NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 27, 2006

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

PRESENT: Chairperson Dori Zaleznik, Vice-Chairperson Marc Laredo, Gail Glick, Anne Larner, Reenie Murphy, Claire Sokoloff, Jonathan Yeo, Mayor David Cohen, Superintendent Jeffrey Young

ABSENT: Susan Heyman, student representatives

CALL TO ORDER

Chairperson Dori Zaleznik called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Frieda Dweck, Mason-Rice Elementary School parent, expressed concern about the size of her son’s first grade class next year and how that will impact his education. He is currently at a disadvantage in a class of 24 children, many whom are boisterous and outgoing. Her son is reserved and more of an observer than a participator, so his voice is not heard as often as it should be and he only speaks up if there is a problem. She does not want the same situation to occur again next year. The physical space for an additional classroom exists at the school and she hopes the necessary resources will be provided. None of her comments should be intended as a reflection upon the quality of the school, principal, teachers, or staff whom have all been wonderful.

Kate Johnson, Cabot Elementary School parent, talked about the importance of the librarian in their school. When her oldest son was in Cabot and the librarian was full-time, she knew all the children and their interests and helped them choose the rights books that were both enjoyable and challenging. The cut in her position means she is only in the building two days a week and cannot provide the same level of service and this is sorely missed. With the literacy initiative in place, librarians need to play an even more important role, but she has no time to integrate research programs into the curriculum.

Rhanna Kidwell, Mason-Rice parent, appealed for more staffing at their school next year in order to add another first grade classroom. Class size and teacher salaries should be the top priorities of any quality school system and the reputation of the Newton Public Schools depends on students getting sufficient attention from the best teachers. She knows that the School Committee and administration agree that class size is critical to a good education, but she would now like to see them stand behind their goals. She does not want her child resorting to negative behavior next year in order to get the attention she deserves. These children so far have been fortunate to have excellent teachers who have managed with more than they should have had to deal with, but this cannot be expected every year.

Ann Duvall, Cabot parent, talked about volunteering at the school library for the past seven years and urged the Committee to reconsider the cuts in this program. Without a full-time library program there is no consistency. Her son was fortunate to have an excellent librarian who knew what he liked to read and helped him make good choices. The librarian had a wealth of knowledge of history and literature. She worked with students in making PowerPoint presentation and using all the available technology. She sponsored programs for parents and worked with teachers around the curriculum. In the current situation the librarian does not have the time to get to know the children. There is a feeling that the children are just being babysat and more than once her daughter has had the same books read to her in class. The library itself is becoming more disorganized, with books piling up, out of place, or missing entirely. She can no longer volunteer during times when the library is locked because the librarian is not present.

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES’ DISCUSSION

None.

RECOGNITIONS

None.

APPROVAL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

A correction was noted to the 1/4/06 minutes: delete the absent list

MOTION: It was moved to approve the School Committee

special meeting minutes of 12/21/05 and 1/4/06,

as amended, and executive session meeting

minutes of 1/9/06,

(Larner – Murphy)

8 – 0 – 1

Absent: Heyman

REPORTS

None.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

UPDATE ON SMALLER LEARNING COMMUNITIES (SLC)

Superintendent Jeffrey Young stated that tonight’s discussion will be another update on the progress that has been made to date in this area at the high schools and several staff members are present to answer questions.

Judith Malone Neville, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, noted that the SLC initiative continues to move along. The purpose of SLCs is to improve the relationship among students and teachers and to make large high schools seem more manageable. The Newton South High School pilot program for the 9^th grade advisors that was put in place last year has now become a full program for all 9^th grade students. Newton North has begun a similar pilot program involving approximately ¼ of the 9^th grade. A group of students at both high schools is participating in a 9^th grade cluster/team project and plans are underway for examining upper grade academies. To date two have been identified and are in next year’s program of studies catalogue for Newton South. A tremendous amount of professional development has occurred for staff around the critical friends groups (CFGs), which brings teachers together to examine student work and improve on their practice in order to help students become more successful learners.

Gail Glick would be interested in hearing more about the upper class academies.

Rachel McNally, Co-coordinator of SLC at Newton South, stated that the programs were developed through requests for proposals from staff. It was felt that this was a better way to approach it than to have it come from the top down. Four proposals were submitted and two were selected. One is an upper grade interdisciplinary SLC in the global studies program, which will run for three years beginning in the sophomore year. The other is a senior interdisciplinary SLC involving human anatomy art and 3-D imaging. Teachers are currently working on the curriculum for these programs. The programs are open to all students in every curriculum level and students will select them from the catalogue in the same way they do all their courses.

Reenie Murphy asked for more information about the 9^th grade cluster.

Rachel McNally explained that at South it involves eight teachers from the English, science, social studies, and special education (SPED) departments which share approximately 135 students. They are able to meet weekly for an entire block, which allows for consistent communication and collaboration among teachers around both the students and the curriculum. They recently planned an interdisciplinary week-long unit on Hurricane Katrina, which will be accompanied by a student survey to get feedback on the experiences of the students in this project and she would be happy to report back on that at a future date. The ability to have time to collaborate with colleagues is a tremendous opportunity. A consultant is evaluating the program and spent three days in December setting up interviews with teachers and students. In the debriefing, the consultant stated that there is an obvious difference in the 9^th grade experience between the students in the SLCs vs. those not in the program in terms of their feeling special and supported and knowing that several teachers are collaborating around their education. Students are getting consistent messages on skills and habits.

Jennifer Huntington spoke about North’s experience in the cluster program, where for a number of years they have had an English/history cluster that was very successful. Another was added this year in science/math. Students are randomly selected and the collaboration time for teachers is the essential ingredient in making these experiences work.

Anne Larner asked about the academy experience from the perspective of the students.

Emma Leslie, Co-coordinator of SLC at Newton South, stated that the three year global study project will replace the current linked English/social studies, so they will have some data on which to base students’ experiences because they can compare the two. The students are very excited about the connection between the disciplines. It is hoped that the students will make a three year commitment to the course.

Brenda Keegan, Interim Principal at Newton South, stated that several students have mentioned how meaningful the cluster course has been for them and how much they liked the interdisciplinary approach among the three subjects. Some of these students are working on planning a trip for their senior year to a third world country where they will develop a project incorporating what they have learned from their experiences in this program.

Dan Freshman, sophomore at Newton South, stated that this year they have been raising school supplies for Nicaragua and assisted with relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina and are now working toward determining plans for next year’s program.

Dori Zaleznik asked about the difference between the one longer vs. two shorter block timeframes of the advisories.

Dan Freshman stated that the two shorter blocks do not provide sufficient time for meeting around the advisories. The longer full block allows for the opportunity to conduct fuller activities vs. a quick sharing or chit-chat about plans. He prefers the longer period.

Emma Leslie talked about how they arrived at the shorter block timeframe. In order for the advisory to work for the whole school, they needed a schedule that provided dedicated time for advisories for all students. One block is 10 minutes long and the other is 15 and they meet twice a week. She agrees with Dan that the longer period is preferable, but they have to work with what they are dealt, and hope in the future to somehow extend the time.

Marc Laredo asked about the 9^th grade teaming initiative.

Rachel McNally stated that next year at South there will be three 9^th grade SLCs with three different teacher teams. They plan to stay with the basic model of weekly meetings and will conduct the training over the summer. A schedule is posted in the office to help teachers coordinate homework, tests, due dates for major papers, etc.

Deb Holman, Coordinator of SLC at Newton North, stated that North has three long-standing 9^th grade teams and one new one. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts and other issues, they have been having some problems developing interest among staff in linking the courses, so their plan is limited at this time. Their main focus has been on ramping up 9^th grade advisories for all students for next year. Ample teacher training would be necessary over the summer and she is concerned about not being further ahead in planning at this time. However, understandably there have been other conflicting activities that have taken up faculty meetings such as the NEASC accreditation, principal search, and building project.

Dori Zaleznik asked the student about whether these other SLC opportunities would pique his interest having had the advisory experience and whether he thinks they would appeal to other students.

Dan Freshman commented that many of them seem very interesting. He experienced the Link program last year in English and history and found it made the workload both easier and of better quality because of the coordination between the disciplines. It is also a good transition experience for freshman to have some of their teachers connecting with one another, similar to what they are used to in the team structure at the middle schools.

Claire Sokoloff wondered about the sustainability of the programs if additional funding is not forthcoming from the grant.

Susan Linn, Grants Coordinator, responded that they are in phase two of the initiative. The first stage involved the planning portion of the grant and they are now a year-and-a-half through the three year grant and have spent $223,000 of the $650,000 allocation. It appears that at the end of the grant they will have an excess of $70,000 left of unspent funds to sustain the initiative. This would allow them to have a .25 coordinator position at each school, which is currently .5, and to continue some professional development, although the district may need to invest some matching funds for the latter. They can also reapply for grant funding although she does not anticipate that being forthcoming.

Carolyn Wyatt added that they have done some training of their own staff in the CFGs so that they can capitalize on their expertise in moving forward. They will also need to discuss other issues such as the deployment of staff, average teacher loads, and linking courses as some examples for future planning. The goal of the grant is to restructure school settings in order to make more intimate communities without huge added expenses by rethinking the way schools are organized.

REVIEW OF CHANGES TO ELEMENTARY LIBRARIANS

Dori Zaleznik noted that this is the third in a series of reviews of areas that were cut last year in the budget. They have discussed the impact of the cuts on professional development and the reduction in aides and tonight they will address the librarians.

Fran Zilonis, Director of Information Technology, talked about the survey which was given to principals, instructional technology specialists, and librarians about how they view the impact of the reductions. The results were understandably not favorable. Only three schools still have a full-time librarian and those three have lost their aide assistance. Sharing a librarian for two buildings is not optimal and does not allow for proper management of either library. Their time is mostly spent teaching, so little is left for handling the other things that need to be done to have an efficient library. They have not been able to assist with the implementation and integration of technology. Troubling shooting and repair of equipment requests have gone from being addressed within a few hours to sometimes not being handled for over a week. Teachers are less likely to use the technology in the classroom if they cannot be assured that the equipment will work. The instructional technology specialists start projects in the schools but the librarians can no longer help teachers with the completion of those projects. The laptop carts are not always being recharged, so at times they are not ready for teachers or instructional technology specialists to use. Valuable time is being lost, as is collaboration between librarians and teachers, which is very important in the preparation of lessons. Personalized services are no longer in place. Technology specialists are spending more time troubleshooting and repairing equipment instead of on professional development, which is a set back to the way they were utilized prior to reorganizing their positions and responsibilities. Teaching and learning in the buildings have definitely been impacted by these cuts, as attested to be all parties surveyed. The severity of the cuts is likely to increase over time, as the effects become compounded. She is also personally troubled by the impact on the morale of staff. Librarians are very proud of their work in providing excellent services and now feel that they are being forced to be mediocre. They do not have the time to serve the needs of all teachers and students. She has been working with them to help them try to maintain a sense of pride in their work despite the obstacles. They have also tried to fill gaps by having some teachers who are savvy in technology modeling and assisting others. The teachers have been given some extra training and assistance and are doing this on a voluntary basis, but they have their own load and can only do so much. Also, teachers have been bringing their classes to the library in the absence of the librarian.

Reenie Murphy asked if there is less interest from the PTOs in supporting telecommunications acquisitions as a result of the cuts.

Fran Zilonis noted that this is one area that they have been able to maintain. The librarians and technology specialists make a concerted effort to work with parents who want to help provide technology.

Jonathan asked about her recommendation for the use of the libraries when the librarian is not present.

Fran Zilonis stated that it depends on how long the situation will last. If she thought this was just a year or two hump that they had to get over she would recommend locking the libraries in order to retain the materials. Things are getting taken out and not returned and materials are being misplaced and lost. If this situation is going to go on indefinitely then she would not feel as strongly about closing the doors.

Marc Laredo commented that issues about staff hoarding materials or keeping them in the classrooms seems like something that could be addressed.

Fran Zilonis stated that this is not unusual and she has seen it in other school systems because it is human nature to hoard when there is a shortage. Certainly they can ask people to return materials if they have them and librarians can do a sweep of the buildings, but this cannot be done on a consistent basis and it depends on the willingness of people to relinquish the materials they might have taken.

Marc Laredo asked to what extent they are able to fill some of the gaps with volunteers.

Jeff Young stated that volunteers are not substitutes for librarians and there are labor relations issues involved with having them replace professionals. While they are an extremely important supplement to the program, they are not trained or able to supplant the professionals.

Fran Zilonis added that Newton has always been blessed with a very active group of volunteers for the libraries and they have utilized their services, which have been very helpful. However, this can only be done when the librarians are present.

Anne Larner noted that Fran paints a grim picture and she hopes it is only a temporary one. She would advocate that they address this in a way that preserves the best and expands to a richer professional program within the foreseeable future, although obviously it is not going to occur next year.

Claire Sokoloff asked what they have learned from this year that they might do differently next year.

Fran Zilonis stated that none of what has occurred was unexpected. She had predicted the outcome of these cuts and so she focused mainly on the nurturing and supporting of the librarians as much as possible since she realized this would be a very difficult time for these people. She provided some additional professional development opportunities for these staff members and, as she mentioned previously, other people have stepped up to the plate to pitch in to help one another. The community sense of being in this together and supporting one another is what must continue. Beyond that she does not have any other suggestions.

REVIEW OF SPED FINANCES

Dori Zaleznik stated that this report should serve as a starting point for their consideration of what is happening in this area, what other communities are doing, how Newton compares, and how to move forward to provide the appropriate services for students in the most cost effective manner.

Jeff Young added that the report provides a lot of valuable information, particularly around some cogent explanations of how Newton compares with other communities when using the Department of Education (DOE) statistics.

Sandra Guryan, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Finance & Planning, began her presentation by commenting that for some time people have been questioning why Newton shows the highest per pupil costs for SPED based on DOE numbers for FY04 (although preliminary numbers for FY05 show it dropping to 4^th place). In order to understand and explain the complexity around this, they did an in-depth investigation into the statistics. Five communities were chosen and their submission data to the DOE was reviewed. Newton does, in fact, have the highest per pupil cost overall. However, when looking only at the SPED costs for in-district students Newton is the second highest and if only the regular education costs are considered Newton comes in 4^th. The DOE, in a lengthy and complex calculation, takes a percentage of the regular education costs and based on the number of SPED pupils in the district and their services they add that amount to the SPED costs, with the rationale being that SPED students served in district receive other services and aspects of regular education costs. Costs for out-of-district students are not counted in this information and this factors into the equation because communities have different strategies for how they provide services to students. There is more information in the report on what is counted in each category that people can review. The DOE is actually very pleased that Newton is delving into this material because they are using a very old model and are interested in the possibility of revising that model. Because Newton keeps a large number of SPED students within district and provides in-house services for those pupils, the largest category of expense is instruction, which is made up primarily of teacher salaries.

Margie Daniels, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, noted that Newton has a long and proud history of inclusion, which benefits all students. They are able to retain many students in district because of this commitment and the size of the system allows for the ability to provide more services because they can group students with similar disabilities.

There are currently 11 students being serviced out-of-district in residential placements costing between $100,000 and $300,000 and 54 being serviced in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. Occasionally they are able to cost share with social service agencies and in 16 cases parents contribute through mediated agreements. It is more cost effective to educate students in district in approximately 80% of the cases. It is also better to have students remain in their own community and neighborhood schools.

The SPED population entering public schools today includes students with far greater needs, including increased numbers of the autism spectrum. She has included in the report information on the type of services, equipment, and technology they require.

Contracted services is an area with increased costs because of the fact that fewer students are being sent to out-of-district placements and more services are provided in-house. In addition, the law allows parents to request independent evaluations and the costs for these also fall under contracted services.

In this year’s budget cuts they eliminated 23.3 full time equivalencies (FTEs) of aides. In speaking with staff around the impact of these cuts, they have mentioned problems in terms of coverage issues and aides being pulled for various other uses, thereby compromising the services outlined in a child’s Independent Educational Plan (IEP), which is a serious concern. One positive outcome of fewer aides seems to be an increase in the independence of some of the students.

In the preschool program, the number of children receiving SPED services has doubled since FY02, which has had a significant impact on staffing and space, as well as equipment and technology costs. In Newton they code 100% of the preschool costs into the special education budget, but this is not necessarily what other systems do, so this is another example of the difficulty of comparing costs to other communities.

Anne Larner thanked them for this report, which is one of the best efforts to date to decipher all this information. They need to continue to work with the DOE around this so that they can develop a measure that looks at costs and be able to compare those with other communities in a fair way. That would then help them inform decisions and communicate better with the public. One interesting piece of data that needs further review is the average salary piece which does not track the salary scales.

Sandy Guryan stated that they could go back to the data and include all the costs by choosing the same line items for each community. For this report she wanted to stay with DOE numbers.

Jonathan Yeo was reviewing the preliminary ’05 data on-line today and it does show Newton’s numbers going down. He did a ratio of costs between regular and special education and the statewide average was approximately a 2.1 difference and Newton was 2.0, so they are not off the charts by any means. While Newton pays its teachers well and salary costs are the most expensive item, as would be expected, they also utilize a number of aides because of the inclusion program and these people are not paid highly. Newton is fortunate to have these staff members and they, in turn, receive the experience and training of working in an excellent system and hopefully moving into teaching positions in the future.

Mayor Cohen talked about overhead costs in relation to special education. The more accurate and realistic analysis of the true costs and benefits of the program would be very important in informing their decisions and would clarify a great deal for the public.

Marc Laredo feels that this report does a very good job of explaining the components of what are somewhat arbitrary numbers by the DOE. This is a good first step and he concurs with the Mayor that the more information and statistics they can obtain the better they can make true comparisons between communities. He would like to see additional information around the rapidly growing preschool program, in terms of how they compare to the communities they have identified in this report. He asked if they could talk about the fact that much of special education is mandated and how that impacts the way services are provided.

Margie Daniels stated that the mandate around inclusion is to include every student to the greatest degree appropriate. Newton does that through recommendations by the team. They take the inclusion program very seriously and tries to overcome any barriers getting in the way of student learning, whether it be through bringing in contracted services, purchasing specialized medical equipment, etc. They only send students out-of-district when they have exhausted all resources within the community. At times there are issues involving litigation or mediation. Nearly always the court officer rending the decision comes down in favor of inclusion, where they then may have to bring in very expensive services. All communities face these same mandates and rulings.

Dori Zaleznik would like to investigate more fully the SPED transportation costs because this may be an area where they can lobby the legislature for more significant contributions. In several of the scenarios presented in tonight’s report, it appeared that the cost for transportation was higher for in-district, which intuitively does not make sense.

Margie Daniels stated that these can be cases where students cannot ride the school bus and have specialized transportation throughout the day to job sites or recreational facilities as outlined in their IEP. Also, in the citywide programs they are paying to transport students to buildings other than their neighborhood school. There are also situations in which because of behavioral issues students have to be separated and additional routes have to be added.

Reenie Murphy noted that there is some hope that there will be additional FY07 funding from the Circuit Breaker legislation for transportation.

Claire Sokoloff asked if there is any indication of why the preliminary numbers are showing the shift in Newton’s standing.

Sandy Guryan is currently trying to determine what changed in Newton’s statistics and will provide that information once it is completed.

Marc Laredo asked if in the future they could look at the analysis from a longer timeframe, perhaps going back several years, so that they can see what trends might have occurred or may be developing.

Dori Zaleznik mentioned the idea of gathering together a panel of people from outside the system to help move along their understanding of this area and where it is headed.

Sandy Guryan concluded by thanking her office staff for all their work in this report and special appreciation to Sean Mannion, Budget Analyst/Administrative Assistant, who demonstrated an excellent comprehension of the DOE’s numbers.

Margie Daniels also wished to thank her staff for the work they put into this report: Robin Norman, Lisa Robinson, Abby Hanscom, Stephanie Powers and Mozelle Berkowitz.

REVIEW OF USE OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS (USB) FEES

Anne Larner discussed the work to date of the newly formed USB Subcommittee consisting of herself as Chairperson, Claire and Reenie. Their charge was 1.) to review current policy and recommend any appropriate changes; 2.) to review current fees to see if they are consistent with current policy; 3.) to review whether they should consider the issue of surcharges for the use of air-conditioning. Tonight’s materials address the first two items. She began by outlining the five policy goals which were first approved in June, 1993 and reviewed and reaffirmed in November, 2000. The goals set good standards and the Subcommittee is not suggesting making any changes to these criteria. One change that has occurred was the institution of rental fees for business groups in FY02 in addition to the basic hourly fee that covers custodial charges and a certain small percentage toward utilities. Since this timeframe, there has been an increase in custodial costs (17%) and utilities (116%), but no increase in fees. Therefore, the Subcommittee is recommending a 31% increase in the basic fees for all categories. The specifics for each group are contained in the material. The next area they addressed was what is referred to as the “kid hour fees” for the after-school programs. There has always been a good relationship between these groups and the school system because they serve a very important function for Newton students. However, the Subcommittee felt it had a fiduciary responsibility to address as well. She then explained the history of how fees were charged to these groups and the methodology that was originally used vs. how they are being charged today. Today’s charges are only ½ of what they would be had they continued to use the original formula. Therefore, the Subcommittee is recommending doubling the fees. Their research on the impact of this increase on families indicates that it would range from $1.36 to $3.40 per week depending upon the number of hours. She concluded by mentioning that they have a meeting scheduled this week with the after-school programs to discuss these recommendations.

Marc Laredo asked why there is no recommendation to increase rental fees for outside groups.

Anne Larner replied that concern was expressed that any increase in these fees could result in a loss of revenue as the groups might go elsewhere. This is the only category that also has to pay a rental fee.

Marc Laredo asked if they had conducted any surveys of fees in other communities.

Anne Larner replied that they did not survey on the hourly fees because they are directly related to custodial and utilities costs.

Jonathan Yeo asked about the estimated revenues.

Michael Cronin, Chief of Operations, provided FY05 information. Total revenue was approximately $379,000 broken down as follows: A permits - $25,000, B permits - $194,000, C permits - $160,000. A & B permits are related to municipal, school and intercity use and they anticipate this remaining fairly flat moving forward. The C permit is the more variable category where they might see some reduction.

Marc Laredo asked if there will be further refinement of the utility cost chart.

Mike Cronin stated that the current chart is FY06 to date plus the expected balance of the year.

Marc Laredo asked what time measure they used in the hourly utility cost.

Mike Cronin responded that for simplistic calculations they used a 24 hour period divided by the number of school days in the year, although they realize that approximately 75% of the usage occurs during a certain portion of the day.

Anne Larner added that this is why they looked at the data using the old formula as well as the current one. There are a variety of ways to do the cost allocation, but there has to ultimately be some simplicity and administrative ease involved. Having looked at the two approaches and seeing that they came out with similar numbers gave the Subcommittee a comfort level to move forward.

Marc Laredo requested that in the future they look at the fees more frequently so that any increases will not be as severe.

Dori Zaleznik added that giving people sufficient warning prior to rental season is also another important factor. She thanked the Subcommittee for the amount of work they have accomplished in the short timeframe since they were appointed.

ACTION ITEMS

VOTE TO APPROVE GRANT

MOTION: It was moved to accept the grant totaling $20,000

(Parent Child Home Program), as outlined on the

2/21/06 memorandum.

(Yeo – Glick)

8 – 0 – 1

Absent: Heyman

COMMUNICATIONS

Dori Zaleznik announced that the Board of Aldermen will be meeting on Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers to discuss issues related

to Newton North and the Superintendent will be presenting his recommended budget next Monday.

Anne Larner mentioned that the Design Review Committee is also meeting this week and it is possible they may be prepared to make a recommendation on the siting of Newton North by the following meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT

David Miller, Waban, expressed his gratitude for the special education report. supports the request made by a Committee member to tie it to previous data and then move forward to see if there are trends developing. He requested the report be posted to the website. In difficult budget times, they do not want to pit regular education against special education and the way to do that is through transparency. Reports such as this one are helpful in moving in that direction. He suggested they also talk about the growth rates in both areas as a means of also being more transparent and addressing the equity issue.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.