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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 05/02/2023i/ Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar RECEIVED TOWN CLERKS OFFICE An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in person and virtuallyQon uesday, A 5$ May 02, 2023. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kiera O'Neil at 6:01I-qA1 S F I ELD MAS,,ACHUSETTS Members Present: Administration Present: Kiera O'Neil, Chair Teresa Murphy, Superintendent Lynn Cavicchi, Vice Chair Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching / Learning) Lauren Scher Ed Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/ Operations) Jenn Walsh (at 6:07 pm) Vivian Webster (at 6:13 pm) Members Absent: None All members attended in person; roll call votes are not required. Three members were present to start the meeting: Kiera O'Neil, Lynn Cavicchi and Lauren Scher. Chair O'Neil called for a motion to open the meeting and then enter into Executive Session 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 Lynn Cavicchi / Lauren Scher at 6:06 p.m. Roll Call Vote: Lauren Scher aye Kiera O'Neil aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Motion Carries 3 - 0 The committee returned to Open Session at 6:42 p.m. All members present. Public Speak: Steve Schoonveld, 21 Newton Street: Mr. Schoonveld asked why the committee is planning to vote on a revised public speak policy while it knows that there will be a change in members on May 9th. He felt that no decision on the policy should be made. Communications: None Administrative Reports: Teresa Murohv: Teresa provided a status update on school choice. In addition to the five students moving up to grade 10 and the eight students moving up to grade 11, there have been three applicants for grade 6, seven for grade 9 and four for grade 10. May 1201 is the last date to apply. Michael Connolly: MassCue just announced that Principal John Nieratko is the May Featured Educator of the month. John was honored for his promotion of STEM culture at Jordan/Jackson by transforming spaces to allow for new ways of teaching and learning. He has built strong Page 1 of 7 Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar relationships with staff and created an environment where teachers are supported and they know that they can take risks. Congratulations to John. Ed Donoghue: Ed announced that the 2023-24 Bus Registration is now open and we have had over 400 applicants to date. The discount rate is valid through the end of the day June 30th. The deadline for all registrations is July 14, 2023. The district will continue to advertise. Superintendent Teresa Murphy took this time to recognize Kiera O'Neil and Lauren Scher who are not re -running for school committee and tonight is their last meeting. Teresa spoke of their long and dedicated service to the community and specifically Mansfield Public Schools. Both were instrumental in leading the district through the COVID-19 school closures and subsequent return to school. Kiera has been on the committee since 2011 and Lauren since 2016, both having served on many subcommittees. Kiera has been the chair since 2016. What many community members may not realize is that during their service, they are always readily available to the district and our families regardless of the time of day. Teresa appreciated their willingness to pick up the phone anytime the district reached out. This service is in addition to their day jobs and families. Teresa thanked Kiera and Lauren and presented a set of gifts. Kiera and Lauren both thanked the committee and the district for a great experience having worked very closely together on a broad range of issues and helped to create positive change. Approval of Warrants: None Approval of Minutes: None Gifts: Working with MHS teacher Laura Brophy, Back Bay Ringers donated choir chimes to our performing arts program. This donation will create opportunities for students of all abilities to perform, connect and thrive through music exploration and performance. The chimes are valued at $1,100. Jacqueline Collins utilized a $160 Donors Choose gift card to obtain supplies for her entrepreneurship class. They will embark on a candle making project and expect to bring in over $500 of income through their efforts. Old Business: CIP: Jenn Walsh reported that the CIP committee met on their final recommendations on projects for town meeting. Lynn asked if Ed could provide a final list of the projects approved. Facilities: Lauren Scher reported that during the meeting, Matt and Ed provided an update on several projects that took place over April vacation. The department is still in need of custodians. Matt reviewed the detailed schematic design of the MHS boiler project which will start on or after May 15w when we can turnoff the heat. There has been a little bit of vandalism to bathrooms which is a hardship for our custodians. The team discussed methods of communicating the issue to parents. Kiera O'Neil noted her "final admiration" for the facilities department and their work in dramatically improving our district facilities. Lauren noted that we have now many processes in place to monitor and fix things on a regular schedule thus reducing the number of unanticipated repairs. Page 2 of 7 Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Budget: Lynn Cavicchi reported that the town budget committee met last week. The group reflected on the last year and commended the strong collaboration between the schools, town and finance committee. The next meeting will be held in August to start a timeline and guidelines for the FY25 budget. Ed noted that he and Teresa will present the budget one more time at the 5/3/23 Select Board Budget Public Hearing. Lauren noted that so much work goes into the budget but the town is not aware. Can we do a better job of communicating the process to our residents? Teresa noted that the town created a new website with all budget information including steps taken along the way. All meetings are public and can be attended by all. Budget presentations are available online. Having said that, Teresa will still bring that recommendation back to Kevin. New Business: Consideration of MHS Best Buddies to the annual conference in Indiana: Christine Riley presented the details of this trip. She is thrilled that Best Buddies are back to having the opportunity to return to this conference. It is a wonderful learning opportunity. She will be attending with one student. The purpose is to teach our executive board how to effectively run the Best Buddies program and to expand inclusion. Our team will be greeted right away by Best Buddies ambassadors and the student is chaperoned the entire trip by one of these ambassadors. Christine will attend professional development courses on site. As a side note, Mansfield is hoping to expand our Best Buddies program to the middle school. Lynn Cavicchi commended Christine on the program and how much it has grown since first initiated. Motion to approve the Best Buddies overnight trip to Indiana by Jenn Walsh / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 5-0 Consideration of MHS Performing Arts field trip to Disney (FL): Postponed to next meeting. Consideration of appointment of Teresa Murphy to RICO Board: Each year the committee votes on whether or not to approve the superintendent to the BICO board. As an alternative a school committee member is allowed to represent though no districts are currently doing so. Motion to approve Teresa Murphy's appointment to the 2023-24 BICO Board by Jenn Walsh / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 5-0 Consideration of Day of Low Attendance: Superintendent Murphy recognizes that having closed school on Friday April 9th just two days prior was an unpopular decision. She is very cognizant of the day care issues that this may have caused. Teresa puts safety first and the number of unfilled spots for teachers was concerning. If we were to have any kind of emergency situation, we would be very low staffed to support our students. As it was, there were to be many groups of students placed in the gym, cafeteria, library, auditorium, etc. due to lack of sub coverage. This was not a religious day cancellation. In the last few years, we were able to scrape by with coverage. However, there was always limited instruction on that day. Office Staff and administrators worked for weeks to prepare the best coverage. Staff that did come to school on this day would assist with covering classes or bringing in extra students. We just felt it couldn't be done this year. It should be noted that our Mansfield educators and office assistants are Page 3 of 7 Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar allowed to take off religious holidays by contract. Other staff members can take the day as personal days if they choose. Those members usually do not report the absences until the last moment. At this time Teresa opened this up to the committee for discussion. Chair Kiera O'Neil began by noting she was on the committee back in 2016 when this was last brought up for debate. The district cannot close for a religious holiday but if a school cannot adequately run a school then we can close for low attendance. It is her recommendation that we plan on a no -school day next year. jenn Walsh expressed the difficulty in making this decision. The writing is on the wall; moving forward we are unlikely to have enough staff. Her concern that it is due to a religious day so equity is a factor. Lauren Scher supports this decision out of necessity but is not pleased. It is not fair to look back at just the last couple of years. She used the example of her daughter reaching an age where she refused to miss school to attend temple on a high holy day. We cannot just look at actual attendance since many staff and students attend reluctantly. Other districts offer days of low attendance for several holidays. In the future we need to look at this holistically and decide what kind of community we want to be. Perhaps our families would rather start school in August so that we can take more days off during the school year. Vivian Webster noted that everyone should be considered. However, low staff is a big concern. We do need to look at the big picture of all holidays. Vice Chair Lynn Cavicchi said that operationally it is a clear-cut decision, but how will this be received by the community. Some families will be satisfied with our decision while others will be very hurt. How do we support all of our families and respect their decisions? Since this first came up 10 years ago, there have been many changes to our community. Students should not have to choose between faith and education. Teresa Murphy noted that this year our staff took religious holidays on 15 different days. We cannot add that many days to our calendar. Lauren noted that other districts manage this by grading the religious holidays. For example, a grade A day would be a day of no school; a grade B day would mean school is in session but no tests or homework given, etc. Perhaps we can use a similar model. Lauren also recommended that we could note on our district calendar all holidays even if we do not close. If she votes for this change it would be her wish that it is for one year and then a comprehensive review occurs. Kiera noted that our legal counsel should be involved in any decision. Motion to revise the 2023-24 School Calendar to add March 29th as a Day of Low Attendance by jenn Walsh / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 5-0 Consideration of Policy Change. IJNDB Responsible Use Policy: Postponed to upcoming meeting. Page 4 of 7 Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar BEDH: Public Speak Vice Chair Cavicchi introduced this policy which was last amended in March of 2019 based on a legal case related to another school district. At that time our legal counsel wrote new language and recommended that we (and several school districts) adopt similar language. Earlier this year the MA Supreme Court ruled that the policy language used by a MA school district was too restrictive by imposing a code of civility on members of the public. Our law firm, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, released a brief noting that school committee policies should be revised. Our policy was reviewed by our legal counsel who recommended a few changes. Vivian Webster expressed her desire to postpone this decision to when our new board members arrive. jenn Walsh noted that we cannot always wait for new members to make decisions on items. Vivian was not concerned about all decisions but this one in particular. Lauren Scher noted that this sounds like a legal issue and should be addressed sooner than later. After further discussion on each particular change, Lynn suggested that we move forward with two changes based on the Supreme Court case. However, the changes regarding the time available for each speaker will be deferred to a later date. Motion to revise policy BEDH to reflect changes based on recent rulings by the MA Supreme Court and recommendations of our legal counsel as amended tonight by Lynn Cavicchi and Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 5-0 Diane Nugent will send the revised draft to Vice Chair Lynn Cavicchi for confirmation of revisions. Consideration of Town Meeting Article 14- Citizens Petition: Superintendent Murphy introduced this article as one being brought forth by citizens of Mansfield. The intent of the article is to allow a recall option for appointed board members. There is concern that there are potential impacts to the School Committee. The writer of the petition, Olivier Kozlowski, 22 Tracy Circle, asked for permission to speak about the article. He noted that it was just recently brought to his attention that Mansfield Public Schools had concern about the article and passed out details for review. He reviewed the process for appointments as stated in the charter and noted that this petition applies only to those covered by section 5.1. This charter change would not impact any school appointments at all. Chair O'Neil summarized our legal counsel response. Notably, town meeting cannot infringe on the legal authority assigned to the Mansfield School Committee and its Superintendent. It may well be that the drafters of the petition did not indent to affect the school department. However, depending on how the article is interpreted in the future, it could be interpreted such that it infringes upon the school's authority. He recommended that the article be passed over. Mr. Kozlowski reiterated that in no way does this petition have any impact on the schools. Vice Chair Cavicchi asked why a line item was added to the petition to specifically exclude the Town Manager if that position is also not part of section 5.1. When Town Counsel read the petition, they brought up that it could be implied that the town manager is subject to the recall. Olivier agreed to amend the petition to exclude the town manager. However, now it is too late to make further Page 5 of 7 Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar amendments as it has been accepted on the warrant. Teresa asked what options were available the night of town meeting. Olivier noted that anyone on the floor can request that a motion be amended. At the meeting the moderator would lead the proceedings with legal counsel to determine if an amendment is made. Jenn Walsh is concerned that if an amendment is made on the floor our attorneys will not have a chance to review it. Lynn noted that in terms of "today" we have a petition in front of us and as written, the committee cannot support it. Kiera reiterated that we must follow the advice of counsel. Mr. Kozlowski asked for a copy of the legal opinion. She noted we vote only to what is applicable to the school. Teresa asked if there was a way to reword the petition to specifically state who is included in this recall process rather than rely on who is excluded? Olivier reiterated that it is too late to change the petition. Motion to NOT support Article 14 Citizens Petition entitled "Government Accountability Act" as currently written by Jenn Walsh and Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 5-0. School Committee does not support this article. Release of Executive Session Minutes (Informational): Chair O'Neil has reviewed the executive session minutes for 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020- 21. In addition, there were a few sets of minutes from prior years that had not been released. They include a few sets of minutes from 2007-08, 2009-10. All minutes were released without need for 08/14/07 04/08/09 03/09/10 10/10/17 09/25/18 10/15/19 07/07/20 08/28/07 04/14/09 03/23/10 12/05/17 11/13/18 10/29/19 07/21/20 10/09/07 05/05/09 04/13/10 02/27/18 11/27/18 01/07/20 07/28/20 10/23/07 05/26/09 05/18/10 03/27/18 12/11/18 01/21/20 08/11/20 11/27/07 06/21/10 04/10/18 01/15/19 02/11/20 08/18/20 03/31/07 04/24/18 02/05/19 03/03/20 09/01/20 05/08/18 03/05/19 05/07/20 09/08/20 05/22/18 03/26/19 05/21/20 09/22/20 04/09/19 06/17/20 10/27/20 11/10/20 12/08/20 01/12/21 02/09/21 02/18/21 03/02/21 03/16/21 04/06/21 04/27/21 Page 6 of 7 Approved 05-23-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 02, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar I School Committee Business: Discussion on upcoming meeting dates. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Best Buddies Field Trip Bus Transportation Registration Flier 203-24 School Calendar Citizens Petition Policy BEDH Motion to adjourn: At 8:17 p.m., Kiera O'Neil asked for a motion to adjourn. Motion to Adjourn by Jenn Walsh and Lauren Scher. Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 7 of 7