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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-01-13-SC-min Page 9 January 13, 1975 The regular meeting of the Lexington School Committee commenced at 7:45 p. m. at at Unit F of Lexington High School. Present were Mr. Currier, Mr. Wadsworth, 4rs. Berchtold , Mrs. Davison and Mrs. Swanson. Also present were Mr. Barnes, Mr. Maclnnes, Dr. Monderer, Dr. Fobert and Mrs. Cummings. Mrs. Jacqueline Ward expressed her pleasure over the progress which has been made for screening students at the high school. She asked that one guidance counselor be made available to advise LD students. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION The minutes of January 6, 1975 were reviewed and it was VOTED: To accept these minutes as amended (Davison, Swanson, Unanimous) The Financial Statement for December 1974 was reviewed briefly by the school committee and Dr. Fobert. Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, it was SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS VOTED: To accept the Schedule of Payments as presented. (Davison, Swanson, Unanimous) (See attachment) The contract for data processing services of the Lexington census was discussed by Mr. Maclnnes. The school committee was asked to approve a $1300 penalty due to late reports from the Arlington Trust Company. After further iscussion, the following action was taken: Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, it was DATA PROCESSING SERVICES VOTED: That the agreed upon penalty of $1300 for 1974 be approved and the contract for data processing services of the Lexington Census with the Arlington Trust Company of Lawrence, Mass, be extended to the year 1975. (Swanson, Wadsworth, Unanimous) As a point of information, Dr. Monderer told the audience that efforts of the town and school administrations were combined in 1966 or 1967 to gather census information. The town pays half the cost. Dr. Monderer supervises the Census Coordinator, Mrs. Mary Hadley, who is in charge of the project. Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, it was VOTED: To accept Personnel Changes (non-certificated) as presented. (Wadsworth, Swanson, Unanimous) PERSONNEL CHANGES Dorothy L. Silva Library Clerk (non-certificated) 89 North Street Professional Library Lexington, Mass. Class. 8 Step I 25 hours 1/6/75 Page 10 January 13, 1975 SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS Personal Services January 10, 1975 Non-Certificated Payrolls #14NC $52,073.67 Expenses (1974 Budget Carryover) #115 10,723.41 January 9, 1975 Bill Schedule Expenses (1975 Budget) January 2, 1975 Bill Schedules #83 7,293.69 January 29, 1975 #84 3,347.97 January 9, 1975 #85 17,866.19 January 9, 1975 #86 541.36 Out of State Travel January 9, 1975 Bill Schedule #18 225.00 Athletics January 9, 1975 Bill Schedule #14 4,330.80 January 17, 1975 Payroll #14 574.00 Special Programs (Non-Lexington Funds) Title III-Learning Disabilities Training Film Project January 10, 1975 Non-Certificated Payroll #14NC 321.75 Title III-Administrative Grant January 10, 1975 Non-Certificated Payroll #14NC 343.84 LAB Pre-Vocational Life Care Program January 10, 1975 Non-Certificated Payroll #9 523 .90 January 2, 1975 Bill Schedules #12 116.66 January 9, 1975 #13 10.14 Autistic Program (Arlington) January 10, 1975 Non-Certificated Payroll #6 73 .20 Multi-Handi. (Burlington) January 10, 1975 Non-Certificated Payroll #9 72.00 Other January 9, 1975 Insurance Claim 378.14 Page 11 January 13, 1975 The school committee discussed the resume of a long term temporary substitute who will teach Physical Education at Laamond Jr. High School through June, 1975. No action was required by the school committee. Messrs. Johnson and Wilson were present to give an informal HIGH SCHOOL report on various matters concerning the high school . The following topics were discussed. Parking Lot - Conditions in the parking lot have improved due to efforts of the two parking lot monitors. Mr. Johnson was pleased with Mr. Johnson was pleased with the results. A recent survey showed that most teachers agreed with him. Attendance - Since the new computerized attendance systen was instituted in September, there have been noticeable improvements. Teachers felt attendance was better and class cutting was not as high as before. Because the teachers are responsible for the recording procedure, the workload of the unit secretaries and unit chairpersons has improved. Mr. Johnson discussed the responsibilities of the latter two relative to the attendance system. He also gave a brief description of the system itself. He said that the loopholes will be ironed out shortly and that by the end of the year, attendance taking will be working with 100% efficiency. Max-Ed Program - Both Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Friedman told of efforts to interest students in the more than 100 activities which have been offered since the start of school. Current offerings are: a chamber music group, records for those interested in learning Italian and Hebrew languages, and a street hockey tournament between students and staff members. Mrs. Friedman described her attempts to interest students in the courses. After hearing the report, Mrs. Swanson said she still felt that we did not have a "Max Ed Program". She said students have told her that various courses or projects which interest them are not available. Mrs. Davison suggested that we find out if other towns with Max-Ed programs have similar mini courses and schedules in an effort to measure the success of our own program. Mr. Johnson commented that it would be his feeling that the program was operating very well at this time. Max-Ed Privileges for Sophomores - The teachers supported the delay in extending privileges to the sophomores. They agreed that the orientation period was needed and felt it would give the parents an opportunity to review the first report card before deciding on any options. Mr. Johnson noted that when the sophomores were allowed to participate in the program on January 6, parents chose more modified options as was the practice last year. Mrs. Swanson asked Mr. Johnson if anything has been done on a formal basis agarding orientation. She noted that Brookline has a required 8 week _rientation course. She requested that an effort be made to find out more about this program. Page 12 January 13, 1975 Tutoring - Mr. Johnson said a department schedule is posted showing hen teachers are available. In addition, some students have volunteered their services. Reduction of Periods - The faculty will be discussing the question of reducing class periods from 32 to 28 next week. Mr. Johnson said he is not in favor of the move because it will mean that students will lose the opportunity to have their music and art classes. It will also hinder the work-study program. Sophomore Advisors -These advisors were surveyed recently. 58 our of 75 responses were received. The teachers all made initial contact with the students but found it difficult to keep in touch with them. Mr. Johnson described the problems the teachers encountered in this area. He felt the program is now off to a promising start. EWOW - Although the evaluation report of last Spring recommended that EWOW and Max Ed Programs be coordinated, nothing has been done up to this time. Mr. Johnson said he is keeping in touch with the coordinators regarding this possibility. Arena Scheduling - Mr. Johnson described methods used to inform 9th - graders regarding courses offered at the high school. The Program of Studies Till be available by February vacation. Students will start to select their programs soon after. He mentioned that this year the students themselves will publish a description of courses. The recommended budget of the superintendent for 1975-1976 was presented to the School Committee this evening. The total increase for Alternative ;-t'1 BUDGET is $1, 122, 418 (8.5%,)not including increases for Ch 766 and secondary busing 1975-1976 (1 1/2-2 miles). Dr. Fobert told those present that the 8. 5% exceeds his budget guidelines of 5-6%. The main reason for not meeting this guideline is the $1, 173, 372 (3. 9%) increase resulting from negotiations (salary increments $213, 101 and guide change $960, 271). He explained that when the guideline was developed during the summer, negotiations were still in progress and the increase (8. 9) required by the new contract had not yet been determined. After a two-year experience with setting a % guideline he realized the difficulty of including in the guideline increases for salaries which are fixed by negotiations. To achieve the 6% guideline would require a decrease of approximately $333, 000. Page 13 January 13, 1975 Also attached to the budget package were requests for the per pupil allocation it 19 accounts totaling approximately 380K (22% of the Expense Budget). Dr. Fobert reviewed the budget for the school committee and the audience. A general discussion followed. Dr. Fobert briefly described the EDCO Annex Program which is no EDCO ANNEX longer operating because of a lack of funds. The participants were eighth PROGRAM graders from Diamond Jr. High School and Joseph Barnes Jr. High School in East Boston. Application for funds to continue the program has been made to the State Department of Education under Ch 636. The School Committee was asked to cast its vote to allow Lexington students to take part in the program if funds are provided. After reviewing the information, it was VOTED: That it is the intention of the Lexington School Committee to permit participation of Lexington students in the EDCO Annex Program if funds are available (Wadsworth, Davison, Unanimous) Mrs. Berchtold read a letter from Mrs. Patricia Hadley of the PTA Council stating that A motion was made as follows: "To convey to the School Committee the strong sense of the PTA Council that opportunities for busing be equalized for secondary students living 1 1/2-2 miles from school, that the burden for PTA COUNCIL 'lancing such busing be removed from parents, and that the initial one year expenditure for additional buses be an added item on the school committee budget and not be at the expense of the educati onal program." Mrs. Berchtold read a letter from the Board of Selectmen asking the School Committee to appoint a representative to sit on the Recreation Study Committee. No action was taken on the request this evening. RECREATION STUDY COMM. I Mrs. Swanson told the committee that she had sought the advice of Mr. Richard Miller, the consultant recommended by Mr. Rotberg, relative to preparing the proposal for the management study. Because Mr. Miller expressed an interest in bidding on the study, Mrs. Swanson did not look for further information from him. The committee's impression was that Mr. Miller had no interest in placing a bid. Mr. Wadsworth suggested that we place an advertisement in the newspaper inviting those interested parties to bid on the job. The possibility of selecting one or two firms to bid as opposed to inviting open bids was discussed. Dr. Fobert questioned the legality of this move and said he would consult with the town counsel and report back to the committee. Mrs. Davison made a MOTION, which failed, to do a compre- hensive study similar to that described in the letter from Douglas Beaven of Booz-Allen-Hamilton. MANAGEMENT STUDY After further discussion, it was VOTED: To send the draft proposal of Mrs. Swanson and Mr. Wadsworth to al list of consultants which will be provided by Dr. Fobert. The cover letter will be written by Mrs. Swanson. (Wadsworth, Davison, Unanimous) Page 14 January 13, 1975 Mr. Wadsworth asked Dr. Fobert for a report on his efforts to get the • pilot reading program started this month. Dr. Fobert said a first grade teacher expressed an interest to work in the program but preferred to start it in September with the students who will enter the second grade. She also said she would reserve the right to make a fina decision until after she sees the material. Mr. Wadsworth asked Dr. Fobert to take action immediately to see that this program is started as soon as possible. Dr. Fobert will discuss the matter with the teacher to see if an agreement can be reached. Mrs. Berchtold will check with Dr. Fobert Thursday. It was VOTED: To move to Executive Session at 12:20 a. m. to discuss personnel matters. (Davison, Swanson, Unanimous) The meeting adjourned at 12:45 a. m. Respectfully submitted, Isabelle J'. Cummings Recording Secretary