2015-01-05 Special Town Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School Preforming Arts Center January 5, 2015 The meeting was called to order by the Moderator, Alan E Foulds, at 7:40 PM, there being a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was said by all in attendance. The Warrant was partially read by the Town Clerk, Laura Gemme, when on motion by John Arena, Board of Selectmen, it was voted to dispense with further reading of the Warrant. Motion made by John Arena, Board of Selectmen to dispense of the reading of all motions in their entirety. Motion Carried ARTICLE 1: Motion made by John Arena, Board of Selectmen to hear and act on the reports of the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Board of Assessors, Board of Library Trustees, Municipal Light Board, Finance Committee, Town Manager and any other Official, Board or Committee. Reports given: Reading Public Schools Dr. John Doherty, Superintendent Good Evening, Town Meeting Members, On behalf of the Reading School Committee, we wanted to give you an update on the ongoing school space issue. At the December 22, 2014 School Committee Meeting, the Committee directed the Superintendent to develop a plan for implementation of modular classrooms at some of our elementary classrooms to address space needs for the 2015 -16 school year. Since the December 22nd meeting, we have been in contact with Town Manager Robert LeLacheur and Town Clerk Laura Gemme about the possibility of a special Town Meeting in February. The need for modular classrooms for the 2015 -16 school year is due to continuing high demand for full day kindergarten, the lack of available classroom space to accommodate that need and the need for an additional Grade 1 classroom for Joshua Eaton students for next year. Our current kindergarten class sizes at Joshua Eaton are well above the recommended guidelines of 18 -22 students and we will need to add a classroom teacher and classroom space for next year. In addition, as of the kindergarten registration deadline on December 19th, 226 children have been registered for full day kindergarten, representing 77% of next year's current kindergarten registrations, a 6% increase from this year. Our biggest space concerns for next year are at Joshua Eaton, Barrows, and Killam. The reason to request a special Town Meeting in February; rather than wait until April Town Meeting is two -fold. First, we will need to notify families by March 1st what their school assignment is for next year and whether or not they will have a half day or full day kindergarten program. In addition, if Town Meeting approves funding for the additional classroom space, a February timeline allows us to have the classrooms in place for a September 1st school opening. If we waited until April Town Meeting, we would not have the modular classrooms in place for the start of the 2015 -16 school year. We understand that Town Meeting members have already had several Special Town Meeting sessions over the last year and we do not take this request lightly. We did not feel that it would be appropriate to address Town Meeting with this request during this January session because we wanted to make sure that Town Meeting members had the information needed to make an informed decision. This item will be discussed this Thursday at the Reading School Committee Meeting. In addition, the Reading Public School Administration and the Reading School Committee will be presenting to the Finance 11 Page