HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 09/07/2016 T CQ%ASSET O
Cohasset School Committee Meeting
School Committee Minutes
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Cohasset Middle-High School
Community Use Room
143 Pond Street
Cohasset, MA
In Attendance: Jeanne Astino, Chairman
Katie Dugan
Ellen Maher
Barbara Stefan
Amanda Zani
Also in Attendance: Louise Demas, Interim Superintendent
John Tuffy, Interim Business Manager
Call to order and Roll Call-Chairman Astino called the meeting to order at 7:48 p.m. Roll Call Vote;
Barbara Stefan-Present, Katie Dugan-Present,Jeanne Astino-Present, Ellen Maher-Present-Amanda
Zani-Present.
Pledge of Allegiance-Recited.
Invitation to Speak-None
Superintendents Report-NEA Foundation Fellowship-Cohasset Middle School Science Teacher Mr. Bob
Erlandsen was present and gave the School Committee an overview of the NEA Fellowship program. He
will be participating in several webinars, a workshop in Washington, DC and a 9-day international field
study trip to China. The tour will include a visit with Chinese Educators, students, administrators and
policy makers. They will also learn about the Chinese education system and recent initiatives taken to
advance education outcomes for their students. Mr. Erlandsen stated he is very excited for the
opportunity.
Retirement-Mrs. Demas advised the Committee she has received a letter from Mary Dugan. She will be
resigning from her position of Speech/Language Pathologist with the Cohasset Public Schools as of
December 29, 2016. She also received a letter from Kathy Simolaris resigning from her position as
French teacher effective immediately. Mrs. Demas stated they are actively pursuing the positions. Ms.
Connolly added that they have a possible short term and long term solution for the French teacher.
Induction Program-Mrs. Demas showed a quick slide show to introduce the new teachers at Cohasset
Public Schools. She stated they have a lot of great new hires. Assistant Superintendent Susan Skeiber
stated they held an induction day for the new teachers. The teachers were very excited. They took a
survey,went on a bus tour of the town and were showed all of the interesting places in Cohasset. They
split into groups to discuss their philosophy of learning. They discussed the importance of student
centered learning. Mary Buchanan was present as well and discussed special education needs and
contact information. Jennifer deChiara spoke about rigor and relevance and disciplinary work. They
worked on Universal Design for Learning. They will continue to train new teachers.They finished up the
day with technology in the district. It was a fun day and they are looking forward to more. Mrs. Demas
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stated all new teachers are assigned a mentor to work with. The principals make recommendations on
who the mentor is assigned to. A mentor must have 4 years of teaching in Cohasset to be a mentor.
Opening Day-High School Principal Carolyn Connolly stated the first couple of days of the year were
great. They had an assembly for all grades individually. There is some nice energy in the building and
the staff is excited about the new teachers. They will began to meet with the seniors and start planning
a great year for them. Mrs. Demas stated Principal of Deer Hill School Jennifer deChiara could not be
present tonight. She did say the opening of the Deer Hill School went great. Student Representative
Jane Cavannaro said the first few days at the High School went well. She has two new teachers that are
great. Principal of Osgood School Lisa Farrell said the first couple of days went great. Today was the
first day for Pre-K and Kindergarten and everyone was happy and engaged. Ms. Farrell noted that she is
very fortunate to have such a qualified, dedicated staff. The first day of lunch went well without any
issues. The first staff meeting was today and that went well. Ms. Farrell thanked the custodians and
staff for all of the work they did over the summer to make the building look great. This Friday there will
be an all school assembly. Mrs. Dugan asked about the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support
program and when it would kick in. Ms. Farrell responded they will talk about it at the assembly on
Friday and they will be using the fish theme again this year.
Technology Update-Mrs. Demas advised the Committee they will have to postpone the update. Ron
Menard and Bart Riley have been working extremely long hours to get everything ready for the opening
of school. The SC will put on a future agenda. The SC had a lengthy discussion of the BYOD plan. Ms.
Skeiber spoke of the importance of getting staff involved in both the Strategic Plan and Technology Plan.
They will put a cohort together within the next month to start digging into the plan for the BYOD and
how it will work and come up with a pilot. Ms. Skeiber discussed the professional development day in
November that will focus on Google.
Warrant-Motion by Mrs. Dugan to approve Warrant 1704S,seconded by Mrs. Zani. Roll Call Vote;
Barbara Stefan-Aye, Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. Mrs. Maher abstained
from the vote.
School Committee Comments&Communications
Reading of Policy IJNDC-School and District Web pages-1st Read—The Committee discussed the policy
and questioned if it was an outdated policy. Mrs. Stefan will contact MASC and get some information
and bring back to the SC.
Reading of Policy IJNDD-Policy on Facebook and Social Networking Sites-Vt Read-The Committee
discussed the policy and had concerns with the title of the policy and Section 1.c. Mrs. Stefan will also
check with MASC about the policy and bring back to the School Committee.
Update Special Education Stabilization Fund and Overview of Municipal Modernization Bill-Mrs.
Dugan updated the SC on the Long Range Planning Group's first meeting last Thursday. They set an
agenda for the next few meetings. The first agenda item will be to review the Special Education
Stabilization Fund Policy. They did start to discuss the Municipal Modernization Bill that goes into effect
in November. Mrs. Dugan stated there is another option (Section 13E)for Special Education
Stabilization Funds under this bill that would make the withdrawal from the fund available with a
majority vote of the SC and BoS instead of Town Meeting. The account would be more like a revolving
account. The Committee had a discussion about the option. They agreed to stick with the Stabilization
fund that has already been approved by Town Meeting.
Report from Sub-Committee of School Committee-Mrs. Dugan stated Safe Harbor has two upcoming
workshops. On 10/20/16 at the CMHS there is a workshop titled If Only for parents and community
members. On 11/10/16 they are hosting What Every Parent Should Know about Teen Brain
Development at 91 Sohier Street.
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Chairman Astino stated the Committee will now return to executive session to approve executive
session minutes and will return to open session to adjourn.
The Committee went into executive session at 10:06 p.m.
Documents used at the Meeting
NEA Foundation Fellowship E-1
Retirement Letters E-2
Induction Program E-3
Policy UNDC F-1
Policy UNDID F-2
Municipal Modernization Bill F-3
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