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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-09-13-SC-min Page 150 September 13, 1977 The Lexington School Cam.ittee met at the School Administration Building at 8:00 p.m. on September 13, 1977. Present were: Brown, !`" Michelman, Hoffman, Swanson, Gaudet, and student representative Miller. Also present were Lawson, Spiris, Pierson, Maclnnes and Barnes_ Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools it was SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS VOTED: to accept the following Schedule of Payments. (Brown, Michelman, Unanimous) SCHOOL DEPARTMENT BUDGETS Personal Services August 12, 1977 Professional Payrolls #4 P $31,704.06 August 26, 1977 #5 P 31,198.06 August 5, 1977 Classified Payrolls #4 52,165.83 August 19, 1977 #5 54,370.09 September 2, 1977 #6 48,579.57 Expenses August 12, 1977 Bill Schedules #200 4,640.84 August 20, 1977 #201 3,956.37 August 26, 1977 #202 2,600.00 September 2, 1977 #203 90.44 August 12, 1977 #8 4,287.61 August 12, 1977 #9 28,329.01 August 12, 1977 #10 6,275.95 August 19, 1977 #11 2,980.21 August 19, 1977 #12 30,996.47 August 19, 1977 #13 16,406.91 August 19, 1977 #14 750.00 August 19, 1977 #15 23,250.15 August 26, 1977 #16 8,289.00 August 26, 1977 #17 5,654.36 August 26, 1977 #18 3,154.36 September 2, 1977 #19 10,892.38 September 2, 1977 #20 6,127.40 September 9, 1977 #21 13,213.03 September 9, 1977 #22 13,909.71 September 9, 1977 #23 3,703.27 Athletics August 12, 1977 Bill Schedules #3 292.63 September 2, 1977 #4 1,330.30 September 9, 1977 #5 1,342.99 SPECIAL PROGRAMS (Non-Lexington Funds) Driver Education (Adult Education) August 12, 1977 Professional Payroll 744.82 METCO August 12, 1977 Professional Payrolls 767.27 August 26, 1977 767 .27 August 5, 1977 Classified Payroll 31.13 August 12, 1977 Bill Schedule #21 250.00 rage 151 September 13, 1977 LEADS August 12, 1977 Professional Payrolls $ 856.19 August 26, 1977 3,842.19 August 5, 1977 Classified Payrolls 2,252.46 August 19, 1977 1,847.21 September 2, 1977 2,644.93 August 12, 1977 Bill Schedule #18 1,233.20 August 26, 1977 #19 1,415.64 September 2, 1977 #20 275.00 Title I(Low Income) August 12, 1977 Professional Payroll 4,648.00 August 5, 1977 Classified Payrolls 1,050.00 August 19, 1977 81.90 Title III - Administrative Grant August 19, 1977 Classified Payroll 160.00 August 26, 1977 Bill Schedule #10 21.60 ESEA Library August 26, 1977 Bill Schedule #1 6,370.17 A.C.E. Program August 19, 1977 Bill Schedule #22 322.83 Adult Education August 12, 1977 Bill Schedule #13 8.68 The financial statement was discussed. FINANCIAL STATEMENT The superintendent presented the committee with a memorandum-- BUDGET Budget Guidelines, 1978-79. He said these guidelines were presented as GUIDELINES a result of the discussion at the last school conuuittee meeting, during which the committee members stated a zero increase for the budget 1978- 79 be considered as a goal. He said he was responding to the committee' s request. His memorandum listed assumptions, constraints and priorities as influencing factors in the '78-'79 budget development process. Mrs. Swanson emphasized the committee was engaged in setting guidelines only, and that by having the zero increase budget guideline, it would change the focus of budget development_. She felt the school committee would be able to justify increases and decreases earlier and would be more able to explain the reasons. Mr. Michelman said he would be very sur- prised if a zero increase could occur partly because he thought the no inflation conditions in Dr. Lawson's memo would not be realized in fact. Dr. Lawson responded saying he didn' t know whether a zero increase would occur or not, but he would follow the guidelines and respond to them when appropriate. Mrs. Swanson said she wished to reiterate that these were guidelines only and were not policy. Mr. Michelman added that he was very concerned about constraint #2. He hoped that the school administration would not cut back on our curriculum development effort because of the guidelines. Dr. Lawson stated that he would not recom- mend any action that would harm the instructional program. Mr. Hoffman said that he could not agree with assumption #1. He felt that the staff ratios were subject to revision. He said that he Page 152 September 13, 1977 was just not commenting on professional staff ratios, but all roles-- clerical aides, secretarial, custodial, etc. He stated he was perturbed by Assumption #1, because if the school committee accepted continuation of present staff ratios in all categories, it locked in most of the dol- lars since approximately 85% of the school budget was in staff. He said that it vas the responsibility of the committee to aid the superintendent in the process of preparing the budget by setting target figures and let- ting the superintendent make the decisions to adhere to the accepted fig- ure. He added there was nothing magic about the present ratios. He said they should be subject to change and with change doubted that any altera- tion would affect the quality of the program. He stated that acceptance of his premise could also lead to savings through re-allocations in some categories. Mr. Michelman said that he read the assumption #1 differently. He felt the committee would not be committing itself to retain the exact ratios, but assumed the superintendent would review the situation to see if it were feasible to bring in the budget at a certain figure, with recommendations for change. Mr. Michelman said he did not read it as a policy of no change. Dr. Lawson responded saying that he had not worked out the new budget and did not know where savings could occur. He noted the development of the budget would be a long, laborious project. He said that if the inflation rate continued at 6 to 7%, then one million dollars was a built in increase before development. He added that if the committee decided on a $16 million dollar budget figure it would be saying to decrease the budget by one million dollars. IIe said he needed to let the committee know the assumptions and constraints and the rea- sons for continued programs. He reiterated that he would not recommend instructional program cuts. Mrs. Gaudet said that no one was suggesting the present education program be hurt in any way. She said that if we were talking about a definite figure guideline, any increases should only be those justified. Mrs. Swanson added that the guidelines were a base for the planning lev- el, and not a policy for the superintendent to follow. Mr. Brown stated he felt comfortable with the guidelines at this stage. He said that the superintendent would develop the budget, subject to review and present options to the school committee. Mr. Brown then moved to accept the pro- posed guidelines for the '78-'79 budget development on page 18 contain- ing the assumptions, constraints, and priorities. The motion was second- ed by Mrs. Gaudet. Mr. Hoffman said that rather than vote on the guidelines as a policy, he felt the committee should request the superintendent to come in with a budget at a certain figure for the '78-'79 year. Mr. Brown said that his motion was not a vote on a policy, but rather the acceptance of guide- lines. Mrs. Swanson added that it was critical for the superintendent to know the guideline and direction of the school committee. Mr. Michel- man said that he would vote "no" on the matter due to the confusion, al- though he agreed that there should be some agreement as to direction. Dr. Lawson then reiterated that he was responding to the request of the school committee by the development of these guidelines, constraints and assumptions. A vote was called. Yes, Brown, Gaudet, Swanson; No, Michelman, Hoffman.. 1 Page 153 ;eptember 13, 1977 Mrs. Swanson commented that many classified staff had expressed OPENING DAY pleasure in being invited for the first time to the opening day session SESSION of the school year. She complimented the administration for this action. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools it was NEW PERSONNEL VOTED: to accept the following new personnel (professional). (Michelman, Hoffman, Unanimous) Name Salary Subject School Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools it was PERSONNEL CHANGES VOTED: to accept the following personnel changes. (Hoffman, Brown, Unani- (PROFESSIONAL mous) Resignations Name Effective Reason Maternity Leave Degree Changes Correction in Salary 94-142 Grant Page 154 September 13, 1977 Change in Time ) Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools it was PERSONNEL CHANGES VOTED: to accept the following personnel changes (classified) (Brown, (CLASSIFIED) Michelman, Unanimous) (see next page) Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools it was BIDS VOTED: that all bids received for furnishing fuel oil be rejected as being in the best interests of the Town of Lexington, and that we seek new bids for this product. (Brown, Michelman, Unanimous) It was PUBLIC LAW 874 AUTHORIZATION VOTED: to authorize the superintendent of schools, John H. Lawson, to apply for federal funds under Public Law 874, and to act as the school committee representative in the application of these funds. (Michelman, Brown, Unanimous) Dr. Pierson reported on the EDCO Teacher Exchange Program. He said ADMINISTRATIVE that of the six Lexington teachers interested in exchanging with a tea- REPORTS cher in the other EDCO systems, one teacher, Regina Conley of Bridge EDCO TEACHER School, Grade 6, had been placed. She exchanged positions with Roberta EXCHANGE PROGRAM Moore of the O'Connell School in Boston for the school year. A memorandum from Mr. Barnes was read which noted that the Town of INSTRUCTIONAL Lexington would receive royalties from the Title III Teacher Training TELEVISION Series in the total of $1614, as a result of the agreement with the CHECK Agency for Instructional Television. It was noted that within the past two years the Town of Lexington has received approximately $5000 worth of royalties. The opening of school enrollments were presented to the school cam- OPENING OF mittee. The superintendent noted that at this particular time, the en- SCHOOL rollment was 7144 or 115 students above the projection of 7029. The en- ENROLLMENTS rollment for '77-'78, for 9/12/77 as compared to 9/13/76 represents a decrease of 396 students. Dr. Lawson noted the official figures for the school year would be taken October 3, 1977. It was announced that Lexington would be one of three communities METRIC EDUCA- working with Boston University in the development of a Metric Education TION GRANT Project for elementary schools and for citizens. The grant of approxi- mately $34,000 was awarded to Boston University to work with Lexington, Wellesley and Weston. Page 155 September 13, 1977 Dr. Lawson reported on two meetings which were held discuss the TOWN/SCHOOL position of superintendent of buildings who would supervise approximately COMMITTEE 100 individuals and thirty buildings in the Town of Lexington. The re- sult of the meeting was that interim steps be taken before moving to the central idea: such as general government should centralize its main- tenance and custodial activities under one person. It was also noted that the school department would like to turn over the complete respon- sibility of grounds and upkeep to the DPW in order to allow concentra- tion of building maintenance. Other activities that could be combined would be service contracts, purchasing and insurance, etc. It was sug- gested that a task force be appointed in order to look at the matter. It was noted that the Board of Selectmen would appoint two representa- tives who would work to analyze the scope of the issue and make recom- mendations. The consensus was to pursue the formation of such a commit tee. The first reading of the Proposed School Closing Policy was pre- SCHOOL CLOSIt sented to the school committee. Due to the lateness of the hour a mini- POLICY mal discussion took place. Guidelines for psychotherapy were presented to the committee for a PSYCHOTHERAP' first reading. GUIDELINES FIRST READING The Students Rights and Responsibilities document was presented to STUDENTS RIC] the school committee for first reading. & RESPONSIBI] TIES The Minimum Staff Level Policy was presented to the school commit- MINIMUM OF tee for first reading. STAFF LEVEL POLICY The Student Records Policy was presented to the school committee STUDENT RECOI for first reading. It was noted that this material had been presented before, and that it may be necessary to make minor changes prior to the second reading. The first reading of a Five Year Calendar was presented. Dr. Law- FIVE YEAR son noted that the guideline of 185 student days was given to the cal- CALENDAR endar committee. At the end of the presentation of the policies, Mr. Michelman said that he felt that he would like to give his ideas to other school com- mittee members regarding some of the policies at the appropriate time. He felt that these policies should be open to discussion. He added he preferred not to skim over the issues at the first reading but would like to suggest that these be discussed at future meetings. Mr. Hoff- man noted that the regular items of the school operation should not in- terfere with policy development. He said the school committee should make time for the discussion of policies. It was agreed that the poli- cies be read and reacted to at future meetings. It was also noted that the second reading would not necessarily mean that a vote was required at that meeting. The votes could be taken at a third reading, if neces- sary. Mrs. Swanson announced the Appropriations Committee and Town }Zana- MEETINGS ger would like to meet with the school committee and other town boards for general discussion. The evening of October 3, was to be considered. Page 156 September 13, 1977 It was ADJOURNMENT TO ". EXECUTITTE VOTED: to adjourn to Executive Session at 10:02 p.m. to discuss two SESSION matters relating to grievances and collective bargaining. It was announced that the school committee would be coming out of Executive Session later on in the evening. A vote was called. (Michelman, yes; Brown, yes; Gaudet, yes; Hoffman, yes; Swanson, yes. It was VOTED: to return to public session at 11:12 p.m. (Michelman, Brown, Unanimous) It was L.E.A. GRIEVANCE 76-77-7 VOTED: to deny Grievance 76-77-7. (Brown, Hoffman, Unanimous) VOTED: to grant Grievance 76-77-4 (Michelman, Hoffman, Unanimous) L.E.A. GRIEVANCE 76-77 -4 VOTED: to adjourn at 11:13 p.m. (Gaudet, Brown, Unanimous) Respectfully submitted, Rinard H. Barnes lk Recordings'Secretary