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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-10-20-SC-min SC Meeting 10/20/09 page #1 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Lexington Town Office Building, Selectmen's Meeting Room 1625 Massachusetts Avenue Present: Superintendent Paul Ash, School Committee Chair Margaret Coppe, School Committee Members Rod Cole, Tom Diaz, Jessie Steigerwald and Mary Ann Stewart. The minutes were taken by Leora Tec. The meeting was convened at 7:35 p.m. I. Call to Order and Welcome (Margaret Coppe) II. Superintendent’s Announcements 1. Presentation of M.A.S.S. Academic Excellence Awards to LHS Seniors. Dr. Ash announced the bestowal of these awards with heartfelt congratulations to Aashik Rao and Justin Reynolds. III. Members’ Reports / Members’ Concerns Rod Cole: I would like to see in-migration with births when we get enrollment predictions for births to kindergarten. For the First Quarter Financial Report I would like a head count by step and lane for the teachers. It would be useful to do that every year. Last year Bob Harris provided a listing of the hours and health care costs of the Instructional Assistants and it would be useful to do that again and to do it for the LEA as well. It would be interesting to see if there are any trends. Mary Ann Stewart: Jessie and I will go through the responses to the site council surveys and compile the data. Last week the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Education released information on creating a Creative Challenge Index to promote creativity in every Massachusetts school. Tom Diaz: The Fiscal Task Force is meeting Thursday night. We are talking about compensation policies and rising health care costs, the pros and cons of the GIC plan and legislation that would allow for special health accounts to be able to be set up by employees under the GIC. I will tell you if our report is going to say more than what it has said already, which is that we should exercise maximum restraint for the next few years. SC Meeting 10/20/09 page #2 Jessie Steigerwald: I was on a field trip with ninety 6th graders today. Thank you to the incredible staff. Teachers shared the curriculum and inclusivity goals. It was inquiry based, interdisciplinary and hands-on. Margaret Coppe: The Youth Services Council will be holding a dialogue called “Can We Talk?” on November 17th at St. Brigid’s Church. IV. Discussion Items 1. Report of the Ad-Hoc Facilities Committee Introduced by Dr. Ash. In March 2009, Architect David Finney of Design Partnership presented a pre-K-12 Facilities Master Plan to the School Committee regarding the best way to approach maintaining our facilities pre-K to 12 over the next decade. That report was reviewed by an ad-hoc committee. The School Committee charged the ad-hoc committee with a four-fold charge: 1). To review the Design Partnership Master Plan and its recommendations; 2). To assess the impact of the deficiencies identified in the Master Plan on the educational process and then prioritize the recommendations; 3). To propose options for prioritizing the recommendations including timing and; 4). To make a final charge to the School Committee. Paul Ash read the names of the committee members. Members present today were: John Himmel and Phil Poinelli. They presented their report. LHS is the most likely candidate to be accepted for reimbursement so they proposed that the SOI be submitted for LHS. They recommended that Bowman and Bridge be renovated, that Estabrook be replaced and that a decision on what to do with Hastings wait until it is seen what enrollment are likely to be. There were questions, comments and expressions of gratitude from the Committee. 2. Educational Technology Plan Related to School Building Projects Introduction by Paul Ash. The pre-K to 12 Master Plan did not include technology. Within the next two years we will be getting into an appropriate replacement cycle for technology. Thomas Plati, Director of Educational Technology and Assessment, reported on what it would cost to put the kind of technology that is common in schools today into each of our schools. This includes the hardware but does not include wiring, replacement costs or personnel to work with staff to make the best use of the equipment or service the equipment. Two million dollars is just a start. The cost of the computers is also not in this plan. Mr. Plati shared what this would mean from an educational standpoint. SC Meeting 10/20/09 page #3 V. Action Items 1. Vote to Accept $1,000 Donation from Raytheon's Integrated Air Defense Center to Support the Clarke Middle School Choral/General Education Music Program Motion to accept $1,000 donation from Raytheon's Integrated Air Defense Center to support the Clarke Middle School Choral/General Education Music Program (Cole, Diaz). The motion passed 5-0. 2. Vote to Accept the Bowman Outdoor Shade and Performance Center from the Bowman PTA and Community Motion to accept the Bowman outdoor shade and performance center from the Bowman PTA and Community (Steigerwald, Stewart). The motion passed 5-0. 3. Vote to Appoint Voting Delegate to MASC Annual Business Meeting Motion to appoint Mary Ann Stewart as voting delegate and Jessie Steigerwald as alternate delegate to MASC Annual Business Meeting (Diaz, Cole). The motion passed 5-0. 4. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of October 13, 2009 Motion to approve School Committee Minutes of October 13, 2009 (Steigerwald, Stewart). The motion passed 5-0. VI. Motion to go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing negotiations not to return to public session (Stewart, Steigerwald). Steigerwald-aye; Diaz-aye; Cole-aye; Stewart-aye; Coppe-aye. The Committee recessed at 9:40 p.m.