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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-14 School Committee MinutesReading Public Schools Reading, Massachusetts RECEIVED TOWN CLERK Rke' G , M, t SS . num Regular Meeting "of the School Co Open Session ° 1 P 2 2 FES 2 Date: January 14, 2010 Time: 7:32 p.m. (Open Session) Place: Superintendent's Conference Room School Committee Members Present Lisa Gibbs Chuck Robinson Elaine Webb David Michaud Chris Caruso Karen Janowski Staff Members Present John Doherty, Superintendent Mary DeLai, Director of Finance & Operations Colleen Dolan, Director of Pupil Services Patrick O'Sullivan Student Representative Visitors: RPS Budget Parents Ellie Freedman, RMHS Principal Karen Callan, Barrows Principal Patty deGaravilla, Eaton Principal Doug Lyons, Parker Principal Cathy Giles, Killam Principal Craig Martin, Coolidge Principal Cathy O'Connell, Parker Assistant Principal I. Call to Order George Hines, Fincom Barry Berman, Fincom Hal Torman, Fincom Christine Lyons, Reading Chronicle Steve Hagan, Reading Advocate Chairperson Robinson called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. He reviewed the agenda and welcomed guests. II. Recommended Procedure A. Public Input (I) - There was no public input. B. Reports (1) 1. Student Mr. O'Sullivan reported on the recent Chorus winter concert. He congratulated Ms. Killian for running a great program. He also reported on the Latin Club toga event where students were greeted in the hallways by make shift togas worn by members of the Latin club to resemble roman costumes. On Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Day the school is hosting the annual breakfast. January 14, 2010 Mr. O'Sullivan shared that this year's National History Day projects will be on dishy for public viewing from 6-8 in the Distant Learning Center on January 20 . On Friday January 22, there will be a celebration of the life of Pat Schettini - a true celebration. In the evening of the 22nd RMHS will hold the second dance of the year themed "Dress to Impress". Class of 2012 will be holding a battle of the bands fundraiser - 7 bands have signed up so far. Several members of the RMHS band and chorus were chosen to perform at the Northeastern Senior District Concert. 2. Liaison Mrs. Webb reported that she, Chair Robinson and Mrs. Gibbs attended the LEGO League event held last Saturday. Elementary and middle school kids designed a robot and also did a little research project for the environment. Dave Ventola is the coordinator. This is the first year our middle school students participated. Many administrators attended the event. It was a great day of flan with over 300 kids participating. Mr. Michaud attended a lecture about how technology changes the way kids think. He also reminded people about the Willy Wonka Coolidge Play. Mrs. Gibbs reported on the initiative "Celebrating Inclusive Schools". This initiative is a collaboration of the school department and the PAC group to bring disability awareness to schools in a more positive way with the goal of taking "dis" out of disability. Chair Robinson stated that the Memorandum of Understanding for the Race to the Top Grant was signed by the RTA, Superintendent and Chair of the School Committee and delivered to the DESE. Superintendent's Report Dr. Doherty updated the committee on an event at the Reading Municipal Light Department recognizing the winners of the annual T-Shirt contest. This year five of our elementary students were recognized. 4. Director of Finance and Operations Ms. DeLai reported on the vandalism at CMS. She stated that on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Coolidge principal Craig Martin discovered there was vandalism of HVAC equipment on the roof. There is an estimated $60,000 worth of damage. We have a $2,500 deductable but the rest is covered. Police are aggressively pursuing the perpetrators. Chuck Robinson thanked the administrators and parents in attendance. January 14,.2010 C. Continued Business FYI 1 Regular DU Cost Center Review Chairperson Robinson turned the meeting over to Dr. Doherty who presented an overview of the Regular Day Cost Center. He reviewed the process that was used to develop this budget and reminded the School Committee and public that the budget is driven by the district mission and vision. Dr. Doherty reviewed the areas that comprise the Regular Day Cost Center. He then went on to review the increases which include contractual salary and stipends and sick leave buyback. He also provided information on the personnel reductions which include a high school secretary, the Elementary Instructional Specialist, 3.1 FTE paraeducators and 7.5 FTE teachers and specialists. Dr. Doherty outlined areas of concern because of these reductions which include class size at the elementary and middle school levels. He indicated that the projected sixth grade class is the largest we have had in several years. Dr. Doherty handed out information on projected enrollment and a copy of the letter going home to current fifth grade families from Killam and Birch Meadow that offers a voluntary transfer to Coolidge. The goal is to have 20 students opt for this transfer to help balance class sizes. Mrs. Gibbs asked what would happen if there were not 20 students opting for this. The Superintendent stated that the administration will have to reevaluate. Other areas impacted by these cuts include reduction in Library Media services and technology support for grades K-12 and higher class sizes and reduction of electives for grades 9 -12. There will also be a decrease in the secretarial and paraeducator support in grades 6 - 12. Professional development, curriculum initiatives and technology purchase will also be negatively impacted. Dr. Doherty presented the areas of Non-Personnel reductions including supplies and materials, Administrative Professional Development, Technology and transportation. He pointed out that. there will be an increase in the transportation fee. He next reviewed the offsets which include an increase in fees for kindergarten tuition, transportation and the addition of fees for Extracurricular and the use of the Fitness Center. Dr. Doherty presented the questions and answers that were previously submitted by the School Committee. (See Attached). Chair Robinson opened the floor to questions from the audience. Mr. Downing asked about the 105 employees that left Reading Public Schools in 08-09 in which only 8% were due to retirement. Ms. DeLai stated that an average of 30-40 teaching positions leave annually. 08-09 was not an unusual year. Mr. Downing asked where the turnover was. Ms. DeLai indicated that many paraeducators get teaching positions or decide to stay home. Mr. Torman, Fincom member, asked about the band fees and if incorporating the expenses would be problematic. Ms. DeLai indicated that the school department will only take on the expenses that the fees cover - predominantly transportation. She also pointed out that the $175 is not included in the offset and this fee is not tax deductable. January 14, 2010 Mrs. Heinemann, budget parent, felt that cutting 2 teachers at the Parker Middle School will make a dramatic impact for the amount of money it will save. Dr. Doherty indicated that it is important to maintain the middle school model and the only way at this point is to reduce to half a team. Dr. Doherty indicated that the administration would revisit this area of concern if additional monies become available. Mrs. Hollenbeclc, budget parent, asked when the building principals would be able to discuss class sizes. The Superintendent indicated that the enrollment numbers continue to fluctuate and is not sure what teaching positions will be cut. He feels that the enrollment numbers will start to even out in late spring. Chair Robinson called a brief recess at 9:15 p.m. The meeting was called back to order at 9:20 p.m. FYI 1 Special Education Cost Center Ms. Dolan reviewed the Special Education Cost Center. She reviewed the areas that compromise this Cost Center. She also reviewed the goals of the Pupil Services office. The main components of the Special Education budget are salaries and services including equipment, supplies and technology, Collaborative dues, Medicaid costs, software licensing, travel and tuition. Mrs. Dolan outlined the increases that impact the Special Education budget which include contractual salaries, Consultation (EMARC), Substitutes, extended year programs, tutoring, testing and psychological supplies. She went on to review the personnel reductions and their impact. The loss of a Team Chairperson will require 18 out-of-students to be reassigned, compliance issues, program integrity and legal pitfalls. Other reductions will include legal services, consultations, office supplies, Special education/therapeutic supplies, equipment and technology, professional development and in state travel. The Special Education budget is also impacted by increases in tuitions and transportation costs. Mrs. Dolan has been working diligently to bring students back to the Reading Public Schools developing programs to suit the needs of some students. 14 students have returned from out of district placements over the past 2 years. The department is also able to bring students from other districts to attend these new programs to help offset the costs. Other offsets will come from the RISE Preschool revenues. Mrs. Dolan is also actively pursuing grant money from federal and state agencies. The grants are used to fund professional development, support positions, professional positions, consultations, instructional supplies, equipment and technology. Mrs. Dolan gave an overview of the RISE preschool budget. Mrs. Dolan presented the questions and answers that were previously submitted by the School Committee. (See Attached). Chair Robinson opened the floor to questions from the audience. . January 14, 2010 Mrs. Gibbs highlighted the great things that have been accomplished through the Team Chair model by lowering our legal fees and bringing students back to Reading. She's concerned about the Middle School administrators doing the job of the team chairs. Mrs. Janowski asked why our Out-of-District costs were above state average. Mrs. Dolan responded that too many students were out placed. She is working to reduce that number. Mr. Caruso asked about the increase in dues from 07-08. The Superintendent stated that SEEM is about $5,500/year and North Shore Collaborative is around $10,000/year. Mr. Downing asked about the Circuit Breaker reimbursement. Mrs. Dolan said the district should receive approximately 40% reimbursement which is a reasonable estimate. Ms. DeLai agreed that the district should continue to receive between 35 - 40 He then asked if the offset of $325,000 means we are getting an average of 20,000 per student and are we charging competitive prices? Mrs. Dolan said yes we are. Ms. DeLai explained the $325,000 includes RISE tuition offset. He asked why parents would want to send their kids here instead of out of district. Mrs. Dolan feels we have more rigorous programs that are better suited for these students. Our technology is much better and we have inclusion programs. She stated our out of district costs are between $25,000 and $300,000 depending on the services the student requires. Mr. Downing then asked if we are bringing in any risks by bringing these students back to the public schools. Mrs. Dolan stated that the students undergo a comprehensive screening process. He asked about the liability to the town. Ms. DeLai said our insurance rates have not been impacted. Mrs. Webb complimented the administrators on the transparency of the budget process and how easy the budget was to read. D. New Business III. Routine Matters ® Bills and Payroll (A) ® Approval of Minutes ® Bids and Donations Calendar IV. Information Mr. Robinson reminded the Committee and public that the School Committee vote on the budget will be on February 8t'. V. Adjournment Mr. Caruso moved, seconded by Mrs. Gibbs, to adjourn. The motion carried 6-0. VI. Future Business Meeting adjourned at 10:03 P.M. January 14, 2010 m J N. oherty_ Ed.D. S rintendent 4 Schools NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. School Committee Questions & Administration Responses Regular Day Cost Center How many empty class rooms do we have in the elementary schools? Same question for the middle schools. Currently, there is one open elementary classroom which is at Joshua Eaton. There are no open classrooms at either middle school. 2. Which classes are expected to be over 30 students in the middle schools? We are still working out the details, but classes will be 30131 in either Grade 7 or Grade 8 at the Parker Middle School. Seethe projected class size chart for more detail. 3. What are the projected class sizes K-2 across the district? See the projected class size chart for more detail. 4. What would be the cost be to update the K-5 language arts curriculum? It would cost approximately $200, 000 for supplies and materials to fund a full K-5 Language Arts program. In addition, approximately $50,0004100, 000 would be needed for professional development and costs associated with professional development (i. e. substitutes, curriculum development time, etc.). Did the PTO's fund Open Circle in FYI 0? r It varied by building, based upon the needs of the staff in that building. Some PTO's did fund the program (approximately $925), while others did not. How much is the cost to update the middle school science curriculum? Fourteen years is too long to go without any updates. It would be difficult at this point to attach a cost to updating the middle school science curriculum. We would need to assess our needs, review materials, and develop an implementation plan. Normally, we would spend the time to research a new program and pilot some materials well over a year in advance of the budget process. 7. How much funding has been provided for technology by the PTO's in 2010? I thought we asked them to take over maintenance. To date, PTO donations have funded just over $15, 000 in technology expenses. 8. Explain what Moodle is. Moodle or Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a free and open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment. It is an online platform, similar to blackboard, that allows you to develop your own online coures. We are looking at training a few teachers in Moodle this year in the hopes of reducing some of our VHS costs. Moodie is designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. Its open source license and modular design mean thatpeople can develop additional functionality. With Moodle, you can create learning spaces called 'courses'. Each course has its own set of resources and activities, called `modules' in Moodie, and can-be customized in terms of organization and appearance. 9. Explain the statement on page 24 that says "which is the lowest contractual increase that any of the district's union staff will receive in the next fiscal year. This is a typographical error. It was to have read, "which is below the contractual increase that any of the district's union staff will receive in the next fiscal year. " 10. What is the 7.5% increase in Building Technology? Contractual, step and column increases for Technology Integration Specialists. We attribute 1.0 FTE for high school technology specialist and 0.5 for each middle school technology integration specialist. The remaining 0. S for each MS tech specialist is charged to teacher salaries as they are teaching part of the time. This line also includes the stipends paid to all three for their work during the summer. These stipends total $20,970. 11. Explain why the Stipends are all up. The majority are increasing due to contractual and step increases. Some stipends were unfilled in FYI 0 but are assumed to be fully filled in FYI 1. 12. Why are the high school and middle school advisors up 21.9% and 25.1 % respectively? With the transition to MUNIS we have more accurately accounted for stipends that were previously being charged to salary lines and are now segregated out in our new chart of accounts. 13. Explain the Sick Leave Buyback. By contract, employees in most of our associations who retiring are entitled to be paid out for accrued sick leave still on the books at the time of retirement. 14. What is the 5.5% increase in Textbooks & Related Materials? Each building budgets for their specific needs in all categories of regular day supplies and materials. This expense line represents the cost of consumables such as workbooks, replacement texts, writing folders, etc. Historically these costs have increased by 5-10% per year due to inflation and shipping cost increases. 15. Why are guidance supplies going up 33.3%? Funding for Naviance, our web-based college and career counseling software program and updates to the college directories available to students in the guidance office. 15. Why are the graduation expenses up? Miscellaneous increases to costs such as printing of diplomas and rental of chairs and other supplies and equipment need for graduation day. 17. Why are equipment leases up 19.4%? In this economy aren't vendors more receptive to negotiation in order to keep the contract? Due to aggressive re-negotiation efforts in FY09, the contract was restructured and we received a credit for FYI0 so the current year's amount appears lower as a result. The FYI] amount still reflects a significant savings from the historical levels. 18. How much is budgeted to develop the new AP History course? In the High School budget, $5000 has been budgeted for the new AP History Course for textbooks and supplies. We are not adding a teacher to teach this course, rather eliminating another course section. 19. Is the decrease in teacher mentor stipends due primarily to reductions in new hires? Yes. Given that we will be laying off staff, the need for new hiring should decrease for the 2010-11 schoolyear. 20. Can you please review what is meant by the line items labeled "longevity"? Longevity is a contractual benefit that exists in all of our collective bargaining agreements. It is an annual payment that is made to represented staff based on the number of years they have worked in the district, starting at anywhere from 5 -15 years of continuous employment and increasing with every additional five years up to 30 years of service. In all contracts, this benefit has a sunset provision and does not apply to employees hired after 1995-96, depending upon the contract. The longevity pay schedules vary depending upon the union but range from a low of $125 to a high of $1,100. 21. Is tuition reimbursement part of our collective bargaining contract? Tuition reimbursement is a contractual benefit that exists in all of our collective bargaining agreements. The annual amounts vary by contract and all but one of the contracts have annual caps on the total amount to be paid to employees. 22. Regular day - How many clerical positions are at each school? I see a total of 10.5. How are these positions distributed amongst the schools. What is the salary and role of each position? Each elementary and middle school has 1.0 FTE of secretarial support for a total of 7.0 FTEs and the High School currently has 4.5 FTEs - three providing main office support, one for guidance, and a part-time attendance secretary. Next year's budget calls for the elimination of one of the HS main office secretarial positions. These positions are part of the secretarial bargaining unit and salaries are based on placement on the salary schedule. The average salary is about $34, 000. 23. Could I have a breakdown of the "Administrative Software" employed? I assume the $58k is for support contracts -but I would like a list. The $58, 000 is far support contracts for Administrator's Plus(our student databae and scheduling, SNAP (Nurse interface software), Edline, Survey Monkey, and the Library Management Software (Destiny). 24. Same question for "testing" and "instructional" software. The testing software budget is for the annual fee of using Scantron online testing that we use for middle school mathematics and 100 licenses for Test Wiz, which is our data analysis software for the MCAS 25. Other "PD" expenses - what's PD? Professional Development 26. On Page 23, explain virtualization of computer work stations what are savings in energy and hardware. Our plan is to begin to migrate to a virtualized computer network where all workstations are connected to one large server. The advantage to this on a long term scale is that computer replacement will be less expensive because you are replacing hard drives with terminals. Which is a savings of about .$400 per computer. In addition, you will begin to see savings in energy costs because it requires far less electricity to operate a terminal than a regular workstation. 27. Does the academic support grant cover all of the remediation needs of students or are there other sources or axe we underfunded, which budget lines? There is currently no funding in our budget to remediate regular education students. There are several schools in the district that run academic support programs after or before school, but those are operated by PTOs or grants. The academic support grant that we receive from the state is for students in Grades 9-12 who have failed the MCAS.or are in danger offailing the MCA S. 28. Elaborate on bullet #1 bottom of page 23 We currently use a variety of assessments to monitor student progress. We are working collaboratively by grade level to analyze that data and identify student needs based upon that data. For example, in grades K-3, we use the DIBELS to identify gaps in an individual student's literacy skills and use different instructional strategies to address those gaps. `9. For bullets # 5, 6 are we or how are we leveraging resources outside the district that are no cost - ie tworking groups, sharing curriculum with other districts? We are currently developing our own formative assessments and project based learning experiences during ourplanned inservice times, planning times, and late starts. We do share our information with informal networks, professional organizations, and events like the April Staff Sharing Conference. It is anticipated that our involvement with the Race to the Top Grant will create even more opportunities to collaborate with other districts. 30. On Page 24, for bullet # 3, how will this be accomplished? The Superintendent will be meeting with the middle school principals and teachers to identify possible programs to develop for this summer for academically struggling students. All of these courses would be tuition-based and would not be paid for out of the school department budget. 31. On Page 24, bullet #9, should also say MIDDLE SCHOOL? Correct 32. On Page 20, what impact will the loss of K-6 LA Inst Specialists have - it strikes me as one of most critical impacts of this entire budget. This position impacts students and teachers and their ability to serve students. You are correct, the K-8 Language Arts Instructional Specialist is a critical component in providing coaching and professional development for our staff in literacy. The person in this position has coordinated all of the language arts professional development for the last three years, modeled lessons in the classroom, coordinated resources throughout the district, managed the Title I program, meets with the reading specialists and has provided the leadership to coordinate the K-8 ELA curriculum. At a time when our elementary language arts program needs to be reviewed and updated, the loss of this position will slow down progress in this area. On Page 24 what admin dues have been kept - ie Mass Elem School Print, Secondary Principal? The funding that is remaining in this line item will fund dues to one professional organization for each administrator. 34. On Page 26, what is driving team leader stipends? One longevity payment of $700 was erroneously charged here rather than to longevity. Subtracting this amount makes the increase in this stipend line 2.5% rather than the 6.5%. This adjustment will be made in the School Committee budget as well as the corresponding increase to the longevity line below. 35. On Page 26, what are HS and MS advisors? class advisors, clubs High School and Middle School advisors are the paid advisors for the various clubs and activities at each school. This includes, for example, yearbook, student council, high school class advisors, national history day, etc. There are two positions in FYI 0 that are not filled that we assume will be filled in FYI]. 36. On Page 26, why such a significant increase in sick leave buy back from 09, looks like returning to 07 levels? This estimate is based on anticipated retirements taking into consideration the employees who would be eligible to receive the maximum pension allowable based on years of service and age. `37. On Page 26/26, are you sure that 80K for longterm subs is sufficient (20 leaves). What is current FY10 actual and projected in #'s and The original amount funded in FYI0 was $80, 000 based on the same 20 leaves. The increase to $130, 000 reflects $50, 000 of the $125, 000 that was added to the school department budget at the end of the process last year. That money is not anticipated to be required in FYI 0. To date, there have been 9 maternity leaves, including five currently still on leave through the spring. There are an additional 7 leaves that have been applied for between February and .Dune. Therefore, the total for the year for teacher long term substitutes has been 16. While there may be one or two additional, at this point we do not anticipate exceeding the 20 alloted. 38. On Page 27, why are graduation cost up on a per student level since FY09? - FY09 307/6207 20$/student - FY10 312/6005 = 19$/student - FYI 1290/7000 = 24$/student This questions was answered above. 39. On Page 27, can you provide more info on increase in guidance supplies? This question was answered above. 40. On Page 27, what are we buying with the additional $ 12,342 in additional text books and related materials? See response to similar question above. 41. What are the class sizes at the high school level? If there are classes of 18, can an additional teacher at the high school be reduced, thereby freeing up the reduction at the middle school level? High school class sizes vary based upon course enrollment. There are currently some courses at the high school that have class sizes over 30 due to the 3.0 FTE reduction in teaching staff from last year. 42. I totally understand the value of the Business and Technology course offering and have no issues with it whatsoever, in fact, we need it. However, is this the year to be offering a new course? Can we forego it this year and save the teacher at the middle school level? The business department has revised several courses for next year which align with our mission and vision. These revisions require no additional teaching sections. The high school had a reduction of 3.0 FTE last year which has increased class sizes in foreign language, science, and mathematics. 43. What will library time look like for the elementary students? Will it be closed for part of the day? Will each class still have a class with the specialist? Will we be relying on parent volunteers to keep it open and running? At this point, it is unclear as to what the elementary media specialist's role will be next year. The equivalent of. 5 FTE will be assigned to each elementary school. In the spring, we will develop a plan with the elementary principals and the remaining library media specialists as to what the role will be, including the role that volunteers currently have and if that role can be expanded. 4. At our meeting last Thursday, Ms. Freedman spoke about the "M:" drive where students can store ocuments. How much does the district pay to maintain this storage (hardware, backup costs, etc.)? Is there one central storage system that all schools access? Or does each school have their own file server? Our current storage system is a mix of individual servers and network storage by years end all storage will be centralized on network storage. There are no current costs going forward with this system as it is under warranty until July 2012 and the Backup Software has already been purchased 43. Is Exchange the email system used by the school? Have we priced switching to GMail (free)? What does the town use? Could we save money by combining the town and school systems? Exchange is used by the School and the Town they cannot be combined because of the different types of licensing (Town does not qualify far educational licenses). We looked into GMail for Education but the fact that we would have to pay $23.80 per user per year for their discovery and email retention service in order to make us compliant with the eDiscovery and Freedom of Information laws made it cost prohibitive. Currently our only re-occuring cost for maintaining the Exchange server is Anti virus which is approx. $4 per user, per year, the SSL certificate for the site which is approx. $301year, and the FIOS line which is approx. $15481year all told our yearly cost to maintain the server is about $3200 a year for 400 users. Currently our Antivirus is paid through the 201012011 academic year. 45. Your budget lists Open Office, a free MS' Office substitute. Is this the standard software now used on all machines? I still see the majority of presentations presented in PowerPoint. Are we still buying MS Office? Open Office is used on all student computers where appropriate. Open Office has no direct replacement for MS Publisher and MS Outlook and some lesson plans at schools have been designed around the MS Office Programs themselves in these cases new licenses for MS Office have been purchased. It should be noted that the cost for the MS Office Professional Suite for the school system is a one time cost of approx $60 per license and is only necessary if a new computer is being added to our inventory without retiring an old computer with a MS Office license. We currently hold Volume Licenses for MS Office which means if a computer is retired we can apply that license to another computer. r7. How much did Open Circle training cost the district this year? Is it possible to continue the Open Circle program through training provided by our own experienced educators? Where is Open Circle currently being utilized? No funding was used out of this year's budget for Open Circle. It costs over .$1000 to train a teacher in Open Circle. Depending on how many teachers need the training in a school, the funding may have been provided by the PTO. If schools did not have the funding, the teacher did not get trained. Open Circle does not offer a "Train the Trainer" model. We have asked them for several years to provide one, but they have not developed such a model. They do offer a consultant model once teachers have been trained. Our elementary schools have taken advantage of this and most schools have two teachers who are trained consultants. Open Circle practices are currently being done at the elementary level, normally at the beginning of the school day. 48. What is the cost for Virtual High School and how does that break down? Why are there so few students at the high school level (compared to the middle school) taking VHS courses? What is the return on our investment in the program, not just in financial terms but in terms of what we are able to offer our students beyond the course offerings at our middle and high schools? There are two costs associated with Virtual High School. The annual fee to be a part of Virtual High School is approximately $12, 000. This fee provides so many slots which we can use with our students at both middle and high school. We gain additional slots when we have teachers in our district teach VHS online courses. There are currently two teachers who teach VHS online courses and they will be receiving a stipend for teaching the courses. Currently, we have approximately 30 students taking courses at the middle school and about 10 students per semester taking courses at the high school. We also have a site coordinator at both middle schools and the high school who handles all of the logistics of signing students up for'the courses and is the liaison between the VHS online instructor and the students. VHS provides course offerings that we would never be able to offer due to lack of staffing, including AP courses and electives. It is also consistent with our vision of eventually having all students take online courses at the high school in the future. Mrs. Freedman mentioned in her presentation the other evening that they will be aggressively promoting VHS classes to students in second semester and for next year. 49. In the commentary, it is mentioned that High School electives will be reduced. Which electives will be reduced and how was this determined? At this point, we do not know what courses will be eliminated for next year. Mrs. Freedman is currently going through the course registration process for next year and will not know staffing needs until late March. The equivalent of 1.0 FTE will be eliminated by gauging which courses have lower enrollment. 50. Who will assume the responsibilities of the LA Instructional Specialist if this position is eliminated? A combination of the Assistant Superintendent, Reading Specialists, and the buildingprincipals will assume most of the responsibilities. The professional development and coachingpieces will suffer with the elimination of this position. . What does in-house staff or ELA Instructional Specialist professional development cost the district? Doesn't this occur on early release or professional development days so that substitutes are not necessary? How are we measuring the effectiveness of the professional development we provide? This year, most of our language arts professional development has occurred during inservice time. We have. had to provide some professional development during instructional time so substitute teachers have been necessary. We are measuring the effectiveness of the professional development through teacher surveys, teacher artifacts that are produced from workshops, classroom observations, and teacher evaluations. As part of the teacher evaluation process, teachers have 3 goals each year based upon their professional development needs and those goals are decided upon in conversations between the teacher and the building principal. 52. Why are we sending teachers to the Blue Ribbon out-of-state conference? Couldn't we use the Title 2A grant funding more effectively locally especially since our PD money is so limited? How much did we pay for attendance and participation at the Blue Ribbon conference held in December 2009? How much is budgeted for next year's conference? As we have mentioned in previous presentations, the Blue Ribbon conference is the type of conference that does not exist in this area, except for the April Sharing Conference that we have designed based upon the Blue Ribbonmodel. The conference focuses on practitioners presenting best practices to other practitioners. No school department funding has been used for this conference in the last three years. The conference is funded by individuals attending the conference, PTO, and Title 2A funding. Title 2A grant funding only pays for the registration to attend the conference, which this year was $325 per person. As in the past three years, no funding 'is being allocated in the school department budget for next year 's conference. In addition to funding the conference registration, Title 2A funding is used to fund several, professional development activities for teachers including the MASSCUE Conference, After School Technology Workshops, the Expanding the Boundaries of Teaching and Learning class, some curriculum development, high school initiatives, development of the elementary report card, teacher induction activities, and the April Staff Sharing Conference. 53. Instructional Software is $21,100. What does that include? What is included under Instructional Technology - $31, 750? What is included under "Other Instruction Technology" - $4000? Instructional Software includes Destiny library software, Discovery videostreaming, Brain Pop, Lexia reading program software, High School library databases. Instructional Technology includes costs to upgrade, repair and maintain classroom computers, peripherals, and smartboards. Other instructional technology are computers and peripherals for library media centers; this is classified separately in the DESE chart of accounts.. 54. What are the assistant principal stipends? What are "District-Wide Stipends?" Assistant principal stipend are the elementary assistant principals - 5 stipends at $1,909 each. The district-wide stipends include curriculum committee chairs, VHS on-line site coordinators and VHS online instructors. 5. Administrative software is $58,000. What does that include? This question was answered above. 56. What will be purchased under "Classroom Technology" $42,000? $20, 000 is budgeted for replacement computers, $10, 000 for projector bulb replacements, and $10, 000 for other technology supplies from district-wide regular day technology funding. There is an additional $2, 000 budgeted at Joshua Eaton for 2 classroom computer replacements. 57. Building technology FTEs are 1.7. Building technology salaries are listed at $161,052. Is that correct? 11 This question was answered above. Finance Committee Questions: 58. As a parent of a high school band member I am not happy about the proposed activity fee but as a FinCom member I do understand. Is it possible to put together a schedule of fees and dues paid for each activity (band, sports, drama, extra curricular, etc.)? It's important to understand the total burden on families of school children who participate in these types of activities. I'm a little perplexed on the band fee as* I believe the high hool non salary band budget is nominal and all non salary expenses (transportation, uniforms, etc.) are paid by ae Band Parents Organization. Below are the current user fees as approved by the Reading School Committee: Athletic User Fee $175 per sport $450 per athlete maximum per year $750 per family maximum per year Drama User Fee $100 per production season $450 per family per year We have been made aware of several parent booster organizations who are independently charging fees or dues to students who are participating in school sponsored activities. Unfortunately, it is not permissible for these organizations to be charging dues or fees to students for school sponsored activities. By statute and School Committee policy, the School Committee is the only entity that is permitted to assess fees far participation in school activities. We have drafted administrative procedures for parent booster organizations which discuss the prohibition on these charges and we will be meeting with representatives of these organizations to discuss this with them. We did meet with the Band Parents organization back in November and we have agreed that they will discontinue their assessment of the $140 dues and, with the approval of the School Committee, the school administration will now assess this plus an additional $35 for participation in the Band. In return, the school department budget will absorb the costs that the Band Parents organization was funding out of the $140 per student dues collected. Most of these expenses should have been paid for by the school department to begin with for liability and insurance reasons (e.g. transportation). The additional $35 is for partial recovery of the stipends paid from the school department budget for band advisors. The $175 fee is comparable to the athletics user fee, although the band fee will be assessed only for the year, not per season as with the athletic user fee. -)9. I'm encouraged by the more aggressive use of offsets from the revolving funds. What is the policy or guidance on how much should remain in each fund at year-end? For example, all day kindergarten has a projected FYl 1 balance of $366k. What is that meant to cover? Why wouldn't that number be nominal, say $50k? My thinking is that unless there are encumbered expenses for the following fiscal year, year-end fund balances should be nominal as one would expect current fiscal year revenues to offset current fiscal year expenses. There are state statutory requirements and criteria as to the level offees and charges that can be assessed as well as how revenue can be applied for the various intended purposes. For example, the use of School Property revolving fund was established under MGL Chapter 71, Section 71E and allows rental fees to be charged as voted by the School Committee. The revenue can be used for the upkeep of the facility including utilities, ordinary repairs and maintenance. It can also be used to pay for custodial detail for the events for which groups are renting the facilities. We do not, however, charge regular custodial salaries to this fund. In general, it has been School Committee's policy to base budgeted offsets on prior year receipts not current year receipts, much the way the state's circuit breaker program is structured. To base our FYI] offset on projected FYII would expose the budget to a great deal of risk of decreasedprogram participation for all of the various programs. With respect to full day kindergarten, tuition is based on 50% of the cost to operate the full day kindergarten program. The charge can only be 50% as we are legally required to provide a minimum of half-day kindergarten to our children. In the past we have based the cost on estimated enrollment at the time the budget was produced. To the extent enrollment has been higher, we have taken in more revenue which has led to a net surplus in the fund balance. As you can see on Page 45, however, this fund balance is steadily declining as we utilize this to stabilize tuitions and to allow us to offer a financial assistance program for full-day kindergarten parents. ~cial Education Q A 1. Haw much capacity do we have to tuition students in to Reading, programs? Referrals are considered on an individual basis. After considering the appropriateness of the referred student for the program, we look at both program numbers and the class size in the inclusion setting. 2. Why are the occupational and physical therapists up 18.1 % and 37.6% respectively? The increase in the OT line item is strictly due to step and column increases. The increase in the PT line item is due to a change in employee status. A contractor who worked 1 day per week was changed to a. 2 FTC' employee because her employment conditions more closely fit this category. 3. Why is the special education nurse up 55.9%T A nurse who was hired through an agency for a student in an out of district placement at a significant cost was brought on as a RPS employee at a significant savings. 4. Why are the paraeducators substitutes up 50%? MUNIS gives us the capability of tracking substitute coverage more accurately. Subs previously charged to buildings are now more appropriately charged to special education. There has not been a significant change in the need for substitute coverage. 5. Explain extended year salaries and why they are up 38%. Students with disabilities whose Teams determine they might substantially regress over longperiods without services are entitled to extended year services. This line has been underfunded for the last several years. I believe this number is an accurate estimate of the cost of summer staff. 6. Why is tutoring and testing up so much? The increase in tutoring is due to a significant increase in the hospital tutoring rate ($15 / hour to $30 / hour) and to increasing numbers of students demonstrating the need for home or hospital tutoring due to medical or emotional concerns. Testing has increased due to a rise in requests for assistive technology evaluations. 7. Why is substitute cost up 39%? See #4 Why have Therapeutic supplies doubled? The cost of protocols required in testing is significant ($80 for 25 WL4T IIprotocols). With an expanded repertoire of testing tools, there is an increase in the need for protocols. District evaluations have improved due to training and the availability of more appropriate testing tools as evidenced by- a decrease in the number of requests for independent educational evaluations. 9. Are we using 40% for the Circuit Breaker Offset? Yes. Do we have any information that says that this might increase in the. near future? No. 10. What is the savings to eliminate the Team Chair position? $87400. 1. Please explain: ,59% increase in Tutoring see #6 400% increase in Testing see #8 2. What software was purchased in'09 ($13.5k)? Semstracker is the software program utilized for Individualized Education Program data. $13,500 was the fee for FY 09, $14, 400 for FYI 0. I'm concerned about the sharp increase in percentage of students with disabilities? Are 504's reflected in this number (they shouldn't be). Do all of these students identified in this number have life-long disabilities? 504s are not included in this number. Students with disabilities 2008-2009 statewide 17.1 % RPS 17.9% Early Intervention YEAR # moderate or severe disabilities 1992 9809 59% 1999 20075 86% 2008 32761 92% Infants <3.3 pounds at birth who survive and the'probability ofsevere neurological disorders at 5 -years 1980 80% 1999 82% 2000 80% 2003 81% ASD incidence (Children's Hospital data] 2001 1/500 2008 1/94 ® Increase in social/ emotional disabilities Increase in severity of disabilities in children comingfrom EI 4. I'm extremely concerned about losing the team chair. After not being in compliance for so long, and now being in compliance with the PQA, how can we possibly lose one of these positions? I am currently researching and will be able to cite the federal and state law with regard to who has to be in a team meeting who has autonomy to make fiduciary decisions about services. This should.not be left to the building principal or the special education teacher unless they have the requisite trair.ing. We will be out of compliance if we do not have a team chair. What is the rationale and how was this brought forward? From the DESE POA Special Education Guide: . Team composition: A representative of the school district who acts as Chairperson and who is (1) qualified to supervise or provide special education; (2) is knowledgeable about the general curriculum; and (3) is knowledgeable about the availability of resources of the district. representative of the school district who has the authority to commit the resources of the district (and who ay act as the Chairperson). Prior to implementation of the Team Chair model, special education teachers chaired their own Team meetings. They had neither training on procedure ad legal pitfalls of chairing nor "authority to commit district resources. urrently, initial eligibility, reevaluation, and some annual review meetings are chaired by Team Chairs who have had extensive procedural and legal training and have the authority to commit resources. Some annuals are chaired by principals or assistant principals. We have provided ongoing training and principals / assistants have the authority to commit resources. The model we are proposing for the middle school meets the criteria for compliance. We plan to provide additional training over the summer. 5. On Page 28, 2nd to last paragraph, is this teachers/tutors that go into the hospital setting to tutor students. Why is there no competition to drive cost down? In hospital settings, rates are set by the hospital's designated provider such as Education, Inc. Students confined to home may be tutored by RPS tutors who are paid at the contractual rate. 6. On Page 29, what kind of grant funding is possible and will our grant writer support this effort or does it fall on our administrative staff? Some Grants we have received in the past are AM IDEA, AM IDEA EC, Federal Special Education Entitlement, Early Childhood Education, Community Partnership Collaborative, Samantha's Harvest. The writing of these grants, most being entitlement grants, is a collaborative effort between central office and the Pupil Services Office. We continue to seek other grant opportunities. 7. On Page 30, why are subs up $7K? see #4 -8. On Page 31, why will Medicaid billing go down? `dministration fees are calculated at 7% of our returns. Funding is less than previous years. 9. On Page 30, why such a large increase in speech, occupational, and physical therapy costs when FTES are same (14.4) increase of $101,355. Increase of 0.4 FTE was not included in FY10 budget so is additional to both FY10 and FYI]. The remaining increase is contractual, steps, and columns. 10. On Page 30, why does SPED nurse go up by $24K is it FTE's, hours or step or contract? New Nurse is higher on pay scale and is being paid for transportation hours. 11. On Page 30 - why is transportation 850K on page 30 but $895K on page 10. I see that these differences are consistent with history. The transportation figure on Page 10 includes both the transportation under contract services on Page 30 as well as the parent transportation on page 31 under other expenses. 1. What are the two administrative Special Education positions? There are 5 administrative positions: I Pupil Services Director, 4 Team Chair's. Two are included in the local budget, the Director and RISE Director / Team Chair. The remaining three Team Chairs are funded through the federal entitlement grant. 2. Why have the salaries for Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists increased so significantly since 2007 despite only a 1.4 FTE increase (in the Therapeutic Services FTE staffing category which includes Speech ad Language Pathologists)? see # 2 3. What are "Dues and Memberships - $15,7007 Membership fees for SEEM Collaborative, Northshore Education Consortium MA PAC. 4. What is the difference between Therapeutic Supplies and Adaptive Equipment? Equipment is defined by DESE as lasting more than 1 year. Supplies are consumables. - 5. What software, licenses are funded far $14,400? Semstracker IEP software 6. Why is there no funding for special education professional development? The narrative reports funding will come from ARRA grants for inclusion. How will staff obtain professional development around other special education topics? The district has cut most PD. We will utilize district staff to share expertise as much as possible. Grants will fund PD and we will continue to attend workshops provided at no cost, i. e., SEEM, Middlesex Partnership for Youth. 7. Where are the Team Chair positions reflected in the special education budget? How will the schools be divided for next year with the remaining Team Chair educators? PS Director and RISE Director are under professional salaries, other Team Chairs are funded through the federal entitlement grant. For 2010-1011: I Team Chair/ Director -RISE 2 Team Chairs - elementary level I Team Chair - high school Middle School will be chaired by MS administrators 8. Where are Vocational Services provided by EMARC reflected in the budget? Have other cost effective sr ternatives been explored? ` -MARC services are funded under Contract Services: consultations. We have found EMARC to be cost effective, enabling us to bring students back to district and offer vocational preparation', job coaching, and travel training. One EMARC staff member co-teaches with our HS program teacher. It is anticipated that RPS staff will be able to take over this role over time. We are also exploring the cost effectiveness. of hiring our own job coaches.