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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-12-28 School Committee MinutesREADING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reading, Massachusetts SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING REGULAR SESSION MINUTES DECEMBER 28, 1992 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Matthew Cummings called the regular meeting of the Reading School Committee to order at 7:10 p.m. in the Central Office Conference Room. All members were present with the exception of George Shannon who was expected to arrive later. Also present were Superintendent Robert J. Munnelly, Interim Assistant Superintendent Susan Wheltle, FinCom Liaison Nate White, and a reporter from the Chronicle. MINUTES There were no minutes for approval BILLS AND PAYROLLS The warrant for Bills was as follows: December 28, 1992 - Bills - $57,396.56 The warrant for Payrolls was as follows: December 23, 1992 CITIZEN INPUT There was no citizen input. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Teachers - $419,033.24 Dr. Munnelly noted that the enclosures included a School Committee calendar for February - June 1993. The Chair requested that School Committee members contact him within 2 weeks if changes need to be made in dates. PERSONNEL The Superintendent stated that he had received a letter from Coolidge Middle School Science teacher Carolyn Howard request- ing a leave of absence without pay from February 1 through June 30, 1993, for the purpose of attending to the medical needs of her daughter. He noted that Ms. Howard was a valued faculty member and that she had offered to stay as long as February 22. Barbara Philbrick moved to approve the leave of absence for Carolyn Howard, Coolidge Middle School Science teacher from REGULAR SESSION MINUTES 2 DECEMBER 28, 1992 February 1, 1993 through June 30, 1993, to attend to the medical needs of her daughter. Timothy Twomey seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. OLD BUSINESS 2ND VOTE - POLICY ON SELECTION PROCESS FOR ADMINISTRATORS Timothy Twomey moved to approve the Policy CBB, Selection of Principals and Citizen Screening Committee for Administrative Positions, for a second vote. Susan Cavicchi seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. In order to continue with the process of reopening the search for the Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Munnelly requested that the School Committee's discussion of the qualifications for the position should take place in the meeting of January 19, after which time a public hearing would be scheduled so that members of the community could comment on the Committee's proposed qualifications. BUDGET FY94 REPORT ON SCHOOL REFORM The Superintendent discussed the current status of the Massachusetts School Reform Act. He noted that the financial aspects of the bill are being modified by legislators in hopes of achieving a positive vote before the new legislative session begins on January 5. Dr. Munnelly stated that accord- ing to the latest figures reported in the Boston Globe on December 23, Reading's FY94 state aid would total $609,071 under this plan. He added that some legislators object to the plan because their districts would receive no funding. The Superintendent continued, stating that the rationale for the funding plan is to create equity among richer and poorer districts, and if the bill did not pass the issue would probably be resolved in the long- standing court case calling for redistribution of funds and if that was the case, a rela- tively high- income town like Reading might receive no aid. REVIEW OF DRAFT LEVEL - SERVICE BUDGET In beginning the discussion of Reading's draft level- service budget for FY94, Dr. Munnelly referred to the list of 19.4 professional staff cutbacks since 1989 that the Chair Cummings had compiled last year and noted that the $363,000 in additional state aid in FY93 restored some of these positions, the loss is still large. A School Committee member raised the question regarding some of the figures on the backup sheet, his concern being that we REGULAR SESSION MINUTES 3 DECEMBER 28, 1992 currently show 11.7 positions eliminated since 1989, while by his calculations the figure should be 15. Dr. Munnelly reviewed the second draft of the FY94 budget page by page with the School Committee. Mr. Twomey asked the need for School Committee's membership in the Massachusetts Asso- ciation of School Committees. The Chair stated that this was an advocacy group whose services and resources were valuable to School Committee and Superintendent. In discussing the regular day budget, members requested that aides be listed as full -time equivalents (FTE), and that the number getting benefits be noted. Dr. Munnelly explained how the FY93 state aid of $363,000 was shown on the draft budget. He continued with the figures for testing and systemwide computers. Chairman Cummings asked that the systemwide computer figure in the capital outlay budget ($100,000) match the figure in the draft budget ($50,000). Other School Com- mittee members had questions about consistency systemwide in schools replacing textbooks. With regard to the Special Education Budget, the Superinten- dent explained individual items, indicating that these were the best estimates, but that this part of the budget is always subject to change if additional children require special placements or services. Chairman Cummings stated that this was a particularly volatile part of the budget. In the past, Dr. Munnelly explained, the School Committee had relied upon a FinCom contingency fund for special education emergency increases. FinCom Representative Nate White confirmed that the School Committee can no longer rely on using such money because the FinCom reserve fund for all town services is $150,000. FinCom Representative White questioned why the additional portable for FY94 appeared in the regular budget rather than in the capital outlay budget. He stated that he thought that it qualified well for bonding. Dr. Munnelly added that the Town Manager's new rule of thumb for capital outlay is that the cost exceed $10,000 and that the item have a life of 10 years or more. The Superintendent stated he would look further into this. A School Committee member raised the question of what would happen if the FinCom rejected the School Committee's level service budget and demanded a level- funded one. Dr. Munnelly replied that the assumption was that the level- service budget would include the state aid estimate of $609,000 for FY94. He advised that he would prepare a new draft budget with corrections and clarifications in backup data. REGULAR SESSION MINUTES 4 DECEMBER 28. 1992 Chairman Cummings noted that items still not figured into this budget were the repair of the Coolidge ceiling, salary increases resulting from collective bargaining, and payroll differences because of teacher turnover. He suggested an informal meeting with the FinCom between January 4 and the budget hearing on January 11. ADJOURNMENT At 9:30 p.m. Barbara Philbrick moved to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining Roberta D'Antona seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Susan Cavicchi Matthew Cummings Roberta D'Antona Barbara Philbrick George Shannon Timothy Twomey