The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2017-04-25-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE Tuesday,April 25,2017 Lexington Town Hall, Selectmen's Meeting Room 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA Present: Chair, Alessandro Alessandrini; Vice Chair, Eileen Jay;Jessie Steigerwald; Kate Colburn; Superintendent, Dr. Czajkowski; Call to Order and Welcome(5 minutes) Chair, Alessandro Alessandrini called the meeting to order, and introduced committee members. Absent: Kathleen Lenihan, and Student Representative, Matt Campos The minutes were taken by Kristen Cronin, Executive Assistant to the School Committee and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Public Comments: Mary Donahue, 3 Crosby Road: Not in favor of the Hastings School project. Ms. Donahue lives next to the school and is most affected by the project: 1. Size of school: largest elementary school on the smallest lot—height of the school is proposed to be 45ft tall. This is much too tall for the neighborhood and will definitely tower over my single story ranch house. 2. Increase to traffic: There hasn't been a traffic study done of the location. Even without a study, I can tell you traffic is horrible. Half days at pick up cars line up in front of my home. How will this street accommodate another 150-250 families? 3. Parking: Parents park at the Methodist church across the street from the school because there is no room to park at the school. The teachers rent spaces from the church because there is no room at the school. Even at special events,the parents park on Crosby Road and at the Methodist church. It is assumed that the church will continue to allow the parking and perhaps rent out more spaces, but the church may be sold in May. Where will the construction vehicles, the delivery trucks, staff and parents park during construction? 4. Tree removal: The trees are going to be removed along the property line to accommodate the new school. 5. Noise: Noise of cars, at pick up and drop off,tree removal (blasting) and daily noise. All these activities will be done, facing my home. One neighbor has already sold his house; he does not want to put up with it. I have also considered moving, but my 95-year-old father also lives with me and it would be too difficult to move. Superintendent's Announcement: Conducted site visit to King Philip High School for Lisa Mobley, Principal. Tomorrow at 11:00 site visit for John Murray at Lexington High School and on Friday, last site visit for Robert Shaw at North Quincy High School. LSC 4-25-2017 School Committee Member Announcements: Kate Colburn: Attended MASC Day on the Hill today with Jessie. We heard from four different legislators about their priorities with respect to public schools. Their chief priority is adjusting the foundation budget to more accurately reflect the cost that public schools are incurring now. Met with our own Representative,Jay Kaufman,where we updated him on some of our main issues we are working on now. Jessie brought some copies of handouts for the foundation budget. Eileen Jay: Jessie and I had one of our Curriculum Review Meetings that was set up by Dr. Kelly Chase. We met with the Elementary and Middle School Science Coordinators. In addition we will be meeting on May 4th with High School Principal and Science Department Head around science curriculum issues. We will provide update after that meeting. Lexington Coalition is sponsoring three discussion sessions on the NY Times article that was written about Lexington, "It Takes a Suburb"Three different sessions(same topic) Sunday April 30,from 2-4 at Estabrook,Tuesday, May 2,from 7-9 at Lexington High School Library and Thursday, May 11,from 9-11 at Community Center. Jessie Steigerwald: Met with the Mental Health Subcommittee last week. Three items to share: (1) There does need to be some kind of organized staff and community response in the event of suicide; (2) Talked about the overall need to reduce stigma about mental health; (3) Open house for Mental Health professionals in the community who would like to be put on a list in the event there is a need. Alessandro Alessandrini: On May 18, asked Suzie Barry, Carl Valente, Doug Lucente,Jessie Steigerwald and Dr. Czajkowski to have a meeting to discuss what the towns, community and schools should be doing and what programs we should have in place to address the suicide issue. Consent Agenda: 1. Vote to Accept the following donation checks to Lexington High School. a. Awesome Math b. German American Partnership Program c. Rose L. Wang d. Law Offices of Sonja Selami e. Robert H. Wu Motion to approve the following donation checks to Lexington High School(Steigerwald/Jay) Motion approved 4-0 2. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of December 20, 2016 Motion to approve School Committee Minutes of December 20,2016 The Motion was approved (4-0). Agenda: 1. Vote to Appoint School Committee Member to represent Pelham Project The School Committee invites interested community members to complete an application and submit it no later than 12:00 p.m.on Friday, May 5, 2017. We will make the appointment at our May 9 meeting. LSC 4-25-2017 2. Vote to Approve the last day of school,June 22,2017 Motion to approve June 22,2017 as the Final Day of School(Alessandrini/Colburn) Motion was approved(4-0) 3. Public Hearing on School Choice Per the Massachusetts General Law,the School Committee is required to vote annually as to whether the school district will participate in the School Choice Program. This vote is required to be submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by June 1, 2017. 4. Vote to Approve Revisions to 2017-2018 School Calendar Last year due to construction in the middle schools we piloted a virtual Back to School Night. However, we really feel strongly that the face-to-face communication is more important for parents. Proposing the following changes to 2017-2018 calendar for Back to School Night: • Wednesday, October 4 for Grade 6; Thursday, October 5 for Grades 7 &8. Two nights would help alleviate the parking at the middle schools. • Second request is to note Passover on the Calendar Jessie Steigerwald: Interested in hearing people's responses to calling October 91" Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day. Student's at the high school are requesting this. The School Committee supports the pilot of the proposed two-night format for Diamond Middle School and Clarke Middle School Back-to-School Nights, with October 4,2017 as Back-to-School Night for Grade 6, and October 5,2017 as Back-to-School Night for Grades 7 and S. The School Committee supports the notation of Passover on the 2017-2018 School Calendar (Alessandrini/Colburn) Motion was approved 4-0 5. First Review Presentation for 2018-2019 School Calendar Asking School Committee to review the Calendar and then return it for another vote at another meeting. 6. Fiscal Year 2017 Third Quarter Financial Report Ian Daily,Assistant Superintendent for Finance, updated School Committee with a brief presentation for the third quarter financial report. The School Department currently projects a surplus of$1,890,503 from the approved Fiscal Year 2016-17 Budget. This represents a surplus of approximately 1.94% of the total School Department budget. $1,930,215 of the total projected surplus resides in the Salary&Wages portion of the budget and deficit of$39,712 resides in the expense portion of the budget. LSC 4-25-2017 Motion to adjourn. The Motion was approved 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Meeting Materials:Agenda;A.1-.4-2017-2018 Calendar A.5-2018-2019 DRAFT Calendar A.6 Third Quarter Financial Report—Detail and Third Quarter Expenses Budget- Detail LSC 4-25-2017