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Andrew Stephens, Ed.D. (781) 861-2320, ext. 69103
Principal astephens@lexingtonma.org
LHS School Site Council January 2020 Meeting Minutes
LSH School Site council met on January 13th, 2020 from 6:00-7:30 in Room 505D in the World
Language Building
Present: Andrew Stephens, Cathy Swan, Karen Griffiths, Sheera Knecht, Liz Curtain, Ling
Yang, Kate Vogelzang, Ed Li, Angela Chang, Katie Cutler, Suzanne Lau, Nancy Shepard and
Kate Riley
Absent: Erin Barrett, Khoi Le, Sam Offsey
Guest: Betsy Wilkinson
Approved the December meeting minutes
Updates on Budget
*Budget
-Budget is a fiscal process and a political process
-It is important for two citizens to educate themselves on the budget process
-School Committee approves school side of budget and then Town Meeting approves
budget in March
-Majority of won bunds (about 74%) are used to pay for LPS
-Most of the school budget is used to pay salaries and benefits (84%) and the rest is
spread out in many ways
-Each year there is an increase in salaries (about 3%) as staff moves up pay scale
*Context
-Over the last 5 years, K-12 enrollment in LPS schools has increased by 608 students
which has had a direct impact on the School Department's operating budget each year
to accommodate these new students and maintain the level of programming and
services offered by LPS
-Town income is down
-School budget is down $1.4 million for level services (take budget this year and add
3% for built-in raises)
-Past Budget Cycles have had healthy increases
-FY 2016: 8.5% increase
-FY 2017: 7.2% increase
-FY 2018: 6.6% increase
-FY 2019: 6.9% increase
-FY 2020: 5.4% increase
*FTE (Full Time Equivalent) Positions
-One way flexibility is incorporated into the budget is by having unallocated reserve FTE
positions for general and special education
-Summary of past FTE increases
-FY 2016: 50.58 increase
-FY 2017: 49.34 increase
-FY 2018: 15.81 increase
-FY 2019: 33.25 increase
-FY 2020: 28.07 increase
*FY 2021
-Increase is only 4.3%
-We aren't getting anything new from what we had last year
-LHS asked for a new dean team (dean, secretary, counselors) and an additional school
monitor
-these requests were denied
-We will be ok for next year as student numbers are not going up
-FTE
-FY 2021 : 3.19 increase (to meet legal and contractual mandates)
*Future Years
-We are entering a period of challenging fiscal times
-A decrease in the percentage increase, combined with higher overall enrollments, will
impact school budgets
-We will have to look at things creatively
-We will have to see if there is anything that can be cut
-Town people will have to understand if the school budgets decrease, the education that
is currently being offered, will change
New LHS Website
*Went live
*It is a work in progress
-What is working well?
-What is not working well?
-In process of gathering feedback
*Adding content to website is centralized in tech department
-Process in place to add to website
-Counseling department goes to google link site to be able to add
-need to mesh old counseling department and new tab
-Always had to dig deep to find things
-Not always intuitive
-Can be difficulty to navigate, especially for families who are new to USA school system
Discussion
*Traffic at LHS is terrible
-Traffic study is needed
-how will it be paid for?
-The traffic on the side of the building is better- using 3 people - that is all we have
-The traffic in the front of the building is terrible
-Every other school in Lexington has a crossing guard but LHS doesn't
-Next year we will have a start time of 8:30 am
-8:30 is currently when LABBB starts- they are going to theirs 10 min or so earlier
-Next year pick up will be at 3:10
-Buses will need to get in and out because they need to make their other routes
-Middle school gets out first next year so buses will be coming to LHS instead of
waiting for students
-Perhaps make the front of LHS buses only during drop off and pick up
Meeting adjourned
Next meeting is Monday, March 9th, 2020