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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-05-10-SMPAC-min Lexington Public Schools Master Planning Committee Friday, May 10, 2019 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Lexington Public Schools Central Office, 146 Maple Street Master Planning Committee Members Present: Dr.Julie Hackett Daniel Voss Dr. Maureen Kavanaugh Daniel Abramson Peter Rowe Mark Sandeen Michael Cronin Marina Levit Donna DiNisco Richard Perry Kate Colburn Charles Hornig Joe Pato Kathleen L. Sara Cuthbertson Alan Levine (Liaison) Sandy Beebee (Liaison) Other Staff Present:Avon Lewis (current LEA President) The minutes were taken by Maureen Kavanaugh, Director of Planning and Assessment for the Lexington Public Schools. I. Elementary, middle and high school groups report findings by grade level: Members presented potential strategies by level; Below are highlights from the discussion by level. A. Purpose is a brainstorming exercise:we want to sort out the viability of ideas B. High School Strategy Notes: 1. Some ideas may offer space relief and may also offer better or alternative learning opportunities and pathways for students (e.g. enhancing our partnership with Minuteman) 2. Regarding special education spaces, we need to keep our educational philosophy of inclusion in the forefront and be mindful of our obligation and responsibility to provide all students with the least restrictive learning environment. Q. What are the space needs of the high school programs? Do we have programs that are underutilizing their current space? A.This may be the case in some instances; we will provide the space that the students and the program needs;there is a little too much space much now for ILP at the high school. a) Some parents may be anxious that we are eliminating the program when examining these spaces. One way to better communicate might be to indicate the prioritization or the order in which strategies would be considered, if we include them at all (e.g. we would put portables on LHS before we consider any displacement of students or programs) 3. Space mining at LHS: not very many unexplored options left that a) Black box or the field house might be the only spaces left to consider, if we found ourselves in a dire position. 4. Disagreement among members about how and if a second high school would ever be considered a) Size of one very large high school is a concern, but cost and space are real variables. b) New high school had the potential for being the 3rd largest in the state 5. "Investigate high health, net zero, all electric resilient building design for new facilities and present to the Select Board and School Committee"goal should be acknowledged and acted upon in our plan. C. Middle Strategy Notes: 1. The group received additional information just prior to the meet and will incorporate/revised accordingly after this meeting. The ideas presented represented do not current factor this information in. D. Elementary Strategy Notes: 1. Regarding relocation of special education programs, members acknowledged that it is valuable to have both expertise general education and special education within a school. a) Question to consider: under what conditions would we move a program? How could we make such a move correctly (if we needed to)? E. Strategy Notes Applicable to All or Multiple Levels: 1. Clarity of terms: We need to perhaps specify what we mean by permanent., What do we mean by short term (how long)?When we say over projected,what do mean?What specific enrollment and/or other conditions would trigger this? 2. Should we be taking proactive step of talking with conservation commission (especially related to LHS)?They may not be able to weigh in on hypothetical instances, but could advise on the law and requirements. How we mitigate these issues is important. 3. May need to follow up with middle and high school about athletic participation. We believe participation is about 25% now. If this is to increase with enrollment increases, we would need to increase staff and increase offerings. This would apply to other extracurricular activities. a) Members acknowledged that athletic offerings and facilities (or the lack of) impacts athletics participation. It may also have educational impacts (e.g. students getting up at 4 am to make a practice somewhere outside of town). 4. Group also pointed out the ongoing Town strategy to actively look for and be aware of land acquisition opportunities. 5. Future building on smaller sites could impact playgrounds,fields and other aspects just outside the physical building. II. Regarding Cafeteria expansion/portables at LHS: Superintendent recommendations that we plan for a smaller number of portables (e.g. at a cost closer to the 2 million range) and abandon more permanent expansion of the cafeteria. We should instead explore scheduling options and temporary structures (Facilities current researching our options.) III. LABBB update: Donna DiNisco met with LABBB staff to better understand the needs of students and programs. They stated their preference is to stay in Lexington, but they have other partner school districts. Some of our students already attend programs in these schools. LABBB said they are flexible and is taking a look at current programs housed in LHS. They are thinking about whether the space could be reconfigured and/or are the programs better housed in other partner schools. We will continue discussion at the next meeting. IV. Discussion about the next summit meeting: What do we need to know for this next meeting? Master planning is not currently on the agenda. This could be included as an informational item. It would be helpful to provide this to other participants, but there are other pressing matters V. Joe Pato motioned to approve School Master Planning Advisory Committee minutes of March 8, 2019 - Daniel Voss seconded the motion (Unanimously Approved) VI. Joe Pato motioned to continue investigation of cafeteria expansion, starting with non-permanent and low cost options- Daniel Voss seconded the motion (Unanimously Approved) VII. Next Steps: A. June 14-final review of strategies and implementation; all groups will refine between meetings B. Tentative hold July 12 date C. We will plan to take up motion related to reducing the number of portables that we would purchase &decision on temporary approach to cafeteria expansion.