| BSC Preliminary Minutes October 6, 2009 |
| PRELIMINARY MINUTES BOXFORD SCHOOL COMMITTEE (BSC) REGULAR MEETING BOXFORD TOWN HALL OCOTBER 6, 2009 Members Present: Rusty Chadwick, Cynthia Foster, Pam Messenger and Cindy Murphy Members Absent: Rebecca Lundrigan Others Present: Dr. Bernard Creeden (Tri Town Union Superintendent), Steve Greenberg (TTU Director of Finance and Human Resources), Lisa Salisbury (Boxford Teachers’ Association (BTA) / Cole), Debbie Connery and Diane Vasapolli (Cole) and Ellen Gaskell (Recording Secretary) ROUTINES: 1. Call to Order: Chairperson Pam Messenger called the meeting to order at 7:34 p.m. 2. Remarks from the Public: None 3. Reports from Other Committees: None REPORTS: 1. Report of the Superintendent: a. Dr. Creeden presented this report, a copy of which is included in the packet. b. October 1, 2009 Enrollment 1. This report is available for perusal. 2. 318 students at Cole (K-2) 3. 531 at Spofford (3-6) 4. 849 students K-6; 909 PreK-6 5. The total enrollment # is used in Chapter 70 aid calculations. 6. Enrollment is lower than 1-09 NESDEC projections. 7. Cindy Murphy inquired about whether NESDEC projections were off in the other 2 towns of the Tri Town; Dr. Creeden said NESDEC’s projection for Topsfield was accurate and high for Middleton. 8. Dr. Creeden also said that Middleton’s enrollment is still growing and Topsfield’s is declining at the same rate as it has been. 9. Cindy Murphy asked if the # of home schooled children has increased; Dr. Creeden said it hadn’t. c. Preliminary MCAS and NCLB AYP Results 1. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) Results 1. The required progress has been made in Grades 3-6. 2. MCAS Results 1. For further information, there is a Massachusetts Student Growth Percentile Interpretation Guide and a MCAS PowerPoint presentation handout available. 2. Growth (in MCAS performance) is defined as the change in the student’s score, compared to the growth of the other students. 3. There are 5 growth classification groups – very high, high, moderate, low and very low. 4. The normal growth percentile is between 35th and 65th percentile. 5. The COGNOS software, provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), compares student MCAS performance year to year. 6. School and district results have been studied, but not individual results. 7. The goal is to combine (the study of) student and teacher performance. 8. The Boston Globe recently ranked the 310 school systems in the state. Boxford 3rd graders ranked 95th in Math and 140th in English Language Arts (ELA). Each subsequent grade’s performance ranking improved; by 6th Grade, Boxford was ranked 8th in Math and 12th in ELA. 9. 5th Grade Science results were 21st in the state; the goal was 10th place. 10. Pam Messenger said the rankings were going in the right direction. 11. Dr. Creeden said that in most communities, performance declines between 3rd and 4th grade; performance improved in Boxford. 12. Dr. Creeden said that there would be more data at the next BSC meeting in two weeks. d. MASC/MASS Fall Conference Delegate 1. The conference is November 18th -21st. 2. There is an opportunity for 1 Committee member to be a delegate at the conference; none of the 4 Committee members present tonight would be able to attend. Absent Committee member Rebecca Lundrigan will be contacted shortly to see if she would like to go. e. Mandatory Conflict of Interest and Ethics Training for Elected Officials and Municipal Employees 1. A handout regarding the changes in the Conflict of Interest Law was distributed to Committee members at the meeting; the changes went into effect as of 9/29/09. 2. Every town employee and volunteer (for a total of about 2,500 people) may have to go through training regarding this law. Dr. Creeden will investigate as to whether volunteers must undergo the training. 3. The on-line training takes about an hour; training must be complete by December 28th. After this year, new hires have 30 days to complete the training. 4. Training must be completed every two years. 5. This item will be further explored at the following BSC meeting. f. Open Meeting Law Changes 1. This law was amended as of 7/01/09; the big change in the law concerns the treatment of emails. Emails in which a quorum of a particular committee deliberates an issue are now in violation of the law; emails that distribute reports or agendas are not. 2. As of 7/01/10, the Attorney General will oversee Open Meetings; at present the meetings are overseen by the local District Attorney. 3. Posting of a meeting must be done 2 business days in advance. 4. If a meeting is to be either audio or video recorded, the chairman must state that the meeting will be recorded. 5. Open Meeting minutes must be available to the public within 10 days of the meeting, even if they are only in draft form; Executive Session minutes can still be held for a period of time. 6. An Open Meeting violation is $1,000, but the violation must be determined to be intentional. 2. Report of the Director of Finance and Human Resources: a. DESE FY’09 End of Year Report 1. A copy of this report was included in the packet. 2. The report shows how money is spent. 3. The report must be audited, but Boxford gets to choose the auditor. 4. Cindy Murphy asked if any expense classes seemed to have unusual changes; Steve Greenberg said at this point, he was concentrating on getting the report to balance. Changes in expenditures will become more evident when he begins the forecasting process for next school year’s budget. b. ARRA 2009 Update 1. Quarterly reporting regarding the use of ARRA funds is required to insure the transparency and accountability of these funds. (Note: ARRA stands for the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.) 2. One interesting reporting fact is that the top 5 salaries (of school personnel) must be reported, whether they’re getting paid from the grant or not. c. Last quarter, state revenues dropped between $240 and $300 million. Steve Greenberg warned that if that trend continues, aid to cities and towns will be cut and the approved budget may have to be cut further. d. A Times and Counts bus report was included in the packet. Steve Greenberg said the routes were going well and that the buses were not overcrowded. 1. Some Committee members were concerned about route length, but Steve Clifford said that although some routes are longer than others, no route takes more than 45 minutes. Part of the problem is the amount of time it takes to load the younger children at Cole. 2. The 5-year bus contract (Boxford and Masconomet) is going out to bid soon. The goal is to have the bid awarded by mid-December. NEW BUSINESS: 1. H1N1 Flu Planning Update: a. Tomorrow between 1-5 p.m., there is a Seasonal Flu Clinic; the targeted group is people over 60 yrs. b. There will be a H1N1 Flu Clinic (target: school year children) planning meeting soon, but as of now, the H1N1 vaccine availability is still unknown. c. H1N1 links are available on the TTU website. d. The goals of H1N1 planning are educating and informing both the general and the school population in the hope of ensuring the continuous operation of the schools. e. There is a low incidence of the flu in the schools thus far. f. Parents are receiving weekly H1N1 updates via email. 2. Planning for K-12 and Tri Town Union Meeting: a. A handout for potential topics to be considered at each of these meetings was included in the packet. b. The TTU meeting is on October 15th at 7 p.m. at Proctor School, the K-12 meeting is on the 21st at 7:30 p.m. at Masconomet. c. TTU Chairperson Jeannine Cunniff can’t attend that meeting and Pam Messenger is unable to attend the K-12 meeting. 3. Fall Town Meeting – October 27, 2009: a. There are no warrant articles sponsored by the BSC. b. Article 11 will deal with recertifying Masconomet’s budget. c. There will be discussion regarding affordable housing at Town Meeting, but the 20 proposed units won’t significantly affect school operations. 4. Review of the School Committee District Plan: a. Approval of the District Plan was tabled; Committee members that wish to comment on the plan should email Dr. Creeden in time for any changes to be posted by the 10/20 BSC meeting. b. Cynthia Foster plans to comment on the technology piece of the plan, due to concerns about technology training. c. Cindy Murphy wishes to add a goal to the plan regarding the academic support of non-SPED students. 5. Correspondence: a. Pam Messenger received magazines. 6. Other: a. Thanks to the Tri Town Council regarding their recent informative presentation regarding cell phone safety and social networking. b. Cindy Murphy said that the BSC 2009-2010 Organizational Design handout needs 1 change: she should be on the Negotiations SubCommittee, not Cynthia Foster. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meetings: a. September 15, 2009 – Regular Meeting i. No changes needed A motion was made by Rusty Chadwick to approve the September 15, 2009 Regular Meeting minutes, seconded by Pam Messenger. Motion passed 4-0-0. b. September 15, 2009 – Executive Session i. No changes needed. A motion was made by Rusty Chadwick to approve the September 15, 2009 Executive Session, seconded by Pam Messenger. Motion passed 4-0-0. 2. Bill Warrants and Payrolls: a. Bill Warrants A motion was made by Pam Messenger to approve BW#10-12 to BW#10-17, in the total amount of $116,769.39, seconded by Cynthia Foster. Motion passed 4-0-0. b. Payrolls A motion was made by Pam Messenger to approve the payrolls, weeks ending 9/18/09 and 9/25/09, in the total amount of $284,166.00, seconded by Cindy Murphy. Motion passed 4-0-0. 3. Home Schooling Requests: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: At 9:25 p.m., Pam Messenger made a motion to close the Regular Meeting and enter into Executive Session for the purpose of preparation for negotiations with represented personnel, returning to Regular Meeting for the purpose of adjournment only, seconded by Rusty Chadwick. Motion passed 4-0-0 by roll call vote (in favor: Rusty Chadwick, Cynthia Foster, Pam Messenger and Cindy Murphy). ADJOURNMENT: At 9:56 p.m., on a roll call vote, Pam Messenger moved to adjourn, seconded by Rusty Chadwick. Motion passed 4-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Ellen Gaskell Recording Secretary |
