Natick Public Schools
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES
December 15, 2008
The School Committee held a meeting on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the School Committee Room, Third Floor, Town Hall. Vice Chair Blanchard called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
Members Present: Karen Adelman Foster, Anne Blanchard, Dirk Coburn, David Margil, David Murphy,
Anne Zernicke
Members Absent: Stephen Meyler
Others Present: Peter Sanchioni Superintendent
Karen LeDuc Assistant Superintendent
William Hurley Director of Fiscal & Management Services
Camille Napier Bernstein Teacher Representative
Corinne Worthington Student Representative
Sharon Reilly Recording Secretary
Dr. Sanchioni introduced Matthew Shaffer, 4th Grade student at Brown School, who was given the title of “Brown School’s Principal of the Day”. Matthew received this honor as a result of the school’s recently held silent auction. Matthew shadowed Ms. Small, Principal of the Brown School, for the day and was invited to attend the School Committee meeting. Ms. Small provided information about a program that Matthew was instrumental in implementing for the school called “Pennies for Peace”. Matthew discussed the program and reported that with the help of the Brown School Community, the school has raised $1000+ which will be sent to Afghanistan and used for student supplies. School Committee members congratulated Matthew and the Brown
School.
PUBLIC SPEAK
None.
APPROVAL OF OWNER’S PROJECT MANAGER CONTRACT (OPM)
Mr. Robert Graham provided the School Committee with information regarding the contract with R.F. Walsh for the Owner’s Project Manager to conduct the feasibility study for the Natick High School project. This contract has been reviewed at length with the High School Building Committee and approved at its meeting of December 10, 2008. Mr. Graham along with Frank Sullivan from R.F. Walsh responded to questions from Committee members. After considerable discussion, Mr. Murphy moved for approval. Ms. Zernicke seconded. The motion carried by a favorable vote of 5 members. Ms. Adelman Foster is very much in support of conducting this feasibility study, however, abstained from the vote as she had received the contract too soon before the meeting to allow for review. Mr. Coburn would like to have a future discussion on having another member of the School Committee serve on the High School Building Committee.
Mr. Graham announced that he is in receipt of a letter from Mr. Joseph Naughton, a School Committee appointed member of the High School Building Committee, in which he states he will be resigning from the Committee with many regrets. Mr. Graham advised that the Town Meeting article allows the School Committee to appoint a member with experience in building, design, construction or engineering. The Superintendent will recommend a candidate to the School Committee.
METCO STEM INITIATIVE UPDATE
Ms. Alexandria Pearson, METCO Coordinator, provided the School Committee with an overview of the Saturday STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) Academies which have been established for minority middle school and high school students in the Greater Boston area. Ms. Zernicke questioned why the district has middle and high school METCO students but not elementary students. She would like to discuss the METCO Program at a future meeting to understand why we don’t include elementary students in this program.
UPDATE ON ENROLLMENT
Dr. Sanchioni provided the School Committee with an update on the enrollment numbers. He will continue to monitor the 4th grade class sizes at Brown School.
FY10 PRELIMINARY BUDGET
Dr. Sanchioni presented the FY10 Preliminary budget. He stated that this is a level staffed budget in the amount of $45,647,841 which is an increase of $2,173,411 or 4.9% over FY09. He indicated that this budget amount will more than likely be adjusted once we know the amount of state revenue which will be received. A discussion continued and Dr. Sanchioni responded to questions from Committee members. Dr. Sanchioni indicated that budget discussions will continue throughout the month of January with a public hearing on February 2.
TOWN CAPITAL BUDGET UPDATE
Ms. Martha White, Town Administrator, provided an update on the Town’s Capital Budget. She reviewed projects which the Town plans to defer in order to help with the expected $5.5M shortfall in the Town’s budget. The School Committee has held previous discussions regarding deferral of some of its capital projects as well. After some discussion, Mr. Murphy moved for approval to defer the Memorial School roof capital project for one year. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. It was unanimously approved.
AMENDMENT TO FREE & REDUCED LUNCH POLICY
Mr. Hurley provided the School Committee with an amended Free & Reduced Lunch Policy outlining changes from the existing policy. Mr. Margil questioned the reason why the sentence pertaining to “no child will be denied a free lunch or other food simply because proper application has not been received from his parents or guardian” was stricken. Mr. Hurley will follow up and provide an answer at the next meeting. This policy will come back for approval at the next meeting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mr. Coburn moved for approval of the Executive Session minutes of September 15, 2008. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of 5. Mr. Margil abstained as he was not yet a member of the School Committee.
Ms. Adelman Foster moved for approval of the retreat minutes of November 18, 2008. Ms. Zernicke seconded. They were unanimously approved.
Mr. Coburn moved for approval of the Executive Session minutes of November 18, 2008. Mr. Margil seconded. They were unanimously approved.
Ms. Adelman Foster moved for approval of the minutes of December 1, 2008 with the following amendment:
Add the following sentence to the paragraph pertaining to the approval of the School Calendar for 2009-2010:
Dr. Sanchioni explained that it is impractical to start school after Labor Day for the 2009-2010 school year given that Labor Day is so late (September 7). Mr. Margil seconded with the amendment. They were unanimously approved.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the minutes of December 8, 2008 with the following change.
A motion to go into Executive needs to be recorded. The following sentence should be added:
Mr. Coburn moved for approval to enter into Executive Session. Mr. Margil seconded. A roll call vote was taken and It was unanimously approved. Mr. Coburn seconded with the amendment. They were approved by a vote of 5. Mr. Murphy abstained.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the Executive Session minutes of December 8, 2008. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. They were approved by a vote of 5. Mr. Murphy abstained.
APPROVAL OF DONATIONS
Mr. Hurley requested the School Committee’s approval of the following donations:
Source/Donation Amount/Value Purpose
Fairway Sports World $50.00 NHS Speech Team – Student Activities
Fair & Yeager Insurance $100.00 NHS Speech Team – Student Activities
Jones Drug, Inc. $25.00 NHS Speech Team – Student Activities
Natick Federal Savings Bank $150.00 NHS Speech Team – Student Activities
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Browne $50.00 ELNA Group – NHS – Student Activities
Natick Education Foundation $5,306.00 Enrichment Awards - See Below
Grant Amount Applicant
Electricity and Communication Systems |
$806.00 |
Margaux Parino |
Video Scope |
$1,000.00 |
Kathi Browne |
Water, Water Everywhere: A Study of Oceans |
$1,000.00 |
Kathi Browne |
Science Club |
$500.00 |
Kathi Browne |
The Ocean and Matter |
$1,000.00 |
Kathi Browne |
NHS Robotics Club |
$1,000.00 |
Seth Foster |
For the Committee’s information:
The following previously accepted donations have been received:
$75 to the NHS Environmental Club
$440 to the NHS Wall of Achievement
The NHS Boosters contributed $21,394.49 of funding to benefit the students of Natick High School during the 2007-2008 school year as follows:
Academic Requests $10,957.65
Athletic Funding $6,036.84
Scholarships $4000.00
Yearbook $400.00
Mr. Coburn moved for approval of these donations. Ms. Zernicke seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of 5. Ms. Adelman Foster abstained as her son was an applicant for one of the grants. A suggestion was made that it would be more appropriate to change the column heading to “Applicant” rather than “Recipient” in the Grant section.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION/CONCERNS
Ms. Camille Napier Bernstein thanked the Committee for offering the opportunity for teacher representatives to participate and sit at the table for School Committee meetings. She will be sharing this role with Joseph McFarland and Joanna Donnelly.
Mr. Coburn reported that the School Committee has recently received an anonymous complaint letter. He stated that the School Committee deals openly and publicly and it is very hard to take any meaningful action based on anonymous input.
Mr. Margil announced that there is a very good article in the December 10 issue of the Boston Globe newspaper stating that Massachusetts student significantly outperformed their peers nationwide on a prestigious math and science exam, TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). Massachusetts performed best on the Grade 4 science exam. They came in second behind Singapore and ahead of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
At 10:25 p.m., Mr. Coburn moved to adjourn. Ms. Zernicke seconded. It was unanimously approved.
Peter Sanchioni, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Secretary to the School Committee
Attest:_____________________________ Sharon Reilly
Recording Secretary
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