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Home My WebLink About2016-10-18-SC-min1 LSC Meeting 10/18/16 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Cary Memorial Building, Estabrook Hall 1605 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA Present: Chair, William Hurley; Vice Chair, Alessandro Alessandrini; Judy Crocker; Eileen Jay; Superintendent, Dr.Czajkowski Absent: Jessie Steigerwald and Student Representative, Matt Campos Mr. Alessandrini joined the meeting at 6:02pm The minutes were taken by Sara Calvino, Executive Assistant to the School Committee and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent The meeting convened at 6pm Call to Order and Welcome: Chair, Bill Hurley called the meeting to order, and introduced committee members. Public Comments: None Superintendent’s Announcement: • Dr. Czajkowski provided a Memorandum of Understanding, Between Lexington Public Schools and Lexington Police Department that is signed off by Chief Corr and the Superintendent. This Memorandum will be posted on the Lexington Public Schools Website and read in conjunction with Lexington’s handbooks. • Dr. Czajkowski provided the book, Tell Me So I Can Hear You to all School Committee members. She looks forward to possibly having a discussion on one of the chapters around feedback. School Committee Member Announcements: J. Crocker: The Human Rights Committee had a wonderful panel discussion about the book, Common Ground. Thank you to LexMedia for filming this discussion. A book discussion will be held on Wednesday, November 16th at 6:30pm at the Cary Memorial Library. METCO’s 50th anniversary is having a celebration on Sunday October 30th at 4pm at the Cambridge Harvard School University Educational Building. Mrs. Crocker gave a shout out to the Lexington High School Musket for their article “Rock initiative aims to lower stress and spread positivity”. Painting Rocks is a movement that began in West Barnstable and is very therapeutic exercise that anyone can do. W. Hurley: Mr. Hurley reminded the School Committee that the town report photo will be taken at 6:50pm on November 1st in the Selectman’s Meeting room. Also, Mr. Hurley reminded the School Committee that the Town Report is due October 31st and to please send all materials to Sara as soon as possible. Consent Agenda: 1. Vote to Approve and Not Release Executive Session Minutes of June 30, 2016 2. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of June 30, 2016 3. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of August 18, 2016 4. Vote to Approve School Committee Minutes of October 4, 2016 2 LSC Meeting 10/18/16 5. Vote to Accept a $1,000 Donation from Sekisui Diagnostics, LLC to be deposited in the Student Activities Account 6. Accept Permanent Building Committee Liaison Reports – Judy Crocker Motion to approve consent agenda items 1-6 as amended. (Hurley / Alessandrini) The Motion was approved (4-0). Agenda: 1. – Agenda Item: Proposed FY 18 Capital Budget – Schools Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, Ian Dailey reviewed the FY2018-22 capital requests that included 3 capital projects; Food Service and Equipment Replacement, School Furniture, Equipment and Systems Program, and LPS Technology Capital Request. Mr. Dailey is seeking approval from the School Committee to transmit these proposed capital projects to the Town Manager and Capital Expenditures Committee; these projects will be discussed in further detail in January when the Superintendent presents the recommended FY18 Budget. The Capital Expenditures Committee will meet on November 29th; the Technology Capital request will be presented in further detail at this meeting. Dr. Czajkowski explained to the Committee that we are very well equipped with respect to technology for the MCAS testing but we might need to purchase additional devices along with keyboards. Eileen McMahon explained to the Committee that the reasoning’s for purchasing Chromebooks going forward as opposed to IPADs. Chromebooks are much cheaper and have keyboards, which will be more conducive for MCAS testing. 2. – Agenda Item: Proposed FY 18 Capital Budget – Facilities Director of Public Facilities, Pat Goddard and Assistant Director of Public Facilities, Shawn Newell reviewed the FY2018-22 capital projects, of which 13 relate in part or fully to the School Department. Mr. Goddard is seeking approval from the School Committee to transmit these proposed capital projects to the Town Manager and Capital Expenditures Committee; these projects will be discussed in further detail in January. The School Committee had many questions for both Mr. Goddard and Mr. Newell. If the School Committee decides to move forward with the increased cost for the HVAC system at the High School the final cost for this project will be over 20 million and the HVAC system will have a 20-year life span. Mr. Goddard explained that the MSBA only accepts grant applications for a boiler not the entire HVAC system. Mr. Hurley thanked Mr. Goddard and Mr. Newell for bringing this forward to the School Committee, this elevates the need for the School Committee to have a more in-depth discussion about the High School Projects to figure out how they will anticipate proceeding. Ms. Crocker agrees with Mr. Hurley, a much larger discussion on the High School Projects needs to be had sooner rather than later. Dr. Czajkowski pointed out the LHS Security Upgrade, LHS Guidance Space Mining and the LHS Nurse Office and Treatment Space to the committee. The priority is the safety of the High School first. #653 - Mr. Newell explained that the Harrington School is heavily used including in the summers and certain parts of the floor need replacing not the whole school. 3 LSC Meeting 10/18/16 #870 – Mr. Goddard explained that he anticipates a 30% return from the MSBA but the MSBA requires the gross amount from the town before issuing the return. #939- Mr. Newell explained the GEO thermal pumps have accelerated their life expectancy and need replacing. 3. – Agenda Item: FY17 Technology Capital Update Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, Ian Dailey and Director of Technology, Marianne McKenna explained that certain sites would not load for the last year. Within the last few weeks, technology has found the issue. The content filter has reached capacity and is experiencing connectivity issues. Motion to approve the re-allocation of Fiscal Year 2016 – 17 Technology Capital funding for the purpose of purchasing an upgraded web content filter in an amount not to exceed $85,000. (Hurley/Crocker) The Motion was approved 4-0. 4. – Agenda Item: First Reading – Buffer Zone Policy The School Committee Policy Subcommittee presented the first of three public readings of Policy JCAB Buffer Zones. The working subcommittee has had an excess of 15 meetings starting in late April; the draft policy has gone to the administrative council and to the PTA council, two public forums, published twice in the minuteman, series of Lexington Listens, been in numerous individual school E-Newsletters, and on December 2nd it will be the first topic for the League of the voters. Eileen Jay read the Proposed Buffer Zone Policy. Dr. Czajkowski recommended adding a sentence to the second Paragraph to read; “All other attendance areas are predetermined and students living within those boundaries are assigned to one specific school based on the student’s address, unless the Superintendent assigns a student to a different school.” Mr. Alessandrini recommended adding the word “adjacent” to the first sentence in the second paragraph to read; “A buffer zone is defined as a specific geographic area where students residing at an individual address within that zone are assigned to one of the multiple adjacent schools designated for that attendance area. Mr. Hurley responded to Mr. Alessandrini that adding the word “adjacent” narrows the Superintendent’s options and leads to debating which schools are adjacent to which. Dr. Czajkowski recommended that the School Committee pause buffer zones at this time. Instead of Buffer Zones, Dr. Czajkowski recommended changing the School Committee Policy to allow her the flexibility to move students when needed. Dr. Czajkowski would be working with all district Principals when placing students in schools. With having central registration in the Central Office building, this will allow Central Office to watch the student numbers as they register more closely. Ms. Jay explained to the School Committee that Dr. Czajkowski is proposing to pause Buffer Zones and keep district lines as they are at this time. Alternatively, Dr. Czajkowski is requesting to have the School Committee put into policy that allows the Superintendent the ability to move students when schools become overcrowded. Further discussion on Buffer Zones will be on the November 1st School Committee Meeting Agenda. Motion to adjourn. (Hurley / Alessandrini) 4 LSC Meeting 10/18/16 The Motion was approved 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7pm. Meeting Materials: Agenda; A.1- Agenda Item Summary, FY 2018-2022 Department Summary of Capital Improvement Project, FY 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Projects; A.2- Agenda Item Summary, FY 2018-2022 Department Summary of Capital Improvement Project, FY 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Projects; A.3- Agenda Item Summary; A.4- Agenda Item Summary, Draft Buffer Zone Policy