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Home My WebLink About1976-01-06-MMTECH-min.pdf (103)=gt MINUTES OF THE MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE January 6, 1976, at the Minuteman School PRESENT Bilodeau, Cormier, Courtright, Cron, Hall , Heinrich, Kelsey, Merluzzo, Shimkus, Smith, Wales Lombardo ABSENT Zeoll STAFF Fitzgerald, Ricciuti , Resnick, Whitney, Mayer, Essman, Lydiard, DellaPenna VISITORS Mr Isenberg of the Parents Organization; several parents; representatives of the League of Women Voters; representatives of the press The meeting was called to order at 7 37 p m. Wk a Chairman Cron introduced the new 'Superintendent-Director, Dr Ronald Fitzgerald ELECTRONICS Dr Fitzgerald announced that the electronics program overview presentation would be postponed until the first meeting in d(gc4 n>' February, and that the committee would receive a written report , ` YG P before then WAYS AND Mr Merluzzo announced that the budget for 1976-77, currently 1, - MEANS reflecting a projected enrollment of 1200, would be reviewed COMMITTEE again during the coming week, would be presented on January 13 to the Regional Finance Committee at a public meeting beginning at 7 30, and that the budget would be presented for school committee approval on January 20 - Dr Fitzgerald agreed to send copies of the current draft to all members of the Regional Finance Committee Dr Fitzgerald noted that Dr .Ricciuti and Dr Resnick had done an outstanding job of reducing the budget to the vicinity of three million, and that he himself had restored some of the items cut The compromise reduction was $455,000, resulting in 4` a budget total of $3,223,132 While the per pupil cost under this budget would be higher than desired, Dr Fitzgerald said he was personally prepared to defend each line item and present a strong rationale, cluster by cluster He emphasized that the January 20th meeting should be devoted entirely to the budget ADULT Dr Fitzgerald presented alternative proposals for the Adult EDUCATION Education program The plan he recommended would, he said, permit more time for preliminary planning and publicizing, and •. (104) L facilitate more complete debugging and evaluation, than the program currently planned He emphasized that the program would be experimental , and that one of the most important aspects would be the chance to assess both public acceptance and impact on the school With this assessment, an optimum full-scale program can be planned for next year - Mr Merluzzo spoke in favor of reducing the number of courses, or not trying to run the program at all until next year Mrs Wales MOVED, and Mr Hall SECONDED, that the Superintendent- Director's recommendation for the Adult Education program be approved, i e , that the program begin in the first week of March, and that $2,500 be allocated for clerical services and other back-up VOTED 10 in favor, 1 opposed BUSINESS Mr Heinrich reported on meetings between himself, Mr Lombardo, OFFICE Mr Essman, Dr Ricciuti , and two state auditors There was general agreement with the recommendations set forth in Mr Essman's report dated December 10 Dr Fitzgerald also spoke dtW41 in support of the general substance of these recommendations E' but said he felt the staffing 'might be made more flexible Mr Heinrich, Mr Lombardo and Dr Fitzgerald noted increased responsibilities in the business office area; the state requirements have become more stringent; the revolving accounts are becoming more numerous and complex Also, preparing , the books of account for pl presentation to the school committee in July will require the full time work of an accountant, who hk may or may not be a regular member of the office staff 3 -... It was MOVED by Mr Hall , SECONDED by Dr Smith, and VOTED ' jA UNANIMOUSLY, to approve the superintendent-director's recom- `741 mendations for additional personnel in the Business Office (two persons full time, and perhaps another for four months) f, Mr in Courtright noted that a ceiling 9 of $950,000 had been placed on purchase of capital equipment, and he requested an estimate of when the financial situation could be clarified enough to raise this limit Dr Fitzgerald said he hoped to open up the capital budget in February, and by late March or early April to have complete information on what funds are and will be available - Mr Cron noted that $75,000 reimbursement in Federal aid had now been approved and that the ceiling could now be raised to $1 ,050,000 ` RECRUITING Dr Ricciuti reported that the brochures were nearly finished, PROGRAM that labels were completed, that 4042 brochures would be mailed out within the next week Committee members REQUESTED that each of them be given a half-dozen copies for personal distribution Members also REQUESTED that they be provided with a list showing DATE, TIME, and PLACE of evening recruiting sessions in each town, so that the respective co$Omittee members lY: (105) could attend It was urged that brochures be sent to each town at least a week before that town's scheduled meeting, if that were possible METCO Dr Ricciuti reported that the Metco organization had asked Minuteman to take over the responsibility for providing transportation for its Metco students; to date the towns of Lexington and Lincoln had been providing it The Metco funds , approved include $8,325 for transportation It was suggested that Lexington and Lincoln would perhaps continue their cooperative arrangement, with the assistance of these funds Mr Merluzzo REQUESTED that a letter be sent to Metco requesting tuition payment ($2,600 tuition funding for each student was approved) Mr Courtright REQUESTED that with the final presentation of the 1976-77 budget, a recommendation be made a for tuition charges for next year A � STUDENT Mr Marotta reported that he had had a very fruitful discussion INFORMATION with the Lexington Chief of Police, in which all issues had been resolved In the future, student directory information will be released unless opposition has been expressed by the parents of the student Mr Merluzzo REQUESTED that all r '' parents be informed of this policy '' Aa AA ANNUAL Mrs Wales reported that annual reports had been mailed to an" REPORTS towns in the district, and the administration should be notii9' ed if any town had not received its copy Along with the verbal report went five statistical reports required by state law RESIGNATION At the recommendation of the administration, it was MOVED by ^ e Mr Hall , SECONDED by Mr Shimkus, and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to accept with regret the resignation of science teacher Richard BohigIan MINUTES It was MOVED by Mrs Wales, SECONDED by Mrs Smith, that the minutes of the regular meeting of December 16 be approved with r` the following changes on page 98 a) last line of second paragraph, change "these" to "all" b) last paragraph, change wording of the vote to "that the Business Manager be appointed as Assistant Treasurer and authorized to sign checks in the absence of the Treasurer " VOTED UNANIMOUSLY ar (106) TREASURER'S Mr Lombardo reported a balance in the Operating and Payroll REPORT Account of $109,619 07, and in the Site and Construction Account of $9,720 54 On recommendation of the Treasurer, it was MOVED by Mr Heinrich, SECONDED by Mr Kelsey, and VOTED UNANIMOUSLY, to transfer and appropriate the accumulated interest from the following Certificates of Deposit to the Site and Construction Account C of D #44583 $1 ,512 50 #44242 $1 ,833 33 SUPERINTEN- Dr Smith said the superintendent search committee had offered DENT SEARCH to pay the expenses of candidates attending the December 18 EXPENSES meeting, but had not received bills from all three A statement of personal expenses for committee work had been submitted to AO the business office by committee members QUESTIONS Mr Isenberg inquired about the current status of Driver 11"1 ^ '4 Education Dr Fitzgerald replied that classrrom instruction is going on now and will continue, at no cost to the students While it is not certain what on-the-road instruction program will be used, there definitely will be some program this spring k .x ' A member of the audience REQUESTED that members of the committee speak louder or use the audio system more often or install of better audio system Ama.. It was MOVED by Mr Cormier, SECONDED by Mr Kelsey, that the ' meeting be adjourned, and reconvened in executive session to consider collective bargaining and to negotiate details of the contract with the new superintendent-director VOTED UNANI- 1„ MOUSLY BY ROLL CALL VOTE The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ok ( "fes Recording Secretary Approved to TALI 7(0 EC5101A (3,s Ruth W WaleWecretary