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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 10/26/2021�Mansfield School Committee Meeting Approved 11-16-21 Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinf�(EIVED -1_FRKS OFFICE An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in pe1M(i Mq gjauqVy & Tfisday, October 26, 2021. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kiera O'Neil at 6:00 p.m. J, FIE1..Q Members Present: Administration Present: °i`_, t "-_i^NI! F1 Kiera O'Neil,Chair Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi, Vice Chair Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Linda Fernando Ed Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Lauren Scher Jenn Walsh Members Absent: None Roll Call: Lynn Cavicchi aye Kiera O'Neil aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher arrived 6:10 Jean Walsh arrived 6:10 Motion to Enter 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. At 6:01 p.m., Motion to leave the open meeting; enter into executive session and return to open session by Lynn Cavicchi / Linda Fernando Roll Call Vote: Lynn Cavicchi aye Kiera O'Neil aye Linda Fernando aye Motion Carries 3 - 0 Return to Open Meeting at 6:35 p.m. Public Speak: Public Speak is open for 15 minutes for anyone who has registered via GoToWebinar. None Communications: None Administrative Reports: Superintendent Teresa Murphy announced that fall and January parent/teacher conferences will be held virtually. The district held curriculum nights in person and she felt by holding the conferences virtually, it provided a good balance for parent and staff needs. There has been no decision yet on spring conferences. Page 1 of 7 Approved 11-16-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 in Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar On November 3rd all staff will participate in a professional development event on Cultural Proficiency. Earlier this month the district held the annual walk to school day for our Jordan/Jackson students. Several staff members and community leaders also walked with our students. It was great to see the event after a year absence. The Bentley Awards have started weekly at the Robinson and Jordan/Jackson schools. Detective Ken Wright spoke about the thought process of awarding students who show kind, selfless acts. Anyone can nominate a student. He hopes to also bring the concept to the middle and high school levels. MHS High School Representative Report: Mansfield High School Junior Molly McDonald attended virtually and provided an update on events at MHS. They just completed spirit week, the homecoming football game and a homecoming dance for juniors and seniors. All were very fun and successful. A lockdown drill was held which provided good training for our students and staff. Performing Arts is moving ahead with "The Little Mermaid" play in about a month. Marching Band and Color Guard are winding down with their fall competitions which to date have been very successful. Approval of Warrant: Motion to approve the Warrant Memo dated 10-12-21 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Salary & Wages Goods & Services Salary & Wages Goods & Services 2022-5 220011S 2022-6 220013S 9-3-21 9-14-21 9-17-21 9-28-21 General Fund 1,587,016.70 140,436.94 1,637,773.18 290,207.94 Medicare 2,898.50 2,393.60 Capital - 89,855.02 - 345,965.32 Revolving 65,894.95 8,152.60 75,148.69 758.05 Food Service 7,717.54 379.84 20,868.53 47,735.89 Gifts - 114.92 - - Student Activity - - - - Grants 56,091.74 20,244.90 63,929.20 11,259.61 Prior Year 325.00 19,483.02 - 65,186.50 $ 1,719,944.43 $ 278,667.24 $ 1,800,113.20 $ 761,113.31 Motion Carries 5 - 0 Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve Open Meeting Minutes dated 09-28-21 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Motion to approve Executive Session Meeting Minutes dated 09-14-21 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 4 - 0 - 1 (Lynn Cavicchi was absent from meeting and abstained) Page 2 of 7 Approved 11-16-21. Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Old Business: Committee Updates: Returning & Learning met with administration, Christine Dooling and Amy Donovan -Palmer to discuss masking and MCAS updates. Christine and Amy provided health updates and then the group discussed the current rate of COVID, the possibility of tracking vaccines for staff and students and the current thinking on masks. More of this will be discussed later in the meeting. The committee also reviewed the District's draft presentation on MCAS results. The committee provided a lot of feedback and suggestions on what the School Committee as a whole would like to see. Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly went back and worked with principals to make suggested modifications. The completed slides will be presented tonight. New Business: Consideration of World Travel Club 2023 to Spain: Typically this time of year the World Travel Club brings forward the suggested trip in order to lock in good rates. Tonight Kevin McGovern is bringing Spain 2023 for the Committee's review. This trip will cover several areas of Spain including city tours, art museums and outdoor tours. EF Tours is once again coordinating the trip for us. Kiera O'Neil asked about pricing and if there is a big spike in cost this year. Kevin indicated that the cost is actually less than the 2022 planned trip to Croatia. Linda Fernando asked about financial loss if someone cancels or the trip is cancelled. Kevin noted that last year there was a $300 loss of deposit per family. That deposit fee was lower than previous years. We do not yet know what it will be in 2023 but expect it to be around the same. Students can take the loss, obtain a voucher for a future trip or transfer a voucher to new student (current or future trips.) Motion to approve the World Travel Club 2023 trip to Spain by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Review of World Travel Club 2022 to Croatia: As part of the review for the 2023 trip, it was appropriate to do an updated review and update to School Committee on this summer's trip to Croatia. The biggest concerns right now are: • Low vaccination rate of Croatia • Potential mandates for vaccine by Croatia or individual tourist areas • Students who contract COVID or must be in quarantine during the trip • If we need to cancel, can EF Tours pivot quickly and provide a more acceptable location As we understand it, the school cannot mandate student vaccines. However Lynn Cavicchi asked that we research this with our law firm. Kevin McGovern will research with EF Tours the need for vaccines to enter the country, tourist areas, restaurants and day trips. Kiera O'Neil asked when we would have to make our final decision. Kevin felt that we could possibly cancel all the way up until May but it should be noted that EF tours starts to book tours, transportation, and restaurants as early as February. Lauren Scher was concerned that if we waited until May to make a decision then other more feasible tours would be already booked. Jenn Walsh disclosed that her son is planning to attend this trip. She then asked about mandating vaccines. Kevin said that EF Tours cannot mandate vaccines. He did note that the staff chaperones are all vaccinated. He has not polled students and would wait for Superintendent permission Page 3 of 7 Approved I1-16-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 in Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar before reaching out to students. Teresa noted that School Committee does not have authority to mandate vaccines. Lynn Cavicchi noted that some districts are, in fact, mandating vaccines for extracurricular activities. Teresa noted that there would still be medical and religious exemptions. Lynn is not comfortable sending unvaccinated students to a high risk country. She asked for clarity on mandating masks for optional school activities. Lynn is also concerned with the low vaccination rate in Croatia. How can we be sure that all the students will have easy entry into the country, events and restaurants? She suggested a planned back up location be identified now. Jenn agreed that it was important to have a concrete backup plan. Kiera asked Teresa to follow up with our law firm on extracurricular activities and mask mandates. No decisions made this evening. Additional research will be done and then brought back to the committee for review. Mask Mandates: This item was placed on the agenda prior to the latest DESE guidance on masks. MA schools are now required to mask through January 15th. Schools are still eligible to request a waiver if the vaccination rate is over 80%. The District is currently working on a survey of staff while health services is tracking student rates. Although there is no vote needed tonight, Teresa is looking for feedback from the committee. Kiera feels that January 15th is a good cutoff because it gets us through the holidays. She would like to see the masks removed once we reach a vaccination threshold AND the COVID rates are low. Teresa noted that to -date, only 20 schools across the state have applied for a waiver. Lauren Scher is pleased with the current low rates especially at MHS where the vaccination rates are highest. She does not want to "rock the boat" right now but does want to see masking come to an end. Presentation of 2021 MCASAssessments: Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly began by stating the goals of tonight's presentation which are to publically highlight the MCAS results, share benchmark data from the beginning of the school year, and address what we are doing to improve the COVID impact on learning. He noted that a presentation on our overall plans was given back in June of 2021 and could be referred to regarding steps that we are taking. Why are we releasing scores? The scores can be used for overall diagnostics and help guide us where the most learning loss can be found. During the presentation tonight, principals will highlight ways in which we are helping to alleviate the impact of learning loss. Regarding the results, he first noted that we had a remarkable 99% participation rate despite the many forms of learning last year. There were some key differences between the 2021 and the 2019 tests. This year we had an extended testing window, the actual tests were shorter in duration, remote students were allowed to participate from home and the tests were taken later in the school year. For students in the class of 2022, there was no mandate for graduation. However students could take the exam to qualify for the Abigail Adams Scholarships. Grade 3 - 8 (Principal John Nieratko and Principal Dave McGovern): Page 4 of 7 Approved 11-16-21. Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar The J/J team is focusing on economically disadvantaged students who are not meeting expectations. Overall, beginning of the year assessments showed very little difference between this year and prior years. Curriculum support teams meet weekly and student support teams are working diligently at identifying individual student needs. After school support clubs that are open to everyone will be available for extra help. J/J will seek out students who need the extra help and encourage them to attend. A math club has also been started as a fun way to provide support. As far as science, J/J is opening up their science lab and innovation stations which provide more hands-on training. Dave McGovern applauded the effort of the QMS students who completed MCAS testing after the most difficult school year. It says a lot about our student body. Although the math test was much shorter this year, it took students significantly longer to take. There were also new digital tools in place that the students had to learn in order to take the exam. We outperformed the state but not by as much as we would have hoped. QMS is using STAR testing to form baseline assessments of students. These tests will be taken periodically throughout the year. A point of interest was that many students who reached the highest level of STAR benchmark testing performed at just an average level on MCAS. He is not yet sure why there is a difference. Another area to focus on is students who transfer into Mansfield. There were significant gaps in performance for those students who did not attend elementary school here in Mansfield. On one hand it shows our strong intervention skills at the lower grades but it also highlights that we need to pay close attention to students entering the district. QMS has set up welcome teams which provide multi -tiered levels of support to help to the whole student. Science testing is hard to evaluate at the middle school level as QMS is in year 2 of a 3 year transition to the cyclical science curriculum. We hope to see significant gains when the transition is complete. We are also bringing back science and engineering classes after a one year COVID absence. Lauren Scher asked if students lost a lot of science curriculum. Yes, we had to eliminate just about every hands-on lab. Curriculums were covered but the learning is not the same when the students cannot partake in the labs. Director of Digital Learning Julia Greenstine reviewed the Student Growth charts. Even though a student does not score at the highest level, they may show growth from the previous year and that is important to consider. DESE has provided additional information that will help us track student growth. Grade 9, 10 (Principal Mary Watkins): Mary Watkins reviewed some of the high level results. She hesitates to draw too many conclusions based on the significant changes we experienced in 2020. However, we can use the results to target specific needs of students. Math scores fell as they did across the state. She contributes some of the decline at MHS due to attendance issues, trying to keep students engaged, loss of learning time and loss of additional support after school hours. Kiera asked what topics were covered in MCAS math. Mary Watkins noted that it was Algebra I and Geometry. Many students lost large gaps of time in these courses. Mary hopes that by evaluating these results we can identify early markers and show what we need to do for intervention. She hopes that the results build confidence levels. She also praised her teachers for helping to keep kids on track. Page 5 of 7 Approved 11-16-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar A follow-up discussion was held regarding the presentation format, the ability to identify needs of subgroups and the process for benchmarking throughout the year. Consideration of Policy: Code Title Notes Action Motion Motio Disc Vote 1 n2 Y N DBD Budget Planning New Adopt LF JW 5-0 DJ Purchasing New Adopt DJA Purchasing Authority New Adopt DBI Budget Operation and Split old policy Revise Control DBI DBJ LF JW 5-0 DBJ Budget Transfer Split old policy Revise Authority DBI DBJ DJB Purchasing Basis for new Delete LF JW 5-0 DJ and D A FFA Dedications Revise LF JW Y - 1 5-0 Memorials & Recognitions GBEBC Gifts, Solicitations No changes Reviewed No vote from Staff GBEBD Online New; Marked Adopt Fundraising/crowd changes are LF JW funding revisions from MASC policy JJE Student Fund Raising New; Marked Adopt Activities changes are revisions from 5 - 0 as MASC policy LF JW Y - 3 amended JJEA Student Fundraising Language Delete Grades K - 8 converted to new policy JJE JP Communications and Revise 3. After some discussion this policy Solicitations was postponed to a future date. KIT Use of School Revise LF LS Y - 4 4 - 0 as Facilities amended. * Note that Jenn Walsh left the meeting at 8:57 pm right after the vote on JJE. Discussion: 1. FFA: Linda Fernando asked for clarification. For example, could a person request a bench in someone's honor? No. 2. GBEBD: Lauren asked if we needed to deny the use of student photos; it may be nice to show any donations in use. Teresa does not want student's photos to be used as advertising but it is the board's decision. It was agreed that photos would not be used beforehand on any fundraising requests but it would be ok to post photos on our social media showing students using a donated item. 3. Discussions were held on policy JP regarding the complexity of setting rules regarding publishing Fliers, fundraisers, etc. There are a lot of grey areas. Specifically items 2, 6, and 7 were Page 6 of 7 Approved 11-16-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 26, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar in question. It comes down to finding the balance of supporting our community while not taking focus away from education. It was agreed that more research was required. 4. Modify the description of school activities to include parent groups such as MESA, PAC and boosters. Fix period at end of sentence. Special Education Stabilization Fund Policy Discussion: Superintendent Murphy, Assistant Superintendent Donoghue worked with Vice Chair Cavicchi to draft a policy that would cover transfers in/out of our stabilization fund. It was noted that the policy would need to be approved by School Committee, Select Board and FinCom. Edits were made and will be brought forward to the Town Budget Committee for review. CIP 5 Year Plan: Ed Donoghue presented a draft of the 5 year plan. He provided statuses of recent items as well as some of the long term efforts. Chair O'Neil asked for some background information to be added to the spreadsheet. The Committee will meet on 11-4-21 to approve before it goes to the Town Manager. School Committee Business: Chair O'Neil asked for an update on facilities at an upcoming meeting. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Field Trip information MCAS Achievement Presentation Policies 5 Year CIP Plan Motion to adjourn: At 9:35 p.m., Motion to adjourn by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 4 - 0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 7 of 7