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Home My WebLink AboutSchool Comm. 08/18/2020Approved 09-08-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 18, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held virtually on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kiera O'Neil at 6:00 p.m. Members Present: Administration Present: Kiera O'Neil Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Linda Fernando Lauren Scher (arrived at 6:03) Jenn Walsh Members Absent: None ***All votes taken by roll call vote * * * Roll Call Vote: Kiera O'Neil aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher Jenn Walsh aye (arrived directly into Executive Session) Kiera O'Neil asked for a motion to enter into Executive Session pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A, Section 21 for the Following Purpose: Under Exception No. 3. To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. Motion to enter into executive session by Linda Fernando / Icon Walsh Roll Call Vote: Kiera O'Neil Yes Lynn Cavicchi Yes Linda Fernando Yes Jenn Walsh Yes Motion Carries 4 - 0 School Committee returned to Open Session at 7:00 p.m. Public Speak: Public Speak is open for 15 minutes for anyone who has registered via GoToWebinar now. James Farley, 18 Lincoln Road expressed his frustration that parents had to commit to remote learning without having all of the details. Please clarify the models that were identified in the survey. Page 1 of 4 Approved 09-08-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 18, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Communications: Chair O'Neil acknowledged the receipt of a petition to send all students to school in a hybrid model starting.. Ms. O'Neil noted that we are moving toward the hybrid in mid October. She also acknowledged several entails that were received with varied opinions about the opening of schools. Administrative Reports: Superintendent: Superintendent Murphy announced that Assistant Special Education Director Nancy Beier has resigned taking on a new job in another district. Approval of Warrant: Warrant Memo dated 08-11-20 Salary & Wages Goods & Services Salary & Wages 2021-1 21003S 2021-2 7-10-20 7-21-20 7.24.20 General Fund 159,426.12 128,497.21 257,579.79 Medicare 2,256.00 - 2,256.00 Capital - - - Revolving 38,355.06 - 40,630.96 Food Service 4,413.25 - 4,332.62 Gifts - - - Student Activity - - - Grants 4,079.42 - 8,252.97 Prior Year 1,043,474.45 l,014,985.53 $ 1,252,004.30 $ 128,497.21 $ 1,328,037.87 Motion to approve the warrant by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call vote: Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 Old Business: Committee Updates: Audit: Meeting on Thursday for a presentation on the audit. The committee attend Select Board meeting on Wednesday to approve a community representative to the committee. Policy: none Budget: none Page 2 of 4 Approved 09-08-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 18, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Facilities: No meeting was held but members have toured the buildings in preparation for the opening of schools. Return to Hybrid: First meeting next week. New Business: Consideration ofMEA Collective Bargaining Agreement: Chair O'Neil recognized the collaborative effort between the Teacher's Association, District and School Committee over the summer. A new 3 year contract has been agreed upon which includes the following changes: basic language changes, implementation of X3 grade portal for MHS and QMS starting in December, Course reimbursement increases, salary increases of 1% on 9/1/20 1% at day 90, 2% year 2 and 2% year 3. Motion to approve the 2020-2023 MEA contract changes by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call vote: Lauren Scher aye Linda Fernando aye Kiera O'Neil aye Jenn Walsh aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 Consideration of Policy Change (ACAB-Harassment): This has been tabled. We are currently awaiting guidance from legal counsel. Distance Learning Options: MHS Principal Mary Watkins began by discussing her proposed changes to the Hybrid Model. Having 2 cohorts would require bringing in over 600 students per day. This will not work at 6 feet apart as identified in the Back to School Plan. Part of the challenge also is that having 2 cohorts at a standard A-K L-M may work for some periods during the day but not others. The high school model significantly differs from elementary where it is difficult to gage the enrollment per subject / period. The MHS researched the use of tents, and optional programming. In the end it was decided the best approach would be a 5 Cohort model where 2 out of the 5 cohort groups would be in the building on each of the 5 week days. Note however, that the administration is still working through the details to see if this will work. Principal Watkins noted that she really did not want to rebuild the schedule from scratch. However, it is looking like that is the only alternative. New academics and electives will be assigned to students. The team is working to keep changes to a minimum. Lauren Scher asked if Mary Watkins was reviewing her plan with health agents since there is a greater interaction of students in this model. Mary will do so. Superintendent Murphy discussed the Virtual Remote cohort. Remote for Most starts on 9/16/20 where all but our high needs students will attend remote from home. The hybrid model will begin in mid October and students will split their time between home and building. The virtual remote model is for families who do not want their students in the building. They will remain enrolled in the district but will learn from home with dedicated remote teachers. Note that this is different from home schooling where students are withdrawn from Mansfield Public Schools and parents take the lead on instruction. The district is working to the extent possible to use all Mansfield Staff for remote teaching but will augment with state programs as needed. We are working with staff to Page 3 of 4 Approved 09-08-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 18, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar determine those remote teachers. One of the key indicators will be the number of available remote teachers compared to the number of remote student requests. Curriculum will be paced the same as the hybrid model. Teresa is asking families to commit to a model as soon as possible. Families can change their minds but they to know that changing from one model to another will mean a change in teacher. Lauren Scher was pleased with the plans but wanted to know what contingency plans were in place if the staff and student ratios were not aligned. Teresa noted that we need to work every angle on how to make the ratios work. When we announced the use of the state model, we heard many concerns from parents, staff and The Committee so we worked through options to identify the plan with Mansfield teachers. Now we need to work through the teacher assignments to make it work. This is an example of how any one choice provides great benefit but at a cost in another area. Kiera O'Neil thanked Teresa and the Administrative Team on their efforts. This is one piece of the puzzle that has been solved and now we must move on to the next. Kiera felt comfortable with the remote start decision because it buys us time to work out these important details. Jenn Walsh wanted to know if the virtual remote is synchronous lessons. Yes, teachers will log in with the students. However, if we have to augment with a 3rd party then it will be asynchronous. Lynn Cavicchi noted that there are a lot of moving parts. In terms of enrichment courses like art and music will those be offered remote as well? Teresa noted that our intent is to offer these but we need to let the schedule play out to see how it fits. New School Committee Business: No meeting on 8/25/20 due to the school webinars. The next meeting will be held on 9/1/20 and will include hybrid model updates, FY20 end of year financial update, handbooks and policy as needed. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: none Motion to adjourn: At 7:55 p.m., Motion to adjourn the open meeting by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call vote: Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Secretary to the Superintendent & School Committee Page 4 of 4