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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 09/28/2021 (2)Approved 10-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, September 28, 2021 ECE� f E© ICE In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebiu4k Ott ,S OF F An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in pert and virtually o Tuesday, September 28, 2021. The open meeting session was called to order by Chain',Kiefa 6:33p.m. Members Present: Administration Present: 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: Lauren Scher aye Linda Fernando aye Jenn Walsh aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Kiera O'Neil aye Public Speak: Public Speak is open for 2 - 3 minutes per person (max 15 minutes) for anyone who is in person or has registered via GoToWebinar. David Wilson, 14 Wildflower Lane Mr. Wilson noted that in the past a student who is out sick for an extended period of time would be provided work so that they can keep up. He expressed his frustration that if a parent does not voluntarily sign the test and stay permission slip, their child must quarantine at home and is not provided work. He says that it is discriminatory and the process must be reevaluated. He is very concerned. Chris Barrows, 36 Darby Drive Mr. Barrows reported that his son tested positive in school due to a close contact even though he was wearing a mask. He indicated that his son was kicked out on the 20th and the 21st. Dad is not even sure he really tested positive. He asked the board if they have ever been in the schools during the testing. He stated that the board is pressuring parents into authorizing the test and stay. Kids are not learning because of the masks and he was frustrated that his child was being tested every day. Ryan Barry, 11 Willis Street Mr. Barry was angry that public comment was not a discussion between him and the committee. He stated that the committee represented parents and kids. He wanted to know when there could be a conversation rather than a handing down of rules and laws. He let the committee know that a conversation about masking is what the people want. He continued to express his frustration with the process. Chair O'Neil restated that per policy, Public Speak is not a debate or discussion. Page 1 of 6 Approved 10-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, September 28, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Peter Pancare, 11 Mayhew Farm Drive Mr. Pancare thanked the committee for the work they do; stating he believes that everyone cares about the health of our children. He loves Mansfield. He believes the School Committee is doing the best that they can but does not believe they have the facts straight. We can't trust the vaccine and should not be mandating it for our children. The committee needs to do more research. Communications: None Administrative Reports: Superintendent Teresa Murphy announced that two groups have requested to begin bargaining on their contracts (Secretaries and Clerks; Buildings and Grounds). Teresa also noted that our podcasts would continue throughout the week and highly recommended everyone listens. Assistant Michael Connolly provided an update on the professional development that occurred during the half day on 09-22-21. Some of the courses included educator evaluation goals; self paced models for our para-professionals, and grade level department meetings. He reminded the committee that Friday October 8, 2021 is a full day professional day and students have the day off. He also noted that on October 13th there will be an information night for our English Learner students and their families. This will be held at the high school and families will be contacted individually. MCAS results will be made available by DESE on September 30th. Schools should have access to online results by the end of the day. We expect delivery of hard copies within a day or two and then we will determine the mailing date to parents. We expect that date to be sometime the week of October 11th. He is reviewing data and will be providing information to the committee. He asked for input as to what type of data they would like to see. The Committee will provide feedback and then the district will work on collecting data. MHS Student Representative Report: Olivia Barry is one of the members in the Student Advisory Committee. The other students are: Francesca Smith, Caitlyn Zajac, Molly McDonald, Karine Ayoub. Olivia announced that the school play this year is The Little Mermaid. Many clubs and activities are off and running which is great news after last year's slow start. During this morning's committee meeting the group discussed locicdowns and 4Ls training. She expressed her concern that she did not know about the 4Ls and felt like there should be more training. She also indicated students are not taking locicdowns and fire drills seriously. She felt it was difficult this year to stay organized as a student because the high school did not distribute agenda books. Google Keep is an option but no training was provided. Kiera O'Neil and Lauren Scher expressed appreciation for the students who participated in the Student Advisory Committee meeting with School Committee. They felt it was a good exchange of information. Superintendent Murphy provided the definition of 4L's: Locate, Lockdown, Leave, Live Page 2 of 6 Approved 10-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, September 28, 2021 in Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Approval of Warrant: Motion to approve the Warrant Memo dated 06-11-21 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Goods & Salary & Goods & Salary & Services Wages Services Wages 21045S 2021-23 21047S 2021-24 5-11-21 5-14-21 5-25-21 5-28-21 General Fund 207,526.33 1,668,227.94 856,178.46 1,951,489.25 CARES Medicare - 2,323.69 - 2,541.57 Capital 4,975.50 - 46,361.97 - Revolving 89.95 28,296.29 463.99 33,542.16 Food Service 17,210.79 20,616.33 35,098.73 22,795.95 Gifts 3,108.74 - 1,166.02 - Student Activity - - 2,807.48 - Grants 25,228.00 10,275.29 4,232.00 30,780.43 Prior Year - - - - 258,139.31 $1,729,739.54 946,308.65 2,041,149.36 Motion Carries S - 0 Approval of Minutes: Date ist end Discuss YN Vote Open Meetin 08-2 -21 LF JW N 5-0 Open Meeting09-14-21 LF JW N 4 - 0 - i LC absent; abstained Exec Session 08-19-21 LF JW N - 0 Old Business: Committee Updates: Facilities met to discuss the final status of the Welcome Windows. The project was completed under budget and was ready to go for the first day of school. The MSBA project (MHS boilers) is in the review stage and we are waiting for word on approval. Budget met as part of the town -wide budget subcommittee to discuss the budget calendar, special education stabilization fund and health care funds. The board was re -organized with Sara Walsh as Chair. Page 3 of 6 Approved 10-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, September 28, 2021 in Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Policy will meet next week to discuss several policies. Tonight some budget policies are being brought forward. Returning&Learning met with administration as well as Christine Dooling and Amy Donovan - Palmer to discuss school metrics and quarantines. It was noted that DESE extended the school mask mandate until November 1st. Our district has low numbers except for an outbreak at JJ last week. It has been quite an ordeal to test and keep on top of communications. Christine is trying to get a better sense of vaccination rates for staff and students. Teresa noted that DESE is allowing districts to survey for vaccine rates and determine if they want to take advantage of the 80% point to remove masks. We are still working on collecting this information before we move forward with a decision. New Business: Consideration of Nurse Hires: With the departure of two district nurses (Lisa Anderson retired from QMS and Kristin Haskell from J/J moved to a new opportunity), the district has hired two new nurses. Per MGL 71.53, School Committees approve the hiring of school physicians and school nurses. Heidi Waite, BSN, RN has been chosen for QMS. She is a graduate of Simmons College and has previously worked in Mansfield as a nurse sub. Stephanie Holland, BSN, RN graduated from Bay State College and previously helped the district during summer programs. She will be assigned to J/J. Motion to approve the hiring of Heidi Waite and Stephanie Holland as school nurses by Linda Fernando / by Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Consideration of student activities by school: Authorization to approve checking account balances: Max Checking Acct Balance NO CHANGE 1st 2nd Discuss YEN Vote - one vote for all schools - LF JW *1 5-0 MHS $75,000 QMS $32,000 31 $20,000 Rob $17,000 RG $10,000 *1: Lynn Cavicchi asked why the totals in some accounts were larger than the approved balances. Ed Donoghue noted that excess money is moved into savings accounts. Page 4 of 6 Approved 10-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, September 28, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Deletion / disbursement of 1st 2nd Discuss Vote Accounts* Y/N - one vote MHS Class of 2019 LF JW N 5-0 MHS Class of 2020 MHS Wildlife/CURE Club These accounts are no longer active but nol(I oaiances. Motion to approve the distribution of excess funds into the general seed account by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Current Student Activity 1st 2nd Discuss Vote Account List Y/N - one vote for all schools - LF JW N 5-0 See attached list Mary Watkins spoke briefly about AP exams. She is looking to use excess gift funds to offset the cost. It is too late for this year but may bring it up for next year. Mary also discussed the All Night Party class of 2021. This past year it became a "Senior Celebration" due to COVID. She proposes that we move forward with this name so we are not limited to an All Night Party. There was significant fund raising this spring and there is an excess balance of approximately $6000. On the other hand there was a shortfall in the actual class of 2021 funds. Mary proposes that she disburse the $6000 by taking $1000 for each of the upcoming Senior Celebration Accounts (2022, 2023, 2024) and then use the remainder to offset the shortfall in the class of 2021. Any additional shortfall would be covered by the MHS gift fund. Note that the Class of 2021 account is different than the All Night Party / Senior Celebration 2021 account. Motion to approve the distribution of excess funds from the class of 2021 All Night Party/Senior Celebration account to pay half toward the deficit in the class of 2021 funds and the remainder to be distributed equally among the Senior class celebrations of 2022, 2023, 2024 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Discussion: Lynn noted that the dollar values need to be corrected since it is not exactly half and half. She also asked which accounts should be prioritized- the paydown of the 2021 debtor the seeding of future classes. Some felt that the debt of 2021 should be cleared first while others felt that seed funding future classes should be prioritized. The committee opted to amend the motion to prioritize the seeding of new classes. Motion amended to approve 1) the distribution of excess funds from the class of 2021 All Night Party/Senior Celebration account to the Senior class celebrations of 2022, 2023, 2024 ($1000 each); 2)the remaining balance of All Night Party to pay down the deficit in the class of 2021 account and Page 5 of 6 Approved 10-26-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, September 28, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar 3) the remaining class of 2021 deficit to be covered by the MHS gift fund by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Motion to rename all current and future Senior All Night Party accounts to Senior Celebration accounts by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Ed Donoghue noted that he will perform his annual internal audit of student activity accounts in October. Consideration of Policy: The following budget policies were brought forward: DBD Budget Planning, DBI Budget Operation and Control, DBI Budget Transfer authority, DJ Purchasing and DJA Purchasing Authority. After some discussion there was some question as to which policies were new and which were modified. Also, Kiera asked how we had authority to make purchases in the past if policy DJA is new. It was decided to postpone the vote on these policies until the next meeting. School Committee Business: None Other Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Student Activity Account Listing 2021-2022 Motion to adjourn: At 7:56 p.m., Motion to adjourn by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 5 - 0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 6 of 6 N Z O a to W' K' n E E s n= eo av_ o�> �-�. ��n _� o'¢a 2 � ga do' 9 y G n q O � Q a Q �u m E 6 2 E $ '„ II „� a£a' E a . 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