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Home My WebLink About2024-01-11 School Committee MinutesPq Town of Reading a f-. �_ G L,( V n 0 Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK 'B�aIN(OP� R_A.nl.�r, A. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2024 JAN 23 PM 4t 31 School Committee Date: 2024-01-11 Time: 7:15 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, Shawn Brandt, Erin Gaffen, Charles Robinson and Carla Nazzaro Members - Not Present: Others Present: Director of Finance and Operations Dr. Derek Pinto, Assistant Superintendent for Learning & Teaching Dr. Sarah Hardy, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Milaschewski, Students Emily Goodhue and Jacqueline Berner 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 7:15 p.m. to review the agenda. B. Public Comment Public Comment — None Focus on Excellence — None Consent Agenda 1. Minutes (01-04-2024) 2. Acceptance of FY24 Financial Education Innovation Fund Award Warrant Reports 1. 1-04-2024 Mrs. Gaffen motioned to approve the consent agenda, seconded by Mr. Brandt. The vote passed 6-0. Reports 1. Students— Emily Goodhue and Jacqueline Berner provided the following updates: Page 1 1 a. The Student Advisory Committee has provided suggestions and feedback resulting in the following changes: recycling bins will be added to the cafeteria, one to two additional water bottle filling stations will be added by facilities in the high school, and the bathroom on Main Street will now be open for all day use. b. The committee will provide assistance to Ms. Callanan to pick out new tables and seating on Main Street. The funding is being contributed by the high school PTO. c. Breakfast carts will be available on Main Street beginning next week. Students in the EMBARC program will be running the carts. d. Unified Strength and conditioning is up and running. Students are using space the YMCA. e. There are a number of upcoming events which include: the GAP Year Fair is scheduled for January 17" for juniors and seniors, on January 22nd the new pilot schedule will begin, and on January 231d and 25'" Fidelity will host sessions for students to help teach financial literacy. 2. Director of Finance & Operations — Dr. Pinto thanked the facilities team for helping clear the snow last week. 3. Assistant Superintendent of Learning & Teaching— Dr. Hardy commended two teachers at Wood End for their efforts in recently crafting an inclusive program for students. The program's goal was to offer students a firsthand experience of what it's like for someone who is visually impaired. This was a great learning opportunity for our students. 4. Superintendent—No report 5. Liaison/Sub-Committee a. Mr. Robinson —The Charter Review Committee met earlier this week, but there is nothing school related to share at this time. b. Mrs. Nazzaro—The Killam School Building Committee is now meeting every two weeks and the executive team is meeting on opposite weeks. Things are moving forward fast. Tonight, we had a community meeting with 47 people in attendance where participants were able to share feedback as we plan further for the new Killam School Building. There will be another meeting the week of January 22nd as follow up to this meeting. Mr. Wise noted the designers shared a calendar and it would be important to start sharing that in School Committee packets so the community can attend. c. Mr. Brandt— No report d. Mrs. Gaffen — No report e. Ms. McLaughlin —This weekend is the Coolidge Middle School play, please come out to support our students. f. Mr. Wise — No report E. New Business 1. FY24 Calendar Update Review and Approval Dr. Milaschewski reviewed an update to the 2023-2024 school year calendar pertaining to the high school. The high school will be shifting the February 90 half day to a full day and the February 2nd and February 16'" full days will be shifted to half days with a 1:32 PM dismissal. These changes are to accommodate the scheduling pilot as RMHS explores a Page 1 2 new potential schedule. Ms. Callanan will review the scheduling pilot at the next School Committee meeting. Mrs. Gaffen motioned to approve the change to the 2023-2024 school year calendar, seconded by Mr. Robinson. The vote passed 6-0. 2. Math Pathways Update Dr. Hardy provided a six-week update on Math Pathways since the November 30th meeting. At that meeting, 15 different projects were outlined which will be undertaken and the committee has reviewed each since then to establish a timeline and next steps. Dr. Hardy shared progress to the following items: the math lab, summer geometry course, expansion of the calculus project, and program of studies in which two math courses have been shifted— Introduction to Calculus will now be CP Calculus and CP Function Statistics and Trigonometry will be a CP Statistics and Trigonometry. 3. FY25 Kindergarten Rate Discussion Dr. Milaschewski shared appreciation of the committee and town as they have worked to identify the path towards universal free full-day kindergarten. Tonight, we are proposing tuition of $1,450. This is a rate we can sustain and also allows us to move forward with the goal of providing universal free full-day kindergarten by FY26. This is a larger decrease than we have seen in years prior, but it comes from the number forecasted in the model. There will be a final vote at the end of the month, but we will share this tentative number while also letting families know this number can shift and is not finalized until Town Meeting in April. 4. FY25 Budget Presentation & Discussion Dr. Pinto presented the Superintendent's FY25 Recommended Budget. The focus of this presentation was on general education cost center, facilities cost center, district wide cost center, and the capital plan. It was shared that there are three Endicott/Merrimack fellows remaining in the budget, but depending on the pool and size of classes, we may or may not fill these three positions. Enrollment projections were provided and we do anticipate having one more fifth grade classroom this year than last year, but at this point we are not adding another classroom teacher as we anticipate having one less Kindergarten classroom. Our Killam kindergarten projects four classes of 14 so we will continue to monitor those numbers. We have shifted $150,000 that was previously in the individual budgets of our elementary schools for curriculum materials which has been shifted to the district wide budget. This shifted because the central office is now placing orders for the high-quality curriculum resources versus individual schools. The committee discussed how assistant coaches are being paid and the fundraising behind it for families. The committee also asked questions about the rentals and athletics revolving funds. The administration will provide follow up information during the next budget meeting. Page 1 3 Dr. Pinto and Director of Facilities, Mr. Huggins, briefly reviewed the capital plan which can be found in the budget book. This capital plan is spread out over five years. Some specifics in the plan include the carpet and flooring mainly at the older schools and door/window updates at Birch Meadow and Joshua Eaton. The committee will share remaining questions with Dr. Pinto by Monday night to provide answers by Thursday and an updated packet will be posted Thursday for the public to review those questions and answers. httos:/Iwww.youtube.com/watch?vcmqhTgSdkcWM Meeting Adjourned from regular session at approximately 8:35pm. Page 14