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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-10-06 School Committee MinutesREADING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reading, Massachusetts SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES Special Session October 6, 1997 CALL TO ORDER Ms. Cavicchi called the meeting of the School Committee to order in the High School Lecture Hall at 7 :35 p.m. Present were School Committee members Cavicchi, D'Antona, Stohlman and Williams. Also present were Superintendent Harutunian, Associate Superintendent Richards and Ms. Shannon, Student Representative to the School Committee. BILLS AND PAYROLLS There were no bills and payroll. STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Ms. Cavicchi introduced the student representative to the School Committee, Heather Shannon. Dr. Harutunian stated that he was pleased to have Ms. Shannon as the representative to the School Committee and listed her many involvements in the Reading Schools and the community. MS. PEKINS SECOND GRADE.CLASS Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that he goes out as often as possible to visit the classrooms. He recently visited Adele Pekins 2nd grade classroom at the Barrows Schools and enjoyed reading two books to the class. He thanked Ms. Pekins, Principal Callan and the entire 2nd grade class for their hospitality. Special Session -2- October 6, 1997 TOWN COUNSEL Town Counsel, Ted Cohen, advised the Committee that the District Attorney's office had sent a letter stating that the Committee had violated the open meeting laws in two ways. Mr. Cohen stated that at the time there were actions taken by the Committee, they were in agreement with him and he believed that they were in agreement with the District Attorney's office. The District Attorney's office is now taking a different view. The first violation was holding a retreat at Endicott College in Beverly, which at the time, the District Attorney's office stated that they did not like meeting being out of town but did not consider it a violation of the open meeting law. Town Counsel stated that he believed the letter from the District Attorney's office was prompted by many communities holding these retreats. Town Counsel also stated that a retreat can only accomplish limited actions as per the District Attorney's letter. The second violation involved the School Committee's written evaluations of the Superintendent. Under open meeting law, any evaluation that is part of deliberative process must be held in open meeting. The District Attorney's office will not, after the fact, require Committee Members to sign the evaluations, however the documents must become part of public record. In the future any such documents must be signed and will be part of the record. Town Counsel also informed the Committee about the distinction of communication between Committee members. He stated that there is a distinction between materials viewed as briefing material and materials that advocate a position or point of view. Any material that advocates a position or point of view needs to be made public record. Town Counsel then advised the Committee that in executive session, they may not need to identify the person they are speaking about. If discussing character, not professionalism of the person or discussing possible litigation not existing litigation, the name does not have to be disclosed. If discussing professionalism of the person or actual litigation the person must be identified. Special Session -3- October 6, 1997 Ms. D'Antona asked Town Counsel to define again the District Attorney's definition of retreat. Town Counsel quoted directly from the District Attorney's letter, page six, defining retreat. Ms. D'Antona inquired that since the evaluations of the Superintendent are public record then is that piece of the Superintendent's personnel file also public record. Town Counsel advised that the District Attorney's office protects personnel files, however, not withstanding public records law. Because the evaluations are part of the deliberation, they become part of the open meeting. Any reference School Committee members make publicly about something in a personnel file you should be aware that it may then become part of the public record. Chair Twomey questioned whether this would hold true if only one School Committee member mentioned the issue or only if the issue were discussed by the Committee. Town Counsel advised that once mentioned it becomes part of public forum. Ms. Cavicchi asked whether this was true only for evaluations that are made by the School Committee. Town Counsel advised that if the School Committee speaks about a teacher's or principal's evaluation the teacher or principal will retain their privacy as long as this is just a mention of the evaluation and not the School Committee's deliberative process. Ms. Cavicchi asked if this extends to all other boards and commissions in town. Town Counsel advised that it did extend to all boards and commissions and that he will be communicating this information to all boards and commissions. Mr. Stohlman asked whether any distinction is made by the District Attorney on professional competence and personal comments about an individual. Special Session -4- October 6, 1997 Town Counsel advised that personal issues not professional would be entitled to executive session. However, minutes of executive session may become open to the public. Mr. Stohlman questioned whether executive session votes had to be specific to individual if pending litigation. Town Counsel advised that for existing litigation the vote must be specific but not for pending litigation. Once suit is brought be either side, it becomes a matter of public record. MIDDLE SCHOOL FOREIGN LANGUAGE A discussion was held regarding expansion of the middle school foreign language program. Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that the state will be mandating competency in a language other than English as a requirement for high school graduation some time in the future. The committee that reviewed the expansion of foreign language came forward with a unanimous recommendation that foreign language be mandatory for 7th and 8th graders every day rather than expanding foreign language into 6th grade. Mr. Stohlman inquired about making foreign language mandatory three days per week in the 6th grade and mandatory every day in the 7th and the 8th grades? Dr. Delaney stated that this was not discussed because of funding. They will be looking into expanding into the 6th grade in future. Mr. Spadafora questioned what advantage this gives to students. Dr. Delaney stated that we should expect greater proficiency from students and this will allow more exposure to the cultural aspects. Increased time makes students more proficient. The long term goal is to move foreign language into the 6th grade. Dr. Harutunian stated that the earlier the language is introduced to children the better. He is hoping that down the road, language will be offered K -12 in the Reading school system. The expansion will expose students to more information about other cultures. Special Session -5- October 6, 1997 Ms. Williams questioned whether once a students selects, for example, French and they find they don't have the aptitude, are they stuck in that tract. Also, once we make this mandatory, what are the students losing that they have now? What about children that enter the Reading system in the 8th grade, they are behind the other students and there are no options for them. Dr. Delaney stated that there are numerous issues surrounding the expansion of foreign language. Electives such as tech ed, computer, graphic arts etc. will be reduced if foreign language is made mandatory five days per week. Also, there is an issue with children that are waived from foreign language requirement due to their ed plan. CITIZEN'S INPUT FY99 BUDGET Chair Twomey stated that the School Committee felt the public should have input into the budget while it is still in the planning stage. The School Committee is looking forward to hearing citizen's input this evening regarding FY99 budget. Chris Viccaro suggested that the Committee look at busing issues. He stated that with increased enrollments, especially at Barrows, the traffic situation is getting worse and safety concerns are arising due to the increased traffic. Ellen Mounteer stated that her daughter is at Coolidge and has science in a science lab only once a week the other days she has science in a wood shop that has been renamed tech ed room. She requests that the School Committee look at interim solutions to Coolidge space issue now. She suggests: 1. Portable classrooms be used. 2. Excess space at the high school somehow be used. 3. The $700,000 surplus from Parker project be used to turn shop into a science lab. Michele Keefer stated that her concern is the health of the students. She requests that full time nurses be in each of the school buildings. Also requests that School Committee make a commitment to improving air quality in the schools. Ms. Keefer is concerned about class sizes and suggests that it may be necessary to have a town wide ceiling on class sizes. Her final Special Session -6- October 6, 1997 concern is lack of substitute teachers and the practice of pulling aides from other classrooms to cover a teacher's absence. She believes Reading does not offer competitive pay for substitute teachers and that is why there is difficulty getting substitute teachers. Gail Philips Spence stated that her concerns include large class sizes. She is upset that parents are required to pay for curriculum materials such as weekly readers. She is looking for the School Department to fund some amount of the field trips, the School Department can't rely on PTOs to fund. Two members from the Parents Supporting Children's Theater Group spoke about the increase in participation in the drama club from 20 students five years ago to 100 students today. They stated that drama club is a year round activity that children can earn a letter in. The drama club also gets involved in community work. They are helping out with Birch Meadow Spooky Fun Fair and other activities in the community. They are requesting an increase in this year's drama club budget. Both the President and Treasurer from the Band Parents Association spoke to request an increase in the band budget. They stated that 200 -250 children participate in the music program which is approximately 1/4 of the high school population. Kate Murphy stated that there are no gifted or accelerated programs and class sizes are becoming so large that teachers are not able to address these types of issues. She hopes School Committee will give thought to funding an accelerated program. Kendra Cooper stated her concern over rising legal costs. Hopes that School Committee is not using public money to gain counsel to thwart public access to information. Nurse negotiations fees are $10,000 hopes someone is looking at the fact that nurse salary is only approximately $24,000. Lorraine Horne stated her concern about shortening of the passing time between classes for high school students. Students do not have time to go to their lockers and are carrying 20 pounds of books around for the day. She asked the School Committee to look into lengthening the school day to meet ed reform requirements rather than forcing students to rush from class to class. Special Session -7- October 6, 1997 Nancy Ortiz stated her concerns over large class sizes and lack of accelerated programs. At 9:05 Chair Twomey advised that the Committee would take a short break. At 9:12 Chair Twomey called the meeting back to order. CAPITAL PLAN FY99 A discussion was held by the Committee regarding the Capital Plan for FY99. Mr. Stohlman stated that he wanted to make clear that last year when Committee submitted capital plan it was based on financial plan, enrollment figures and more details. He stated his concern that people will take approval of this preliminary plan with questionable dates and costs and make general assumption that this plan was supported in full by the School Committee. Again, Mr. Stohlman wishes to make it very clear that this is a preliminary plan. Mr. Spadafora stated that he could not approve this document without larger discussion on all projects. He is concerned about enrollment and the fact that Reading Memorial High School upgrade needs to be put off. chair Twomey stated that all this document does is detail all items needed by the School Department to Town Manager. Town Manager needs to have preliminary information by October 14. Document should be more refined in the next few months. Mr. Stohlman made a motion to move to the high school project to begin the year 2001. Ms. Williams seconded the motion The vote was 2 -4 with Mr. Stohlman and Ms. Williams voting yes and Ms Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Twomey and Mr. Spadafora voting no Special Session -8- October 6, 1997 Ms. Williams made an amendment_ to the _Stohlman to chanae the year from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Stohlman seconded the amendment to the motion. The vote was 3 -3 with Mr. Twomey, Mr. Stohlman and Ms. Williams voting yes and Ms. Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona and Mr. Spadafora voting no. Ms. Williams stated her concern that by pushing RMHS to the year 2006 no student in the system will go into a high school that is equal to anything they've become used to in lower level buildings. Once we move RMHS back, we can't move it up. Ms. Cavicchi stated that we can revisit the high school issue every year nothing says we can't move it back up. She stated her opinion that the quality of education is not the building but the programs. Ms. D'Antona stated her concern of taking on elementary projects, middle school project and high school project simultaneously. She stated that the School Department needs to prioritize. Can look at high school date again next year. Chair Twomey stated that the high school is on everyone's mind. Without outside source of funding there is no way to fund over the next few years. Proposal is to put off until space issues resolved. We have committed to spending $2 million in renovations to high school. Don't want to do anything in the capital plan to give indication that high school is a priority over elementary and Coolidge problems. Mr. Spadafora made a motion to support the draft FY99 Capital Plan as set forth in the memorandum dated October 1, 1997. Ms. Cavicchi seconded the motion. The vote was 4 -2 with Ms. Cavicchi Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Twomey and Mr. Spadafora voting yes and Mr. Stohlman and Ms. Williams voting no. ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS A discussion was held by the Committee regarding the enrollment projections from both NESDEC and Dr. Harutunian. Special Session -9- October 6, 1997 Ms. D'Antona made a motion to accept the enrollment projections by grade, presented to us by NESDEC, using the October 1 enrollment figures, as guidelines for enrollment projections for the period stated. The motion was seconded by Mr. Spadafora. The vote was 6 -0. Ms. D'Antona made a motion to request the School Building Committee take a leadership role in developing the project for the Coolidge Middle School. The motion was seconded by Mr. Spadafora. The vote was 6 -0. Chair Twomey stated that it is the School Committee's intention that the School Building Committee take on the leadership role with the Coolidge Project as they had done with the Parker Project including architectural and contractor issues. Chair Twomey also stated that the School Building Committee is an independent body created to address school building needs. They need to take data on projections and make recommendations to the School Committee. Mr. Stohlman questioned what we are handing to the School Building Committee, a 500 student plan, a 600 student plan? Ms. D'Antona stated that is why we asked for acceptance of enrollment figures. That determination can be made by the School Building Committee. CITIZEN'S INPUT A concerned citizen questioned what was wrong with the high school. In her opinion too much space is great. She stated that the Committee should be looking at full time pre- school being put at the high school or possibly renting extra space. She also stated that she was disappointed with standards in the Reading Schools. She is tired of paying for tutoring. Chair Twomey advised that the School Committee hired an architect to do a study on the high school and that if she would like to see a copy she is welcome to it. Also School Committee is asking town meeting for money for a study to answer the question of what to do with the extra space at the high school. Special Session -10- October 6, 1997 Jackie Mandell stated that the School Size and Enrollment Committee may suggest a centralized kindergarten at the high school. This solution would take care of redistricting. You will be busing all kindergarten students and not targeting one area of town. Dr. Harutunian advised that all options will be looked at by the School Size and Enrollment Committee. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that he is planning to write articles for the Daily Times Chronicle twice per month relevant to educational issues. He stated that he believed that this will help to promote the school system in a positive and forward thinking manner. Dr. Harutunian asked the School Committee to recognize and present with School Committee certificates the 14 Reading High School students that have received National Merit Commended Recognition in the 1998 National Merit Program Dr. Harutunian advised the Committee that the Enrollment and School Size Committee numbers are in their packets. Dr. Harutunian advised that an Administrative Curriculum Leadership chart which represents the learning area, including grade level, that each school administrator will be responsible for the 1997 -98 school year is included in their packets. Dr. Harutunian also advised the Committee that the synopsis for the Technology Plan that was submitted last year to the Department of Education was included with their packets. Dr. Harutunian felt that as we move forward with the FY99 Budget that this plan may be helpful for the Committee as we begin to look for solutions to some of our technology issues. A calendar for strategic planning was included in their packets for review. New dates on the calendar were discussed including October 15th Budget Council (time and date to be announced) and October 18th Meeting to Set Goals at 8:00 a.m. tentatively scheduled for the Light Department. Special Session -11- October 6, 1997 Ms. Williams stated her concern that the Committee had not approved any minutes since August. Dr. Harutunian advised that the minutes will be brought to the next meeting. ADJOURN At 10:58 Mr. Spadafora made a motion to adl_ournint_o executive session for the purpose of negotiating union and non -union issues and possible litigation. Ms. Cavicchi seconded the motion. The vote was 6 -0. Ms. Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Twomey, Mr. Spadafora, Mr. Stohlman and Ms. Williams. pectfull submitted, Harry K. Harutunian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools