| MSC Permanent Minutes October 14, 2010 |
| PERMANENT MINUTES MIDDLETON SCHOOL COMMITTEE FULLER MEADOW NATHAN MEDIA CENTER REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 14, 2010 The regular meeting of the Middleton School Committee was held on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center, 143 South Main Street, 143 South Main Street, Middleton, MA. The Chairperson called the meeting to order at7:03 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Teresa Buono, Chairperson; Deirdre Donarumo, Maria Scarpa, Mindy Wogan Absent: Tasha Cooper OTHERS PRESENT: Dr. Bernard Creeden, Superintendent; Betsy Boulanger and Diane Carreiro, Principals; Sharon Lyons, Director of Special Education; Charlene Malek, Special Education Coordinator; Christine Elliott, Director of Curriculum; Jody Kipnis, Stuart Pergament, Lisa Stepanick, Scott Downs, Doug Whiffen, Michelle Whiffen, and Pattiann Bampos, Parents; Ross Pergament, Gillian Pergament, Katherine Downs, and Lauren Downs, Students, and Mary Farley, Recording Secretary. A. ROUTINES: 1. Pledge of Allegiance: Everyone present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Remarks from the Public: Ross Pergament, fifth grade student at Howe-Manning School with Asperger’s Syndrome, addressed the School Committee and the audience on how he was awarded the Barnum and Bailey Silver Medal and a $750 check to be given to a charity or purpose of his choice. He presented the check to the School Committee to be used towards the school’s Anti-Bullying Program. M. Scarpa moved to accept the donation from Ross Pergament in the amount of $750 to be used for programs for the school’s Anti-Bullying Program. Second by M. Wogan. Motion carried 4-0-0. The meeting was opened to anyone who wanted to speak to the Wellness Policy. Pattiann Bampos read a letter written by her daughter, Molly, who does not want the Committee to take away birthday party food. Lauren Downs told the Committee that they would like to have cupcakes for people’s birthdays. The Committee will look at this Policy again and make a final determination on birthday party food. B. REPORTS: 1. Reports from Other Committees: • School Building Committee: T. Buono stated that the next meeting is on Tuesday, October 19, at 7:00 p.m. at Howe-Manning, there is a Public Forum for members of the community. Everything is moving along on schedule. The outside facade should be completed by the end of November. • Howe-Manning Donate-A-Brick: M. Wogan spoke to this item. The MSBC would like to sell 900 bricks. K. DiNisco has looked at all the companies who engrave bricks and suggested Lewin Monument. M. Wogan explained that if they can sell 500 bricks, they would be able to sell them for $100 each. There will be a flyer distributed through the schools. It will be advertised in the media, cable TV, school websites, etc. The Committee just wants to break even on this. M. Wogan moved to keep the cost at $100 per brick with the caveat that if they do not sell 500, the program will not go forward. Second by D. Donarumo. Motion carried 4-0-0. Dr. Creeden stated that depending on the weather and how much rain we get, the contractor is scheduled to put the binder course down next Monday. The neighbors on Washington and Central Streets have been notified. If it is not happening on Monday, he will send out a BlackBoard Connect message. • Wellness Committee (Policy and Recommendations): Dr. Creeden discussed the composition of the Wellness Committee. D. Carreiro stated that there is a need to send out an invitation to get more people involved. We are changing practices in terms of celebrating birthdays and other events. He had a meeting today with the Room Mothers about alternatives. The new practice of not having party food was not totally done because of children with allergies. It was also done in response to the overwhelming amount of data about childhood obesity which has tripled since we were children. Dr. Creeden would like to make things as healthy as possible while still recognizing the celebration. D. Carreiro had a meeting today with parents to suggest other ways of celebrating. She had a good response. She sent home the Party Planners Guide to people who could not make it to the meeting. The focus is on the fun of the birthday, not just the food; doing a craft or playing a game. M. Scarpa read the regulations about who should be on the Wellness Committee. Dr. Creeden told her who was on the Committee when the policy was originally made. He wants to go back and invite more people to become part of the Wellness Committee. He feels we need to pull this Committee back together again. The State has new guidelines. There was much discussion about the food for birthday parties and other of what could be substituted. It was recommended that the School Committee send out invitations to see if people would be interested in being part of the Wellness Committee. There are several practices that we are doing at the schools that need to be looked at. The charge of the Wellness Committee would be “to come back within a certain amount of time with an understanding of the use of food including Birthday food for celebrations”. M. Scarpa moved that the School Committee issue an invitation to the community to get some new volunteers to become part of the Wellness Committee. Second by M. Wogan. Motion carried 4-0-0. 2. Report of the Building Principals: Principals Betsy Boulanger and Diane Carreiro reviewed their written reports which were included in the packet. Both Principals would welcome feedback on the Open Houses held recently. It was asked if there was a survey for parents about the Open House and what they liked or disliked. Dr. Creeden will check with our technology person about having an email suggestion box. He is not sure it would be anonymous. T. Buono volunteered to work with M. Scarpa to put together a survey. 3. Report of the Superintendent: • Tri-Town Union/K-12 Joint School Committee Meeting: The Tri-Town Union School Committee meeting is next Thursday. After that, the Masco Committee will meet with Tri-Town Committees. If anyone has items they want for discussion, they should let Teresa know. To date, the agenda will include: a. Calendar – K-12 b. Discussion about advocacy and educational matters. c. Shared services – memberships, etc. d. All the committees are looking at technology and how to integrate. We are in three different places right now. The Technology curriculum or any other curriculum – can there be mutual sharing of ongoing projects and their initiatives. e. Bullying The agenda has not been finalized. Regarding the Tri-Town Coalition, there is concern about representation. School Committee would like to hear from all members on what they would like to see for representation. • Special Education Program Plan Assurances: S. Lyons informed the Committee that we will be having a Mid-Cycle Review this winter. The Program Plan of Assurances has to be reviewed by Dr. Creeden, T. Buono and S. Lyons. The assurance is that we are complying with all laws and regulations. S. Lyons explained that we have had a drop in the Middleton Preschool enrollment, and in Topsfield as well. She is working with all three towns to get some recommendations. She has a survey to send out to parents on what they would like for program options. She will come back in November with the information that the survey yields. Right now she is looking to do registration the first week of December. Dr. Creeden stated that next year, we will have additional space in Middleton that we never had before. • October 1 Enrollment: Dr. Creeden reviewed the enrollment projections from NESDEC. Kindergarten and Grade 1 are the most volatile. He will get other data on numbers. He explained the Kindergarten Activity Day enrollment. Dr. Creeden informed the Committee that we have filed the application for the Education Jobs Fund Grant. We are looking to carry that investment over to next year due to the ARRA money ending this year. The DESE End-Of-Year Report is on the table tonight. Dr. Creeden explained the process of how S. Greenberg puts this together. C. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Policy Development- Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Dr. Creeden informed the Committee that at the Anti-Bullying Committee meeting this past Tuesday. It was suggested that the Bullying Policy be separate from the Harassment Policy. Dr. Creeden explained the reason for this. We currently have two policies, one in Section A and the other in Section J. We should keep both and cross reference them. The Bullying Prevention and Intervention Policy in the packet is the most recent version. There are still some things that are under review. We are still waiting for clarification on the State level. By the end of the month, we would like to have a Policy to go forward that can be continually massaged. The other items in the packet are handouts from the D.A.’s Conference. The presentation by Nancy Mullen made reference to web sites. We will put these up on our website so people can find them. M. Wogan spoke about the Hero Assembly at Howe-Manning. Of the 677 children, 509 responses were received about “My Favorite Things.” The next thing to go home will be the “Kindness Quotes.” M. Wogan had a proposal for a speaker. The Committee will have to make a motion to approve the funds for this assembly. Part of this program is based on magic. The cost for two performances at Howe-Manning by Chris Johnson is $1100. M. Wogan moved to bring Chris Johnson’s Program to Howe-Manning - “No Bullies Allowed”. Second by M. Scarpa. Projected date for this is November 29th. Motion carried 4-0-0. M. Wogan reported on the Hero bracelet contest. Bracelets will be worn every day next week. Classrooms will be checked in every grade to see who has the most children wearing bracelets every day. 2. Policy Review – Policy Handbook Section A: We are making a concerted effort to review the policies. Section A is the first section and one of the smaller ones. It is on Harassment and Wellness. D. Donarumo and T. Cooper are on the Policy Subcommittee. Dr. Creeden explained the process. 3. At this point, there was a change in the Agenda. The Committee moved to District Goals. The Final Draft by T. Buono was in the packet. D. Donarumo moved to accept the District Goals for 2009-2012 and the Action Plan 2010-2012. Second by M. Wogan. Motion carried 4-0-0. The Committee agreed to have T. Buono take out the part about Wellness because they are going to re-open the Wellness Committee. 4. MCAS 2010 and NCLB AYP Results Analysis (Part One): Dr. Creeden was going to do a PowerPoint presentation, but left his thumb drive at the office. He read through the copy in the packet. This will be put up on the website tomorrow. T. Buono expressed interest in looking at the results of the long form compositions. Middleton did have strong overall ELA scores. C. Elliott explained how the results compare to previous years. C. Elliott brought Penny Clare here this summer to explain what they are doing through professional development. 5. Correspondence: The only correspondence is the Guide to Homework which was included in the packet. 6. Other: None. D. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Approval of Minutes: M. Scarpa moved to approve the Minutes of September 27 as amended. Second by M. Wogan. Page 1; Item A, #2, second sentence, change Patti Bampos to Patti Ann Bampos. Section B, Item #1, second bullet, fourth sentence: Change the sentence to read – “It is possible to sell up to 900 bricks”. Page 2, Section C, first bullet, 4th sentence, change to read: “Dr. Creeden’s format is consistent with our Policy Book. Same paragraph, last sentence, change to read: “The consequences must be consistent with the discipline policy”. Under Item 2, change the last sentence to read: “It was asked if the Committee would like to do separate policies for now. Page 3, first paragraph, change the last sentence to read: “Having an Adjustment Counselor in the building might be a second reporting resource. Seventh paragraph: change the first sentence to read: “Elizabeth Englander from the MARC will be here on November 4 for a seminar on internet safety”. Section 4, second paragraph, change the name Gill to Gil. Page 4, Item #5: Remove the first sentence. Motion carried 4-0-0. 2. Approval of Bill and Payroll Warrants: M. Scarpa moved to approve the following Bill Warrants. Second by M. Wogan. Bill Warrant #BW 1111 dated 10/14/10 in the amount of $40,034.63 Bill Warrant #BW 1111 Café Meal Tax in the amount of $7.45 Motion carried 4-0-0. M. Scarpa moved to accept the following Payroll and Bill Warrants. Second by M. Wogan. Payroll Warrant dated 10/14/10 in the amount of $262,637.67 Bill Warrant #BW 1110 dated 10/4/10 in the amount of $27,456.93 Bill Warrant #BW 1110A dated 10/4/10 in the amount of $9,941.88 Bill Warrant #TTU 11-01 dated 7/19/10 in the amount of $9,452.17 Bill Warrant #TTU 11-02 dated 8/26/10 in the amount of $2,603.97 Bill Warrant #TTU 11-03 dated 9/21/10 in the amount of $1,687.60 Motion carried 4-0-0. E. EXECUTIVE SESSION: M. Wogan moved to enter into Executive Session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with union personnel and negotiations with non-union personnel where an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining as declared by the Chair of the School Committee and to return to Open Session for the purpose of Adjournment only. Second by M. Scarpa. Motion carried 4-0-0 on a roll call vote (M. Scarpa – yes, D. Donarumo – yes, M. Wogan – yes, T. Buono – yes). F. ADJOURNMENT: Upon returning from Executive Session at 10:16 p.m., M. Wogan moved to adjourn. Second by M. Scarpa. Motion carried 4-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Mary Farley Recording Secretary |