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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-01-18 School Committee MinutesREADING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reading, Massachusetts SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING BUDGET SESSION MINUTES JANUARY 18, 1997 CALL TO ORDER Chair Susan Cavicchi called the budget session to order at 9:05 a.m. in the Superintendent's Conference Room. All members were present. Also present were Superintendent Dr. Harry K. Harutunian and Associate Superintendent Dennis Richards. SPECIAL EDUCATION CONTINUATION Dr. Harutunian positively answered Mr. Twomey's question that asked if all students needing speech are being reached. He stated teachers are carrying 58 and the recommendation is low 50's. He noted that IEP's could be rejected if we do not add a speech teacher. The Superintendent stated we have students in the 504 group that may need services. Michele Carrick advised that the numbers do not necessarily reflect all who need speech therapy. There are more children going to a private speech therapist. Dr. Harutunian added that there are some middle school 6th graders who go out for some part of the day. Associate Superintendent Richards continued we may not have had these programs before and may have sent the student out. Now we want to keep the students in our own system. Ms. D'Antona plugged for smaller class sizes in grades K -3. That way a student could be identified early on and it could be short term intervention and more intense. Dr. Harutunian discussed private and public tuition. He noted that we paid for a shared collaborative model. We paid for 2 teachers and 2 educational assistants. BUDGET MINUTE SESSION 2 JANUARY 18, 1997 The consensus of School Committee was to keep Private and Public tuitions separate for this year. Mr. Stohlman moved to reduce the private tuition by $50,000 bringing the line item 5353 on page 47 total to $801,748. Ms. D'Antona seconded the motion. The vote Mr. Spadafora moved to amend the public tuition by a $160,369 increase bring the line item 5352 on page 47 total to $549,569. Ms. D'Antona seconded the motion. Mr. Stohlman asked why in FY97 did our amounts show so far off in our projection. Ms. D'Antona asked about using 2 collaboratives. Dr. Harutunian stated they both have their own uniqueness. We now pay as we go with SEEM. The vote was 4 in favor, 2 opposed (Mr. Cummings and Ms. D'Antona). Dr. Harutunian said we will transportation as we do with collaborating with the SEEM people. have to go out for RFP's for special education athletics. He added that we are thinking about bus people or collaborating with the North Shore Dr. Harutunian spoke about the psychologist or medical people who work with the teacher as a proactive preventative measure. Services are provided after the director meets with the team and then it is signed off by them and either the Superintendent or the Associate Superintendent. Ms. D'Antona spoke as the director of her REAP program. She said they are now administering psychotropic drugs. If it takes this to keep the student in the school then we have to support the consultant. Mr. Spadafora moved to reduce the line item 5356, formerly Behavior Consultants now Consultation, on page 47 from $35,000 to $30,000. Mr. Stohlman seconded the motion. The vote was 5 in favor and 1 opposed (Ms. D'Antona). BUDGET MINUTE SESSION 3 JANUARY 18, 1997 Mr. Spadafora moved to reduce the line item 5358 for independent evaluations on page 47 from $45,000 to $42,800. Mr. Twomey seconded the motion. The Superintendent stated we are required to test the student. We could loose all arbitrations if we do not test the student. It is a flat rate set by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The vote was 4 in favor and 2 against (Ms. Cavicchi and Ms. D'Antona . MAINTENANCE CONTINUATION Mr. Spadafora moved that line item 5245, Maintenance of Buildings on page 53, be reduced from $357,074 to a flat $280,000. Mr. Stohlman seconded the motion. Discussion followed with a comment that what the Superintendent is looking for is not out of line. The vote was I in favor (Mr. Spadafora) and 5 opposed. ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED When asked about telephones, the Superintendent replied that our office took over the phones last year. The PTO's were willing to pay for some phone lines but the lines were never billed back to those people. Told if they wanted to keep those lines they would have to pay for them. He added there are serious discrepancies within the schools. The billing will go directly to the person requesting the phone. Only authorized or grant phones will be paid by us. REGULAR DAY CONTINUED Mr. Cummings moved to reduce the Social Studies and English teaching positions by one fifth at RMHS and make Humanities a full load. Mr. Spadafora seconded the motion. Dr. Harutunian stated he needs to work this out with those teachers and would like another year to work with them. The vote was 2 in favor (Mr. Cummings and Ms. D'Antona ) and 4 against the motion. The Superintendent was asked about the RMHS presentations course. He said it would not be a requirement next year but an elective. It would be a pilot program and he will come back in the spring with a report. BUDGET MINUTE SESSION 4 JANUARY 18, 1997 ADJOURN At 2.15 p.m. Mr. Spadafora moved to adjourn. Ms. D'Antona seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Ms. Cavicchi Mr. Cummings Ms. D'Antona Mr. S.padafora Mr. Stohlman Mr. Twomey spectrHa ubmitted, Harry unia n, Ph.D Superintendent of Schools