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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-09-15 School Committee MinutesREADING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reading, Massachusetts SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 CALL TO ORDER Chair Twomey called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. All school committee members were present. Also present were Superintendent Dr. Harry K. Harutunian and Associate Superintendent Dennis Richards Chair Twomey advised that this evening's agenda would include a discussion on input into FY99 budget, a discussion on procedures for highlights and a discussion on roles of school committee liaisons. BILLS AND PAYROLLS The warrant for bills was as follows: September 15, 1997 - Bills - $200,266.20 September 22, 1997 - Bills - $654,899.69 The warrant for payrolls was as follows: September 11, 1997 - Teachers - $573,558.03 September 19, 1997 - Bi- weekly - $160,727.70 Dr. Harutunian distributed the Reading Public Schools Budget Calendar for Fiscal Year 1999, his memorandum to all administrators regarding cover letter for FY99 budget, his memorandum to all principals regarding per -pupil allocation for FY99 budget and a copy of his memorandum from last year regarding per -pupil allocation for FY98 budget. Dr. Harutunian gave a brief overview of the process for the FY99 budget. Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that the principals budgets are due at the central office by October 31. Dr. Harutunian and Mr. Richards will meet with each principal for approximately two hours to review their budgets. On November 17 central administration will build the FY99 budget. A complete budget will be sent to the Reading School Committee by December 22. The school committee will hold meetings during January to SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -2- SEPTEMBER 15. 1997 discuss various budgets and a public hearing will be held on January 21. An approved School Committee FY99 Budget will then be sent to the Town Manager. After discussion by the School Committee, it was decided to hold an additional public hearing for budget input on October 6th at 7:30. Dr. Harutunian advised that the principals would notify parents of this public hearing at their Open Houses, a specific notice would be sent home to all parents regarding the public hearing and a notice would be put in the local paper. Dr. Harutunian advised that at this time the principals and administrators would inform the committee on the items they would like to see supported by the School Committee for the FY99 budget. BIRCH MEADOW Mr. Davidson advised the Committee that Birch Meadow continues to face enrollment increases. The enrollment issue brings with it a major space problem and will require additional staff. Mr. Davidson advised that currently Birch Meadow has 24 classrooms and it will need 26. Also, Birch Meadow will require one additional classroom teacher to handle the increased enrollment and one additional maintenance person. Mr. Davidson urged the Committee to continue to support math and science professional development. He also urged the Committee to continue to support technology and invited Committee members to come to the school and view the technology. Mr. Davidson also stated that he would like to see dedicated system for teachers. Mr. Davidson also requested that the Committee support the position of Assistant Principal. He stated that with increased enrollment and the education reform act principals need additional assistance. Mr. Davidson also requested that more support be built into the budget for copiers. Currently have two copiers at Birch Meadow one is completely paid for by the PTO. Copiers are a basic need. KILLAM SCHOOL Mr. Guerrette advised the Committee that enrollment is also a large issue at Killam School. He will need one additional classroom and one additional classroom teacher. SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -3- SEPTEMBER 15 1997 Mr. Guerrette stated that he agreed with Mr. Davidson on continuation of math and science professional development and the addition of Assistant Principals. Mr. Guerrette also stated that building maintenance issues at Killam need to be addressed. Cosmetic repairs including paint and furniture replacement are needed. Also, the telephone system is archaic and needs updating. Mr. Guerrette also stated that support staff for technology is needed as well as secretarial support. Suggested that secretarial staff at elementary level become full time rather than part time. READING MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL Mr. Orlando advised that the students, however, Parker and 297. Although space is not a staffing needs will increase. including foreign language is increase. current senior class consists of 239 Coolidge 8th grade class sizes are problem at the high school, Heavier course loads for students adding to the need for staff Mr. Orlando also advised that some math and science books are outdated, some 15 -20 years old and should be replaced. Mr. Orlando hopes that the School Committee will continue to support building maintenance area and also technology. He stated that RMHS needs to build into the budget equipment maintenance including replacement parts for current equipment. Mr. Orlando also requested secretarial support, the RMHS has seen no increase in support staff in some time and would like to have additional help, increase demand on staff due to education reform. COOLIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL Mr. Doherty advised that Coolidge also has a space problem. He has teachers that are sharing classrooms. Mr. Doherty agreed with the other principals that continued support of math and science professional development is very important. Mr. Doherty advised that technical support is needed, volunteers networked Coolidge however still need good source to internet to connect all rooms. REGULAR SESSION MINUTES -4- SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 Mr. Doherty expressed his desire to have support for world language. He stated that he needs .25 language teacher and would request an additional custodian for building maintenance needs. PARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL Mr. Delaney advised that he will need one additional math teacher and one additional social studies teacher to have 2nd team. Also Parker currently has 1 school psychologist for 600 students he would like to see the position become full time. Need .4 teacher addition to foreign language and would like School Committee to look at a possible increase in physical education staff. Mr. Delaney stated that Parker is blessed with technology equipment and infrastructure. Need to find the money for support for technology such as internet access which will cost approximately $10,000, virus protection at approximately $7,700, printer cartridges at $2,500. Mr. Delaney stated that district wide technical support is needed. Mr. Delaney also noted that copier costs are high. Mr. Delaney advised that currently there are two custodians to clean the building, impossible to clean a building the size of Parker with only two custodians. Mr. Delaney discussed foreign language program. Stated that expanding the program needs to be a deliberate thought out process. Expansion impacts space issue and may limit other priorities. He stated that there are many implications to bringing foreign language down to lower levels and believes there should be a district wide study on this issue. Mr. Twomey stated that last year the School Committee goal was to get foreign language down to 6th grade level. If this is no longer the proposal this needs to be discussed. Mr. Twomey stated that this subject should be brought up at the October 6th public hearing as many parents really want increase in foreign language. JOSHUA EATON Ms. Pittella stated that she would like to see teacher work stations extended to special needs staff. Also software provided for integration with curriculum. There is a fully equipped lab at Eaton, however would like technology support. SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -5- SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 Ms. Pittella supported the idea of having Assistant Principals to assist so she can provide more visible support for teachers. Ms. Pittella also noted that copier costs are high. SPECIAL EDUCATION Dr. Ardi advised that need to continue to support individual schools to support needs of youngsters and allow them to grow and flourish. She stated that Reading has inclusive school system. Need to provide staffing to make it feasible to keep students in schools. Need to look at programs to be sure they fit the students. Dr. Ardi also stated that staff development needs to continue including SPED staff and classroom teachers. BARROWS Ms. Callan stated that Barrows is a bit behind in technology. Need more software for existing hardware and more technical support. Ms. Callan also stated that SPED program K -1 will need staff support. Ms. Callan advised that the Barrows building needs continued maintenance including painting. ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT Associate Superintendent Richards briefly frameworks and advised the Committee that framework has not yet been distributed by Richards also advised the Committee that middle school social studies books. There is investigating. discussed curriculum the social studies the State. Mr. ae is looking into the may be a problem and he Mr. Richards also advised that it was difficult to find fully qualified candidates for this year's world language staff. Teachers are in great demand and to find someone part time is difficult. Mr. Richards also advised that the two instructional specialists had been hired at the middle school level but none have been hired yet for elementary level. SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -6- SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 SUPERINTENDENT Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that the administrative council has put a moratorium on purchasing new equipment until the follow three things are done: 1. Assure that there is full money to pay for the equipment. 2. Sufficient money in budget for software, ribbons, etc. 3. Confirm that there is adequate personnel to support. Dr. Harutunian also advised the Committee that he is concerned with copiers which are a necessity. Has entered into contract with Xerox Co. to replace existing copiers, however, does not include any additional copiers. Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that he will be looking for direction in the near future on contract negotiations, capital plan, Barrows and Killam 2002 and Reading Memorial High School 2006. COMMITTEE QUESTIONS Ms. D'Antona asked the principals /administrators to clarify their request for Assistant Principals, should they be full time or part time, how will teacher evaluation fit in to Assistant Principal position? Ms. D'Antona also stated that she would like to see a job description for the Assistant Principal position. Both Mr. Guerrette and Mr. Davidson stated that larger buildings would need full time Assistant Principals. Position is needed because of increased enrollment, increase demands on principals from school council, time needed to evaluate personnel and more contact with parents. Ms. D'Antona asked Mr. Orlando if he would like to see an attendance clerk added as it was last year and whether there were any security issues at the high school? Mr. Orlando stated that he would like to see an attendance clerk hired. The number of tardies dropped from 14,000 to 11,200. He also advised that most periods of the day there are hall patrols. Mr. Orlando also stated that because of increased course loads, there are fewer students in halls. The biggest security concern he has is alarming the windows where computer are. Ms. D'Antona stated that none of the principals /administrators mentioned an increase in nursing staff. She asked the staff for their input on nurses in the hierarchy of needs. SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -7- SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 Mr. Davidson advised that in his School Improvement Plan an increase in nursing over the last few years has been applauded. He stated that he supports an increase in nursing, however, not over a classroom teacher. Mr. Spadafora stated that enrollment does appear to be the biggest issue and it is good that the School Size and Enrollment Committee is being formed. He questioned how Reading School Department measures quality, what factors are important in assessing education? Mr. Orlando advised that there should be a follow up with graduates after 1 year and 5 years to find out if students feel that they could have been better prepared for college /work. Another way to measure is to see how many of our seniors are getting into their first choice college. Ms. Cavicchi stated that requests for more teaching and custodial staff and continued professional development was mentioned by everyone. She stated that professional development seems to be misunderstood and would like to hear about this regarding both cost and time issues involved in professional development. Mr. Guerrette stated that a key element of professional development is time. Wednesday afternoons off at the elementary level is important to development. New skills and curriculum are being learned during this time. Mr. Stohlman stated that he was happy to have had the opportunity to go over items requested by principals and administrators. He stated that it seems overwhelming new staff, new buildings, new equipment he hopes that we can give everything that is being requested. He also requested that Curriculum - professional development which was on agenda last week and was not discussed be put on a future agenda. Ms. Williams questioned foreign language issue of getting quality teachers. She asked whether Reading had difficulty because they were requesting a part time teacher. Ms. Williams also questioned whether it would be feasible to run some type of after school program offering foreign language. Mr. Richards stated that it is more difficult to find part time teachers when competing against other communities that are looking for full time teachers. He also stated that Reading has contract restrictions, six years of experience or less we have to bring teachers in at lower level. Dr. Harutunian stated that offering after school program may cause problem, what if two elementary schools offered it and the other two didn't? Dr. SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -8- SEPTEMBER 15 1997 Harutunian feels that any program run needs to be a district wide program. Dr. Harutunian also wanted to be sure that Committee did not have the wrong impression, the person who was hired for the language position is excellent. Ms. Williams also stated that she had received calls from parents complaining that the time for passing between classes at the high school is too short. Mr. Orlando advised that the decrease in time allowed for passing between classes was due to time in learning from education reform. He advised that this will probably be the only year that this occurs. He is looking at six periods instead of seven next year and this will eliminate the problem. Ms. Williams also questioned secretarial support requests. She stated that she had been in schools and seen secretaries dealing with sick children. Would like to discuss full time nursing issue. Dr. Harutunian advised that a pool of people, the principal, the nurse and the secretaries, are there to assist the children. He stated that we need to sit down and go through the wish list. We have to make tough decisions. Last year the Committee approved new nurse which moved larger schools to 70% nurse. Ms. Williams also stated that the METCO program should be discussed in light of increased enrollments. She stated that need to look beyond moral duties and see if this has serious impact on enrollments. Chair Twomey stated that for the budget process we need to take a realistic look at support for technology. Need to talk about the language program, speculate about budget impact from strategic planning, and speculate about budget impact from School Size and Enrollment Committee's recommendations. Chair Twomey also stated that he had been approached by several people interested in having class to teach study skills to children. Ms. Cavicchi advised that the middle school does that now. Chair Twomey stated that perhaps children are somehow not being reached or link with the parents is missing on this issue. Dr. Harutunian stated that he has been approached by parents looking to develop an instrument program after school. Sixth grade is first exposure to instruments and parents are looking for this at the elementary level. Dr. Harutunian questioned SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -9- SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 where this fits with overall plan, does language go to elementary, does instrumental go to elementary, there are many things that need to be looked at and a plan developed. SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS Chair Twomey gave a brief overview of what school highlights is about. He stated that an effort is made by the School Committee to go to each school and hold a meeting. He stated that going into the schools makes parents feel more comfortable attending a school committee meeting. Dr. Harutunian advised that he recommends using the same format as last year which included invitations to school council and PTO, a 15 -20 minute presentation by the children, visit each school once and try to keep a realistic calender, no highlights in December, January or February. Chair Twomey asked the principals /administrators for their input to school highlights. Mr. Davidson stated that it takes a lot of effort on the part of the teachers to get the children ready for a 15 -20 minute program and that is time taken away from other things. Mr. Orlando, Mr. Guerrette and Mr. Davidson all suggested alternative ways for the School Committee to connect with children and parents including PTO meetings and School Council meetings. After discussion, it was decided by the Committee that the highlights program would continue, one night at each school. The Committee feels it is important to acknowledge the children and make them aware that the School Committee is interested. It will be looked into whether these meetings can be televised. At 10:40 Chair Twomey advised that the Committee would take a short break. At 10:50 Chair Twomey called the meeting back to order. LIAISON RESPONSIBILITIES A lengthy discussion was held by the members regarding the responsibilities of liaisons and the responsibilities of voting members. SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES -10- SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 Mr. Stohlman made a motion that committee members express as a sense of committee that liaisons to boards and voting members to boards should represent fully and accurately the school committee views and when offered vote or opinion should represent that it is their opinion and make it clear that it is not necessarily the opinion of the school committ Ms. D'Antona stated that she felt the issue needed more discussion and Mr. Stohlman agreed. Mr. Stohlman made a motion to withdraw the previous motion The motion to withdraw the previous motion was seconded by Mr. Spadafora The vote was 6 -0. It was decided that this issue would be discussed again at a latter meeting. At 11.45 Mr. Spadafora made a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Stohlman. The vote was 6 -0. pectful=mitted, Harry K. Harutunian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools