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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-23 School Committee MinutesTown of Reading EMeeting Minutes 63$. t!Y(OR Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee Date: 2017-01-23 Building: School - Memorial High Address: 62 Oakland Road Purpose: Open Session Attendees: Members - Present: RECEIVED TOWN CLERK READING. MP SS. 1011 MAR 13 P 1.- 311 Time: 7:00 PM Location: RMHS Schettini Library Session: Open Session Version: Final Jeanne Borawski, Chuck Robinson, Elaine Webb, Linda Snow Dockser, Gary Nihan, Nick Boivin Members - Not Present: Student Representative Mario Cutone Others Present: Superintendent John Doherty, Director of Finance Gail Dowd, Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson, Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin, RMHS Department Head Kristin Killian, RMHS Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Tom Zaya, Director of Nursing Lynn Dunn, Network Administrator Julian Carr, RISE Preschool Director Debbie Butts, Wood End principal Joanne King, Killam principal Sarah Leveque, Barrows principal Heather Leonard, Fincom members Paula Perry & Mark Dockser, Director of Social Emotional Learning Sara Burd, Technician Karen Sawyer, BCBA Lisa Studer, RPS Team Chairs, RPS Budget parents, RMHS Student Representative Alex Nazzaro Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Linda Engelson on behalf of the Chair Topics of Discussion: I. Call to Order Chair Borawski called the School Committee to order at 7:04 p.m. and reviewed the agenda. IT Recommended Procedure A. Public Comment Reading resident Bill Brown shared some historical information with the School Committee and said that he would be marking his 50th year as a member of Town Meeting this spring. B. Consent A eg nda There was no consent agenda. C. Reports Page 1 1 Student Representatives Student Representative Alex Nazzaro reported on the following: • RMHS midterms and Real World Problem Solving • Drama will be presenting 12 Dancing Princesses the first weekend in February • The second semester began today Liaison's Report Dr. Snow Dockser reported on the Martin Luther King celebration. She thanked all that made this event a success. Mrs. Borawski said the MLK celebration was a phenomenal event and thanked Dr. Snow Dockser for her hard work. Dr. Snow Dockser also attended the Missing Voices presentation at RMHS. The presentations focused on how to make the Grade 9-12 English Curriculum more diverse and reflective of the issues of today's society. This course is part of a series of new Senior English Elective Courses designed by the RMHS English Department to stretch the thinking of our students and help prepare them for the next step in their educational journey. Mrs. Webb reported that she found a letter written by her in 1984 advocating for keeping the Fine/Industrial Arts programs so the proposed cuts to programs is not a new thing. She also asked the committee to consider discussion on an April override after the vote on the budget. Mrs. Borawski said that the committee needs to pass a budget based on no override. The committee members were comfortable delaying any discussion on an override until after they vote on the budget. Director of Student Services Mrs. Wilson reminded the community that the SEPAC will be meeting on Saturday morning. D. Old Business There was no old business. E. New Business FY2018 Budget Presentation Special Revenue Funds Page 1 2 Mrs. Dowd reviewed the federal and state grants received by the district. She wanted the committee to be aware that the Federal grants are on a different fiscal year calendar. Dr. Nihan asked that Mrs. Dowd provide a brief overview of each grant for the public. Mrs. Dowd provided a brief overview of each grant. • Title 1 - this grant is used to address the needs of students in the low income category. Most of the funding goes to Joshua Eaton and Killam • Title 2A — this grant is used for student achievement across the district Mr. Robinson asked why FYI is less. Mrs. Dowd said we are using carried over funding. • 94 142 IDEA grant — this is an entitlement grant used to fund eligible professional development, staffing and services for special education • Early Childhood — this is also an entitlement grant for RISE • SPED PD — we are using this grant funding to address our Level 3 ranking addressing specific focus areas • School Transformation Grant — MTSS — used to build capacity of staff. We carried forward $250,000. We are in the Yd year of the 5 -year grant • METCO — this grant is used for transportation/operations of the program, the Director's salary and an offset • Circuit Breaker — this grant allows the district to claim students that are more expensive than the foundation amount. Students on IEPs fall into this category. The Town receives approximately a 75% return. Mrs. Dowd reviewed the grant funded positons and revolving accounts. She shared that the revolving account use is governed by MGL. She said we are keeping a close eye on offsets/accounts working closely with the Town Accountant. She reviewed the decrease in grants/offsets resulting in budget reduction increases. Dr. Doherty added that the reduction amount of $277,072 is part of the reason for the deficit. We need to make these accounts sustainable. Mr. Robinson asked if it would be worth meeting with the auditors to discuss the fiscal situation. Dr. Doherty responded that we are taking guidance from the report to keep the revolving funds sustainable. Selectman John Arena asked about drawing down the revolving accounts. Dr. Doherty said it depends on the account, right now we are keeping a closer look at the athletics and use of school property accounts. Dr. Nihan added that we are working on steadying the ship. Mr. Arena asked when the funds are drawn. The response was at the end of the year. Dr. Doherty shared that we will not need the 2.0 FTE elementary level cuts due to the lower kindergarten/grade 1 projected enrollment. We will be able to maintain class size ranges within the School Committee recommendations. Mr. Arena asked how this savings will be described and feels that language is important. He asked what has changed. Page 1 3 Mrs. Borawski said that a reduction in enrollment is a reduction in expense. Mrs. Borawski said many of the themes discussed arose during the submission of questions. Dr. Doherty thanked Mrs. Dowd, Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Martin for the quick turnaround of the questions submitted. Professional Development Dr. Doherty reviewed the purpose of professional development in Reading. PD is used for the alignment of curriculum and instruction to new state standards, to address our urgent responsibility to emerge from Level 3 accountability rating, to better prepare our teachers to meet the rigors of state frameworks in ELA, Math & Science, Massachusetts General Law and DESE guidelines require school districts to annually implement professional development for all administrators, teachers, and other professional staff, to set forth a budget of professional development within the confines of the foundation budget, and districts have an obligation by law to provide no -cost options for educators to renew Professional Licensure and it is necessary to attract and retain the most qualified staff. The Superintendent reviewed the teacher work year and professional development. The teacher's work contractual work year is 185 days with the base salary based on these days. To make a change to the number of non -student days would require collective bargaining. The district offers tuition reimbursement per the contracts of 3 of the collective bargaining units; teachers, secretaries and paraeducators. Mr. Nihan left the meeting at 8:43 p.m. Dr. Doherty said that tuition reimbursement helps us attract qualified staff. Districtwide professional development was reviewed next. This is not contractual and not required. This line item represents the funding that may be allocated for professional development trainings aligned with curriculum work and district goals. He pointed out that two years ago the funds in this line were _reallocated to provide coaching support to staff and with the reduction of an instructional coach in this budget and as well as reductions in the discretionary funding in this line and special education professional development, the district anticipates an increasing challenge in continuing to provide effective curriculum/instruction support to staff. Mr. Nihan returned at 8:47 p.m. The substitute coverage budget line was discussed next. Substitute coverage is used to contract with substitute teachers when a classroom teacher may need coverage during the school year in order to work with individual students, participate in training, attend professional development, observe another classroom etc. If teachers were to participate in professional development outside of the class day it would be costlier to the district. Substitutes are used for a variety of professional development activities including trainings, IEP meetings, data team meetings, mentor training and Open Circle training. Page 14 Mr. Boivin asked if we have always used substitutes for coverage. Dr. Doherty indicated that we use a combination of paraeducators and substitutes. District funding is allocated to provide stipends to staff as defined in the teachers' collective bargaining agreement. These stipends are paid to staff that take on leadership roles on curriculum committees, as elementary assistant principals & teacher mentors, clubs and activities. Mr. Arena asked for examples of how teachers learn from professional development opportunities. Mr. Martin said workshops, the ability to collaborate with peers and visiting each other's classrooms allow for the sharing of teaching strategies. Mr. Arena followed up asking what evidence is there of teacher competency at the end of the professional development activity. Mr. Martin answered saying through district common assessments and the teacher's ability to teach. Dr. Doherty added that through the teacher evaluation process teachers are observed and are also eligible for PDPs. Mr. Arena asked if there is a minimum number of hours required. Dr. Doherty said we are required to provide no cost options and there is no set number of hours. Alicia Williams, parent, asked why other districts had only one day of professional development prior to the opening of school and Reading has two days. Dr. Doherty said the two days prior to the start of school is part of the collective bargaining agreement. Sherri VandenAkker, parent, asked for clarification, stating our teachers are paid on the lower end versus our comparable communities with 185 days. Dr. Doherty said that was correct. Dr. Doherty reviewed the organizational chart and reviewed the job descriptions of the Central Office administrators and support staff, building principals and secretaries. He went on to point out that this is not the first year we have had to make reductions. Since FY 13 reductions have been made, trying to stay away from classroom positions as much as possible. The Superintendent also reviewed transportation costs and the building based budgets. The building based budgets are used to fund the day to day operations of the school. Mrs. Borawski reviewed the next steps in the process. For the meeting on Thursday evening she asked the committee members to provide a list of other potential cuts and another list of potential add -ins. She asked that questions be sent to the Superintendent, chair and vice chair prior to the meeting stating everything is on the table. Page 1 5 r She feels it is unlikely the committee will vote on the budget on Thursday night and scheduled a meeting for Monday January 30th. III. Routine Matters a. Bills and Payroll (A) Warrant S 1730 11.19.17 1 $152,963.18 b. Calendar IV. Information V. Future Business VI. Adjournment Adjourn Mr. Boivin moved, seconded by Mr. Robinson, to adjourn. The motion carried 6-0. The meeting adjourned at 10.35 p.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. -10 n F. Doherty, Ed.D. Page 1 6