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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-08-23-SC-minLSC Meeting Minutes 8/23/2016 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, August 23, 2016 Lexington Town Office Building, Selectmen’s Meeting Room 1625 Massachusetts Avenue PRESENT: Superintendent Dr. Mary Czajkowski, Chair William Hurley, Vice Chair Alessandro Alessandrini, Jessie Steigerwald, Judith Crocker, Eileen Jay The Minutes were taken by Christine Ashness, Recording Secretary The meeting convened at 7:00pm Call to order and welcome: Chair, William Hurley called the meeting to order, and introduced committee members. Public Comments: Elaine Ashton, 32 Cliffe Avenue: She thanked members for considering the World Language Elementary Program. As a parent, she values learning languages highly. But to continue this program with all of the capital expenses makes little sense. Asking residents to fund a new program is simply not realistic or sustainable. The Board of Selectmen’s description of their affordability for residents as a goal and mow is not the time to add several million dollars to the budget when we are dealing with enrollment issues. She is disappointed but we can’t be all things to all people. We should focus on the things we can’t live without, and not what we would like to have. Pat Costello, 9 Preston Road: The town has just voted a debt exclusion, and she questions the millions being requested for a World Language Elementary Program that is not needed. As a volunteer for AARP, she helps seniors file taxes. Some receive tax breaks and many didn’t file because their income was too low. Many of the seniors cannot afford to move. Lexington is more than a school district, it is a community. Superintendent’s Announcements: Dr. Czajkowski welcomed everyone back. Opening day is August 29th for staff, and the school year and opening week calendar is on the LPS website. Thank you to the School Committee and administrators for the feedback. Student handbooks have been revised accordingly. The high school and middle schools are completed and posted on website. The elementary schools will have their handbooks posted by opening day. Bus registration was paused on August 15th to finalize routes, which will be completed this week, and bus registration after August 15th will be processed accordingly. Three additional buses were needed to accommodate growth. New educators training began today. Thank you to Bob Harris and Kari Grossman for organizing the new educator days. There have been 88 new educators hired, which includes administrators. Lextended Day has gotten preliminary approval to expand their licenses. Once finalizing licenses is complete there should be little to no wait list by the start of school year. She will be meeting soon with Carl, Rob and Ian to discuss the upcoming budget. October 6 will be the summit. An item requested by J. Steigerwald is in the packet (redistricting before the enrollment change 5/2/16.) which impacted 35 students. The actual number is now 54 students. We have surpassed the 7000 student enrollment number, as 7031 students are enrolled as of today. There is an increase of 7 at Pre-K, 70 at K-5, 47 at middle schools, and 33 at LHS. On August 1st our enrollment was 6874. LSC Meeting Minutes 8/23/2016 Dr. Czajkowski introduced the new secretary to the School Committee, Sara Calvino. She previously worked at Lowell Catholic and will start here on August 29th. Sarah is looking forward to joining LPS and being a part of a great district and getting started. J. Steigerwald stated that the school committee should approve school handbooks and maybe it could go on the next agenda. School Committee Member Announcements: J. Steigerwald: There are copies of the summer reading book Beyond Measure at Cary Library. They are focusing on chapters 2 and 3 (homework and time). Screenings of Beyond Measure will be on October 18th. LHS students will see the film. Book discussion group starts in November. Thanks to the administration for inviting the school committee to administrator’s retreat. A. Alessandrini: The price of epipens recently went up 400 percent. There are many kids with food allergies that need epipens and those without insurance pay a lot of money. Please contact your senators to let them know how upset you are. Parents are having a hard time and shouldn’t have to decide between an epipen and paying their mortgage. J. Crocker: She agreed with A. Alessandrini regarding epipens and stated that most kids don’t have just one epipen, they have many. Buffer zone policy update: they are seeking comments from stakeholders across the board. Please look at the September edition of The Colonial Times for an overview. September 24th & 28th there will be public forums about buffer zones. E. Jay: She filled in for J. Crocker at last PBC meeting. She took notes and sent them notes to the chair. At the meeting they introduced Douerr and Whittier, and binders were distributed outlining plans and a timetable. She also met with Dan Krupka, chair of the 20/20 vision subcommittee on Asian communities. They have been looking at cities/towns with similar communities academics as Lexington. She will participate in the subcommittee meetings. At the end of December a report will be sent to selectmen and the School Committee. W. Hurley: Eileen Jay is interested in joining the student assignment committee in place of him. He thanked Dr. Czajkowski for letting him welcome the new educators today. Consent Agenda Vote to Accept a $1,000 Award from the FIRST PTC/FTC Super-Regional Championship to Support the Lexington High School Robotics Club Vote to Accept a $300 Honorarium from American International College to be Deposited in the Fiske Student Gift Account MOTION to approve Consent Agenda (Hurley, Steigerwald) The Motion was approved 5-0. Members took the agenda items out of order. Agenda: Discussion of School Committee Goals E. Jay will compile the wording for the goals. W. Hurley stated the goals from 2015-2016 and then members discussed each goal. J. Steigerwald handed members her ideas for the goals. J. Crocker sent members her ideas by email. A. Alessandrini stated that all goals depend on us getting enough LSC Meeting Minutes 8/23/2016 space in the district. Dr Czajkowski thinks School Committee goals should cross reference with District Goals. Goal 1: Academic Excellence – Providing supports for enriching learning opportunities for every student. Members agreed to separate anticipating operating expenses as a separate bullet, not as part of academic excellence; Revise budget reporting with Assistant Superintendent of Budget and Finance; Add members participating in the homework policy task force and move the homework policy piece to Goal 2; Add bullets for improving programs to address dyslexia, homework policy, special education needs, world language; Professional learning will stay in this goal; Add support resources to provide collaborative teacher time as a bullet under number 1 and make it 1B; Add “allocate budget resources” to the beginning of the last bullet. Goal 2: Promote Social & Emotional Wellness Members discussed adding a piece about a later start time for 2018-2019; The homework policy task force will be added to this goal; Discuss adding a part about the state’s new policy regarding opiates; Add a bullet about investigating a new way to collect feedback around school culture; E. Jay will work on the wording for this goal Goal 3: Improve Safety for All Students and Staff Add bullet under the “Monitor progress on safety and traffic mitigation issues” to update on bus captain position; Add another bullet: Work with town manager for progress safe routes to school program; Custodial employees need more training on ALICE, etc.; Members agreed to separate goal into 2 bullets – building safety and traffic mitigation Goal 4 will now be split into 2 separate goals. Goal 4: Ensure Infrastructure that Supports School & District Needs (Capital) Members discussed having the buffer zone policy, 5 yr capital plan, communication with all stakeholders, central registration, creating a charge for the Finance Subcommittee as part of this goal; Identify a plan for the LCP and where it is going to be; Add bullet to prepare for a level serviced budget aligned with our approved budget guidelines Goal 5: Ensure Infrastructure that Supports School & District Needs (Operating) Add a bullet: Monitor construction/ongoing projects Goal 6: Transition to new Superintendent and new Administrators Remove the superintendent piece; Evaluating the financial outlook in anticipation of increased operational expenses, due to increased enrollment. Goal 7: Continue to Improve Internal and External School Committee Communication Members discussed asking the other boards if they are interested in meeting periodically; Add bullet: Engaging in collaborative communication with boards and committees. J. Crocker would like the Superintendent’s evaluations put on the website. . Mr. Hurley stated that he did not consider that to be an appropriate action within the goal setting. Dr. Czajkowski doesn’t know that it is appropriate but will check with Ms. Brunt LSC Meeting Minutes 8/23/2016 Discussion of Elementary World Language In July, W. Hurley suggested the School Committee revisit the proposed Elementary World Language program due to cost. Part of the money in the budget was to hire a .25 person for coordinating and looking at what we could do at the elementary level with World Language. We could use the .25 person for something on a smaller scale such as looking at other districts and investigating possibilities such as enrichment at the elementary level without having a full program. Members agree that they cannot afford the Elementary World Language program. Some members were interested in still completing the study so they could finish it and be ready when financially able. Others disagreed because the time and resources needed from all the administrators, support staff and people on the committees could be used better elsewhere. It is an overwhelming task for something that will not be implemented. The coordinator for the Elementary World Language program has been hired so rather than have her implement a plan, the Committee agrees that she should get a plan to study various grade levels with World Language and work with principals to see what a full day for Thursdays would look like. Continue to investigate but at a much smaller scale, updating the committee on what she finds. The biggest concern for the district is rising enrollment and it is critical to focus on sustaining and providing a current level of service to the students we have not. A.Alessandrini wishes that 5 years ago the Elementary World Language Program would have been looked at by the previous Superintendent because it would be implemented by now. He thinks it has an important impact on students and their development. Getting rid of ½ day Thursdays would help working parents with costs, could create enrichment, more recess, and he didn’t think it was a luxury to have the program. He is being realistic and thinks at this point it is not wise to go forward, and we should table it for another day. Use the money to see what other things we could do or implement small programs. MOTION: To authorize the Superintendent to bring us revised recommendations for elementary world language, using the .25 position. (Steigerwald, Hurley) Motion was approved 4-0, with A. Alessandrini abstaining. Dr. Czajkowski and W. Hurley will have discussions with the union regarding ½ day Thursdays. The 2 task forces will no longer be working on the task. FY18 Budget Guidelines and FY18 Budget Calendar Dr. Czajkowski explained that item numbers 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are new budget guidelines. • Item number 5 was changed to say “Continue to identify and plan alternatives that will provide existing services and programs in more cost effective ways. • Members eliminated item number 7. • Item number 8 was changed to say “Identify funds necessary to implement a central registration that addresses space needs for all students, as well as feeder patterns for our middle schools and special education programs including any future student assignments. • Item number 10 was changed to say “Identify funds to support the progress and continued effective special education programs across the district for Pre-K – 12, including regular program evaluations.” • Item number 12 was changed to say “Identify funds necessary to support the implementation of H4406, Dyslexia screening bill.” • Add number 13 to say “Identify the financial impact associated with school start times.” LSC Meeting Minutes 8/23/2016 A. Alessandrini suggested using the .25 from World Language to study cost of later start times instead of other World Language options. He is very apprehensive to put number 13 in, without a comprehensive study. Costs should be assessed, and the public should be asked especially if money will be needed, as we need to be prudent. FY18 Budget Guidelines and Calendar will be put on the September 6th agenda for a vote. W. Hurley wanted the public to know that the Town Manager has reported that they have an agreement in principal to purchase the property on Bedford Street. It is clear that the School Committee is in total support in the Board of Selectmen identifying that property for public safety use. Members all agreed. October 18 School Committee Meeting / Beyond Measure Film Screening Dr. Czajkowski stated that the screening of Beyond Measure is the night of October 18, which is the same night as a scheduled School Committee meeting. Members agreed that they would all attend the meeting together and will add an additional meeting if necessary. Members will check their schedules to see if October 24th will work if a meeting is needed. School Committee Member Liaison to Student Advisory Committee This agenda item was discussed during the School Committee member announcements. E. Jay will be the liaison. MOTION to adjourn (Hurley, Alessandrini) The Motion was approved 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 10:06pm. Meeting Materials: Agenda; letter from Laura Lasa regarding check; letter from Thomas Martellone regarding check; LPS Recommended FY2018 Budget Guidelines; LPS FY2018 Budget Calendar for all funds; School Committee Goals for 2015-2016; World Language & Elementary Programmatic Restructuring; School Committee Meeting Dates 2016-2017; Handout from J. Steigerwald with her suggestions for School Committee Goals