HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm Minutes 9/20/2011I
Mansfield School Committee Meetim!
Minutes for Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Town Hall, Room 3B & C
An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday,
September 20, 2011. After returning from Executive Session the Open Session meeting was reopened and
called to order by Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge at 7:37 PM.
Motion U.C. 5 - 0
Members Present — roll call vote to re -open the Open Meeting;
Mr. Michael Trowbridge, Chairman;
yes
Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, Vice Chairman;
yes
Mrs. Jean Miller,
yes
Mrs. Kiera O'Neil
yes
Mr. Jim Perry
yes
Also Present:
Mrs. Brenda Hodges, Superintendent of Schools
Mr. Edward Vozzella, Director of Finance
( Correspondence Received:
There was a request from the Park & Recreation to have judges for the Halloween Parade. Mrs. Miller has
volunteered to be a judge.
Superintendent's Report:
Personnel:
The Superintendent gave the School Committee a list of new hires and their positions for the new school year.
Most of the hires are at the high school and the middle school as well as Special Ed positions filling spots where
people have left. The Assistant Principals, nurse and principals, are our new additions to our staff. Mr. Perry
asked if they had approved a 1.5 math position because someone had left and was replaced. Mrs. Hodges said
yes, we did have someone leave at the middle school. Mr. Perry did note that the .5 position was for the
remediation piece.
Joint Strateeic Plan:
The Superintendent updated the School Committee that there was a meeting last week with Dr. Mullins, 2 board
of selectman, Mr•. Trowbridge and Mrs. Losiewicz, met to talk about what the next steps would be. The next
.tep for the schools is that we will be meeting with all of the staff to talk about what we need to do to improve
Mansfield Schools and improve them over the next 5 years. The Town Manager will be doing the same thing
with his staff, then the Town Manager and herself, along with their Executive Committee will be looking for
20 - 30 volunteer community representatives to meet with us and will be selected to serve on the Strategic Plan
Committee. The timeline is to have this completed by February. Mrs. O'Neil asked if that would be the whole
plan to which Mrs. Hodges said yes, we have a lot of work to do before February.
MCAS Scores:
The MCAS scores came out today, Mrs. Hodges accessed them through the Superintendent's Portal and she has
not had time to check to see how we stack up against other schools, but, we have made significant gains at the
Jordan /Jackson School and significant gains at the high school. The Qualters Middle School is where we
stayed pretty flat and the state actually made more gains than us. The scores did show we did better than last
year with the exception of the middle school. When we look at what we did the past few years, dismantling the
school with larger class sizes and smaller teaching time, it's no surprise that this is where we are. Mrs. Miller
asked if, as in the past, we were going to have a specific meeting regarding the MCAS, with Mrs. Hodges
saying that it will be in October. The Superintendent will have a full report and MCAS Presentation at the
October 11 th meeting. The only thing on the agenda will be the MCAS. Mr. Trowbridge wanted to know if we
wanted to have the presentation at the high school or at the Town Hall. Mrs. O'Neil noted that it could be
televised if we had it at Town Hall.
YMCA — Darkness to Light:
Mr. Tony Calcia of the Hockomock Area YMCA spoke to the School Committee regarding a new initiative
they are bringing forward with civic and community members. They will be hosting a Community Awareness
Meeting designed to bring members of the community together to discuss the issues of child sex abuse and to
:earn about its human and economic impact and what we can do to prevent it. The meeting will take place on
September 26, 2011 at noon at the Mansfield Town Hall and at 7:00 PM at the Mansfield High School library.
The Hockomock YMCA is partnering with Darkness to Light, a national non -profit organization dedicated to
stopping the prevention of child sex abuse. Darkness to Light has developed an award winning prevention
training, Stewards of Children, which is designed for adults and focuses on prevention. The meeting will
illustrate that child abuse can be prevented and that participating in the solution every adult can be part of a
cultural change.
Approval of Warrants:
The following warrants were presented and accepted by the School Committee on September 20, 2011, Salary
& Wages. #2012 -1 dated 7 -8 -2011, in the amount of $110,634.44; Salary & Wages, #2011 -2012 dated 7 -21-
2011, in the amount of $643,992.61 Salary & Wages, #2012 -2 dated 7 -22 -2011, in the amount of
$252,443.51;Salary & Wages, #2011 -2012 dated 8 -4 -2011, in the amount of $860,928.98; Salary & Wages,
#2012 -3 dated 8 -5 -2011, in the amount of $320,839.14 Goods & Services #2012 -1002 dated 8 -9 -2011 in the
amount of $505,257.34; Salary & Wages, # 2011- 2012 dated 8 -18 -2011, in the amount of $629,548.20;
Salary & Wages, #2012 -4 dated 8 -19 -2011, in the amount of $357,996.03; Good & Services # 2012 — 1004
dated 8 -23 -2011, in the amount of $306,348.78. Salary & Wages, #2011 -2012- dated 9 -1 -2011, in the amount
of $628,905.40.
( Motion to approve warrants by Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, 2 °d by Mr. Jim Perry.
Motion U.C. 5 — 0
Approval of Minutes:
Executive Session Minutes of June 21, 2011, were approved as amended.
Motioned by Mrs. Lisa LosieSVicz, 2 "d by Mr. Jim Perry.
Motion U.C. 5 - 0
School Committee Minutes of June 21, 2011, were approved as amended.
Motioned by Mrs. Jean Miller, 2 °d by Mrs. Lisa Losiewiez.
Motion U.C. 5 - 0
Executive Session Minutes of June 21, 2011, / Mediation Meeting were tabled.
OLD BUSINESS
Superintendent & School Committee Goals:
The Superintendent spoke about the workshop that was held September 13th with the School Committee and
administrators and directors regarding setting goals consistent with the work that the administrative team is
doing to move our students forward and looking at what initiatives we need to make them successful and
prepared to meet 21" Century skills. Mrs. Hodges went over and explained each of the goals.
Mrs. Miller stated she was wondering about the first statement and she thought it was going to be about
linking students achievements and performance, and this does not do that well, in my opinion. I would like
something more clear, when I read this I reflected back and looked at my notes and this doesn't really address
what I thought maybe I did not make myself clear at the meeting, but I thought we were trying, the part of the
reason for the goals is to ultimately, data collections and technology, everything that is on this list, other than
that, I guess the mandated teacher evaluations # 6 and # 7 they are directed towards the goal of increasing
student performance and that is what I thought we were looking to say in the first statement, that these are the
goals and this is how we are lining it up. It doesn't make any sense to have district wide data team if it's just not
to collect data. The data is to be utilized to address performance issues and increase performance it certainly
was my understanding and the technology plan are related to student performance and achievement. Mrs.
Hodges explained the thinking here and stated that we may need to simplify it. When we say the schools are
committed to defining a framework and best practice around 21" century skills. The 21" Century skills is what
the education throughout the country is all about now, we were looking at Mansfield Public Schools its
frameworks and the best practices, providing leaders, our teachers and the tools strategies, tools being smart
boards that they need in hand and providing them with examples and strategies, how they utilize that, how they
teach students to think critically, how they apply knowledge and use of technology and our plan will include
how our students use it.
Mrs. O'Neil said she would like to see a goal that is very simple the over arching goal is to move our, maybe
our MCAS scores or put overall achievement scores up times percents or, to have some sort of stake in the
ground, we know we have to improve, we know we want everyone to improve so, having some over arching
goals allows all these things and will lead to increased student achievement in MCAS scores or whatever we
want to here. Jim Perry stated a measurable increase. Mrs. O'Neil, yes, a measurable increase.
Mrs. Miller answered then again; I think I want it to be simplistic enough, so that I don't have to ask what does
'his mean. Mrs. Losiewiez said she was concerned about moving MCAS scores up a "certain" amount, if this
is supposed to be an overarching thing I think this is too specific, Mrs. Losiewiez thought student achievement
makes sense.
Mrs. Hodges asked when you say student achievement, then that would move MCAS scores as well as a
number of other things unless you break it down to the different populations then maybe it goes up overall but
maybe you have a subset where it doesn't. Mr. Trowbridge stated something as simple as increase student
achievement to make a statement and leave it at that? Mrs. Hodges said to increase student achievement. Mrs.
O'Neil "I still would like to have MCAS ". Mr. Perry said "Measurable benchmarks ". Mrs. O'Neil said yes,
maybe we can have some measurable bench works we can improve upon for next year and it doesn't have to be
overall MCAS scores, maybe moving some sub - groups. I thought these were measurable goals and that's an
over arching statement that determines what that is trying to do. Mr. Perry agreed with that but he still thinks
we need to reference student achievement in this and in the Mission Statement. Mrs. Losiewicz said right, but
more measurable in the Mission Statement seemed convoluted to her. Mr. Perry answered, not specific
measurable things because that's a broad statement I think. Mrs. Hodges said she thinks when you look at the
data we gather, the literacy data, we gave you information in the spring it showed the gains that our students had
made on our Robinson school, so Mrs. Hodges thinks the data will show you some of that. We have testing that
will bring to you periodically, will see that it shows that students have moved from here to there. Mrs. O'Neil
asked so we are saying that we are moving a lot of these things are goals to get its there but overall our goal is to
improve student achievement and 1 think it needs to be stated. Mr. Perry asked "how about the Mansfield
Public Schools are committed to defining a framework and best practices 21" Century Skills in order to
produce measurable improvements in student achievement." Mr. Trowbridge said good job - perfect. Mrs.
O'Neil said she assumes the Mission Statement also through the strategic plan process this is the Mission
Statement for these goals, "I assume they are for the Strategic plan with a new mutually agreed upon for the
whole community, mission statement. Mr. Trowbridge stated he liked Mr. Perry's statement, Mrs. Hodges
asked Mr. Perry to repeat his statement. Mr. Perry repeated his statement "the Mansfield Public Schools are
committed to defining a framework and best practices 21st Century Skills in order to produce measurable
improvements in student achievement." Mrs. Miller said that they need something to tie these goals into the
giant goal. I hope it will all be reflected back the mission statement, whatever you want to call it because to
collect data in and of itself is not a goal -you use that for something, Mrs. Miller was okay with that. A vote
was taken 5 -0
Mr. Trowbridge said as far as School Committee goals we need to set up a workshop so we can come up with
a list of where we want to go — so that Lisa and I are attentive with the strategic plan, that, we are moving
'orward ideas, what we as a group have determined is going to be the plan of action, and where we want to go
in the next year to 5 years. I'll be looking for short term and 5 year goals. So I am going to look at the school
calendar and throw dates unless you want to come with a date right now. Mr. Perry said to throw out some
dates so we can respond, Mr. Trowbridge said ok. Mrs. Hodges asked if she may suggest you may want to
have a little time before the MCAS to also do that workshop, possible before or after. It would be one less night
for you.
Motion to approve Superintendent & School Committee Goals I" by Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, 2 "d by
Mrs. Kiera O'Neil.
Motion U.C. 5 — 0
NEW BUSINESS
Mansfield Education Foundation Grants:
Ms. Mary Beth Cragan and Ms. Linda Fernando of the Mansfield Education Foundation, awarded grants to
seven members of the school district. The recipients were Ms. Jacqueline Prester, Entrepreneur program for
MHS students; Ms. Lisa DiSangro, Document Camera and writing tablet; Kathy Podesky, Enhancing STEM in
the Curriculum; Rayna Freedman, Controllers for additional class participation; Eleanor Vaughn, Hand Chimes;
Bill Deasy, MHS, Improving Geography Education and Robin Organ, Green Schools Summit. Congratulations
o all, and thank you to the Mansfield Education Foundation for your support.
OMS PAC & Mansfield Bank / Ryan's Story:
Mansfield High School Principal Michael Connolly and Qualters Middle School Principal, Zeff Gianetti,
presented to the School Committee, the upcoming program that will be presented to the high school 9" & 10'h
graders and middle school 7th & 8h grades, on January 23d and 24th. There will also be a parent program on
the evening of January 23`d. It is a very powerful and strong message for parents and children pertaining to
bullying and cyber bullying. Ms. Lilly Krentzman, Vice President of the QMS PAC, thanked the Mansfield
Bank for their support and Mr. Michael Connolly for securing the funds with the Mansfield Bank.
Mrs. Kristen Deberghes began the presentation of Ryan's Story. It will be presented by Mr. John Halligan,
father of Ryan Halligan, who was a 13 year old schoolboy from Vermont who committed suicide after being
bullied for years in real life as well as on -line cyber- bulling. This presentation will deal with bullying, suicide
and teenage depression and show the whole picture of how something like this affects the bullied, the bully, the
community and the people who stood by. It will show how you can change the outcome of a situation. Parents
will have the option of not having their child watch the presentation for any reason. The whole presentation
has been funded. Mansfield Bank has donated 50% and the QMS PAC provided 50 %.
Mr. Trowbridge asked if there was another website that had more information about the program. Mrs.
Krentzman then handed out an informational sheet . Mr. Trowbridge then asked Mrs. Hodges if this was part of
our Anti bullying Program to which she replied, yes. Mrs. O'Neil then questioned about the communication
level with this presentation., alluding to Rachael's Challenge. Mrs. Deberghes stated that it is unlike the
Rachael's Challenge Program, which was about the Columbine incident. The biggest concern for the parents
.vas that the children and parents were not fully aware of the extent of the presentation and that it was very
heavy. Also, when the children got back to the classrooms there was no way to debrief them. Mr. Gianetti
spoke to what was significant with this program are the materials and the plan to debrief them afterward.. We
will send students back to classrooms for conversation and if in the process there are classrooms that require
more conversation we will provide classes with more time and the counselors will be ready. A counseling staff
will attend a presentation by Mr•. Halligan prior to our presentation. This sends a strong message. Mr. Halligan
tailors his presentation to his audience, to really get his message across without getting into the some of the
very sensitive details. Mr. Gianetti did say that in another district last year it was presented to 5th through 10th
grade. Mrs. Losiewicz asked if there was any difference in the presentation from the 7th graders to the 10th
graders because with Rachael's Challenge it was more intense at the high school. Mr. Gianetti stated that the
content was the same but the presentation to the parents is much different than what is given to the children.
What is different about his bullying presentation is that he focuses on the role of the by stander and the role the
bystander plays by either enabling the bullying or not. It is a powerful message. Mrs. Miller noted that in
previous presentations she had heard in Mansfield about bullying and not about the bully themselves.
Sometimes kids do things without thinking and they are labeled a bully, doing things that have ramifications
that because of their brain development they don't understand. Does this program address any of that, not just
the victim and the bystanders but the people participating in the behavior? Mr. Gianetti said that it does. The
Significant difference with this is he talks more about the role of the bystander and their ability to report tit and
prevent it because he did not know what was going on with his son and his friends did know. Mr. Halligan talks
about the role of the bully as well. Mrs. Miller was concerned that what she thought had been missing in the
presentations is that a lot of times the students do understand that they are doing something and the kids that are
participating in this as active participants, don't understand the ramifications of their behavior both emotionally
on the people they are doing it to and also , legally. Mrs. Miller thought this was a huge piece that was
missing. When kids get in trouble legally it can follow then for a long time, because of this kind of behavior,
she was hoping we would have something to address this because it is part of the whole problem. When kids
are home on the computer they might not be thinking. It is documentM that when police get involved it's got
/ a lot of negative ramifications. Mr. Gianetti said that the presentation does talk about how a lot of this was
l done on Facebook and the fact that years ago you could go home and escape the bully's. Now, through
technology, there is no escape and it continues on outside of school. Mr. Perry then asked if the parents will
receive the information ahead of time and do a permission slip. Mr. Gianetti said that the information will be
sent home in a letter with the option to opt out of the program. Mrs. Miller noted that there had been a problem
with this before and if this was something that could be emailed home or notification on the web, because we
recently had a concern. Mrs. O'Neil said that this deserved to be emailed out. Mr. Gianetti said that there
would be time to notify parents about this, It's a strong message and we want every parent to be aware. Mrs.
Miller said she wanted to avoid what happened last year and make sure that because someone did not sign
something does not mean they are aware of it. Mr. Gianetti noted that we have until January to have
discussion about this. Mrs. Losiewicz stated that she felt by getting this message out to by standers and friends
it sends a message to the bully as well, who are often times egged on by friends, so this is important as well.
Back to School Reports:
Mrs. Joanne Jordan of the Roland Green School and Mrs. Kate Kristenson of the Robinson School, briefed the
Committee on the opening of the schools. The Roland Green had 1 I I students with 58 peer models and 53
SPED students and 7 classrooms and 14 more openings available for peer models.
Mrs. Kristenson stated that all has gone very smoothly and they had hundreds for the Open House which made
it much easier for the children on the first day. They have 14 classrooms of %2 day kindergarten and 13 sections
of grade 1 and 14 sections of grade 2. The enVisions math was up and running the first day of school and the
teachers have been trained and the Smartboards are up. A self selected group of teachers and administrators
have worked on the technology, 5 year assessment for NEASC that will be submitted by the October I"
deadline. Our technology goal has generously been met by the MESA group and the district by having
Smartboards in every classroom. Assistant Principal, John Nieratko, said it was very powerful to see the
technology implemented and to how the teachers recognize how important it is for students and to address the
2151 Century skills. The staff is fully on board. Mrs. O'Neil asked how many teachers got Smartboards for the
first time. Mr. Nieratko said 21 and how it was great to see the children interact and learn so very fast. Mrs.
Losiewicz was excited to hear about the technology and all that has happened in the last six months. Mrs.
Hodges noted how exciting it has been and once we were able to purchase and get in place, we were moving
along very quickly with our training and our teachers are all buying into it and the children are loving it.
MM
Mr. Connolly informed the School Committee that they had a great couple of weeks. The students and teachers
came back energized. He wanted to thank the Buildings and Grounds, all the administrative assistants and the
Guidance Department for all that they did over the summer to get us ready for the first of school and hit the
ground running. On August 291h he had a Leadership Meeting, which includes all the department chairs and
administrators, for a day long workshop to focus on our work for this year. Our major focus will be on four
major areas, they are our self study for NEASC accreditation, working to align our curriculum to the common
core standards, introducing new PARCC assessments and lastly to share the districts work to implement the
new state administrator / teacher evaluation regulations.
The schedule was completed in late July. Letters were sent home to confirm courses on August 1, 2011. We
were able to lower class sizes where new staff were added in science ( from 28 -22 to 25) and social studies ( 28-
30 ) to the mid 20's.
The school enrollment is 1,455 students. The grade breakdown is as follows: 9" — 342; 10°i — 356; 1 It' — 383;
and 12"' — 374. There were 67 students that left Mansfield High School. 9 moved away, 15 are attending
Southeastern Vocational and 43 are attending private high schools.
Mr. Gianetti gave the Committee a presentation of the New Initiative at Qualters Middle School:
• New Security System — Buzzed in
• Re configured school —2 new classrooms in the library used for reading and ALC — no carts
New Schedule
• Increased instructional time
• Smaller team sizes
• Academic Support Time
Response to Intervention
• Address the needs of academically at risk students
• Build capacity within the schedule /staff to support struggling students
• Formal data driven process to identify and support at risk students
Instructional Technology Integration
• Smart Boards in classrooms
• Set of E- Clickers per team
• X -2 Student Portal
• Ongoing professional development targeting instructional technology
House Model
• Alignment of administration (asst. print.), guidance and teams to organizational create smaller learning communities within
the school.
• Improved internal communication around student issues
• Improved external communication
Promotion Policy
• Clearly stated expectations for student performance
• Summer School Opportunities for remediation
Extended Day Learning
• Expanded offerings to the after - school program, funded by PAC.
• Wider offering of academically connected programs
• Summer offerings of academic enrichment
School Improvement Plan:
Jordan Jackson:
Mrs. Hodges noted that the JJ will be the first to present their School Improvement Plan. They will be showing
you how they have included the teachers and the School Council to be part of this process. The School
Improvement Plan is developed through the School Council. Some of our parents and community members
have expressed interest in knowing more about how it is developed. The School Council really is the venue for
being able to know what is going on in the school. We present the School Improvement Plan to the School
Committee because we want to share it with our Committee and community. There was a change a few years
ago where it was no longer necessary for the School Improvement Plan to be approved by the School
Committee, so we present the plan to benefit our Committee and community. With that said, Mrs. Murphy and
Mrs. Podesky along with Mrs. Caroline Bourget began their presentation. Mrs. Murphy spoke to the donation
from the MESA group of 1 Smartboard, 4 document camera's, and 4 computers to replace old ones.
Enrollment Numbers:
The Superintendent presented the enrollment members for September 2011. The total enrollment figure was
4,683. Mr. Perry requested a breakdown of the average class size.
School Physician
Mrs. Hodges recommended the reappointment of Dr. Karen Halle to the position of School Physician. Dr Halle
has been our School Physician for the past 9 years and provides excellent service for the Mansfield Public
Schools. The Committee then reapproved the medication policy. There were no changes to this policy.
Motion to approve the school physician and medication policy lst by Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, 2" d by
Mrs. Kiera O'Neil.
Motion U.C. 5 — 0
School Nurses:
In accordance with the recently revised state regulations, the employment of the school nurses should be
approved by the School Committee. The School approved the following nurses for the Mansfield Public
Schools. Pat Harrison, Nurse Leader, Christine Harrison, Betsey Savoie, Lisa Anderson, Elayne Browne,
Christine Dooling, Betsey Johnston, Nancy DeGirolamo, Sue McGinley and Debbie Wirth.
Motion to approve the school nurses V by Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, 2nd by Mrs. Jean Miller.
Motion U.C. 5 — 0
MHS Track & Field Renovation:
Mr. Trowbridge updated the School Committee about the track & field and that it will not be installed until
next year. The price could be more than $250,00 — $300,00 more than planned due to drainage and fencing
issues. The issue is do we want it as cheap as possible or improve it and do it right. Mr. Trowbridge said to put
it out to bid.
( Field Trio Approvals (if any)
The School Committee approved a field trip for the boy's basketball team to travel to Elmira, New York
December 27,28, & 29th. There will be 12 —15 team members and 4 Coaches.
Motion to approve basketball team field trip 1st by Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, 2 "d by Mrs. Jean Miller.
Motion U.C. 5 — 0
CITIZENS COMMENTS:
SCHOOL COMMITTEE NEW BUSINESS:
Mrs. Miller spoke about the cafeteria menu at the elementary schools and some of the choices may not be the
most healthy menu and asked if we could discuss it at another meeting. Mrs. Hodges said she would be happy
to have Food Service Director Dawn Langtry come to that meeting and speak to some of her concerns.
OTHER:
Motion to adiourn:
Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to adjourn the School Committee Meeting of
September 20, 2011 at 10:40 PM for the sole purpose of adjourning. A Motion was made to close the
meeting by Mr. Jim Perry, 2nd by Mrs. Jean Miller. A Roll call vote to close: Mr. Michael Trowbridge, yes;
Mr. Jim Perry, yes; Mrs. Jean Miller, yes; Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz, yes; Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, yes.
Motion UX 5 - 0
Respectfully submitted,
Mmy O. Jackson
Secretary to the Superintendent
& School Committee