Natick Public Schools
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES
April 6, 2009
The School Committee held a meeting on Monday, April 6, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. in the School Committee Room, 3rd Floor, Town Hall. Ms. Blanchard, Acting Chair called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m.
Members Present: Karen Adelman Foster, Anne Blanchard, Dirk Coburn, David Margil, Amy Mistrot, Anne Zernicke
David Murphy arrived at 8:00 p.m.
Others Present: Peter Sanchioni Superintendent
Karen LeDuc Assistant Superintendent
William Hurley Director of Fiscal & Management Services
Sharon Reilly Recording Secretary
At 6:40 p.m. Mr. Coburn moved for approval to enter into Executive Session to discuss contract negotiations and Collective Bargaining in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 39, Section 23b of the Massachusetts General Laws. Mr. Margil seconded. By roll call vote, all members present were in favor of entering into Executive Session.
The School Committee returned to open session at 7:40 p.m.
Corinne Worthington, Student Representative and Mr. Joseph McFarland joined the meeting.
PRESENTATION BY R.F. WALSH – DRAFT FEASIBILITY STUDY
Mr. Joseph Naughton, Mr. Paul Kalous, and Mr. David Billings from R.F. Walsh were present and provided the School Committee with an overview of the draft Natick High School Building Project Feasibility Study. They responded to questions from Committee members. The Feasibility Study will be reviewed and voted on by the High School Building Committee at its meeting scheduled for April 15, 2009 and it will be brought back to the School Committee for its vote on April 27, 2009. Mr. Naughton introduced the members of the High School Building Committee who were present. Ms. Adelman Foster requested that when using numbers for the project budget that a footnote be used to indicate that these numbers are 2009 estimates. Mr. Margil requested copies of Mr. Naughton’s presentation. It was
suggested that if anyone had any further questions to please send them to Bob Graham who will collate them and bring to the High School Building Committee meeting. Mr. Coburn stated that the Building Committee meetings are public meetings. He also requested that a meeting be posted as a School Committee meeting in the event that a quorum of members wish to attend.
PRESENTATION BY AI3 – EDUCATIONAL PLANNING PROCESS
Mr. Scott Dunlap and Mr. Jim Jordan from AI3 Architects provided information on the process they use in working with school departments on the educational programming of a new high school. They provided floor plans of two schools they have been working with – Whitman Hanson Regional High School and Norwood High School. They stated that the Massachusetts School Building Authority has selected their design as the model high school. They discussed the similarities and difference between a custom built school and the model school. They assured the School Committee that there is much flexibility using the model school approach. They responded to questions from School Committee members. It was suggested that if anyone had any further questions to please send them to Bob
Graham.
REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Acting Chair Blanchard congratulated Ms. Amy Mistrot as a new School Committee member as a result of the recent election and congratulated Mr. Margil and Ms. Adelman Foster on their reelection to the School Committee.
Dr. Sanchioni asked if there were any nominations for Chair of the Natick School Committee. Ms. Zernicke nominated Ms. Anne Blanchard. Ms. Blanchard respectfully declined due to other responsibilities and time constraints.
Ms. Blanchard nominated Mr. Dirk Coburn as Chairman. Mr. Coburn accepted the nomination. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. By roll call vote, it was unanimously approved that Mr. Coburn be appointed Chairman.
Chairman Coburn sought nominations for Vice Chair.
Ms. Blanchard nominated Ms. Zernicke as Vice Chair. Ms. Zernicke declined. Ms. Zernicke nominated Mr. Margil as Vice Chairman. Mr. Margil accepted the nomination. Mr. Murphy seconded. By roll call vote, it was unanimously approved that Mr. Margil be appointed Vice Chairman.
Ms. Zernicke nominated Mr. Murphy as Clerk. Mr. Murphy accepted the nomination. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. By roll call vote, it was unanimously approved that Mr. Murphy be appointed Clerk.
Chairman Coburn moved to appoint Ms. Sharon Reilly as Recording Secretary. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. By roll call vote, it was unanimously approved.
Mr. Margil moved to reaffirm the appointment of the School Committee’s Attorney Andrew Waugh from the firm Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane. Mr. Murphy seconded. By roll call vote, it was unanimously approved.
PUBLIC SPEAK
Chairman Coburn asked if anyone wished to come forward for Public Speak. Mr. Jimmy Brown, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 8, came forward. He congratulated Chairman Coburn on his appointment to Chair and congratulated Ms. Mistrot, Ms. Adelman Foster and Mr. Margil on the results of the recent election. He discussed the division in the Town over the past year over several matters and suggested to all that when there is disagreement, the parties should try and work together, look at matters with constructive criticism and try to come up with a compromise.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the minutes of March 16, 2009. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of five members. Ms. Mistrot and Mr. Murphy abstained. Mr. Murphy was absent for this meeting and Ms. Mistrot was not yet a member of the School Committee.
Mr. Margil requested a change to the minutes of March 23. He wished to change the wording in the following sentence from:
Ms. Blanchard moved to approve the implementation of the $50 activity fee (a onetime fee) as outlined with the understanding that it will expire on June 30, 2010 unless voted on again by the Committee.
to:
Ms. Blanchard moved to approve the implementation of the $50 activity fee (a onetime fee) as outlined with the provision that it will expire on June 30, 2010 unless voted on again by the Committee.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the March 23, 2009 minutes with the change outlined above. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of six members. Ms. Mistrot abstained as she was not yet a member of the School Committee.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the February 2, 2009 Executive Session minutes. Ms. Adelman Foster seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of six members. Ms. Mistrot abstained as she was not yet a member of the School Committee.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the March 9, 2009 Executive Session minutes. Ms. Zernicke seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of five members. Ms. Mistrot and Mr. Murphy abstained. Mr. Murphy was absent for this meeting and Ms. Mistrot was not yet a member of the School Committee.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the March 16, 2009 Executive Session minutes. Ms. Blanchard seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of five members. Ms. Mistrot and Mr. Murphy abstained. Mr. Murphy was absent for this meeting and Ms. Mistrot was not yet a member of the School Committee.
Mr. Margil moved for approval of the March 23, 2009 Executive Session minutes. Ms. Blanchard seconded. They were approved by an affirmative vote of six members. Ms. Mistrot abstained as she was not yet a member of the School Committee.
DECLASSIFICATION OF EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES
Chairman Coburn requested a motion to declassify the Executive Session Minutes which were provided to the School Committee members. He explained that yearly, the school committee will declassify its Executive Session minutes on matters that have been resolved, at which time they become public record.
Ms. Zernicke moved for approval to declassify the following Executive Session Minutes:
December 17, 2007
March 3, 2008
April 15, 2008
September 15, 2008
Ms. Blanchard seconded. It was unanimously approved.
Dr. Sanchioni introduced Mr. Mark Baranoff, Wilson Middle School Teacher, who was present. Mr. Baranoff is the new President of the Education Association of Natick.
NON-UNION PERSONNEL
Dr. Sanchioni recommended that the School Committee approve his recommendation that all Non-Union Personnel take a Zero cost of living increase this year. Members expressed their appreciation, collaboration and cooperation of these employees. Ms. Blanchard asked if this would include the Administration. Dr. Sanchioni indicated that it would. Ms. Adelman Foster moved for approval to affirm the superintendent’s recommendation that all Non-Union Personnel take a Zero cost of living increase for this coming year. Ms. Blanchard seconded. It was unanimously approved.
AMERICAN RECOVERY & REINVESTMENT ACT
Dr. Sanchioni provided a packet of information to the School Committee regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and how it affects the education component. He reviewed the following goals:
- Spend funds quickly to save and create jobs
- Ensure transparency and accountability
- Thoughtfully invest one-time funds to avoid the “funding cliff”
- Advance effective reforms
He summarized the funds as follows:
For FY 10, Natick is scheduled to receive $1,721,838. The funds will become available when the final state budget is approved, most likely in June. Natick will receive these funds due to an under funding in Chapter 70 for FY 10. Stabilization funds will be available again in FY 11, however, funding will be dependent upon the Chapter 70 formula thus, making it difficult to predict an amount. For FY 10, stabilization funds must be used for instruction and tuition.
For FY 10, Natick is scheduled to receive $630,603 plus $24,534 for preschool special education. ARRA IDEA funds will again be available in FY 11, however, at a lower amount. Only half of the IDEA funds can be used to offset budget deficits. It has been strongly suggested that IDEA funds be used for increased capacity to deliver needed services in the future (professional development, technology, etc.)
Initial allocations will be posted in April. All supplement not supplant and comparability requirements will apply. Funds can only be used to support Johnson & Wilson due to the percentage of qualified students.
Dr. Sanchioni provided the School Committee with his recommendations for utilizing the $1.7 million as follows:
- Restore all Personnel cuts in Tier 3
Consider an Agreement with the Town
- Restore Curriculum Positions in Tier 2
- Reduce the amount of Circuit Breaker
- Restore a portion of the Summer Help in Tier
- Restore Data Base Administrator Position
- Meet the Requirement of Effective Reforms by:
- Math Program Grade 1
- Study Island
- PLC Training
- Additional Seats VHS
- Summer Mentor Hours
- Equity & Excellence Course
- Summer Work $26.52 x 200hrs
- DIBELS/DRA
- Fundations Continued Implementation
- Restore Technology Funds
Other:
ARRA Stabilization funds for FY 11 will again be dependent on the Chapter 70 formula.
Final numbers will not be known until the Legislature enacts the FY10 Budget most likely sometime in June.
Pension contribution TBD
A discussion continued and the Administration responded to questions.
The following comments/suggestions were raised from Committee members
- Don’t do partial restores – restore fully
- Advance effective reforms and seriously consider funding programs such as Fundations, the reading specialists, curriculum positions – would like to see a plan that makes sense of these really important positions that will be reinstituted as well as the effective reforms.
- Fuller commitment to Empower Training
- Restore full funding to Technology Funding which was previously proposed to be cut
- Restore funding for Ben-Hem Assistant Principal
- Elaborate on priority and parameters of these items
- Are we adequately staffed, do we need to create any jobs – take into account severe capacity constraints
- We do live in one town and should be working diligently to keep a balanced impact in the town – given that we need to balance within our Committee to provide the best education we can with suitable restraint, we need to spend what needs to be spent and not forget the other considerations.
- Examine the elimination of activity fees
- Need to work very hard to offset the pain seen in our schools
A discussion took place regarding whether or not funds would be available to return to the Town after restoring many of the school needs and if so how much.
Ms. Martha White, Town Administrator, was present and reported that the government side and town side administration have been working very collaboratively and she is thankful for that. She reported on what cuts were taking place on the government side. Ms. White indicated that if the School Department returned funds to the Town they would more than likely be placed in the stabilization fund and wait until after the October Town Meeting to see what positions would be restored.
The consensus of the School Committee was that it is worth having the School Committee’s designees explore an open dialogue with the Financial Planning Committee around the matter that there may be an opportunity to return funds to the Town, however, no decisions will take place at that meeting. Further discussion and decisions will take place at the next School Committee meeting.
APPROVAL OF FOOD SERVICE CONTRACT
Mr. William Hurley provided the School Committee with a report on the process used to select a Food Service Management Company for the Natick Public Schools. He reported that the Food Service Management contract between Chartwells and the Natick Public Schools will expire on June 30, 2009. He began a public bidding process for a successor contract on January 13, 2009 when an RFP was sent to 4 interested parties: Chartwells, Aramark, Sodexho and Whitsons. Proposals were received on February 17, 2009 from the 4 interested parties and after an extensive review of the non-price and price proposals, and after a careful study of references, Mr. Hurley recommends that Aramark be awarded the contract to provide Food Service Management Services to the Natick Public Schools. He requested the School
Committee’s approval to allow him to enter into contract negotiations with Aramark for a one year contract with a two year renewal. After some discussion, Mr. Margil moved for approval to empower Mr. Hurley to enter into contract negotiations with Aramark. Ms. Mistrot seconded. It was unanimously approved.
APPROVAL OF DONATIONS
Mr. Hurley requested that the School Committee accept the following donations:
Source Donation Value
Bose Corporation 4 Bose 3-2-1 GSX Home Entertainment Systems $1,499 each or $5,996
Mr. Margil wished it to be known that he is an employee of the Bose Corporation, however, he had nothing to do with this donation.
Mr. Murphy moved for approval to accept this donation. Ms. Blanchard seconded. It was unanimously approved. Dr. Sanchioni reported that the Bose systems will be given to our secondary schools.
SUGGESTION FOR HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE/SCHOOL COMMITTEE WORKING RELATIONSHIP
Ms. Blanchard announced that she and Ms. Adelman Foster have been working on a document on how to make the working relationship between the High School Building Committee and the School Committee more effective. They will be sending out this document shortly to both the Building Committee and the School Committee for their input.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS CONCERNS
Ms. Mistrot announced a new Natick Education fundraiser, “Paint the Town Pink”. People can donate $30 to the Natick Education Foundation which will send a flock of pink flamingos to friends, family or anyone with a sense of humor. The flamingos will be placed on the recipient’s property for a two day period before moving on to another location. Those interested may contact the Natick Education Foundation.
Mr. Murphy discussed the matter which was brought before the School Committee at its last meeting of the concerned citizens who reside in a West Natick neighborhood near the Brown and Kennedy Schools over power lines being installed by NSTAR, which they believe are a safety issue. Mr. Murphy feels that the School Committee has some liability to follow up on this issue. A request was made for the administration to engage in conversation with the Department of Public Health.
Chairman Coburn reported that the 2nd interim report of the Expense Control Taskforce is being distributed tonight at the Selectmen’s meeting.
Chairman Coburn indicated that the School Committee will need to think about how to organize its various subcommittees and delegates to other committees. This will be discussed at the April 27 School Committee meeting.
At 11:15 p.m., Ms. Blanchard 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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