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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 06/06/2023Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in person and virtually on Tuesday, June 06, 2023. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Lynn Cavicchi at 6:31 p.m. Members Present: Administration Present: Lynn Cavicchi (Chair) Teresa Murphy, Superintendent Jenn Walsh (Vice Chair) Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Steve Schoonveld (at 7:00 p.m.) Ed Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Jenifer Sellon Vivian Webster (at 6:34 p.m.) _X 0 Members Absent: None ' "iY.v rn CAD Steve Schoonveld attended remotely. All votes must he roll call. -c :aa rn Retirement Reception: At this time, Superintendent Murphy spoke of the group of retirees for the 2022-233 c oo4ar emphasized the dedication and time of service noting that teachers do not go homelwhen We "ry students do at the end of the day and they often work during the summer. In to(Al thesetwir served 245 years for the Mansfield Public Schools. She introduced William Titus repres-Htingnl Senator Paul Feeney, Representative Jay Barrows and Select Board Member Michael Trowbridge representing Chair Diana Bren. Each person spoke briefly and read from their citations. Each retiree was recognized and brought forward for a gift and citations. This year's retirees are: Carla Booker Linda Chadwick MaryChmielecki Suzanne Dau Eileen Day Gail Geagan Melissa Leonard Deborah Loomer Susan McGinley Karen Ouwinga Karen Slarve Lee Tighe Chair Cavicchi called for a motion 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 for consideration of a Memorandum of Understanding for the Mansfield Educator Association and the Special Education Bus Drivers. Motion to enter into executive session by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon at 6:55 p.m. Roll Call Vote: Vivian Webster aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenifer Sellon aye Jenn Walsh aye Motion Carries 4 - 0 The committee returned to Open Session at 7:15 p.m. All members present Public Speak: None Page 1 of 7 Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 in Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Communications: The following letters were received: • Resident regarding how to obtain a student MBTA pass • Non-resident asking about our grant policies • Chair of Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical School regarding their FY24 budget • Emails from our high school civics students for a class room project. Administrative Rem None Approval of Warrants: None Annrnval of Minutes: Date 1st 2nd Discuss YN Vote Roll Call /comments Open Meeting 05-23-23 Jenn Jenifer Yes 5-0 Steve Schoonveld noted the Walsh Sellon need for all documents referenced during the meeting need to be documented in the minutes. Schoonveld, Walsh, Sellon, Cavicchi, Webster Exec Session 05-23-23 Jenn Jenifer None 4-0-1 Steve Schoonveld abstained Walsh Sellon having not reviewed the minutes. Sellon, Walsh, Cavicchi, Webster Gifts: None Old Business: Subcommittee Updates (Policy): The subcommittee will meet in late June to discuss priorities for the year. The committee will begin by reviewing the MASC changes proposed in their March newsletter. Field trip (MHS Performing Arts to Disnevl: This trip was proposed at the last meeting; tonight Sheila Newton will answer any questions the committee had. The students will pay a $75 deposit then the trip is broken down into four payments with the option of splitting into five payments. The last payment will be paid 50 days before the trip. Once Disney approves our application and Sheila holds a parent meeting, Academic Travel Services will order the plane tickets. Students/families will pay ATF Services directly via a check or online payment (with a surcharge.) The Band Parents Association will keep track of payments and all fundraising money. For Gillette volunteers, the BPA will pay Academic Travel Services directly into each student accounts. The last payment for that family will be reduced by money earned at Gillette. ATF will book the flights. Uniforms and costumes will be transported on the band equipment truck. Regarding trip cancellations and penalties, Sheila noted that the first deposit is non-refundable but may be transferred to another participant without penalty. Less than 60 days prior to departure, no refunds are available but may be transferred to another person with a service charge. Withdrawals must be in writing to ATF. Trip insurance at approximately $35 per person is recommended by ATF. The band equipment will be covered by the Band Parents Policy. Page 2 of 7 Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Steve Schoonveld noted that three years ago, many trips were cancelled due to COVID. Make sure that there is a contract that payments are fully refundable to parents for such reasons. Legal should also review any contracts put forward to parents. Lynn Cavicchi noted that it is not up to the district to recover costs for parents which is why she strongly advises the use of trip insurance. Lynn Cavicchi inquired about the $SO per student cost of toward the truck rental. What would be the refund policy for this money should a student back out? Sheila noted that the Band Parents Association would absorb this cost. Jen Sellon asked how fundraisers work. What if one person raises a lot of money but they have already paid for the trip in full? Jenn Walsh noted that fundraising is front loaded into student accounts so it should hit prior to any payments being due. At the end the final payment would be reduced. Motion to approve the MHS Performing Arts field trip to Disney with the requirement that students purchase travel insurance by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon Roll Call Vote: Steve Schoonveld aye Vivian Webster aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenifer Sellon aye Jenn Walsh abstained as she helped plan the trip as a Band parent. Motion Carries 4 - 0 - 1 New Business: Consideration ofIll Curriculum for Social Skills "Everyday Speech". Presenters: John Nieratko, Denise DaGraca, Josh Curry, Amy Cicillini, Anne Foster, Melissa Foster and Lauren Olson. John Nieratko: Our team of administrators and faculty are presenting a recommendation for a curriculum resource to help set schoolwide objectives for social skills, character development and citizenship. This is a three year process. Prior to COVID we saw a growing need for Tier 1 expectations for social skills citizenship. Starting in the fall of 2020 we reviewed various tools, conducted needs assessment to identify areas of improvement (staff, students, families involved) and looked at discipline data. Our team then collaborated with district leadership, established parameters and rubric for curriculum review. Lastly, we reviewed expectations from state curriculum guidelines. Denise DaGraca: There has been a tremendous amount of work by the team. The guiding question: why does J/J need a new program? Our goal is • To provide equitable access for all classes and all grades using a common language • To be proactive before behaviors occur • To have a tool box for teachers • To meet CASEL competencies as defined by DESE Page 3 of 7 Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Our team started with 6 programs and narrowed them down to three programs that rose to the top of the list. All three programs were then piloted across three classrooms gathering feedback from staff and students. Josh Curry: Three programs (MooZoom, Everyday Speech and Paths) all covered the basic competencies that we needed. Everyday Speech rose above the rest due mostly to the pre/post testing that is available and the specialization of information per grade. Everyday Speech offers great flexibility in our delivery of materials. Additionally, students were very engaged in this program. Once we chose Everyday Speech, we went to all staff to see if 1) is there a need 2) are you willing to implement. We received very positive approval. Josh Curry then provided examples of some of the lessons. Questions/Answers Vivian Webster: How will we roll this out so parents are involved? Denise daGraca noted that we will blast this information out in principal newsletters as an introduction and then ongoing to identify what strategies we are currently working on. There will be interactive sessions that can be shared. Josh Curry noted school Council has been involved so we have been getting their feedback as well. Classroom teachers will notify families on specific discussions being held. John Nieratko noted that all staff will be using a shared vocabulary. Are boundaries, conflict, healthy relationships part of this program? Denise noted that yes it does as well as having a bullying component. How do we manage success? Denise DaGraca referred back to the pre/post assessments. Additionally, we will gather staff and family feedback, review office referrals and look for a decline, verify that the common language is being used in school. Lastly we will seek out feedback from our school council. How are the thirty minute sessions integrated? Josh Curry noted that there is a lot of flexibility. Teachers can do several components all at once or break up over the course of a week. We will look at the best ways to give students time to think about the lessons and bring real life experiences. We can also loop back as needed. Denise noted school counselors and psychologists will integrate into small group, Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports. What process did we use in choosing this program? Did we identify the program and then determine an outcome or did we set the desired outcome and find a program to meet this? We identified the desired outcome and then found the program that met our needs. Jen Sellon: CASEL seems to follow the same framework as EQ 2 that is being taught at the adult level so this is great. How will this roll out to students who are not in the typical classroom? Anne Foster spoke to this noting that she has used in her small individualized settings or small social groups. She uses this with individual students during the day. There are also visuals that can be placed in the classroom. Everyone including special educators will have access these programs. Will you push out to all students including those in sub -separate classrooms? Yes, though we recognize that the methods used will vary. It can be easily differentiated. For example, a student in grade 5 can be taught at lower grade level. Page 4 of 7 Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Jenn Walsh Would students have access to videos if they want to revisit? Unfortunately, we are not able to share the videos. However, teachers can revisit a video with a student or a class at any time. This is not a program where students will enter an id and password; it is driven at a class level. Motion to approve the proposed J/J Curriculum `Everyday Speech" by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon Roll Call Vote: Steve Schoonveld aye Vivian Webster aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenifer Sellon aye Jenn Walsh aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 Information regarding the Memorandum of Understanding: Superintendent Murphy is pleased to announce that there is a signed agreement between Mansfield Public Schools and the Mansfield Educator Association. The MEA has ratified and the school committee has voted in favor S - 0 of the new contract which will be in effect July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026, Additionally, Town Manager Kevin Dumas has approved. Teresa thanked all those that participated in the negotiations. Ed Donoghue noted that the salary increases over the three years will be 2.5%, 2.7S% and 2.75%. The Special Education Drivers has not yet been ratified so this agenda item will be moved to the next school committee meeting. Update on Q4 Financial Expenses: Assistant Superintendent Donoghue presented an update on our cost center projections. At the last meeting through the 3rd quarter, the central office budget showed an approximate $30,000 deficit due to the unexpected Bristol Agricultural School assessment for capital improvements. The facilities line item is in deficit due to the unexpected spike in energy costs. Ed projects this deficit could be as high as $500,000 by the end of the 4th quarter. According to policy DBJ any transfer between cost centers which exceeds 1% of the total budget will be reported to the school committee. Mr. Donoghue met with the town accountant, Matthew Violette. The schools report one total line item to the town. It is important to note that our overall expenditures will not exceed our budget. In fact, we will still be able to prepay some tuitions, complete some minor facilities projects and return money back to the town for free cash. The overall cost of the facility repairs such as painting some classrooms, replacing carpeting, etc, will be approximately $100,000. In the past we have returned approximately $500,000 back to the town at the end of the year and we expect to exceed that amount this year. It is very unusual for us to show a deficit in any one area. Matt Violette agrees with Ed that we should not be concerned with one line item and there is no need to transfer money from one line to another. The benefit of not moving budget money is that we get a true sense of what we budgeted vs what is spent. Ed noted that at the July 18th meeting, he should have good numbers for the year end. Steve: see tape. Steve noted that historically schools have been able to move money around. Anyone watching can see that policies DBI and DBJ define how the school committee has oversight Page 5 of 7 Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar over cost center moves. Transfers cannot be done without school committee approval. For example Teresa could move money and we need school committee oversight. He requested a policy workshop and encouraged his colleagues to read policies DBI and DBJ and review MASC policies. Our financial policies need to show our citizens that we have full transparency. Our house needs to be in order as we prepare for the next 10 years. School Committee Business: Discussion on procedures for supporting town meeting articles: Lynn Cavicchi noted that it has not been the practice of the committee to review town meeting articles unless it pertains to the school such as budget, policy and oversight of the superintendent. We do not review all articles like the finance committee and select board. Steve Schoonveld requested that policy be established on the rules for opining on motions based on staff, financial or operational impact. The committee needs to agree on motions. Lynn will reach out to FinCom but is not sure when we will receive copies of the articles. Steve noted that when received, the committee needs to review each article and determine whether or not to opine. This is important as our citizens want to know what we think. Lynn does not want to go outside of school committee purview and opine on something that is not related to the schools. We have not done so in the past. Steve does not want to go by common practice and wants policy for how to proceed. Jenifer Sellon thought that it would be a good idea to meet as a committee and have a brief discussion of each item to get an understanding on whether or not the article impacts schools. Jenn Walsh has no interest in opining on items that are not in our purview. It would be similar to asking other committees to vote on school business. Vivian Webster wants to stay in our lane but be able to offer our opinion when needed. Lynn noted that it probably makes sense to identify our support/no support on articles 2, 7 and 14 which the committee has already done. Steve indicated that we owe it to our town to take up new votes with the current board. He referred to a prior article related to the chocolate factory on which the school committee voted upon. Lynn has asked that we add warrant articles to the next school committee agenda. Discussion on upcoming meeting dates: Lynn Cavicchi and Jenn Walsh had provided potential vacation dates prior to the meeting. The committee took a high-level view of next year's calendar. July 11th will be removed since it is Family Fun Night in Mansfield. In December, hold both the 5th and 12th as potential evenings to approve the initial FY25 budget. Lynn noted that in August the first tri-board budget meeting will be held with a second planned for September. Vivian asked Diane to get meeting dates from the town for the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee. Teresa asked the committee how they felt about Student Advisory Meetings being on the same day as school committee meetings as it makes for a long day. Jenn Walsh noted that she misses seeing students attending school committee meetings and hopes that this practice returns next year. The committee then discussed the advisory group further. Lynn encouraged the high school to follow through with appointing one student as an ad -hoc member of the school committee. She asked if elections had been held yet so that one final year end meeting could be held. It is unclear if that occurred. The committee was open to whatever day of the week works best for the students but noted that having the meeting in the library is a good idea as it promotes a more casual, open conversation between students and the committee. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Page 6 of 7 Approved 09-12-23 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 06, 2023 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Documents Referenced: Communications Meeting Minutes Retiree list and order of events Disney Field Trip proposal and responses to committee questions. Jordan/Jackson Social Skills Curriculum presentation Policies Dill and DBJ MOU for Mansfield Teacher Association School Calendar Proposed Meeting Schedule Motion to adjourn: At 8:59 p.m., Lynn Cavicchi asked for a motion to adjourn. Motion made by by Steve Schoonveld and Jenn Walsh. Steve Schoonveld aye Vivian Webster aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Jenifer Sellon aye Motion carries 5-0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 7 of 7