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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 05/21/2020J Mansfield School Committee Meeting approved 01-26-21a Minutes for Tuesday, May 21, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToMeeting An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held virtually on Tuesday, May 21, 2020, The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kiera O'Neil at 5:15 p.m. Members Present: Administration Present: Kiera O'Neil Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Linda Fernando Edward Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Jenn Walsh Lauren Scher Members Absent: None ***All votes taken by roll call vote*** Roll Call Vote: Kiera O'Neil aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher aye 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 strategywith respecUo collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect one bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. r_- C-) Motion to enter into executive session by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher Roll Call Vote Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 School Committee returned to Open Session at 6:00 om Public Comment via email: Dean Hogancamp, 19 Lincoln Rd: I would like to understand what the school committee has planned for getting our kids back in school. It appears that our ]rids are falling behind peers in other districts. The district is aiming to meet the bare minimum only. Teaching staff is simply not available for our children. Hopeful that the district is making efforts to improve the instruction provided to our children. Alexander Piccarilli, 26 Nelson Way: l would like to know what the school committee is doing to help our students if we do not plan on returning to school this year. Page 1 of 5 approved 01-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 21, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToMeeting Administration Reports: Superintendent Teresa Murphy provided a few updates. Our principals will be sharing how our students will be welcomed into the new schools and grades for the upcoming year. We understand the importance of these transition meetings and are working to provide information to our students and families. Principal Watkins will share plans for our high school seniors who are ending their year this week. We know this isn't what anyone wanted for our seniors. Based on feedback from parents and students we have created the following: a parade through the center of town on what would have been graduation day; students will pickup cap and gowns and bling bags prior to this event. The parade route was designed in partnership with the Mansfield Police and Town representatives. Students who want to receive their diplomas on the 7th can do so. The high school will setup time slots as needed over a few days. A stage will be setup in the main lobby; students can invite their family in at that time. Plans are in place for a potential "traditional" graduation in August at the Xfinity Center; this all depends on state guidelines and the availability of Xfinity. Chair O'Neil thanked everyone for their efforts in attempting to make senior year the best as possible recognizing that it is hard to make everyone happy. CHAMPS will remain closed this summer. It is a great disappointment for us to announce that the Summer Institutes will not run but we are following state safety guidelines. We look forward to bringing these programs back next summer. We are working on plans for next year. I have created two teams: Teaching and Learning team will study three models: Everyone in school, Full remote and hybrid (combination of both.) The Return to School team will study facilities, food services, safety, classroom space, health and wellness, transportation. These groups are starting to form and will include administration, staff, parents and students. Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly provided updates. The Student Opportunity Act deadline has been extended. We just received word that the deadline is June 19th. We will provide this plan to school committee for approval at the next meeting. We anticipate the receipt of approximately $100,000. Summer curriculum work will continue remotely over the summer. Staff submitted proposals with a priority on loss of learning from this year. Chair O'Neil wanted to recognize high school senior Lily Barnes who added a great deal of value to our committee this year. It is unfortunate that we cannot do a proper sendoff. We thank her for her time and wish her all the best. New Business: Page 2 of 5 approved 01-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 21, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToMeeting Authorization to Provide Transportation Credit: Ed Donoghue presented this agenda item. A lot of talk among local districts for compensating parents for lost services. We are proposing a $50 per student reduction in the bus fee for next year only (in addition to the $20 early bird discount.) Lauren Scher wondered if parents may be hesitant to use bus service next year. Can we provide any flexibility on July 1Oth early bird deadline if we don't have all the information ready? We will look into this. However the goal of the deadline is to help us get bus counts as early as possible. It is going to be very difficult to manage bus counts in the fall. Kiera O'Neil inquired about a refund policy if a parent changes their mind for 20-21. We don't currently have a refund policy so we will look into options. Kiera O'Neil proposed a method of having parents of students over 2 miles to let us know if they want to ride the bus this year so we have a good count. Normally we assume everyone over 2 miles (grades K - 6) will ride the bus. Ed will take into consideration. Lauren emphasized the need for good communication on transportation. Motion to Approve the a transportation credit of $50.00 for 2020-21 only 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 Passes: 5 - 0 Authorization for Student Obligation Adjustments: Ed Donoghue has decided to relieve seniors of obligations this year. Examples are transcripts, uniforms, textbooks, locks, etc. The high school gift fund would be used to offset these costs. Motion to Approve student obligation adjustments of $9807 from the MHS gift fund for 2019-2020 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 Passes: 5 - 0 Authorization to support Town of Mansfield Financial Policies: Page 3 of 5 approved 01-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 21, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToMeeting Ed Donoghue described various efforts for the school, town and FinCom to work on financial policies and how to offset budget deficiencies. One policy would be to direct how future pandemic funds from the State could be used to offset some of these deficiencies. Chair O'Neil noted that the Select Board did not approve last night due to some concerns. She felt that we do not need a policy for a one-time occurrence. She would be willing to support an agreement but doesn't feel that a policy should be approved. It is also very specific and we don't know what lies ahead as far as needed cuts, increased costs and changes to state funding. Vice Chair Cavicchi feels that the intention is positive since FinCom wants to be sure we replenish stabilization funds that we are using. It is hard to have fiscal discipline when money is tight. We know that we are heading into a difficult financial year. However, she does agree with Kiera that new policies are not needed. Lauren Scher noted that we will have significant school costs to recover from lost learning whether we get funding or not. We need to be able to look into flexible solutions to support the schools in FY22. It is too early to commit to these decisions. No motion put forward. Update of FY21 Budget. Ed Donogue provided an update on where we stand against the budget. We are looking at different models of revenue reduction (state funding, local taxes, local licensing, Xfinity revenue, etc.) We anticipate having to work with a 10% reduction in the school budget. 15% and 20% proposals are also being reviewed but would be very problematic. We will present a revised budget for approval once established. This is a reduction in the existing FY21 Budget number. The schools are looking at approximately a $300,000 reduction. Kiera O'Neil reminded us that we need to do a public hearing prior to the Town Meeting on June 23rd. We could do a public hearing on June 9th at 7:30 pm. The budget will be added to the agenda on June 2nd. Audit Review of Student Activity Accounts: Ed Donoghue provided an update of the initial external audit results. The audit was as of 6/30/19. A few procedural items: a) Improve training process for office assistants and recap the process annually. b) Fiscal responsibility will be audited internally each year with notes for our auditors. This will include random testing and review of bank accounts, cancelled checks, etc. c) Bank reconciliations need to be signed off by schools prior to going to the town accountant for review. d) Have proper forms for field trip check collection. A few other minor procedures will change as well. New School Committee Business: Next meeting is June 2 at 6:00 pm. Other potential meetings were also proposed. Other Items not anticipated by.the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Motion to adjourn: At 7:09 p.m., Motion to adjourn the open meeting by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call vote: Page 4 of 5 Lauren Scher aye Linda Fernando aye Kiera O'Neil aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 approved 01-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 21, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToMeeting Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Secretary to the Superintendent & School Committee Page 5 of 5