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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-03-20 School Committee MinutesREADING SCHOOL COMMITTEE Reading, Massachusetts Regular Session March 20, 2000 CALL TO ORDER Chair Dahl called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Present were School Committee Members Dahl, D'Antona, Griset, Keigley and Twomey. Also present were Superintendent Harutunian and Associate Superintendent Richards. EXECUTIVE SESSION Mr. Griset move to enter into executive session for the purpose of conducting strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with the Cafeteria Employees, Association of Secretaries and Clerks, Educational Assistants and Nurses and to discuss the possible sale or lease of real estate. To return to regular session at approximately 7:30 p.m. Mr. Twomey seconded the motion. The vote was 5 -0 Mr. Dahl, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Griset, Mr. Keigley and Mr. Twomey. CALL BACK TO ORDER At 7:45 p.m. Chair Dahl called the meeting back to order. Chair Dahl congratulated the drama club for their victory and qualifying for the state finals. BILLS & PAYROLL Warrant 76 March 20, 2000 $350,163.31 Payroll 75 March 17, 2000 $158,085.96 CITIZEN'S INPUT There was no citizen input. HIGHLIGHTS Dr. Harutunian thanked the staff and students at Joshua Eaton for artwork. Dr. Harutunian advised that Ms. Cavicchi would not be attending today's meeting due to a death in the family. Dr. Harutunian distributed information regarding health notices. Regular Session -2- March 20, 2000 Dr. Harutunian distributed information from Finance Committee Member Bob LaLechur letter regarding his appraisal of our financial situation as a town. FY01 BUDGET Dr. Harutunian advised that approximately 4 weeks ago the School Administration met to put together a list of potential reductions. On December 28th the Administrative Council met to discuss the reductions. He stated that the Council completed that process and at each follow up Administrative Council meeting we discussed and modified the list. By mid -January the information we received from Administrative Council was used to create the reduction list. Dr. Harutunian advised that the list only represents the work of the administration and not the School Committee. For the purpose of the audience Dr. Harutunian showed the 3 reductions that the FinCom Chair is recommending ➢ Regular Day, Administration, Special Education, Other Services $829,553 ➢ School Maintenance $182,000 ➢ Town Maintenance $ 30,000 Town Maintenance - The administration is recommending that the $30,000 reduction from town maintenance be taken from natural gas. Dr. Harutunian advised that the administration has entered into a consortium and has received more favorable rates. School Maintenance — The administration is recommending several reductions in maintenance as broken down in the reduction memorandum of 3/17/00. Mr. Keigley asked if the Superintendent is comfortable with the $182,000 reduction in maintenance. Dr. Harutunian advised that he was and discussed each line in the custodial maintenance reduction page dated March 17, 2000. Chair Dahl advised that after reducing $182,000 from the maintenance budget it still leaves a 3% increase and that represents stabilization in the budget. Over the last two years the increase in maintenance is about 9 -' /z %. Ms. D'Antona stated that the 3% increase in maintenance does not include a contract that has not been settled and that needs to be taken into account. Mr. Keigley stated that the square footage of the buildings continues to increase and the budget does need to go up to meet the needs. Regular Session -3- March 20, 2000 Dr. Harutunian advised that we were unable to reduce the town maintenance budget any further because of contractual cleaning services. Mr. Twomey asked the expiration date on the cleaning contract. Dr. Harutunian advised that he believed it was one year. Dr. Harutunian discussed the impact on administration, regular day, special education and other services budget reductions of $958,826. Dr. Harutunian advised that he would be distributing a draft of the K -5 class size chart and information regarding the 3 proposals for budget reductions /revenue increases. Dr. Harutunian discussed each line item reduction for the administration budget. Chair Dahl stated that last year we did not hire additional people but we did have a large turn over and stated his concern that the reduction in medical services would be difficult to maintain. Dr. Harutunian advised that the reduction is equal to approximately 15 physicals and that is about equal to the number of positions being eliminated. Chair Dahl asked the audience if they had any questions or comments. There were none. Dr. Harutunian discussed each line item reduction in regular day budget and distributed information regarding class reductions at RMHS. Mr. Twomey stated that the list of classes on the first page is classes being cut because of lack of enrollment not budget reductions. Dr. Harutunian advised that the classes being cut on page one are being cut because of enrollment and the classes on page two of the are being cut because of staffing. Sara Hardin asked if the list is based on the enrollment list for next year. Dr. Harutunian advised that it is information taken this year for next year's courses. Mr. Griset asked for confirmation that the recommendation from the administration is to eliminate 60" grade foreign language in its entirety. Dr. Harutunian advised that is what the recommendation is. Chair Dahl asked how long we have had 6`h grade foreign language. Dr. Harutunian advised this is the only year we have offered 6`h grade foreign language. Regular Session 4 March 20, 2000 Chair Dahl asked the effect on MCAS remediation with the elimination of the reading teacher. Dr. Harutunian advised that English -MCAS would have been one course for the reading teacher. He stated that the teacher would also work with special education students. Mr. Twomey asked who would be advising us on technology purchases in the future if the Director of Technology is gone. He stated that we need to have a nucleus to coordinate the seven schools, central office and town hall. Mr. Keigley stated that he agreed with Mr. Twomey we need to have a nucleus. Dr. Harutunian advised that over the past three years he has recommended six positions for technology and he has not been able to fund these positions. He stated that having one person in the department is like throwing a pebble into the ocean. Chair Dahl stated that he has a major concern about large class size. Dr. Harutunian advised that he was notified today that the reduction may be even greater than thought. He stated that at the Financial Forum meeting the Town Manager made it clear that numbers were tentative and we may have to make further cuts. Ms. D'Antona stated that when you look at class size and the reduction in educational assistants she felt this may put us in jeopardy of having more special education referrals. Ms. D'Antona asked that the administration monitor this data. Dr. Harutunian agreed that if this continues and there is no override, be felt more special education referrals may be a problem. Dr. Harutunian stated that he will not be taking METCO students because it will limit his ability in later years to increase class sizes as students move from lower elementary grades to higher elementary grades. Mr. Twomey asked with the proposed educational assistant reductions how many educational assistants will be left in the k -5 elementary schools. Dr. Harutunian advised that he does not have an exact number but he would guess that it would be about 26 educational assistants minus the 3.5 that are being reduced. Chair Dahl opened the meeting up to questions from the audience regarding regular day reductions. Linda Phillips asked for clarification on page 60 under special needs on the number for teachers, educational assistants and tutors. Regular Session 5 March 20, 2000 Dr. Harutunian reviewed the number of teachers, educational assistants and tutors. Dr. Harutunian discussed each line item reduction in the special education department. Chair Dahl stated that he felt in these times the psychologist may be an important position to try to keep in the budget. Chair Dahl opened the meeting to questions from the audience regarding special education reductions. Mrs. Phillips asked if we get reimbursed from the state for transportation. Dr. Harutunian advised that our reimbursement comes from our 94 -142 grant money which is $350,000 shown on page 82 of the budget. He stated that on page 77 of the budget grant funded positions are . Dr. Harutunian reviewed each line item for Other School Services reductions. Chair Dahl thanked Dr. Harutunian for the information on the impact of the reductions. Dr. Harutunian reviewed the prioritized put back list that was done by the Administrative Council: ➢ 7.5 elementary educational assistants for enrollment for $73,500 ➢ .5 school psychologist at the Parker Middle School for $20,000 ➢ .8 up to 1.0 teacher to be announced for $45,000 Dr. Harutunian stated that this leaves a deficit of $9,277. The Administration will be asking the school committee to allow us to implement changes to the facilities rental charges and to implement a user fee for athletics. The athletic fees would be used to pay for freshmen sports. Chair Dahl asked that data be kept on the number of students participating in different areas. If programs don't meet the requirements of a minimum number of students they should be eliminated. Mr. Twomey asked if there are full time nurses at Parker and Coolidge. Dr. Harutunian advised there is a .8 nurse at Parker and a .7 nurse at Coolidge. Mr. Twomey stated that he would like to see tweaking of reductions that put back in four elementary teachers and retains the middle school foreign language program. Chair Dahl stated that the user fee proposal is not a magic bullet and that the numbers are not going to right the school budget. Regular Session 6 March 20, 2000 Mr. Griset asked whether the administration expected a drop in participation because of athletic user fee. Dr. Harutunian stated that he does not expect to see any drop off. Mr. Twomey asked whether user fees have to be the same for each sport or if different fees can be assessed for different sports. He stated that if participation in a sport is very low and the fee does not cover the costs the administration should be able raise the fee to cover the cost of the sport. Dr. Harutunian stated that this was possible but that he felt using this type of sliding fee would create a lengthy public debate. Chair Dahl stated that he felt a sliding fee might create elitist sports. /.11 oil 010N01 At 10:35 p.m. Mr. Keigley moved to adjourn. Ms. D'Antona seconded the motion. The vote was 5 -0 Mr. Dahl, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Griset, Mr. Keigley and Mr. Twomey. Respectfully submitted, Harry . Harutunian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools