Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 04/06/2021Approved 04-27-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 06, 2021 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar RECEIVED N CLERKS OFFICE An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held virtually on Tuesdp, f it Q, 2'021.153 The open meeting session was called to order by Kiera O'Neil at 5:33 pm. A��SF1EL0 Members Present: Administration Present:S l f e, U S E T T S Kiera O'Neil Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Lauren Scher Edward Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Jenn Walsh Linda Fernando Members Absent: None . ***All votes taken by roll call vote *** Roll Call: 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 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 / 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 School Committee returned to Open Session at 6:06 pm Public Speak: Public Speak is open for 15 minutes for anyone who has registered via GoToWebinar. None Communications: One email concerning a personnel issue One email commenting on the school committee statement regarding Asian violence Page 1 of 5 Approved 04-27-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 06, 2021 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Administrative Reports: Superintendent Teresa Murphy updated the committee on the following: MHS Business Teacher, Jackie Prestor was recently awarded the National Business Education Association's 2021 Business Teacher of the Year. This award recognizes Jackie's excellence in business education. She was honored during the virtual NBEA conference on April 2nd. Congratulation! The MHS Color Guard and Percussion groups have been participating in virtual competitions this year. The Color Guard was recognized as the MA Judges Association State Champions. Congratulations to both groups who found a way to perform during the pandemic. On Wednesday, Mansfield participated in the MA Partnership for Diversity in Education (MPDE) Virtual Job Fair. Although virtual, it ran similar to an actual job fair where each district had a booth, handouts, and virtual attendants to answer questions. Our administrators signed up for time slots throughout the evening. Teresa was on the committee to run the job fair and as part of that responsibility, created a training video on Mentoring and Induction of New Teachers. Teresa worked with Stacey Gottfried to create the virtual booth for Mansfield (see attached.) Assistant Superintendent Ed Donoghue gave an update on progress toward the FY22 budget. The School budget subcommittee met with the joint town committee on 3/24/21 to discuss how to fund the FY22 budget. We intend to use a combination of rescue plan funding, Esser grants and a reduction in COVID needs. We fully expect to be able to balance the budget this year while recognizing that we must avoid a "funding cliff' for FY23. Some of the funding can be spread over the two years. The upcoming meetings are as follows: 4/8 Budget Subcommittee; 4/1S Budget Subcommitee if needed to complete the presentation; 4/27 Public Hearing; 4/29 Joint Town Budget Meeting. Annroval of Minutes: Date 1st 2nd Discuss Vote Roll call Order Y N Open Meeting 03-16-21 LF JW N 5-0 Lynn C. Jenn W. Kiera 0. Linda F. Lauren S. Open Meeting 03-23-21 LF JW N 5-0 Lauren S. Linda F. Kiera 0. Jenn W. Lynn C. Exec Session 03-16-21 LF JW N 5-0 Lynn C. Jenn W. Page 2 of 5 Approved 04-27-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 06, 2021 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Kiera 0. Linda F. Lauren S. GIFTS: We would like to thank Fine Landscaping in Sharon for donating 2 cubic yards (value $50) of loam for our J/J garden. This is the second time that Fine has donated to our garden project. Thank you to Fine Landscaping and our J/J staff and students for maintaining the garden. Old Business: Committee Updates: CIP: On 3/25/21, the committee met to review all recommended CIP projects for town meeting. All of our school requests have been approved. Facilities: The committee met last week. The facilities department is keeping up with all work orders; tents are up for "outside school space" and cleaning efforts have increased. The department is looking to fill 2 custodial positions. We are on schedule to complete the QMS Security check -in station during April vacation. Returning & Learning: Discussed the ongoing transition back to in -person learning as well as the travel advisory which will come into play over April vacation. New Business: Return to School Update:. Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly provided an update. Our grades 1 - 8 students returned full in person yesterday. Everyone is very excited; it was like the first day of school all over again. The day went smoothly thanks to the collaboration of administrators, teachers, staff, food services, bus transportation and facilities. There were many decorations up creating a welcoming environment for our students. Much of the day was spent establishing new routines including health protocols, desk setup, lunch schedules, etc. All administrators reported back that some minor tweaks were made but overall things were great. Mansfield High School is still on target for an April 28th start date (5 days in -person) although we have yet to hear any further instructions from DESE. Hopefully we will get an update next week. We continue to monitor health indicators and quarantine numbers which have improved over the last week. Questions/Answers: Linda Fernando: No questions; she expressed her gratitude for everyone's hard work in building this success. Jenn Walsh: No questions; she expressed her appreciation and commented on the excitement in our community. Lauren Scher asked if there was any sense on the proportion of teachers who have been vaccinated. We do not have those figures yet and are still working with our health agent and human resources Page 3 of 5 Approved 04-27-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 06, 2021 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar department on confidentiality guidelines and appropriate tracking routines. It is important to note that administration cannot have access to individual medical information and any reporting out would be at a high level. Lauren also commented that she really appreciated the parent night events. What plans do we have to solicit feedback from parents on the transition? We had not planned for any formal feedback but we can look into this. We do need to be careful of survey fatigue but as we do welcome feedback we will try to devise a method to obtain input. Lynn Cavicchi asked that we include students in our feedback requests. Mike will reach out to schools to see what individual plans may already be in place. As more students get vaccinated are there methods to notify the schools? Christine is working through this starting with the high school and new registrations. Lynn thanked everyone for their efforts. Kiera O'Neil asked Mike to clarify DESE's position on the return for high school students and if there was any possibility that our plans would change. Currently we are working toward a return as voted at the last meeting because there have been no further updates from DESE. We need to keep moving forward if we plan to get the students back in late April. As soon as DESE provides further guidance we will re-evaluate. MA Travel Advisory: Christine Cooling, Director of Health Services, provided an update. The state recently changed the Travel information from a mandate to an advisory. Questions arose as to how school districts should respond. We know that there are many families planning to travel over April vacation and we must consider how that will impact our health indicators upon return. The change from mandate to advisory is really centered on the removal of any fines and the requirement to complete a travel form. The guidelines on travel, quarantining and testing remain unchanged. Additionally there is no distinction between red and non -red states. The guidelines apply to all out of state travel except those already excluded such as for work, less than 24 hours, etc. As more adults get vaccinated, fewer people will need to test or quarantine. We will continually monitor vaccine progress and changes to the guidelines. In the meantime, we expect families and staff to follow the travel advisory and not return to the building until safe to do so. Our website highlights all aspects of the travel advisory. The school nurses did administer a voluntary vaccine survey to staff. Information is confidential and used only for contact tracing. Questions/Answers: Linda Fernando asked if we request travel plans from families. No, we do not mandate that families tell us but we do encourage all to do so. Lauren Scher commented that the travel guidelines and COV1D testing protocols are confusing. Is there any way to clarify the instructions? Teresa and Christine will review and adjust accordingly. Page 4 of 5 Approved 04-27-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 06, 2021 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Consideration O Polic . Code Title Notes Action Motion 1 Motion 2 Disc Y N Vote Order ILIA Responsibilities MASC Delete LF JW N 5-0 Lauren S. for Supervision recommends Linda F. of classes, delete Kiera 0. homeroom and Jenn W. student Lynn C. activities LOA Student Add new Revise LF JW N 5-0 Lynn C. Internships school Jenn W. Kiera 0. Linda F. Lauren S. School Committee Business: End of Year Evaluations of Teresa Murphy are due to Kiera as soon as possible. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: Documents Referenced: MA Travel Advisory Local Health Metrics Motion to adjourn: At 7:10 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 5 of 5