HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-04-24-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Monday,April 24, 2017
Carey Hall, Estabrook Room
1605 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA
Present:
Chair, Alessandro Alessandrini; Vice-Chair, Eileen Jay;Jessie Steigerwald; Kate Colburn; Kathleen
Lenihan; Superintendent, Dr.Czajkowski
Absent: Student Representative, Matt Campos
The minutes were taken by Kristen Cronin, Executive Assistant to the School Committee and
Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent.
The meeting convened at 6:00 pm
Call to Order and Welcome:
Chair, Alessandro Alessandrini called the meeting to order and introduced committee members
Public Comments:
None
Superintendent's Announcements:
Welcome back to our students and staff after the Spring vacation week.
Dr. Czajkowski will conduct site visits along with members of the High School Principal Search
Committee.
On Thursday of this week,we are having a delegation from Saudi Arabia visiting Lexington Public
Schools.They are interested in learning more about our structure in Lexington and how we function as a
district.
Town Manager Carl Valente and I are continuing to interview candidates for the Director of Facilities
position.
Principal Lipsitz from Hastings Elementary addressed a memo to parents to provide background
information regarding the added sections and multi-grade class for Hastings Elementary to begin in the
2017-18 academic year. they are looking at the possibility of a combined 2/3 classroom for a two-year
span. This memo will be sent out on Blackboard Connect to Ms. Greenstein's class and all of the current
first grade families.
Alessandro: How do children get chosen for this program?
Louise Lipsitz: By looking at all children with different learning styles and levels of ability. We would see
which families are interested and go from there.
Kate Colburn: How will 3rd grade MCAS work and MCAS prep?
LSC 4-24-2017
Louise Lipsitz: They would be with Mrs. Greenstein, as I envision it, and second graders will continue
their day with fellow second graders around the building. They will work with third grade students in
her room to give them the same type of preparation that her grade level colleagues are giving their third
graders.
There will be multiple other classroom moves in the building related to music, literacy and ELL.
School Committee Member Announcements:
Alessandro Alessandrini:
Attended the March for Science, saw a lot of young kids, which was wonderful to see
Kate Colburn:
Thank you to the Celebrations Committee for the Patriot's Day Event
Agenda:
1. Vote to Appoint Margaret Coppe and Ned Goodell to the Clarke Building Proiect
The Permanent Building Committee (PBC) is comprised of 7 full time members. Both appointees to
Diamond project are open to serving to Clarke in addition to serving for Diamond
Motion to appoint Margaret Coppe and Ned Goodell to the PBC to represent School Committee with
regards to the Clarke Building Project(Alessandrini/Steigerwald)
Motion approved 5-0
2. Continued Discussion of School Master Plan
Revise the master plan to match the enrollment data that we have in order to be more transparent.
Hearing from the other committees that School Committee is not making it clear on what they need.
Asks Ms. Colburn to explain further.
Kate Colburn: Idea for tonight is to focus on our path moving forward, especially for the
Elementary/Middle School plan. Received a proposal from DiNisco to allow us to see what our
options are for expanding capacity at the elementary level. When this work is done, we will have a
very clear idea of what our capacity options are at every single school and for each piece of school-
related property around town.
Dr. Czajkowski: It's important when determining the needs vs. option. The district has always
maintained 21.5-class size. Would that be the wish of the committee? Do we want to maintain that
21.5?
Alessandro Alessandrini: Before we assemble a Master Plan, the School Committee needs to
determine what standards we want to use to set a goal towards the Master Plan. Once we have
those standards in place then create a Master Plan.
LSC 4-24-2017
A few of us will be meeting with Mr.Valente to discuss and get an idea of what to do with this Master
Plan in order to bring it up to date to reflect our needs. We are aiming for a detailed master plan.
Mr.Valente has approached us to discuss it.
Jessie Steigerwald: Suggest we call these "guidelines" as we have in past years. For each building
project we've done in past years we've called them guidelines.
Do not recommend changing class size unless administration wants to change it. Not in favor of
changing class sizes,would recommend keeping at 21. 5. We should not leave this meeting without
agreeing to class size as it is being used for current planning. Would we like to clarify what a Master
Plan is? I see not a master plan before us tonight, but data we are getting from an outside consultant
on project options. We would get this data from an outside source and decide if we want to discuss
new steps in our planning. Then we can revisit or update a Master Plan.
Kate Colburn: Agrees with Ms Steigerwald. She sees this process as giving us our options. When we
get to the end of this particular segment with DiNisco,we will have a set of options, an idea of how
much capacity it will give us.
Jessie Steigerwald: What time frame are we giving them for the high school? If we are prioritizing
the high school, we need to understand the time frame.
Pat Goddard: School Committee is suggesting to change the prioritization of what we had already
worked with DiNisco in developing from last year, i.e. to switch so that Phase I analysis for
elementary capacity would be ahead of Central Administration analysis. This work will start
immediately with having first phase reviewed in September 2017. There was some discussion about
beginning to understand what our need was at the High School and getting more people involved and
it was discussed about when we would start that and possible appropriation from annual town
meeting, but this discussion was incomplete.
Eileen Jay: High school is a real priority. Does not see how you can plan an elementary plan before a
high school plan. What could be the timing for the needs analysis for the high school?
Pat Goddard: The way I look at a master plan is every 5 years. Planning for 5 years, looking ahead
for 10 years and that's what was done recently. SMMA formulated a plan after input from many
committees and stakeholders.The town agreed to a 5-year spending plan, including the Hastings
project, and the town also put forward their safety buildings in that plan. Regarding the high school
it sounds like the higher priority you are asking to address is what would we do short term at the high
school rather than longterm.
Jessie Steigerwald: Expressed concern about the high school. It is unlikely the high school is going to
move to a new building which dictates that high school is staying where it is. Not sure how an
architect can sit down and say, here's what you can do interim without knowing which way we want
to head. Worried the high school will not be on the very front burner, it always gets pushed.
Alessandro Alessandrini:
Would like to establish a working group or Ad Hoc committee within the School Committee to work
with Pat Goddard and Maureen Kavanaugh.
LSC 4-24-2017
Dr. Czajkowski: Will reach out and coordinate a meeting with Pat Goddard, Maureen Kavanaugh,
Laura Lasa, Kate Colburn and Kathleen Lenihan. We will report back to School Committee at the May
91h meeting.
The School Committee is in agreement that we are putting analysis of the Central Office on hold right
now and the priority is to have DiNisco start doing the elementary analysis and to collaborate with
this working group to look at the high school.
I move that the School Committee support the proposed work by DiNisco Design that is laid out in
Mr. Goddard's memo to Dr. Czajkowski dated April 20,2017. (Colburn/Alessandrini)
Motion Approved 5-0
The School Committee will remain in session and relocate to Battin Hall to for the purpose of
participating in Town Meeting.
Meeting Materials:Agenda
LSC 4-24-2017