NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MINUTES
OF REGULAR MEETING – FEBRUARY 12, 2001
EDUCATION
CENTER, FRAZIER ROOM, 7:30 P.M.
PRESENT: Chairperson Verne Vance,
Vice-Chairperson Anne Borg, Susan Albright, Rodney Barker, Susan Heyman, Anne
Larner, Nancy Levine, Andris Vizulis, Mayor David Cohen, James Tierney, student
representative – Newton North High School, Sharone Gilon, student
representative – Newton South High School
OPEN SESSION
At 5:30 p.m., it was
announced that the Committee would entertain a motion to convene in executive
session.
MOTION: It
was moved, by roll call vote, to convene in
executive
session for the purpose of discussing
matters
related to collective bargaining. If
passed,
the
Committee will reconvene in open session at
7:30
p.m.
(Albright
- Vizulis)
unanimous
ROLL CALL VOTE BY WARD:
Ward I, “yes” (Vizulis);
Ward II, "yes" (Albright); Ward III, "yes" (Larner); Ward
IV, "yes", (Levine); Ward V, “yes” (Heyman); Ward VI, “yes”;
(Barker); Ward VII, "yes" (Vance); Ward VIII, “yes”, (Borg); Mayor
David Cohen, “yes”
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Verne Vance
called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Ken Hamilton, Newton
Teachers Association (NTA) President, addressed the Mayor, on behalf of the
membership, urging him to meet what they feel is a reasonable compensation
package.
Sue Kohl, 41 Gardner St.,
Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School parent, talked about the importance of keeping
class size at a reasonable level. In
one third grade
class at their school
there are 29 bodies, including three inclusion students and their individual
aides. Good teaching and diversified
instruction cannot occur unless the class size supports these efforts.
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES’ DISCUSSION
None.
RECOGNITIONS
Brown Middle School 7th
grade students Joi Fonfield and Tamar Melman, who were awarded gold and
silver medals respectively, in the “Sprint Sportsmanship For Life” essay
program.
APPROVAL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Andy Vizulis noted that
Lisa Mikus’ name was misspelled in the minutes of 1/22/01.
MOTION: It was moved to approve the School Committee
regular
meeting minutes of 1/8 and 1/22/01, as
amended.
(Larner
– Albright)
unanimous
Chairperson Verne Vance
announced that the Committee will be taking some items out of order to
accommodate staff.
ACTION ITEMS
REQUEST FOR FUNDING FOR MODULAR CLASSROOMS
James Marini, Assistant
Superintendent for High Schools & Operations, explained that the short-term
solution for increased enrollments at Newton South High School is to obtain
modulars. Their calculations indicate
that the need will be for three classrooms.
The Building Commissioner has concluded that leasing is a more practical
option than purchasing. The Committee
needs to
request funding from the
Board of Aldermen, through the Mayor, in order to get these on line for next
September.
Nicholas Parnell, Building
Commissioner, specified the location of where the units would be housed. He also explained that the industry has
developed two-classroom trailers (twin-packs) and that it is more
cost-effective to purchase these vs. one-classroom units. While the bid will specify three classrooms,
they may be able to get a fourth for less cost. The setup cost is $112,000 for the four units and $62,400 total
for rental for the year vs. a purchase price per unit of approximately
$125,000.
Susan Albright asked about
the funding for the modulars.
Mayor Cohen stated that
the funding source would be the capital reserve that has been set up for the
high school project.
MOTION: It was moved to ask the Mayor to request
funding
from the Board of Aldermen for two twin-pack
modular
classroom units for the Newton South High School
project, as outlined in Attachment H.
(Heyman
– Larner)
unanimous
DISCUSSION/VOTE ON EDUCATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS
FOR HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT
Verne Vance explained that
a vote by the Committee is required on this item, in order to obtain the
necessary approval from the School Building Assistance Project (SBAP) to
realize reimbursement.
Jim Marini explained that
they would like to restrict tonight’s vote to Newton South High School. This will then allow the architect to move
forward in developing the preliminary plans for how to utilize the square
footage to meet program needs.
Tonight’s vote approves the preliminary plans and the Committee will
have to take a second vote at a future date on the final documents.
Owen Beenhouwer, architect
for DRA, provided a brief history of how they developed the specifications,
based on the work done by Strekalovsky & Hoit, as well as over 30
interviews with staff. Some spaces were
reworked and reformulated as a result of these discussion.
MOTION: It was moved to approve the preliminary
square
footage program educational specifications for
the
Newton South High School project, as outlined
in
Attachment G.
(Albright
- Larner)
Discussion:
Rodney Barker wished to state for the record that the Committee has had much
discussion about this material. He did
not want it to appear that this was just presented and voted upon this evening.
Sharone Gilon asked if the
booklet produced by Newton South High School students titled “Students—Their
Issues with Space” was taken into consideration in the development of the
plans.
Owen Beenhouwer replied
that the pamphlet would have an impact in the next phase, where they will do
the actual design and drawing.
Superintendent Jeffrey
Young understands the booklet was a very professional piece of work and asked
Ms. Gilon to provide him with a copy.
Anne Larner asked the
architects to review the material with the appropriate people at Newton South
to be certain nothing has been overlooked.
Vote on motion to approve ed specs: unanimous
REPORTS
SUPERINTENDENT’S PERSONNEL REPORT
There were no questions on
the report.
SUPPORT SERVICES STATUS REPORT
Michael Pierce, Manager of
Support Services, informed the Committee that one of the summer projects they
will be conducting this year will be a review of
the lighting in all
buildings. In addition, he expects to
have a written update from the Building Commissioner soon with regard to the
schedule for completion of the Williams Elementary School renovations, as well as
material with regard to custodial overtime for budget deliberations. In terms of maintenance and repair
(M & R) orders, due to
the financial situation they will only be dealing with those that are related to emergency, health, and safety
issues.
Rodney Barker asked about
the status of the Bigelow Middle School steps.
Jim Marini replied that
the project is on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), but not currently at the
top of the list.
Anne Larner requested a
review of the anomalies in the utilities accounts. For instance, schools of comparable sizes have some very large
variances in charges for electric and water rates.
Verne Vance asked why the
M & Rs for Bowen Elementary School are so high considering the recent
renovation at that facility.
Michael Pierce explained
that there were a number of items that were not included in the original
construction project and they felt it was important to use operating funds to
address the older section of the building.
Verne Vance asked if this
scenario is likely to be repeated for the renovations at Williams and
Memorial-Spaulding.
Michael Pierce replied in
the affirmative for Williams. However,
there might be some relief for Memorial-Spaulding. They will be certain that this is not the case for Newton South
High School.
Susan Albright asked about
the Cabot Elementary School roof.
Michael Pierce stated that
there was some confusion as to which part of the building was experiencing the
problem. They have recently determined
that it was the gym roof and the building department is preparing a price
quote.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
REPORT ON ELEMENTARY PILOT PROGRAMS
Roseli Weiss, Assistant
Superintendent for Elementary Education, thanked the Superintendent and School
Committee for providing the opportunity for
the elementary schools to
develop these pilot programs, which strengthen the literacy program. The goal is to identify key strategies of
consistency systemwide, while recognizing the varied nature of each building. While schools have always taught reading,
they are learning to teach it more appropriately and to differentiate
instruction for a diverse range of students.
Teaching reading involves assessment, demonstration of effective
strategies, provision of
opportunities for practice
in whole and small groups, as well as one-on-one instruction. One of the major outcomes of the pilot
programs is that they have reduced fragmentation by trading in part-time
positions for full-time staff.
Marilynne Quarcoo,
Principal of Cabot Elementary School, talked about how their School Council
worked around the issue of reducing fragmentation for students. Last year they traded in three special
education teaching assistants for a full-time equivalency (FTE) teaching
position. A special education teacher
was hired to co-teach with a regular education teacher in the first grade.
Marc Kaufman,
Co-chairperson of the Cabot Elementary School Council, talked about the parent
review of the co-taught classroom, which is in process. To date, the majority of the interviews have
been extremely positive. Parents feel
that their children are getting a lot of personal attention that could never
occur with large classes or with only an aide in the classroom.
Marilynne Quarcoo added
that they have collected input from staff, as well, and there are obvious
successes in the way they are delivering services. It is their hope to expand this pilot to the second grade, where
there would be two co-taught classrooms with a shared aide. The psychologists’ position has played an
integral role in this process, in terms of providing a more comprehensive
special education reporting procedure.
Parents have been deeply involved in the work.
Rodney Barker asked how
this program differs from other classes that have more than one adult.
Marilynne Quarcoo
explained that this classroom holds two certified professionals rather than
assistants. Many assistants are newly
out of college, not expected to plan lessons, work hourly, and have a high
turnover rate; so there is not the same sense of collegiality and ownership of
the position.
Jeff Young mentioned that
adults also need to be learners and should experiment and test new strategies
and ideas. Teaching should never be a
stagnant profession. These pilot
programs are attempts to do what they already know how to do in an even better
fashion. In the first year of the
pilots, focus must be on implementation and monitoring, with evaluation to
follow next year. He would ask people
to reserve judgement in terms of evaluation on a program that is only five months old.
Susan Albright suggested
the possibility of getting Ph.D. candidates at educational schools to work on
the evaluation piece of the program.
She has some contacts at Tufts University that she would be happy to
pass along.
John Jordan, Principal of
Countryside Elementary School, described the pilot program in his building,
which focuses on reducing the fragmentation of services.
They increased the English
specialists’ and psychologists’ time and have offered more support to children,
in order to alleviate the need for special education. Differentiated instruction is truly becoming alive in the
classroom. This year they have focused
their professional development on equipping teachers with how to assess reading
through the Development Reading Assessment (DRA) program. This helps them determine where students are
in the learning process and how to match the curriculum with their needs, so
that they can maximize the learning experience for all children. Another area they have tried to work on this
year is in training student teachers in the delivering of the reading program,
so that they can be more supportive in the classroom, particularly around small
groupings. Next year they hope to gain
even more of the English specialists’ and psychologists’ time.
Vivian Swoboda, Principal
of Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School, was next to describe their pilot
program. Nearly all of their teachers
are present this evening to show support for this program. Lincoln-Eliot is a truly diverse community
and includes English as a Second Language (ESL) students, children who live in
shelters, inclusion students, special needs children, and regular education
students. This year they traded in
their .5 English specialist for the position of Director of Academic
Initiatives. They are working closely with Tufts University on professional development activities and
would like to continue that relationship next year.
Kathy Curran,
Lincoln-Eliot psychologist, spoke of the base-line assessments they conducted
over the past couple of years, which indicate a high percentage of children
entering Lincoln-Eliot with limited basic early literacy skills, as well as
continual difficulty with reading fluency and comprehension skills. Their pilot program is designed to change
this pattern and involves the entire school in this effort. Staff are being trained so that they can be
consistent across grade levels in the program.
Clear benchmarks and assessments are incorporated. Progress is consistently monitored and
challenge is incorporated in their work.
Ultimately,
they hope to reduce the
number of students requiring special education services and address issues of
self-esteem and social behavior problems.
Finally, they believe that the pilot program addresses the core value of
anti-racism because they are setting high standards for all children. She concluded by citing a statistic based on
their assessment of first grade students.
Last year they had 17% at or above benchmark expectations in one of the
basic early literacy skills. After
direct intervention in kindergarten this year, that figure rose to 75%.
Lynne Penczar,
Lincoln-Eliot 5th grade teacher, talked about the success they have
realized to date. Students are reading
more and all staff are fully involved.
They have gone from a whole class model to small groupings and
individual instruction at all levels.
Book rooms have been created within the school. Skills that are learned at workshops are
immediately being implemented and
duplicated. Staff is extremely involved, enthusiastic,
and invested. The work is building a
common language K-6 and has implications for systemic change. She hopes they will be able to have the
opportunity to continue this initiative.
Claudia Peters,
Lincoln-Eliot Director of Academic Initiatives, talked about professional
development opportunities provided by Tufts.
They are developing a common language and reviewing data to drive the
decision-making process at the school-based level. Her job it to provide ongoing support and modeling, as well as to
assess the instruments they are utilizing on a continual basis. Their work is closely associated with the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test, in terms of defining
and addressing student performance, so as to target strategies and
methodologies to challenge all students within the regular curriculum.
Irene Keefe, English
Specialist at Williams Elementary School, spoke about the pilot program in
their building. Their main goal was to lower the pupil/teacher ratio in the early
grades, which was accomplished. They
have been able to add a .5 English specialist who spends time in both the
classroom and Learning Center, which has provided more flexibility. Collaboration among staff is key to their
program and they have labeled themselves the “literacy team.” While they focus on identifying students who
need increased support, their work complements instruction for all
students. There is less fragmentation
to the school day and children are participating in reading and literacy in
smaller groups. One of the ways they
hope to assess the program is to see fewer referrals to the literacy center,
which appears to already be occurring.
Anne Larner thanked the
group for providing the specifics around these programs. Last year, when the Committee was
deliberating regarding budget cuts, they took a leap of faith in keeping these
intact and she is pleased with that decision.
They have erased any doubts in her mind about the importance and success
of these pilots.
Andy Vizulis added that
the return on the money spent in this area is tremendous.
Susan Albright is
particularly pleased that these programs can and will be duplicated in other
grades and buildings.
Jeff Young mentioned that
the enthusiasm and commitment on the part
of staff is extraordinary and he thanked the Committee for their confidence.
FY01 BUDGET UPDATE
Sandra Guryan, Assistant
Superintendent for Business, Finance & Planning, reported that the deficit
is even worse than it was in last month’s report. One of
the reasons has to do with
the duplication in counting turnover savings.
The other reason is the higher special education costs, particularly
relating to the tuition accounts, which were not increased in any substantial
way in last year’s budget. Having
reviewed all the salary accounts, the overall variance in staffing is only 1.6
FTEs, so the deficit does not stem from this area. The total deficit stands at $870,077. She also included some information clarifying the under-funding
of the Medicare item that they have been discussing over the past several
meetings. She concluded by noting that
she has listed several areas where they might realize some savings if they
instituted a budget freeze at this point.
However, there is little in the way of discretionary funds in the budget
and some may argue that even the areas she has outlined are not
discretionary. She also noted that the
dollar amounts do not indicate what is left in a given area. Rather, they reflect the maximum she is
comfortable recommending be frozen.
Anne Larner believes that
given the size of the deficit, they need to address this immediately. She would recommend that they take
responsibility for the portion of it that relates to controllable items and ask
the City to help with the areas around special education, where they have no
flexibility.
Susan Albright asked if
cutting back in the instructional materials would impact all levels of the
system equally.
Sandy Guryan replied that
it would be spread equally systemwide.
However, the schools that spend seasonably vs. those who have already
done most of their purchasing would feel a greater impact. Most of the balances remain in the secondary
schools. Realistically, no matter what
type of a freeze they institute, there are always going to be items that are a
necessity. She would be optimistic to
save $400,000.
MOTION: It was moved to
institute a spending freeze,
as outlined in Attachment D.
(Levine – Larner)
Discussion:
Mayor Cohen suggested that
he meet with the Superintendent and Chairperson to develop a plan for
addressing this issue. They are in a
very difficult situation this year, particularly given the need to access free
cash to fund the plowing of the last snowstorm.
Superintendent Young asked
about the $879,000 in budget reserve for the schools.
Mayor Cohen replied that
this is the money that they were able to provide the schools from new growth
last year and it was meant to close the gap for the current budget. The funding was put into budget reserve temporarily
because they were hoping to realize some savings in health insurance. That money is not part of this discussion.
Vote on motion to institute spending freeze: unanimous
DISCUSSION OF ELEMENTARY CLASS SIZE/PROGRAM
Roseli Weiss thanked the
School Committee for their commitment to the reduction of class size and the
Elementary Advisory Council for their hard work and input. The following issues were discussed in their
meetings: optimal size of an elementary school, capacity of particular space,
addressing classes that have particular needs, demographics of the community,
placement of METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc.)
students, influence of class size on standards based education, and equity. The common thread she hears throughout her
discussions with staff is that smaller class sizes make a difference in terms
of their ability to diversify instruction and provide more individual attention
to students. Parents continue to reiterate
that it is the single most important goal.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC),
which is the provider of the full-day kindergarten grant to the system,
recommends a 12:1 student/teacher ratio, which they are able to comply with in
their current model. In addition, they
are focussing on support for students with regard to MCAS. She completed the presentation by mentioning
that the material in the packet includes information on class sizes in
neighboring systems.
Sean Davan, 5th
grade teacher at Lincoln-Eliot, was hired three years ago specifically to
address some of the large class sizes in the school. The smaller classes are much more manageable. As the numbers decrease, students’
achievement increases. The literacy
initiative would not be successful without the lower class sizes because they
can form smaller reading groups for differentiating instruction, so that all
children are being challenged equally at both ends of the scale. Teachers can take skills learned at
workshops and apply those immediately.
As mentioned previously, their community houses two shelters and a great
deal of rental housing, so the needs of the children are very great. In addition, a large portion of the student
body speaks a first language other than English. They are better able to meet these diverse needs in a smaller
class.
Debbie Jassett,
Lincoln-Eliot parent, talked about the support at their school for the
inclusion program and the difficulty of having three inclusion students in one
classroom.
CONTINUED DISCUSSION RE: REDISTRICTING
Sandy Guryan talked about
the information regarding capacity that is included in tonight’s material,
which flows from the enrollment projections.
More material will need to be added, as they continue their work around
the necessary redistricting that will have to occur. As this data continues to be refined, policy questions will arise
having to do with whether or not they want to have standards for each building.
Jeff Young mentioned that
some of the items that stand out immediately are whether there should be
dedicated space for art, music, English as a Second Language (ESL)/bilingual,
and a Learning Center. It might be
helpful to ask staff to join them at the next meeting to talk about these
issues.
Susie Heyman thinks they
need to remove the substandard classrooms from the inventory.
Jeff Young mentioned that
they might want to also consider a certain amount of space in each building for
flexibility.
Anne Borg does not believe
modulars should be included as permanent space for long-term planning.
Jeff Young stated that
they will have additional material on this subject for the next meeting based
on tonight’s discussion. In terms of
redistricting criteria, he presented the list of items raised at the public forum.
Anne Larner believes that
they need to educate the public better in terms of the demographics and where
the populations exist. She mentioned
that keeping cohorts together and sending children to the nearest school are conflicting
themes and that the City will not neatly slice in half.
Jeff Young stated that
they will attempt to produce a visual image of where the students reside on the
Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
Susie Heyman stated that
people are going to need to understand that no matter where the line is drawn
to split the City, it will be close to Newton North.
Discussion was had around
adding the word “proximity” to the list, so that geography includes not just
transportation but walking as well.
APPROVAL OF DONATIONS
MOTION: It
was moved to approve the donations of 200
computers to the system, a computer to Newton
South High School, a monetary donation to Burr
Elementary School, and a monetary donation to
Brown Middle School, as outlined in Attachment
I.
(Borg
– Larner)
8 – 0 – 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
VOTE TO APPROVE REPRESENTATIVE TO DESIGN REVIEW
COMMITTEE
Chairperson Verne Vance
requested this item be tabled until the next meeting.
VOTE TO APPOINT A REPRESENTATIVE TO THE CITIZENS
COMMISSION ON ENERGY
MOTION: It was moved to appoint Eric Olson as the
School
Committee
representative to the Newton Citizens Commission on Energy.
(Heyman - Vizulis)
8
– 0 – 1
Absent: Mayor Cohen
REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF INTERNATIONAL FIELD TRIP
MOTION: It was moved to authorize the
school-sponsored
trip to Ohme, Japan, for the purpose of
participating
in
the Ohme Amateur Athletic Association’s Annual Marathon, as outlined in
Attachment L.
(Levine – Borg)
8 – 0 – 1
Absent
for vote: Mayor Cohen
VOTE TO AUTHORIZE GIFT ACCOUNT
MOTION: It was moved to approve the establishment of
a gift
fund in honor of an Underwood Elementary School
parent, as outlined in Attachment M.
(Barker
– Levine)
8 – 0 – 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
VOTE TO ACCEPT GRANT
MOTION: It was moved to accept the new grant
totaling
$83,424,
as outlined in attachment N.
(Barker – Levine)
8 – 0 – 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
COMMUNICATIONS
None.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned
at 11:05 p.m.