| MSC Permanent Minutes February 6, 2012 |
| PERMANENT MINUTES MIDDLETON SCHOOL COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING FULLER MEADOW NATHAN MEDIA CENTER FEBRUARY 6, 2012 The regular meeting of the Middleton School Committee (MSC) was held on Monday, February 6, 2012 in the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center, 143 South Main Street, Middleton, MA. Members Present: Mindy Wogan, Chairperson, Teresa Buono, Tasha Cooper, Lisa Saxonis and Maria Scarpa Others Present: Bernard F. Creeden, Superintendent; Christine Elliott, Director of Curriculum; Betsy Boulanger and Diane Carreiro, Principals; Kristen Swanson, Tricia Haines, and Laurie Murphy, Teachers; George Dow, Finance Committee Liaison; and Mary Farley, Recording Secretary M. Wogan called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. A. ROUTINES: 1. Pledge of Allegiance: Everyone stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Remarks from the Public: None. B. REPORTS: 1. Reports from Other Committees: • Middleton School Building Committee (MSBC): The MSBC held a routine meeting to review invoices and changes in work orders for the month of December. Their next meeting will be on February 27. A neighbor came again and asked about additional plantings. An Executive Session was held to discuss some matters which are appropriate to discuss in Executive Session. Resignations from Al Rosen, John Smith, and Jill Mann were acted upon. Six members is now the quorum. The Middleton School Committee recognizes those three individuals for serving on the Committee. • Tri-Town Union School Committee: The TTU Committee met on January 12. They looked at the Central Office budget proposal for next year. They approved the draft for supplies and maintenance; and put on hold the replacement of telephone system and the position of Maintenance Mechanic. Steve Clifford will be here later to talk about this and other aspects of the maintenance lines. Christine Elliott did a presentation on the Math Committee. This will be coming to the individual committees in March. She will also explain the professional development associated with the new Math Program. 2. Report of the Building Principals: Since the MSC has already read their reports which were included in the packet, they were asked to speak to anything that was not in their report or that has happened since the report went out. D. Carreiro stated that they had the most exciting 100th day of school. Fuller Meadow was presented with a flag that had flown over the Capitol Building in honor of the HERO Program. The Rogers Family was thanked for this. The Professional Development Day on January 23 was an amazing day; one of the best ever in the Tri-Town area. Kudos to everyone involved. B. Boulanger thanked everyone involved with D. Bakers’ science class. It was an incredible lesson with equipment to measure and experience things hands-on because of the generosity of the community. Wayne Masters brought several birds to the school. Mrs. Rubchinuk’s preschool class was able to experience this program. He brought a Great Horned Owl and a Barn Owl, and a Red Tailed Hawk that was very feisty. A Math Data meeting was held on January 25. Mrs. Pelrine and Mrs. Bettencourt have done a wonderful job. Ellie is now back working with us on several projects. 3. Report of the Superintendent: • Professional Development Day on January 23, 2012: On the Professional Development Day, Dr. Creeden recognized all people on the slide show. He read the names of all the faculty and staff from across the Tri-Town who received 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 year pins, and one person who has been with us for 28 years (this person was missed in previous awards). • Howe-Manning Traffic Pattern Updates: Last Friday was the last day of Angelica’s Express. T. Buono thought the line moved pretty quickly and smoothly. She will follow up with Ira regarding the lights in the square. T. Cooper expressed concern about preschool parents backing up the other parents. There was discussion about drop-off. B. Boulanger will make sure everyone knows exactly what to do and what the guidelines are. S. O’Neil took on the task of volunteering and being in charge of Angelica’s every afternoon. The MSC thanked her for doing this. Dr. Creeden and B. Boulanger will be monitoring the traffic. • Head Lice Policy Background Materials: The background materials were in the packet. In March, there will be a presentation made and a Policy put together by the Tri-Town Nurses. Their goal is to have less time lost in school. It will be the Committee’s responsibility to determine what will be implemented. The Draft Policy states that children may return three (3) days after treatment. The policy must be specific on what the treatment is. The second bullet states that if an event occurs in a classroom, all children will be checked. The last bullet states that the custodian should be notified to insure that appropriate cleaning practices are carried out in the classroom. Hearing and vision screening is a way of checking kids without making it an issue. D. Marshall suggested checking students when they come back from the summer vacation. The MSC agreed that parents should have a choice about opting in or out of any of the screenings offered. A letter should be drafted on this. The MSC agreed that Mrs. Marshall has been hyper-vigilant. • Wellness Committee Update - “Middleton Get Moving Night”: W. Wogan brought everyone up-to-date on what has been planned for the evening. There will be all sorts of activities available for children to participate in, plus some drawings for kids to win prizes. Many teachers volunteered for this evening. A thank-you went out to everyone involved. C. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Hero Program and Kid2Kid Program Updates: Links are being used at Fuller Meadow. B. Boulanger stated that the Kid2Kid Committee had two meetings; one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The turn-out was not great. She asked students to write a paragraph about why they want to be part of the program. She will see how it goes. There are only five kids this year. She has helpers from the High School for this. 2. FY 2013 Budget Development: • FY’13 Review of Actions Taken on January 28th: A Budget Session was held on January 28. The MSC did take some action to bring the budget into focus. Dr. Creeden and M. Wogan met with the Finance Committee (FinCom) this past Saturday afternoon. The FinCom and the MSC will be meeting again. The Capital Planning meeting will be held on the first Saturday in March. At the present time, I. Singer thought he had enough detail so the MSC would not have to be present. • Proposed Warrant Articles - Math Curriculum and Technology: The Math Warrant Article is for curriculum adoption and the Technology Article is for replacement of items and upgrades at Fuller Meadow. We must come up with a final number. C. Elliott will speak to the Math Curriculum and Writing Curriculum. The Professional Development Budget will be for increased time for professional development due to the implementation of the new Math Program and the new Writing Program. The Math Committee will be meeting tomorrow and the recommendation should be forthcoming in two (2) days. There is a lot of professional development necessary to go along with the new program. Teachers who are not available in the summer will get the training in the fall. This will require additional early release time. There is a financial benefit of bringing all teachers together at the same time. The Subcommittee is looking at what is being done in other towns outside the Tri-Town area. They will also be looking at what parents will be presented with on March 8. C. Elliott has met with S. Greenberg to look at the proposed budget and look at this item by item. The suggested amount is a $24,000 reduction in that line. This would eliminate going forward with the proposed Professional Development Committee (Tri-Town Reading Committee); it also affects the teachers remaining on the existing Committee. There would have to be a reduction in all of the committees, including Writing and Health & Wellness. We would have to turn people away. With the funding from the #140 Grant, we would be able to add people back. We would have to cut substitute coverage for additional Professional Development (P.D.); cut the P.D. supply line, and cut new initiatives. We could eliminate $20,000 and look for other opportunities and grants. At the present time, based on actions taken on the January 28th, we are at 4.99%. We are trying to get to 4.00%. Math should go on a Warrant Article; $60,000 for Technology (that may be lower); half of the increase we expected to incur for Health Insurance; and we did agree to take some money out of Special Education that was budgeted for students that may or may not materialize. There is still about $80,000 that needs to be cut to reduce this by 1%. We agreed to look very hard at the numbers to get to a clear 4%. It was asked if the Writing Program should be put on a Warrant Article. D. Carreiro stated that the increase for RTI materials has been put in as a new initiative. It was stated that the Math Curriculum number does include some of the professional development. It is just a projection. At the time the number was put in, we weren’t sure which program they were going with. We could move the Math Committee, and the pilot teachers will become the liaisons. This year we are awarding people with local University credits. Next year it would be a stipend position. After the Math Committee meets tomorrow, they will have a firmer number for implementation. • Facilities: Stephen Clifford appeared before the Committee to review and justify his budget numbers and the need for the Maintenance Mechanic. He reviewed each number within his budget. He was asked about the Warrantees on the equipment and when they would run out. Dr. Creeden will get the Committee a list of all the equipment and when the Warrantees will expire. S. Clifford has decreased some lines because items are on Warranty. Dr. Creeden stated they will review all the items and bring this forward again. Regarding the Maintenance Mechanic; this would be cost neutral because we will be able to decrease some of the items in the budget that will be done by the Maintenance Mechanic. He explained the job description for the Maintenance Mechanic which was included in the packet. • Dr. Creeden reviewed the budget and explained how the Cherry Sheet affects us. 3. School Calendar – Draft #3: This version shows an increase in the number of early release days based on what C. Elliott spoke to. The first day of school is the primary election day – September 6. This version shows 5 early release days. The need is for 4 – February 8 would be taken out. It was asked about having a half day to coincide with one of the Jewish holidays. We would like to line this up with the Masco calendar. C. Elliott explained that the Math Committee is currently looking at the time-on-learning and what other districts do. The Committee is looking at all other options. No vote was taken on this. The MSC will take this up again. 4. School Committee Annual Report 2011 Draft #1: T. Buono noted that the School Committee Goals were not reaffirmed in the fall. The MSC should take the opportunity to reaffirm them. The anniversary pieces should also be added in. This will be discussed again in March. T. Buono also suggested sending the budget out through the Middleton Insider. 5. Correspondence: Received a thank you card from Robin Leed for working with us for the first half of the school year. 6. Other: None. D. CONSENT AGENDA: T. Cooper moved to approve the following Payroll Warrant. Second by M. Scarpa. Payroll Warrant dated 2/16/12 in the amount of $267,739.87. Motion carried 4-0-1 (L. Saxonis abstained). T. Cooper moved to approve the following Bill Warrant. Second by M. Scarpa. Bill Warrant #1219 dated 2/6/12 in the amount of $30,763.37 Motion carried 5-0-0. T. Cooper moved to accept the Gift Check in the amount of $500 from MELD/R. F. Gouley for the Howe-Manning Science Fund. Second by L. Saxonis. Motion carried 5-0-0. Next Meeting: February 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center. The MSC will meet with the Finance Committee at 7:30 p.m. after this meeting. Next Regular Meeting: March 26 at 7:15 p.m. in the Fuller Meadow Nathan Media Center. E. EXECUTIVE SESSION: AT 9:40 p.m., T. Buono moved to leave the open session and enter into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining 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 T. Cooper. Motion carried 5-0-0 on a roll call vote (M. Scarpa – yes, L. Saxonis – yes, T. Buono – yes, T. Cooper – yes, M. Wogan – yes). F. ADJOURNMENT: On at 5-0-0 roll call vote, the Committee returned from Executive Session at 10:00 p.m. T. Buono moved to adjourn. Second by T. Cooper. Motion carried 5-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Mary Farley Recording Secretary Per the new Open Meeting Law, here is a list of the documents that were either distributed to the BSC before the meeting in a packet, or at the meeting: 1. Agenda for February 6, 2012 2. Superintendent’s Report 3. School Committee Annual Report – Draft 4. MA DOR FY 2013 Local Aid Estimates 5. Guidelines on Head Lice Prevention and Control 6. CDC -Head Lice Information for School 7. Look for Head Lice picture directions 8. CDC – FAQ’s 9. Sample Letter to Parent/Guardians about Head Lice 10. Head Lice in Children – A Head Scratcher for the Community 11. American Academy of Pediatrics – Clinical Report – Head Lice 12. Operating Budget Review Schedule for Fiscal Year 2013 13. Letter from Rep. Bradford Hill re: Chapter 70. 14. Principal’s Report – D. Carreiro 15. Principal’s Report – B. Boulanger 16. Email to D. Carreiro from M. Rogers RE HERO and flying the flag over the U.S. Capitol. 17. MPS 2012-2013 School Year Calendar 18. Enrollment and Class Size Trends – Middleton Schools 1983 to 2012-2013 |