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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-04-02 School Committee Minutes READING SCHOOL COMMITTEE Reading, Massachusetts Regular Session April 2, 2001 Chair Cavicchi called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Superintendent's Conference Room. Present were School Committee Members Cavicchi, Dahl, D'Antona, Griset and Keigley. EXECUTIVE SESSION Mr. Griset made a motion to enter into executive session for the purpose of conducting strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with the Teachers' Association. Secretaries& Clerks,Nurses, Custodial Maintenance Workers, Cafeteria Employees,Educational Assistants and Administrators, to discuss the possible sale or lease of real estate and to discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices to return to regular session at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Keialev seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 Ms. Cavicchi, Mr. Dahl,Ms. D'Antona,Mr. Griset and Mr. Keigley. CALL BACK TO ORDER Chair Cavicchi called the meeting back to order at 7:38 p.m. School Committee Members Cavicchi, Dahl, D'Amona, Griset and Keigley were present. Superintendent Harutuhian and Associate Superintendent Richards were also present. BILLS & PAYROLL There were no bills and payroll. CITIZEN'S INPUT There was no citizen input. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Mr. Dahl thanked the organizers of the Coolidge Spelling Bee. He stated that the Spelling Bee was a wonderful event, a well organized and successful fundraiser for the Coolidge PTO. FY02 BUDGET Dr. Harutunian advised that the Board had asked him to go back and look at the FY02 budget and add two elementary teachers. He stated that he had been working to investigate the threat at the high school, and he was unable to prepare a concrete proposal Regular Session 2 April 2,2001 for the Board to review. He asked if the Committee would vote the budget figure this evening and meet again to discuss ways to fund the positions. Ms. D'Antona stated that she recognizes that it is imperative to vote on the budget due to time constraints. She stated that she would reluctantly support the budget figure. She is uncomfortable supporting this recommendation due to class size concerns and the only caveat that makes her able to support the budget is the fact that we will continue to look for other ways to fund teachers. He stated that there is a possibility that funding for one teacher could be done with grant money. Mr. Dahl stated that would reluctantly support the budget. He stated that tough choices will have to be made and although he believes class size is a fundamental issue, in these financial times there are many fundamental issues that must be weighed. Mr. Griset stated that he would support the budget but was in no way pleased with having to reduce teaching staff, especially in the elementary grades. He stated that the reality is without an override we cannot continue to operate at the same level we operate at now. Mr. Griset stated his concern that no one level within the district should be asked to shoulder an unfair amount of the burden,the pain must be spread equally among the levels. Mr. Keigley stated that he would support the budget. Class size is not his top priority. He sated that updating the curriculum needs to be funded and is imperative to the school district. He stated that small class sizes will not help if we do not have the curriculum in place for teachers. Mr. Dahl made a motion to approve the Superintendent's non-override budget as reflected in his non-override handout dated March 28,2001 which reduces the overall budeet by $961,664. Mr. Griset seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 Ms. Cavicchi, Mr. Dahl,Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Griset and Mr. Keiglev. Ms. Phillips asked if the Coolidge Middle School 1.2 teaching positions is still in the budget. Dr. Harmunian advised that it was included in the override and non-override budgets. Ms. Phillips asked how the position could be rationalized when enrollment is only up 12 students. Reaular Session 3 April 2, 2001 Dr. Harutunian explained that overall enrollment may only be increasing by 12 students at the middle schools but the problem is that Parker will have a slight decline in enrollment but not enough to eliminate a teacher and the incoming 61h grade at Coolidge is coming in with approximately 30 more students and another team needs to be added to handle the increase. EXECUTIVE SESSION At 8:15 p.m. Mr. Griset made a motion to reconvene into executive session for the reasons previously stated not to return to regular session. Mr. Dahl seconded the motion. The vote was 5-0 Ms. Cavicchi, Mr. Dahl,Ms. D'Antona. Mr. Griset and Mr. Kefalev. Respectfully submitted, Harry K. Harutunian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools