HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-06-22 School Committee Minutes •-.-0FR''e
7. E �� Town of Reading
r1 Meeting Minutes
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
School Committee
Date: 2015-06-22 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: School - Memorial High Location: Superintendent Conference Room
Address: 82 Oakland Road
Purpose: Open Session Session: General Session
Attendees: Members - Present:
Linda Snow Dockser John Doherty, Superintendent
Jeanne Borawski Martha Sybert, Director of Finance
Chuck Robinson Craig Martin, Assistant Superintendent
Gary Nihan
Elaine Webb
Julie Joyce
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Dorothy Presser, MASC
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: John F. Doherty, Ed.D. Superintendent
Topics of Discussion:
I. Call to Order
Chair Robinson called the School Committee to order at 7:05 p.m.
II. Recommended Procedure
A. New Business
District Governance Program Presentation
Dorothy Presser of the MASC will be facilitating our workshop on the District
Governance Support Project. She described the foundational beliefs of the project
which include an overarching mission of continuous improvement in student
achievement. Effective leadership to support student achievement requires a good
working relationship between the Superintendent and the School Committee. Ms.
Presser went on to explain that tonight's workshop will focus on Operating
Protocols. Objectives for tonight's workshop are to understand the importance of
working collaboratively as a School Committee-Superintendent team, to ensure
members are on the "same page" about how the team will treat each other and
operate and to begin to develop operating protocols that can be voted on.
Effective "teams"understand and respect that their roles are different but
complementary, there is agreement of how to operate and communicate, the focus
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is on policy and district goals and the meetings are run efficiently and in a
business-like manner.
Ms. Presser then defined the roles of the Committee and Superintendent. The
Committee is in a leadership/governance role and acts as a bridge between the
Superintendent and the community. The Superintendent is in a
leadership/management role recommending and implementing policy and goals
and acts as a bridge between the staff and the school committee. Both the
committee and Superintendent promote trust and mutual respect.
The School Committee participated in two exercises to gather information in
preparation of developing their operating protocols. After the exercises Mrs.
Presser provided a definition of what operating protocols are and what they are
not. It is important to adopt protocols to help members develop a better working
relationship among themselves and between members and the Superintendent, to
articulate and preserve what's going well, to increase the efficiency of committee
meetings and to help the committee focus its energy and effort and work as a
team.
Discussion regarding the agenda items and how the meeting agendas were
developed were discussed. The agenda is driven by the district goals and
requirements by law, regulation and statute.
The School Committee decided to develop a draft set of protocols and chose a
date for the next workshop. It was decided that a half hour at the next workshop
would be used to discuss and vote on the protocols before moving onto the next
workshop. It was decided that the Committee will meet on September 26th at 8
a.m.
III. Adjournment
Mrs. Borawski moved, seconded by Mrs. Webb,to move into executive
session to conduct contract negotiations with non-union personnel and not to
return to open session. The roll call vote carried 6-0. Mr. Nihan,Dr. Snow
Dockser, Mrs. Webb, Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Joyce and Mrs. Borawski.
The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not
the order they occurred during the meeting.
Jo , F. Doherty, d.D.
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