| MSC Preliminary Minutes December 10, 2010 |
| DRAFT PRELIMINARY MINUTES MIDDLETON SCHOOL COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 10, 2009 FULLER MEADOW NATHAN MEDIA CENTER The Regular Meeting of the Middleton School Committee was held on Thursday, December 10, 2009 in the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center, 143 South Main Street, Middleton. MEMBERS PRESENT: Teresa Buono, Chairperson; Richie Harris, Rock Mastrangelo and James Pearl Absent: Deirdre Donarumo OTHERS PRESENT: Bernard F. Creeden, Superintendent; Steven Greenberg, Director of Finance and Human Resources; Sharon Lyons, Director of Special Education; Dr. Malvena Baxter and Michelle Fitzpatrick, Principals; and Mary Farley, Recording Secretary CALL TO ORDER: T. Buono called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. A. ROUTINES: 1. Everyone present participated in the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Remarks from the Public: None 3. Reports from Other committees: • Tri-Town Union Regional Readiness Study Subcommittee: Dr. Creeden reported that D. Donarumo attended both subcommittee meetings along with S. Greenberg and Sharon Lyons. The subcommittee reviewed the Report that has been generated. The December 16 meeting will be held in the Flint Library Meeting Room. S. Greenberg updated the committee on meetings with Town Halls on the request for a Fiscal Agent. There are some challenges associated with this. He has scheduled a meeting with Christine Lynch of DESE during the month of December. We need to think of everything we can come up with to improve efficiency; the Central Office Budget, distribution of responsibilities and blended contracts. • Middleton School Building Committee: T. Buono attended the last meeting. Everything is moving along with the access road. At the Design Review Meeting, there were three (3) recommendations that will be brought to the full Building Committee this month. 1. Specifications of a solar roof. 2. Building controls must be from ENE or Invensys. 3. The Software Plan for energy is called Watt Stopper. The target date for going out for final bid is mid-January. The roadway project is ahead of schedule because of favorable weather. The water issues have been taken care of. There will be a meeting with the technology consultants for DiNisco Design to review their specifications. The next meeting will be held on December 21. The next Design Review Subcommittee meeting will be on January 6, 2010. B. REPORTS: 1. Report of the Building Principals: Michelle Fitzpatrick reviewed her written report. Dr. Baxter reviewed her written report. There were no questions. 2. Report of the Director of Finance and Human Resources: • FY 2010 State and Local Budget Update: S. Greenberg reported that the second part of the DESE AARA funds will probably arrive around March. There will be four payments between March and June. We are still in reasonable shape. We lost $12,500 in state aid from the Pilot funds. Representative Hill has told us to expect additional cuts. We anticipate that the COLA is at 0.75%. • Results of Special Town Meeting on December 1, 2009: We must reduce our current budget by $91,200 in order to balance the Town budget. J. Pearl moved to reduce the FY 2010 Operating Budget by $91,200. This money will come from the Special Education Out-of-District and the Teacher Salaries lines. Second by J. Pearl. Motion carried 4-0-0. 3. Report of the Superintendent: • Howe-Manning Principal Search Process: Dr. Creeden stated that a letter went out through Blackboard Connect with an invite to people who would like to participate on the search team. He reviewed the Principal Search Timeline which is in the packet. There will be one large group to review all the applications that come in. Then, there will be a subgroup to do interviews. The people selected for the subgroup must be there for all the interviews. Applications are due by January 15, 2010. The first round of interviews should be done by the first week of February. Then the second round will be done after February vacation. The sense of the School Council is to look for a permanent match. If this does not work, we can call off the process at any time and switch gears. Dr. Creeden had a discussion with I. Singer about needing some support next year during construction. We must request the extra funding for this at Town Meeting because it is an interim position. • HINI Flu Planning Update: We had a successful clinic last week and another one planned for this coming Monday. There is one going on right now for first responders from the Police and Fire Departments from all three towns. The one next Monday will be held at the Fairgrounds and will be for all eligible age brackets. • Grade 5 Trip to Nature’s Classroom – March 2010: M. Fitzpatrick would like to take this year’s Grade 5 class to Nature’s Classroom in Freedom, New Hampshire at the end of March 2010. She will work this around MCAS and the first night of Passover. She sent out 123 surveys and 93% of the parents said they want their children to go to Nature’s Classroom. The PTO will give the money they would have given students if they went on the trip to Strawberry Bank, plus the money from the wrapping paper sale. The Grade 4 class has given the Grade 5 class their share of the sale money and M. Fitzpatrick is hoping the Grade 6 class will do the same thing. The cost of the trip is $170 per child plus the cost of the busses. This year a lot of scholarships were awarded. R. Harris moved to allow the current Gr. 5 students to travel to Nature’s Classroom in Freedom, NH around the end of March 2010. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0. K-12 Umbrella Committee: Dr. Creeden reported that the K-12 Umbrella Committee, through the tireless efforts of Lisa Teichner, will sponsor Benjamin Zander of the Boston Philharmonic orchestra, and author of Art of Possibility to speak at Masconomet on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. He is a local resident. His normal retainer is in the five figure range. C. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Howe-Manning Academic Student Recognition Update: M. Fitzpatrick is working with the Gr. 4 teachers on a new recognition program. She is also working on Grades 5 and 6 honor roll, and hopes the Gr. 4 parents don’t look for anything like that. Another thing they are looking at is term 1 and 2 for students who made improvements. Sharon Lyons presented a handout where the author talks about being fair. You cannot establish criteria that is related to someone’s status or class or criteria that will exclude a class of children. Identify the criteria, and make it clear. You cannot discriminate. Clarity is the key. “Develop clear objective standards.” M. Fitzpatrick will work this out with the teachers and bring back a proposal on what the objective is going to be. The Principal should develop a Recognition Program and bring it back to School Committee. Grades 5 and 6 still have an Honor Roll. Before the Honor Roll is published, it needs to be reviewed. What are we celebrating? S. Lyons explained some examples of discrimination. By Wednesday, M. Fitzpatrick, Dr. Creeden and S. Lyons will review the report cards. Dr. Creeden stated that celebrating achievement can be done in many different ways. 2. Charge to the Superintendent’s Howe-Manning Construction Advisory Committee: R. Harris moved that the charge of the Howe-Manning Construction Advisory Committee be to provide guidance to the school community and the community at large regarding the procedures and processes for providing a safe school environment during construction of the new Howe-Manning School. Second by R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 4-0-0. 3. School Calendar 2010-2011 Draft #1: Two drafts were included in the packet. On Version #1 school starts on September 7 for students. On Version #2 school starts on September 1 for students. Kindergarten will start the following week. Rosh Hashanah is on September 8. The Teacher contract calls for September 1 start. This Association has been very flexible. August 31 could be a school day and we could put a teacher day at the end of the year. Our goal is to start school in September 2011 in the new building. We will have to build operation money into the budget so teachers can pack. Pay would be at the rate of having a sub come in while teachers pack up and mark boxes that can be moved. 4. Town and School Web Page Revisions: Any comments, additions, deletions or errors on the new web page should be sent to Dr. Creeden by December 18. 5. FY 2011 Budget Development and Calendar: This year’s budget will have more narrative than in previous years. The Principals are doing their own narratives. There will be a Budget Meeting on Saturday, January 23. The Regular Meeting will be held on Thursday, January 14, 2010. 6. Correspondence: None 7. Other: • It was noted that Middleton is never mentioned in the Globe North column any more. John Ladler has been moved to another section of the paper. • The Town is looking into having voting at the Library. Requests go to Sarah George. T. Buono will look into this. D. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Approval of Minutes: J. Pearl moved to approve the Minutes of November 9, 2009 as presented. Second by R. Harris. Motion carried 4-0-0. At 8:50 p.m., R. Mastrangelo left the meeting. J. Pearl moved to approve the Executive Session Minutes of March 12, 2009 as presented. Second by R. Harris. Motion carried 3-0-0. J. Pearl moved to approve the Executive Session Minutes of October 8, 2009 as amended. Second by R. Harris. Third paragraph, change the name Couture to Koocher. In the last paragraph, remove the name of D. Donarumo and add the name of R. Mastrangelo. Motion carried 3-0-0. J. Pearl moved to approve the Executive Session Minutes of November 9, 2009 as submitted. Second by R. Harris. Motion carried 3-0-0. 2. Declaration of Surplus Equipment: R. Harris moved to approve the list of surplus equipment from Michael McLaughlin. Equipment to be discarded in the appropriate manner. Second by R. Pearl. Motion carried 3-0-0. 3. Acceptance of Donations: R. Harris moved to accept the check in the amount of $337.44 from the Masconomet Music Parents Association from the fruit sale. Second by J. Pearl. Motion carried 3-0-0. R. Harris moved to accept the gift check from McDonald’s in the amount of $1,000 for Nature’s Classroom. Second by J. Pearl. Motion carried 3-0-0. 4. Approval of Bills and Payroll: R. Harris moved to approve Bill Warrants in the following amounts. Second by J. Pearl. Bill Warrant #BW1010 dated 12/10/09 in the Amount of $96,248.51 Bill Warrant #BW1017A dated 12/10/09 in the amount of $9,263.79 Bill Warrant #BW1017B dated 12/10/09 in the amount of $205.58 Bill Warrant #BW 1017 Café Meal Tax dated 12/10/09 in the amount of $11.91 Motion carried 3-0-0. R. Harris moved to approve Payroll Warrants in the following amounts. Second by J. Pearl. Payroll Warrant dated 11/25/09 in the amount of $255,179.83 Payroll Warrant dated 12/10/09 in the amount of $260,869.29 Motion carried 2-0-1 (R. Harris abstained). E. EXECUTIVE SESSION: At 9:10 p.m., J. Pearl moved leave Regular Session and enter into Executive Session for the purpose of Preparation of Negotiations with Represented Personnel and to return to Regular Session for the purpose of adjournment only. Second by R. Harris. Motion carried 3-0-0 on a roll call vote (R. Harris – yes, J. Pearl – yes, T. Buono – yes). F. ADJOURNMENT: At 9:30 p.m., on a 3-0-0 roll call vote, the Committee returned from Executive Session for the purpose of adjournment only. R. Harris moved to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. Second by J. Pearl. Motion carried 3-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Mary Farley Recording Secretary |