NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING, APRIL 24, 2006
EDUCATION CENTER, FRAZIER ROOM, 7:30 P.M.
PRESENT: Chairperson Dori Zaleznik, Vice-Chairperson
Marc Laredo, Gail Glick, Susan Heyman, Anne Larner, Reenie Murphy, Claire Sokoloff, Jonathan Yeo,
Superintendent Jeffrey Young, Charlie Heidlage,
student representative – Newton North High School, Tim Smillie,
student representative – Newton South High School
ABSENT: Mayor Cohen
OPEN SESSION
MOTION: At
6:06 p.m., it was moved, by roll call vote,
to
convene in executive session for the purpose
of hearing several grievances.
If passed, the
Committee will reconvene in open session at 7:30 p.m.
(Larner - Heyman)
8
– 0 - 1
Absent: Mayor Cohen
Roll call vote by ward:
Ward l, “yes” (Glick); Ward ll, “yes”
(Murphy); Ward lll, “yes” (Larner);
Ward lV, “yes” (Yeo); Ward
V, “yes” (Heyman); Ward Vl,
“yes” (Sokoloff); Ward Vll,
“yes” (Laredo); Ward Vlll, “yes” (Zaleznik),
Mayor Cohen, absent
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Dori Zaleznik
called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There were no members of the public who wished to address the
Committee at this time.
STUDENT
REPRESENTATIVES’ DISCUSSION
Tim Smillie mentioned something that was
brought to his attention over the past few weeks as he has begun his college
search. While Newton South has a
plethora of resources, it is mostly up to student initiative to seek out these
opportunities. He feels the student body
would benefit from having a more structured approach to the college process. A friend who attends Needham High School
mentioned that in their junior year students write an essay on the common
application for college and then teachers work with them on revisions. This is used as a major part of their term
grade and the essay can then be used in the college application process. While South does something similar in senior
year he believes it would be better to do it when students are juniors,
particularly where early application is becoming more popular.
Dori Zaleznik
suggested he pursue this conversation with Brian Salzer,
the new Principal, who happens to be in attendance this evening.
Charlie Heidlage agreed with Tim’s
comments. From a senior’s perspective,
he applied for early application and had completed his essays prior to the time
his English class began writing application essays.
RECOGNITIONS
The following recognition was acknowledged:
Richard
Asward, student at Newton North, for being named
Student of the Year by the Career & Technical Education Department at the
20th Annual Awards Banquet for Outstanding Vocational Technical
Students.
APPROVAL OF SCHOOL
COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
None
COURTESY INTERVIEWS –
PRINCIPALS FOR NEWTON NORTH & NEWTON SOUTH HIGH SCHOOLS
Introductions
Superintendent
Young noted that they are going to break slightly from tradition with this
interview and have both candidates, along with Brenda Keegan, the new Assistant
Superintendent of Schools, all join together at the table so that people can
get a visual image of the future of the high school team. He is very excited about all three of these
appointments. Jennifer Price, who will
be the new Principal of Newton North, has the good fortune to live close by
and, therefore, has been participating in school activities, such as attending
plays and sporting events and meeting with the School Council. Brian Salzer, who
will be the new Principal at Newton South, has not had this opportunity given
that he resides in Wisconsin. However,
his district has agreed to allow him to come and spend some time after Memorial
Day in Newton, at which time he will have some similar opportunities to get to
know the community.
Opening
Statement by Candidates
Jennifer Price noted that not only is she going to be
a principal in Newton but will also have two children in the system. She would like to begin by sharing her core
values. The first is excellence. She is honored to be chosen to lead Newton
North, which has a strong tradition of excellence, and she expects to continue
and strengthen that goal. The next core
value is equality of opportunity, in that every child deserves equal access to
an excellent education. The way to make
sure that happens is to hold everyone to high expectations, which is the third
core value. The fourth core value is
efficiency. She has developed a great
love of budgets over the past several years and has come to realize that the
budget is actually the greatest mission statement and it is her responsibility
to make sure every dollar is spent wisely.
It is also important to assess what was allocated to make sure the
limited resources are being efficiently utilized. The final core value is engagement and the
notion that it takes everyone working together to educate the future
generation. She calls these the five E’s
and holds to them very strongly.
Brian Salzer is honored to
have been offered this position and is looking forward to working with Jennifer
and Brenda as a team. He has been a
principal, teacher, football and wrestling coach, theater director, advisor for
the school newspaper, supervisor of the weight room, and developer an at risk
program for high school students. The
reason he lists these accomplishments is to indicate how a high school
community has to fully engage all students and that is an important challenge
of a principal.
Brenda Keegan talked about what a privilege it is to
work in Newton, where teachers care deeply about their work. Although it was her plan to retire as English
Department Head at Newton North, her life since then has taken a few
twists. She was asked to serve as
interim Principal at Newton South last year and welcomed the opportunity. She found that there was an equally excellent
high school on the other side of town.
In some ways she would have liked to have stayed on at South, but when
she met these two fantastic candidates and was offered the opportunity to
mentor them and work together to build a better future it was too irresistible
to decline. She is also looking forward
to working in administration and connecting with all the schools and being the
communicator between them and the Education Center.
Questions
from Committee Members to Candidates
Gail Glick asked Jennifer about her thesis on the
Kentucky Education Reform Act.
Jennifer Price explained that Kentucky was the first
state that took on the challenge of integrating changes in curriculum, finance
and government simultaneously, which is now the movement in many other
states. She studied this program to see
if it made a difference in terms of serious reforms as a result of increased
finances and whether that actually resulted in the dollars being spent wisely
in the manner intended. In terms of its
success, Kentucky moved from 48th to 23rd in terms of
educational quality, which from that State’s perspective was very successful.
Reenie Murphy asked Brian if he
will be comfortable with the size of Newton South.
Brian Salzer replied that
he has taught and administered at high schools of 1,600, 2,000, and his current
950, so he is very comfortable with the size of South.
Claire Sokoloff commented
that South is known for its academic excellence. One of the things they are currently working
on is how to best build upon that heritage and develop its own culture and
sense of community and school spirit.
She asked Brian for his comments on how to make this possible.
Brian Salzer replied that
it is all about creating an entire school community and engaging students in
every aspect of the school, including core academic classes, strong electives
and extra-curricular clubs, activities and sports. As the leader, it is his responsibility to
create the climate in the building where everyone is valued and where strengths
are seen as areas to build upon and weaknesses as challenges to address. As a staff, they must create a place for
students to be individuals and yet part of something larger. The leadership and staff currently in place
is doing a lot of good work around smaller learning communities (slc), where they are trying to get students engaged and
feel connected and he hopes only to strengthen these goals that are already in
place. He noted that the library should
be the hub of any school. His vision is
to emphasize this even more, so that it becomes a home for students where all
sorts of activities will be occurring, such as working on computers, private
studying, researching, reading, serving as assistants at the desk, etc. He has
always had the good fortune to be connected to librarians who share this vision. Since the librarian at South has decided to
retire this year, he will have the opportunity to hire someone with the same
shared vision of making the library the heart of Newton South.
Susie Heyman asked Jennifer
about her dissertation on the relationship between principal tenure and student
level outcome.
Jennifer Price stated that her dissertation has
actually changed because the data did not work out, so she is now looking at
the Urban Superintendent’s program at Harvard and the barriers to people
becoming superintendents, especially women and minorities. She will be doing a statistical survival
analysis to determine how many people who graduate from this program become
superintendents and in what timeframe.
Unfortunately, the data and research shows that fewer people are willing
to become administrators in publics schools at all levels and once they become
administrators they do not stay for any length of time and she wants to try to
understand why. The future of education
is dependent on identifying, encouraging and supporting people to take on
leadership roles.
Anne Larner commented on
Jennifer’s enthusiasm about working with budgets, which is rare, and hopes it
will wear off on others.
Jennifer Price stated that her inquiries and
curiosity about budgets at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School allowed her to
sit at the table with administrators and help make the critical decisions. It is imperative to understand budgets
because the dollars are what follow the mission. Whether or not people are comfortable with
numbers it is important to dig in and ask the questions and begin to learn and
understand that without doing this it excludes people from being part of the
process. She thinks the interest can be
contagious once people learn that it can actually be fun and interesting when
numbers are applied to decisions and the ability to impact change.
Jonathan Yeo asked Brenda
what type of advice she has for these youthful principals.
Brenda Keegan stated that she has had several
conversations with them about the importance of saving time for their families,
as it is difficult to manage all they have to do as principals and the demands
on their time. It will also be important
for them to listen carefully, as well as projecting their own ideas. One of the things that impresses her most
about these two is their ability to listen well, as this will be needed to
determine how to bring out the best in their individual schools.
Marc Laredo noted that Brian’s research paper talked
about engaging students who feel isolated.
This is something that has been discussed in Newton as well. They need
to make sure all students get the attention they need, and particularly those
in the middle who can easily fall through the cracks.
Brian Salzer stated that it
is important to never assume it is just going to happen. Some students need a
push to get involved. They need
encouragement, requirements and structure.
They also often need an adult who is willing to just sit and listen. It is the responsibility of staff to identify
those students and find out their interests.
Charlie Heidlage asked how
Jennifer plans to make the position of principal more visible and personal to
the students.
Jennifer Price responded that building relationships
and trust with people cannot occur without being out in the building talking to
everyone and this is a critical component of her leadership style. This can only be done through one-on-one
contact. She does not like to sit still,
so any free period of time she will be walking around. In her last position she actually scheduled a
block of time to do this daily. A true
leader needs to be visible and engaging with people.
Dori Zaleznik
noted the obvious energy, enthusiasm and intelligence of the two
candidates. She also commented on their
youthfulness and wondered how they would deal with some entrenched interests
and in bringing people along with change.
Jennifer Price commented that they are both entering
very successful institutions and this will not be a process that happens
overnight. It is all about listening,
learning, communicating and building trust and respect. It is her hope to be in this position for a
long time so that these trusting relationships can be built. Change is a process rather than an
event. It will take time and work but is
going to be a positive experience.
Brian Salzer believe it is
important to first honor the work that has preceded them and recognize the
history, culture and legends of people who have put their careers into shaping
the schools. He looks forward to learning
all about that and to continue the good work that has already been
accomplished. In addition, he looks
forward to infusing some of his own fresh ideas. While the formal leadership of the school is
conducted in meetings, activities and other public relations type situations,
the most important part of what they do occurs in the day-to-day activities of
conversations in the hallways, at lunch and other impromptu opportunities.
Questions From
Candidates to Committee Members
Brian Salzer commented that
the two high schools are very independent and unique and yet they are one
community. He asked Committee members for
suggestions for bridging the relationship between the two.
Susie Heyman views this as
a new era in that it is an opportunity to have two brand new principals for
each high school at the same time. She
suggested they continue working closely with their PTOs
so that they can continue to express their uniqueness but at the same time
share more of the successes with each other so that some of the things that
really work can be duplicated.
Dori Zaleznik
commented on the cultures of the schools being quite different. However, as the population shifts and one
becomes smaller and the other larger she would encourage them to hold onto the
traditions but not the differences. She
views this as a wonderful opportunity to unify into a new direction.
Anne Larner believes that
more opportunities for parents to visit the other side of the City might be a
good idea. Being from the north side and
a Newton North parent, she started to spend a lot of time at Newton South
involved in the construction project and began to get a better feel and
understanding of the school, recognized more faculty, and developed a whole
different appreciation for the building.
Often it is the adults that perpetuate some of the stereotypes and
issues and not the students.
Jennifer Price stated that this is a community with
many different constituents with some definite opinions about things and some
issues can be very challenging. She
would appreciate any advice Committee members could give on how to handle these
things thoughtfully and respectfully but at the same time ensuring that they
stay true to their beliefs and goals.
Marc Laredo stated that the first thing he would
recommend is to be a good listener.
Whether or not the end result is what the constituencies want to hear,
they are entitled to the respect of their opinions. All viewpoints should be considered and
explored but ultimately the principals and administrators are the decision
makers about what is the best in the interest of all students and the School
Committee will back those decisions.
Dori Zaleznik
added that it is also a matter of tone.
Difficult conversations can be had and different opinions expressed, but
the more they can converse with respect the less polarization. The bottom line is that everyone wants what
is best for the children and the future of the community but that can often get
lost in the moment, so the nature of the conversations makes a big difference.
ACTION
ITEMS
VOTE TO
APPOINT ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
MOTION: It was moved to appoint Dr.
Brenda Keegan to
the position of Assistant Superintendent of Schools
effective 7/1/06.
(Larner – Glick)
Discussion:
Dori Zaleznik
commented that Judith Malone Neville has filled an enormous role in this
position. It was obvious from the Gibson
consulting report that there were too many aspects to the job for one person to
handle although she certainly made every effort to do it all. She hopes they will work on reconstituting
this role as Brenda takes over.
Susie Heyman is thrilled
that someone of Brenda’s caliber is stepping into a role filled by someone as
wonderful as Judy. She thanked her for
agreeing to take on this position.
Brenda Keegan stated that she approaches this
position with ultimate humility having watched the excellent job that Judy has
done. Judy has been a true mentor and
always available to answer questions, as well as an inspirational
educator. While she knows it will be
hard to fill her shoes she is honored to be asked.
Vote on
motion of appointment: 8 – 0 – 1
Absent: Mayor Cohen
Jeff Young thanked all the members who served on
these two principal searches and the tremendous amount of their time and
effort. It is obvious by tonight’s
interview process that it has paid off and they have done a great job.
REPORTS
PRESENTATION
BY CONSULTANT REGARDING CLASSIFICATION AND COMPENSATION STUDY
Anne Larner, as Chairperson
of the Management Study Subcommittee, gave a brief history of this subject
matter. The goal was to provide a
framework and rationale for future action on salaries and salary ranges for
nonunion personnel. A Request for
Proposal (RFP) went out to bid to find a consultant that could provide data
that would help guide them toward the development of some policy decisions in
this area. Human Resources Services Inc.
(HRS), under the leadership of Sandy Stapczynski,
began their work in late November and is prepared tonight to make a
presentation.
Sandy Stapcyzniki thanked
the Committee for the opportunity to work on this project. The major goal was to develop a fair and
equitable classification and compensation plan for the nonunion positions. The study looks at how positions are structured
and goes beyond a simple market analysis.
It also develops the structure for a compensation plan and method for
categorizing the 23 positions in this group based on differences in terms of
knowledge, skills, education and experience.
In terms of general overall observations and
conclusions, Newton is one of the largest and highly performing school
districts in Massachusetts and provides an enormous level of services, yet the
positions are not overpaid and, in fact, in many instances are actually
underpaid. Newton currently operates on
individual salaries and they are recommending salary ranges that could then
provide opportunity for growth for the positions. They have also placed the current positions
within these salary ranges. If the Committee
were to agree to the findings of this report, the increase to the current FY06
payroll for these positions would be 1.2% ($23,519).
Part of the study was also to write job descriptions,
of which many of the ones they reviewed were quite outdated. They did an overall market analysis to
determine the relative standing both externally and internally. They looked carefully at the discipline and
specialization of each position, as well as various degrees and certification
requirements.
What makes this study different from just a market
compensation study is that in addition to comparing positions to the outside
market, they look at the internal worth and value of the job and how one
position compares to another. It evaluates
and groups together positions that are sufficiently alike to warrant equal
treatment in terms of personnel practices and then uses a point factor rating
system to assist in ranking the positions within the organization that helps
determine the appropriate grade classification.
One unique thing that HRS does in their study is to
include the employees throughout the process for input and review of all the
documents because they are the ones who know best what they do on a daily basis. They begin with a general orientation session
where they present the information and give people an opportunity to ask
questions and learn more about the methodology.
They then distribute questionnaires to each individual and follow-up
with personal interviews. They also followed up with supervisors, as
needed. She stressed that the study is
about positions and note employees, so this is not a personal employee
evaluation of job performance.
Simultaneously to collecting this data they were also
conducting and analyzing market data from comparable organizations. They then took all of their information and
developed some preliminary classification plan recommendations and guidelines
and reviewed those with the Subcommittee prior to developing this final report,
which is available to the public on-line.
In terms of the point factor rating system, ten
factors were considered: 1. applied
reasoning and analytical skills, 2. interpersonal skills, 3. knowledge,
training, education/breadth of knowledge, 4. experience, 5. responsibility for
others, 6. accountability, 7. planning & coordination, 8. confidentiality,
9. physical effort, 10. mental effort.
There is a weighted point scale that factors out the appropriate number
for each category which is then scored.
In terms of the external market survey, a previously
mentioned Newton is such a large system and nationally recognized, so it was
difficult to find good comparisons with other school districts. Obviously they looked at the immediate labor
market in Metro West and Boston, but because of the size and uniqueness of the
district they had to go further and look at the entire Northeast. In addition, they looked at some other
markets that were not school districts but that could provide some comparable
information around information technology, finance and human resources
positions. Consideration was given to
the municipal population, income per capita, school enrollment and form of
government. After an in-depth review of
this list with the Subcommittee, 13 comparables were chosen. The following were the comparable public
school systems: Brookline, Cambridge,
Framingham, Lexington, Needham, Wellesley and Boston in Massachusetts;
Fairfield, Greenwich, and West Hartford in Connecticut; and Great Neck in New
York. In addition, they looked at
Brandeis and Northeastern Universities for the non-educational and support
staff positions. After looking at all
the market data they developed the pay scale, which they feel is conservative,
and recommended that the 75th percentile would be appropriate for
the high end, which means that 25% of the market is still higher. The numbers next to each position in the
report represent not what the incumbent currently makes but rather the 75th
percentile in the market. The positions
were grouped into eight pay grades and set with minimum, midpoint and maximum
amounts. Most positions fell within the
recommended ranges. In order to bring up
the positions that fell below the minimum, this will cost $23,519 which they
would recommend being retroactive to July 1st and being implemented
immediately. Following that step the
School Committee is going to have to consider some policy decisions around
things such as whether or not to remain at market level, whether to conduct
surveys on a regular basis, how often to review classifications, whether to
continue to use the pay ranges for both recruitment and performance purposes as
a flexible management tool, and whether or not to consider a performance based
system. They will also have to consider
how competitive they want to be in regard to compensation, which includes the
factor of ability to pay.
Claire Sokoloff appreciates
the comprehensive nature of this report.
Obviously there is still a lot of work ahead and more conversations that
need to take place, but this is an excellent starting point. She asked how confident they are in the
communities that were chosen given that it was difficult to find
comparables.
Sandy Stapczynski is very
confident in the sample and particularly for the higher level positions. Even though Boston is larger, it is right
next door and the level of complexity lends itself to similar services being
provided in each community. If they
wished to add a few more communities in the future she might suggest some from
New York and New Jersey.
Gail Glick asked why the communities were restricted
to the northeast.
Sandy Stapczynski responded
that they would find more like positions in the northeast, as this is their
labor market. A compensation study is
different than a recruiting situation.
Reenie Murphy commented that some
of the ranges are quite large and asked if they had any advice with regard to
moving toward a merit based pay scale.
Sandy Stapczynski replied
that they did not design a performance system, but this is set up for them to
now tie into such a system within the ranges.
In that case, while the market would determine the ranges, the movement
from minimum to maximum within those ranges would be employee specific, which
could be based on performance, longevity and/or special abilities. This also provides management with more
flexibility when recruiting.
Anne Larner talked about
the number of meetings between the Subcommittee and HRS hashing out many of the
same questions being raised this evening.
She is quite confident in the data.
It is apparent that there is a disparity and some places in the wider
northeast have richer pay scales than Newton.
Marc Laredo is pleased to see that there are now
clear job descriptions for these positions.
What he found interesting in the report is that if the communities
outside of Massachusetts are eliminated from the equation, the gap between
salaries gets much smaller. He has
concerns about relying on communities in Connecticut and New York as
comparables and might suggest other areas such as Philadelphia, Maryland and
the Washington D.C. areas.
Sandy Stapczynski stated
that the cost of living here is more comparable to the communities listed in
the report. In addition, they needed to
factor in districts of like size because otherwise they are not going to find
similar positions.
Marc Laredo is suggesting that rather than averaging
all the communities together to come up with the range that data be worked
differently.
Dori Zaleznik
commented that the study provides the data and the methodology which they can
now evaluate. This was a very in-depth
and complex process and now they have to understand how it was structured and
organized and decide how they wish to address the recommendations. She would suggest the Subcommittee continue
its work and attempt to outline the policy areas for consideration.
Susie Heyman stated that
having lived next door to West Hartford, Connecticut she can attest to the fact
that it is probably more like Newton than any other community in New England
and that is probably true for Greenwich as well. While they could have found some similar
sized districts in the Midwest, the pay scales would have been very different.
Anne Larner commented that
the Subcommittee has more of a comfort level with this information because they
have had the advantage of having numerous conversations around the material, so
the rest of the Committee needs to develop a similar ownership.
Claire Sokoloff appreciates
how the report is set up so that they can now take it over and self-manage it with
an ongoing updating capability. She is
very interested in talking more about the range and the median and whether that
is where they want to be and if it will keep them competitive.
Dori Zaleznik
thanked Sandy for the report and her presentation. Sandy has also agreed to also provide a
market analysis on the figures associated with the organizational restructuring
in the Gibson report. The Subcommittee
will reconvene to frame the policy questions.
In conclusion, she mentioned that to some extent these reports were
commissioned to address the two opinions often voice in this community -- that
the schools have too many administrators and that they are over-paid. In reality, the information shows that this
is not true.
DISCUSSION
ITEMS
DISCUSSION
OF SCHOOL CALENDAR
Dori Zaleznik
noted that the Committee wished to discuss this item early in the spring so as
to have sufficient time to make any possible changes. This is not next year’s calendar, but rather
‘07/’08. In the past, when Labor Day has
fallen late in the year and the Committee has taken up the calendar in the fall,
it has always been decided that it is too late to make changes at that point
because people may have already made plans for Labor Day. While Labor Day does not fall late in ‘07/’08,
the final day for students including the five snow days would be 6/25, so they
continue to go late even with Labor Day being early. The Committee has mentioned numerous times
the notion of possibly beginning the school year early and this is an opportunity
to have some conversation about making decisions around future calendars.
Jeff Young indicated that the Committee has two
options in tonight’s material. One is
the traditional calendar of having teachers return the day after Labor Day
(Tuesday) and students begin on Thursday.
The second option has the teachers coming in on Wednesday and Thursday
prior to Labor Day and students starting on the day after Labor Day. Even with the second option and assuming five
snow days, that only changes the end of the year date by two days. These calendars have been distributed to
staff and they look forward to input from the Newton Teachers Association (NTA),
as well as the wider community.
Reenie Murphy suggested they
review the information about the calendars of surrounding communities that was
distributed previously.
Dori Zaleznik
mentioned that some communities use the fourth week after the beginning of
August as the starting date rather than timing it to Labor Day, since that
occurs on different dates each year.
Marc Laredo is pleased that they are finally having
this discussion in sufficient time to make some decisions. He prefers Option B because often the closing
of school conflicts with summer camps and some families choose to just take
their children out of school for the last few days and that is not the message
they want to send. Starting the Thursday
after Labor Day also poses problems for parents who have trouble getting
childcare coverage that week.
Gail Glick stated that Marc’s comments might make
sense in a year when Labor Day fell late, but that is not so in this particular
case. She is not sure it is worth the
effort to change for only saving two days at the end of the year. She would be interested to hear more about
the suggestion Dori raised around not tying the start
date to Labor Day.
Dori Zaleznik
noted that they have solicited opinions from the staff and public and will
return to this matter at the next meeting.
DISCUSSION
OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE’S GOAL ON PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Reenie Murphy reported on the
work of the Public Engagement Subcommittee, which has made some good progress
to date. She spoke about the two forums
held this year – one on the Budget Guidelines and the other on budget
development, which was an effort to better engage the public in the budget
process. The Committee has received good
feedback from the community around these efforts. In January they began Actions in Brief, which
are short summaries of what occurs at each School Committee meeting and those
are posted on the website shortly after each meeting. This year they piloted a mailing to the
entire community, with the help of the administration, which outlined the
budget and budget process in a form that the layperson could easily
understand. The Committee also commissioned
the two management/ compensation studies as a means of providing a framework to
move forward. They have also continued
their school and PTO visits, which have been very helpful in seeing firsthand
both the excellent things that are happening in the buildings, as well as the
challenges and issues they face.
Another area in which they are focusing on is the
School Committee website, to see if the public is finding it useful and
informative. A survey was designed and
they hope to incorporate those results into future revisions and redesign of
the site. The survey was completed by
274 people, which is not a statistically significant sample. However, those that did respond are people
who pay close attention to school issues.
One of the things that was mentioned by many of the respondents was the
confusion about the system having two sites.
This might indicate the need to either merge the two or make the School
Committee a link on the school department site.
Others sited the desire for less clutter and better graphics, as well as
more timely and user friendly information.
The number one reason people stated for why they logged onto the website
was to check on school cancellations, followed by searching for school specific
information. Some suggested a format for
communicating to the public via email.
Dori Zaleznik
thanked Reenie for the presentation and noted that
there are several aspects of the report that the Committee might want to have
some additional conversation around this evening. The first has to do with the conduct of
School Committee meetings. Currently the
major reports are posted on the website after the meetings. There has been interested expressed to have
the materials available on-line prior to the meeting, so that people watching
from home can follow along. In addition,
people have asked about making the public comment section more
interactive. Currently the public is
restricted to three minutes at the beginning of the meeting and then another
opportunity at the end and the Committee does not traditionally respond.
Marc Laredo thinks that posting the material on-line
is a good idea. However, he would want
to wait until the day of the meeting to do this because at times the material
changes from the time it is generated until it is ready for distribution. He would also like to make sure that this
request is not unduly straining the administration. In terms of public comment, he is concerned
that a question and response type format could result in their never getting to
the agenda business. Perhaps a brief
response from the Chair to each speaker might be something to consider.
Anne Larner suggested that
when there are “hot” topics to discuss the Committee might want to consider
finding other venues than the regular public input period at School Committee
meetings, such as starting the meeting earlier for this purpose.
Gail Glick agrees and noted that the public forums
that they held this year also seemed to work well. She has concerns about having the Chair
giving a token response to each person vs. having a dialogue.
Jonathan Yeo stated that
the Committee has made great strides in the area of public engagement over the
past two years. In addition to the items
Reenie mentioned, the Committee also hears from the
public through emails and telephone calls.
Some of the challenges around communication have been largely solved by
the measures that have already been taken.
However, obviously they still run into the issue of frustration at
meetings when the public addresses the Committee and they do not respond. He thinks the best way to address that is to
be sure someone follows up with that person.
Reenie Murphy likes the idea Anne
posed of starting meetings earlier when there are issues that are obviously
going to generate a lot of discussion.
Marc Laredo asked if they are envisioning this as an
informal chat type forum or just extending the timeline of the formal
meeting.
Anne Larner admitted that
she had not fleshed it out in detail, but was thinking about something less
formal yet still structured.
Claire Sokoloff noted that
the survey also indicated some people’s desire to have dialogue without
specific agendas, where the public and Committee can just discuss any issues of
concern. A different approach to starting
the meetings earlier for a discussion period might be to allow discussion at
certain points during the regular meeting for topics that lend themselves to
that notion. Another idea is some type
of two-way interaction on the Internet.
Dori Zaleznik
noted that they will be scheduling further discussion about the website for the
next meeting.
ACTION
ITEMS
CONTINUED
DISCUSSION/VOTE ON CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Anne Larner asked if they
are confident that they can get the cash flow upfront to get started on summer
projects.
Michael
Cronin, Chief of Operations, stated that some of the work can be done over the
summer, such as the masonry repairs at Underwood and hopefully the Mason-Rice
lift as well. The boiler replacements at
Horace Mann and Memorial-Spaulding they hope to have by the heating season
provided there are no problems/delays in the bids. The generator for the Education Center is
slated for the following summer because due to the devastation in Louisiana
suppliers are that far behind. The
windows for Mason-Rice and Zervas can be designed now
but fabrication will take the better part of the year with installation
occurring next summer.
Dori Zaleznik
mentioned the priority of the Mason-Rice lift.
She asked if they are confident that having this item on the CIP list
will still allow them to have it completed this summer or if this is where they
should be looking at using some of the FY06 funding upfront.
Mike Cronin stated that whichever funding source is
chosen they still have to go through the same process. The equipment has an approximate 10-year
lifespan so it is probably not as advantageous to bond this type of project,
but rather fund it from the current operating budget. If bonded they would still want to front the
money for the engineering portion because this process has to start
immediately.
Reenie Murphy asked if there are
any obstacles to getting the lift in this summer prior to the opening of
school.
Mike Cronin stated that it involves an engineering
piece, in which they have on-call architects through the Public Buildings
Dept., followed by preparation and demolition of the site and finally the
installation of the lift. He does not
foresee any problems because it is a fairly straight-forward job. The lift comes “off the shelf” so they do not
have to wait for custom-building and should be able to have it installed within
a few days of order. He is comfortable
with the timeframe in that it even allows for some minor glitches that might arise. The reason for the sense of urgency is to get
the engineering piece done quickly before they get bogged down with other
projects come July 1st.
Dori Zaleznik
noted that they are all committed to having the lift completed this summer so
they authorize whatever it takes to get that process moving. She asked that Mike keep them posted in his
monthly reports on the status.
Anne Larner added that if
there are meetings about this issue before the Board of Aldermen that Committee
members be notified so that they can be present.
MOTION: It was moved to approve the Proposed FY07 Capital Improvement
Program, as outlined in the 4/24/06
memorandum.
(Heyman – Glick)
8 – 0 –
1
Absent:
Mayor Cohen
VOTE ON
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
MOTION: It
was moved that the last day of school for students
will be 6/22/06 (1/2 day) and for teachers 6/23/06.
(Larner – Laredo)
8 – 0 – 1
Absent:
Mayor Cohen
VOTE TO
ACCEPT GRANT
MOTION: It was moved to accept the
grant totaling $23,633 (Community Preservation Act – CPA – Williams Elementary
School), as outlined in the 4/20/06 memorandum.
(Yeo – Heyman)
8 – 0 – 1
Absent:
Mayor Cohen
COMMUNICATIONS
Dori Zaleznik
reminded people of the rally at the State House on Wednesday. Buses will leave from Cold Springs Park at
10:30 and 11:30.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.