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2006-02-08 BEVERLY PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS February 8, 2006 A regular meeting of the Beverly School Committee was held on Wednesday, February 8, 2006, at the City Council Chambers, Beverly City Hall, Beverly, MA. Members Present: Ms. Brusil, Ms. Cesa, Mr. Manzi, Mr. Manzo, Ms. Decker, Mr. Latter, and Mayor Scanlon Also in Attendance: Dr. James Hayes, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marie Galinski, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Heidi Zimmerman, Administrator of Finance & Operations Emily O’Toole, Student Representative President Brusil called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Ms. Cesa led the Pledge of Allegiance. After the Pledge of Allegiance Ms. Brusil asked for a moment of silence in memory of Dr. John Coleman, past Member/President of the School Committee and founder of Solar Now. Ms. Brusil started the meeting off “thanking” Mayor Scanlon and the City Council members for the vote to fund the high school project. DISCUSSION - EDUCATION TOPIC A new topic of discussion starting this month will be a brief talk on a selected topic around education. Ms. Brusil opened up this discussion on the topic of “The School of the Future”. The School of the Future is a high school being built jointly between the Philadelphia School District and Microsoft. The School Committee Members gave their thoughts and opinions around price tag, technology vs. fancy building, technology doesn’t always mean better teachers, etc. Ms. Brusil thanked them for their input. RECOGNITIONS - SUCH OTHER MATTERS (KUDOS, CONGRATULATIONS) At this time Ms. Brusil and Dr. Hayes recognized Betsy Retallack, music teacher at Hannah and McKeown Schools for her special accomplishment. Ms. Retallack read her poem entitled “Roadside Special” which appeared in 2005 edition of the Endicott Review and has been selected for publication in an anthology of Best American Poetry of 2006. Open Forum for Citizen Input into Non-Agenda-Related Items None Opportunity for Citizen Input into Agenda-Related Items Regular Meeting February 8, 2006 Page 2 Mr. John Hopkins, voiced his concerns to the Committee regarding facility maintenance plans. Mr. Hopkins asked if there was a long term facilities plan for Briscoe. Dr. Hayes responded that at the present time there is a short term plan in place and that they are in the process of putting together a long term plan, not just for Briscoe but all facilities. Mr. Hopkins suggested to the School Committee that they put a process in place so they know what the annual maintenance will be for the buildings. He also requested that the School Department publish some of these plans on the web site so the public could have a sense of what needs to be done and what is scheduled to be done to the buildings. RECORDS OF MEETINGS A motion was made by Ms. Cesa and second by Mr. Latter to approve the minutes of the So voted. regular meeting held on January 18, 2006 with one correction. REPORT FROM STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Emily O’Toole reported that the drink machines are in at the high school and students are very enthusiastic about their arrival. Some of the recent activities going on at the high school were the performance of the Jazz Band last Saturday at Ipswich High School; Tuesday night (2/7) was the first of two nights of the NEC Championship meet for the swim team; Monday, (2/6) there was a successful field trip to Beverly Hospital for students interested in the medical field. Some of the students had the opportunity to witness a tumor removal and a cesarean section; the girls and boys winter track teams made it to the NEC meet. The meet will take place this Saturday (2/11) at 9am at Beverly High School. Beverly High School is sponsoring the track meet. COMMUNICATIONS ?? Ms. Cesa had complaints regarding finals at BHS, by department, which was addressed by Dr. Scuzzarella at the Curriculum meeting. Also make-up days at Briscoe. ?? Mr. Latter – facilities issues and kindergarten realignment. ?? Mayor Scanlon reported that the Beverly Rotary Club will be presenting dictionaries rd to every 3 grade student in the Beverly Public Schools. ?? Mr. Manzo – Briscoe facilities; also feed back from the first Finance and Facilities meeting where issues such as the dog park; creative facilities proposal and phone calls from elementary parents happy with the vote for BHS were discussed. ?? Ms. Decker had received calls from some high school parents disappointed that the open house had been cancelled; also she had been a guest speaker at the Centerville PTO meeting; had calls about the reopening of Briscoe, was school in session or not, after the water problem. Ms. Decker had also received a call from the Beverly Police Dept. saying they had been inundated with calls and asked for a courtesy call in the future to let them know if school was in session or not. Ms. Decker had calls and e- mails from elementary/middle school parents who were socially happy but had concerns regarding overcrowding and some possible options for elementary and Regular Meeting February 8, 2006 Page 3 th middle school. Options being moving 6 grade into the elementary schools relieving some of the overcrowding at the middle school level. ?? Mayor Scanlon commented that the problems at Briscoe of late, he felt, had nothing to do with the number of students. Mayor Scanlon said they have had several meeting to discuss these issues and that they are being addressed. The plan is to stay on these issues until they are all resolved. ?? Mr. Manzi said that he has had very few complaints from the parents in his Ward with regards to Briscoe. th ?? Ms. Cesa commented on moving 6 grade back to elementary. She said this was looked into in the past and space was an issue especially at three of the elementary school they just would not fit. Ms. Cesa felt this was not the time of year to be looking at that but maybe some time in the future. ?? Ms. Brusil had communications from people interested in the building process for the high school and how they might be of help. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT Dr. Hayes introduced Jackie Rapisardi, Principal of the Hannah Elementary School along with Louise McKenna and Judith LaChance, co-chairs of the school’s Steering Committee to present the results of their Accreditation Report on Self Study. Dr. Hayes summarized how the Hannah Elementary School had achieved their results to the status that they are now at in the process of achieving their accreditation. Ms. Rapisardi went over the Summary Report, the requirements and how they have worked to accomplish their goals. She talked about the standards and the process in which they went through to rate themselves. Ms. Rapisardi outlined what they have scheduled during the Accreditation Team’s visit. There will be a reception and dinner on Sunday evening, March th 5. The dinner will be prepared by the Hannah School parents. This will be the start of a very busy schedule of events, some of which are; meeting the School Committee, a video about Hannah School, music, meeting the teams, and interviewing staff and parents. MSBA – Statement of Interest Form Mayor Scanlon explained to the Committee that the Statement of Interest Form is a requirement by the MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) in order to be reimbursed for school projects. Mayor Scanlon explained the contents of letter sent to the Executive Director of MSBA. The MSBA listed 8 priorities that would be considered when applying for construction and renovation projects. Beverly High School qualified on two of the eight priorities - Priority # 1 (Health & Safety) and Priority #3 (Prevention of Loss of Accreditation) both included in the packet. Mayor Scanlon said the packet would be sent out in the morning. At this time a motion was made by Mayor Scanlon and seconded by Ms. Cesa to approve the So voted. submission, to the MSBA, the Statement of Interest Form. Principal Search Regular Meeting February 8, 2006 Page 4 Dr. Hayes told the committee that there are three principals retiring this year: Tom Kokos, North Beverly Elementary School, Jackie Rapisardi, Hannah Elementary School and Rhonda Gauthier, Briscoe Middle School. The two elementary principal searches are running in parallel. Search committees have been arranged. The Committees consist of a combination of approximately 20 parents and staff. We have received a total of 38 applicants. These two Committees will meet independently and try and bring that number to a more manageable level, and finalize the questions that they want to ask of each candidate. Interviews will be set up after February vacation and early in March. Expectations are that the committees will submit some of the finalists’ names to Dr. Hayes and his staff will start interviewing, doing site visits, and reference checks. Dr. Hayes feels confident that the new principals will be named for the two Elementary Schools by early April. Dr. Hayes said this process would repeat itself in about a month from now to start the search for the Briscoe Middle School principal. School Choice Dr. Hayes went over the School Choice numbers that he included in his report. His report revealed a comparison of the data for the past fifteen years. Looking over the numbers Dr. Hayes pointed out the differentials and that the 04-05 school year was the most positive with the exception of FY94. Dr. Hayes said he felt addressing the accreditation issue and a new high school would have a positive impact on the school choice numbers. Briscoe Middle School Make Up Days Dr. Hayes said that he has submitted the request for a waiver of the four days that Briscoe Middle School was not in session due to emergency repairs but he has not heard back from the DOE at this point. Dr. Hayes discussed some options for making up the four days that were missed. The first option would be to extend the last day of school which would be to rd June 23. The second option would be to use vacation time. Dr. Hayes felt that option 2 would not work due to teacher contracts and vacation plans. Ms. Cesa reported that at the last Briscoe PTO meeting they talked about this issue and felt that the make-up days need to be very attractive to students and parents. The PTO is going to try to put some special programs and incentives in place for the students. BHS Accreditation Dr. Hayes updated the Committee on the BHS Accreditation. The vote to fully fund the high school project becomes new evidence. As soon as this can be completed, Dr. Hayes will put together a new evidence package and send it to the Chairman of the Commission. The Chairman would then conference call all the members to get their views. Dr. Hayes said with a positive response from the members this will then shift from the Board of Trustees agenda to the agenda of the Commission, which is scheduled for March 26 through 27, 2006. The Commission will confirm in writing that Beverly High School is back to probationary status and they will inform the administration of the parameters they will have to follow. Update on HS Design Regular Meeting February 8, 2006 Page 5 Dr. Hayes said the vote to approve the submission of the Statement of Interest Form is a crucial one. He reported that the demographic study is ongoing with updates the status at this point; With regards to the RFQ Dr. Hayes asked Mayor Scanlon to update the Committee Members on the process. Mayor Scanlon said there are new regulation requirements. The City has to hire an owner’s project manager (OPM). To apply for this position an RFQ is submitted (request for qualifications) by the person and/or firm applying. Mayor Scanlon said the person and/or firm needs to be on board before the city can hire an architect for the project. The Mayor outlined the time line for this process saying that by the Spring we should have both the OPM and architect on board. The target date for breaking ground is July 2007 and the project completed and school ready to open with new academic wing by September, 2009. Dates to Remember State of the Schools – date changed from Thursday, February 9 to February 16, 2006 Benefits from the Inaugural Ball - a check for $2,891.00 after District expenses the “Gifts to Schools” account ended up with $2,248.00 and $1,000 went to the boosters. Tuesday, March 7, 2006 – Joint Council Meeting @ Beverly High School Library – 7 p.m. Committee Reports Standing Committee on Finance & Facilities: Paul Manzo, Chairperson Mr. Manzo reported that the first meeting of the Finance and Facilities Committee was held on Wednesday, January 25, 2006. The Committee heard from a group of citizens about the Dog Park proposal; they had a report from Chris Rand regarding Briscoe, also a positive report on the results of the air quality test at Briscoe, and reviewed expenses and revenues. A motion was made by Mr. Manzo and seconded by Mr. Latter to approve a one half-time teaching position at the High School for the Transitions program (not to exceed $16,602; to So voted. be funded from tuition reduction at the Northshore Education Consortium). Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance and Facilities the following policies were recommended for a first reading: “Budget Deadlines and Schedules”, “Smoking on School Premises” and the Naming of Buildings, Fields, or Rooms After Individuals”. The next meeting of the Finance and Facilities Committee is Wednesday, February 15, 2006 at the Memorial Building. Dr. Hayes said he would also like to have a meeting of the Committee of the Whole right after the Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting. Standing Committee on Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Life: Annemarie Cesa, Chairperson Ms. Cesa reported that at the last meeting of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee Dr. Scuzzarella spoke to the Committee about two major issues at BHS. She updated them on the edits of the Program of Studies and she made a Power Point Presentation of the staff’s “wish list”. Some of the items on the list were: how the school would be structured; staff thought it should be divided by departments; with much needed storage space. Common storage space could be shared with departments, computer labs, etc. Regular Meeting February 8, 2006 Page 6 Ms. Cesa pointed out some of the things that make Beverly High School special: school to career; five foreign languages offered; 13 AP classes; dual enrollment with public colleges; and Virtual High School. Ms. Cesa asked about remediation courses, example: If you take MCAS math and pass the course but don’t pass the test – can you take that class again and continue to get the credits for it? Dr. Galinski and Dr. Hayes both felt you would get the credits for that course. Ms. Cesa discussed the 06-07 School Calendar with the committee. Dr. Hayes said it would not be voted on at this meeting due to the fact that the Veteran’s Day observance was not included. Therefore, it needed to go back to the sub-committee on Curriculum and Instruction for their approval. It would then come back to the full committee for a vote. Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Life a motion was made by Ms. Cesa and seconded by Ms. Decker to approve the So voted. attached policy regarding “Care of School Property”. Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Life a motion was made by Ms. Cesa and seconded by Mr. Manzo to approve the So voted. attached policy regarding “Hazing”. Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Curriculum, Instruction and Student Life the following two polices: “Fund Raising Activities: and “Entrance Age Requirements” were recommended for a first reading. Negotiations Subcommittee Mr. Latter said the next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 27, 2006. New Business Mr. Latter had a question regarding the re-naming of the Solar Now Center. The suggestion was made to name the Center the Dr. John Coleman Solar Now Center and is this something he should be making a motion on. Dr. Hayes said that he will be bringing this forward next month. Ms. Decker asked if we are going to have summer programs for the kids and what might be offered. Dr. Galinski reported that the schedule is being worked on and should be ready to be sent out the beginning of March. Ms. Brusil said she would like to discuss, at a later date, the idea that the staff at the high school is contemplating dividing staff by departments and the affect that may have on students. Opportunity for Questions from the Press No questions at this meeting. Regular Meeting February 8, 2006 Page 7 Ms. Brusil made a motion to go into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and to consider the lease of real estate property and not to return to open session. Roll Call: Yes: Ms. Cesa, Ms. Decker, Mr. Manzo, Mr. Manzi, Mayor Scanlon, Mr. Latter, Ms. Brusil Meeting adjourned 9:00 Maria Decker Secretary