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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-05 School Committee Minutes DAN OFR ,. Town of Reading Meeting Minutes ='C'EI V E D s�9+1NCORg� R f r f �e R�,A. 4 n:..� - a.�f ti� Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee 2018 MAY 15 Pfd 1:21 Date: 2018-03-05 Time: 7:00 PM Building: School - Memorial High Location: Superintendent Conference Room Address: 82 Oakland Road Session: Open Session Purpose: Open Session Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Chuck Robinson, Sherri Vanden Akker, Nick Boivin, Jeanne Borawski, Linda Snow Dockser, and Elaine Webb Members - Not Present: Student Representatives Cutone Others Present: Superintendent John Doherty, Director of Finance Gail Dowd, Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin, Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson, RPS Administrators Joanne King, LisaMarie Ippolito, Human Resourses Administrator Jenn Bove, Student Representative Catie Coumounduros, Al Sylvia - Reading Chronicle Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Linda Engelson on behalf of the Chair Topics of Discussion: I. Call to Order Chair Robinson reviewed the agenda and called the meeting to order and reviewed the agenda. II. Recommended Procedure A. Public Comment Melissa Cataldo,parent of an incoming full day kindergarten student, stated that she supports dedicated classrooms for full day kindergarten and class sizes within the recommended guidelines. She asked the School Committee to do what is educationally best for the kids. Rebecca Liberman asked why there has been no hearing scheduled to discuss Mr. Boivin's budget proposal to restore teaching positions. Chair Robinson said the budget proposal was thoroughly deliberated for over an hour and feels it is not the appropriate time to reopen discussion. The Committee is bound by Town Charter and By-Laws to meet deadlines to submit the budget to the Town Manager. Page 1 1 r � B. Consent A eg nda Mrs. Webb asked if the committee wanted anything to be removed from the consent agenda. Mr. Boivin would like the anonymous donation, REF donation and the donation to Birch Meadow removed to be discussed separately. Consent A eg nda Accept a Donation to the Wood End School Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to approve the consent agenda as amended. The motion carried 6-0. Accept a Donation from the Reading Education Foundation Accept an Anonymous Donation Accept a Donation to the Birch Meadow School Mr. Boivin asked if there were any strings attached regarding the anonymous donation. Mrs. Dowd assured him there were none. He also would like to have the letters from the sources on the Birch Meadow and REF donations. These donations will be added to the consent agenda of the next meeting. Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mr. Boivin, to approve the anonymous donation in the amount of$12,000 to be used for social emotional learning at the middle school level. The motion carried 6-0. C. Old Business Joshua Eaton School Improvement Plan Update Joshua Eaton principal LisaMarie Ippolito thanked her staff that were in attendance this evening. She began with School Improvement Goal#1 —Literacy. Joshua Eaton will continue to improve student performance in English Language Arts moving towards full adoption of the Readers and Writers Workshop model. The staff is working to achieve this goal by administering a staff survey to inventory the Reading & Writing workshop material each teacher has in their classroom. Provide access to new Units of Study in Reading by Lucy Calkins to all teaching staff and offer opportunities to unpack and become familiar with units, continue to plan and design standards-based units of instruction in Balanced Literacy to meet the needs of all children, implement and assess students' writing using Units of Study by Lucy Calkins according to an assessment calendar,utilize the Fountas &Pinnell Benchmark Assessment to track student progress three times a year, review and identify 2017 MA ELA Literacy standard for each grade level K—5 to align Calkin's units of study, teachers will implement Literacy Intervention Blocks targeting specific skills based on individual student needs, each teacher creates a goal to improve student literacy as part of their educator evaluation plan, utilize the Mystic Valley Elder Services adult readers in grades K —2 to support student reading,professional development for grades K-2 in Page 1 2 Readers/Writers Workshop and report out to teacher's historical data and collect data throughout the school year. All grades were given the Fountas &Pinnell Benchmark assessment. She explained that kindergarteners through grade 2 are learning to read and grades 3 — 5 are reading to learn. She reviewed the early reading inventory for both kindergarten and grade one. This inventory includes items such as letter sounds and identification, initial sound matching,blending words and segmenting. School Improvement Goal#2—Improve communication among students, parents, staff and community, through increased communication to focus on learning and facilitate more effective instruction and accountability. This will be achieved by utilizing and keeping the school website up to date to communicate school policies,procedures, events and school news, offer families resources and activities that, support student academic and social/emotional success through the school website, Jaguar Tracks, Facebook and Twitter,promote positive news about Joshua Eaton through community media, support to improve overall awareness and understanding of school policies, procedures, and pertinent issues through a monthly parent forum face to face, and provide staff training on the use of Portal Plus to support family communication. She explained that through the collaboration with the PTO, Jaguar Tracks is the weekly newsletter made available to all families. Students are recognized through school news bulletin boards for exhibiting the core values of Joshua Eaton and the monthly parent cafes have been a popular addition with a variety of topics discussed. School Improvement Goal#3 —Our goal for the 2017— 18 school year is to improve student's daily attendance as evidenced by a 10% decrease in the number of students absent for more than 10 days in a school year and to increase all student's days in school. This will be accomplished by improving students' attendance through positive relationships, community building activities, family engagement, student support, research trends within school, as well as, compare to state rates and trends with the intent to keep current data that pinpoints areas in need of focus, implement student recognition programs that acknowledge students with positive attendance rates, create and implement a system of outreach and provide remediation to students and families who demonstrate high rates of absenteeism,using school based data to target students who demonstrate high rates of attendance concerns,provide weekly attendance rate percentage to families with goal to maintain 98% or above, and attend professional development and seek outside resources to support strategies for students to attend school. The Student Council has been involved in spreading the word on the importance of attending school by creating skits performed at all school assemblies and school-wide posters. Attendance trends are tracked by building leadership team data dives, school advisory council, Jaguar Tracks, letters home to families with 5+ absences and phone calls to families. There have been many activities and events that promote the whole child including family fitness night, spelling bee, read-a-thon, open circle and zone of regulation, PTO events and enrichment. Page 1 3 Mrs. Webb is happy with the great trends and asked what the challenges are to keep communication going. Mrs. Ippolito said the staff is extremely motivated but know there is a long way to go. It is important to recognize the good work that has been done to date. Dr. Vanden Akker asked about the dips in the Fountas &Pinnell data between summer and fall. Dr. Snow Dockser asked how the Mystic Valley Elder Readers were managed. Mrs. Ippolito said they are trained by Mystic Valley and the kids love having them come in. Mrs. Borawski congratulated Mrs. Ippolito on the progress made and asked how the data is used to assess grades 3 —5. Mrs. Ippolito said a quick snapshot is taken and implement interventions and modeling. She followed up by asking how balance in the curriculum is maintained. The answer was collaboration between teachers during grade level meetings and other meeting times. Mr. Boivin asked how the subpopulations were performing. Mrs. Ippolito said the students are showing excellent growth. The students are receiving resources and supports for growth and success. Parent Alicia Williams asked how many Lexia licenses we own. The answer was 110. She followed up by asking how many Mrs. Ippolito would like to have. Her answer was 400. Mrs. Williams asked how they get around having only the 110 units. Mrs. Ippolito said adaptations have been made to address the shortage. Students in grades 2—5 are assessed online,the teachers gather data and have access to the digital tools in paper form that they use for interventions and communication home. Mrs. Williams said that the 2nd edition of Lexia is being used across the district and the 3`d edition is being used at Joshua Eaton. She asked why this is the case and are there plans to purchase the 3`d edition to be used across the district. Dr. Doherty indicated that these kits are very expensive and we have limited funding therefore the decision was made to use the 3`d editions at Eaton. Chair Robinson thanked Mrs. Ippolito for the presentation and called a brief recess at 8:22 p.m. The meeting was called back to order at 8:26 p.m. Quarterly Personnel Report Human Resource Administrator Jenn Bove reviewed the quarterly personnel report for the period of December 5, 2017—February 26, 2018. The district has added 5 new professional employees including paraeducators and a custodian. Paraeducators have been added to address the need in the sub-separate RISE classroom. She went onto review the open positions. Mrs. Borawski asked about the open TSP teacher at the high school. Ms. Bove shared that the paraeducator in this program has been working closely with these students. Mrs. Wilson said the students are supported by a licensed Special Education teacher and Social Worker as well. Mrs. Webb asked for a description of the TSP program. Page 1 4 Mrs. Wilson said this program services students with social emotional needs in small group or inclusive settings. Quarterly FY2018 Update Mrs. Dowd reviewed the budget status as of February 26, 2018. We currently have an unencumbered balance of$166,515. She reviewed each category and cost center. The projected Administration Cost Center surplus of$11,325 reflects savings from the anticipated additional hours (internal and external) for additional support to assist the Director of Finance and the business office. The projected Regular Day Cost Center surplus of$317,557 is due to salary savings spread across all eight schools associated with staff turnover, retirements, timing differences of when positions were filled during the year, as well as the impact of unpaid leaves of absence. The salary savings are offset by an increase in transportation reflecting the addition of a non-mandated bus as well as an increase in homeless transportation(mandated). The projection also reflects restoring the district-wide instructional technology funding and the substitute teacher funding that were removed from the final FY18 budget. Also included within the current projection is funding to replace classroom emergency backpacks and safety supplies as part of our safety plans. These amounts will continue to be monitored throughout the fiscal year. The Special Education Cost Center is projected to have a deficit of$205,708. The deficit reflects a change in out-of-district placements and associated transportation of$169,611. In addition, the projected deficit reflects costs associated with consultation services, legal services and home hospital/tutoring services. The Special Education Cost Center also reflects additional staffing at RISE related to the new sub-separate classroom and the need for an additional paraprofessional, Birch Meadow tied to a required 1:1 paraeducator and additional Killam staffing for the TSP program for 45-day extended evaluations being performed at Killam rather than being out-sourced. The District Wide Programs Cost Center(comprised of Health Services, Extra Curricular, Athletics and Technology) is currently projected to have a surplus of $28,823 which is the result of salary savings due to staff turnover. The School Building Maintenance (Facilities) Cost Center is currently projected to have a surplus of$14,517 which is the result of salary savings from staff turnover and unpaid leaves of absence and the removal of the custodial longevity from the contract which was finalized after the budget was approved. Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mr. Boivin,to approve the transfer of $225,000 to the Special Education Cost Center from the Regular Day Cost Center. Mrs. Borawski asked about the extraordinary aid. Mrs. Dowd said it would be used for mandatory training and in person training and that the district is moving forward with the process. Page 1 5 The motion carried 6-0. D. New Business Vote to Endorse the Override Ballot Question Mr. Robinson said that this vote is to affirm the override. The School Committee voted to endorse the override vote in the Fall 2016 as well. Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Dr. Snow Dockser, to endorse the proposed override. The motion carried 6-0. E. Reports Liaison Mrs. Webb reported that the Taste of Metro North is scheduled for March 14th and Understanding Disabilities Star Gala is on March 23ra Dr. Snow Dockser reported that the SEPAC will hold their next meeting on March 12th in the Superintendent's Conference Room and the Reading& Stoneham SEPAC will be hosting a presentation by Sarah Ward entitled "Executive Function in School Students" on March 20th. She reminded the community of the new resident open house at the Reading Public Library on March 20tH Dr. Vanden Akker reported that she attended the REF Musical Bingo fundraiser. The event was sold out and a lot of fun. Assistant Superintendent Mr. Martin reminded the community of the presentation by David Walsh on March 22"d Superintendent Dr. Doherty reported that ALICE drills have been scheduled in all schools and the high school drill was held today. March 14th is the scheduled National Student Walkout Day. The administration has been working with the student leadership to ensure that the event will be safe and student driven. Other Chronicle reporter Al Sylvia asked about the status of the high school principal search. Dr. Doherty said it was still in process. Page 1 6 Michele Sanphy, YES for Reading, thanked the Committee for voting to endorse the override and asked if the Committee would send letters to the media outlets, either individually or as a group or tape a comment at RCTV. Mr. Boivin made a statement indicating he was no longer in favor of addressing his budget proposal at this point. He apologized to the Superintendent for his tone at the last meeting. III. Routine Matters a. Bills and Payroll (A) b. Calendar IV.Information/Correspondence V. Future Business VI.Adjournment Adjourn Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to adjourn. The motion carried 6-0, The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. Jon Doherty, D. Sup r ntendent of Schools Page 1 7