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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 10/21/2015 ns � COhASSCT O Cohasset School Comm ttee Meet g School Committee Minutes Wednesday, October 21, 2015 Cohasset Middle-High School Community Use Room 143 Pond Street Cohasset, MA In Attendance: Jeanne Astino, Chairman Mary McGoldrick Ellen Maher Katie Dugan Barbara Stefan Also in Attendance: Barbara Cataldo, Superintendent Dave DeGennaro, Business Manager Chairman Astino called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. and asked for a motion to go into executive session for Exemption#3-to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining for teachers. Exemption#4-to discuss the deployment of security devices. The Committee will resume public session. Mrs. McGoldrick moved the motion,seconded by Mrs. Dugan. Roll Call Vote; Mary McGoldrick-Aye, Barbara Stefan-Aye, Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye. The Committee went into executive session 6:07 p.m. The Committee came out of executive session and into public session at 7:24 p.m. Pledge-Recited Approval of Minutes Motion by Mrs. McGoldrick to approve the minutes of 12/10/14, seconded by Mrs. Maher and the vote was unanimous(5-0). Motion by Mrs. McGoldrick to approve the minutes of 1/7/15, seconded by Mrs. Dugan and the vote was unanimous (5-0). Invitation to Speak Mrs. McGoldrick read a statement to the audience regarding the teachers' contract negotiations. Sara McSweeney-14 Summer Street spoke on behalf of the parents in the community. She applauded the work of the School Committee and appreciates the work that is being done. She stressed that the ownership of the unsettled teacher's union contract is with the School Committee. She urged them for a call to action to resolve it. It needs to be done for the students so they can move on. Benjamin Moy- 33 Ledgewood Drive read a letter of support for the teachers from the students. He spoke of the impacts on the students of the contract not being settled. He stated the work to rule is hurting the students. Max Whetstone-128 Lamberts Lane also read a statement on behalf of the students. He spoke of the limited amount of time that teachers are available after school. Seniors are specifically affected by the contract not being settled. He read part of the School Committees goals and stated the School Committee is not backing the teachers. He urged the Committee to pay the teachers and settle their contract. Mrs. McGoldrick thanked the students for their letters of support. She suggested that students reach out to Ms. Connolly if they are interested in getting involved with the School Committee as student representatives. Chairman Astino thanked the students for their input. Dima Omran-19 Ledgewood Farm Drive stated her support for the teachers and urged the Committee to figure out the budget. She stated that teachers cannot teach with passion if they are not compensated. SEPAC President Helane Childs-73 Pond Street stated this is a call to action. The student's grades are permanent and they are not getting the help they need after school. She urged the Committee to resolve the contract for teachers. Chairman Astino assured the public that the goal of the School Committee is to resolve the contract and that is why they went to mediation. Superintendent's Report AP Report/ACT Louise Demas-Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment discussed; • District results of in AP and ACT • Results by subject • Five-year school score summary • Equity& Excellence report • Summary Report of AP Scholars average score • ACT report • Program of studies language for area high schools The Committee had a lengthy discussion of the results. Transportation Update Superintendent Cataldo advised the Committee she has been notified by New England Transit they will not be providing a spare bus as promised. There have been issues with some buses last week but they have been able to move buses around to accommodate their needs. Mrs. Dugan asked if they could use First Student for repairs. Superintendent Cataldo responded that First Student is not offering maintenance services despite previous conversation over the summer that they could. NET wouldn't agree to First Student participating. Superintendent Cataldo will meet with President/CEO of NET Mr. Logan to discuss the spare bus. She will update the Committee at the next meeting. They will need to hire a part-time on-site maintenance person. Mrs. Dugan will speak with Chris Senior as he mentioned the Town may need a part-time maintenance person for DPW. The Committee reviewed the maintenance log. Report on Professional Development Day Louise Demas gave an overview of what teachers focused on at their 10/9/15 development day. The agenda consisted of the following topics; • Work on District Determined Measures • Atlas Mapping for Curriculum Building • Data Analysis: DIBELS, Galileo, MCAS • Working with the District Website to design Teacher sites They worked on the design of their websites. About 70%-80%of teachers have something on their page. School Fusion is going away December 15Y. The district license for Weebly expires June 2016. The teachers can continue to use on their own however, the school will not be paying for it. Fewer high school teacher pages are constructed due to Atlas Mapping. We need a mechanism to advise parents when teacher pages are complete. FY17Budget Process Superintendent Cataldo stated all budget requests should be turned in to Mr. DeGennaro by Friday. There is a fiscal forum on Wednesday 10/28 to discuss school grant funding, unfunded mandates and district trends in special education. Helane Childs-73 Pond Street asked when Director of Student Services Mary Buchanan will be in for an update. Superintendent Cataldo advised her Ms. Buchanan comes in quarterly and her next update will be 12/16 and again on 3/2/16 before the budget is finalized. Cohasset School Food Service Employee Contract Motion by Mrs. McGoldrick to ratify the Cohasset School Food Service Employee contract,seconded by Mrs. Dugan. Roll call Vote; Barbara Stefan-Aye, Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Mary McGoldrick-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye. Finance Warrant 16-085 Motion by Mrs. McGoldrick to approve Warrant 16-085, seconded by Mrs. Stefan. Roll Call Vote; Barbara Stefan-Aye, Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Mary McGoldrick-Aye. Mrs. Maher abstained from the vote. Monthly Update Mr. DeGennaro stated that approximately 12.4% of budget is spent. Unemployment is still a big concern. Mrs. McGoldrick asked about the insurance reimbursements. Mr. DeGennaro stated he just submitted the last request this week to the insurance company. School Committee Comments and Communications Benchmarking Mrs. Maher distributed information on benchmarking. She gave an overview of her research with other school districts compared to Cohasset. The goal is to look where the town has been and where they want to go as a town. The information is to help the district improve.All info was taken from the DESE and is a working document. Discussion of Communication Policy The Committee discussed the existing policy. Mrs. Dugan stated that real time communication is important more so now than ever. She is hesitant to change the policy for one issue. Chairman Astino stated she believes they should be able to talk with a principal without waiting on permission. Mrs. McGoldrick stated the policy is fine with her. Mrs. McGoldrick offered to research on other districts about their policies. She will updated at the next meeting. FY17 Budget Discussion The Committee reviewed two minor changes to the FY17 budget priorities. The information will be put on the school website. They will also share with other boards/committees. Report from Sub-committees of School Committees Mrs. McGoldrick attended the Elder Affairs meeting. They asked for a template of the maintenance log that the school uses. She also attended the first Technology sub-committee meeting. CIO Ron Menard discussed the upgrades to the switches. He also discussed the staffing of his department and the Deer Hill roll out plan. The sub-committee started the discussion on the 5 year technology plan. Chairman Astino attended the AEC meeting and the Green Communities application has been submitted. The Committee also asked if there were any students that may be interested in being a student representative on the AEC. Superintendent Cataldo will look into. Chairman Astino congratulated the girl's field hockey team on being the South Shore League Champs. Follow-up and Updates Chairman Astino asked Superintendent Cataldo if she has set up a sub-committee for the Deer Hill Library dedication. Superintendent Cataldo responded she is working on it and will update the Committee at the next meeting. Chairman Astino reminded the Committee their next meeting is Tuesday, November 3rd. Mrs. Maher circulated a list of outstanding items to be followed up on. Mrs. Maher reminded residents of the Hidden in Plain Sight event is tomorrow night at 91 Sohier Street at 7 p.m. She also mentioned that Marshfield sent a letter about the PARCC testing in which they do not support. Mrs. Maher asked if the Committee could discuss PARCC and MCAS at the 11/3 meeting. Motion by Mrs. McGoldrick to adjourn,seconded by Mrs. Dugan and the vote was unanimous(5-0). The meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m. List of Documents used at Meeting D-1 Minutes 1/7/15 D-2 Minutes 12/10/14 F-1 AP Report/ACT F-2 Transportation Update F-3 Report on Professional Development Day G-1 Finance Monthly Update H-1 FY17 Budget Discussion