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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 05/20/2015 Cohasset School Committee Meeting School Committee Minutes Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Selectmen's Office—Town Hall 41 Highland Avenue In Attendance: Paul Ognibene, Chairman Mrs. Jeanne Astino Mrs. Mary McGoldrick Katie Dugan Ellen Maher Also in Attendance: Barbara Cataldo, Superintendent Dave DeGennaro, Business Manager Call to Order and Roll Call Superintendent Barbara Cataldo called the meeting to order at 7:OOPM. School Committee Reorganization Superintendent Cataldo asked for a motion to reorganize the Board. Motion by Mrs. Mary McGoldrick to reorganize the Committee, seconded by Mrs. Katie Dugan. Roll call vote: 5-0,All Ayes. Motion by Mrs. McGoldrick to appoint Mr. Paul Ognibene as Chairman,seconded by Mrs.Jeanne Astino. Roll call vote: 5-0,All Ayes. Floor turned over to Chairman Ognibene. He stated he was thrilled to accept the nomination and would now accept nominations for Vice Chairman. Mrs. Ellen Maher moved to appoint Mrs.Jeanne Astino as Vice-Chairman. Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion. Roll call vote: 5-0,All Ayes. Chairman Ognibene asked for nominations for Secretary. Mrs.Astino moved to appoint Mrs. Mary McGoldrick as Secretary. Mrs. Maher seconded the motion. Roll call vote: 5-0,All Ayes. School Committee Sub Committee Appointments/Assignments Sub-Committees Chairman Ognibene stated that they renamed the Facilities Sub-Committee to Facilities/Capital Projects. Mrs. Astino said the Board had talked about reinstating the Sub-Committee for the Superintendent's review. Superintendent Cataldo advised that the Committee might want to ask Counsel about this committee. Chairman Ognibene said the Committee can deliberate on this sub-committee at a later date. 1 School Committee—5/20/15 -JBO Sub-Committees ❖ Policies&Standards—Mrs. Astino and Mrs. McGoldrick will remain on this Sub-Committee ❖ Budget& Finance—Chairman Ognibene and Mrs. Dugan with an Alternate of Mrs. McGoldrick will be on this Sub-Committee. ❖ Facilities/Capital Projects - Mrs. Astino and Mrs. Maher will be on this Sub-Committee. ❖ Technology/AEC—Katie Dugan will be on this Sub-Committee with Mary McGoldrick acting as the alternate. Assignments ❖ Communications—School Councils—Mrs. Astino will continue to work with the Osgood School, Mrs. McGoldrick will continue to work with the Deer Hill School and Mrs. Maher will work with the Middle-High School. ❖ PSO—Jeanne Astino and Mrs. McGoldrick will remain liaisons. ❖ CEF—Mrs. Dugan and Mrs. McGoldrick will be liaisons. ❖ Elder Affairs—The Committee agreed to leave this open until they confirm the meeting times. ❖ Special Ed Pac—Mrs. McGoldrick will remain liaison. ❖ Media—After much discussion, the Committee agree to leave this liaison position open until they determine what the function is and if it is still necessary. Chairman Ognibene asked the Superintendent to pull any relevant policies. ❖ Legislative Liaison—Mrs. Astino and Mrs. McGoldrick will remain liaisons. ❖ Internal Scholarship—Mrs.Astino will be the primary liaison with Mrs. Maher as a back-up. ❖ Hall of Fame— Ellen Maher will be liaison. ❖ Emergency Management—Ellen Maher will be liaison. ❖ Town Boards—Chairman Ognibene and Mrs. McGoldrick will remain liaisons. Warrant Auditor—Mrs. Astino will remain liaison. ❖ Collective Bargaining—Chairman Ognibene and Mrs. Astino will remain liaisons. The Committee will confirm with Counsel if they can add an Alternate and if it is allowed, it will be Mrs. Dugan. Pledge of Allegiance—Pledge Recited Invitation to Speak— None Approval of the Minutes—April 15, 2015 Motion by Mrs.Astino to approve the minutes of April 15, 2015 as amended. Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion. Roll call vote: 3-0-2, Chairman Ognibene, Mrs.Astino and Mrs. McGoldrick with two abstentions (Mrs. Dugan and Mrs. Maher). Superintendent's Report My Favorite Teacher Contest—Jake Koncius—Freshman,Jake Koncius, was a runner up in the Barnes & Noble, My Favorite Teacher Contest. Mr. Koncius wrote about his Math Teacher, Mr. Alan Galotta. He 2 School Committee—5/20/15 -JBO read the letter he submitted to Barnes & Noble to the Committee.The Superintendent thanked him for attending this evening. Mrs. McGoldrick made a motion to move the CEF Gift agenda item to the second position under the Superintendent's Report. Mrs. Maher seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Roll call vote: 5-0, all Ayes CEF Gift - Mrs. Cindy Matheison of the Cohasset Education Foundation (CEF) addressed the Committee. She reviewed three grants the CEF would be funding: $15,085 to fund Building a Positive Learning Environment; $14,945 to fund Teaching Metacognition through Documentary Making in the Classroom; and $4,600 to fund Language Immersion Professional Development, for total of$34,630. Mrs.Astino moved to accept the grants totaling$34,630. Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Roll call vote: 4-0-1. Katie Dugan abstained from the vote. School Fusion/Blackboard Presentation/Headline—Mr. David Kellogg of School Fusion/BlackBoard Connect reviewed the new website they will be launching for the Cohasset Schools. He reviewed the design and content extensively for the committee. Mrs. Astino asked what the timeline from development to implementation would be. He stated that he knows the District wishes to move quickly, so their goal is to launch it by July V. Mrs. Dugan asked if the teachers had been involved in the development of the new site. Superintendent Cataldo said they hope to bring in teachers in the next few weeks. She added that they hope to move away from Weebly and that the transition from the old site would to the new one would be a gradual one. Mr. Christian Cunnie, President of Student Council, asked if there would be a document upload component on the site. Mr. Kellogg was uncertain and would look into it. 2015—2016 School Committee Meeting Dates—The Committee reviewed and made amendments to the School Committee Meeting Calendar. Mrs. Astino moved to approve the 2015—2016 meeting calendar as amended. Mrs. McGoldrick seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Roll call vote: 5-0 All Ayes. High School Sign—Superintendent Cataldo alerted the Board that new Middle-High School sign will be installed in about 3 weeks. It will be positioned so people can see it going up and down Pond Street. It will also be higher to protect it from the snow. Facilities Manager, Mark Kelly, is paying for the sign out of his budget. Retirement Letters—Superintendent Cataldo announced the retirement of Kelly Dickson, Lynn B. Monaco and Sue Welch. U.S. News and World Report Massachusetts High School Rankings—Superintendent Cataldo reviewed the report for the Committee. Cohasset went from 13 to 31, but it has to do with the metrics the companies use to compile the lists. Hingham and other communities' rankings changed as well. The rankings in U.S. News and World Report allow AP Testing scores to be factored in. Chairman Ognibene 3 School Committee—5/20/15 -JBO stated that they would like to create their own internal report card where they would determine their own peers and metrics. There was then an extensive discussion regarding Cohasset testing scores and a review of the acceptance/College attendance statistics in Cohasset for 2012—2014. Mrs. Dugan then reviewed statistics she compiled from the U.S. News and World Report. It is her overall observation that the rankings are heavily weighted toward college readiness. The Committee then discussed looking at testing and comparing the grades in the AP classes during the year and then compare those to the results of the final AP exam. Mrs. Dugan added that when the Committee does discuss the internal report card,they should consider putting a Charter School amongst the peers. Superintendent Cataldo stated that she did not want the Committee to put much credence into the fact that the ranking keeps changing; in the end,the magazine could end up changing how much emphasis they put on the AP testing. World Language—High School Superintendent Cataldo explained that the only 6 students have signed up for Latin and it is not fiscally responsible to run the class with a half-time teacher. They can instead offer these students an online Latin class. Mrs. Astino said that languages are tough in Cohasset because of block scheduling. Mrs. McGoldrick said it would be interesting to look at other districts and see what they do with language. Flood Update Superintendent Cataldo updated the Committee on the status of the office. They hope to be back in by June 3 d or if not, by the week after. Superintendent Evaluation Summary—Superintendent Cataldo asked that this be postponed to the next meeting. Superintendent Cataldo then updated the Committee on enrollment numbers. She is concerned about the 1"grade. She also attended the METCO Annual brunch the previous Saturday. It was a great event. Finance Warrant 15-20S Motion by Mrs.Astino to approve Warrant 15-20S, seconded by Mrs. McGoldrick. Roll call vote:4-0-1. Ellen Maher abstained from the vote. School Committee Comments and Communications Mrs. McGoldrick invited everyone to the SEPAC planning session on June 2, 2015 at 7PM at the Salt House. 4 School Committee—5/20/15 -JBO Mrs. Astino stated that she and Mr. DeGennaro attended the recent AEC Committee meeting and they are gaining some momentum on the projects. Under the Green Communities act,the Committee has to adopt a policy by October 4t". There have to be two policies, one for the schools and one for the Town, but they can work together on this. Chairman Ognibene and Mrs. McGoldrick announced the dates for the Arts Nights for each of the schools. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to adjourn, seconded by Mrs. Maher. Roll call vote: 5-0,All Ayes. The meeting adjourned at 9:57PM. Documents: Memo—School Committee Sub Committees &Assignments Letter from CEF Grants Committee Chair, Deb Thomas, dated May 17, 2015 regarding$34,630 in grants. Proposed 2015-16 School Committee Meeting Dates Retirement Letter from Lynn B. Monaco dated May 1, 2015 Retirement Letter from Sue Welch dated May 14, 2015 U.S. News and World Report—2015 Best High Schools Cohasset High School College Acceptances Lists 2012—2014 Katie Dugan analysis of U.S. News and World Report 5 School Committee—5/20/15 -JBO