| MSC Preliminary Minutes August 27, 2009 |
| DRAFT PRELIMINARY MINUTES MIDDLETON SCHOOL COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING FULLER MEADOW NATHAN MEDIA CENTER AUGUST 27, 2009 The regular meeting o the Middleton School Committee was held on Thursday, August 27, 2009 in the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center, 143 South Main Street, Middleton, MA. MEMBERS PRESENT: Teresa Buono, Chairperson; Deirdre Donarumo and James Pearl. MEMBERS ABSENT: Richie Harris and Rock Mastrangelo OTHERS PRESENT: Dr. Bernard Creeden, Superintendent; Dr. Malvena Baxter and Michelle Fitzpatrick, Principals; and Mary Farley, Recording Secretary A. ROUTINES: 1. Call to Order: T. Buono called the meeting to order at 7:12 p.m. 2. Remarks from the Public: None B. REPORTS: 1. School Building Committee: Included in the packet was the New Howe-Manning School Building Project – Project Manager’s Report for July 2009 from David Billings, OPM. The Committee is moving into the Design Development Phase. The RFP for construction of the roadway has been put into the Central Register today. This will not be done under Chapter 30B. The contractor that will do the roadway may or may not be involved in the rest of the project. The MSBC has gone to the Conservation Commission and the DEP for review of the project. This should have been done by now. The next meeting of the MSBC will be held on Tuesday, September 15, at the Howe-Manning School. This meeting will be preceded by the Design Development Subcommittee with invitations to abutters and parents. Bids will be opened on September 18. The meeting with the abutters will start at 7:00 p.m. There is also a subcommittee for communications. A flyer will be sent home by backpack to see if parents/guardians want to receive information on the project. The Project Manager’s Report has been posted on the MSBC page on the TTU website. The people provided a lot of good input and he designer has taken it all into consideration. This project has a very aggressive timeline. 2. Report of the Superintendent: • Personnel Update: Dr. Creeden reviewed the current status of the vacancies as presented in the Superintendent’s Report. There will be a breakfast on Monday for all new teachers. • Regionalization Study Update: The Regionalization Study Draft Report has been submitted to us. We only have about 20 copies. We will get more for the Principals and others. It is not a complete document yet. Next, we will bring the smaller groups together with Susan Beckman to look at what is not in there and see if we are interested in going forward. There is an Executive Summary in the Study. • Fall H1N1 Planning and Collaboration with Local Health Officials: We are planning a letter to Parents and Guardians about the BMI requirement. State DPH is backing off from this because of the impending flu. The BMI memo included in the packet is in draft form. This is mandated. Masco has been doing this for a few years not. H1N1 is expected to come back in October/November. There will be two different types of Flu clinics. The second type of clinic will for H1N1 and will consist of two injections at 4 weeks apart. The thinking is that these will be school based clinics. The school nurses will be working with students and staff. There will be discussions about hand washing and keeping hands clean. Purell will be provided for the classrooms. We will use the front page of the TTU website as the point to direct all other traffic to. There will be information that all three Health Agents have signed off on. Scheduling clinics for after school, evenings and on weekends will work much better. • School Readiness: The Fuller Meadow courtyard grooming had been done. All inspections have been done. Staff has been in and out, preparing for opening of school. The Computer lab at Howe-Manning is now on rolling carts with laptops going from classroom to classroom. 3. Report of the Director of Finance: S. Greenberg reported that he has done an analysis of the Special Education budget. Right now, t looks like we are in pretty good shape. This is always subject to change. We anticipated a 60% decrease in the Circuit Breaker, but we have changed that to 38%. If it comes in better than that, we will be in good shape. C. NEW BUSINESS: 1. School Improvement Plan Presentations – Fuller Meadow: Dr. Baxter reviewed the Fuller Meadow School Improvement Plan. Some of the areas they will be working on are: RTI, Scheduling of Specialists, expanding the Senior Reading Program, and the staff has been training in FEMA and NIMS. The staff will be working closely with the Fire and Police Depts. And the Public Health people to provide safe response to emergencies. They will be working on “Steps to Respect,” and will work within the classrooms on this. D. Donarumo moved to accept the Fuller Meadow School Improvement Plan for 2009/2010. Second by J. Pearl. Motion carried 3-0-0. 2. School Committee Planning: • NCLB AYP Determination: Dr. Creeden explained the letter from Commissioner Mitchell Chester. • School Handbook 2009/2010 (Final Review): T. Buono reported that she did not receive any comments except from Dr. Creeden. The Honor Roll was brought up again for discussion. It was stated that the teachers would like to get rid of the letter grades and go with the number grades. T. Buono suggested that Grades 5 & 6 continue with both letter and number grades and then this will be phased out. This will take two years. In the meantime, the Committee can work on some method of determining Academic Achievement. In the Handbook, it stated that we are implementing the Standards Based Report Care and phasing out letter grades and using number grades. Dr. Creeden stated that if both letter and number grades are used for Grades 5 and 6 only, the letter grades can be phased out. We will find a new way of honoring excellence. All students must have an opportunity to earn academic achievement. He presented the Masconomet policy for recognizing excellence and explained how it is done. The language in our handbook will say that there will be some changes in this area and we will be issuing an addendum to this area. J. Pearl moved to approve the final version of the Handbook subject to the changes T. Buono will make. Second by D. Donarumo. Motion carried 3-0-0. • Howe-Manning Standard Based Report Care Update: We are implementing the Standards Based Report Card and will review how we will be handling Honor Roll. If anyone has suggestions, they can send them to Dr. Creeden and will send them out to the Committee. 3. School Committee Policy Development: • Enrollment Prior to Residence Waiver: There is a family moving from Reading to Maytum Way in Middleton. Their daughter is in grade 2. They have submitted a P&S agreement and would like their child to start school in Middleton on the first day. Everything appears to be in order. They should be closing on September 9. They are living in a hotel at the present time. J. Pearl moved to approve the residence waiver of policy for the Aoki family who will be moving to14 Maytum Way on September 9. Second by D. Donarumo. Motion carried 3-0-0. 4. Correspondence: None 5. Other: None D. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Approval of Minutes: J. Pearl moved to approve the Minutes of March 25, 2009 as presented. Second by D. Donarumo. Motion carried 3-0-0. J. Pearl moved to approve the Minutes of July 22, 2009 as amended. Second by D. Donarumo. Page 2, second paragraph, second sentence: add the words “Special Education” between the words “more students”. Page 2, final paragraph, third sentence, change to read: “The calendar will be a handout.” Eliminate the sixth and seventh sentences. In the eighth sentence, change “she” to “Dr. Baxter” and add the words “and School Committee agreed” to the end of that sentence. Motion carried 2-0-1 (J. Pearl abstained). 2. Bills and Payroll: J. Pearl moved to approve the following Bill and Payroll Warrants. Second by D. Donarumo. Payroll Warrant dated 9/3/09 in the amount of $209,022.24 Bill Warrant #Sch10-07 dated 8/27/09 in the amount of $22,278.44 Bill Warrant #Sch 10-07A dated 8/27/09 in the amount of $34,128.51 Payroll Warrant dated 7/23/09 in the amount of $122,555.37 Payroll Warrant dated 8/6/09 in the amount of $147,597.56 Payroll Warrant dated 8/20/09 in the amount of $125,218.91 Bill Warrant #Sch10-03 dated 8/3/09 in the amount of $34,421.89 Bill Warrant #Sch10-04 dated 7/22/09 in the amount of $18,107.47 Bill Warrant #Sch10-05 dated 8/10/09 in the amount of $18,067.76 Motion carried 3-0-0. 3. Declaration of Surplus Equipment: None presented. E. EXECUTIVE SESSION: At 9:15 p.m., J. Pearl moved to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of Preparation for Negotiations with Represented Personnel and to return to Regular Session for the purpose of Adjournment only. Second by D. Donarumo. Motion carried 3-0-0 on a roll call vote (D. Donarumo –yes, T. Buono – yes, J. Pearl – yes). F. ADJOURNMENT: At 9:35 p.m. on a roll call vote, the Committee returned to Regular Session. J. Pearl moved to adjourn. Second by D. Donarumo. Motion carried 3-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Mary Farley Recording Secretary |