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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 10/08/2024Approved 11-12-24 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 08, 2024 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in person and virtually on Tuesday, October 08, 2024. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Steve Schoonveld at 6:02 p.m. Members Present: Administration Present: Steve Schoonveld (Chair) Teresa Murphy, Superintendent Jenifer Sellon (Vice Chair) Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Lynn Cavicchi Jessica Davis, Assistant Superintendent (Student Services) Jenn Walsh Ed Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Vivian Webster (arrived 6:15 pm / left 9:35 pm) Members Absent: None The chair asked for a motion to enter into Executive Session under Exception No. 4 to discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices, or strategies with respect thereto, and reconvene in open session. Motion by: Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon ROLL CALL Vote: Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye h c Jenifer Sellon aye S' " Steve Schoonveldaye- CO I Motion Carries 4 — 0 Return from Executive Session at 6:46 pm. IV —n7 1 Public Speak: Mr. Gregory Penesis asked if there would public speak at the end of the meeting to disc+i9s tggACAS results. There is no presentation of data tonight and no public speak at the end of the meeting. Administrative Reports: Superintendent Teresa Murphy informed the committee of her plans to retire at the end of June 2025. She also announced that Michael Connolly is retiring in February 2025. Teresa is grateful for all the support Mike has provided to her and the district. Superintendent Murphy provided a very high-level overview of next steps which include a meeting between her and Chair Schoonveld to discuss logistics and timing; reaching out to MASC and/or NESDEC for information on their search offerings; perhaps scheduling these groups to come to the next meeting to present their service Options. Each member took a moment to congratulate both; thanking them for their dedication and efforts in leading and shaping our district. Lynn Cavicchi stressed the importance of managing a time -line. Chair Schoonveld asked the committee to review policy CBB Recruitment of Superintendent. He noted that he wants the Superintendent appointed before the Assistant Superintendent is permanently filled. Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly announced that MCAS scores will be mailed to families this week. At the same time, the district is evaluating and putting together a presentation on district -wide results at the October 22, 2024 meeting. Assistant Superintendent Ed Donoghue noted that all projects are at or near completion. Steve asked for an update on the soccer field length. Ed responded that we are waiting on the contractor to give us a date for the field adjustments. Temporary lines will be painted on the field in the correct position for each soccer game. Regarding the budget, Ed provided a timeline for the FY26 efforts. Lynn noted that the town is moving up the process so we need to keep that in mind. Ed noted that we will adjust dates as needed but we are pretty firm on the timeline between now and December. Steve asked that the budget not only identify what we can do within the budget constraints but also include our wish list so that the public is aware of our needs in supporting Page 1 of 6 Approved 11.12-24 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 08, 2024 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar students. Ed noted that we will have that level of detail but it will be documented separate from the budget. Steve also noted the need for narrative on budget line items; the budget subcommittee can take this on. Lynn noted that DESE had previously recommended to us in a program review that both additional narrative and a financial agreement with the town are needed. Assistant Superintendent Jessica Davis announced that Tim Tichacek, our Director of Secondary Special Education, will be a featured presenter at the Massachusetts Unified Champion Schools Conference on Friday, October 11th in Devens. Tim will be sharing his experience in bringing Unified Sports Programs to both Dighton -Rehoboth Regional School District and Mansfield Public Schools. Mansfield High School currently competes in Unified Basketball, Bocce, and Spring Track. The high school also offers Unified PE, Art, and Music courses. Last year, The Special Olympics designated Mansfield High School as a National Banner School. All elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges in the country are eligible for this honor, and only 200 have been selected. Ms. Davis also provided an update on our Special Education review by DESE. At a recent meeting DESE elaborated on the level of detail required to support the review. When DESE visits on December 2nd, they will review the following: teacher licensure, professional development, community engagement, facilities, our oversight on IEPs, timelines and equal access. Additionally, they will conduct interviews and focus groups. Mr. Connolly noted that many of these concerns are being addressed in the civil rights portion of our review. There are many indicators that overlap among the DESE audits so it feels like we are constantly under review. Teresa understands the importance of these reviews but noted that these audits take our staff away from the work we want to do with our students. Student representative report: Each of the five student advisory committee members were introduced and stated a few highlights about themselves. Meghan Galante and Panagiotis Sarianides are both seniors; Andrew Fleischmann, April Haddigan and Amy Zajac are juniors. Highlights presented: continued work to expand "The Buzz'; a new approach to our project teammate class structure; improvements in both the food and efficiencies in the cafeteria; new robotics space is up and running with the goal of having a robot ready to compete in a tournament in December; flex block introduction; Homecoming week; sports and clubs are back up and running. The committee commended the students for their dedication and work. New Business taken out of order: Consideration of Field Trips- MHS Marching Band to MetLife Stadium: { Band Director Justin DeJoy presented the detail of the itinerary, cost and the impact of Diwali. Families were consulted to make sure thattherewas no impact to student's religious celebrations.- Lynn asked -Justin howthe- band identifies families in need while keeping their names private. Justin works with the Band Parents Association for funding when there is need. Lynn was concerned with the student/family names being given to a group of parents and asked the district to review these practices. Teresa agreed to look into this while noting that she doesn't want a process that makes it too difficult for parents to request help. Motion to approve the MHS Band trip to NYC and MetLife Stadium by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Motion Passes 5 -0 Consideration of Field Trips- QMS Ski Club to Pat's Peak, NH: Principal Matt McGuire presented the detail of the itinerary and cost. Motion to approve the two QMS Ski Club day trips to Pat's Peak by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Discussion: Steve asked if there is any chance of going back to Friday night ski trips. Matt noted that the cost to rent the buses for 5 or 6 weeks would be prohibitive. Lynn also noted that Friday night ski club was very disruptive to the school day from the drop off and storage of equipment to the bus loading at the same time as dismissal. Motion Passes 5 - 0 Page 2 of 6 Approved 11-12-24 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 08, 2024 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Presentation of Chapter 70 Funds: Representative Adam Scanlon updated the committee on the current state of chapter 70 funding including some recent changes made which improve funding for districts like Mansfield. He made note of the sizeable increase in aid this past year. He also noted that district enrollment declines are common across the state as young families are getting priced out of home purchases. Lynn asked Adam to explain the inflation rate cap and how it impacts Mansfield. The concern is that the gap compounds over time and we can't make up that difference. Our aid was capped at an amount that did not meet the inflation rate. Adam noted that this will require change to the state laws. However, the legislature worked hard at recent tweaks to the formula and they can revisit that again. Steve asked if Adam can provide any insight or help regarding the cost of health coverage for municipalities. Adam and Steve will meet to discuss. Presentation of Circuit Breaker Information: Assistant Superintendent Ed Donoghue presented information on how the DESE Circuit Breaker program works and how it impacts Mansfield. Specifically, the committee discussed how these funds are designated in the budget and how/when they are spent. It is not funding for us to use for whatever we want, whenever we want. The money is determined by a formula using our actual special education funding above the foundation budget. At the end of the year we report out our expenditures and then we receive the reimbursement over four payments in the next year. We must spend that money down and is almost always used to offset special education tuition costs. Approval of Warrant: General Fund Medicare Capital Revolving Food Service .Gifts Student Activity Grants Prior Year Salary & Salary & Salary & Wages Goods & Services Wages Goods & Services Wages 2025-3 26006S 2026-4 250085 2025-5 812124 816/24 8116/24 8/20124 8130124 362,986.47 336,819.03 351,375.99 422,765.24 325,178.41 2,615.20 - 2,615.20 - 2,615.20 - 1,503,763.27 - 530.835.86 85.165.24 7,454.32 41,435.15 3,379.76 49,057.73 7,172.37 10,818.00 - 2,660.61 47,474.13 1,610.20 1,118, 219.07 152,153.97 $ $ 1,623,632.48 2,015,279.40 7,172.37 48,853A4 - 9.00 _. - 3.912.77 60,434.13 19,005.00 1,117,448.08 25,503.46 1,680,480.92 1,054,264.23 Motion to approve the warrant memo dated 9-12-24 by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Motion Passes 5 - 0 Approval of Minutes: 9,248.52 33,204.13 1,109,248.08 1,528,552.07 Date 1st 2nd Discuss Vote Roll Call order/ Y/N Comments 09-10-24 Open Jenn Jenifer N 5-0 Walsh Sellon Page 3 of 6 Approved 11-12-24 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 08, 2024 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar 09-19-24 Tri-Board Jenn Jenifer N 5 - 0 Walsh Sellon Committee Updates / Old Business: Audit: Committee met last week to review the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department. Minor adjustments were made and the audit has been accepted. Also discussed the scope of the upcoming town and school audits. A new audit position needs to be confirmed. Will work with the town on a meeting date. Policy: Many policies were reviewed including health related policies. Some of these will be presented this evening while others will be reviewed a final time based on feedback. Facilities: Next meeting is October 11". The meeting time will be altered to allow for posting. New Business continued: Consideration of Robinson report card changes: Robinson Principal Ryan Gentili proposed changes to each grade report card due to the new math curriculum that we have adopted. Primarily, some skills are taught at different times of the year and the report cards will be modified to reflect this change. All changes were reviewed with the curriculum team and with Assistant Superintendent Michael Connolly. Lynn asked if the details of a "standards -based report card" can be placed somewhere on the website for families to see. At one point we did instruct parents on this new process but new parents would not have that information. Motion to approve the proposed Robinson School report card changes by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Motion Passes 5 - 0 Consideration of capital improvement projects (CIP): Last night the CIP committee met to review both school and town related requests. All but one of our requests had been previously approved by the school committee as they are carryovers from last year. The new item is the RMS Generator since this is something that was identified as problematic in early September. Jenn Walsh provided an update of the CIP meeting noting that all of our school items were approved during this initial phase. Now further review and approvals will occur before the list goes off to town meeting. Lynn noted that we had previously discussed the need to pursue MSBA funding for the J/J roof which needs immediate replacement per a recent audit. Since the roof is not on this year's CIP list, how will we address our needs? Ed noted that right now there are 3 or 4 classrooms with minor leaks. No buckets are needed in those rooms, but you can see wet spots on the ceiling and walls. It is a 32-year-old roof. Discussion surrounded next steps. The town asked that we did not submit any MSBA requests this past January as were unable to financially support by our taxpayers. Jenn Walsh requested that we revisit this and determine if we can go back to the state this upcoming January. Ed will have a conversation with the town manager on whether going forward with MSBA is a good idea. If so, the committee will need to meet soon to begin the necessary steps soon. Motion to approve the addition of the QMS generator at a cost of $70,628 and to update the amount of the J/1 Chiller to $1,000,000 by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Motion Passes 5 - 0 Update on Policies recently reviewed/no chances required: JLCEA Comfort care/DNR orders 1LCEC Allergies KBBA Non -Custodial parent rights These were all reviewed and will be marked as reviewed in the manual Consideration of Policies for Deletion: Andy Waugh reviewed policy GCJ Professional Teacher Status and recommended that this policy be deleted because all of the language is from MA General Law; therefore, not required in policy. Page 4 of 6 Approved 11-12-24 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 08, 2024 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Motion to approve the deletion of policy GCI by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Motion Passes 5 - 0 Consideration of Policy Changes: ADC Tobacco -free schools is postponed until the next meeting. Clarification needed on whether discipline is based on use or possession. 1LCB Student Immunizations and JLCED-R Allergy Plan had minor modifications which were discussed between Lynn Cavicchi and Health Director Christine Dooling. Motion to approve the revisions to policy 1LCB and JLCED-R by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon. Motion Passes 5 - 0 Update of superintendent Goofs for 2024-25: Superintendent Murphy identified her plans for 2024-25. She is asking that the committee review these goals and then provides feedback at the 10-22-24 meeting at which time she will be looking for the committee to vote. 1. Student Learning: Support the transition of new school leaders. Research shows that school leadership is second only to classroom instruction in school -related impacts on student learning. There are several first and second year administrators. 2. District Improvement: Support the transition to a new Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent. 3. Professional Practice: Complete Doctoral Dissertation. School Committee Business: Consideration of subcommittee change in appointment: Motion to approve Steve Schoonveld as a replacement for Vivian Webster on the School Needs Assessment subcommittee by Jenn Walsh /Jenifer Sellon Motion Carries 5 - 0 Discussion on upcoming negotiation assignments: We have received a letter from buildings & grounds with their intent to bargain their contract which expires June 30, 2025. The roll of the committee was discussed as well as how assignments should be made. *Vivian Webster left the meeting at 9:35 pm. Jenn Walsh showed interest in the food services negotiations; Lynn Cavicchi in Secretaries and Clerks; Steve in Paraprofessionals. The one remaining group was buildings and grounds. The timing of these negotiations are challenging as they will typically take place around 2:00 in the afternoon. Jenn Sellonstatedthat she will take this on but was unsure of her availability. School Committee Questions and Comments: Steve noted that the Roland Green curriculum night is upcoming and he plans to attend. Teresa noted that this year our students will also attend curriculum night so our parents get a sense of their daily routines. Steve is also interested in seeing how much of our school lunches is processed food. There are a group of parents who have inquired about this. Steve will tour some of the cafeterias with Ed. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Warrant Minutes Field Trips FY26 Budget timeline Chapter70 Funding Presentation Circuit Breaker Presentation Page 5 of 6 Approved 11-12-24 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 08, 2024 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar CIP listing Robinson Report Card proposal Policies Superintendent Goals Letter from Buildings & Grounds requesting to bargain Motion to adjourn: At 9:42 p.m., Chair Schoonveld called for a motion to adjourn Motion to adjourn by Jenn Walsh / Jenifer Sellon Motion Passes 4 - 0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 6 of 6