HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-07-07-SC-minLSC Meeting Minutes 7/7/2015 1
LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Lexington Town Office Building, Selectmen’s Meeting Room
1625 Massachusetts Avenue
PRESENT: Superintendent Dr. Mary Czajkowski, Chair Jessie Steigerwald, Vice Chair
William Hurley, Alessandro Alessandrini, Judith Crocker, Margaret Coppe
The Minutes were taken by Christine Ashness, Recording Secretary
The meeting convened at 7:04pm
Call to order and welcome: Chair Jessie Steigerwald called the meeting to order, and introduced committee members. She welcomed Dr. Czajkowski and on behalf of the School Committee presented her with a Tricorne hat.
Public Comments: Meghan Soens, 42 Bartlett Avenue: She is here to continue to show interest in the exploration of options to expand the extended day program. Pamela Tames, 26 Bertwell Road: She is here on behalf of the parents whose children are in Lextended Day or who are on the waiting list. They continue to get pleas from across the town for entrance to the program. She has told parents they are continuing to talk to the School Committee and Dr. Czajkowski, and they are glad there is an update tonight.
Superintendent’s Announcements: Dr. Czajkowski thanked the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, Town Manager, administrative staff, teachers, parents, community members, and Town Meeting members for the warm welcome to Lexington. She officially began work on July 1st and has hit the ground listening, learning and leading. She appreciates the 4 transition days the School Committee arranged to help her begin work in the district. She said it is a privilege to serve as the Lexington Superintendent of Schools and she looks forward to working in a district and a community with high expectations, that both values and supports public education. She gave the following updates:
• Lextended Day: She thanked parents for their email communications. She believes it is it important to listen and gather information before making any decisions. She also wants to be responsive to the concerns of parents as it is critical for her to develop positive working partnerships with parents. She acknowledged the work of her staff and also Margaret Coppe and Judy Crocker. She is looking into this both short and long term. She will be meeting with Erin McGuire, Interim Bridge School Principal, Ian Dailey, Interim Director of Finance and Operations, and Jeff Leonard, Cooridnator of Department of Performing Arts, tomorrow, and hopes to also meet with Heather Hartshorn, Executive Director of Lextended Day, soon. She needs to gather more information to make an informed decision. This will be one of her goals for the 2015-2016 school year, as the lease with Lextended Day will expire in June
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2016. She assured parents that she will stay on top of this and appreciates their understanding and patience.
• Dr. Czajkowski’s 90-day plan will be posted on the website and details expectations in her first 90 days in Lexington.
• She has completed individual meetings with each School Committee member regarding their areas of priority, thoughts, and suggestions as we move forward. She will incorporate these into the development of her goals for the 2015-2016 school year.
• She met with Pat Goddard, Director of Public Facilities, and Ken DiNisco of DiNisco Designtwice regarding tonight’s presentation on the proposed building projects.
• She has met with Town Manager Carl Valente and together they have scheduled individual meetings with town department heads. The meetings will take place in the next 2 weeks.
• She will be meeting with Ian Dailey and Town Director of Finance Rob Addelson to identify a firm to conduct an independent financial audit.
School Committee Member Announcements J. Crocker: Welcome to Dr. Czajkowski and thanks to the hundreds of people who participated in the process in selecting her. J. Steigerwald: She and Dr. Czajkowski are going to try different seating arrangements at upcoming School Committee meetings. Upcoming meetings include: July 14 and 16 Summit meetings. The School Committee has been asked to work on a Monroe board appointment and will discuss this later tonight. The Board of Selectmen asked the School Committee to participate in goal-setting. Steigerwald submitted goals on behalf of the School Committee based on the recently approved 2015-2016 goals and send the letter to the committee. A. Alessandrini, M. Coppe and W. Hurley all welcomed Dr. Czajkowski and they look forward to working with her this year.
Consent Agenda Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of May 12, 2015 Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of May 19, 2015 Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of May 26, 2015 Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of June 9, 2015 Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of June 16, 2015 – Afternoon Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of June 16, 2015 Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of June 22, 2015 Vote to Approve and Not Release School Committee Executive Session Minutes of May 19, 2015 Vote to Approve and Not Release School Committee Executive Session Minutes of May 26, 2015 Vote to Approve and Not Release School Committee Executive Session Minutes of June 9, 2015 Vote to Approve and Not Release School Committee Executive Session Minutes of June 22, 2015
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MOTION to Approve Consent Agenda, as amended, except for the May 19, 2015 Minutes
and Executive Session Minutes 5/19 (Crocker, Alessandrini)
The Motion was approved 5-0.
Agenda
Policy Manual Review
Presentation of New Policy Manual – Jim Hardy, Field Director, Massachusetts
Association of School Committees Mr. Hardy presented the final version after a 3-year process. It represents a tremendous amount of work. He presented one hard copy manual and flash drives for all members and Dr. Czajkowski. He explained that the manual is a fluid manual and may be updated by the School Committee at any time. Some policies require annual review, new regulations may require policy revisions or the addition of new policies. Over a three year time period, Negotiations may create the need to update policies, and it is important that school handbooks remain aligned with the official updated School Committee policies. He noted that if a school manual changes, it is important to have that information presented to the School Committee to make sure everything is aligned. Sections that tend to change most frequently include: Instruction, Student Section and General Foundation and Commitment Section. The committee thanked Mr. Hardy for his help and all of the staff members who helped.
Adopt All Revised Policies Sections A – L, Hertofore Approved In Form
Section A: Foundations and Basic Commitments
Section B: Board of Governance and Operations
Section C: General School Administration
Section D: Fiscal Management
Section E: Support Services
Section F: Facilities Development
Section G: Personnel
Section H: Negotiations
Section I: Instruction
Section J: Students
Section K: Community Relations
Section L: Education Agency Relations
MOTION to Adopt All Policies from Sections A-L, rescind all prior policies and it is in
effect July 20, 2015 (Steigerwald, Crocker)
The Motion was approved 5-0.
Next Steps: Including Updates to Handbooks, Training, and School Committee
Practices Dr. Czajkowski and staff will be coordinating newly approved policies with school handbooks and personnel materials. Handbooks will be presented to the School Committee some time around the end of August.
LSC Meeting Minutes 7/7/2015 4
Vote to Approve Lexington High School F1 In Schools Club Trip to Singapore,
September 9 through September 21, 2015 Students and Laura Lasa (LHS Principal) presented information about the trip. F1 is the largest school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program in the country. The club was created two years ago and they won 4th place in Nationals which allows them the opportunity to continue competing in Singapore. It is a great learning experience learning about engineering and business. Three recent high school graduates and one current high school student will be attending.
Motion to approve the Lexington High School F1 In Schools Club Trip to Singapore,
September 9 through September 21, 2015. (Alessandrini, Hurley)
The Motion was approved 5-0 [The original agenda order placed Contract Ratification later in the meeting but Steigerwald asked committee members whether they had a need for an Executive Session, and when they said they did not, the item was moved to this part of the meeting.] Mr. Robert Harris, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, explained that there are two separate memorandums of agreements to vote on tonight. One is the complete agreement with all language changes, all supervision and evaluation language, wages, etc. The other agreement is a memorandum that reflects a contingency should the elementary World Language program be implemented in 2018 or 2019. He anticipates the agreements will be available to the public within the next 1-2 weeks.
MOTION to Approve, Ratify and Authorize the School Committee Chair to sign the
Memorandum of Agreement by and between the Lexington Education and the
Lexington School Committee for the Unit A Contract covering the period beginning on
September 1, 2015, through August 31, 2018 (Coppe, Alessandrini)
The Motion was approved 5-0.
MOTION to Approve, Ratify, and Authorize the School Committee Chair to sign the
Memorandum of Agreement by and between the Lexington Education Association Unit
A and the Lexington School Committee covering the wages, terms, and other conditions
of employment in connection with the possible implementation of an elementary World
Language Program (Grades K-5) in either FY18 or FY19 (Hurley, Alessandrini)
The Motion was approved 5-0. M. Coppe, the School Committee representative for Unit A negotiations, thanked everyone involved in the negotiations, Bob Harris, attorney James Pender of Morgan, Joy, Brown, Mary Anton (Bowman Principal), Tom Martellone (Fiske Principal), Ellen Sugita (Director of Special Education), and former superintendent Paul Ash.
Superintendent’s Ad hoc Advisory Committee on Space and Redistricting – Update Maureen Kavanaugh updated the committee on the Ad hoc Advisory Committee. The committee has met twice. There are three more meetings planned during which the conversation will shift to redistricting, short and long term, as we move forward in the building plans. They will consider as much information as possible, and their
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recommendations will be contingent on the building plans. W. Hurley stated that the target for redistricting is September 2017 and contingent on building plans.
Capital Update: Proposals and Cost Estimates; PBC Update; Evaluation Criteria
Pat Goddard gave an overview of the meetings and work that DiNisco Design has done regarding the various possibilities for the school plans and projects. The Summit meetings are at 7:00 pm on 7/14 and 7/16 at the Estabrook cafeteria. Ken and Donna DiNisco presented their update to the committee. Members had questions and comments on the presentation. Tom Martellone, Principal at Fiske: As it stands right now, Fiske would receive two prefabricated spaces and one would be the art program. As of today, they just got Kindergarten student #89 and they may need a 5th Kindergarten classroom. This means he may lose the art space again, to make room for another classroom. Enrollment projection for 16-17 only identified 39 Kindergarten students. The population of ILP has remained relatively stable. The area they have been short is ELL and moderate resource. The spaces are not big enough and are very undersized for the number of students we serve. David Kanter, Capital Expenditures Committee: He asked that clarification be included during discussions on whether construction is brick and mortar or not. Ellen Sugita, Special Education Director: As talks continue about where the Lexington Children’s Place should go, it is nice for it to be at an independent space and separate building. There is also a great advantage to being in a bigger space, and we need to keep having the conversations about what is best for the preschoolers. Anna Monaco, Principal of Clarke: The significant shortage for space is in Special Education. The ILP and DLP have grown a lot over the last few years. The model at Clarke has been to share classrooms and very collaborative, but teaching from a cart is difficult. Looking to come to a decision at the summit, so when they go to town meting they can find out final dates/go out to bid. The School Committee decided to meet again on Monday 7/13 to discuss and reach a consensus. Mr. Kanter: Capital Expenditures Committee is meeting Monday morning. Some items that may be of interest: Lot of discussion that the geotechnical issues could be a concern; No discussion about staging areas, some discussion would be helpful; For Diamond and Clarke, at the Summit, a chart should be put up if necessary to show if there is an alternate satisfaction with prefabs or brick and mortar. Mr. DiNisco stated that there has been discussion on the geotechnical issues and staging. Dawn McKenna, 9 Hancock Street: Asked if the committee would take any public comments during the deliberating at the July 13th meeting, and J. Steigerwald responded yes.
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Next steps: The Appropriation and Capital Committees are having meetings, which some members will attend. The School Committee will meet Monday 7/13 at 7pm. Members thanked Ken and Donna DiNisco for all of their time and hard work.
Lextended Day Discussion Update J. Crocker updated the committee. They have had two meetings 6/26 and 6/30. Dr. Czajkowski is going to be meeting with Mr. Dailey, Mr. Leonard, and the principals. A. Alessandrini would like an update at Monday’s meeting for the before/after school care. J. Steigerwald said that one concern is that we have been told by Dr. Ash and Ms. Dunn that it really isn’t possible to get anything started for the fall. While Dr. Czajkowski is looking into it, Steigerwald hopes parents understand that the outcome is not certain at this point. Dr. Czajkowski stated that she has only been here for 5 days and is important to take a second look at the issue at Bridge. She thinks a more important issue is getting ready for the fall, and getting an RFP. She is willing to take the look, but is clear that we need a decision very soon and then need to focus on the RFP for the fall.
Retreat Planning Update Dr. Czajkowski will work with Ms. Kavanaugh to find a date for the retreat. July 22nd is not an option now so they will try to find another one. J. Steigerwald is collecting dates for a possible fall summit. She and Dr. Czajkowski will also try to bring a draft of meeting dates for the fall. She asked members to look at calendars for possible School Committee meetings in Boston on either October 5th or November 9th. The May 19, 2015 minutes were tabled because J. Crocker asked that we vote them separately since she was not in attendance at those meetings.
MOTION to approve, School Committee Minutes of May 19, 2015, as amended and
School Committee Executive Session Minutes of May 19, 2015, as amended and not for
release. (Coppe, Alessandrini)
The Motion was approved 4-0-1 w/J. Crocker abstaining.
MOTION to adjourn (Coppe, Hurley)
The Motion was approved5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 11:02pm.
Meeting Materials: Agenda; School Committee Minutes from 5/12/2015, 5/19/2015,
5/26/2015, 6/9/2015, 6/16/2015-afternoon, 6/16/2015, 6/22/2015; School Committee
Executive Session Minutes from 5/29/2015, 5/26/2015, 6/9/2015, 6/22/2015; LHS Field Trip
Request to Singapore; Handout from J. Crocker regarding Before/After School Care Allocation
of space meetings; Memo from Pat Goddard regarding School Facility/Consensus Plan update.
Voted Approved by the School Committee August 25, 2015