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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-09-10-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, September 10, 2024 Meeting Minutes AGENDA,- CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:13 PM SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Eileen Jay, Chairperson Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk Kathleen Lenihan Larry Freeman Deepika Sawhney, Vice-Chair,joined remotely. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent (joined at 6:18 PM). 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. CONSENT AGENDA Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items: • Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. September 6, 2024 -AP Warrant in the amount of$550,,120.67 b. September 6, 2024 - Payroll Warrant in the amount of$4,916,694.66 Ms. Lenihan the following consent agenda items: • Minutes a. June 11, 2024 Mr. Freeman made a motion to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Cuthbertson seconded. Ms.lay took a roll call vote,passed 5-0. JK 9/10/24-APPROVED SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS Ms. Cuthbertson did not have any announcements. Mr. Freeman encouraged everyone to "dial into the Human Rights Committee meetings." There are going to be some changes, and he wants everyone to be informed. Ms. Lenihan announced that Community Forum #7 for the high school project will be on Wednesday, September 18, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in Battin Hall at Cary Memorial Building. She reminded everyone that the doors do not lock at 6:30; you can show up whenever you can, and it will also be on Zoom. Ms. Jay thanked the Indian Americans of Lexington (IAL) Education Committee for inviting her to the "Chai Chaat & Chat." Students, parents, and community members shared their perspectives and experiences on various topics related to our schools. Ms. Jay also announced that the Chinese American Association of Lexington (CARL) is hosting a newcomers event on September 21 at 9:30 AM at the Community Center for those new to Lexington. COMMUNITY SPEAK Bob Atkins - 170 Grove St (in person): "I'm here to advocate for a new and larger field house. I thought what I'd do this evening is put aside larger for a second and just talk about new versus renovated. I know Dr. Hackett, you came out with a position in favor of a renovated option, which you pointed out is the least expensive of the options at $30 million, I believe. But there is an option to build new of the same size for$41 million. And I guess it's a little surprising given the relative small difference of new versus renovate to, you know, want to go ahead with a renovated and I can only guess that part of the reasoning for that is the logic of the number of votes that would be required at Town Meeting where I believe that the renovated option would be grouped with the school and required just one vote, versus even a small new field house would require a second vote. I guess I'd like to, you know, again, advocate that while I can understand the logic of that, that doesn't seem like a good proposition, and sort of financially for the town that, you know, again, a new building would presumably have a 75-year life, perhaps even more of that extended beyond, whereas a renovated field house, my expectation would not be, you know, a 75-year extension to an already 60-year-old building. So I just, I guess, ask, and, you know, caution against taking the expedient option in terms of, you know, I know everybody believes that this is a challenging vote with the cost of the overall school, but would hope that, you know, we would do what's needed. We would do, you know, what's...what's really the right option versus the risk-averse option." Efren Flores - 2652 Mass Ave (in person): He has four kids in the school district, two in high school and two in middle school. He is in favor of a new school. He experienced technical difficulties trying to join the meeting on Zoom. Because of that, he drove to Central Office., While driving through town, he noticed renovation as well as the 250th celebration countdown. He spoke about how Lexington celebrates the past. He invited the town to think about the importance of investing in the future. Mr. Flores stated about the field house, "We can't think of JK 9/10/24-APPROVED this as a separate item, but more so as a resource for the community." To him, the field house "represents an opportunity to bring people together. So every time there's an athletic event, it's an opportunity for the town to come together." He also stated, "Mr. Freeman mentioned about school human rights coming up also to use this opportunity of creating a new building to start having more in-depth discussion about some of the structural issues and barriers that our students are having that are not in physical school buildings. Thank you." Olga Guttag- 273 Emerson Rd (on Zoom): "I have four points to make. First, I still have not seen the org chart that I have been asking for for over four months that shows the structure, positions, and salaries in the central office. If this exists, please make it public. If it doesn't exist, then you School Committee members cannot fully understand the current budget. It's an essential tool. So could you please let me know when it will be available? Second, there are now over 1000 housing unit permits currently filed in Lexington under the MSBA rezoning and more are coming weekly, I understand. So at the moment, it is impossible to tell how many schools and what capacity of the new high school will be needed. Therefore, I urge you to delay critical decisions for two to three years until student population can be better determined. Until then, I propose the following two things: hold on to the old Harrington property since it may be needed for a future additional school at some level; second, use the $100 million dollars of MSBA funds, along with a voter approved moderate debt exclusion to build a new four-story building in place of the language building and some parking lot to handle the current overcrowding. Once this building exists, you can connect it to the main building to get a bigger cafeteria. Defer any additional plans until you know the needed capacity. Immediately start renegotiating the fee structure for LABBB students. That structure should mimic those fees at Minuteman Tech. These new fees must include the cost of space used by LABBB. The proposed new high school will have about 13,000 square feet of LABBB that will cost Lexington taxpayers about 17 million since LABBB services students from about 130 Massachusetts communities. These 130 Massachusetts communities should participate in the cost of that 13,000 square feet of space. It's not fair that the Lexington taxpayers should carry the full $17 million or thereabouts cost only. It has to be shared among LABBB communities, but also out of the out-of-district communities. I look forward to seeing the missing org chart, and thank you for considering my suggestions." Drew Pomerantz - 24 Sherburne Rd (on Zoom): "I am calling to echo the previous comments about the new and expanded field house. I don't have too much to add to what was said before, but I'll just say I think it was a surprise to some of us to see a recommendation to not to go with a new and expanded field house, given the large numbers of folks from the community seem to be passionate enough, about the issue to show up at meetings like this. To make the same point. I will elaborate on one point; I know there's discussion on what will happen to the athletic playing field during the course of construction. It seems like no matter which option is selected for the high school, that will result in reduced access to athletic fields during the course of construction. If it were possible for a new and expanded field house to be constructed early, or at least on the early phase of that, I think that would be one of the best options to provide swing space to allow the kids who are going to school during the project to still be able to have access to the kind of playing fields they need. I think that's particularly important given the multi-year time that's expected for the construction. So, yeah,just to say, in the unlikely event JK 9/10/24-APPROVED that anyone has forgotten, there's still quite a few members of the community who are really interested in the new and expanded field house and care enough about the topic to show up today. And I think one of the most important functions in the field house would be early on, where it could offset the reduction fields during the construction, and then after that, go on to serve all of the great uses that people have talked about before. Thank you." Nora Finch - 73 Webb St (in-person): "I, too, am going to talk about the field house, but from a slightly different perspective. So I'm here to ask that the large field house in particular, but the field house options in general, be retained through the PCR phase so that we can get a better estimate of the costs before we actually make the decision as to which one we want to pursue. I was disappointed in the recent messaging around the field house recommending renovation. It was said that it was the least expensive plan. It was said that it was the easiest option. What happened to embracing our revolutionary spirit, or what's best for the kids, or, frankly, what's the greatest value to the taxpayers?The track program is growing faster than the school population overall. Four years ago, Clarke cross country had 100 kids enrolled, which was very large at the time. This fall, there are 140. So that's just the distance runners. You put it all together at LHS, and you have many more than the 240 who are in the LHS track program today. And then, personally, I don't think that renovating the current field house will turn out to be the least expensive option once the costs are better understood. Mike Cronin said that he needed about half the renovation estimate just to keep the field house working in its current form and attached to the current LHS building. When you talk about what would need to happen for a renovation that would require code upgrades, adding AC, all the green initiatives that the town has talked about, hooking up to whatever the new heating system is, repairing the concrete, a whole bunch of stuff that isn't counted in that number. Plus, if the building becomes disconnected from the main building, which it is in some of SMMA's proposals, then you're talking about disconnecting it from locker rooms and bathrooms and all that stuff that is not in the field house today. So I'm worried that that number is going to go up. On the other hand, the three new field house options were used were priced using the same cost per square foot as the educational spaces, despite not having science labs, cafeterias, kitchens, elevators, furniture, technology, etc, etc. So I suspect that all three of those options will come down when we get more specific on our costing. And so I'd like to see all of that pursued before we actually hone in on the decision because I'm not sure that we're comparing apples to apples right now. So we need to keep the large field as an option through PSR, so that we understand the costs and the implications rather than limiting ourselves to a renovation right now." Dawn McKenna - 9 Hancock St (in-person): "What I want to focus on is the understanding for the School Committee of the importance of keeping the new field house in the PSR, because, as I understand the process and have attended all of those meetings, and have been really working hard. If you remove it at this stage, our options are gone. If you keep it at this stage, we can make a smaller one, we can decide to renovate, we can do all kinds of things as we get more information. And one of the things that I have learned myself is that you really do need a sports athletic architect who's familiar with building these kinds of buildings. So what I do want to say is what I heard at the SBC meeting yesterday was a great presentation by staff who made it clear that they need a field house to operate educational programs during the school day. They also made it clear that they had been given two false choices, either accept a renovated field house JK 9/10/24-APPROVED or have no field house. And if they insisted on a new field house, the existing field house would have to be torn down, leaving no field house for a couple of years. Those are false choices and should not be what we're basing our decisions on. And so I guess what I want to say to you as the School Committee, your recommendations matter. The superintendent's recommendations matter. You are the policy makers as the School Committee and are responsible for advocating for the best interests of the students. If we believe that this building is used extensively from 6:30 AM to 10 or so PM, and that it's not adequately sized for today's program, it doesn't address the safety issues and overcrowding, then you have a responsibility to say so publicly, and insist that we keep it in the program for now. And I have personally watched many of these projects over many years and all the reasons they work and don't work. I'm convinced that we can do something that's a win-win for the students and the community. And what I want to just say as well is that there's been a lot of discussions about what your vote means, a vote is a reflection of your values, and no matter how it spun a vote against keeping a new field house in the project at this stage, the message that will be received is that you don't value the programs that occupy that space, period. I don't think that's a message that you want to send, and I don't think you should be willing to send that message. And I hope that you will keep that in mind as you have the discussion. And my last thing I want to just add is that I've heard rumors that not everybody is going to vote on this project, and I want to say that everyone has the same responsibility to vote, and everyone in this community has the same "conflicts of interest" as anybody else. So, I hope that all of the School Committee members vote on this. Thank you." Andrew Harris - 4 Grimes Rd (in-person): "I just wanted to introduce myself as a liaison for the SEPAL. I've met many of you before through my role as a PTO president, but I wanted to say hello in this new role. So when I'm attending here, I'm usually going to be wearing that hat. From the field house perspective, thinking with the SEPAC lens, my understanding is that right now, the LABBB students are having to use another space for their athletic activities and for physical education. I think whichever decision moves forward, I think that top of mind should be thinking constantly about accessibility, inclusion, and all of these things that I know you guys have been so supportive of. I don't know enough about the topic specifically to know if that means we need a new one, a large new one, a small new one, a renovated one. But I just wanted to keep that kind of on everyone's mind. Thank you." Jennifer Gerfen - 253 Woburn St (in-person): "I want to preface my comments by saying that my youngest child is at the high school right now, so this whole project does not affect my family. And I want to say that, because I still feel that it's important that I'm here. My oldest son did track and my younger one is also a track runner. But the field house is a lot more than just for the tracking program. It's for the entire community. I have used the field house for working LexFUN events. I have used the field house during the pandemic when we were collecting books. I am a former PTA/PTO president, and this is an essential part of the program. And I truly, honestly believe that spending $30 million for renovation is flushing money down the toilet because all you are doing is you are band-aiding a situation that is already untenable. The building is too small, the building needs new HVAC, it has roof issues, it has all of these other issues you're going to fix anything at everything else, and it's still not going to be adequate. So spending $30 million is fiscally irresponsible, in my opinion. If you can spend 40 to 50 and have an entire structure that is right-sized for the community, right-sized for the programming that JK 9/10/24-APPROVED uses it and safe and accessible and environmentally sustainable, and you choose not to, that would be a travesty. Thank you." NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion on Field House & Pool for the LHS RLoject Ms. Jay recused herself from this agenda item since she is an abutter of the high school property; Ms. Sawhney took over as Chair. Ms. Lenihan stated, "It's just vitally important to me that we have a field house" and "I am very concerned with winding up with nothing." Mr. Freeman has this same fear, he is in support of a new, larger field house. Ms. Cuthbertson is worried that if we remove this from the MSBA process, we risk being stuck with the same field house without fixes. For that reason, she is in favor of a renovated field house and not a new one. Ms. Sawhney is concerned about renovating the existing field house, she feels it would not yield the life extension that is hoped for. She is in favor of a smaller, new field house. Dr. Hackett added, "I want to make it clear that if we could have the big new field house and all of the space, as superintendent of schools, is pretty logical that that would be something that I would want" and "what we've said in the FAQs is that minimally we want to get what we have." She also explained, "My understanding is that with a reno, we would be taking it down to nothing, basically. And it is technically a reno, but it would be like a new build." Ms. Cuthbertson and Ms. Lenihan are in support of a renovated field house, Ms. Sawhney and Mr. Freeman are in support of a new field house. Ms. Lenihan pointed out that the MSBA will not participate in a new pool. The School Committee thinks it would be nice to have a pool, but they are not in support of it. B. First Reading of LPS Child Nutrition Program Civil Rights Policy and Procedures Ms. Cuthbertson gave the first reading of this policy, it will only need one more reading. C. Vote on SC Members to Serve on Policy and Finance Subcommittees Ms.lay moved to appoint Ms. Sawhney and Ms.lay to the Policy Subcommittee and Ms. Sawhney and Mr. Freeman to the Finance Subcommittee for FY25 school year, Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms.lay took a roll call vote passed 5-0. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Dr. Hackett reviewed her Su erintendentj_Bgportwith the School Committee. The highlights from her report include: *Dr. Hackett announced that the organization chart that is being referenced is published in the JK 9/10/24-APPROVED budget book every year. 1. Job Shadowing Cameo Appearances o Nishi Veeragandham, LHS Senior, has a cameo appearance in the video from his job shadowing day. 2. Lexington Town Manager Retires o Jim Malloy is retiring later this month. 3. Redefining Success and Educator Evaluation o We've had the same educator evaluation for the past ten years, there has been work to revamp this process. 4. LHS Project Updates o Student-School Building Committee Meetings o Community Forum #7 5. Vaccine Clinics o The first one will be on Friday, September 13, at Central Office, you can register 6. We All Belong o K-5 Mathematics Department Equity Work o Social Justice Standards o Upcoming Holidays & Observances COMMUNITY SPEAK Efren Flores - 2652 Mass Ave (in person): "Four kids in the system. It's interesting the discussion that I agree, like not my kids are going to experience the benefit from the school, and I'm not going to touch back on that, but it's just interesting to see that even though every time I participate in the meetings, I'm not sure why the school's standpoint is to renovate a field house or, like, even when there's no focus on renovating,job, creating a new school. And that just makes me reflect that I'm not sure what voices are heard or are shared in the meetings because every time I come here or I hear other people speak, I'm not sure that the community standpoint reflects the voice of the community, and that's also something that is really concerning for me, because there's a big emphasis on the advancing the Diversity Equity and Inclusion mission from the school district, but then those are pillars to advancing the mission of belonging, factor in a sense of belonging in the community, not only for the school, but also Lexington as a whole. And that I feel that, though some of the voices are not the body share, and some of the standpoints are not reflective of the of the community, hence, I'm not sure what voices are even included in that. And also you wanted to in that lens of concern that you know firsthand, I experienced some of the inequities in the implementation of some of the disciplinary action, among other things, in terms of the school. So I really encourage the school district to use the opportunity when we're having a meaningful discussion about the structural building to really understand how current policy that are not being revised add up to the structural barriers and perpetuate some of the issues that are impacting our school and the future opportunities. And I, you know, some of the decisions that we make now can be shortsighted. It's hard for me to even not support anything that it provides opportunity for growth, both mentally and physically, for the next generation of Lexington. So anytime that JK 9/10/24-APPROVED we're making a decision for the town and like, are we truncating the opportunity for that? And just think about, I don't even think about the field house as a track only thing, it just, are we thinking about creating opportunities for the town of Lexington to continue growing, similar to providing a new firehouse or a Police Department. We don't have a lot of crime, but there's a police department is a resource for the town. We want to build something that a future proof that it creates an opportunity for growth and really growing together, filtering a sense of belonging for everyone in the town. Thank you." Dawn McKenna - 9 Hancock St (in-person): "Thank you to Mr. Freeman and Ms. Sawhney for recognizing the important role that a new field house would play in the school system. I also appreciate Dr. Hackett clearly stating that as superintendent, she would want a new field house. Hopefully, with the support of the full School Committee, she will be able to advocate for that, because she can't advocate for that without your support. I do want to comment on the statement that Dr. Hackett made about jumping the line. I was very offended not by you, but when that comment came up because that's not how we've done things in the past. I was part of a group that worked really hard to change the culture in this town. And the way we've divided things in the past is we address the needs as they come up. I had an opportunity, as you all know, to be very involved in the visitor center. We were supposed to have the visitors center done many years before it was done, but they came to me and said that the Community Center opportunity had come up. We'd like to buy that building. We'd like to put the money into that building now, would you step back and let us do that?And because it was for the good of the community, that's what happened, and we waited a long time to get it. So I say to you, this is the School Committee's time. This high school project has been planned for for years, and it's up to you to clearly let everybody know you want the whole building to be done properly. And the last time I checked, the field house is a part of the building. It's part of the program. It exists. You all said that, so to not advocate, to me, is really a disservice to the community, to listen to other people's forces rather than your advocacy. I also want to say that fear is not a word that I've ever heard used in any of these discussions we've had on any of the projects going back for decades. You know, it's really been courage to advocate for the no needs that has been on display in the past. And I urge you to remember that all as you think about that in the coming weeks because it's courage that allowed for us to get the existing field house at a time when everybody said, oh, the money was going to be too much. You know, we don't need the facility. They did a bigger facility than they were asked for. We're arguing about it. I'm confident that the Select Board will put forward whatever question the School Committee stands firmly behind and advocates for. I agree that Kathleen's suggestion to put the main project for renovation as part of it might be considered and a separate question for the new facility, and that's exactly the type of creativity that we have the opportunity to explore if you maintain the 72,000 square foot new facility because all options remain open. Do that now and continue these discussions because I think we'll all get there together, and then you'll have a huge community of people who are going to want to support this project instead of people who are going to feel so fresh but advocate again. Thanks." Nora Finch - 73 Webb St (in-person): "I also just wanted to say that I really did appreciate Kathleen's idea of putting the two separate questions. I think that there are definitely community members who will support one and not the other in both directions, and I think it is JK 9/10/24-APPROVED important that the community is heard on what they want to see going forward. I also am a little worried about two things. One, I'm concerned when we say that if we don't do the renovation, we won't have a field house because I don't think we're telling the wrecking ball that they're going to knock that part down. I understand that we won't have the renovated field house, and we'll be stuck with what we currently have, and that's a pain in the butt because it won't connect to the existing school, which has the HVAC, the heating system, and some other bits that the field house needs to operate. But to say that it won't exist, I think, is a sort of false argument. I think it will still be there. And then, I mean, I hate to say it, but if the whole high school doesn't pass, it's not like we're going to knock it down and have no high school, right? We're going to work with it to cobble it along, and it'll continue to operate in its unfortunate current state. So I just wanted to say that. And I think so to that point, I think the ability to have it as two questions becomes really important. And I think the Select Boards, the idea that was raised about it butting in line. I understand that the state is requiring us to split it into two chunks if we want to do it that way, meaning, have a new field house, but we're not really butting in line because the reality is that that's one project. It's just being identified as two pools of money, but some together would come together to make one project. And so I don't think we're asking for more money from the town. We're just asking for the bucket to be divided into two pieces when we ask that question. So I don't think it's really butting in line in the sense that, like the police station is butting, or the community center butted in line in front of the field house, because those are two or, sorry, in front of the visitor center, because those are two completely different projects, in this case, building a school. It's just by the state rules, we have to have this piece and this piece, but they're going to sum together to make the same bucket of money." Bob Atkins - 170 Grove St (in person): "I just want to pick up on that thought because the idea that, you know, put the renovation in with the school project, but then ask for the other vote, and if the second vote goes through, you know,just don't do the renovation and build new. I think that's a great idea, right? But then, even beyond that, again, picking up a little on what Nora, I think, was saying, I had the same thought that as long as the new school is not going to get built on top of the field house, even if you could not, for some reason, put the renovation in and have a second vote. You could always if the second vote doesn't pass, kick the renovation of the field house down the road, right? In other words, I think there's money planned, the 15 million. I'm not sure how that works, but you know, in a different facilities budget to keep the thing running, keep it running for 5-10 years more, and then go back for the field house that we want. I think that the field house community would probably vote for that versus let's spend $30 million in a renovation that leaves us with a field house that really doesn't meet the needs, right? So that's just a thought. I think it's better if we had to wait a little bit longer to really get what the program needs versus lock ourselves in for, you know, 50 in a field house that really doesn't meet the needs. So anyways, that's just another creative thought." JK 9/10/24-APPROVED POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS No items were added, but Dr. Hackett updated the School Committee that Ms. Hamilton will be doing an HBCU overview on October 8th. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to adjourn at 8:00 PM, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Jay took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. JK 9/10/24-APPROVED