HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-11-15-SC-min
LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Cary Hall Auditorium
1605 Massachusetts Avenue
Present: Dr. Paul B. Ash, Superintendent; Mary Ann Stewart, School Committee Chair;
Alessandro Alessandrini, Vice-Chair; School Committee Members Bonnie Brodner,
Margaret Coppe, Jessie Steigerwald, and Noah Coolidge, Student Representative.
The minutes were taken by Jean Curran.
7:37p.m. The Chair called the meeting to order and invited public comment
There were no public comments.
7:39p.m. Superintendent’s Announcements
Dr. Ash read a letter from Rick DuFour, a leading expert in the Professional
Learning Community (PLC). Mr. Dufour would like Lexington to be considered as a
PLC model and urged the Superintendent to apply. Dr. Ash shared that he will take
up Mr. DuFour’s offer to apply for national recognition of this program.
7:43 p.m. Member’s Reports/Member’s Concerns
Mary Ann Stewart thanked Town Meeting that voted Monday night to appropriate
$21,670,000 needed to renovate Bridge and Bowman Elementary Schools. She also
thanked the Appropriation Committee, Capital Expenditures Committee, Permanent
Building Committee, Selectmen, and South Lexington Civic Association for their
support. Mary Ann also thanked all PTA and PTO Co-Presidents for their advocacy
in support of the project, along with parents from Bridge and Bowman Schools who
emailed Town Meeting Members.
Mary Ann congratulated the Bridge Elementary School for their Gold-level award
for Health and Wellness presented during the 2011 MASC/MASS Joint Conference
in Hyannis November 9-12th. She noted that this award is given yearly by the
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to a school with a
strong commitment to the health of its students and staff. Bridge School faculty and
staff members were commended for their outstanding achievements in school health
policies, health education, physical activity, nutrition, staff wellness, and tobacco
prevention. As part of this award, Bridge received a banner for their school and
$500, which will be used to purchase pedometers for physical education classes and
fitness games for indoor recess.
Jessie Steigerwald reported that the Lexington Education Foundation Trivia Bee
raised over $49,000. She thanked everyone who worked to put on this great event,
especially the members of the School Committee-Sponsored Team: Benjamin
Edelstein, Andrew Yang, and Anna Papp who made it to the final round. On behalf
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of the School Committee, Jessie presented each team member with a jar of honey
and a certificate of appreciation. She also presented Noah Coolidge with the same
for his efforts recruiting for this event.
Noah Coolidge stated that this was his first time at the Trivia Bee and that it was
great to see the entire community come out. He congratulated the Eggheads (EGH,
Lexington) for winning the second year in a row. He then thanked Benjamin
Edelstein, Andrew Yang, and Anna Papp for participating.
7:50 p.m. Agenda Items
Public Hearing on the Estabrook Elementary School
Ken DiNisco, President | DiNisco Design, Donna DiNisco, Vice President | DiNisco
Design, and Leno Filippi, Senior Designer | DiNisco Design, were present at
tonight’s hearing. Also present were Cassius Moore, from RFWalsh Collaborative
Partners, and Pat Goddard, Director of Public Facilities. Ken reviewed a PowerPoint
Presentation consisting of building design options being considered; there are 2- and
3-story options being considered for the new school. Ken reviewed the educational
space program summary that MSBA is recommending. He presented Option 5A, the
recommended traffic option, for all ingress and egress to the school property. The
Committee had comments and questions.
Additionally, there were comments from the Public.
Hemina KrishnaBachia (1 Dee Road) would like to see Robinson Road used as an
alternative entrance to the site. She also expressed concern about insufficient
parking for parents and visitors to the school and stated her preference for a two-
story building.
Gretchen Reisig, PTA Co-President of Estabrook School, wanted to know
advantages and disadvantages of a two-story versus a three-story building.
Sara Kuli (6 Coach Road) expressed a desire for an affordable school transportation
plan, noting the Town of Winchester has a flexible fee schedule. She was also
concerned about parking along Robinson Road and asked that a precedent not be set
to limit parking for school events.
Diane Pursley (21 Turning Mill Road) wanted clarification on discussions regarding
the grading of the driveway from Grove Street.
Betsy Sarles (36 Turning Mill Road) expressed concern regarding construction noise
and what, if any mitigation measures could be put into place to reduce distraction in
classrooms. She also questioned if there would be pedestrian access from Robinson
Road.
Karen Griffiths (15 Harding Road) expressed concern regarding traffic and wanted to
know how the public could keep apprised of ongoing discussions. Regarding the use
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of Robinson Road, she suggested the possibility of using Robinson Road as a bus
entrance.
Dawn McKenna (9 Hancock Street) commended Sandra Trach, Principal of
Estabrook Elementary School, Cassius Moore, and the School Committee for
pushing for the art and music spaces. Her comments expressed preferences for a
three-story building and certain exterior materials, concerns regarding long- and
short-term parking, free busing during construction, Robinson Road to be used as a
staff entrance, a large space for students, teachers and parents to congregate, the
gymnasium to have a an outdoor entrance, and to keep the greenhouse even if the
community needs to pay for it separately.
Scott Martin Kosofky (36 Turning Mill Road) reported that he has looked into
preservation of the exterior façade mosaic/mural. He suggested that there might be
grants available to help pay to move the entire wall and remount it. He stated that a
stable print could be created and, also, there may be collectors who would be
interested in purchasing the mural.
Andre Radulescu-Banu (Cedar Street) had comments regarding the exterior façade of
the new building.
Kamala Soparkar (88 Winter Street) expressed concern about the indoor air quality
and PCBs during the construction phase, and also wanted to know if the basketball
court would be relocated to another area during construction.
Susan Ward (15 Robinson Road) asked that the mural be preserved in some form.
Alex Fox (Hillside Terrace) expressed concerns about the PCB plan and ventilation
and suggested strengthening the maintenance plan (O&M Plan) along with the
construction plan. He would like to see space in the new building for small
community group use and overflow parking issues addressed.
Beth Rogers (24 Demar Road) thanked everyone involved for all their hard work.
She had questions about the new building’s increased capacity and its impact on
traffic and parking. She also wanted to know if parents would be allowed to drop
their children off at the Robinson Road entrance; she would like to see a sidewalk
built along Robinson Road along with expanding the entire street to accommodate
two-way traffic.
Angela Gharabegian (29 North Street) wanted to know if a three-story building is
more difficult or dangerous in the case of a fire.
9:58 p.m. The Chair called for a brief recess after the public hearing.
10:08 p.m. The meeting was called back to order and the Committee began its discussion on
revising the superintendent evaluation instrument and process going forward. The
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Chair stated that the State has adopted new evaluation regulations for teachers and
administrator. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
will be providing templates and guidelines in January 2012. The Committee will
review the new guidelines in 2012 and will comply with the guidelines beginning in
2013. The Committee also discussed the topics of and timelines for the evaluation
process, self-assessment, MCAS results, Survey Monkey, budget and Dr. Ash’s
goals.
10:44 p.m. Motion to Adjourn (Coppe, Brodner). The Motion passed 5-0.
The meeting adjourned at 10:44 P.M.
Documents: Meeting Agenda; Massachusetts School Wellness Award Honors Healthy Schools;
and DiNisco Design’ Estabrook Elementary School PowerPoint Presentation
Voted by the School Committee December 6, 2011