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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 12/04/2014 Cohasset School Committee Meeting December 4, 2014 In attendance: Mr. Paul Ognibene Dr. Paul Schubert Mrs. Jeanne Astino Dr. Helene Lieb Mrs. Mary McGoldrick Also in attendance: Mrs. Barbara Cataldo Mr. David DeGennaro Mr. Ognibene called the meeting to order at 7:37 PM. Roll Call: All present Reminded the audience that the SC meeting is televised and recorded. Mrs. Gillis mentioned that there is no audio for either School Committee or Selectmen's meetings for the past couple of weeks through Comcast. Frequently it's an issue with the cable carrier. Superintendent's Excellence Award: Postponed until end of meeting or perhaps next meeting. Mr. Willis is here to discuss the Model UN. The January trip is in Boston, and the March Model UN is in New York. The Cohasset Model UN is funded by CEF. Currently there are 21-24 students for the Boston Model UN, which is run by Harvard. Harvard conference students will miss one block on Thursday and Friday. For the New York conference, they will have probably be gone March 15-20, which is Wed through Sat. The students will do the conference and visit the Un while in New York. Mr. Luvisi will be going with Mr. Willis. Three spaces are available for the Boston Conference. Deadline for NYC is Monday. Everyone who wants to go can go, but they have to commit by Monday. Several ambassadors live in Town and may be able to get them to address students. Mrs. Astino moved to approve the two Model UN trips and Dr. Lieb seconded the motion. Scholarships may be available to help with funding for students who may need it. Roll Call: All aye. Enrollment and Teacher Projections for Osgood: Mrs. Cataldo met with some parents from Osgood who have concerns about class size and teacher projections. Mrs. Cataldo had some discussions with Needham to see how that District makes enrollment projections. She will talk to the Town Clerk to see whether some of their methods would work here to get better at projecting enrollment, More accurate Kindergarten projections help with subsequent grades as well. She is looking at having more concrete information and direction by May. There are more and more demands on children at earlier grades. Making the decision to hire the teacher earlier is key. There are too many variables that need to be managed for a successful outcome to be reality if the teacher is hired at the last minute before school starts. The suggestion was made to have administrators perhaps compile "survival" kits for new teachers if necessary. Meghan Tufts, Kerri O'Keefe, May Carpenter, Barbara Stefan, all participated in this discussion. May is the decision point; if it's a reallocation, that could take place in June, but if it's a new hire, it might be more protracted. Ellen Maher asked if there are forecasts for each grade that take place during the budget process. "Surprise" should not be a factor in grades other than Kindergarten. Selectman Martha Gjesteby pointed out that School Budget number is voted as one number and reminded everyone that the School committee has line item autonomy to move money around. The Lobby Guard at CHS is up and running. Significant discussion occurred around parent drop-offs for books/lunchs/uniforms etc. Currently parents run and drop off stuff on a table in the Main Office. Logging into Lobby Guard and logging out for such a quick trip is challenging. Discussion ensued regarding accommodating something such as a 'banker's drawer' for quick drop-offs. Deer Hill doors have to be reconfigured for their Lobby Guard. Presently it is in the Deer Hill main office. The Osgood Lobby Guard should be hooked up by December. Whalley Computer donated the third unit that the School Committee needs to accept. Moved by Dr Lieb to accept the donation from Whalley. Dr Schubert seconded the motion. Roll call vote all aye. Osgood location is suboptimal and blackboard connect will be communicated to parents. Lobby Guard at HS will be at full potential based on discussions with capital and other entities in Town. Visitor Policy and Security Camera System Policy 2nd reads: Visitors policy, moved by Dr. Schubert and seconded by Dr. Lieb (with spelling correction); All aye. Security Camera System Policy: Moved by Dr. Schubert to approve policy as read. Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion. All aye. These policies are now both officially adopted. New Policies being proposed: Communications Policy had its first read. Second page should not be considered part of the policy. Page 2 was designed to not be distributed to the public. Second read can be on agenda for next week's School Committee meeting. Residential Requirements for School Membership: A question arose about a student that is under joint custody with both parents. This needs to be spelled out in the policy; that one parent needs to reside in Cohasset. Also, the amount of time the student is in each custodial parent's residence needs to be delineated to ensure that primary time spent is in the Cohasset residence. There also have been questions from residents who are temporarily moving out of district while their Cohasset residence is being built or renovated. This residency policy needs to be revisited in January. Technology: Expenditures for security related items were reviewed. Between May and Sept. the district spent$77,740 on various items. Grants and schools funds expended $61,532, for a total of$140,000 expended. Mrs. Gillis inquired as to the general technology situation for the schools. Police are considering a Resource Officer in their budget. Mr. Bonnell is preparing a comprehensive review of all technology, perhaps to review at the January meeting. Technology Committee will be reporting back to the Committee on where they are in January. Warrant 15-09S. Moved by Mrs. Astino to accept the warrant, seconded by Dr. Schubert. All aye. Mr. DeGennaro mentioned that they are still working on the bus lease. Four new buses should be here by the end of next week; which is a moderate delay. All buses should be in service after Winter break. Community updates include that Guys and Dolls is being performed over the weekend. There is a Circus at Deer Hill and the Football Super Bowl is coming. There will be a Dec. 8th joint Selectmen and School Committee meeting. SEPAC hosted a meeting on student anxiety and approximately 50 people attended. It was a great presentation for parents and teachers. This might be a good topic for Professional Development. Dr. Schubert moved that the open meeting be adjourned to enter into Executive Session for Exemption #3; to discuss contract negotiations with the CTA. Dr. Lieb seconded the motion, roll call vote; all ayes.