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2006-04-05 BEVERLY PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS April 5, 2006 A regular meeting of the Beverly School Committee was held on Wednesday, April 5, 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 7:05 p.m.. Mr. Manzi led the Pledge of Allegiance. Discussion - Education Topic Ms. Brusil’s topic was “A perspective on K-12 public education in revenue constrained times.” Ms. Brusil addressed the Fiscal ‘07 school budget and the 3.9 million dollar deficit. She informed the audience that prior to Dr. Hayes presentation to the Committee of the Whole last week he had already cut a number of new positions that had been requested. Ms. Brusil said that the cost to run the Beverly Public Schools for one day is $116,000. She then outlined the current budget and presented some different scenarios and their savings, none of which would be feasible at this time. Ms. Brusil feels the revenue from the Commonwealth has been drastically reduced only adding to the problem at hand. She suggested that Proposition 2 ½ needs to be modified perhaps as Proposition 3 ½ and the city should consider a 2½ override. th In conclusion, Ms. Brusil stated that the Committee of the Whole is meeting on Monday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Building and all are welcome to attend. Ms. Brusil invited the audience to share any ideas or suggestions (by e-mailing them to any one of the School Committee members). Recognitions - Such Other Matters (Kudos, Congratulations) Adam Costa, Music Teacher at Briscoe Middle School, was recognized by Ms. Brusil and Mr. Hayes for a recent honor bestowed upon him by the New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS). Adam was named a Promising Practitioner by NELMS. Joining in honoring Adam was Mrs. Gauthier, Principal of Briscoe Middle School. Also being recognized from Briscoe Middle School were students, Mallory Hall, Erich O’Neil, and Jen Geary. Dr. Hayes, Ms. Brusil and Mrs. Gauthier recognized them for being winners in the 2006 Liberty Lodge Washington’s Birthday Essay Contest. At this time Mr. Longley, Beverly High School Athletic Director, joined Ms. Brusil and Dr. Hayes to introduce the Beverly High School’s Winter 2005-2006 Award Winners. Boys Track – Nelson DeSilvestre, Varsity Head Coach ?? Northeastern Conference All Stars – Nick Abraham, Brent Read, Mike Sullivan, Todd Norton, Jason Krucyznski, and Brendon Norris. Boys Basketball – Scott Lewis, Varsity Head Coach ?? Boy’s Basketball TeamNortheastern Conference South Champions – ?? Northeastern Conference All Star Matt Tobin Regular Meeting April 5, 2006 Page 2 Girls Basketball – Matt Smith, Varsity Head Coach ?? Northeastern Conference All Star – Brittany Batchelder Gymnastics – Vivien Mattei, Varsity Head Coach ?? Named “Coach of the Year” – Vivien Mattei ?? Northeastern Conference All Stars – Stephanie Negrotti and Kelly Channel Swimming – Brian Cameron, Varsity Head Coach ??nd Northeastern Conference All StarBoston Globe All Scholastic – 2 Year – , Vanessa nd Northeastern Conference All StarBoston Globe All Scholastic– 2 Year Athanas , Molly Curran ?? Individual State Champion; All American; Northeastern Conference All Star; Northeastern Conference “Female Swimmer of the Year”, Boston Globe All nd Scholastic 2 Year Jackie Davidson ??nd Northeastern Conference All Star, Boston Globe All Scholastic – 2 Year – Kristen Zarba ?? Northeastern Conference” Male Swimmer of the Year”, Northeastern Conference All Star Dan Meyer ?? Northeastern Conference All Star Christian Hurst – Northeastern Conference All Star Katy Loubris Boys Hockey – Bob Gilligan, Varsity Head Coach ?? Northeastern Conference All Stars – Nick Lovasco and Alex Baker st Girls Ice Hockey – Fiona Rice, Co-op Varsity Head Coach - 1 Season ?? North Cape League All Star – Rachel Konaxis ?? North Cape League All Star – Michelle Perrin of Saugus Basketball Cheerleading – Marge Robertson, Varsity Head Coach ??nd Northeastern Conference Champions – 2 straight year - Team Representatives are Captains: Meghan O’Brien and Jhenna Louis Hockey Cheerleading – Carol Hennessey, Varsity Head Coach ?? Placed 2nd in the State and 3rd in the Northeastern Conference – Team Representatives are Captains: Stacey Cook and Dominque Staffiere Open Forum for Citizen Input into Non-Agenda-Related Items None Opportunity for Citizen Input into Agenda-Related Items None Records of Meetings A motion was made by Ms. Cesa and seconded by Mr. Manzo to approve the minutes of the regular So voted. meeting held on March 8, 2006. Motion was made by Mr. Manzo and seconded by Mr. Latter to approve the minutes of the Joint th So Voted Council meeting held on March 7, 2006. Report from Student Representative Emily O’Toole updated the following happenings at Beverly High School: ?? The Freshman Semi was a couple of weeks ago. Bev Cam will be showing the interviews from that evening some time in the near future. Regular Meeting April 5, 2006 Page 3 ?? Students participated in Night of Spoken Word. This took place in the library and the student’s read poetry or stories they had written. ?? The Student Senate attended a NE MASC workshop at Kowloons. This was sponsored by Saugus High School. Two of the student’s from Beverly will be participating in the leadership summer camp program. ??th All City Band will be performing Tuesday, April 11 and the Chorus will perform on th Thursday, April 13. ?? The Band is getting ready for their trip to Philadelphia, which will take place at the end of April vacation. Communications: ?? Briscoe – Hot water vs. cold water ?? Arts Festival 2006 – Outstanding job! ?? Congressman Tierney’s NCLB Listening Tour ?? MASC District Meeting ?? Briscoes’ outside lights are bothering some of the neighbors ?? North Beverly interim Principal salary of concern ?? Briscoe locking of the bathroom doors due to smoking incident ?? Possibility of anti-bacterial soap dispensers in the lunch room ?? Connect-Ed ?? Kindergarten registration frustration ?? Recent vandalism at Ayers ?? Principal search update ?? FY ‘07 budget ?? PTO fundraisers ?? Buzzer and lights at entrance at Memorial SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT Ms. Nancy Ronan, Social Studies teacher and advisor to Model United Nations at Beverly High School, presented her proposal for the overnight field trip to Boston. The students will be staying at Northeastern University. Ms. Ronan, accompanied by teacher Julia Brown, will chaperone the students who will participate in a Model United Nations simulation representing Kenya, Jamaica and Mexico. Ms. Ronan reported by staying in the dorms and eating their meals in the dining hall at Northeastern the cost of the trip has been significantly reduced. Regarding student safety, the students would be given identification cards to gain access to dorms, there is campus security. A motion was made by Ms. Cesa and seconded by Mr. Latter to approve the Model United Nations So voted. overnight field trip. Maria Decker abstained from voting as her daughter is going on the trip. Overnight Field Trip Proposal – Great Britain – This will be brought to the Committee at the May 10, 2006 meeting. Recovery High School Grant Proposal Dr. Hayes informed the Committee of his conversations with Mr. Gass, Executive Director of the Northshore Education Consortium, about the possibility of renting space in the Memorial building. Simultaneous to that discussion was this new initiative, “Recovery High School Grant”, funded by the Regular Meeting April 5, 2006 Page 4 Department of Public Health. Dr. Hayes asked Mr. Gass to tell the Committee about the Recovery High School Grant. Mr. Gass explained that recovery high school is the term used to describe small alternative high school programs for students coming out of recovery for substance abuse. This came out of a program started in Hazelton, Minnesota twenty years ago. Mr. Gass explained that the students felt they needed a great deal of support to stay clean and felt the major challenge was returning to places where friends might be using substances. Mr. Gass went on to talk about the connection with this initiative and the North Shore. He said that this grant is only awarded to public school districts or collaboratives. He explained that this initiative would not be part of the Consortium rather, a separate, stand alone mini-school, approved by the Department of Education and licensed by the City. In conclusion, Mr. Gass detailed the funding of this project and informed the Committee this is now going to move along quickly. He answered questions from the members. Some of the questions asked were: length of commitment; would there be a separate entrance for the students; would we see rental income; hiring of faculty; renovations work; how many students would be attending; and would it have any affect on the use of the fields or summer programs. Principal Searches Dr. Hayes told the Committee that he was pleased to report that all three principal positions have been filled. Ms. Jennifer Flewelling will be the new principal at the North Beverly Elementary School and Mr. Matt Poska, presently assistant principal at Beverly High School, will fill the position at the Briscoe Middle School. Dr. Hayes said the principal for the Hannah Elementary School has been selected but he was not yet ready to release that name. In summary, Dr. Hayes said that the search committees consisted of 20 – 22 – 13 members, respectively. They interviewed 38 applications for the elementary positions and 20 for the middle school position. The final interviews were conducted by Dr. Hayes, the Assistant Superintendent, Director of Pupil Personnel and the Personnel Director. Connect-ED Implementation Dr. Hayes was very happy to report that Connect-Ed is up and running. He has found it to be a terrific tool in which to deliver messages to parents and staff. His first try was successful! He created and scheduled his message to be delivered Sunday evening around 6:50 to all parents, staff and himself. Dr. Hayes stated that he was very pleased when his phone rang and the message had come through! Dr. Hayes noted on his report how many of the numbers tried were successful and the number of unsuccessful deliveries. Dr. Hayes commented on a message sent out from the High School about two diagnosed cases of whopping cough. In the message it told you for information to first check out the web site and if you still had more questions you could call the nurse. Dr. Hayes thanked the PTO’s for the major funding they did to get Connect-Ed up and running. AFSCME Contracts All four contracts included have been signed. Letter from the NEASC Dr. Hayes said the letter received from NEASC notifies the District of the Action taken at the March thth 26, 27, 2006 meetings which were to continue our accreditation on “probation” status. The next Regular Meeting April 5, 2006 Page 5 st step is to make a special progress report before September 1 letting them know the progress on the construction project and the current facility status. Progress Report Dr. Hayes presented his progress report to the Committee on the following four goals: ?? Student Achievement ?? Long Range Facilities ?? Improve communications ?? New System of Evaluation Dr. Hayes said that he is please to report that they are either completed or are on track for completion. Dr. Hayes asked Mayor Scanlon to bring us up to date on the high school design. Mayor Scanlon informed the Committee he had received 14 responses for the Owner’s Project Manager. He has assembled a group of 5 people to be on the Evaluation Committee. The Committee has had a preliminary meeting and they have copies of all the responses, with the exception of one or two. Mayor Scanlon hopes to begin negotiations within the next several weeks. Mayor Scanlon said he has given each member a copy of the Capital Expenditure Plan. In that Plan it discusses when the middle school might be completed and what could move it forward faster. It talks about a number of projects the City faces, and, although we don’t have the money for this right now, Mayor Scanlon thinks it is a prudent idea to consider these future needs. Mayor Scanlon is going to ask the City Council to reconvene the Facilities Committee with the hopes that there will be representation from the School Committee. Consolidating Services Ms. Brusil reported that at the Joint Council meeting the suggestion was made to form a small committee of City Council Members and School Committee Members to explore consolidating services. Ms. Brusil said that Mr. Flaherty, Mr. Coughlin and Ms. Gooding, City Council Members, and Mr. Manzo and Ms. Decker, School Committee Members will serve on that Committee. Ms. Decker said they have already had an organizational meeting and did some brainstorming. The next thth meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday or Thursday, April 12 or 13. Committee Reports Standing Committee on Finance & Facilities: Paul Manzo, Chairperson th Mr. Manzo reported at their last meeting on March 15 they had a brief Buildings and Grounds report. Also discussed was the current ‘06 budget and an update on estimated shortfall. There was a brief discussion about placing ads on the school busses as a way to generate more revenue. Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance and Facilities, a motion was made by Mr. Manzo and seconded by Ms. Cesa to approve the policy regarding “Budget So voted. Deadlines and Schedules” (Section D: Fiscal Management). Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance and Facilities, a motion was made by Mr. Manzo and seconded by Ms. Decker to approve the policy regarding “Smoking on School Premises” (Section A: Foundations and Basic Commitments) with an So voted. amendment. Regular Meeting April 5, 2006 Page 6 Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance and Facilities, a motion was made by Mr. Manzo and seconded by Mr. Latter to approve the policy regarding “Naming of So voted. Buildings, Fields, or Rooms After Individuals” (Section F: Facilities Development). Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance and Facilities, a motion was made by Mr. Manzo and seconded by Mr. Latter to approve the policy regarding So “Advanced Approval of Expenditures and Encumbrances” (Section D: Fiscal Management). voted. Standing Committee on Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Life: Annemarie Cesa, Chairperson Ms. Cesa reported that at their last meeting on April 4, 2006 they approved the handbooks at all three levels (elementary, middle and high school) with a few minor changes/additions with regard to technological devices, Connect-Ed and at the Middle School level they omitted the open enrollment policy. They also discussed the new guidelines for School Improvement Plans. These Plans will now be written in the fall for two-year cycles and reviewed in the spring for the next school year the last item discussed was the District Wellness Policy. 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 policy regarding “Fund So voted. Raising Activities” (Section J: Students). 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 policy regarding So voted. “Entrance Age Requirements” (Section J: Students). Upon the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Life, a motion was made by Ms. Cesa and seconded Ms. Decker to approve the policy regarding “Approval So voted. of Handbooks” (Section C: General School Administration). New Business None Opportunity for Questions from the Press Martina Brendal, Salem News, asked a couple of questions regarding the Recovery High School and about the Project Manager selection process for Beverly High School. Meeting adjourned 9:10 p.m. Maria Decker Secretary