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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-12-15-SC-min SC 12/15/09 page # 1 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, December 15, 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 7:33 p.m. I. Call to Order and Welcome (Margaret Coppe) II. Public Comment Leora Tec (precinct 1): Grateful that the School Administration and the School Committee is putting an emphasis on technology. Encourages the School Committee to look at the classes where technology is front and center during budget season and make sure the equipment is up-to-date. III. Superintendent’s Announcements 1. I just received a memo from Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester, referring to the Race to the Top Grant. The more school systems that sign a memorandum of understanding the more points Massachusetts will accrue and the better our chances will be of receiving the grant. The signature of the School Committee is one of three that can be submitted. Lexington would be awarded between $25K and $30K if Massachusetts were to be one of ten states selected as a grant recipient. IV. Members’ Reports / Members’ Concerns Mary Ann Stewart: Attended the MASC legislative information meeting relative to the Education Reform Act. The relevant documents have been posted to masc.org. Jessie Steigerwald: Last week’s EDCO Board Meeting: 1). The State is moving forward with some virtual learning initiatives. We should set a vision for what we would like to have happen; 2). Senator Ken Donnelly was there to listen to people’s concerns. The top shared concern was covering SPED costs. SC 12/15/09 page # 2 Tom Diaz: An Op-Ed in the Boston Globe asserted that, “…charter schools are successful by any measure.” I beg to differ. Charter schools operate with public money but independent of elected officials and they do fail. The issue needs to be looked at carefully. Margaret Coppe: I attended the School Health Advisory Council Meeting. Their website is up. The results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey are in but have not yet been presented to us. There is a meeting of the stress initiative group tomorrow night at Temple Isaiah. Jessie Steigerwald: Thank you to the Board of Health and Gerard Cody for putting on the H1N1 clinic at the high school. V. Discussion Items 1. Public Comment on the Bridge and Bowman Facilities Projects. Introduced by Margaret Coppe. Ms. Coppe explained that the Committee would listen to comments and have a discussion and that they would then take a vote to place a warrant article on the 2010 Town Meeting to request approximately $750K in design funds for the Bridge and Bowman Facilities Projects. Liz O’Neill (Bridge PTA Co-President): 1). What will the $750K for design funds be used for? 2). It would be great to enhance technology at Bridge at the same time as the renovations. Mary Ellen Alessandro (Bridge PTA Co-President): Would like to urge School Committee to support this request. Air does not circulate during the day. Dawn McKenna (Precinct 6): Commends the staff for bringing these projects forward but is concerned about doing renovations without new technology rather than building new buildings. Would like to see more community conversation around this. Joe Seidel (Bridge Parent): Will there be an evaluation of priority one vs. priority two items? Kathleen Lenihan (Bowman PTA co-president): We need these renovations. Stephanie Mitzenmacher (Bridge parent): The issues at these schools are urgent. Some kids cannot come to school on certain days because the air quality is so bad. Shelley Cochran (K teacher at Bowman): Teaching is often interrupted by a noisy heater. When it is hot it is really hot, when it is cold it is really cold. SC 12/15/09 page # 3 Jeff Crampton (Bowman and LHS parent): Though I am sympathetic to the idea of building a new school, the things going on in the facility are not acceptable. If there is any way to get this done quickly I hope we’ll be able to. Suzanne Lau (Bridge parent): There are issues with the heating system. We should renovate things and not wait until it is urgent. Some questions were addressed by Pat Goddard and Paul Ash 2. Discussion and Vote on the Bridge and Bowman Facilities Projects. There was a discussion among the Committee members. Motion to request a warrant article for design funds for the Bridge and Bowman schools at the annual Town Meeting (Diaz, Steigerwald). The motion passed 5-0. 3. Lexington Education Association Report on High School Teaching Load. Introduced by Phyllis Neufeld, LEA President. Ms. Neufeld introduced the other members of the Committee, some of whom, along with Ms. Neufeld, presented portions of the Committee’s report along with its recommendations. 4. Future School Committee Meeting Dates. The Committee will not meet on March 29th (the first night of Passover). The Committee will meet on January 19th , that meeting will include the first public hearing on the FY11 Budget; there will also be a second public hearing on Saturday, January 23 at 4:30 p.m. at Clarke Middle School. There are School Committee Meetings on February 2, 9 and 23. The Committee will not meet March 9, but will meet on March 2 instead. VI. Action Items 1. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of November 17, 2009. 2. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of December 1, 2009. Motion to approve School Committee minutes of November 17, 2009 and December 1, 2009 (Diaz, Cole). The motion passed 5-0. VII. Motion to go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing non-union personnel negotiations not to return to open session (Stewart,Steigerwald) Steigerwald-aye; Diaz-aye; Stewart-aye; Cole-aye; Coppe-aye. The meeting went into Executive Session at 9:35 p.m.