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Home My WebLink About2023-02-16 ad Hoc - School Committee Policy Subcommittee Minutesgy` ��- ." Town of Reading-R*ECEIVEU Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK READING, MA. izim Board - Committee - commission - Council: 2823 APR 18 AM 8: 19 School Committee Policy Subcommittee UF.SF-1iIrY#II4�F rflT-1ti#L1du� Building: Location: Address: Session: Purpose: Open Session Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Erin Gaffen, Tom Wise, and Chuck Robinson Members - Not Present: Others Present: Director of Finance & Operations Susan Bottan Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Tom Wise, Chair Topics of Discussion: The meeting was held remotely via Zoom. A recording of the meeting can be found here. Chair Wise called the meeting to order at approximately 6:33 a.m. via roll call. Mr. Wise walked through the agenda. B.1. Consent Agenda Brief discussions ensued about the depth of the minutes. Mr. Robinson suggested sharing the minutes with the full School Committee when the Policies covered by those minutes move forward to the full Committee. Mr. Wise moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Mrs. Gaffen seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.1. New Business - Review, Revise, and ADDrove MASC and Legal changes to Policv DA- Fiscal Management Goals Mr. Robinson suggested changing the word city to town in bullet #5. That change was made in the Policy in two places. Mrs. Bottan had no concerns about the Policy changes. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended Policy DA- Fiscal Management Goals to the full School Committee for adoption. Mrs. Gaffen seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.2. New Business - Review, Revise, and ADDrove MASC and Legal changes to Policv DB -Annual Budoet Mr. Wise briefly explained the changes made by MASC and further changes made by Legal Counsel The Committee spent time focusing on the newly added paragraph regarding the input process from the School Council on the Budget. Mr. Robinson raised a concern about this process potentially being unwieldy for the Central Office staff. Mr. Wise provided an alternative view of how the process could work. Mrs. Bottan explained how the process worked in a past district in which she worked. Mr. Wise pointed out that the language is aligned with MGL and is one of the roles of School Councils. Mrs. Gagen voiced concerns about the ability to execute this portion of the Policy but does agree it is necessary. There was an agreement that we should consider a follow-up item on the formation and process consistency of School Councils in Reading. Page 1 1 The Committee moved on to discuss the portions of the Policy that were included from the Reading Home Rule Charter, specifically around notice to news agencies and the public hearing in the Budget process. Discussion focused on "general summary of the budget request" that should be sent to "local news medium." The Committee finally agreed that the Superintendent's opening message to the Budget document could be submitted as a Press Release. Mr. Wise noted he will clean up the layout of the document to improve the presentation of the material. The Committee cleaned up the inclusion of language from the Reading Home Rule Charter. The Committee went through grammatical changes to the Policy as well. The Committee returned to the language concerning "revisions to the budget may be made by the Committee, on the recommendation of the Superintendent." The language was changed to "in collaboration with" instead of .on the recommendation of." The Committee returned to Mr. Robinson's question concerning state policy. The Committee adjusted the language of the paragraph in question and condensed the paragraph to a single sentence rather than duplicative sentences. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended Policy DB— Annual Budget to the full School Committee for adoption. Mr. Robinson seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.3. New Business — Review. Revise. and Approve MASC and Legal changes to Policy DBC — Budget Deadlines and Schedules Mr. Wise briefly outlined the changes to the Policy. The Committee cleaned up a few of the bullet pants and removed the final paragraph as it was duplicative. Mr. Wise said it would fix the formatting prior to publication to the full School Committee. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended, with corrected formatting, Policy DBC — Budget Deadlines and Schedules to the full School Committee for adoption. Mrs. Geffen seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.A. New Business— Review. Revise. and Approve MASC and Least chances to Policy DBD — Budget Plate Mr. Robinson asked that we include goals in alignment with priorities in the newly added paragraph. Mrs. Bohan asked about priorities vs. guidelines. The Committee changed priorities to guidance. Changes were made to the first numbered item on the Policy to add the word strategic in front of budgets and use "resource allocations" instead of "expenditures." Discussion ensued on driving outcomes vs. doing the right thing and thus, agreed to leave "contributions" instead of outcomes in that line. Mrs. Gaffen asked about the word "taxpayers." Discussion ensued. Mrs. Bottan mentioned the point of a town - wide interest in advocating for the word "community" as a replacement. Mr. Wise wanted the importance of people's money to continue to be represented. The Committee agreed to change "the valid interest of taxpayers" to 'the financial interests of the community." The Committee agreed to take out the word "special" from the last sentence of the Policy. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended Policy DBD — Budget Planning to the full School Committee for adoption. Mr. Robinson seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.5. New Business — Review. Revise. and Approve MASC and Legal changes to Policy DBG — Budget Adoption Procedures Mr. Wise outlined the MASC vs. Legal changes to the Policy. The Committee discussed the fact that Legal Counsel removed the cost -center language. The Committee was able to get comfortable with the Legal Counselchanges. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended Policy DBG — Budget Adoption Procedures to the full School Committee for adoption. Mrs. Gaffen seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. Page 1 2 E.6. New Business — Review. Revise. and Approve MASC and Legal change to Policy DBJ — Budget Transfer Autho Mr. Wise outlined the MASC and Legal changes to the Policy. Mr. Robinson raised concems with the order and language of the third paragraph. The Committee moved the association of the annual budget approval as a predecessor to the approval of cost -center changes. The Committee added Flexibility for budget transfers outside of the quarterly report process, if necessary. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended Policy DBJ — Budget Adoption Procedures to the full School Committee for adoption. Mrs. Gaffen seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.7. New Business — Review. Revise. and Approve MASC and Legal changes to Policv DD — Grants. Proposals, and Special Reports Mr. Wise outlined the MASC and Legal changes to the Policy. Mr. Robinson raised a question about "such purposes" vs. "stated purposes". Mr. Wise noted that elsewhere in our policies allow us to receive donations but not necessarily use them for the purpose in which they were donated. The Committee agreed to keep "such purposes." Mrs. Bottan raised a concern that some grants and gifts are not just educational, but also facilities, operations, etc. The Committee added ", operations, and facilities" after "educational purposes" in the first line of the Policy. Mr. Wise moved that we recommend the amended Policy DD— Grants, Proposals, and Special Reports to the full School Committee for adoption. Mrs. Gaffen seconded. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. E.B. New Business — Review. Discuss Options. Revise. and Approve MASC and Legal changes to Policy DGA —Authorized Signatures Mr. Wise outlined the MASC and Legal changes to the Policy. Mr. Robinson raised a concern about what if the one person to sign was not available. Mrs. Bottan agreed with that concern. Mrs. Gaffen asked a ques0on about if there was a problem with the current process. Mrs. Gaffen was also not in favor of the one person. Mr. Wise suggested we table the discussion, edit the Policy to match the current process, and review it during the next meeting. Mr. Wise moved to table Policy DGA—Authorized Signatures until the next meeting. Mr. Robinson second. The motion was carried 3-0 via roll call vote. Motion to adjourn by Mrs. Geffen, seconded by Mr. Robinson at approximately 10:08 a.m. The motion was carried by a roll call vote of 3-0. Page 1 3