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Home My WebLink About1979-01-27-SC-min Page 13 January 27, 1979 A meeting of the Lexington School Committee was held on Saturday, January 27, 1979, at 9:00 a.m. , at the School Administration Building. Those in attendance were: Brown, Swanson, Gaudet, Michelman. Also present were: Lawson, Barnes, Maclnnes, Monderer, Pierson, DiGiammarino. Mr. Brown, on behalf of the School Committee, expressed best wishes TRIBUTE TO to Mitchell Spiris, retiring Assistant Superintendent for Personnel. He MITCHELL J. said the School Committee, citizens, and staff of the Lexington Public SPIRIS Schools expressed sincere gratitude for his dedication, his impressive record, his ability to be flexible in changing times, and his admirable qualities of administration. Mrs. Lenore Fenn, 130 Worthen Road, stated three concerns: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 1. She asked the School Committee if they were aware of the diffi- culties experienced by the Franklin School Association. She said the association sought to obtain funds for a variety of projects but had to use some of the money for services the School Department should provide, such as, mounting of visual screens. She said school maintenance would not provide the service and caused great difficulties. 2. She expressed concern that many mathematics teachers were not as good as they used to be, and were not experts in teaching mathematics. She noted that Mr. Schutt said one of the prob- lems in recruiting mathematics teachers was the lack of oppor- tunity to visit candidates. He added there was no money avail- able for recruitment visitation. 3. She said she was concerned about the 766 investment by the sys- tem. She stated it was important and when a child became grade level, tutoring services not be withdrawn. She said she ap- proved reducing tutoring. The Superintendent responded that the School Department was not aware of any request being made for installation of screen mountings, but would look into it. He added money was available for Department Heads to visit, in fact, the School Department had sent a Department Head a great distance to observe a teacher. Also, students who leave the 766 educational plan, were classified as prototype 502.1, which was specifi- cally designed to follow up on students. Mr. Robert Blouin, 30 Brandon Street, said school costs had increased even after schools were closed. He said he could not obtain any satisfac- tory response as to the reasons, despite all of the information available. He added that he could not understand why budgets could not be decreased. He noted that there was great effort needed in order to decrease the bud- get and requested a response to his comments. Mr. Blouin also said he did not accept inflation as a valid reason for increase. Members of the School Committee responded that the rate of the school budget had declined significantly in the past four years, but mainly be- cause of inflation there were costs that would rise. Items which influenced the increases were contracts with all employees. Mr. Brown added that if Page 14 January 27, 1979 Mr. Blouin knew of any wasteful items, or had any suggestions to contact him directly and he would review those items with the School Committee. Mr. Michelman said the school budget increase did not indicate or represent a lack of diligence or prudent self-restraint but included the main puzzle factor - inflation. Mrs. Swanson, on behalf of the School Committee and Administration, SPECIAL NEEDS expressed compliments to the Special Needs staff, students, faculty, and OL` (PICS student body of the High School who participated in/or observed the Special Needs Olympics. Mr. Michelman stated the program format as presented this year was 1979-80 excellent. He felt it was educational and extremely valuable with the Per- BUDGET sonal Services segment added into it. He felt the PPBES project would pay great dividends. He asked if it would be possible to receive additional object code arrays. The Superintendent suggested that all requests be for- warded to Frank DiGiammarino. The School Committee began a review of each of the programs listed in the tentative budget. Administrators presented comments on each program ob- ject code. The tentative budget for 1979-80 totaled $16,556,377, an increase of $346,537 or 2.1% over 1978-79. The Chairman said the budget review pro- cess would continue on February 6, 1979, and February 8, 1979. It was VOTED: to adjourn at 12:10 p.m. (Michelman, Gaudet, Unanimous) Respectfully submitted, - Richard H. Barnes Recording Secretary ;c