MINUTES OF
REGULAR MEETING,
PRESENT: Chairperson
Anne Larner, Vice-Chairperson Dori Zaleznik, Gail Glick, Susan Heyman, Patricia
Kellogg, Marc Laredo, Nancy Levine, Reenie Murphy, Mayor David Cohen,
Superintendent Jeffrey Young, Charlie Heidlage – student representative –
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Anne Larner called the meeting to order at
PUBLIC COMMENT
Bruce Henderson, Newton
Highlands, Zervas parent, talked about the issue of class size and how parents
are willing to work with the administration and School Committee to develop
creative solutions to the problem. One suggestion
would be voluntary transfers between schools.
Using projections from the Enrollment Analysis Report, he found that
there are pockets where certain grades are overcrowded in different schools for
a total of 128 students citywide over capacity.
He found that 117 of the 128 could move to an adjacent school that had
room, which would result in virtually all classes being within the ideal
guidelines at no incremental cost to the system. While there is no guaranty that they would
get the number of volunteers needed, any movement would be helpful and this
might look very attractive to families facing overcrowded situations. Several parents have already expressed an
interest in this idea. There would, of
course, be issues that would have to be addressed, such as splitting up of
siblings and the status of transferred students in future years.
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES’ DISCUSSION
Addie Lerner asked about the
status of the teacher negotiations and what a “work to rule” would mean.
Jeff Young stated that the
Newton Teachers Association (NTA) has asked faculty to refrain from
participating in any voluntary activities.
The leadership of the NTA has sent a memo delineating those specific
activities. They are in discussions with
the NTA about a couple of the areas that the administration believes are part
of the job responsibility and not voluntary, such as parent conferences and
faculty/staff meetings.
Anne Larner added that the
NTA has stated that this is not a “work to rule.”
PRESENTATION OF THE
Superintendent Jeffrey Young
presented the MASS Awards for Academic Excellence, in conjunction with Irwin
Blumer, previous Superintendent of Newton Public Schools, who presented the
Annual Blumer Book Awards. These
outstanding students are commended for their academic excellence and the myriad
of extra-curricular activities in which they are involved. They, along with
their teachers and parents, should be congratulated.
Daniel
Asher
Rachel
Forman
Rebecca
Lebowitz
Renee
Pastel
Lushi
Li
RECOGNITIONS
The following recognitions
were acknowledged:
Barbra Morton, Coordinator
of Physical Education, Health & Wellness, for being selected for the 2005
Joseph McKenney Award by the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical
Education, Recreation and Dance (MAHPERD) for her leadership and contributions
to the profession and children.
The following students who
were recognized for being selected to perform in the choir at next month’s
National Conference of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators:
Clara
Lorant –
Siddhant
Bhatia –
Jennie
Krems –
Melanie
Rucinski –
Jessica
Rucinski –
Amanda
Holmes –
Eliza
Dennis –
The following students who
were selected as candidates for the United States Presidential Scholars Program
by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the United Stated
Department of Education:
Jessica
Becker –
Vanessa
Mitsialis –
Erik
Gerstner –
Chiraag
Mundhe –
The following students who
auditioned and were chosen to participate in the Massachusetts Music Educators
Association Northeast District Junior Music Festival:
Deanna
Badizadegan –
Bobby
Chen –
Taichi
Fukumura –
Kathryn
Tarko –
He Chao –
Michael
Goldberg –
Cecilie
Holm –
Jennifer
Lee –
Richard
Lee –
Sam
Levenson –
Linus
Kuo –
Margot
Seiden –
Valerie
Coimbra –
Eliza
Dennis –
Sonya
Freeman –
Emma
Mayville –
Claire
Pywell –
Rachel
Ross –
Jessica
Rucinski –
Madeline
Sall –
Maddie
Sharton –
Emily
Weinrebe –
Liza
Ziering –
Mark
Galinovksy –
Max
Grosman –
Max
Weigert –
APPROVAL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
MOTION: It
was moved to approve the School Committee
regular
meeting minutes of
and
executive session meeting minutes of
(Heyman
- Levine)
unanimous
REPORTS
SUPERINTENDENT’S PERSONNEL REPORT
Dori Zaleznik asked how much
disruption is involved in the classroom as a result of leaves of absences of
teachers and having to utilize substitutes.
Paul Stein, Assistant
Superintendent of Human Resources, noted that there is no question that the
ideal situation is to have the same teacher in place all year because he/she
knows the students best and vice-versa. However,
teachers may need to be absent for a period of time for a variety of reasons,
the majority of which have to do with maternity leaves. In other situations there are
personal health or family issues and it is not in the best interest to
have teachers remain in the classroom while they deal with these concerns. Principals are often called upon to use their
creative energy in these situations in an attempt to utilize the staffing in their
building, such as aides. Other times
they use their contacts to call people outside the system whom have had
experience working in the school in the past.
His office also provides assistance in attempts to find people to
substitute in these situations, which can be either known or unexpected.
Nancy Levine noted that 27
teachers on this report have completed significant amounts of post-graduate
training. She congratulated these staff
members and mentioned that they are models for their students around lifelong
learning and the system is fortunate to have them on board.
OPERATIONS STATUS REPORT
Jeff Young asked about the
weather this season and its impact on the facilities and utility costs.
Michael Cronin, Chief of
Operations, stated that January had 16 days below the average degrees for the
month. This required running the boilers
at higher temperatures and more frequently so that pipes would not freeze and
burst, thereby resulting in increased fuel costs. This also takes a toll on the systems,
particularly the older ones. Fortunately
they have only experienced a few problems to date.
Reenie Murphy mentioned an
article in yesterday’s Boston Globe
about the subject of the rising cost of fuel and its impact on school
systems. She asked what kinds of things
are not getting done given the attention that has to be paid to this area.
Mike Cronin stated that what
is not being done is the replacement of some of these old boilers. In a few places there is only one functioning
unit. They are addressing situations with
a Band-Aid approach, when they should be replacing them with equipment that would
run at much better efficiency rates and save money. Plumbing and electricity items tie into this
as well, so this is their main focus from October through April, while other
things have to wait.
Susie Heyman mentioned that,
as School Committee members have been touring schools, a consistent theme is
the frustration on the part of staff around the amount of time it takes to get
very small projects done. She wondered
if there is anything that can be done about these concerns.
Mike Cronin admitted that
unfortunately it is a staffing issue, where cuts have been made in both the
school and city maintenance departments.
This means having to make decisions about priorities, which results in other
items falling to the bottom of the list.
Marc Laredo wondered if they
could group together a lot of the smaller items of concern to a school and
schedule a timeframe where they could send out a crew to address just those
issues.
Mike Cronin stated that this
is what typically happens but often they have to wait until the heating season
is over. The spring and summer is when
they make their attempts to whittle down the list.
Mark Laredo asked if the
custodians have assumed any of this work.
Mike Cronin responded that
it is a job description issue and these duties are not part of the
responsibility of the custodians.
Dori Zaleznik asked about
the follow-up once a building environmental team has made its assessment of a
facility.
Mike Cronin replied that the
assessments are reviewed and addressed either on an individual basis particular
to a school, or grouped with others if it is something that is similar across
buildings. For instance, carpet and tile
are things that they have been replacing systemwide.
ADMISSION POLICY FOR CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION
PROGRAMS
Yvonne Spicer, Director of
Career & Technical Education, explained that under Massachusetts General
Laws all comprehensive secondary schools with a career & technical
education program are required to have an admission policy approved by the
local school committee and the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE), in
an effort to attempt to be more consistent statewide in terms of program admissions
and criteria. The draft policy they are
presenting has been approved by the State Director of Career & Technical
Education and reviewed by
Dori Zaleznik noted that the
policy states that all
Judith Malone Neville,
Assistant Superintendent of Schools, replied that currently there are no
programs at South, so they are constrained by that fact. They have the flexibility at any point to
make revisions to the document, although it will have to be brought back to the
Committee for approval.
Dori Zaleznik felt that the
information regarding the specifics for students being admitted to a major is
very clear, but less so on the criteria for getting into the program
initially.
Yvonne Spicer stated that
students are expected to spend some time in the exploratory program, which
provides them the opportunity to investigate various options prior to selecting
a major. There is a formal application
that is signed by the student, parents, and guidance counselor, which includes
criteria of expectations. This document
will be included as an attachment to the admission policy.
Gail Glick asked if the DOE
had mentioned any specific plans for what it will do with this information, in
terms of whether it is just for information gathering or if it is going to
serve some purpose.
Yvonne Spicer responded that
it began as a result of some situations in which there were varied criteria
among systems for admission into the program and certain students were being excluded. This will allow DOE to identify and flag
these type of situations, with the goal of offering a
consistent program statewide. It should
also clear up confusion about the type of programs offered in each system
through a coding method that will clarify some of the out-of-district placement
issues.
MOTION: It was
moved to approve the Admission Policy
for Vocational-Technical Education, as outlined
in the
(Heyman –
Zaleznik)
unanimous
ACTION ITEMS
CONTINUED DISCUSSION/VOTE ON USE OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS
FEES
Nancy Levine reported on the
meeting that was held between the Use of School Buildings Fees Subcommittee and
the majority of the after-school program directors. Discussion was had around the fact that there
had not been an increase in the program for three years. The costs related to utilities and custodial overtime have
increased. They are recommending a .02¢ per
child hour increase (from .15¢ to .17¢) for FY06 and then a review of this
policy in the fall for next year.
Reenie Murphy and Marc
Laredo will recuse themselves from this conversation and vote because they have
children in the program.
Susie Heyman stated that
everyone is in agreement that affordable after school care is important and
valuable. However, the basic fiduciary
responsibility of the School Committee is to the regular school program. Costs are escalating and unfortunately they
cannot afford to increase the percentage of the subsidy already in place.
MOTION: It was
moved to approve the recommendation for
a .02¢ increase for FY06 in the per child hour
after-school fee (to .17¢), as outlined in the
(Heyman –
Zaleznik)
7
– 0 – 2
Recused:
Anne
Larner asked about the status of the appropriation request for commissioning
for
Mayor Cohen replied that his
staff is reviewing this matter and he anticipates that he will be prepared to
request an appropriation from the Board of Aldermen by the end of this
month.
Anne Larner asked about the
length of time to complete the commissioning
process.
Mike Cronin stated that
there is an investigative/analysis portion and then the
actual remediation
piece. It will take months to get from
the onset of the evaluation process to the completion of the first round of
mechanical repairs and they will need to do this on both the heating and
air-conditioning systems.
Since Nick Parnell appeared
to be delayed at a meeting with another board, the report on
COMMUNICATIONS
None.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION: At
(Zaleznik -
unanimous
Ward
I, “yes” (Glick); Ward II, “yes” (Murphy); Ward III, “yes” (Larner); Ward IV,
“yes” (Levine); Ward V, “yes” (Heyman); Ward VI, “yes” (Kellogg); Ward VII,
“yes” (