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Home My WebLink About2001-10-29 School Committee Minutes READING SCHOOL COMMITTEE Reading, Massachusetts �;NG, �� I7nnnn'' S. REGULAR SESSION Ocm1117 w� 2 O] �' 53 CALL TO ORDER At 6:30 p.m. Chair Twomey called the meeting to order. Present were School Committee members Cavicchi. Dahl, Griset. Russo and I womey. Also present were Superintendent Hartnunian and Associate Superintendent Richards. Mr. Keigley arrived during executive session EXECUTIVE SESSION At 6:30 p.m. Ms. Cavicchi moved to enter into executive session for the purpose of conducting strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations wit the teachers' association, secretaries and clerks, nurses, custodial maintenance workers cafeteria emplovees, educational assistants and administrators principals assistant principals, directors, Superintendent and Associate Superintendent to discuss pending litigation, to discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices and to approve executive session minutes. To return to regular session at approximately 7:00 p.m. Mr. Griset seconded the motion Ms Cavicchi Mr. Dahl Mr. Griset, Mr. 4 Russo and Mr. Twomey voted yes. (ALL RACK TO ORDER At 7:05 p.m. Chair ]womey called the meeting back to order in the RMI IS lecture hall. All School Committee members, Dr. Harutunian and Associate Superintendent Richards were present. STATEMENTS RMI IS senior Laura Hardin. Class Advisor.Jim De6enedietis and Principal Frank Orlando all spoke against an article that appeared in the Reading Chronicle stipposediNr from the senior class to the town regarding pumpkining. All three described the letter as poorly written and wanted to go on record that the letter was not composed by anyone with the knowledge of the senior class officers, advisors or the principal. Mr. Orlando stated that he was disappointed that the Chronicle would print such an article without tirst checking their source. All agreed that whoever wrote that letter did not represent the Class of 3002. Chair"fwomey spoke on behalf of the School Committee and echoed the It of the previous speakers with the article in the Chronicle. He thanked Ms. Hardin, Mr. DeRenedictis and Mr. Orlando for their comments. REG ULAR SESSION 2 October 29,2001 CITIZENS' INPUT Ms. Mary Bishop asked about the agenda item Bills and Payrolls. Chair"I womey explained that Bills & Payrolls are the official vehicles through which the school department pays vendors and employees. He stated that Bills & Payroll must he approved by the School Committee. Michelle Carrick stated that she would like the School Committee to put the issue of school nurses on as an agenda item at a future meeting. 'The Committee agreed to put an item on the November 27°i agenda to discuss nursing. BARROWS PROJECT Beth Klepeis, Mown Treasurer_ Robert Pierce.architect. Dom Cacciapuoti and Bill Hill of maintenance and Barrows Principal Karen Callan discussed what work could he done at the Barrows School with the $186.000 that needs to be spent prior to December 31". ,r Mr. Russo moved to authorize the Superintendent to go out to bid for the four items for the Barrows' protect listed to the memorandum of October 25,2001 and to come back to the Committee with the lowest bids Ms Cavicchi seconded the motion The vote was 6-0 Ms. Cavicchi Mr. Dahl Mr. Grise[ Mr. Keilgley, Mr. Russo and Mr. Twomey. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Dr. Harutunian advised that a sign will be placed in the Town Common recognizing Reading's teams. clubs, band, drama for their achievements. The achievement of each team will he posted on the sign for one year. Dr. Harutunian advised that the DPW has agreed to do the work to upgrade the track and will be paid by the school department. Mr. Dahl advised that the Finance Committee unanimously supported the School Building Committee article requesting $500,000 for the high school renovation. Dr. I larumnian updated the Committee on the status of the release of MCAS test results. Dr. Harutunian thanked Associate Superintendent Richards and all the stafT'for their work on curriculum. REGULAR SESSION 3 October 29, 2001 CURRICULUM PRESENTATION Mr. Richards thanked all the staff who crone out this evening to make this presentation to the School Committee and all staff who work each day with Reading students to make sure that each students receives the instruction that is best for him or her. Mr. Richards outlined how the curriculum leadership works together to ensure that K-12 leadership teams ensure that decisions- made at one level are in concert with the other locks. Mathematics The mathematics curriculum leadership of Frank Orlando. Paul Guerrette. John Doherty, Pete Moscariello, Chris Reford and Karen Macari updated the Committee on the mathematics curriculum. Dr. Hal utunian advised that there is a more than 50% reduction in math failures at the high school thanks to Pete Moscariello, Mr. Russo asked how we measure results of curriculum initiatives. Dr. Harutunian stated that MCAS. SAT and Stanford results help to measure curriculum. Mr. Russo stated that he would like to further discuss how results are measured. Chair Twomey thanked the mathematics curriculum leadership. English Language Arts Middle School and High School the secondary English language arts leadership of Mike Scarpitto. Ron Howland. Gare Hart and Ellen Howland updated the Committee on the secondary English language arts curriculum. Dr. Harutunian advised that WAS failures at RMHS have been cut in half. Mrs. Cavicchi stated that she was pleased to see that independent reading is an important aspect of the curriculum. Chair"fwomey thanked the English language arts leadership. English Language Arts - Elementary "I he elementary English language arts leadership of Patty deGaravilla, Debra Kwiatek. Kristen Kaufman and Keri DiNapoli updated the Committee on the elementary English [ language arts curriculum. REGULAR SESSION 4 October 29 2001 Chair Twomey thanked the English language arts leadership. Mr. Russo stated that the schools have spent $500,000 to implement this curriculum. He asked what tests were being given to validate the results otthe curriculum initiative. Dr. HarmUnian stated that in the next 3-5 years we can expect to sec the results in MCAS scores. He stated that results on a curriculum initiative are not immediate and the critical time is at the end of the 2nd and 3" years of implementation. At 9:15 p.m. the Committee took at 5-minute break. Foreign Language Tom DiSanzo and Anne Saurman updated the Committee on the foreign language curt Icldum, Chair Twomey thanked the foreign language leadership. Science John Doherty. Richard Davidson, Cheryl O'Brien,Carol Galvin, Ann Harney, Karen Rickershauser updated the Committee on the science cunieulum. Chair Twomey thanked the science leadership. Social Studies Karen Callan, Joe Finigan,Tom Darrin„ Amy Shine Jones. Rosemary Palmer updated the Committee on the social studies curriculum. Chan 'I womey thanked the social studies leadership. Chair Twomey also thanked Dennis Richards for providing overall structure and leadership for curriculum leadership. REGULAR SESSION 5 October 29,2001 EXECUTIVE SESSION At 10:10 p.m. Ms. Cavicchi moved to adjourn from regular session and return to executive session for the Purpose of conducting strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations wit the teachers' association secretaries and clerks nurses custodial maintenance workers, cafeteria employees educational assistants and administrators, principals assistant principals directors Superintendent and Associate Superintendent to discuss pending litigation to discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices and to approve executive session minutes not to return to regular session. Mr. Griset seconded the motion Ms Cas icchi Mr. Dahl Mr. Griset, Mr. Keiglev Mr. Russo and Mr. Twomev voted yes Respectfully submitted, C , K.GG l carry K. Harutunian, Ph.D. 4 Superintendent of Schools 4