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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-07-25 School Committee MinutesREADING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reading, Massachusetts SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING REGULAR SESSION CALL TO ORDER JULY 25, 1988 Chairman George Shannon called the regular meeting of the Reading School Committee to order at 8:15 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Superintendent's Office at 34 Gould Street. All members were present except Margaret Cowell. Also present were Superintendent Robert J. Munnelly; Assistant Superintendent Lynn M. Bak; parents, and a reporter from the Chronicle. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Richard Coco made a motion to approve the Minutes from the July 11, 1988 meeting. Barbara Philbrick seconded that motion. The vote was 4 -0 -1, with Mr. Nissen abstaining because he was not in attendance on the 11th. BILLS AND PAYROLLS The warrants for Bills and Payrolls were as follows: BILLS: July 25, 1988 - General Expense - $20,112.10 August 1, 1988 - General Expense - $34,138.02 August 8, 1988 - General Expense - $36,647.36 PAYROLLS July 14, 1988 - Teachers - $ 97,316.54 July 28, 1988 - Teachers - $109,178.25 July 22, 1988 - Weekly - $ 19,453.91 July 29, 1988 - Weekly - $ 21,989.97 August 5, 1988 - Weekly - $ 23,555.38 CITIZEN'S INPUT Mr. Melconian, a parent of the Reading community with a child in the Gifted and Talented program being conducted in the four elementary schools, wished to express his concern over the lack of favorable input from children, teachers and parents of the Reading school system, which he felt had been overlooked by the School Committee, to defend that program and its intentions. Due to time constraints, however, a more in -depth discussion was not able to take place, and Mr. Melconian requested that this discussion be put on a future agenda of the School Committee. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES 2 JULY 25, 1988 Mr. Shannon assured Mr. Melconian that the issue would be placed on a future School Committee agenda. SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS School Committee member Nancy Drane and two of her colleagues, Rachel Tsutsumi and Joanna Grabarek (who was unable to attend the meeting), showed their multi -media project, "All that Jazz," a 1988 State winner of the National History Day competition. The girls attended this competition in Washington, D.C. from June 12, 1988 through June 16, 1988. Their presentation came in fourth place in the States and fifth in the Nationals. The theme of the competition was "Frontiers ", and the young women did a masterful job of presenting the history of jazz in 9 minutes and 50 seconds via a slideshow and music accompaniment. There was a brief period of questions and discussion. Mr. Shannon thanked the girls and congratulated them on their placings in the State and National competition, and he complimented the girls on their original, well -done presentation. Dr. Munnelly thanked-Nancy and Rachel for their time in presenting "All that Jazz" to the School Committee and public. SUPERINTEDENT'S REPORT Dr. Munnelly had some updates for the School Committee. They were as follows: 0 Dr. Munnelly visited with President Dimitry and the staff at Northern Essex Community College to continue planning for the Community College Satellite Program in Reading. The school has brochures in press reflecting an assortment of offerings andlooks forward to a successful pilot year with Reading. Under the leadership of the new Summer School Director, Jeff Cryan, Reading's 1988 program is off to a flying start and doing well, despite the heat of the summer. • Committee Chairman George Sannon has received a check for $1,000 from the Woburn District Court in support of Reading's Substance Abuse program. A portion of fines collected by the court have been made available by the good work of Police Lt. Bob Silva and Prevention Educator Jane Fiore. Dr. Munnelly extended his thanks to Lt. Silva, Ms. Fiore and Judge Cullen of the Woburn District Court system. EVALUATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT Mr. Shannon and Mr. Nissen carried out the discussion summarizing the School Committee's assessment of Superintendent Munnelly's first year. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES 3 JULY 25, 1988 Five evaluations were given. Overall, all School Committee ratings were very positive for Dr. Munnelly and his first year. The major concern was, once again, the Gifted and Talented program. The School Committee felt the Superintendent had done a very good job of meeting his objectives, such as: the Early Childhood Development program, curriculum development, management programs and relations with the R.T.A. There was brief period of questions and discussion. Dr. Munnelly then distributed his End of the Year Report, a booklet prepared by him containing an overview of his first year as Superintendent. Dr. Munnelly then thanked the School Committee for their support and for making his first year a successful one. RE -EID •OF" THE FIELD HOUSE ROOF D & S Roofing and Sheetmetal Corporation, the second lowest bidder for the replacement of the Hawkes Field House roof, has protested the awarding of the bid to Stanley Roofing Company and has requested a hearing at the Department of Labor and Industries to determine if the Stanley Roofing Company should be disqualified and the contract awarded to the next lowest bidder, D & S Roofing and Sheetmetal Corporation. The basis of the protest is the amount of the bid security or bid •_ bond request when submitting a bid. Our specification required a certified check or bid bond in the amount of 5% of the base bid. Stanley met this requirement. D & S Roofing contends that the law requires an amount of 5% of the value of the bid which includes alternates. There is one alternate in the specifications. Peter Waltonen, attorney for the Department of Labor and Industries, has said that this is an arguable position-and.would hold a hearing. He felt, however, that the law intended that this bid security should be 5% of the value of the bid which would include all the alternatives included in the bid specifications. The hearing process could take from six to seven weeks before work could proceed with the project. By rescinding the award and proceeding to re -bid with correct specifications, we could accept the new bid August 10. Mr. Winslow has taken the necessary action to re -bid the project. He requests that the vote to rescind the vote of the July 11, 1988 meeting be in order. Barbara Philbrick made a motion to rescind the vote of July 11, 1988, awarding Stanley Roofing, Co., the bid to replace the Hawke's Field House roof. The motion was seconded by Carol Lyons. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES 4 JULY 25, 1988 There was a brief period of questions and discussion. The vote was 4 -1 -0 with Mr. Coco abstaining because he felt that the Committee voted in the true spirit of the bidding process and in no attempts to violate any laws. There was another period of questions and discussion pertaining to authorizing administration to accept the lowest bid of any pending matters, especially since it is the summer months and the School Committee meetings are fewer and farther apart. Barbara Philbrick made a motion to authorize administration to accept any of the lowest bidders on any project pending, from this time forward, due to meetings being fewer and farther apart. The motion was seconded y ''aroi Lyons. The vote was unanimous. PORTABLE CLASSROOM Dr. Munnelly is recommending to the School Committee that his earlier suggestion of one portable classroom be moved to the Barrows School, instead of the newly proposed two classrooms to the Birch Meadow School, remain the same. There was a period of questions and discussion. While on the subject of spacing, Mr. Shannon requested volunteers for the August 10th meeting of the Municipal Space Committee. Mr. Coco agreed to be the representative again for the School Committee. _•. GIFTED AND TALENTED DISCUSSION Ms. Bak prepared a presentation for this discussion on the Renzulli Gifted /Talented Model to follow -up from our last meeting. Ms. Bak highlighted the Renzulli triad model, descriptions of Type I, II and III activities and the hours necessary for each Parent /Teacher activities and involvement. Lynn informed members there are 112 children in the program which equals 13.7% of children in Grades 3, 4 and 5. There was a lengthy period of questions and discussion. The members asked Lynn to prepare a booklet with a synopsis of all the surveys she had conducted, by the next meeting. The parents in the audience were then invited to ask any questions or give any suggestions they might have. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING 5 JULY 25, 1988 FINANCIAL REPORTS Mr. Winslow readied a brief financial sum up of the 1987 -1988 school year, with various breakdowns for the School Committee members' information. Dr. Munnelly informed members that the total amount of funds to be returned to the Town from the past ,... year's budget is $13,125.00. The report, with more details, will be brought to the School Committee at a later date. There was a brief period of questions and discussion. CAFETERIA STATEMENT Dr. Munnelly distributed and discussed with School Committee members the cafeteria statement, with grand totals, to date. MICROSCOPE BID Mr. Winslow has tabulated, but has not completed, bids for student microscopes. Mr. Winslow will have prepared a final recommendation for the School Committee's approval at a later meeting. SCHOOL COMMITTEE AGENDA CALENDAR Dr. Munnelly introduced a draft School Committee agenda calendar for the 1988 -1989 school year. Last year, it was found to be helpful to have an agenda calendar to help the School Committee ., flow evenly through the year. Dr. Munnelly has started working on 1988- 1989's agenda calendar and administration is seeking input from members into the planning process. With any suggestions School Committee members might have, administration can add, delete or revise any issues and a finished document can be prepared for the late August meeting. Dr. Munnelly and Mr. Shannon requested that if any members had any revisions to this draft calendar, please contact the Chairman or the Superintendent via letter or telephone. There was a brief discussion period. RESIGNATIONS Administration is anticipating a formal resignation from Barry Low, Director of Music, who has been offered, and accepted, a similar position in Bedford. Reading will miss Barry, but wish him well in his new undertaking. The position has been advertised and Ms. Bak hopes to get the interviewing process underway as soon as possible. Dr. Munnelly wanted to clarify that Susan Horn, teacher aide, did not resign and will continue working as an aide at the Birch Meadow School for the 1988 -1989 school year. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES 6 JULY 25, 1988 LEAVES Stan Nissen made a motion to approve the recommendation of administration for a child - rearing leave of absence for Betty May Graham, for the 1988 -1989 school year. The motion was seconded by by Barbara Philbrick. The vote was unanimous. Stan Nissen made a motion to approve the recommendation of administration for a leave of absence for personal reasons for Patricia Cignetti, teacher aide at Joshua Eaton School, for the 1988 -1989 school year. The motion was seconded by Barbara Philbrick. The vote was unanimous. APPOINTMENTS Stan Nissen made a motion to approve the recommendation of administration to appoint Mr. John McHugh to the position of Social Studies Department Head at the Parker Middle School, for the 1988 -1989 school year. The motion was seconded by Carol Lyons. The vote was unanimous. Richard Coco made a motion to approve the recommendation of administration for appointments, as shown on Enclosure F and Addendum F, for the 1988 -1989 school year. The motion was seconded by Barbara Philbrick. The vote was unanimous. ADJOURNMENT At 10:35 p.m. there being no further business in regular session, the Committee unanimously voted to ajourn and go into Executive "'' Session_