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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 01/21/2015 School Committee Meeting January 21, 2015 In attendance: Mr. Ognibene Dr. Schubert Mrs. Astino Mrs. McGoldrick Dr. Lieb Also in attendance: Mrs. Cataldo, Superintendent Mr. DeGennaro, Business Manager The meeting opened and went into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the CTA, exemption #3. Mr. Ognibene called the meeting to order at 7:18PM and reminded the audience that the meeting is being recorded and televised. He also requested that audience members turn off their cell phones and to follow some new protocols in terms of questions. He asked that everyone please wait until after the presentations are completed. Index cards will be passed out so that audience members can write down questions. As always, questions should be directed to the Chair. Mr. Ognibene requested to have a moment of silence for Mr. Stefan Hanke, a local parent with three children in the district, who was killed over the weekend. Roll call: All present Mr. Kotter and Mrs. Marat are here to discuss the French Exchange Trip. Mrs. Cataldo asked that this trip be looked at it again in light of recent events in France. Following the attacks that took place last week, Mr. Kotter received a letter from the French Prime Minister announcing that all school trips to Ile de France have been cancelled. Scituate has also had a meeting with their school committee and Mrs. Cataldo will be talking with the Scituate superintendent tomorrow. The original itinerary had visits to this region at least once each day. They have now changed the itinerary to take trips outside this region. Colleagues in France have been working to make sure it is safe, worthwhile and educational. The core focus of the experience is the interaction between the French families and our students. Refunds if a student chooses not to go are questionable because the airline tickets are non-refundable. A total of 40 students between Scituate and Cohasset are booked on this trip. From Cohasset it's mostly sophomores and juniors. At this point only one student from each school has chosen not to go on the trip. It is up to each student's families to say whether they are permitted to travel with the host family into Paris. Parents are responsible for putting the parameters on their own children. Mrs. Astino suggested taking the "visits to Paris" off the itinerary and to use terminology of"family visits" instead. It was moved by Dr. Schubert to approve the revised itinerary with changes suggested tonight. Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion. The vote was 4 ayes, with 1 abstention. The committee suggested that the Superintendent instruct the teachers to develop a plan should circumstances change while the students are in France for communication protocols as well as potential exit plans. Mrs. Cataldo will meet with the principal and teachers and formalize something that can be distributed to the families. On previous trips they have had a blog that communicates with parents immediately. They also are able to send a text to all families at once. Experiential Learning Presentation: The volunteer Experiential Learning Committee met to discuss the Camp Bournedale experience. Since 1974 the 6th grade class has had the opportunity to attend an experiential learning experience. The settings have changed over the years. Forming this committee provided an opportunity for the parents to get together to discuss this experience and the setting for it. They evaluated what worked in the past and what didn't. They explored many options for this experience. Two teachers and two administrators visited the various programs. It came down to two opportunities, and the consensus was that Camp Wing was the appropriate choice. It has many strong points. The facility is in Duxbury so proximity was a key factor. Total capacity to accommodate larger upcoming classes was also a key factor. It is a three-day, two night program. Camp Wing will provide staff as chaperones in the cabins overnight. The proposed dates are Oct. 7, 8 and 9. Students will return home after lunch, so they will have the long weekend with family. Cost is much lower when compared to Camp Bournedale. There was a request made to include Out of District students. While everyone appreciates the Bournedale experience, it is time to move on to something new. The School Committee expressed great thanks to the Experiential Learning Committee for taking the time to investigate alternatives. The Director at Camp Wing is currently a teacher at Cohasset High School. Dr. Lieb moved to approve the Camp Wing trip and Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion. All voted aye. Next was a presentation by Sue Skiber, Joanne McDonald and Katie Dugan who worked together on the Digital Learning Committee project. Sue and Joanne are on the Bridgewater State University faculty. They are passionate about the importance of technology being integrated into schools. The Capital Budget Committee provided some of the funding for this project. This Committee formed in July 2014 and the task was to look at technology in its entirely, put together a plan and to put together a report on the plan. The committee included teachers. The focus of the plan was teacher and student educational outcomes and learning. The name of the committee changed from the 1:1 Initiative Committee to the Digital Learning Committee. The committee first looked at DESE Guidelines. There are many different factors in putting together a successful program. 1. Access to the technology outside the school day is key. 2. Acceptable use policy is an important factor. 3. ISTE: Essential Conditions. Recommendations are much like those from the state. 4. There must be a shared vision with all stakeholders in the community. 5. Technology must support curriculum framework. The committee looked at teaching in today's world. Teaching is based on Student Centered Learning; students appreciate learning for themselves and they connect learning to real situations. Creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication are critical skills. Technology is the piece that makes it doable in classrooms. TPACK Model: Technology, Pedagogy and Curriculum Knowledge, how they overlap and how does technology enhance these concepts. Educators can see how they all fit together. SAMR Model: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefiniation. It is a model designed to infuse technology into teaching and learning. Technology needs leadership support, ongoing training, daily use and student collaboration. The committee conducted three other district site visits. The goal was to focus on best practices. Districts visited were Duxbury, Scituate and Silver Lake. The committee looked for commonality in each districts' implementation of technology. Infrastructure was critical as was staffing support. Each district had phased rollouts. They chose different strategies for hardware based on desired student outcomes. The device was not the driving agent. Each district continues to invest in Professional Development. Funding was provided by a variety of sources: School operation budget, Capital Budget, grants, private sources; similar to what Cohasset has been doing. Scituate was the first district visited and is approximately twice the size of Cohasset. Scituate spent $1 million on infrastructure. This is the first year of a "bring your own device" model. Their program is focused on grades 5-12. They have set parameters for the devices that students bring. They used Launchpad. It creates a secure environment and equality because despite the device used, the application looks identical. Scituate is also assessing equity and is providing resources for those students who can't afford to have their own device. They also have ongoing professional development. Duxbury was also visited. It is also approximately twice the size of Cohasset. The New Middle- High School had technology fully rolled out with the opening of the new school. They have chosen different devices for different grade levels. The have 4,000 devices in District with 8 IT people. The Professional Development model has an objective of 50/50, 50% around technology. They weave PD on technology in various discussions that are ongoing as well as specific PD days. Silver Lake was the final district visited and it is closer in size to Cohasset. They are taking a cautious approach to a technology roll out. Their model is focused on chrome books at the high school, taking four years for all students to have one. This model is based on teachers and is the TPACK model. This plan focuses on integration of technology into the classroom. Where is Cohasset today regarding staffing, infrastructure, hardware in teacher and student hands, and PD? How much have we invested in getting ready for implementation: $1.3 million over past five years. Fiber optic cable was put in when buildings were remodeled. Funding has come from CEF, PSO and grants 20%, operating budget 45%, capital 35%. What is Cohasset staffing? Today IT support is 1 CTO covering the schools 60% and the town 40% of the time and one data entry position in the schools. Curriculum integration support is not in place other than 11 teachers who have completed certification in tech. We have a grant for$10K in consulting to be supported. We do have computer specialists at Osgood and DH. What is the infrastructure? $570K over time has been allocated. $200K was fiber-optic and $108K for wireless infrastructure in all four schools. We have switches to support the network. $254K is in classroom infrastructure such as document cameras, projectors. $615K invested in hardware for teachers, labs and classrooms. $270 K for updated laptops for teachers. OSG and DH have workstations in classrooms. We have 100 iPads in the hands of teachers to utilize in classroom. Teachers have participated in Curriculum Mapping and Digital Learning to get ready. After school workshops and summer initiatives are included in PD. 44 teachers have taken one or more classes in instructional technology. Recommendations; Goal 1. Draft a Digital Learning Vision Statement Goal 2. Technology Investment Plan • Device Plan: OSG, 6 iPads/classroom, headphones and splitters, implement in FY 2016. • Cost: $55K. • DH: Grade 3: 3 iPad carts for 6 classrooms, headphones & splitters • Grade 4 & 5: Laptop carts for 12 classrooms. Implement in FY 2016. Can use laptops for testing. $109K. Based on a cost of$399/laptop. • CMHS: Centered on BYOD with school supporting 80 laptops for non-BYOD students to achieve equity. Pilot classrooms at HS. Fully launch in FY 2017. Use Launchpad software as pilot in 15-16. Launchpad is $6 per student on a subscription basis. • Teaching Staff: Final rollout of laptops $21 K complete in FY 16. • Additional $50K in infrastructure requirements. • Total of$267K phased in over two years. Goal 3: Support Model for Digital Learning • IT Support Model: 1 Town CTO and 1 Data Entry Technician already in budget. • School Technology Director 80K • Network technician: $35K • DESE recommends 1 support person/400 computers. Currently have 700 devices in District, next year will be 1000, year after 1100. • Support Staffing: Curriculum IT integration specialist OSG/DH • Consultant to work with Dept. Heads at Middle-High School for 2 years. $10K • 1 DH Technology Assistant. Goal 4: Professional Develop, split PD 50/50 between technology and other initiatives. Goal 5: Ongoing Leadership & Oversight Several discussions regarding where we go and what the timetable is to go forward if we are going to meet the implementation guidelines. Budget Update: We have taken out some expenses from the first presentation, but it's still a 5% increase and a $372,294 increase over the recommendation of the Town Manager. No contractual increases other than steps and columns are included. No increases in fees from this year. Funding for Resource Police Officer will not be in our budget. New technology staffing is an increase of 3 FTE for Technology Director, Tech Support person at Deer Hill and Help Desk Technician. We also have $10K for PD at the High School. Technology and Bus Lease are responsible for the increases in the District wide Detail. Biggest change in SPED Department is moving the 3 contract service people to full time employee status. Out of District tuition drop is due to students aging out of placements. Curriculum includes $10K for technology consultant. Transportation includes the lease costs but lowered the maintenance costs. Osgood: Increase of 9.5%. • Expanded the Preschool this year. • Not anticipating a large influx in Kindergarten. • Not anticipating any significant change in enrollment. • The increase at Osgood is higher because we can no longer take an offset from the METCO grant because of the increase in their transportation costs. • Also no offset from PreK revolving. • Prices for utilities have gone up, and we didn't budget enough this year, so we have tried to be realistic in utilities. • Psychologist salary will be split between DH & OSG in next book. Deer Hill: • Not much of an increase in overall budget; pretty much status quo. • Title I funding has been very beneficial for the school in terms of increased support for reading support for students. • New position for Tech Assistant. • Uptick in licensing and software because of opportunities in new curriculum. Middle School: • Add physical education position to take the pressure off the STEM classes by restricting them to just 7 & 8 grades. • Need to have more class size information on the MS classes. • Core classes are not the issue with regard to class size; it's the specialist classes where they run into problems. • Want to add (2) .5 staff for specialist classes. High School: • 2 additional .5 people. .5 math and science. • Enrollment bubble is reaching the High School. Textbooks are for Science to bring in updated editions. • HS is embarking on new texts for state science initiative. Athletics: 4.4% increase. • Adding freshmen sports gradually. Need to add Freshman Field Hockey because of an increased interest. Freshman boys soccer will be the next one that needs to be added. Complete the phase in of girls ice hockey. • Will probably stay with cooperative girls ice hockey agreement with Hanover. • Add Ski Team coach to budget. • Much more interest in it in the middle school grades. • More students involved in the teams means additional user fees collected as offset to the costs. MOVED BY Jeanne Astino to approve warrant 15-12S, Paul Schubert seconded the motion; roll call vote all aye. MOVED BY Paul Schubert to accept PSO grant for Osgood. Motion seconded by Jeanne Astino Roll call vote all aye. MOVED BY Jeanne Astino to accept printer from UPS value of$1500 and seconded by Mary McGoldrick, roll call vote, all aye MOVED BY Jeanne Astino to accept Social Service League donation for CTC survey for the students, seconded by Paul Schubert. Roll call vote 4 voted aye, Helene Lieb abstained. Mr. DeGennaro concluded the finance section expressing concern about utility costs so far this year. MOVED BY Paul Schubert to close the meeting, all aye at 11:30 PM.