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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 08/30/2022Approved 11-15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 RECEIVED In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWeb[iOWNCLERKS OFFICE 101Z NOV I b A I I: 50 An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in person and virtually on Tuesday, August 30, 2022. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kier' "` 1E51Fa M. MASSACHUSETTS Members Present: Administration Present: Kiera O'Neil, Chair Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi, Vice Chair Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Vivian Webster Jenn Walsh Members Absent: Lauren Scher ***All members in person -Roll call vote not required *** Public Speak: None Communications: None Administrative Reports: Superintendent Teresa Murphy: Mary Cotillo, Assistant Principal at QMS has accepted a position as principal in Blackstone. Jim Schiefke has had a long-time interest in middle school and has been moved into Mary's spot at QMS. Teresa feels this is a good fit and will help to keep Jim in our district. To replace Jim, we have received 15 applications for the position as well as one internal candidate who will be interviewed tomorrow. Transportation is going well and Teresa has confidence that we will have a smooth start to the school year. Our new transportation manager, Leslie Green, has worked long hours to get students assigned to buses and routes completed. Bus line ups have been sent to the schools and routes will be posted to parents this week. There was a tremendous response from parents as we had all but 100 - 200 students registered for the bus prior to the routing process. Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly: DESE has recently announced their plans to raise the MCAS passing scores needed to graduate. These will impact our incoming 9th grade class. DESE also noted that they intend to raise bar again in 2031. We will continue to follow news regarding these guidelines. Approval of Warrant: Motion to approve the warrant memo dated 8-11-22 by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Page i of 7 Approved 11.15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Goods & Salary & Goods & Salary & Services Wages Services Wages 220045S 2022-23 220047S 2022.24 5-10-22 5-13-22 5-24-22 5-27-22 General Fund 300,410.43 1,701,047.99 634,554.21 2,056,963.01 Medicare - 2,333.48 - 2,393.60 Capital - - 18,235.72 - Revolving 1,166.50 29,943.29 4,608.63 34,483.02 Food Service 43,443.64 21,393.09 42,460.32 23,937.33 Gifts 529.60 - 1,699.46 - Student Activity 58,868.10 800.00 15,474.68 3,050.00 Grants - 41,843.28 17,145.26 91,577.55 Prior Year - - 2,084.19 - 404,408.27 1,797,361.13 736,262.37 2,212,404.51 Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the open meeting minutes dated 7-26-22 by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4- 0 New Business: Consideration to Initiate All Sports Booster Club Brick Fundraiser: MHS All Sports Booster President Roberta Sullivan presented a proposal to raise money for the Boosters. The proposal looks to install a break walkway leading up to Alumni Field from the parking lot behind the MHS gym. Each brick will be purchased by patrons and can have a name and/or logo engraved on the brick. Two sizes will be available 4 x 8 at $100 or 8 x 8 for $250 with an additional cost for a logo. Ms. Sullivan provided some of the options that will be available for engraving which will include logos for many activities including sports, performing arts as well as more generic items such as a diploma, heart, etc. Families will be able to order bricks directly through our chosen vendor, Bricks R Us. Ms. Sullivan reviewed some of the prior efforts that the Boosters have led including modifications to the weight room, new trophy cases, and the turf shade system installed at Alumni Field. Money raised will be used for similar projects. The plan is to open this up every fall or at class reunions so that there will be an ongoing effort to build/expand the walkway. The actual design of the original walkway will be completed once there is an estimate of how many bricks have been purchased. Facilities Director Matthew Jacques has reviewed the proposal and is on board. Ms. Sullivan noted that this has been a significant fund raiser for other districts. Superintendent Murphy noted that we are bringing this project to the committee in two phases. Initially, we are asking for approval to start the fundraiser. Once bricks have been purchased and Page 2 of 7 Approved 11-15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar an initial design has been completed, The Boosters will return with a project proposal for your review. Questions/Answers: Kiera O'Neil thinks this a great effort as it cleans up an ugly entrance to our turf field. Jenn Walsh thinks it fits in nicely with the other improvements we have made to Alumni Field. How many bricks are needed? Teresa explained that the process is fluid as we need to see how many bricks are purchased. Vivian Webster suggested that the Boosters reach out to our State Representatives for assistance. Lynn Cavicchi asked how long the project will take to complete. Matt Jacques noted that this also depends on the number of bricks purchased and the size of the walkway. Lynn asked Roberta to come back to the committee once logistics have been completed. Motion to approve that the MHS Boosters start their fund-raising effort by jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Facilities Update and Stemmer Project Recap: Facilities Director Matt Jacques summarized the summer efforts including significant band room improvements with new storage cubes, painting, and lighting. Over 610,000 square feet of building was cleaned over 7 weeks of summer while working around classroom usage. A yoga studio was created at MHS from an old closet space. Wall mounted fans were installed in Robinson to remove the need for the oversized floor models needed on humid days. Carpets were installed in the QMS, JJ and Robinson libraries. The Robinson PA system was upgraded and a new A/C system was installed in the MHS main office. Other work included landscaping, line painting, and the clubhouse on East Street. Consideration of CIP 5 year Plan: Matt Jacques: CIP projects that have been completed include welcome windows which have decreased the number of visitors in the building and has provided an improved central greeting location with instant point of contact with visitors. The following also occurred: Bathroom upgrades at MHS; Paving in the MHS/QMS bus loop; Robinson concrete curbing repairs; JJ phase 11 lighting upgrades. There are a few items pending due to supply issues including univentilator replacements and the High School generator. Proposed requests for the upcoming fall town meeting are: MSBA High School Boiler project completion; MSBA QMS Boiler - Schematic Design and construction documents; Robinson Playground; MHS Gym Floor replacement; MHS carpet and paint auditorium. For the Spring 2023 town meeting: Special Education mini bus, paving and concrete in the QMS west parking lot. Future items were scratched from today's vote. Questions/Answers: Lynn Cavicchi asked about the univentilators and why they are not on the list for this year. Matt noted that due to delays this year with inventory shipments and our ability to manage HVAC upgrades internally we did not need to request funds this time. Teresa noted that some COVID money was also used for upgrades. Not all paving was completed, was that due to cost? Yes, cost for asphalt skyrocketed so we had to cut back on what could be completed. Robinson was cut this Page 3 of 7 Approved 11-15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar summer so will be worked on as soon as possible. Lynn asked if we can get back to her on the status of past CIP projects. We will provide a report. Matt also noted that when we find extra funds we squeeze in projects such as the bathroom upgrades. Kiera O'Neil asked about the old project for the sewer injection pump which had been brought to the committee years ago as an emergency need. Matt noted that the issues were not as concerning as originally provided to us. The district was able to re -do the enclosure and relocate some of the pumps as well as replace some of the older pumps. We believe the issue to be eliminated. When will the district upgrade other bathrooms? Matt noted that over the next couple of years as funds are available and as needed will seek out CIP funds. Motion to approve the CIP plan for Fall 2022 and Spring of 2023 by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Consideration of QMS Handbook Changes: Principal David McGovern presented. He thanked The Committee for allowing him to offer this late change. He explained that the role of the team liaison has changed over time. He does not intend to eliminate the position; however, QMS will no longer have this person be the only contact for parents. The hope is that this will help streamline responses to parents. He has worked with technology to setup one email address per team. Any emails to this address will be automatically distributed to the team staff. Kiera asked how the team will coordinate responses. Dave noted that teams still meet often and anything that requires a coordinated response will be worked out at these meetings. However, if a teacher can quickly provide a response then that teacher will do so. Since contact instructions are in the handbook, the proposal requires a handbook change. Motion to modify the QMS Handbook for new team contact information by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Consideration of Revised Incident Reporting Form: Principal David McGovern presented an update to a proposal he brought forward earlier in the summer. As a refresher, DESE has propose that districts have one method of reporting any and all incidents to staff. School administrators will then determine the appropriate course of action based on the information provided. It may be investigated as bullying, Title IX or as a straight forward discipline issue. However, students and families no longer have to determine which form to complete. The new form will be found on the district and all school home pages. In addition, an anonymous phone line will be created for each school. Questions/Answers: Vivian Webster asked if there could be a checkmark on the form for a student to indicate whether or not is bullying, etc. Dave noted that it was a conscious effort not to do so since students and families are not always able to categorize an incident correctly. What happens when we categorize an incident? There are times when a parent thinks it is bullying but we find that the incident does not qualify as bullying. The parent is often upset at first but as we explain the situation, we can typically calm the concerns. It was noted that there are times when a non -bullying consequence is more severe than one stemming from bullying. Page 4 of 7 Approved 11-15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Kiera asked if it is one form for everyone? Yes, one form but there will be cases when a staff member or parent will assist with the form completion. If a parent or student calls or emails us, we will convert that information to an Incident form. Motion to approve the new District Incident Reporting Form by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Consideration of Policy changes related to Cite new Incident Form: The above changes require modifications to our policies. JICFB Bullying Prevention and Intervention JICFB-R Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan JICFC Teen Dating Violence These will all be modified to remove references to the old bullying form; refer to the new form and revise some procedures as recommended by Felicia Vasudevan of MHTL law firm. JICFB Forms Bullying Reporting Forms will be deleted and removed from policy page. The new Incident Forms will be available on our website and in all school offices. Motion to approve changes to JICFB, JICFB-R, JICFC and delete JICFB Forms by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Consideration of New School Nurses: Two new nurses were hired for the Jordan/Jackson School. Teresa reviewed their backgrounds. Per MGL Chapter 71, Section 53, School Committees appoint school nurses. Motion to approve Courtney Cogliano and Aimee Reber as school nurses by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Consideration of Revised Mansfield Public Schools Organizational Chart: The Transportation Manager was added under the Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations. There was one title change from Director of Digital Learning to Director of Instruction and Assessment. Motion to approve the changes to the Mansfield Organization Chart by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 Consideration of Revised Memorandum of Understanding: These documents have not yet been signed by the bargaining units and will be postponed until a September meeting. Page 5 of 7 Approved I1-15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar End of Year Evaluation of Superintendent Teresa Murphy: Each member of the committee completed an evaluation which was summarized by Kiera O'Neil into one consolidated evaluation. Ex -committee member Linda Fernando completed an evaluation up through the last day of her term (May 11.) New member Vivian Webster completed an evaluation from May I 11h through June lst. Significant progress was made on her professional practice goal. Teresa met both her student learning goal and district improvement goal. Her overall Summative Performance was marked as proficient. Further breakdown appears in the evaluation document. All members had high praise for Teresa's work and dedication over the last year. Having completed the review, Kiera O'Neil asked for a motion to enter Executive Session Under Exception No. 2, To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel. Motion to enter into executive session by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi at 8:36 p.m. Roll Call Vote: Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Vivian Webster aye Motion Carries 4 - 0 Return from Executive Session into Open session at 9:10 p.m. Consideration of Superintenden t Teresa Murphy Contract. The calculated increase was determined as follows: Existing Salary of $197,342 Increase of 3.89% for a new salary of $205,018.00 The committee and Superintendent agreed to add 1 year on the contract through June 30, 2026. A Motion to approve a new contract for Teresa Murphy starting July 1, 2022 with an annual salary of $205,018 and with a revised end date of June 30, 2026 by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4 - 0 School Committee Business: Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Page 6 of 7 Approved 11-15-22 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 30, 2022 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar District Incident Reporting Form Teresa Murphy end of year Evaluation CIP Plan Motion to adjourn: At 9:16 p.m., Kiera O'Neil asked for a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn by jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Carries 4-0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 7 of 7