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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-04 School Committee MinutesOFq - Town of Reading JM IVt0 CLEFit K = Meeting Minutes € A ' �' "v G MA. 2,24 JAM 23 i M 4: 35 Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee Date: 2024-01-04 Time: 7:00 PM Building: School - Memorial High Location: School Library Address: 62 Oakland Road Session: Open Session Purpose: Open Session Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Tom Wise, Sarah McLaughlin (remote), Shawn Brandt, Erin Gaffen, and Carla Nazzaro Members - Not Present: Charles Robinson Others Present: Director of Finance and Operations Dr. Derek Pinto, Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Dr. Jennifer Stys, and Superintendent Dr. Thomas Milaschewski Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Olivia Lejeune on behalf of the chairperson. Topics of Discussion: A. Call to Order— Mr. Wise called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. to review the agenda Roll Call Attendance—Mr. Brandt—here, Mrs. Gaffen—here, Mrs. Nazzaro—here, Mr. Wise — here, Ms. McLaughlin — here B. Public Comment Public Comment — None Focus on Excellence 1. State Champion Field Hockey Team — Dr. Milaschewski introduced the 2023 Field Hockey state champions. The community was very eager to follow this team all season. The team was 22-1 this season and succeeded in victory over Norwood in a 2-1 overtime win. Thank you to the coaching staff for a great season: Jess Palmer, Amy Marisolo, Megan Holton, and Taylor Reynolds. When asked about this team, our high school administration had only positive things to share. Given the level of this accomplishment, it is important to share with the community and celebrate. The team thanked the Reading community for their support and rallying behind them as they achieved this accomplishment. Consent Agenda Page 1 1 1. Minutes (12-14-2023) 2. Pegasus Springs Foundation Donation 3. RMHS Drama Club Donation 4. Reading Education Foundation Grant Donation S. Acceptance of FY24 MyCAP Development and Implementation Grant Warrant Reports 1. 12-14-2023 2. 12-21-2023 3. 12-28-2023 Mrs. Gaffen motioned to approve the consent agenda, seconded by Mr. Robinson. Roll Call Vote—Mr. Brandt —yes, Mrs. Gaffen —yes, Mrs. Nazzaro — yes, Mr. Wise—yes, Ms. McLaughlin—yes Reports 1. Director of Finance & Operations— Dr. Pinto shared gratitude and appreciation to RMHS students enrolled in Ms. Kathy Dailey's AP photography class and community member Alicia Williams who contributed photos in the budget book. 2. Assistant Superintendent of Student Services — Dr. Stys shared details about the winter season of Unified Strength and Conditioning training. Prior to the winter break, we received notification from the governor that Reading Public Schools was awarded a Safe and Supportive Schools Competitive Grant for $10,000. This will allow us to continue our efforts in making sure that our schools are safe and welcoming for all students and staff. 3. Superintendent— Dr. Milaschewski shared that Reading Public Schools received the School Behavioral Health Workforce and Service Expansion Grant which is a $60,000 grant that will fund a district multilingual learner family liaison. Just this past week Taiana Pereira started in this role. Ms. Pereira is a Reading parent and is already making a great impact connecting with families. 4. Liaison/Sub-Committee a. Mr. Brandt—No report b. Mrs. Gaffen — No report c. Mrs. Nazzaro—The Killam School Building Committee had a meeting today with the designer and staff members at Killam where the designers asked about priorities for the new school. Next Thursday, we have our first community meeting and inviting everyone in the town. This will take place in the Killam cafeteria from 5:15-6:45pm. We want the community to meet the designers and provide feedback. Mr. Brandt pointed out that last year a community member shared concerns about traffic flow. Mrs. Nazzaro stressed inviting all in the community to join this meeting and community meetings going forward so we can talk through feedback as such. A Killam School Building Committee website is coming soon. d. Ms. McLaughlin—No report Page 12 e. Mr. Wise—The Children's Cabinet met in December, and it has been a very active group. Two topics were chosen to talk through which were addressing mean behavior relational aggression and improving social connectedness. The cabinet is looking at increasing support for new Reading community members. E. New Business 1. RISE Tuition Adjustment Review, Discussion, and Vote Dr. Milaschewski reviewed the recommended 2024-2025 RISE tuition adjustments. The only two programs where there is a proposed increase are the ones we feel we are behind in cost or unit price compared to some of our other programs. We are not in a year where we are trying to level set with the market, but we are trying to level set amongst our own programs. In the packet, you will find a memo showing we are proposing a closer range of $290-$300 unit price per program. The five-day transitional program will have the largest increase. Dr. Stys provided an update on the proposed shifts and programs in terms of days and hours. Director of RISE Preschool, Ms. Kerry Wilcox, has been reviewing our programs and checking for efficiency and effectiveness. With this we have found areas for improvement. Typically, there is a class that is four days a week with a total of 10 hours and this year we piloted as Hive 12.5 hour class. We found we had low enrollment and continuing this program does not make sense. There is also another five day a week program going really well where in the morning there is a large number of general education students and students who have IEPs working together. In the afternoon, a small group of students stay to get some more direct instruction. The only issue with this program is it runs B-11:30am and the rest of RISE dismisses at 12:00pm so it does not make sense to have the students leave a half hour early so we would like to ensure better transitions and make for a slightly longer morning to have the same dismissal times. Mrs. Gaffen motioned to approve the proposed preschool tuition mtes for 2024-2025, seconded by Mrs. Nazzaro. Roll Call Vote—Mr. Brandt — yes, Mrs. Gaffen — yes, Mrs. Nazzaro — yes, Mr. Wise—yes, Ms. McLaughlin —yes 2. Review of Staff Additions during FY23 and FY24 Budget Cycles Dr. Milaschewski reviewed the staff additions made during the FY23 and FY24 budget cycles. While the FY25 budget is generally a level service budget with only a few small increases in FTE, there have been significant adds in the last two budget cycles and it is important to reflect and maximize the impact of these roles. In the packet, you will find a presentation sharing each role which includes a description, indicators of progress and FY25 focus on the role. These additions are broken out into four categories: Supporting Teaching and Learning, Special Education, Student Services, and Multilingual Learners. Dr. Milaschewski shared some specifics about the Assistant Principal role and goals as a district moving forward with the utilization of these roles. We feel very encouraged by the Page 13 additions made in the past two years and maximizing the roles moving forward for the most return. The committee discussed the room to grow positions as Multilingual Learner needs increase in the district. Currently, there is not much headroom. The district Multilingual Learner Coordinator provides a lot of coaching and support to teachers now and we will continue to revisit this area every year. The committee discussed the METCO Coordinator/School Adjustment Counselor roles and the impact this increase makes to school counseling across the board at all schools. One area for improvement is ensuring consistency in the roles and responsibilities across all five school sites. 3. FY25 Budget Presentation & Discussion Dr. Pinto presented the Superintendent's FY25 Recommended Budget. In the budget book, all cost centers have been included, but the focus of this presentation was on Administration and Student Services Cost Centers. The remaining three cost centers will be discussed at the next meeting. The Finance Committee budget guidelines in which they provided an operating budget of +4% for FY25. The School Committee also provided budget guidance and investment priorities for the district to incorporate and review. In terms of the budget development, we aligned budgets with employment contracts and negotiated bargaining agreements, calculated costs based on historical spending trends, known service and material rate changes and anticipated requirements, and evaluated staffing schedules, student groupings and case loads based on projected student enrollment, class size, and student needs. We also redeployed existing resources and used grants and the revolving accounts to support changes in the baseline operating expenses and then fund our investment priorities. The recommended investments for FY25 include 0.6 FTE for a Speech Language Pathologist which will respond to a growing need for students on IEPs and was a recommendation from the union workload committee and a 0.5 Special Education teacher for the LEAD program at Joshua Eaton. Currently, this Special Education teacher is in place as a one-year split position (0.5 at Joshua Eaton and 0.5 at Killam). We will continue to review this position as we could see more needs once the LEAD program review is completed. Other investments include the continued path towards universal kindergarten and the three positions moving over from ESSER funds. There are priorities that surfaced during the budget planning process and we will keep these on our radar going into future budget planning. Dr. Pinto reviewed the FY25 recommended budget by cost centers specifically, the Administration and Special Education cost centers. The committee discussed incorporating the LEAD teacher position and making this a priority into the future to as an Page 1 4 added full-time position. The committee also discussed the total increase in the RISE tuition which with the proposed changes brings us the potential to collect $437,080 compared to $422,000 collected this year. Currently, space at RISE is our biggest obstacle and we have a significant waitlist. Mrs. Gaffen motioned to adjourn to Executive Session and not return to open session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining on the bargaining position of the public body (Reading Paraeducators Association) as the chair declares an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the Reading School Committee, seconded by Mr. Brandt. Roll Call Vote—Mr. Brandt — yes, Mrs. Gaffen — yes, Mrs. Nazzaro — yes, Mr. Wise — yes, Ms. McLaughlin —yes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcTQrvZaOrO Meeting Adjourned from regular session at approximately 8:11pm. Page 1 5