NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING – APRIL 9, 2001

EDUCATION CENTER, FRAZIER ROOM, 7:30 P.M.

PRESENT: Chairperson Verne Vance, Vice-Chairperson Anne Borg, Susan Albright, Susan Heyman, Anne Larner, Nancy Levine, Andris Vizulis, Mayor David Cohen

ABSENT: Rodney Barker and student representatives

OPEN SESSION

At 6:00 p.m., it was announced that the Committee will 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.

(Larner - Albright)

7 – 0 – 2

Absent: Barker

Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen

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, absent; (Barker); Ward VII, "yes" (Vance); Ward VIII, “yes”, (Borg); Mayor David Cohen, absent for vote

CALL TO ORDER

Chairperson Verne Vance called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Andy Gluck, 19 Merton St., Copresident of the Underwood Elementary School PTO, spoke in support of retaining the world language program. A petition was

delivered on Friday to the Superintendent's office on this issue. There is a large Chinese population in their building and they are truly a bilingual school.

Several Underwood third-graders performed two songs in Chinese to demonstrate what they have learned.

Marc Laredo, 31 Philmore Rd., Ward Elementary School parent, presented a petition with 277 signatures advocating for the retention of the Ward feeder pattern to Bigelow Middle School and Newton North High School. It is their belief that this supports cohesive neighborhood schools, contains costs and keeps cohorts together. Maintaining the status quo represents the least disruption to the system.

Larry Raff, 16 Avondale Rd., Ward parent, does not believe that anyone can justify sending students who currently walk to school across town on a bus.

Beth Nicklas, 100 Algonquin Rd., Ward and Bigelow parent, stated that both of her children walk or ride bicycles to school. Her son shovels the driveway and rakes the lawn of an elderly woman who has no family and whom he met on his school route. These kinds of connections to neighbors will not happen if children are bused to school.

Joan Abensohn, 318 Prince St., Ward parent, talked about her own school experiences. She vividly recalls being split from her cohorts and attending a school with a small group of classmates and not knowing the other children or the teachers and then having the same scenario happen at high school. The changes made it very difficult to retain friendships. She hopes they do not choose an option that splits schools.

Rabbi Jeff Foust, 15 Francis St., Newton Centre, is concerned about the costs associated with busing students from Ward. Children can currently walk back and forth and can play together after school and/or attend Temple Emanuel for religious instruction.

Peter Chow, 35 Brackett Rd., moved to the Ward neighborhood so that his children could walk to school and he hopes this can continue.

John Rodman, 40 Avondale Rd., Newton Centre, spoke in support of retaining the current feeder pattern for the Ward. Transportation costs to bus this community south would be a permanent burden on an already taxed system and that funding could be better spent on education.

Elizabeth Einaudi, 20 Overlook Park, Ward parent, emphasized the importance of the neighborhood school. Her family passes Bigelow on a daily basis and their lives are organized around that feeder pattern. Also, in terms of cohorts, it would

not make sense to split the Bigelow community, as it is already a very small middle school and should move to high school as one unit.

Steve Bader, 27 Woodland Dr., Chestnut Hill, Ward and Bigelow parent, noted that adding additional transportation to move Ward south would exceed $1,000,000 over 10 years. This money could be better spent on educational programs.

Gail Sommer, 8 Central Close, Auburndale, Director of the Newton Child Assault Prevention (CAP) program, wanted to dispel some incorrect information that was recently reported in the newspapers. CAP does not receive any funding from the City of Newton. She understands the need to review this program along with all others in the elementary schools, in terms of its relation to the use of classroom instructional time. She looks forward to these discussions. The CAP program has been delivered to over 10,000 students since its inception in 1991 and she hopes they can continue to provide the services in some fashion.

Jeff Lehman, 44 Mandalay Rd., Newton Centre, Ward parent, mentioned a side benefit for children in continuing Ward's north feeder pattern and that is the daily exercise of walking to school. In addition, it lessens automobile pollution and congestion, which is good for the ecology.

Jeff Snider, 56 Park Ave., stated that the elementary school is the focus of his community and he moved to the Ward district for this very reason.

Mark Blugier, 5 Jenison St., Newtonville, Day Middle School and Newton North parent, urged the Committee not to cut the drama and speech programs at the secondly level. He worries about what will happen to the students who have found their niche in these activities.

Theresa Bucher, 1032 Centre St., Newton Centre, Ward and Bigelow parent, added her voice to the others in support of retaining the current north feeder pattern for their school and not having to add three additional buses to the fleet.

Katy Hanson, 28 Lafayette Rd., Newton Lower Falls, thanked the Committee for this open process. The equalization of the high school populations is going to result in some changes, but it does not seem fair that one community may have to bear the majority of the burden. She hopes the Committee will consider returning the Williams Elementary School district to the traditional north feeder pattern, which is closer to their community. Families now spend 40-50 minutes in traffic during rush hours to get to and from the south side. If they are forced to continue south for high school, this means seven years of this burden. Given this distance, students are less likely to engage in extracurricular activities and parents are less likely to be involved in volunteer activities.

Daniel Grau, 334 Kenrick St., Ward and Bigelow parent, noted that his children can walk to Bigelow in approximately 12 minutes. It does not make sense to put these children on a bus, at an added cost to an already overburdened school system. In a time when energy shortages are in the news on a daily basis, three more buses guzzling up additional gas is not practical.

Nicole Popma, 1032 Centre St., 6^th grade student at Bigelow, has been walking to school with her friends since elementary school and hopes that they will not bus any children who currently walk to school.

Nelson Checkoway, 454 Waverley Ave., Ward parent, urged the Committee to arrive at a redistricting solution that does not require unnecessary school bus expenses. The system is currently dealing with a huge deficit and next year's budget looks just as bleak. They need to be as fiscally responsible as possible.

Frank Stearns, 11 Grant Ave., acknowledged the difficult choices the Committee faces with regard to redistricting. However, it does not make sense to create a problem in order to attempt to solve another. Ward School does not currently bus any children and he hopes their ultimate choice is not one that would change this scenario.

Jonathan Yeo, 152 Grove St., Auburndale, President of the Williams PTO, believes that the best solution to the redistricting situation and the one that meets the School Committee's criteria, would be to shift Cabot Elementary School and Williams back north and Ward and Mason-Rice Elementary School south. A choice district could be made for areas that are relatively close to other schools. This scenario would avoid splitting school populations and provides a good fit to capacities and long-term stability. To send Williams south only imposes an inequitable burden on their community. Making a decision that impacts students and their families should not be based solely on an issue of relatively small transportation costs.

Matt Hills, 25 Hobart Rd., Ward parent, stated that the turnout of the communities at these meetings is indicative of the passion and commitment parents feel about this issue. He believes that it is a better solution to choose a scenario that makes no community worse off but a number of communities better and does not alienate one group of people.

Howard Barnstone, 26 Brackett Rd., Ward parent, talked about how the individuality of the communities in Newton are what make this City so special. Walking with his children to school is a wonderful opportunity. Keeping students together as they move from one level to the next is something he would not want to disrupt.

Perhaps the system could work on adjusting the bus schedules so as to lessen the amount of time students spend on buses traveling across the City.

Sherry Davis, 81 Pine Grove Ave., Newton Lower Falls, Williams parent, mentioned that students from Auburndale and Lower Falls traditionally went to Day and Newton North and for a brief period now they have been moved south for middle school. Asking them to continue south for high school means another four years of this burden. The several years of experience of traveling south has taught them that students do not participate as fully as they could in extracurricular activities. She hopes the Committee will weigh all the criteria equally when making their decision. They should spread the transportation burden rather than having it be borne disproportionately by one neighborhood.

Margaret Chiang, 195 Woodcliff Rd., Countryside parent, is disappointed over the elimination of the world language program. Foreign language is a requirement of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams. It is important that children learn a language at a young age. Other communities have recently followed Newton's lead in the development of this program. It does not make sense to eliminate it at this important juncture.

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES'S DISCUSSION

None.

RECOGNITIONS

None.

APPROVAL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

MOTION: It was moved to approve the School Committee

regular meeting minutes of 2/26 and 3/12/01 and

executive session meeting minutes of 3/12/01.

(Levine - Larner)

8 - 0 - 1

Absent: Barker

VOTE TO RATIFY SCHOOL COMMITTEE/NTA CONTRACT

Anne Borg explained that this process has taken 14 months to bring to fruition and represents negotiated agreements with bargaining units A (teachers), B (administrators), C (aides), D (substitutes), and E (previously non-aligned staff). These were complex discussions, but a very collaborative process. She thanked all those involved in the deliberations.

Anne Larner thanked Anne Borg for all her hard work in chairing the negotiating team.

Mayor Cohen stated that while he believes the contracts are reasonable and not out of line with other communities, he must abstain from this vote since he is not sure how the City will be able to fund the proposals.

MOTION: It was moved to ratify the Memorandum of

Agreements, as submitted, for Units A, B, C, D,

and E between the Newton School Committee

and the Newton Teachers Association.

(Borg - Larner)

7 - 1 - 1

Absent: Barker

Abstained: Mayor Cohen

REPORTS

SUPERINTENDENT'S PERSONNEL REPORT

There were no questions on the report.

SUPPORT SERVICES STATUS REPORT

Susie Heyman asked about masonry work at Angier Elementary School. Several years ago this work was done on the building but apparently there are now leaks.

Michael Pierce, Manager of Support Services, stated that he would investigate the issue and report back to the Committee.

Andy Vizulis asked why there are such discrepancies in utility charges among the schools.

Michael Pierce replied that they are currently reviewing the bills. Some of the issues they are investigating are hot water vs. steam heat, the number of exhaust ventilation units in a building, leaking toilets and sinks, temperature gauges, etc.

Susan Albright asked how they paid for the cleanup of flooding at Ward and Oak Hill Middle School.

Michael Pierce responded that funds were taken from the custodial overtime account.

Nancy Levine asked about the status of the work at Williams.

Carol Bock, Director of Capital Planning & Operations, stated that the carpeting is being ordered and a schedule has been set for its installation. Painting will begin as soon as the current contractor is out of the building, which should be at the end of April.

FY01 BUDGET UPDATE

Sandra Guryan, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Finance & Planning, provided a brief history of this year's budget deficit and the resulting spending and hiring freeze, as well as some other measures taken to address the problem. Since the last report they have discovered some under-forecasting of the number of special education aides systemwide, resulting in a current deficit of $692,000. Tonight's packet includes suggestions for $100,000 worth of savings. This means there is still a $592,000 gap between appropriated funds and the school system's budget.

MOTION: It was moved to supplement the budget reduction plan,

which was approved by the School Committee on 3/26/01, with the list of items outlined in the 4/9/01 FY01 School Deficit Chronology /Timeline, footnote #4.

(Larner - Heyman)

Discussion:

Anne Larner thanked Ms. Guryan for reviewing all avenues of the budget for possible savings and encouraged her to continue this process.

Susan Albright noted that they have a lot of work ahead to achieve a resolution to this problem. While they are not prepared this evening to bring the deficit down to zero, they will be working closely with City officials on various strategies.

Mayor Cohen announced that the City has approximately $200,000 free cash from snowstorm funding that he will ask the Board of Aldermen to appropriate to the school system to help bridge the gap. He would like to be assured that there are controls in place so that this type of situation does not occur in the future and that stipulation will be part of his offer.

Verne Vance assured the Mayor that no one in the school system wishes to experience another year like FY01 and they will work toward this goal as the deficit reduction plan evolves.

Andy Vizulis noted that there was approximately $1,000,000 of unanticipated special education costs in this budget that the school system had no control over.

Mozelle Berkowitz, Coordinator of Elementary Special Education, talked about Newton's commitment to full inclusion and how that reputation attracts people to the City. They are continually engaged in conversations about how to provide services in the most efficient manner. They will be putting various strategies into place in an attempt to keep costs as low as possible while continuing to provide students with necessary services.

Susie Heyman added that communities everywhere are struggling with the increased costs of special education. Newton has been fortunate in that they have been able to stay above the fray for so long. This is the first year that the overages were so extraordinary. While they certainly have to continue to work on efficiency, the issue is a far greater matter. Costs continue to accelerate because of the severity of the needs of students coming into the schools. The state must take more responsibility for assuming some of the costs.

Vote on motion to add items to reduction plan: 8 - 0 - 1

Absent: Barker

DISCUSSION ITEMS

UPDATE ON REDISTRICTING

Superintendent Jeffrey Young announced that the administration is continuing to run various redistricting scenarios and the ever-growing list is currently at 18. He explained that these are only possible models of which a handful will ultimately be selected as viable options for further review.

Carol Bock talked about how they refined the middle school capacity numbers, in conjunction with discussions with the principals and by touring the buildings. The average team sized will be 88, although in reality teams could exceed the goal of 92 in some cases given how the numbers may fall. It will be important for the Committee to agree with these numbers because they will be used to model the various scenarios.

Paul Stein, Day Middle School Principal, spoke more specifically about middle school capacity. Their goal was to minimize the number of teachers who have to move between classrooms, while simultaneously maximizing the number of full teams. Each school is different because of its size and scheduling process. They believe the numbers they have ended up with are realistic and preferable. There will still be some traveling on the part of staff and one school that will have an odd number of team classrooms, but overall they believe they have reached their goals.

Susie Heyman asked if the core facilities (cafeteria, auditorium, etc.) impact on capacity.

Paul Stein answered that they believe the core facilities will be able to absorb the numbers and meet the needs of the students.

Susan Albright asked if this plan could conceivably not provide enough classrooms.

Paul Stein does not believe so because even in the peak enrollment years they are only 50 beyond preferred capacity, but could absorb that if using the 88 average team size figure. However, this does not mean that it will not be tight and that there will be some anomalies and large class sizes.

Susan Albright asked if there are any classrooms being reserved for Citywide programs.

Carol Bock replied in the affirmative. Bigelow will house an English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the special education rooms at Oak Hill are in full-sized classes. They will have to factor these into the equation when reviewing the redistricting scenarios.

Dan Cohen, graduate student in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning at Tufts University, who is consulting for the school system on redistricting, conducted a presentation on the software package (Arcview) that is being used in the process and showed how easily it can test out various scenarios.

Susie Heyman asked about the data and assumptions used in the process.

Dan Cohen stated that the geographic data comes from the Geographical Information System (GIS) program, which includes census data, and enrollment projections and cohort survival ratios, which predict the number of students expected to move from year to year within a district.

ACTION ITEMS

VOTE TO ACCEPT GRANT

MOTION: It was moved to accept the new grants totaling

$31,600, as outlined in Attachment D.

(Heyman - Larner)

8 - 0 - 1

Absent: Barker

FINAL VOTE ON FY02 BUDGET

Verne Vance read a letter on behalf of the Committee that was published on the Newton Public School's web site, as well as in an upcoming TAB issue. The letter addresses the reality and context of this year's budget deliberations, which is a plan for the most effective way to spend the level of financial resources they can reasonably expect from the City. The decisions with regard to how to allocate the resources in each building ultimately should rest with the professionals and those who work with the students on a daily basis. At this point, it is unclear how much state aid they can anticipate this year, which is an important element in the Mayor's determination of the final allocation. The School Committee has approved a school budget that represents a $6.5 million increase over last year's, for a total of $114.5 million. If the level of state aid ultimately is significantly lower than what was estimated, further reductions will be necessary. Funding school budgets constitutes an annual challenge that all communities face and which depend on combined efforts of City and state funding, as well as other creative resources. However, Newton continues to offer its students a broad and varied educational program of high quality. Tonight's deliberation will require the Committee to decide whether any modifications should be made to the straw vote and to take a final vote on the budget.

Jeff Young wished to bring up two items that have been discussed during budget deliberations. The first has to do with the high school drama program. While there was never a specific reduction made to this program, the Committee has

heard from the community about the role that the current director has played in developing and expanding the program; much of it on a voluntary basis. Given that he will retire at the end of this year, concern has been raised about retaining the quality of the program. The administration looked at ways to make some internal shifts in the full-time equivalencies (FTEs) to free up some time to continue a high caliber program.

Jennifer Huntington, Principal of Newton North, announced that they have been able to add a .5 position to fill this very important role, so that students can continue to participate in these excellent opportunities.

Jeff Young mentioned that the second item to be discussed is the elementary music and art programs.

Carolyn Wyatt, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction, explained that they basically prioritized the add-backs to the program. By returning a .9 FTE, this would allow for 1/2 hour of recorder time. In addition, they can maintain the fourth grade chorus in the couple of schools where it would have been eliminated, as well as a future review of the 4^th grade chorus to see if it can be offered in other schools that may be interested. Finally, they are also able to add back the time for group instrumental rehearsals in the larger schools.

John Gray, Coordinator of Fine Arts K-8, noted that some of the extra programs and planning time are not being added back.

Anne Larner reiterated her request from the last meeting that the Committee have a more full discussion about the music program at the elementary level on a future agenda next year.

Susan Albright thanked them for reviewing this program and making these changes.

Superintendent Young noted that the Committee has a choice to either add this amount to the bottom figure or request that they find another area in which to make a cut.

The Committee discussed whether or not to ask the Superintendent to cut this amount from elsewhere in the budget. It was decided that they will have to come back to the budget once they have learned the dollar amount of state funding and can address any additional cuts at that time.

MOTION: It was moved to add $45,000 to the straw vote on

the budget for the elementary music program.

(Heyman - Larner)

Discussion:

Mayor Cohen explained that he is going to abstain from the votes on the budget for the same reasoning he gave for abstention on the ratification of contracts, i.e., ability to fund these measures.

7 - 0 - 2

Absent: Barker

Abstained: Mayor Cohen

Anne Larner expressed concern about the recalculated number of aides and how that number reconciles with the figure in the original budget, which is approximately 30 less. She understands that Carol Daynard, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, is not present this evening, but hopes they can discuss this issue when they revisit the budget so that she understands how they expect to meet the needs of students with fewer aides.

MOTION: It was moved to approve the FY02 budget of $114,590,282.

(Larner - Albright)

7 - 0 - 1

Absent: Barker

Abstained: Mayor Cohen

The Committee gave instructions to the Superintendent to prepare for the possibilities of cuts on two levels -- from a $6.5 million increase over last year's budget down to $6 million and $5.5 million.

Superintendent Young will prepare these cuts but noted that there is little left to remove that is outside of direct classroom instruction and it will now be down to staff and programs. He wants people to be prepared for this possibility.

COMMUNICATIONS

Susan Albright urged the public to constantly remind their legislators about the importance of funding for education across the Commonwealth.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Deena Davis, 60 Rokeby Rd., Waban, stated that this is the worst budget process she has ever experienced. Talking to legislators is necessary but it is not enough. It is time to begin to think about creative ways for alternative funding and parents need direction from the School Committee and administration. She hopes if they are forced to come back to discuss further cuts that they can turn those deliberations into a positive think tank where they can brainstorm about solutions rather than simply bemoaning the loss of staff and programs. It is time to get mobilized!

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 p.m.