| MSC Preliminary Minutes March 12, 2009 |
| DRAFT PRELIMINARY MINUTES MIDDLETON SCHOOL COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING FULLER MEADOW NATHAN MEDIA CENTER MARCH 12, 2009 The regular meeting of the Middleton School Committee was held on Thursday, March 12, 2009 in the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center, 143 South Main Street, Middleton, MA. Members Present: Teresa Buono, Chairperson; Deirdre Donarumo, Rock Mastrangelo and James Pearl Absent: Richard Harris Others Present: Dr. Bernard F. Creeden, Superintendent; Steven Greenberg, Director of Finance and H.R.; Debra Hale, Director of Curriculum; Michelle Fitzpatrick, Principal; Karen Clayberg, MPTO: and Mary Farley, Recording Secretary T. Buono called the meeting to order at 7:16 p.m. A. ROUTINES: 1. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was led by D. Hale and recited by everyone present. 2. Remarks from the Public: None 3. Reports from Other Committees: • School Building Committee: T. Buono reported that the MSBC met on Monday evening. The MSBC reviewed the FAQ and T. Buono showed the presentation she is going to do at the Open Forum at the end of the month. T. Buono is working to finalize the FAQ’s and other items and will use the Middleton Insider to distribute these to the public. Dr. Creeden and representatives from R. F. Walsh met with MSBA on the status of our project. They are collecting information to present at the MSBA Board meet on March 25. They did come to agreement on many things that need to be cleared up. The report on Special Education spaces was delivered yesterday to K. Lynch. She will review it and it will be ready for the MSBA Board meeting. If MSBA votes in favor of our project, the Board of Selectmen will vote to put this on the Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting. • Tri-Town Union School Committee Meeting: T. Buono, R. Mastrangelo, James Pearl and Dr. Creeden were in attendance. They did a preliminary review of the budget. They will be meeting again on Tuesday, March 24. In January the TTU reviewed the first part of the budget. Changes resulted in an $18,000 reduction in the Central Office budget. This was taken under advisement. A final vote on personnel compensation will be taken at the TTU meeting on March 24. This will be reviewed with the Boxford Committee on March 17 and Topsfield will be meeting again and they may need to reduce their budget by another 7%. All of this will have an impact on the Central Office budget. • There was discussion about the RFP for the Study of a Regional Services Agreement. Proposals have been mailed out. We will be meeting with staff, parents, PTO’s and other organized parent groups to review the grant analysis. The existing regional subcommittee will be the awarding authority. B. REPORTS: 1. Report of the Building Principals: M. Fitzpatrick reviewed her written report which was included in the packet. Dr. Creeden reviewed Dr. Baxter’s report in her absence. • Out-of-State Field Trip Approvals: There are two Grade1 field trips to Odione Park in New Hampshire; one on June 15 and the other on June 16, 2009, and the Grade 6 trip to Nature’s Classroom on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving that need Committee approval. R. Mastrangelo moved to approve the Grade 1 out-of-state field trips to Odione Park on June 15 and 16. Second by J. Pearl. Motion carried 4-0-0. J. Pearl moved to approve the Grade 6 trip to Nature’s Classroom on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0. 2. Report of the Superintendent: • Dr. Creeden reviewed the upcoming meetings and reminded everyone of the Open Forum on the Budget and the New School on March 25 at 7:30 in the Howe-Manning gym. • Dr. Creeden reviewed the Personnel Update from his Superintendent’s Report included in the packet. C. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Report Card Revision Update and Next Steps: D. Hale reported that the Site Council and the Report Card Committee have both met and had some suggestions they would like integrated into the Parents’ Survey. The suggestions from the Site Council have been included in the draft survey and the suggestions from the Report Card Committee will be included. It was suggested that there be one parent survey for both schools. The plan is to administer the survey at the school web page. The Report Card Committee will meet again and go over the results and use the available technology to aggregate the information into a report to bring back to the Committee. R. Mastrangelo asked about question #20. He feels there should be no letter grades. There was discussion about this. The parent survey will be done on line. S. Greenberg will see if we can get a link in there. If not, he may be able to put the URL in there. Howe-Manning students will sit at a computer to do the student survey. 2. School Calendar 2009-2010 Draft #3: On this calendar, we will start before Labor Day; have two teacher days and two days of school and a four day weekend, or three days of school and a three day weekend. At Christmas, we will close on the December 23 and reopen on January 4. February vacation will be the third week. April vacation will be the third week. This year, the last day of school is scheduled for June 24. Dr. Creeden will put this up on the web site. 3. Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Development: • FY 2010 Budget Development: S. Greenberg reviewed his written recommendations to bring the FY 2010 proposed budget in at $8,548,878 or -0.06% below this year. • FY 2010 Capital Plan: S. Greenberg reviewed this report. A copy of this was included in the packet. • FY 2010 Warrant Articles: S. Greenberg reviewed his report to Dr. Creeden. A copy of this was included in the packet. He explained the new Howe-Manning reconfiguration plan (as spelled out in his memo to Dr. Creeden included in the packet). J. Pearl moved to approve the proposed FY 2010 budget adjustment recommendations and to approve changes to the Warrant Article to include the Howe-Manning reconfiguration. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0. J. Pearl moved to approve the proposed FY 2010 Budget at $8,548,878. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0. 4. School Committee Annual Report: Included in the packet is a copy of the Annual Report for FY 2008. Dr. Creeden asked if the Committee wants to prepare one with what we know for FY 2009. T. Buono has a draft for FY 2009 which will bring us as up to date as possible. The Committee agreed to do both. T. Buono will complete both reports. 5. School Committee Open Forum: T. Buono drafted a presentation for the Open Forum. Once the Article for the new school goes on the Warrant, there are a whole lot of new restraints. The idea for the Public Forum on the Budget is to make people aware of what is going on. The second part is on the new school. T. Buono would like to solicit comments from the audience. The Open Forum will be held on Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Howe-Manning gym. There will be no School Committee meeting on Monday, March 23 because of the Public Forum on March 25. The Omnibus Budget Hearing will be held on Thursday of that week. The PTO will support us and get the word out. This will also be put out on ConnectEd. At this time, T. Buono showed the presentation on the budget that she prepared for the Open Forum. D. Donarumo suggested that more information about Special Education be put in the presentation, i.e. cost per pupil, specific information on dollars and numbers. If Sharon is available, maybe she could be present to answer questions. 6. Correspondence: None 7. Other: S. Clifford’s Report was a handout at tonight’s meeting. Ben Rodriguez has been hired as the new full-time evening Custodian at Fuller Meadow School. D. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Acceptance of Minutes: J. Pearl moved to accept the Minutes of February 12, 2009 as amended. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Page 1, Item A, #2, second paragraph, first sentence, add the following at the end of the sentence “to the MSBA”. Same section, third paragraph, last sentence, add the word “MSBA” before the word “letter” at the end of this sentence. Page 3, Item C, #2, removed the second from last sentence in this paragraph. Motion carried 3-0-1 (J. Pearl abstained). 2. J. Pearl moved to accept the Minutes of February 23, 2009 as presented. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 3-0-1 (J. Pearl abstained). E. EXECUTIVE SESSION: At 9:30 p.m., , J. Pearl moved to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of Preparation for Negotiations with Represented and Non-Represented Personnel. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0 on a roll call vote (D. Donarumo – yes, R. Mastrangelo – yes, J. Pearl – yes, T. Buono – yes). F. ADJOURNMENT: At 9:55 p.m. on a 4-0-0 roll call vote, the Committee returned from Executive Session. J. Pearl moved to adjourn. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0. Respectfully Submitted, Mary Farley Recording Secretary |