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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-12-02-MMSC-min.pdf (79) MINUTES OF THE MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE December 2, 1975, at the Minuteman School PRESENT Bllodeau, Cormier, Courtright , Cron, Hall , Heinrich, Kelsey, Merluzzo, Smith, Wales , Zeoli Lombardo ABSENT No member from Boxborough had yet been appointed STAFF Ricciuti , Resnick, Marotta, Whitney, Hayward, Less, Essman, Lydiard, Mayer, Delaney o VISITORS Three representatives of the League of Women Voters, two /CO representatives of the press , Mr Isenberg of the Parents Organization, at least one student , and several parents The meeting was called to order at 7 40 p.m CLUSTER Dr Ricciuti asked that Item 2, the review of planned educa- PROGRAM tional program for occupational clusters for 1976-77, be tabled until a future date He also asked that committee members study the memo that Dr Resnick had prepared on the subject, and make comments and suggestions as soon as possible STUDENT Mr Whitney reviewed the current method used for student reports REPORTS The number system used last year was not clear to everyone this year, performance is evaluated on a scale from "maximum" to "inadequate", and letter grades are included as well There was some discussion of the work Toad for teachers in making out these reports (8 to 9 per student, 5 pages per report) NCR forms are used to minimize paperwork, but sometimes the final copies of these are illegible, as one parent reported Special needs students are given two reports , one on the same basis as all other students , the other related to their special needs Mrs Smith questioned the practice of measuring all students by the same yardstick Dr Resnick said that every program must have a basic core of instruction, and that is what the reports are about SALARY A draft of guidelines for determining initial salaries for GUIDELINES teachers had been given to the committee Mrs Wales explained that these guidelines have no impact on the budget, that they are not retroactive and thus do not affect the salaries of teachers already at Minuteman; that any present salary inequities will be evened out over the next two years (8o) It was MOVED by Mrs Wales, SECONDED by Mrs Smith , and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to adopt the guidelines dated November 13, 1975, as the school committee's policy for determining initial salary for teachers (Copy filed with the minutes) i 1976-77 Mr Merluzzo reported on the status of the budget, preliminary BUDGET copies of which were now in the hands of committee members and would be made available to all requesting them personally This budget is based on an enrollment of 1350 students , but the best guess at this time , said Mr Merluzzo, is that the enrollment for next fall will be around 1200 A budget based on this number is currently being developed REPORT OF THE ACTING SUPERINTENDENT-DIRECTOR INFORMATION ITEMS BACK-TO- Dr Ricciuti reported that the Back-to-School Night November SCHOOL NIGHT 19 had been very successful , with 500 to 600 parents attending REGIONAL- A memo from Dr Resnick on the subject of Regionalization IZATION Activities had been sent to committee members Approval of the Adult Education Program would probably be requested at the December 16 meeting At this time, Dr Ricciuti requested approval of the OCG agreement for teachers doing preliminary work prior to the beginning of the teaching component, and of hiring additional support personnel All salaries would be the same hourly rate as those paid by Minuteman Since the OCG is fully funded by the federal government, there would be no cost to Minuteman Some personnel , but not necessarily all , would be persons al- ready employed by Minuteman This raised the question whether custodians who worked for OCG after working for Minuteman (the same day) would be working overtime and would have to be paid time and a half Mr Hall was ASKED to check with legal counsel and the state labor board on this matter It was MOVED by Mr Hall , SECONDED by Mr Zeoli , and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to approve the OCG agreement as presented, and the employment of and salaries for a coordinator, nurse, and two custodians, subject to an answer on the question of overtime pay The committee ASKED Dr Resnick to furnish a list of prospec- tive OCG employees CAPITAL Committee members were furnished with financial statements EXPENDITURES including a recapitulation of actual expenditures from July 1 , Moi (81) 1974 to June 30, 1975 ; a summaryd of capital expenditures committed through November 15, 1975 (total $931 ,758 68) ; and a listing of actual expenditures from July 1 , 1975 to November 15, 1975 (all were prepared by Mr Essman) There was some discussion regarding these figures, the need to submit statements and reports to federal and state authorities to claim reimbursement, and the correct definition of "capital expenditures" (There seems to be a grey area here subject to interpretation The basis used by Mr Essman was that anything not consumed in use, and costing over $50 or so, is capital equipment and therefore 65% reimbursible) It was MOVED by Mr Hall , and SECONDED by Mrs Wales , that the sum of $950,000 be established as the expenditure limit for movable equipment, pending receipt of reimbursement of capital funds VOTED UNANIMOUSLY It was also AGREED, as Mr Cron recommended, that 1 ) when it became available, the committee would consider transferring $150,000 not needed in the construction account to the account for movable equipment 2) that Mr Essman should prepare and submit the Janiak report as soon as possible, and the Curley report after that (Mr Cron noted that requests for reimbursement should be made well within the three year limit so that any claims not at first approved could be resubmitted, after three years there is no recourse) 3) the capital expenditures summary should be very closely gone over to make sure that it does include all allowable capi- tal expenditures and does not include anything that should be considered as operating costs; 4) Mr Essman should check with the state authorities as to the most favorable interpretation of what is reimbursible FACILITY USE Lists of projected use of Minuteman facilities by outside groups had been sent to committee members These included dates through January 29, 1976 Dr Riccicti announced plans of the Student Council for a raffle to raise funds for student activities It was AGREED that no raffle tickets would be mailed out until approval had been obtained from the Lexington Board of Selectmen Dr Ricciuti also reminded those present of the Parents Organi- zation meeting December 3 in the school cafeteria Mr Isenberg made it clear that all school committee members were invited, and that the organization would especially like a review of the 9 p*-* (82) budget; some parents cannot understand why Minuteman's per pupil cost is so much higher than that of regular schools Mrs Wales said she would be present and would speak for the Ways and Means Committee, Mr Merluzzo being unable to attend ACTION ITEMS COACHING A schedule, prepared by Mr Rose, of proposed coaching salaries SALARIES for after school sports for the fall term was discussed The funds, $3700 in the 2300 account, would come out of the $8,000 already approved for athletics Actually, the fall term is nearly over, and most of the services in question have already been rendered It was MOVED by Mr Hall , SECONDED by Mr Kelsey, and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to approve the appointment of athletic coaches and their salaries as presented RESIGNATION Dr Ricciuti read a letter from Benjamin Nighelli of the Science Aeea, submitting his resignation , for personal reasons It was MOVED by Mr Hall , SECONDED by Mr Kelsey, and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to accept Mr Nighelli 's resignation, with regret, effective November 30 DRIVER ED After a brief discussion , it was AGREED to defer further dis- cussion of the Driver Education program until executive session, because of financial implications TUITION At the recommendation of the administration, it was MOVED, SEC- STUDENTS ONDED, and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to approve the acceptance of Donald J Allen, Jr , 19 Oak Street, Wellesley, and David Paul Forte, 31 Bancroft Road, Wellesley, as tuition students on the 9th grade level , starting December 15, at a pro rated tuition rate of $2,483 Mr Lombardo noted that tuition bills sent out in October had not yet been paid Mr Merluzzo ASKED Dr Ricciuti to send out follow-up letters REPORTS OF SUBCOMMITTEES WAYS AND Mr Merluzzo reported that the Ways and Means Committee has MEANS considered the administration 's recommendations for budget reductions for this year, and that those acceptable were now incorporated in a proposed Budget Change Number 2 (83) Through this change a new line item, Excess and Deficiency, is added; sums reallocated from other line items to this one add up to $207, 150.; such sum to be appropriated to the excess and deficiency account There was some discussion as to whether the OPB had had suf- ficient opportunity to make input in the budget reduction process Time limitations had made it impossible to hold a forum as requested by the OPB, and Mr Hayward said that the detailed information requested by the board had not been made available Mr Zeoli noted that Minuteman is still in a learn- ing phase, that next year this kind of situation will be handled better Mr Hall MOVED, Mr Zeoli SECONDED, and it was VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to approve the budget changes presented in this Budget Change Notice # 2, dated 11/27/75 (copy filed with the minutes) SUPERINTEN- Mrs Smith reported that the search committee now had five DENT SEARCH finalists definitely coming to the interviews on December 13, that more were being invited, and that there might be as many as 10 altogether Representatives so far appointed to the screening committees included Associate Commissioner Weagraf, Bernhold Nystrom (for MAVA) , Mr Marotta for the Minuteman administration , Mr Less , Mr Hayward, Mr Miller, and Mr Boone for their respective departments Appointments still awaited included representa- tives from the parents organization and the student body and the management group; also, school superintendents in the sending towns had not yet sent word whether they would attend themselves or send representatives Committee members were ASKED to contact and remind the superintendents in their towns Further details of plans for the 13th were presented An orientation meeting will be held for interviewers at 9 30; interviews will begin at 10 Mrs Smith emphasized the need for all to be present on time since all candidates should be scored by all interviewers to assure equal evaluation Lunch will be served - "on the house" MINUTES Mrs Wales MOVED, Mr Hall SECONDED, and it was VOTED UNANIMOUSLY to approve the minutes of November 18, with the deletion in the 3rd paragraph on page 75 of the words "on a scale of 1 to 5" TREASURER' s Mr Lombardo reported a balance in the Operating and Payroll REPORT Account of $85,352 61 , and in the Site and Construction Account, $8,930 36 0 ' e (84) OTHER SCHOOL COMMITTEE BUSINESS BUSINESS Mr Heinrich REQUESTED that a review of work load allocation OFFICE in the business , administration, and computer offices be prepared in time for a meeting of the ad hoc review committee to take place (with two or three days notice) within a week Mr Lombardo noted that in his opinion much progress had been made in the business office since the last school committee meeting CONFIDENT- There was a discussion of whether or not the rule of confident- IALITY iality of executive session matters was being adequately observed by committee members ANNUAL Mrs Wales asked all committee members to read the draft of REPORT the annual report and make suggestions on their copies , end return these to her STUDENT Mr Hall reported queries from parents on why 10th grade stu- REPEATS dents could not repeat a program area for a second cycle Mr Whitney said he would like to permit this , but it was not in accord with the program description as now approved and printed in the brochure It was agreed that a full discussion of the question should be scheduled for the next meeting SPECIAL Mr Cron suggested that with three important items to consider, MEETING the committee should hold a special meeting December 9, with DEC 9TH the agenda to include 1) Budget for 1976-77 (first discussion by entire committee) 2) Student recruitment 3) Student program recycling The committee AGREED by consensus to hold the December 9 meeting After a few questions from the audience , it was MOVED by Mr Zeoli , SECONDED by Mr Heinrich , and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to adjourn the meeting and reconvene in executive session to discuss matters involving collective bargaining and security Meeting adjourned at 11 .05 p.m. Respecfully submitted, Recording Secretary Approved ItC (3C (Q -A Ct,z, L .Q� Ruth W Wales , Secretary