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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-11-12-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, November 12, 2024 Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:06 PM SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Eileen Jay, Chairperson Deepika Sawhney, Vice -Chair (arrived a few minutes after call to order) Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk Kathleen Lenihan Larry Freeman (arrived at 6:17 PM) SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent 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. Cuthbertson read the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. October 18, 2024 - Payroll in the amount of $5,072,875.88 b. October 18, 2024 - AP Warrant in the amount of $1,683,352.06 c. October 18, 2024 - BMO Warrant in the amount of $56,996.65 d. November 1, 2024 - AP Warrant in the amount of $1,724,240.34 e. November 1, 2024 - Payroll in the amount of $5,260,335.96 f. November 15, 2024 -BMO Warrant in the amount of $86, 627.76 g. November 15, 2024 - AP Warrant in the amount of $1,247,850.72 Ms. Lenihan read the following consent agenda items: Minutes a. September 24, 2024 p. E)eteber 8, 2024 [tabled for next meeting] Ms. Lenihan read the following consent agenda items: Field Trips a. Diamond Middle School Field Trip to Quebec City, QC, from May 27-30, 2025 b. Clarke Middle School Field Trip to Quebec City, QC, from May 27-30, 2025 c. Diamond Middle School Field Trip to France, from April 22 -May 2, 2025 d. Clarke Middle School Field Trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from May 26-30, 2025 e. Diamond Middle School Field Trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from May 26-30, 2025 Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items: Donations a. Vote to Approve the $5,000 donation made to the LHS DLP Program from an anonymous donor Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Sawhney seconded. Passed, 4-0. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS Ms. Lenihan announced that today, the School Building Committee voted to move massing concept C5B Bloom forward into schematic design and to include the field house addition/renovation in that base project. Ms. Lenihan added, "I also just wanted to reflect that many people in Lexington may be concerned about the uncertainty we face in this country going into 2025, and I thought that in the face of uncertainty, it's very helpful to think about what isn't changing. And just think it's important for everyone to know that our LPS core values, our commitment to upholding those values, and our commitment to meeting the needs of all of our students, especially our most vulnerable students. Absolutely none of that is changing, no matter what 2025 brings us" Ms. Sawhney attended finance committee meetings and met with someone on the Lexington Scholarship Committee. They discussed ways to get scholarship information out to more people and Ms. Sawhney asked if our METCO students are eligible. The website for scholarships is lexscholarship.org. Ms. Cuthbertson and Dr. Hackett presented at the MASS/MASC conference on making the superintendent evaluation meaningful on November 8th. She added that our very own fourth-grade teacher at Hastings, De'Shawn Washington, also spoke at the conference. There is also a Commissioner search. Mr. Freeman thanked Dr. Hackett and her team for remaining focused on our current students and buildings. "I know we talk about the new school building a lot, but I just want to reassure parents: Your child is still our number one priority." Ms. Jay attended Lexington Learns Together (LLT) on November 5th and the MASS/MASC conference as well. [0]LTA lLTA 111011k9*1:1 :FA N Lana Panasyuk - 28 Saddle Club Rd (in person): "The impact of LHS overcapacity, which is currently at 98%, has been alarmed by many recent articles in the Lexington Observer. The overcrowding affects the academic, social, physical, and mental abilities of students and teachers. The urgency to solve this issue moves over everyone and only will get worse by next September. Would you please discuss the School Committee's plan for addressing the LHS over capacity this year? I do realize that everyone is concerned with the new LHS project that will materialize only in several years. It will not, however, solve over capacity problems by the next September. If we keep the same grades, 9 to 12, in the current LHS building, the problem will only get worse next year. In my email, told you about problems with my ... which I discovered because my middle son joined LHS this year. I did not know about similar problems for my older two sons, 12 and 24 years ago, and it's only now because my son is in LHS, I got overwhelmed. So the question is, I think I know that you are not allowed to answer or anything, I just want to bring you back to the reality of this year, and I do hope that we can solve this issue by the next September. And the question to the Chair and to the Superintendent is, how can we bring it to the agenda? Tell me, I can help you. I can give you the signatures from parents, 100, 200, I'll make it for you. But I just want to bring attention to the urgency." Dawn McKenna - 9 Hancock St (in person): "I know Ms. Lenahan just provided a brief update, the important part that she left out was that at the same time, the Committee voted not to include reservation of any space for a new field house. And I've been struggling all afternoon to sort of put this into context, but what really bothers me most about the whole thing is that the role of the School Committee and the staff is to look for the best interests of the students. And I think they've done a lot of trying to balance needs, but what they did was they foreclosed the opportunity to address what we know is a pressing need at the field house. And to have your School Committee rep, who had heard from at least some members of this committee, that they thought that was important to have the superintendent, to have the high school principal all say that it was okay not to even save space for any future development. I'm really struggling with it. I don't think it's appropriate. I hear all you say about meeting everybody's needs, and that does not do it. We talk about a building that's overcrowded in terms of the High School, which I absolutely agree; and I sympathize with those comments, but we have programming going on in the field house that has been overcrowded for years and that serves magnitudes more people than it did when it was built. And again, for the school representatives to that committee to do that, especially in the context of the conversations that we had several years ago in which the Recreation Department put together a track program that didn't meet the needs of the Track Program. And to watch it all playing out again because we prioritize fields over the needs of a building in this town, without even giving an opportunity to have that same level of discussion and discourse on that is something that I just can't wrap my head around. I will be thinking about it over the next several days, and weeks, and I hope you all know how this is not in the best interest of our kids, and I know that the school department understands that's their job, but you have given a message now to the same group of students who are affected by the decision around the outdoor track, which took years to fix, that you're not even willing to engage in that conversation to allow for an option in the future, and I'll stop now because I know my time is UP, but it's just I have never in all my years being involved in giving so much time and effort to do what's in the best interest of the schools got to a point where we have the schools not advocating for school needs. Thank you." Olga Guttag - 273 Emerson Rd: "I Zoomed in this afternoon on the SBC meeting where members unanimously voted to proceed with Bloom to the MSBA. What one member shares the same sentiment as Kathleen Lenihan, the exclusion because they plan to get the 50% plus one to get the exclusion. Find this attitude bully -off and didn't most of us object to Trump's campaign being based on dividing us? The SBC is doing exactly that, and sets up a terrible ... for our kids. Where is the emphasis on listening first opinions and then consideration, like Ms. Jay's report about the need for some adaptive change should be considered by both the School Committee and SBC. I hope you will carefully read Jim Williams' letter he sent you last night. It sets up a very believable scenario for why these architects felt in their 2015 Master Plan was the best place to start renewing the language building never seriously explored by SBC. Common sense dictates that one picks up on the work of those who came before them, especially when it was the same firm. They also had reports that asked them to stay off, stay away from the wetlands, yet they never gave in public to looking at this all is proposing for stage one. Peter Kelley, on behalf of at least 230 resident petitioners, [asked] for the SBC to take one to two months to develop their original idea for renewing LHS by starting at the foreign language building site representatives to seek more financial support from MSBA. There is also an issue with the portion of CEC report that talks about when the 30% reno rule, which means that you have to bring the building to code, kicks in. So, Peter Kelley went to the building department and asked exactly that question and was told it would not kick in because the old building was demolished and the rest was all new construction. Today at the SBC meeting, Mike Cronin reported that when he asked what seemed to say, it would kick in. On this specific topic, our Town Manager should ask how information is provided to residents to avoid future confusion. In addition, in an earlier SBC meeting, the same topic of 30% reno rule came up and Mr. Himmel shared that can be applied to projects under construction based under temporary status. So before people buy into the "It will cost an extra 100 million" argument, detailed answers need to be obtained. This, too, argues for extra time SBC needs to take before submitting plans to MSBA. Please vote yes on Article Eight. Everybody should either come to the Special Town Meeting or watch it on Zoom to get educated both about the project. Our Town members represent their constituents. See you tomorrow, thank you." SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Dr. Hackett reviewed her Supedntendent's Report with the School Committee. The highlights from her report include: 1. Two Lexington High School Students Win Gold in Major U.S. Figure Skating Competitions o Simon Mintz, a junior, and Henry Gao, a freshman at LHS 2. LHS Senior Awarded $5,000 Scholarship for Work with Older Adults and Veterans o Mirei Saneyoshi, a senior at Lexington High School 3. Fall Core Values Celebration o On Tuesday, October 29, 2024 4. LHS World Language Teacher Chosen as a New Board Member for ACTFL o The American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) announced that our very own, Ms. Beckie Rankin, was chosen 5. MASS/MASC Conference o De'Shawn Washington gave a powerful speech. 6. Student Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Tours o Dr. Hackett thanked Barbara Hamilton, Ariana Akram, Habiba Davis, and Christopher Bruff for taking 30 students on the tours. 7. Diamond & Clarke Interim Assistant Principals o Congratulations to Assistant Principal Liz Sharp on her retirement. Mary Barry -Ng will now be the Interim Assistant Principal at Diamond, and Jeremie Bateman will be the Interim Clarke Assistant Principal. 8. High School Project Update o Voted for the C.Sb Bloom and an Add/Reno Field House option o Ms. Lenihan pointed out that the proposed 18,000 -square -foot gym is bigger than the gym we currently have, and we are enlarging the field house o A student survey was sent out to High School students for feedback, Bloom was chosen to be the best choice because of the impact that it would have and the disruption to learning. 9. Cary Lecture Series Invitation o November 16th at 8 p.m., please join us for What Children Teach Us About Altruism in Battin Hall Auditorium at the Isaac Harris Cary Memorial Building. 10. We All Belong o Friday, October 11, was National Coming Out Day 0 21 -Day Equity Challenge at Diamond Middle School o Poet Li -Young Lee Visits LHS o Upcoming Holidays & Observances School Committee Questions/Comments: Mr. Freeman gave a shout out to Ms. Hamilton and everyone involved in the HBCU trip. Ms. Cuthbertson echoed Mr. Freeman's statement about the HBCU trip. She also spoke about the Student -School Building Committee (S -SBC) and how we don't just have students fill out a survey, they are very much involved. Dr. Hackett added a mention of Veterans Day yesterday. Ms. Lenihan mentioned that the Town Celebration Committee hosted a Veterans Day breakfast last weekend, she attended. Ms. Sawhney asked if the Add/Reno Field House will happen sequentially or at the same time as the other construction site. Ms. Lenihan's understanding is that it will happen at the same time. Ms. Sawhney is concerned about student impact during construction. Ms. Sawhney is also trying to understand that if it's an Add/Reno, does it automatically have to be done with the same team/same OPM/same architects/same art, or do we go through another bidding process? Ms. Lenihan answered no, it's all a part of the same process and team. Dr. Hackett added that our base project always included a renovation so that was part of the overall package, "a big driver of this is because we don't have a separate debt exclusion vote." Ms. Sawhney would like to know how much of a distance there will be between the construction and students and what are the mitigating strategies that are going to be placed to prevent disruption from noise. Ms. Lenihan assured her that there will be plans put in place for those things, they will just be made later on in the process. Ms. Cuthbertson added that in her group, the architectural team brought up the need for noise mitigation and safe pathways, they have the same concerns about being the least disruptive to students. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion and Vote on the Building Decarbonization Roadmap Maggie Peard, Sustainability and Resilience officer for the town, and Michelle Gardner presented this PDF - Climate Leaders unicipal Decarbonization Roadmap. Mike Cronin, Director of Public Facilities, was also present. Ms. Peard explained, "The town is looking to submit an application for the Climate Leader Community designation. That program is kind of an extension of what has been the Green Communities Program, and essentially being a climate leader would allow us to be opened up to more grant funding for decarbonization projects and other sustainability efforts at our buildings" They are suggesting Lexington achieves net zero emissions by 2050. In order to submit the application, a formal adoption by both the Select Board and the School Committee is needed. School Committee Question/Comments: Ms. Jay asked if the certification would give us access to grant money that a town wouldn't have unless it had the certification. Ms. Peard responded, "Yes, that's correct. So it's just kind of an enhanced level of the green community. So we'll have access to larger sums of grant funding each year." Mr. Freeman asked if we delayed the High School project, if this would impact getting the certification (the current high school building has the highest emissions). Ms. Peard replied that this would not impact the certification; the only requirement for the certification is having this plan in place. Ms. Sawhney asked Mr. Cronin how the section under Decarbonization Plans for High Impact Buildings will this affect our capital plan. Mr. Cronin replied; "we worked hand in hand with Maggie and Michelle on creating this document based on the existing capital plan. So when we created the capital plan back in `20 we took all that data and all that information and tried to inform this roadmap with that information so it actually aligns up perfectly, so that we're not taking things out of order. We're doing things in the proper sequence." Ms. Lenihan thinks this is great and she is "very much looking forward to knocking off that worst emitter from the list with a new high school that does not use fossil fuels." Ms. Jay likes that there is a plan for the high -impact buildings. She asked Mr. Cronin if the schools that have been built within the past twenty years but not brand new (Harrington, Fiske, and Estabrook) were upgraded to HVAC because it looks like they have ground source heat pumps. Mr. Cronin responded, "We have ground source at Fiske and Harrington. We've got five open wells at each building that do a majority of the heating and cooling load. But there is still fossil fuel backup for both of those systems. So in those particular buildings, even though they're newer, they're not all -electric, and they're not fully geothermal like Hastings is." Ms. Jay asked if those buildings rely on the ground source. Mr. Cronin, "Those two buildings mostly use geothermal, except on those high degree and those low degree days. So on those days, they're going to have supplemental heating and cooling. One of the things we've actually talked about is adding some supplemental wells to those two sites, first of all, making them a closed-loop system, but then adding a couple of wells to expand their capacity a little bit so they can take the entire load". Mr. Freeman moved to approve the Building Decarbonization Roadmap, Ms. Lenihan seconded. Passed, 5-0. OLD BUSINESS A. Second Reading of the Sisle-Use Plastic o le Phase -Out Pliic� This is a new policy under the Waste Reduction, Conservation, Recycling, and Composting policy, this will be a sub -policy. NEW BUSINESS (ONTINUED) B. First Reading of nd Procedures C. First Reading of Policy EFCC -Child utrition Prora Civil ihts Policy and Procedures Ms. Jay explained that these policies come from DESE, we do not modify them, and they are essentially required. D. Discussion and Vote on Articles for Special Town eetin 202-1 • Article 3 - Establish, Amend, Dissolve, and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds Ms. Lenihan made a motion to approve Article 3 - Establish, Amend, Dissolve, and Appropriate To and From Specified Stabilization Funds, Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed, 5-0. • Article 7 - Appropriate Design Funds - Harrington Athletic Fields o Superintendent Report on Article 7 and Article 8 Ownership of the land is not being addressed in this. Ms. Lenihan moved to support Article 7 - Appropriate Design Funds - Harrington Athletic Fields, Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed, 5-0. • Article 8 - Delay Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Filing Resolution (Citizen Petition) Ms. Jay recused herself from the vote on Article 8 as she is an abutter to the High School property, Ms. Sawhney temporarily chaired. Dr. Hackett does not recommend that the School Committee support this article, "Article eight has to do with the resolution seeking Town Meeting support to delay the filing to the MSBA for the Lexington High School construction project from its current schedule." A reason she gave to not support Article 8 is that it could put the $100 million partnership with the MSBA in jeopardy. Dr. Hackett stated, "We're in the program now, so we need to take this opportunity while we have it" and that it would cost up to $20 million for each year that the project is delayed. Ms. Cuthbertson pointed out that the School Committee submitted a Statement of Interest to the MSBA multiple times for this project and that the Bloom design was chosen because it was the least disruptive to students' education and the most accessible. Dr. Hackett; "We are charged by the Massachusetts School Building Authority with delivering the most cost effective, educationally appropriate project, and it would be very difficult to say this Article 8 plan would be that." Ms. Lenihan moved to not support Article 8 -Delay Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Filing Resolution (Citizen Petition), Ms. Cuthbertson seconded. Passed, 4 approved to not support and 1 recusal (Ms. Jay). COMMUNITY SPEAK Dawn McKenna - 9 Hancock St (in person): "Three relatively quick things, I know that the School Building Committee representatives and Dr. Hackett had to speak with the MSBA today, and we didn't hear report out about that phone call. So I'm interested in that. I also want to say I have concerns about agreeing to support the $100,000 in design funds because that assumes that we will tear down Central Office (CO) and move Central Office into the high school interim plan in between. And I'm not sure we can do that. Then I say that in the light of the MBTA communities, and there's been a lot of numbers batted around about what may or may not happen, but I got a hold of the memo that was actually sent to the Town certifying the number of units that the acreage that we have approved allows for. Currently we have about 13,000 households in Lexington, the MBTA zoning assuming no other building, certified over 12,000 units. So that is double the amount of current households. So not only does that have implications for building, because if you have double the number of units as the current number of housing, that's going to be at every level, including high school. So I think we're not really understanding the order of magnitude. As the person who had these same discussions with the States years ago about the Avalon project, I can tell you we always get more than we think we're going to get. Not only does it affect the buildings and the need for ... for land, it also is going to have a severe impact on the operating costs, the number of teachers that are needed, and everything else. And they're going to need a place to be, those cars are going to need to be places. And one of the things that I noticed today when we had the earlier School Building Committee meetings, is that this parking lot was jam packed full. And I cannot remember off the top of my head how many cars were attributed to the Central Office to go to the high school (60), 1 still believe it is fundamentally a flawed plan that most people don't believe the CO is ever going to go there. So should we then be turning over this space for that until we figure out the longer term plan for CO? That's all I wanted to add, thank you." Sarela Bilman-Cohen - 17 Dane Rd: "I wanted to make a few points. One of them is the issue of Bloom being so close to the LABB. And one of the points that were made that the school being built on the fields will prevent disruption, I don't think so. I also want to talk about a few points that were raised by Dr. Hackett regarding Article 8, the issue of school safety. Many research shows that having multiple buildings is safer in terms of shooting. I know no one wants to talk about it, but that's one point. The other thing is that, because we don't know about the MSBA, we don't know that they will not approve a two phase approach. So that's another point I wanted to make. A delay of two to four months also does not mean that we will not get the grant of $100 million. The issue of facilities, saying that we need to the HVAC and other issues that the school has. Well that will still be an issue even if we go into building a new school, regardless of where. So that's not going away in the next two to three years. The CEC report, we have a rebuttal to that, because we have a lot of points that haven't been addressed properly. Peter will be presenting that when he talks about Article 8 tomorrow. And my last point is, although the School Committee represents the students, obviously, the town members are supposedly representatives of all constituents, and that doesn't come across as such. It sounds like many people are supporting their agenda without taking into consideration other opinions. And thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts." POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS Items added: • Ms. Sawhney requested an update on DIBELs data. ADJOURNMENT/Calendar for the year Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to adjourn at 8:20 PM, Ms. Lenihan seconded. Passed, 5-0.