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Home My WebLink About2016-03-23-SC-minLSC Meeting Minutes 3.21.16 – Approved 6.21.16 1 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, March 23, 2016 Cary Memorial Building, Estabrook Hall 1605 Massachusetts Avenue Present: Chair William Hurley, Jessie Steigerwald, Alessandro Alessandrini, Judy Crocker, Eileen Jay, Superintendent Dr.Czajkowski Student Representative Abigail Schwartz – Not present Others Present: Ian Dailey (Interim Director of Finance and Operations) Minutes were taken by Ana Paula McDonough, Executive Assistant to the School Committee. The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Call to Order and Welcome: Chair William Hurley called the meeting to order, and introduced committee members. Hurley announced that Dr.Czajkowski would be presenting some updates before the floor was opened to public comments as follows: • Dr. Czajkowski met with Pat Goddard today to discuss the two middle school projects and it is her understanding from Pat Goddard that David Kucharsky will be coordinating a meeting of the Traffic Safety Group and reaching out to see who from the group is available to meet on April 29th. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss an interim traffic plan for both Diamond and Clarke during construction as well as review the signage and striping plan for the schools after renovation. • Update on spring sports at Diamond and Clarke middle schools. A meeting took place yesterday with the Director of Athletics, the 2 middle school principals and the Interim Director for Finance and Operations who oversees transportation. Dr. Czajkowski also thanked all the parents. 1. Current number of students registered by sport for spring sports. Clarke MS Participation Numbers- Spring 2016 (Current Registrations) Girls Boys Total Softball 20 0 20 Baseball 0 25 25 Track and Field 48 69 117 Spring Totals 68 94 162 LSC Meeting Minutes 3.21.16 – Approved 6.21.16 2 Diamond MS Participation Numbers- Spring 2016 (Current Registrations) Girls Boys Total Softball 18 0 18 Baseball 0 45 45 Track and Field 100 121 221 Spring Totals 118 166 284 2. Which teams (JV, Varsity) we plan to field by sport. Diamond and Clarke will each field 2 baseball teams (1 Varsity and 1 JV) and 1 Varsity softball team 3. Date registrations for middle school sports close. Registration for baseball and softball will close on Monday 3/28 when tryouts begin at Diamond and Clarke. Spring track and field registration will remain open until Friday 4/8 4. How parents and students will be notified regarding what sports will run. MS Principals will post on their website on Thursday, March 24th what teams will be offered at each respective school 5. Number of games that will be played and names of opponents. Varsity baseball and softball schedules have 12 games at each school. The JV baseball schedules will be approximately 6-8 games, and "additional" softball games if needed would be between 2- 4 games in addition to the already scheduled 12 varsity games if needed to get additional playing time for a larger roster Opponents for JV baseball would be Clarke or Diamond, Hanscom, Lincoln, and Weston Opponents for softball would be Clarke or Diamond, Hanscom and Lincoln 6. Transportation Buses will attempt to be scheduled on "lighter" athletic transportation days or game times will be set at 4pm or later to allow for later transportation after the first wave of athletic transportation has gone out for the district on a given day. Naomi Martin will work with C&W on scheduling of transportation for additional games. 7. Refunds will not be offered to families who are unhappy with the number of games or the experience. Our hope is that things will run in a way that will allow for a positive experience for everyone involved and no refunds will be necessary 8. When final decisions will be made. The decision to offer two baseball teams at each school and one softball team at each school is now considered final based on the registration numbers and tryouts beginning on Monday 3/28. Roster decisions will be finalized by coaches by April 5, 2016. Any student-athletes that do not make the baseball or softball team at each school will be allowed to join track and field at each respective school up until Friday, April 8th. LSC Meeting Minutes 3.21.16 – Approved 6.21.16 3 • Two public forums have been completed and we are continuing to receive feedback from parents and the community through the Google doc that we have set up. Dr. Czajkowski encourages the school committee to submit any written feedback through the Google doc as well. Another option to address the increased enrollment and capacity issue is to ask for any volunteers who may want their children to attend another elementary school for next year. We have put together a draft letter to parents, which Dr. Czajkowski shared with the committee this evening. (HO.1- 3.23.16) • Update on METCO program – meeting with Barbara Hamilton; was interviewed by Jeri Zeder from the Colonial Times regarding our METCO program and the upcoming 45th anniversary of the METCO programs. • Workshop today – Transgender; several staff and administrators attended a transgender workshop by Jeff Perrotti, from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Many schools are developing education programs for staff, students and parents as well as developing transgender district policies. Jeff will be forwarding to me policies developed by surrounding communities and I plan to share these with Judy and the policy sub-committee Public Comment: Elizabeth Warren, 9 Fulton Road; A mother of a kindergartener at Fiske. Mrs. Warren addressed three aspects of the redistricting; her family fails to meet stated criteria; Methodology is Prospective and Lack of Sufficient Publicity/Access to Information. Ms. Warren provided the School Committee a copy of her statement. Randall Seed, 16 Fox Run Lane - Mr. Seed would like the School Committee and Dr. Czajkowski to know his position on redistricting; he rejects and refuses to being redistricted and will not accommodate the school. Pamela Tames, 26 Bertwell Road - Mrs. Tames appreciates the fact that the administration and the School Committee reconsidered sports availability at the middle schools. Mrs. Tames also addressed the After School Program recommendation to continue using Lextended Day. Mrs. Tames is the President of the Board at Lextended Day and thanked the School Committee and administration for their consideration. Superintendent’s Announcements:  Len Swanton and Carol Pilarski and several staff and administrators attended a transgender workshop by Jeff Perrotti, from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Many schools are developing education programs for staff, students and parents as well as developing transgender district policies. Jeff will be forwarding to Dr. Czajkowski policies developed by surrounding communities and she plans to share these with Judy Crocker and the policy sub-committee.  World Language – high school's French Exchange program was looking at new options following the terrorist attacks in Brussels. Teachers were looking to visit a different city. LSC Meeting Minutes 3.21.16 – Approved 6.21.16 4 Dawn McKenna, Precinct 6 - 9 Hancock Street – Ms McKenna asked for clarification on the announcement Dr. Czajkowski made regarding the Belgium trip. She asked for assurance that LHS students would still visit our sister city, Antony. Answer: Dr. Czajkowski responded that was true. Dr. Czajkowski will provide updates at a future meeting. School Committee Member Announcements: Hurley: Made a clarification on the redistricting - No decision has been made, appreciates the feedback from the parents and acknowledged this was a challenging task. Steigerwald: Requested an update regarding the later start time. Would like to hear more about a superintendent’s letter that went out from the Burlington and Belmont District. Crocker: Ms. Crocker suggested a moment of silence to pay our respects on the passing of Mr. Eric Zika, a history and psychology teacher at LHS, and for the victims of the Brussels terrorist bombing. Alessandrini: Attended the second annual Lexington Parent Academy event which was a huge success. Alessandrini also thanked the Fiske Community. This was the second Science Fair he attended. Jay: The second annual Parent Academy was held on March 19. Eileen thanked SHAC, the organizers of the event, and the volunteer speakers for offering an informative day of parent education sessions. Its planning was a joint effort of staff, parents, and community members. Consent Agenda: None Agenda: A.1 –Agenda Title: Discussion of Town Meeting Articles There were no requests to discuss articles. A.2 –Agenda Title: Recommendation to Award Contract for Rental of Space for an After School Structured Program for Elementary Students Presenter: Ian Dailey Summary: The School Department’s current after school program contract expires June 30, 2016. As a result, an extensive RFP process was completed to obtain proposals from after school program vendors. The Review Committee consisting of Ian Dailey, Interim Director for Finance and Operations, Debbie Harvey, Procurement Operations Manager and Annie Park, Parent of an extended day student reviewed all proposals. A total of four proposals were submitted including Alphabest, Lextended Day, Springboard, and YMCA of Boston. The Review Committee, using the evaluation criteria listed in the RFP evaluated each non-price proposal submitted. Subsequently, the Review Committee scheduled the four vendors to provide a presentation on March 3rd highlighting their programs and answer any questions. At the conclusion of these activities, non-price proposal grading was complete and price proposals were reviewed and evaluated. At the conclusion of this process, the Review Committee unanimously recommends Lextended Day Inc. as the next vendor to operate Lexington Public Schools’ After School Program LSC Meeting Minutes 3.21.16 – Approved 6.21.16 5 Move to award Lextended Day Inc. as Lexington Public Schools’ After School Structured Program for Elementary Students for the period of July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2019 with an option for two (2) one-year extensions. (Crocker/Alessandrini) The Motion was approved 5-0. 7:08 P.M. Jay moved to adjourn and Alessandrini seconded. The vote was unanimous and the meeting adjourned. The Motion was approved 5-0. Materials: Agenda; A.1-Multiple Schools Capital Projects; A.2-Recommendation to Award Contract for Rental of Space for an After School Structured Program for Elementary Students. Place on Consent Agenda for SC Approval 6.21.16 Voted Approved by the School Committee 6.21.16