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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-11-SC-minSC Meeting 5/11/10 page # 1 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Lexington Town Office Building, Selectmen's Meeting Room 1625 Massachusetts Avenue Present: Superintendent Paul Ash, School Committee Chair Margaret Coppe, School Committee Members Sandro Alessandrini, Rod Cole, 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. The break in the MWRA water line was dealt with very well by the whole town. The REMS program, which we will discuss later, addresses such unforeseeable problems. The Town has a flexible command structure in place. Thank you to Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Mary Ellen Dunn who spent almost all of Sunday working on how to implement the response. We used our Global Connect calling system to notify families. Thank you to the huge number of people who made this a non-event. I did not receive any emails saying this was a problem. Thanks also to the boy scouts who were passing out water. III. Members’ Reports / Members’ Concerns Sandro Alessandrini: Bill Blout, President of Lexington Youth and Family Services, has requested our support on a request for a grant for $6000 to go towards a salary for a part-time director for this non-profit organization. This organization performs many of the functions previously under the purview of Replace—which offered a safety net to kids in distress. Funding for Replace was lost in a past override. Mary Ann Stewart: I drafted a letter for a response to the House cut of the METCO budget; I will give it to Ms. Coppe and Dr. Ash to sign. The Subcommittee on Best Practices for School, Family and Parent Engagement would like to present a report to the School Committee at our final meeting on June 8th, if possible. Jessie Steigerwald: This Thursday the Youth Services Council will present a talk on bullying and cyber-bullying at 7:00 p.m. at Cary Hall by Elizabeth Englander. We will have a School Committee table there. SC Meeting 5/11/10 page # 2 IV. Discussion 1. Report from the Equity and Excellence Committee. Introduced by Superintendent Paul Ash. Dr. Ash mentioned several members of the committee including current Bridge Assistant Principal Meg Colella, who will be the interim principal at Bridge next year. Barbara Nobles will be the new K-12 Academic METCO Director. Dr. Ash expressed gratitude to George Saxon who served this year as the interim METCO Director. Dr. Steven Flynn and Vito La Mura, co-chairs of the Committee, presented the Report. Mr. La Mura mentioned the other committee members by name. Presentations were made by: Meg Colella; Bill Cole, LHS Dean; Carol Pilarski Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development; Steve Flynn, Clarke Principal and co-chair of Excellence and Equity Committee; and Vito La Mura, co-chair of the Excellence and Equity Committee. There were questions and comments from the Committee. 2. Report on Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS). Introduced by Paul Ash who thanked Patrick Goddard, Director of Public Facilities, for a fine job coordinating our response to the MWRA water break. Mr. Goddard spoke in his capacity as Project Director for the REMS program. He and Mary Ellen Dunn are jointly managing this project. Mr. Goddard described the REMS program. There were questions and comments from the Committee that were answered by Mr. Goddard and Mary Ellen Dunn. 3. Third Quarterly Financial Report. Presented by Mary Ellen Dunn. There were questions and comments from the Committee. 4. Proposed 2011-2012 School Calendars. Introduced by Paul Ash. Dr. Ash is presenting two calendars, one starting before Labor Day and one starting afterwards. His recommendation is to continue with the before Labor Day start. Phyllis Neufeld, LEA president noted that in a previous survey of the teachers they overwhelmingly wanted to start before Labor Day. There were comments and questions from the Committee. There were comments from the public. It was decided that parents would receive messages through the school list serves requesting feedback on the two calendars. The Committee will vote on the issue on June 8th. SC Meeting 5/11/10 page # 3 V. Action Items 1. Vote to Approve French Student Exchange Trip to Antony, France. Presented by Rina Farber-Mazur, French Teacher at LHS. Motion to approve the French Student Exchange Trip to Antony, France (Steigerwald, Alessandrini). The motion passed 5-0. 2. Vote to Reappoint Mary Ellen Dunn as Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business for Three Years. Motion to reappoint Mary Ellen Dunn as Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business for three years (Cole, Stewart). The motion passed 5-0. 3. Vote to Not Participate in the State's School Choice Program Motion to not participate in the state's School Choice Program (Cole, Alessandrini). The motion passed 5-0. 4. Vote to Dissolve the Ad-Hoc Facilities Committee Motion to dissolve the Ad-Hoc Facilities Committee (Steigerwald, Stewart). The motion passed 5-0. 5. Vote to Adopt the Energy Reduction Plan Submitted as Part of the Town of Lexington Green Communities Designation Process. Motion to adopt the energy reduction plan (Cole, Stewart). The motion passed 5-0. [This motion was made during Patrick Goddard’s presentation above]. 6. Vote to Adopt the Lexington Fuel Efficient Vehicle Policy Submitted as Part of the Town of Lexington Green Communities Designation Process Motion to adopt the Lexington Fuel Efficient Vehicle Policy submitted as part of the Town of Lexington Green Communities Designation Process (Alessandrini, Stewart). The motion passed 4-0 (Jessie Steigerwald was out of the room, but stated upon her return that she would have voted in favor of the motion). [This motion was made during Patrick Goddard’s presentation above]. VI. Motion to go into executive session for the purpose of negotiations, not to return to public session (Steigerwald, Stewart). Alessandrini-aye; Cole-aye; Coppe-aye; Steigerwald-aye and Stewart-aye.