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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 11/20/2019 � r y.COFiASS�T� �k'7y - 17 Cohasset School Committee Meeting School Committee Minutes Wednesday, November 20, 2019 Cohasset Middle-High School Community Use Room 143 Pond Street Cohasset, MA In Attendance: Ellen Maher, Chairman Jennifer Madden Paul Kearney Craig MacLellan Ashley Colleary Also in Attendance: Dr. Patrick Sullivan, Superintendent Dr. Leslie Scollins,Assistant Superintendent Michael MacMillan, Director of Finance& Operations Call to Order and Roll Call-Chairman Maher called the meeting to order at 7:01p.m. Roll Call Vote: Paul Kearney-Present;Ashley Colleary-Present; Ellen Maher-Present,Jennifer Madden-Present,Craig MacLellan-Present. Chairman Maher reminded the public that the meetings are televised and recorded. Pledge-Recited. Public Comment-None. Superintendent's Report-Student School Committee Representative—Supt. Dr. Sullivan introduced three students who will be representing the Superintendent/School Committee Student Advisory Council. The council held their first meeting last week and is made up of high school and middle school students and will have two representatives from Deer Hill at two meetings. The council will discuss all things Cohasset and will focus on giving students a voice. Caroline Patterson introduced herself. She is a junior at CHS and plays soccer, basketball and lacrosse. Ms. Patterson also works as a summer camp counselor at Cohasset Recreation and is involved with the Green Team at the CHS. Ms. Patterson stated she has taught soccer skills to younger kids at Milliken Field for the last three years. She stated the group spans across five grade levels so at their first meeting last week they spent time getting to know each other. Ms. Patterson stated the students also spent 1 time outlining their mission statement, establishing their roles and discussed ways to help students get their voice across. Ms. Paterson stated there are further steps to be taken to understand the voice of the student body and elicit change. Ms. Patterson stated she is proud to be part of the group and looks forward to working with the group. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the basis of their work will be focused on three questions: how can we provide student voice in order to promote change; what about CPS makes you proud and what about CPS would you like to see improved? Madeline Grudinskas introduced herself. Ms. Grudinskas is a senior at CHS and plays basketball and field hockey. Ms. Grudinskas stated she has also worked at Buttonwoods Books &Toys for the last four years and is also interning at a law firm. Ms. Grudinskas highlighted some recent and upcoming events in Cohasset including the CMS production of the musical "Alice in Wonderland"; the CHS boys soccer team defeated Atlantis Charter(4-1)to become the South Sectional Champions for the 4th consecutive year and the team is currently playing Burke High School for the State Semifinals;the boys cross country team won the 2019 Division 6 State Championship;the National Honor Society is welcoming over 40 new students on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 7pm in the CHS Auditorium; the CHS Student Council hosted the 2"d Annual Putting for Patients which raises money for cancer research; and Mrs. Cerruti's 8th grade Sustainability Symposium is happening next Thursday 11/21 and Friday 11/22 in the CMHS Learning Commons. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated that Challenge Day will take place on December 4, 2019 for the CHS seniors. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated Challenge Day has been around since 1987 and puts seniors through an experiential learning process to build empathy. Margaret Curley introduced herself. Ms. Curley is a senior at CHS. Margaret stated she is a member of the Safe Schools Committee; a varsity debate officer; she interned last summer at Safe Harbor Cohasset in addition to being a member of the Steering Committee and a Youth Ambassador for Safe Harbor. She stated Safe Harbor Coalition Cohasset is the community's substance abuse prevention coalition which works to reduce substance abuse in the community through education and the Youth Ambassadors is the youth branch of Safe Harbor which does community awareness projects. She stated the Youth Ambassadors recently participated in Red Ribbon Week, a national drug prevention program which brings awareness of substance abuse and a few members went to Deer Hill to educate the students about substance abuse prevention at an elementary school level. She stated the Coalition is working a project, "Samantha Skunk", which is a script written by Dover Youth 2 Youth,which is a substance abuse coalition in NH and the script talks in children friendly terms about a skunk accidentally taking its parent's medication. She stated the Coalition is also working on "Sticker Shock", an annual program done around the holidays in conjunction with Curtis Liquors where education messages are put on alcohol packaging to prevent purchasing of alcohol for underage individuals. Chairman Maher welcomed the students and thanked them for volunteering. Chairman Maher stated it's has been a goal of the committee to have a student voice. Chairman Maher stated the students will receive the School Committee packets by email and hard copy. Chairman Maher stated the Committee encourages the students to weigh in during deliberation and they look forward to hearing their insight. The Committee members thanked the students for volunteering their time. Mrs. Colleary asked Supt. Dr. Sullivan to discuss the demographics of the council. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated there are two seniors, 2 one junior,two sophomores and a freshman at the high school level; and three 8"grade students including one Boston student. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated there will be two meetings focusing on the elementary students and what is going on at Deer Hill. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the conclusion from their first meeting was there weren't enough meetings. Spotlight on Learning-Focus on Numeracy-Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins introduced Diane Barbieri,Jen McPhillips, Marcia Campbell and Principal Farrell from the Osgood school. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated their presentation will be focused on numeracy. Mrs. Campbell stated their first initiative is to help children learn math facts using Math Fluency. Mrs. Campbell stated they have stressed with parents the importance of helping their children practice how to solve problems. Mrs. Campbell stated they are reminding parents to focus on reasoning, not memorization. Mrs. Campbell demonstrated how math is changing using the open number line. Mrs. Campbell stated the teachers are piloting two programs this year. Mrs. Barbieri stated she has been piloting Bridges using three modules including place value, measurement and open number line, which are all part the math standards. Mrs. Barbieri discussed the progression of the lessons being used and demonstrated using the theme of Jack and the Beanstalk. Mrs. McPhillips discussed her takeaways from the pilot program, "Investigations", she is using with her students. Mrs. McPhillips stated her biggest takeaway from Investigations is the model of math workshop. Mrs. McPhillips stated math workshop shows students how to do rigorous and relevant math work with their peers including problem solving, reasoning,thinking, sharing, and strategies. Mrs. Colleary asked if there have been any tools given to parents to help students practice their math facts. Mrs. McPhillips stated the Investigation program has a unit packet that goes home to parents to help with strategies. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the pilot programs were selected because of the home to school component. Mrs. Campbell stated she would be happy to meet with any parent to discuss strategies. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the district teaches the standards and no one should feel their children are getting a lesser experience because the teachers are using pilot programs. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated this would be an equitable process and discussed the process of determining which program the district will use moving forward. School Start Time Presentation-Supt. Dr. Sullivan thanked the public for coming and gave an overview on his presentation. Chairman Maher stated the Committee members will have a chance to ask questions after Supt. Dr. Sullivan's presentation,the Committee members will deliberate and then take public comment. Chairman Maher stated anyone wishing to make a public comment will need to provide their name and address for the meeting minutes. Chairman Maher asked to avoid duplicate comments and asked not to interrupt the person speaking. Chairman Maher also asked everyone to be respectful and if everyone wants to say something the Committee may need to limit everyone so all comments can be heard. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated an important factor in terms of planning for change is the amount of time contractually required for time on learning. Supt. Dr. Sullivan reviewed the current schedule for each school and stated the current schedules incorporate a 40-minute round trip for transportation. He also noted the current schedules for DH and JOS factor an extra 10 minutes for the teacher end time after the student instructional end time per the teacher collective bargaining agreement. Supt. Dr. Sullivan reviewed the historical timeline for examining school start times for Cohasset Public Schools. Supt. Dr. Sullivan discussed the two key logistical guidelines that he and the Start School Later Committee(SSLC) were set with which included the proposal must be cost neutral and the proposal must be in place one 3 year before implementation to comply with the teacher's collective bargaining agreement otherwise the CTA can impact bargain. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the SSLC presentation done in July 2019 didn't include logistical considerations as they felt that was the role of the district administration. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he started working on the proposed change in July and consulted with various groups including Mr. MacMillan, Director of Finance &Operations,the athletic director, district leadership,the METCO director,the transportation coordinator, the CTA Pres, and other superintendents. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he presented his proposal in August which fit the definition of cost neutral and it was voted and approved by the School Committee with the understanding there were some uncertainties with the middle and high school times. He stated he didn't look at a two-tier option because he wasn't asked to look at it; it wasn't cost neutral and he felt operationally it wouldn't be a safe situation. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated there was strong feedback from the Superintendent Coffees which included the concern of the large gap between the DH and JOS start times and the earlier start time for the younger students. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the METCO director expressed uncertainty of the August plan and she felt it provided unity with Hingham. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he was presented with a signed petition from approximately 200 parents asking him to consider combining Deer Hill and Osgood. Supt. Dr. Sullivan researched the concerns presented to him and is in conversations with a couple of software companies to help consolidate the district bus routes. Supt. Dr. Sullivan presented a possible option for a new schedule with a dual start time for Deer Hill and Osgood. Supt. Dr. Sullivan reviewed the benefits of the dual start time proposal and implementation cost factors to be considered for a dual start schedule. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated this proposal is not a cost neutral plan and variables start to take hold and need to be considered. He said looking at the plan know they are confident the district would need to add at least one driver, possibly two. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated bus ridership is another variable for the proposed dual start plan. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the current traffic patterns have not been analyzed for one year and he is unsure what the potential reduction in driver hours may mean for driver recruitment and retention. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the next steps would be for the School Committee members deliberate and if they decide it's an appropriate action to vote on the new proposal a vote will be taken. Chairman Maher stated she shares the same concerns of the unknown and the bus ridership is a variable to be considered. She also stated the lack of bus drivers and availability of getting qualified drivers can't be overstated enough and is indicative of a nation wide shortage. Mr. MacLellan asked Supt. Dr. Sullivan to elaborate on the impact bargaining process. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the CTA has the right to impact bargain what that change will for be them. He stated it's hard to tell what they would decide would be an impact of the change, it could mean their schedule,time at work, or financial considerations. Mr. MacLellan stated his position is that you learn from your mistakes, he is new in this role and thinks maybe they made a mistake on making two votes into one vote. He believes that potentially in haste in order to get this going in time they tried to develop the best potential solution for it with the most important aspect of it being cost neutral which this proposal is not. Mr. MacLellan feels there is compelling reason to support the apparent position of the majority of those present at the meeting and he supports the new proposal. Mr. MacLellan thanked Dr. Sullivan for his diligent work on the proposal. Mrs. Madden stated she disagrees with Mr. MacLellan and appreciates the community coming out tonight but wishes the conversation took place before they took their vote. Mrs. Madden stated it is the Committee member's duty to honor the teacher contract and to waiver is not going to be in the best 4 interest of the teachers, students and families. Mrs. Madden stated she does not take her vote lightly; she carefully considered her vote and she has listened for two years and she doesn't want the change. She stated the community really wanted this change and she voted based on what the community wanted. Mrs. Madden stated there was a group of parents who worked diligently for years on the research and the Committee members always knew there was going to be give and take which was always on the table. Mrs. Madden stated the cost of this change is unknown and money used for this change could be used to help children. Mrs. Madden expressed her concern about safety,there is only one road into the Joseph Osgood School, and she is extremely concerned about the bus drivers and the potential decrease in bus driver hours and the job is no longer tenable for drivers. Mrs. Madden stated there is a critical bus driver shortage as it is the district has had to call in other towns for sporting and other school events. Mrs. Madden stated there are too many variables,the proposal is too tight, and the change is not budget neutral. She stated childcare is very difficult for families and hopes to support families by filling in that gap as she feels educating children is a shared responsibility. Mrs. Madden apologized but does not think it will serve the district to say yes. Mrs. Colleary stated she thinks Mrs. Madden brings an experienced, measured voice to the Committee. Mrs. Colleary asked for clarification on who supports the August plan. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he believes the people in favor of the August plan are in favor of it because it provides a later start to the middle and high school, and didn't get the sense those in favor of the August plan were in favor of it because it had anything to do with the elementary schools. The Committee members had a discussion on the potential impact on bus driver hours. Mr. MacMillan stated they may have to increase bus driver salaries. Mr. Kearney stated any start time with a seven in front is too early. Mr. Kearney thanked the administration and parents who put together the Start School Later Committee members. Mr. Kearney would like to speak with the SSLC to see where they stand and doesn't feel like he's ready to say okay to the new proposal without talking to the SSLC members. Chairman Maher stated the SSLC members were here at the August meetings and understood there could be some tweaks. Chairman Maher asked the student advisory committee members for their input. Madeline Grudinskas stated she doesn't believe there wouldn't be too much of a difference between sleep time. She said her schedule would just be shifted by a half hour and she would probably get the same amount of sleep time. She said she would advise parents and the school committee to look more closely at the elementary students who depend on their parent's availability to whether they can get to school on time and their own schedules. Caroline Patterson stated the sleep part is important, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day and personally getting up at 6:45am her appetite is not intact so having extra time will allow students to have a nutritious meal before school. Margaret Curley said she agreed with Caroline and eating breakfast at 6:45am is not possible for a lot of people. Additionally, she thinks there is a lot of concern regarding activities after school, but another important consideration is how late activities already go to and how late students already go to bed so both sides should be considered regarding after school activities. Chairman Maher stated she wouldn't want a plan to be in place for next year and then for the Committee to answer all the questions and variables changes it again a year later. She feels that is more disruptive to families and staff to change and change again. Her goal would be to make the decision and 5 learn from it over a period, but the decision should be the very best decision for all students for a long time. Chairman Maher stated the current schedule has been in place for decades. Her second concern would be impact bargaining which is opening the contract and hasn't been done in history, so the Committee members don't have exposure to that and must be prepared to give something for something. She is confident they can work through it but doesn't know what the cost could be. Chairman Maher feels Supt. Dr. Sullivan has a good relationship with the CTA. She shares concerns of safety regarding the drive from DH to JOS. She stated there is no data to say it will/will not work and stated there will be problems and they will need to figure out the best way to deal with them when they happen. Chairman Maher stated there is an exit at the back of Osgood which is road legal but it's not an everyday fix. She believes philosophically the two-tier plan is a better plan and has confidence Dr. Sullivan, Mr. MacMillan and their team can hash out whatever variables they are faced with but there are some they won't be able to. Chairman Maher asked for the support of the parents when they get to budget time in March and are go to the Board of Selectman and Advisory to present the district needs. She stated the Committee will send out blackboard messages with meeting dates. Chairman Maher stated there are 3 choices: 1) keep the plan we have; 2) rescind the plan and delay start times for a whole year, or 3)vote on a new plan with impact bargaining. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the CTA is not the bad guy in this and they are just following their contract. Chairman Maher stated the Committee will take a few questions and stated she doesn't want to be disrespectful but due to the late hour she is requesting only new comments. Dima Omran-19 Ledgewood Farm Drive stated everyone left something very important at home to be here and she didn't appreciate Chairman Maher said she would give everyone a chance to speak however she was going to decide if the questions were too much because there is a lot on the agenda. Mrs. Omran stated Chairman Maher can't expect people to show up if you are going to put restrictions on time because all their voices should be heard. Monique Armstrong-255 Pond Street stated there are people here supporting the plan that was set forth in August. She stated she worked diligently on the SSLC. She stated people spent hours upon hours of work and the community in the entirety was invited to participate. Mrs.Armstrong stated she likes the two-tier plan,supports the elementary students and is concerned about postponing the decision. She feels the school times may never get moved if we can't come up with a cost-neutral plan. Ms. Balazs-15 Ledgewood Farm Drive-Ms. Balazs stated she comes from Easton and they faced similar transportation issues and suggested the Committee look to Easton Public Schools on how to address and handle the transportation problem. Ms. Balazs commented on the busing and asked how it would impact families versus the town. She asked if the bus tariff is affecting just the parents who pay for the bus or the entire Town of Cohasset. She stated she hasn't seen any studies of the impact of an earlier start time does to the younger students and would hate to think that was overlooked during discussions over money. Ms. Balazs thanked the community and everyone who worked towards these initiatives. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he did research which was discussed at the October meeting, and the research he found didn't focus specifically on elementary students it focused holistically on how the lack of sleep affects all students. Mr. MacMillan stated now they have not gotten in to whether transportation fees would be increased, and the implicit assumption would be that it would impact the school budget. Mr. MacMillan stated fees are reviewed annually and as transportation goes up should fees go up. 6 Laurie Bronstein Tabaczynski—12 Old Pasture Road stated she looked at the numbers for bus fees and if you assume there are 450 students paying the fee and the district increased the fee by$100, that results in $45,000 which would pay for the additional bus. She stated they also looked at the before and after school Champions program which is almost$5,000 which would pay for that. Ms.Tabaczynski asked about the additional cost for the METCO transportation if they went with the August plan. She stated if that's accepted why isn't the extra cost being considered to make it right for the elementary student. Mr. MacMillan stated the METCO transportation is funded by a state grant so it's not a direct impact on the budget. Chairman Maher stated the budget must be considered but it shouldn't drive the Committee's decision and their decision should be based on what's best for the students and staff. Laura Soderberg 16 Black Horse Lane—Mrs. Soderberg spoke to due process and stated many hours were spent inviting input from all constituents and now we are hearing after a decision has been made the constituents that are impacted by the shifting and change are being very vocal. She challenges the issue that an overwhelming majority is in support of the two-tier system. Mrs. Soderberg talked about how she has watched how hard the Committee members work on their budget in the past and have to go before the Board of Selectmen and get the Town to approve a bigger budget and the two-tiered proposal is not cost-neutral. She also stated the district is straining their resources on the two-tiered system and it would be naive to say there wouldn't be additional budget impact as the plan starts rolling out. She discussed the difference in numbers for early wakeups at the middle and high schools versus at the elementary school and what would have the most impact and be the most beneficial to students. Chad D'Adamo MacDonald 67 Forest Ave—stated the focus should be on the health and well-being of the children rather than the budget and the community missed the boat on that. Maura Sharry Virginia Lane-Mrs. Sharry stated the group that met was not Start School Later. The group that met was to look at school start time, the community was invited, and they did an incredible amount of outreach. She stated the younger you are the most resilient you are. Mrs. Sharry stated the middle school kids are the most vulnerable and need the deep brain wave sleep in the morning. Mrs. Sharry stated the vote that was done in August was based on science and feels this is based on inconvenience. She thinks the possibility to delay this one more year would be unfair after all the work that has been done. She stated the group looked at the proposal holistically and it was really thought out. Mrs. Colleary stated she understands the tendency and need to advocate for each person's personal situation but thinks it is dangerous to assume that we know the intentions of people who are not in our personal situation. She said it would be great if we could stop trying to punish people for not doing enough. She thinks everyone here is trying to do their best to advocate for their children,the staff and leadership and it's less productive to assign blame and it's more productive to identify best ways to move forward. Allison Cambi 15.Woodland Drive—Mrs. Cambi commented that we have all stated there is no science to present on the impact on the younger kids so do we want our kids to be the guinea pigs and come back in five years and say the effect it had on them. She also stated there is no way her younger 7 children are going to eat breakfast at 6:30am and stated it's about the health and well-being of all children. Lydia St. Onge 401 Beechwood Street—Mrs. St. Onge stated all the kids are vulnerable and we care about all of them and that's why we are here. Mrs. St. Onge referenced the concern at the Commons and driving rhythms and they are doing a practice drive through and asked if they could do a practice run. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he has hesitation in performing a human experiment and he is working with groups in estimating what the traffic pattern will be. Supt. Dr. Sullivan wouldn't advocate for a dress rehearsal but will advocate for working with software companies. Barbara Stefan 260 Jerusalem Road—Mrs. Stefan asked the Committee members what they learned from Duxbury. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he learned they had many of the same questions concerns as Cohasset families. Chairman Maher stated Sue Skieber said it was a 4-year process for Duxbury. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he talked to the Superintendent in Duxbury and he's not getting a lot of complaints and it's functioning in Duxbury. Mrs. Stefan stated the budget impact can't be understated and this Town has not approved an override in decades and the district operates on a shoestring budget and is concerned about what may have to get cut. She is not convinced the budget implications have been fully explored. Ken Balazs-15 Ledgewood Farm—Mr. Balazs stated he respects the fact that the Committee must make some assumptions in order to do budgets and as it relates to logistics. He asked why they can't survey as to how many students might be on the buses. Chairman Maher stated they could survey but there wouldn't be definitive numbers until the district does bus registrations in June. She stated the Committee could survey but they don't have the data now. Diana Watkins 83 Fairoaks Lane stated she hadn't heard about this and is here now and doing everything to have her voice heard. She is concerned for those who still haven't heard and said maybe there is a flaw to the system in getting information out. Mrs. Watkins feels very strongly that the proposal is not okay. Jessica Brooks-19 King Street asked if the Committee rescinded the August plan and there is a delay and we stick to the current plan can the CTA impact bargain. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the CTA could potentially impact bargain. Mrs. Brooks asked if we want to put a plan in place for decades is it worth a little more time. Dima Omran-19 Ledgewood Farm Drive stated the proposal affects everyone and there's no judgement on anyone and everyone is trying their best. She stated everyone has worked hard for the proposal and the middle and high school should not be impacted by the new proposal. Tom Meade 711 Jerusalem Road—Mr. Meade stated he summarized that the two-tiered system is better for everyone. Mr. Meade suggested the district may have a better chance with recruiting and retention of drivers by offering a higher wage and letting them work less hours. He stated this would put the district at a competitive advantage if the drivers have a shorter day but are making the same amount of money. Mrs. Colleary stated she agrees and maybe this addresses other issues such as the transition from JOS to DH. 8 Mr. Kearney stated the elementary schools should start with an 8. Mr. Kearney recognized Chairman Maher for all her work and asked the public to come to the meetings and be their advocates. Barbara Stefan 260 Jerusalem Road stated she went to Town Meeting and could count on one hand the number of people who had children in the school district. Mrs. Stefan asked the parents to stay engaged and to support the school committee at the meetings. Laurie Bronstein Tabaczynski stated you can see that if we stand behind something the Committee can get the support and the parents are here to fight for what is right for their children. She stated there is a plan on the table that is good for all. Maura Sharry commented that her fear was over waiting another year. Tracy Kearney-461 Chief Justice Cushing Highway asked if we go to the CTA with the new plan and they reject the new plan could it go back to the August plan. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the district also has the right to impact bargain. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated he would like to get the opinion of legal counsel. Maura Sharry asked if they could change the start time the same for the middle and high school, so we don't have to renegotiate. Chairman Maher stated a slight modification to the August plan does not have to be impact bargained. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated there is an operational concern for the 8:25 start that has been sifted out and the contractual time aligns the teacher start time with the kids and we wouldn't have the contractual supervisory people in place. Mr. Kearney stated he is concerned about the budget and how it affects everyone. He feels we need another meeting to decide and would like to delay it. Mrs. Colleary asked what Mr. Kearney feels the value in delaying would be, does he want to digest the information, or does he want to change times again. Mr. Kearney said he wants to digest everything, and everyone should be able to take this in and understand what we are voting for. Easton asked Chairman Maher if he is making a motion to reconsider or is the Committee voting on the motion. Chairman Maher stated the motion has been made and Mr. Kearney is deliberating and if there are no further questions the motion will be put to a vote. Tracy Kearney-461 Chief Justice Cushing Highway asked if there is a way to put your vote forward that assures that we don't leave, and everything unravels,and kids are going to start at 7:30am. Mrs. Kearney asked if they can put a protection in the motion. Chairman Maher stated they need legal clarification if the motion passes and they are unsuccessful in impact bargaining with the CTA that it reverts to the August 21, 2019 plan. She appreciates Mr. Kearney's perspective but feels there is nothing new the Committee will learn before their December and January meetings and answers to the questions regarding the variables will come through as they cycle through the budget cycle and thinks a survey on ridership is a great idea and could inform a lot of decisions on transportation. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated they lost their right to impact bargaining. Mrs. Stefan asked if there has been any discussion with the Town on the topic. Mr. MacMillan stated this will become part of the budget process. Dima Omran-19 Ledgewood Farm Drive stated if there is a problem with the budget the parents need to fight for this and make sure we don't undermine our kids. 9 Motion by Mr. MacLellan to approve the dual start time proposal for DH and JOS, seconded by Mrs. Colleary. Roll Call Vote: Paul Kearney-Aye;Ashley Colleary-Aye; Ellen Maher-Aye;Jennifer Madden- Nay; Craig MacLellan-Aye Chairman Maher stated they are trying to figure out how to best communicate with the parents and asked for parents to share any ideas on communications with the Committee. Chairman Maher thanked everyone who emailed the Committee and shared their feelings. Lydia St. Onge 401 Beechwood Street asked to consider beyond the school mailing list for communications. Motion by Mr. MacLellan to vote to postpone the Food Service Presentation agenda item to the next meeting on December 4, 2019, seconded by Mrs. Madden and the vote was (4-1). Mrs. Colleary informed the audience there will be a free screening of"Dawnland" on November 25, 2019 at 6:00pm -8:00pm in the CHS Auditorium. PD/Data Team Update-Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins updated the Committee on professional development done in November. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins discussed the Ed Camp held at Deer Hill which consisted of three workshops included "Responsive Classroom Beyond Morning Meeting"presented by Kara Moser; "Self-Care for Staff' presented by Robyn Costa; and "Social Thinking Strategies"presented by Kim Kurker, Laurie Dolan and Kate Jones. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated the ASPEN super users worked with the middle school and high school teachers on using the new student information system including reporting for report cards and grades. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated the departments worked together on collecting resources so the administration has an idea of what the district has for resources by content area and grade. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated the data collected will be used to better align the curriculum and make sure the district has the resources needed and in turn create a cycle to review the curriculum. Asst. Supt. Dr.Scollins stated the district has brought in a data consultant to work with the MCAS data teams. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated they talked about the accountability process, what the state is grading the teachers on, and how the district is rated. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated they reviewed the standards, how the students are doing and looked for trends in the data. Approval of Warrant-Motion by Mr. Kearney to approve Warrant 20-09S, seconded by Mrs. Colleary. Roll Call Vote: Paul Kearney-Aye,Ashley Colleary-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Jennifer Madden—Aye,Craig MacLellan-abstained. Finance-Gift-Mr. MacMillan presented a gift of$500 received from Awesome Blossom to benefit the Fine Arts Department. Mr. MacMillan stated customers can order a specific bouquet of flowers and Awesome Blossom will donate a portion of the sale back to the CHS Fine Arts Department. Motion by Mr. MacLellan to accept the gift of$500 from Awesome Blossom to the CHS Fine Arts Department, seconded by Mr. Kearney. Roll Call Vote: Paul Kearney-Aye,Ashley Colleary-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye, Jennifer Madden—Aye, Craig MacLellan-Aye. Food Service Presentation-Chairman Maher stated the Committee voted to defer the Food Services Presentation to the December 4, 2019. 10 Draft FY21 Budget Priorities-Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins reviewed the FY21 Budget Priorities which included elementary numeracy; curriculum alignment and rigor; social emotional learning; and safety and facilities. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated the most important thing is to look at their teaching and learning and how the district will continue to grow with a rigorous curriculum. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated the leadership is also doing learning walks which will provide non-evaluative, non-judgmental feedback to staff. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated through the budget process the administration can look where the district may be deficient. Mrs. Madden stated she does not understand why the math curriculum stops at 5tn grade. Mrs. Madden and is feeling a sense of frustration because she thinks middle school math needs to be looked at and the district needs a computer science program. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the computer science program is included in the curriculum priority. Mrs. Madden also stated she has not seen data on whether Fundations was effective. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the data will be collected as the students move through grade levels and how the students are achieving on MCAS. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated the reading specialist did an amazing job pulling together a series of assessments and compiled the data into a rubric which gave the administration a good sense of where the students are. Mrs. Madden asked if that data is driving the decision of tiered instruction. Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins stated it is and they are using DIBELS as a benchmark. Chairman Maher suggested Mrs. Madden should follow up with a phone call with Asst. Supt. Dr. Scollins to discuss. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated this is not an all-encompassing list of every priority. He stated this pertains more to the actual budget. Chairman Maher suggested taking elementary math off the list. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the district is buying a new program and it is a budget priority. Chairman Maher stated she believes we have a real problem in middle school math, and it needs to be given some attention. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the major goals for SEL is tiered support, cultural competency and assessments. Mrs. Madden asked if there is a new set of frameworks for the arts. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated a new framework came out last year for the arts. Supt. Dr. Sullivan discussed the priorities related to safety and facilities. Mr. Kearney stated he looked forward to working with Supt. Dr. Sullivan on these priorities and mentioned the senate and legislatures agreed to$800M for the Massachusetts School board. Chairman Maher stated this will start the process for the Committee and the Committee will have their own budget message for the Town. Motion by Mr. MacLellan to approve the FY21 Budget Priorities,seconded by Mr. Kearney. Roll Call Vote: Paul Kearney-Aye,Ashley Colleary-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Jennifer Madden—Nay, Craig MacLellan-Aye. FY21 Budget Process Update-Mr. MacMillan updated the Committee members on the budget calendar. Mr. MacMillan stated the principals and directors have sent their budget workbooks and program and position changes. Mr. MacMillan is consolidating that information to put together a budget book which will be presented to Finance & Facilities subcommittee. Mr. MacMillan stated he will give more of an update on numbers at the Finance & Facilities meeting on Tuesday, November 26, 2019. Mr. MacMillan stated there is a FY21 Budget Workshop with District Leadership Team on December 3, 2019 from 9:30am-12:30pm. Mrs. Colleary stated she will need to call into the meeting. Mr. MacMillan stated materials will be circulated and there will be no voting at the workshop. School Committee Comments&Communication-Mr. Kearney stated the Finance & Facilities subcommittee meeting was great on November 19, 2019 and believes they accomplished a lot. Mr. Kearney stated there is another budget meeting on Tuesday, November 26, 2019 at 5pm. Mr. Kearney stated he attended the musical "Alice in Wonderland" and stated Stephanie Moriarty and her staff did a fantastic job. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated they put on a full production for the students which was a great cultural building experience. Mrs. Colleary stated the Diversity Committee and South Shore Unity Council will be hosting a free screening of"Dawnland" and a discussion to follow on November 25, 2019 at 6:00pm -8:00pm in the CHS Auditorium. Mrs. Colleary stated the Cohasset faith communities have 11 been extremely supportive and are contributing the funds to bring the folks down from Maine to speak at the event. Mrs. Colleary expressed her gratitude to them. Mrs. Colleary stated Safe Harbor Coalition continues to do their parent coffees which is a great opportunity for parents to discuss issues coming up at home. Mrs. Colleary stated she went to the first meeting of the Sheriff's Task Force. Mrs. Colleary stated there were about 30 people including school committee members, school resource officers, school nurses and wellness people. Mrs. Colleary stated they met in the Dedham House of Corrections with an inmate who shared his story. Mrs. Colleary stated they discussed issues confronting students in the county and ways to effect change in the communities. Mrs. Colleary stated if anyone had ideas to present them to her to be shared with the Task Force. Mrs. Madden stated she attended the first Deer Hill School Council meeting. Mrs. Madden stated Principal Sullivan reviewed the school improvement plan which included an initiative called WIN and reviewed the roles involved. Mrs. Madden stated she attended MASC and attended two presentations,the Dedham School Committee and Superintendent spoke about their collective bargaining which was very informative. Mr. MacLellan stated the next Superintendent Evaluation meeting will be in January. Mr. MacLellan stated he attended a couple of the Osgood School Council. Mr. MacLellan stated highlights from the meeting is there is a new RC initiative and the students are getting a new playground. Supt. Dr. Sullivan stated the actual diagram is up in the lobby. Chairman Maher stated she and Mr. MacLellan met with Supt. Dr. Sullivan, Mr. MacMillan, Principal Scott and Principal Mills regarding after school security. Chairman Maher stated the Security sub-committee members are going to tackle a policy about after school security while Principal Scott and Principal Mills work on procedures. Chairman Maher advised the Committee the FY21 Budget Workshop with Leadership Team is December 3, 2019. She also stated the School Committee Goals Progress Report will be presented at the next meeting on December 4, 2019 and advised the members to be prepared to talk about progress. Chairman Maher advised the Committee members to acknowledge emails with parents but to be cautious of sharing opinions in email as it could be construed as a deliberation. Chairman Maher discussed the difference between advocating as a parent and as a committee member. She advised the Committee members that if they would like to advocate on a greater issue that will impact all of the children in a building, the issue needs to come to the Committee table which will need to be approved by the Committee as an agenda topic. Chairman Maher stated the Student Opportunity Act passed for$1.613 and is being passed to Governor Baker. She stated it's the first major overhaul in education funding since 1993. Chairman Maher stated the NHS induction ceremony is November 21 in the CHS Auditorium. Mr. Kearney stated he went to MASC and would like all the members to go next year. He attended a class on how to bring communities together for school projects. Mr. Kearney will summarize the materials and leave in the school office for all the members. Approval of Minutes- Motion by Mr. Kearney to approve the minutes of 10/30/2019, seconded by Mr. MacLellan and the vote was unanimous (5-0). Topic not anticipated by the Chairman 48 hours in advance of the meeting-None. Chairman Maher asked for a motion to go into Executive Session for Exemption#1 to discuss the reputation,character, physical condition or mental health rather than professional competence of an individual and Exemption#3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation with union personnel. Motion moved by Mr. Kearney and seconded by Mr. MacLellan. Roll Call Vote; Paul Kearney-Aye,Ashley Colleary-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Jennifer Madden-Aye, Craig MacLellan-Aye. 12 The Committee went into Executive Session at 10:55 p.m. The Committee Exited Executive Session at 11:55 p.m. Adjourn Opening Meeting-Motion by Mrs. Madden to adjourn the meeting at 11:56pm,seconded by Mr. MacLellan and the vote was unanimous(5-0). Documents used at the Meeting Gift F-1 Draft FY21 Budget Priorities F-3 FY21 Budget Process Update F-4 13