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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-01-06 School Committee MinutesREADING SCHOOL COMMITTEE Reading, Massachusetts E*NtTjAR SESSION CALL TO ORDER Chair Twomey called the meeting to order at 8:02 p.m. in the Superintendent's Conference Room. Present were School Committee members Cavicchi, Stohlman, Twomey and Williams. Also present were Superintendent Harutunian, Associate Superintendent Richards and Town Accountant Richard Foley. BILLS & PAYROLL Bills and payroll are as follows: Bills 12/15/97 12/22/97 12/29/97 01/05/98 Payroll 12/18/97 12/12/97 12/24/97 Teachers Bi- Weekly SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT $46,006.05 $114,607.48 $57,670.02 $830,952.26 $1,112,478.89 $164,001.57 $143,926.88 Dr. Harutunian discussed with the Committee the proposed posting for the Public Hearing for the FY99 Budget scheduled for January 21, 1998 at the Reading Memorial High School Lecture Hall at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Harutunian distributed to the Committee a copy of the proposed school calendar for school year 1998/1999. Calendar. Ms. Cavicchi seconded, The vote •h__ -n Mr. Twomey and Ms. Williams, REGULAR SESSION -2- January 6, 1998 ADMINISTRATION BUDGET Dr. Harutunian discussed with the Committee questions that were raised by the Selectmen, members of the Finance Committee and members of the School Committee after the budget presentation on December 18th. Dr. Harutunian advised that on blue page 4 the following should be added to bullet number 1 after the words in accordance with "School Committee historical practices and..." Dr. Harutunian advised that a question was raised regarding blue page 4 under Highlights regarding what the $3.2 million request for additional money consisted of. Dr. Harutunian advised that the $3.2 million figure represents increased staff and maintenance to the buildings. Mr. Stohlman requested that the specific requests which totaled $3.2 million be made available to the Committee for review. Chair Twomey requested that additional copies of the budget be given to the library for the public to view. Dr. Harutunian advised that a question was raised as to why there was no request for a computer ed assistant for the high school. Dr. Harutunian advised that the high school has a full computer ed assistant and a technology assistant. Dr. Harutunian advised that a question was raised regarding the number of teachers requested. Dr. Harutunian advised that teacher requests appears to be 6.7 but you must add in the school psychologist which brings the total to 7.3. Dr. Harutunian advised that a request was received for a breakdown of the $162,000 for the second year for Curriculum Initiatives in science, mathematics and world languages and the $4,830 for new social studies instructional materials at Parker Middle School. Dr. Harutunian advised that this would be broken down for the Committee during the regular day budget. Dr. Harutunian distributed to the Committee copies of the MGL 1997, Selected Massachusetts General Laws for School committees and School Personnel dated January 1, 1997 including the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. REGULAR SESSION -3- January 6, 1998 Mr. Stohlman questioned whether possible suggestions /solutions which will come from the School Size and Enrollment Committee and the Peat Marwick Study have been included in the budget. Dr. Harutunian advised that this was not included in the budget and that he would be distributing a spread sheet to the Committee which will include all work which will be done at the schools and a list of everything principals have requested for maintenance at their schools. Dr. Harutunian advised that the School Committee had requested to know how Reading rated with other communities regarding spending on Special Education and Regular Day education. Dr. Harutunian distributed information that showed that Reading is not spending disproportionate amount on Special Education. Dr. Harutunian also advised that it is a district wide initiative to get better control on Special Education Spending. Chair Twomey stated that data on regular day /special ed spending is consistent over the last 7 or 8 years. Reading spends more on regular day education than the comparable 10 communities. However, the percentage of the total budget spent on regular day education continues to go down and the percentage of the total budget spent on special education continues to go up. Dr. Harutunian advised that he had received a memorandum from Ms. Ardi informing him that the percentage of children in special education has dropped by 11 which means that the children in special education are receiving more expensive services. Chair Twomey asked whether there is a way to measure a possible positive impact on regular day education budget by bringing special education children and education assistants into the classrooms. Dr. Harutunian advised that a survey could be sent to all education assistants requesting that they estimate the amount of time spent with special education children and the amount of time spent with regular day education children. At 9:00 p.m. Ms. D'Antona arrived. REGULAR SESSION -4- January 6, 1998 Ms. Cavicchi asked whether there is a long term cost savings by putting more money into early intervention. Dr. Harutunian advised that he would have Ms. Ardi attend a school committee meeting in March to discuss this issue. Dr. Harutunian distributed to the Committee a revised page 11 for the budget. Dr. Harutunian advised that on page 17 of the budget, in the second paragraph under Middle School the following change should be made to the next to the last sentence starting "It is our hope..." Change that sentence to read "With the FY99 budget, we would expand the 7th grade program to a daily basis. Dr. Harutunian advised that on page 34 of the budget under Elementary Schools Mathematics, delete the word fourth in the first sentence and replace with the word sixth. Also on page 34, under Middle School Mathematics, add the following sentence to the end of Mathematics paragraph 117th grade textbooks and materials will be part of the FY2000 request ". Dr. Harutunian advised that none of the yellow pages in the budget reflect requests for staffing, personnel increases are located in the pink pages of the budget. Chair Twomey requested that Dr. Harutunian eliminate the number of staff on pages 40 and 44. Dr. Harutunian distributed an updated page 47 of the budget. Dr. Harutunian advised that on page 48 the line for retirement programs would not change, those are actual figures. Dr. Harutunian distributed a breakdown of the $120,000 figure under professional development. Mr. Stohlman requested that a breakdown of technology expenses be put together and distributed to the Committee. Dr. Harutunian advised that he would provide a supplemental sheet to the budget with the information as requested. Dr. Harutunian advised that on page 50 the $5,000 figure for district awards is to continue the School Committee practice of giving awards to recognize student and teacher achievements. REGULAR SESSION -5- January 6, 1998 Ms. Williams questioned whether there is a busing change at the middle school and if not, why the line on page 41 of the budget reads "To provide transportation for all eligible K -6 students in the Reading Public Schools ". Dr. Harutunian advised that the line should read eligible K -6 students. Dr. Harutunian discussed the increase in school enrollments with the Committee and advised that he hopes to have the report from the School Size and Enrollment Committee to the School Committee by January 27th. Dr. Harutunian discussed the Curriculum Initiatives on page 51 of the budget with the Committee. Mr. Stohlman requested that when all decisions are final, he would like to review. Dr. Harutunian advised that a presentation on curriculum is scheduled for the spring. ADJOURN Mr. Stohlman made a motion at 10:20 p.m. to adjourn from regular session and enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing union negotiations. Ms. Cavicchi seconded the motion. The vote was 5 -0 Ms. Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Stohlman, Mr. Twomey and Ms. Williams. ectfully s mitted, Harry K. Harutunian, Ph. D. Superintendent of Schools