NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MINUTES
OF REGULAR MEETING – SEPTEMBER 10, 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, Lindsay Dahlben,
student representative - Newton North High School, Daniel Elkind and Zoe
Schwab, student representatives - Newton South High School
OPEN SESSION
At 7:00 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.
(Albright
- Levine)
8 - 0 - 1
Absent for executive session: 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,
"yes" (Barker); Ward VII, "yes" (Vance); Ward VIII, “yes”,
(Borg); Mayor David Cohen, absent for executive session
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Verne Vance
called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m. and welcomed everyone back to a new
school year. He mentioned that there
will be a turnover of five School Committee members at the end of
December. They will be working hard
over the next few months to make this a smooth transition.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There were no members of
the public who wished to address the Committee at this time.
INTRODUCTION OF STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES
Verne Vance introduced the
three new student representatives and welcomed them aboard. He encouraged them to participate in all of
the Committee's discussions and spoke specifically about the agenda item
entitled Student Representatives Discussion, where they are encouraged to talk
about any matters directly related to their schools. He noted the importance of their input as spokespersons for the
student body.
Daniel Elkind mentioned
that the opening of school went well, but there was a parking issue at Newton
South High School.
APPROVAL OF CONTRACT WITH THE NEWTON EDUCATIONAL
SECRETARIES ASSOCIATION (NESA)
Anne Borg, chairperson of
the School Committee's bargaining team, presented the Memorandum of Agreement
that was approved by NESA on Tuesday.
She thanked everyone involved on both sides of the bargaining table for
their hard work and collaborative efforts.
MOTION: It was moved to approve the Memorandum
of Agreement between the Newton School Committee
and the Newton Educational Secretaries Association
(NESA), effective 9/1/00 - 8/31/03.
(Borg
- Larner)
8 - 0 - 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
Verne Vance thanked Anne
Borg, on behalf of the Committee, for her tireless efforts in negotiations.
COURTESY INTERVIEW FOR MICHAEL CRONIN, CHIEF OF
OPERATIONS
Introductions
Verne Vance introduced
Committee members to Mr. Cronin.
Opening Statement by Candidate
Michael Cronin expressed
his excitement in coming to the Newton Public Schools. People from both the school and city
departments have been very helpful in getting him up to speed and it has been a
positive experience to date. There were
a couple of unexpected situations that arose at the opening of school, but they
were handled successfully.
Questions from Committee Members to Candidate
Anne Larner asked what
attracted him from the private to the public sector.
Michael Cronin replied
that operations are the same in any organization. Both the private and public
sector work with budgets, deadlines, and expectations and like any buildings,
the schools consist of a set of facilities that require oversight and coddling.
Susan Albright asked how
he will manage the variety of duties that fall under his supervision.
Michael Cronin responded
that it will require the assistance of a very strong support staff, of which he
feels fortunate is in place, as well as a collaboration between school and city
departments.
Andy Vizulis asked what type
of private sector experiences he would envision bringing to Newton.
Michael Cronin mentioned
one tool that could be helpful and that is a software program that can in
providing a clearer picture of future needs in the maintenance of
buildings.
Nancy Levine asked about
his impressions around the last minute scrambling to successfully open the
Williams Elementary School.
Michael Cronin admitted
that he was surprised that they were able to pull it off so successfully
because, in his initial visit to the building, he was skeptical that it would
be ready for the first day of school.
This is a
testament to the efforts
put forth, particularly by the custodial staff.
Susie Heyman asked if he
has had experience with facilities inventory.
Michael Cronin replied in
the affirmative and again mentioned that technology can assist in this regard.
Rodney Barker questioned
the decrease in the custodial overtime account.
Michael Cronin mentioned
that the budget freeze had something to do with the lower figures. In addition, this data only reflects
activity through 8/25, so there will be an increase in the next report, which
will reflect last minute preparation of the opening of schools, and the
movement of Memorial-Spaulding to Carr.
There is a program in place that will attempt to reduce some of the
custodial overtime, but he does not believe they have had sufficient time for
that to come to complete fruition.
Rodney Barker expressed
appreciation that the work was finally completed on the Bigelow Middle School
steps.
Michael Cronin thanked
Dick Corbett, City Maintenance Supervisor, for the repairs, which are temporary
in nature, but quite functional.
Anne Borg asked how he
would balance accessibility vs. security in the high school project.
Michael Cronin acknowledged
that this is a difficult question. He
is used to standard manufacturing security measures but understands the need
for access and freedom in a public setting.
This will require conversations with others in the community so that
they can strike a good balance.
Jeff Young interjected
that security is not something that the educational world is well versed in and
they tend to come down on the side of a welcoming environment. However, they cannot have people wandering
their buildings and they need to provide a safe and secure facility. There will be a need for many discussions
around this issue.
Michael Cronin agreed and
mentioned that there are security methods available that are not as openly
offensive as something like a metal detector, but which can still monitor
activities.
Questions from Candidate to Committee Members
Michael Cronin asked for
the Committee's perspective on how his position can best support the
facilities.
Anne Larner noted that it
would be good for several Committee members who have had some experience in the
areas of negotiations, facilities, and capital projects to have an in-depth
conversation with him at some future point.
They could discuss their observations and suggestions, as well as his
experience as to what things might work in the public sector.
Verne Vance mentioned that
the public sector faces both financial and bureaucratic hurdles in attempting
to accomplish tasks. If they could
streamline the
bureaucratic process and make it more efficient and effective, that would be a
great accomplishment. The financial
aspect is something that has to be addressed with some creative solutions.
Michael Cronin noted that
lack of finances definitely puts a strain on the facilities. Health, safety, and special education
mandates will have to take precedence.
Jeff Young noted that
three days into the new school year they have already used a significant
portion of the charter maintenance budget.
They are currently preparing a list of all outstanding maintenance and
repair orders (M&Rs) and will prioritize that list.
Closing Statement
Michael Cronin wished to
dispel the myth about problems between city and school departments. This has proven untrue in Newton. City staff have been extremely supportive
and helpful to him and to date they have a very good working relationship.
RECOGNITIONS
None.
APPROVAL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
MOTION: It was moved to approve the following School
Committee
meeting minutes: regular meetings
of 4/9/01, 4/23/01, 5/14/01, 5/29/01, 6/11/01,
6/25/01
(as amended); special meetings of 4/2/01,
5/2/01, 6/4/01, 6/14/01, 6/28/01; executive
session meetings of 4/9/01, 4/23/01, 5/2/01,
5/14/01, 6/11/01, 6/25/01.
(Levine - Albright)
unanimous
REPORTS
SUPERINTENDENT'S PERSONNEL REPORT
Verne Vance noted that
personnel report is being reformatted and will be available for the next School
Committee meeting. There is a brief
synopsis in tonight's material about the hiring process to date.
Robert Dollase, Assistant
Superintendent for Human Resources, mentioned that they were concerned about
competition this year given their late starting date in hiring because of the
budget situation. However, she is
pleased with the outcome. Three
teaching positions remain open but she is optimistic they will be filled
shortly. She is very impressed with the
caliber of staff they have been able to hire.
There remains a number of aide and instructional support staff (ISS)
positions open, which is a typical situation.
Verne Vance mentioned that
in order to accommodate the architects who are present this evening, they will
move up an agenda item. However, in the
future he would like to keep the movement of agenda items to a minimum, as the
public relies on the docket as a means to judge when particular issues of
interest are going to be taken up at a meeting.
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT UPDATE
Heidi Black, Administrator
for High School Construction & Strategic Planning, introduced Mike Kaufman,
Turner JLA, and Paul Brown, DRA,
who are available this
evening to answer questions. She
provided an update on what has occurred on the project over the summer. The early site work is nearly completed at
Newton South High School. As the
student representative mentioned earlier this evening, parking is an issue that
is being addressed. All faculty and
staff have assigned spots and a lottery was instituted for upper classmen for
the remaining spaces. Also, 40
additional spaces were added onto what was the basketball court and they are
encouraging carpooling. Fencing is in
place around the construction site and safety is of paramount importance. The irrigation units have been reinstalled
in the playing fields and the planted grass is beginning to grow. Four modular classrooms are on line and
people are very pleased with the quality of those spaces. The bid for Phase IB, which will be the
actual construction of the new building, has been awarded and work should begin
by the end of the month. Phase II will
include the work on the gymnasium, cafeteria, and band room, as well as
renovations to the rest of the school, and drawings for those bid are expected
to be completed in February. To date,
everything is on schedule and moving along smoothly. At Newton North High School, there is now a hookup at every
teacher workstation for a telephone and data drop, which will allow access to
the network. They anticipate these will
be live and running within a week. The wiring will remain permanently in place
during the renovations and monthly construction meetings are about to
begin.
Jeff Young asked about a
communication plan.
Heidi Black talked about
regular coverage in the school newspapers.
They are also in the process of developing a web site devoted to the
project. She will be attending PTO
meetings and parent nights to provide updates and answer questions.
Jeff Young suggested
linking their web site to the School Committee's site, so as to reach a wider
audience. He also mentioned possible
written information.
Susie Heyman asked about
technology.
Heidi Black replied that
they have been meeting regularly regarding the technology budget. The task force has worked hard the last few
years to determine what should be in this plan. They visited other school systems where construction was
occurring to see what they were doing in the area of technology, and took trips
to Apple Computer in Boston. Their goal
is for each classroom to have ceiling-mounted overhead projectors and a laptop
computer for each teacher, as well as fully furnished computer labs.
Zoe Schwab asked about
future plans for parking at Newton South.
Heidi Black explained that
they are currently exploring options and hope to develop some creative
ideas. However, there will be limited
space and they anticipate only about another 20 additional spaces gained after
completion of the project. They will
need to look at other means of transportation, such as the Nexus bus, as one
example.
FY01 FINAL BUDGET REPORT
Sandra Guryan, Assistant
Superintendent for Business, Finance & Planning, reported that FY01 ended
with a positive balance, but once their remaining obligations and accounting
transfers are complete, she expects they will close the books with a zero
balance. Getting to this point required
freezing accounts for three-and-a-half months and a tremendous effort on the
part of all staff to live within that constraint, as well as the additional $600,000
appropriation from the Mayor. One of the major areas that caused the budget
problem was the unanticipated tuition costs in special education for students
who moved into the system during the year.
In order to address this issue so that they are not faced with a similar
situation next year, they have budgeted increases in the special education
accounts and attempted to add money to areas that were traditionally
underfunded. The positive side to this
difficult year is they now feel they have a good handle on some new processes
that will help them to better track costs and understand future budgets.
Verne Vance felt it might
be helpful to take up the discussion of the financial management improvement
plan at this time, since the two topics are closely related.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
DISCUSSION OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT
PLAN
Sandy Guryan stated that
she has held weekly meetings with City officials beginning last winter to bring
a successful resolution to the deficit and improve communication so that they
can move forward having learned something from the process. Greater accountability is one area that was
addressed. Each school administrator
will be responsible for their area of the budget and will provide monthly
reports to help in tracking and managing the information. In addition, they will work on developing
improved reports for tracking staffing and matching that to payroll
records. Since special education is 25% of the
budget, they will be preparing a monthly update in that area that will be
presented at School Committee meetings, along with her budget updates. They are also working closely with City
staff on better managing the reconciliation of health insurance benefits, so
that they will have a clearer handle on that area.
Jeff Young assured the
Committee that they plan to stay on top of the budget this year and he will
provide more timely recommendations about any financial actions that may be
necessary.
Susan Albright hopes they
will look at alternative ways of providing special education services other
than simply adding money and staff.
This is a complicated, complex issue, but if the funding is not there
they need to have contingency plans.
Jeff Young agreed that
this is a relevant topic that they have had some internal discussions around
and will continue to review.
Carol Daynard stated that
they will have further discussions about this as she presents her monthly
special education reports.
Susie Heyman asked if they
should be embarking on a formal process for requesting the approximate
$1,000,0000 additional funds promised by the Mayor.
Mayor Cohen responded that
if the State budget is not completed prior to the time the City has to set the
tax rate, he will request of the Board of Aldermen an allocation to bring the
budget up to the committed levels. He
assured the Committee that the amount of money discussed in the spring will be
forthcoming.
Susie Heyman has no doubt
that the Mayor will hold true to his word and was only questioning process.
Jeff Young thanked Sandy
Guryan, Mayor Cohen, David Wilkinson, and Sandy Pooler for the difficult and
labored work they did to address the deficit.
They were productive not only at that task, but in strengthening the
relationship between the city and schools and creating an improved forecasting
model that will help them in their work on future budgets and other mutual
issues.
SUPPORT SERVICES STATUS REPORT
Michael Cronin outlined
several items of note. The renovations
at Williams are fabulous and he encouraged people to visit the school. Memorial-Spaulding is now housed at Carr
School and two classrooms are temporarily being held in the gymnasium awaiting
the readiness of the modulars, which should be within the next two weeks. The Zervas air quality project was successfully
completed this summer. The new use of
school building rates are in place and there are currently 154 active
permits. A new roof was installed at
Pierce Elementary School. They now face
the challenge of insufficient funding to meet all the remaining needs of the
system and the Committee will see the prioritized list at a forthcoming
meeting.
Susie Heyman asked about
the transportation of students from the Memorial-Spaulding district to Carr.
Michael Cronin stated that
there was one route that experienced some trouble on the first day of school
and that has been addressed.
DISCUSSION RE: COMPLIANCE WITH CHILDREN'S
INTERNET PROTECTION ACT
Jeff Young explained that
the purpose of tonight's discussion is to talk about this law and its implications
for the Newton Public Schools. The
Committee will then return to the subject at a future meeting for a final
vote. Congress passed this act last
year and it calls for school systems that wish to continue to receive e-rate
reimbursements to adopt a filtering system for the Internet. The American Library Association, as well as
several other groups, have voiced concerns about impediments to free speech and
have filed a lawsuit.
Susie Heyman asked if the
act requires a particular type of filter.
Fran Zilonis, Director of
Information Technology, stated that the only requirements are that it filter
pornography and contain adult monitoring.
They propose that if the Committee agrees to this compliance, Newton will
simply utilize the firewall and Cyber Patrol software that are currently in
place. This way, they would retain
control and be able to make in-house decisions with regard to overriding the
filter if teachers request that for instructional purposes. This gives them the ability to unblock sites
at the district level rather than having an outside agency control the
filtering.
Susie Heyman asked what is
at risk if they choose not to comply.
Fran
Zilonis replied that approximately $125,000 of e-rate reimbursement would be at
risk. The Committee might wish to
consider passing a resolution in philosophically supporting the American
Library Association's position, while at the same time being pragmatic about
tight fiscal times and the need to recoup as much funding as possible for the
schools. If the Association is
successful in their lawsuit, the decision-making around filtering would be made
at the local levels. She will be happy
to provide the Committee with a copy of the Association's opinion.
Anne Borg asked if Ms.
Zilonis would verify the amount of funding that would be at risk if they were
not to comply, as she has heard conflicting information about which discounts
would apply under CIPA. She also
mentioned the need for a public hearing on this issue. She would also like to find out how other
systems are handling this matter.
Andy Vizulis would like
information on any statistics the system might have with regard to current
Internet monitoring in terms of the volume of traffic and how it is being used.
Susan Albright would like
to know which sites Cyber Patrol considers pornographic.
Fran Zilonis will prepare
some information to address the questions raised by the Committee this evening.
DISCUSSION/VOTE TO APPROVE INCREASE IN STUDENT
ACTIVITIES CHECKING ACCOUNT
MOTION: It was moved
to increase the base amount
of
Newton South High School's Student
Activities
Checking Account to the maximum
of
$175,000, as outlined in Attachment H.
(Barker
- Larner)
8 - 0 - 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
VOTE TO ACCEPT DONATIONS
MOTION: It was moved to accept the donation of
clothing to the Day Middle School Theater
and
Performing Arts Department, as
outlined
in Attachment I.
(Larner
- Heyman)
8 - 0 - 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
VOTE TO ACCEPT GRANTS
Anne Larner asked if the
funding for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund grants is for staff or
equipment.
Fran Zilonis replied that
90% of the money is for equipment.
Rodney Barker questioned
how the three schools were chosen for the breakfast grants.
Jeff Young believes it is
an extension of an existing program, but will verify that information.
Susie Heyman believes it
may be part of the health education and nutrition program.
Susan Albright would like
to know how they manage this program given the tight schedule in the elementary
school day.
Rodney Barker would like
to exclude the breakfast grants from the vote since there are so many questions
around the program. No other Committee
members were in agreement.
MOTION: It was moved to accept the grants, as
outlined
in Attachment J.
(Levine
- Vizulis)
8 - 0 - 1
Absent for vote: Mayor Cohen
COMMUNICATIONS
Susie Heyman announced
that the first meeting of the Education Collaborative (EDCO) is October
4th. She will propose a discussion re:
CIPA for that meeting, in order to obtain a response to Anne Borg's question
regarding what other communities are doing in this regard.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There were no members of
the public who wished to address the Committee at this time.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned
at 10:00 p.m.