goal is to reconsider it in light of MASC's template in the next Policy Subcommittee meeting scheduled for January 12,and present a new iteration at the January 17 School Committee meeting Subcommittee members raised the question of policy vs procedure(the what and the how),mentioned that the policy covers all sports,and that safety in all areas of school life is a major concern of the school Ms Mahoney asked that Page 4 of 6 people send any feedback or information to her,as all of it is helpful,and to let Ms Rozan know if anyone other than the Subcommittee members plans to attend the meeting on the 12th The School Committee then took the following vote ACTION 11-12#67 On a motion of Ms Mahoney,and seconded by Mr Stulin,the School Committee VOTED(11 for,with 1 opposed)to approve the 1st Reading of the District's Draft Concussion/Head Injury Policy(EBBA_J), noting that to comply with Department of Public Health regulation 105 CMR 201 000,this policy will function as the interim policy of the District until a final policy is in place XI SECRETARY'S REPORT Mr Horton referred to the proposed amendments he received to the minutes of the November 15,2011 School Committee Meeting,and made a motion to approve the minutes,as amended This was seconded by Mr McGarity Ms Castagno raised a question about the term"self-imposed,"referred to in Dr Bouquillon's presentation on MSBA Process and Summary of District's Position,as she was unable to find it in the documents referenced Dr Bouquillon explained the context,namely,this was a term used at a meeting with MSBA representatives that they used to describe the requirement to change the Regional Agreement prior to Minuteman undertaking the Feasibility Study The representatives explained that this requirement was self-imposed by the Minuteman School Committee,not one imposed by MSBA Mr Stulin stated that following this clarification by MSBA,the School Committee voted on November 15, 2011 to move forward in the MSBA process by removing any requirement to change the Regional Agreement prior to entering Feasibility Study(ACTION 11-12#51) Ms Castagno also questioned who Attorney Rick Manley is and how the decision to seek his legal counsel came about,as well as how much he charges Dr Bouquillon explained that he is a School Committee member in the Town of Weston,and has been very generous in providing legal services gratis to Minuteman ACTION 11-12#68 On a motion of Mr Horton,and seconded by Mr McGarity,the School Committee VOTED(11 for, 1 opposed)to approve the minutes of November 15,2011 as amended XII. ADJOURNMENT ACTION 11-12#69 On a motion of Ms Castagno and seconded by Mr Spalding,the School Committee VOTED UNANIMOUSLY to adjourn the meeting at 8 45 PM Respectfully submitted, Elizabeth Rozan David Horton, School Committee Administrative Assistant Secretary Page 5 of 6 MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING DECEMBER 13,2011 ATTACHMENTS TO THE MINUTES A Minuteman Parent Association(MPA)Materials B Minuteman District Superintendent Goals 2011-2012 (Updated 11/29/11) C Education Program Plan(pages 1-24) D Concussion/Head Injury Policy (EBBA_J) Page 6 of 6