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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm Minutes 5/27/2014Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, May 27, 2014 Town Hall, Room 3B & C An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday, May 27, 2014. After returning from Executive Session the Open Session meeting was reopened and called to order by Superintendent, Mrs. Brenda Hodges at 7:35 PM. , to bring the Board into Reorganization. Motion U.C. 5 - 0 Members Present — roll call vote to re -open the Open Meeting: Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, yes Mr. Wayne Smith, Jr. yes Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi yes Mrs. Linda Fernando yes Mr. Michael Trowbridge yes Also Present: Mrs. Brenda Hodges, Superintendent of Schools Mr. Edward Vozzella, Director of Finance The Superintendent, Brenda Hodges, opened the meeting to bring the Committee into reorganization. Committee Reorganization: The School Committee annually votes to choose new leadership for the Committee for the new school year. Mrs. Kiera O'Neil nominated Mr. Michael Trowbridge to become Chairman with a 2nd from Mrs. Linda Fernando, Motion passes 5 — 0, Mr. Michael Trowbridge is Chairman of the Mansfield School Committee. Motion U.C. 5-0 Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi nominated Mrs. Kiera O'Neil as Vice Chairperson with a 2nd from Mrs. Linda Fernando. Motion passes 5 — 0, Mrs. Kiera O'Neil is Vice Chairman of the Mansfield School Committee. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 Mrs. Hodges announced that Jordan Jackson Principal, Mrs. Kathy Podesky, will be leaving Mansfield for Barnstable as Principal of the Horace Mann Charter School. We wish her the best of luck in her new school. Spotlight on Students: Scout of the year —Timothy Elofson 11— MHS Senior Timothy Elofson was introduced by VFW Post 3264 Commander, Mr. Jim Morrissey. Timothy has be selected as the Department of Massachusetts VFW Scout of the year state winner and now will be judged by all the other states for the national competition top prize of a $5000 dollar college scholarship. Timothy is from troop 17 and did his Eagle Scout project was to landscape the flagpole area and ceremonial fire pit at the Mansfield Airport. APPROVAL OF WARRANTS The following warrants have previously been reviewed and signed by the School Committee and will be read into the minutes at the meeting as follows: Warrants Warrant #'s Dates Amount Goods & Services 2014 -1035 04/01/14 611,305.81 Salary & Wages 2014 -21 04/11/14 1,480,365.26 Goods & Services 2014 -1038 04/15/14 438,470.27 Salary &Wages 2014 -22 04/25/14 1,478,136.87 Goods & Services 2014 -1040 04/29/14 290,418.67 4,298,696.88 Chairperson, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the Warrants. A motion was made to approve the Warrants V by Mr. Wayne Smith, 2nd by Mrs. Linda Fernando. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 APPROVAL OF MINUTES School Committee Minutes of April 8.2014 The School Committee Minutes of April 8, 2014 were approved. Chairperson, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the Open Session minutes. A motion was made to approve the minutes of April 8,2014, 1sI by Mr. Wayne Smith, 2nd by Mrs. Linda Fernando. Motion U.C. 4 — 0 — 1 Mr. Smith was not at that meeting. OLD BUSINESS Budget FY 14 Update: Mr. Vozzella noted that they were working on the year end encumbrances. The rules are that you have to have all your goods and services completed by the end of June and invoiced by year's end. Mr. Vozzella was still confident that he would be giving money back to the Town. Mr. Vozzella then gave a brief breakdown on Capital items starting with the Robinson window project and we will be meeting in the next few days to begin the planning for that. The materials are just about complete and the phase 1 product is ready to be shipped within the next week or so. The roof vents and gym floor bids will be opened tomorrow and we will schedule both of them this summer. We are working on the high school bleachers with a company from the Ste bid and Foxboro used and were quite satisfied. The lockers that were ordered are the same as the ones in the modular's and have stood up very well. Bernadette was looking at the specs for the new bus. The only three remaining things we have not begun to work on are the Library updates, the Roland Green repairs and the WIFI Feasibility Study. Sub Committee Updates: Nothing to report at this time. Audit Committee • CIP • Budget Subcommittee Policy Subcommittee Gym Bleachers Vote The high school Basketball Coach, Michael Vaughn was looking for permission to go forward with a project to add more bleachers and reconfigure the set up in the gym through a fundraising effort. Mr. Vaughn met informally with Building Inspector, Jack Ricco, to see what would be required for the gym occupancy. Mr. Vaughn is requesting to add bleachers to the high school gym at either end base lines and reconfigure the bleachers so that fans will not walk in front of the Coach and players during the game, but will walk behind the players. This proposal also includes anew scores table and the purchase of high quality chairs for the players of not only the Basketball teams but the Wrestling and Volleyball teams as well. The plan, if approved, is to be funded through donations and fundraising. Mr. Trowbridge was concerned about the signage. Once you decide what the signage is and where it's going to go into the gymnasium, we would like it to come back to us for approval . We cannot have anything alcohol or tobacco related. Mrs. Cavicchi was also concerned about the signage. In the past there have been very generously donated items but we have never actually had an outline of what an advertising sponsorship was , where there is a length of time that we are agreeing to have sings hung up in a public building. Mrs. Cavicchi felt that this was something that we would have to think through. Mr. Vaughn said he had discussed this with Mr. Russo and it would be a five year agreement and put up during the school year only. It would be placed on a banner with all the sponsorships on it and the levels would maybe give you more space on the banner. This would only be designed and done for your approval. Mr. Trowbridge did note that we have had a precedent where banks have put their logo's up but it hasn't been for just five years it's been for ten but felt that it was something that could be worked out. Mrs. Cavicchi asked that she would like to have the plans for the advertising comes back to the School Committee and that we really need to think it through. We don't have a policy for this and would rather not just decide to do this . Mrs. Cavicchi had no objections to what they were proposing with the facility, it seems to make sense, but how we recognize donors we should think through. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion. A motion was made to vote to support this project for adding bleachers with the contingency of coming back for final approval of signage at a future meeting. Ist by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, 2nd by Mr. Wayne Smith, Jr. Motion U.C. 5-0 Mr. Trowbridge added the caveat that we are not losing a significant amount of bleacher space. MIA — POW Seat in Bleachers: MHS Principal, Mr. Michael Connolly, spoke to the request from the Mansfield Gridiron Club to place a special MIA / POW "black" seat in the football stands that will be a permanent seat which sits empty at all of the games to honor our military. This seat will be specially designed and permanently installed by the organization to show support and recognition of our country's soldiers and veterans that have been classified as MIA or POW. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the "Black Seat" to honor our MIA's and POW's . A motion was made to approve ls' by Mr. Wayne Smith,Jr. 2nd by Mrs. Linda Fernando. Motion U.C. 5-0 Student Handbooks MHS Assistant Principal, Dawn Stockwell, presented the School Committee with the current changes being made to the student handbooks. There were minor changes to be made to the middle school handbook. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge called for a motion to approve and accept the changes and revisions to the MHS handbooks. A motion was made to approve and accept the handbooks I` by Mrs. Linda Fernando, 2nd by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 Robinson Elementary Assistant Principal, Tara Boening & JJ Assistant Principal, Sarah Duggan, presented the School Committee with the current changes being made to the student handbooks. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge called for a motion to approve and accept the changes to the JJ & Robinson Elementary handbooks. A motion was made to approve and accept the handbooks 1" by Mrs. Linda Fernando, 2nd by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 The School Committee requested that all the schools use the same wording in their handbooks regarding religious observances and that all forms should be consistent among the schools. As far as cell phones are concerned, at any age level, they are to be off and out of the way. Mr. Trowbridge began a discussion with Mr. Connolly, Mrs. Stockwell and Ms. Karidoyanes regarding the scoring of the National Honor Society. Mr. Trowbridge expressed his concern regarding the issue of the National Honor Society and looking to making it weighted. Mr. Trowbridge felt that we were doing a disservice to our kids if we raise our standards so high to be on the National Honor Society that they can't compete against area schools that may not be as high as ours yet are part of the National Honor Society. It makes a big difference for a student to be able to place this on their resume for college. School Choice: �4� Per State Department regulations the School Committee is required to vote on the acceptance or rejection of School Choice each year. The School Committee voted not to allow School Choice in Mansfield for the 2014 — 2015 school year. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to not allow School Choice in Mansfield. A motion was made to 1st by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, 2nd by Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 Appointment of Superintendent: Appointment of Superintendent to BICO Board of Directors As required by the new Massachusetts State Regulations, Chapter 43, all Collaborative Board of Directors must be appointed annually by their local School Committees. Mrs. Hodges requested that the Committee reappoint her to the Bi- county Collaborative Board of Directors for the 2014 — 2015 school year. The superintendent of each member district is required to represent the district on the Board of Directors. Mrs. Hodges is currently the Chairperson of the BICO Board. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to reappoint the Superintendent to the BICO Board of Directors. A motion was made to 1st by Mr. Wayne Smith, 2nd by Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 ( BICO Capital Improvement Plan: Capital Improvement Policy for Bi County Collaboration A Capital Improvement Plan is required under the Educational Collaborative Laws and Regulations, 603 CMR 50.00, adopted by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in January 2013. It is also required that 213 of the School Committee must approve the proposed Capital Improvement Plan for the Collaborative. Mrs. Hodges requested that the Committee approve the proposed Capital Improvement Plan for the BICO Collaborative. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the BICO Capital Improvement Plan. A motion was made to 1st by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, 2nd by Mr. Wayne Smith. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 School Committee Meeting Dates 2014 — 2015: The School Committee approved the proposed dates for the 2014 — 2015 School Committee dates. These dates are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the School Committee dates for 2014 — 2015with the exception of August 19, 2014.. A motion was made to 1st by Mrs. Linda Fernando , 2nd by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 Policy Updates: Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi and Mrs. Linda Fernando, the District Policy Sub - Committee, presented the rest of the School Committee with new, updated and revised district policies. Mrs. Cavicchi and Mrs. Fernando have labored hard to begin the process of weeding through the policies and updating them for presentation and approval from the School Committee. The Policy Sub - Committee recommendations for policies added or revised are: Section A— AA, AC; ACA; ACE; AD; ADA; ADB; ADC; ADDA; ADF & ADF -R; AE; AEC; Section B— BDG; BGC; Section G — GBED; Section J — JICG; JJIF & JJIF -R; JLCCB; JLCD & JLCD -R, JLCE. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the policy BDG, a policy that would allow us to approve all of the policies in one meeting. A motion was made to 1st by Mrs. Linda Fernando, 2nd by Mrs. Kiera O Neil. Motion U.C. 5-0 Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to waive the reading of the policies, updates and revisions to the District Policy. A motion was made to approve waiving the reading 1st by Mrs. Linda Fernando, 2nd by Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi. Motion U.C. 5-0 Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve all of the policies, updates and revisions to the District Policy. A motion was made to approve all policies 1st by Mr. Wayne Smith, Jr.; 2nd by Mrs. Kiera O Neil. Motion U.C. 5-0 Field Trins High School French teacher, Gerard Benoit, would like to take the MHS French Club on a field trip to the Breakers and Marble House Mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to approve the French Club a trip to Newport, Rhode Island. A motion was made to 1st by Mr s. Kiera O'Neil, 2nd by Mrs. Linda Fernando. Motion U.C. 5 — 0 Updates from Principal Michael Connollt MHS Principal, Mr. Michael Connolly, updated the Committee on the recent events at the high school. The Special Olympics were wonderful. This year Senior Janet Maher was in charge of the Special Olympics. It was a wonderful event for our student athletes. The Prom was attended by 630 — 650 students and all were transported on buses. It was a fantastic night and a wonderful night was had by all. Scholar athletes Lauren Beecher and James Cooney were honored by the league at a breakfast with �6� other scholar athletes as well as principals and Athletic Directors from around the league. The Track Teams, boys & girls, won the Hockomock League, great job done, and the school play, The Wedding Singer, was a big hit! It is a very busy and productive time of year. The district wide art show brought in lots of color to our school with all their beautiful work. The concert was a fitting tribute to Peter Conti for the 35 years and to still enjoy teaching the kids is great. Matt McGuire went through the interview process and will be the next band director. CITIZENS COMMENTS None SCHOOL COMMITTEE NEW BUSINESS Mr. Trowbridge noted that we will be having Mrs. Hodges' evaluation coming up and the big question is if the would do this online with baseline edge or all the paper. The Committee felt they were quick learners and they would try this. The main glitch would be that they all would have to use the same computer not individual ones which would pose a problem. So the decision was made to go paper. Mr. Wayne Smith congratulated the Percussion Ensemble and the Color Guard. This is the first time the Color Guard went out to the World Guard Competition and they competed against 120 groups and they finished around 6o1h , which is pretty good for their first time out there. The Percussion finished 2nd out of eighteen groups. OTHER Motion to adjourn: Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to adjourn the School Committee Meeting of May 27, 2014 at 9:30 PM for the sole purpose of adjourning. A motion was made to close the meeting 1st by Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi, 2nd by Mrs. Linda Fernando. A Roll call vote to close: Mr. Michael Trowbridge, yes; Mrs. Lynn Cavicchi, yes; Mrs. Linda Fernando, yes; Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, yes; and Mr. Wayne Smith, Jr. Motion U. C. 5 — 0 Respectfully submitted, Mary O. Jackson Secretary to the Superintendent &School Committee 1g- action i'olieies were ri�yi�ed /��seclJde>~eloped; ltd �oiisulta#lon,wth Mark Vil�onf H� �irec�or and Policy Sub- Committee`Recommendations - April 8,161 AA`SCliool District Legal Stausi Recommendation: reviewed; no'.changeg ADF &!ADF -R- Student "Health and Wellness Recommendation R6A6wed no changes) Reformatted to separate,into'policy andlrotocol BGG PolicvRevision and Revie Recommendation: Revise Po_li_ey, Reasons; Define role of policy subcommittee in revision and review process JLCE "Comfort Gare1p= Do'Not Resoscitafe (DNR) Poli eo Recommendation:"*6pf*"O' lacy? 110-