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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm Minutes 10/11/2011Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday. October 11, 2011 Town Hall, Room 3B & C An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to open the meeting. A motion was made by Mrs. Losiewicz, 2 "a by Mrs. Kiera O'Neil, with a roll call vote and called to order at 6:35 PM by Chairman, Nh•. Michael Trowbridge. The Open Session meeting will be reopened and called to order by Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge after the Strategic Plan meeting at 7:30 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, Arrived late Mrs. Kiera O'Neil yes Mr. Jim Perry yes ( Also Present: Mrs. Brenda Hodges, Superintendent of Schools Mr. Edward Vozzella, Director of Finance MEETING Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called the meeting to order. Mr. Trowbridge stated that Dr. Mullins will not be coming tonight, it was Mr. Trowbridge's error, and Dr. Mullin will now meet with us next week at our next meeting of October 18, 2011. Mr. Trowbridge explained that as a Committee we will still be having a discussion on the Strategic Plan tonight among ourselves. Mrs. Hodges handed out copies of the Master Plan work schedule from Dr. Mullin. The Superintendent did mention that she had posted an invitation on the web looking for any parents that would like to be a part of the Strategic Plan Committee process. Interested individuals are asked to send her an email indicating why they want to serve on the committee and a brief background review. Once we have received the applicants, we will send them on to the Executive Committee and they will select 20 — 30 people to be combined with both town and school representatives. The Superintendent put a closing date of October 17`h, asking people to please let her know if they are interested. On Thursday, the Superintendent will be meeting with her principals and directors in her weekly Leadership Meeting, to go over what they see as needing to be put in place to improve the Mansfield Public Schools. Mrs. Hodges stated that they will then have her principals and directors reach out to their staff to get their input so that ultimately we will include all staff from all Schools. This includes everyone, which is step D in the Master Plan. On step E, Dr. Mullins has asked to come up with 5 communities with whom we would like to be compared. Shawn Burke had put together a list where he looked at the population, low crime rate, property values, high MCAS scores, and suggested that these were communities or towns that he believed to be comparable to Mansfield. So we've been asked to select about 5 of these districts we agree Mansfield could compare favorably. Mr. Trowbridge asked if these picks were to be more like Mansfield or where we wanted to be. Mrs. Hodges indicated that Mr. Burke actually picked districts that he felt were similar to Mansfield and Dr. Mullin said that we could select ones that we would like to be compared to. Mrs. O'Neil stated that she found the list surprising and Mrs. Miller echoed the same thing and thought that we might like to compare ourselves to some other local communities. Mrs. O'Neil said that she would like to think we could compare ourselves to some of the ones on the list. Mrs. Hodges noted that she thought that Dr. Mullin would like you to do just that and aim high, rather than necessarily comparing ourselves just locally. This is what we are striving to do. Mrs. O'Neil thought that that was a good clarification because if we want to pick five that we want to be like, then that's different that what I think we're like. Mrs. Losiewicz stated that she was not sure what image she has in her head about what these towns were like, but she wouldn't mind doing some checking on their population and other information because she did not feel qualified at this moment to make a decision without some research. Mrs. Hodges replied that this was the reason she gave the information out again tonight, to get a feel for it. This is not something we have to do tonight. Mr. Trowbridge said that he wanted to talk about this before Dr. Mullin came in because he is going to ask us these same questions and we could waste half an hour discussing that question. It's good that we can look at a list and come up with our own list. Individual members may have completely different names. Mrs. Losiewicz agreed and said they could go over their lists. Mr. Trowbridge said that he looks at Medfield as a district right above us which is achievable. He looks at Wellesley as not achievable, we can't ever spend the kind of money that they can on their kids. Mrs. O'Neil also mentioned Lincoln, Wayland or Sherborn. Mrs. Losiewicz asked if they could do some homework and come back on Tuesday. Mr. Trowbridge agreed and thought that would be great, if we come back with our different lists so that when we meet next Tuesday. Maybe there could be 2 or 3 of the same schools on people's lists. Mrs. Hodges noted that the choice does not have to be on this list, it could be a combination, just so that we can begin the process. Mr. Trowbridge did say that Dr. Mullin will ask where we see our schools in the future. Please keep in mind that we need to come up with goals that are obtainable and measurable so that if you go on line to other districts they all have different goals of what they want to be. Chairman Trowbridge then asked what were some of the goals that the Committee had in mind for the next 5 years. Mr. Perry said certainly are striving for excellence, he thought that our technology staff did a remarkable job with the minimal resources they have, and that we should try and expand our technology department so that we have the manpower to do the job. Mrs. Losiewicz agreed and thought that Lori Letendre did a tremendous job. Mr. Trowbridge agreed on that as well. Mrs. Miller asked if we were looking for goals for the district or goals for the School Committee with Mr. Trowbridge stating for the district. Where do we want to be 5 years from now? Part of the district is the School Committee, do you want to see more training for us, and it could still be part of the 5 year plan. Mrs. Miller stated that first she would like to see restoring the foreign language back at the middle school. It is important and something that we have lost. She stated that she would like to see it restored to where it once was with exploratory in the 6th grade and 7 th & 8th have foreign language classes for all students. Mrs. Losiewicz noted that if we can dream, she would like to see Latin back in the schools. Mr. Perry would like to see a well balanced academic program without focus just on the MCAS subjects. I think we owe our kids more than educating them in math and science and language ails. Mrs. O'Neil stated that she would like additional enrichment throughout the district, from elementary on up and go beyond the drill of the MCAS. Maybe it's foreign language at the elementary school, additional enrichment beyond the basics. Mr. Trowbridge said that he likes restoring the basics but what about the cuts, like AP, we've cut a lot compared to what we used to offer. If that's a goal of the Committee and restoring programs is one, there are a number of different programs we can list under that. Mrs. O'Neil felt it was not just restoring it for the sake of restoring it because of what we cut, but looking at what other programs we can add. Mrs. Losiewicz added that it would be like taking a fresh look at what we have. Mrs. Miller said she would like to see better utilization of the libraries, we have beautiful libraries. Mr. Trowbridge noted that it was reflective of the staffing as to why they were not using it as much. Mrs. Losiewicz mentioned the kids walking around with heavy backpacks and huge textbooks, and I know it's costly but do you foresee in the future the use of the I Pads for the books, is this something we could look at? Mrs. Hodges replied that all of the new textbooks are on line so you can access them through the computer, each child can be given a disc, that is available right now, Mr. Trowbridge added that it is not for all books, Mrs. Hodges continued that it was just the newer texts, we have it in our literacy and math programs, the science programs. Mrs. Losiewiez said that in the chemistry 10 honors they were not sure if it was available on line or not. Mrs. Hodges, that is certainly a goal, Mr. Perry added it was a fairly new purchase, I am surprised that it isn't. Mrs. Losiewiez finished by saying so you think we don't need it because we have it online? Mrs. Hodges stated that as we purchase new text books they are going to be, but we are using some text books that are several years old just because we can still utilize them and its money we did not have to spend there, so those would not have it, but the new ones do have it. Mrs. Losiewicz then stated that as we replace we will get there anyway. Mr. Trowbridge said that he realizes that over the past few years the cut the SAT Prep, we still offer it but you have to pay for it and go at night, it puts a lot of kids at a disadvantage and it would be nice to see a program like that put back in during the day. Mrs. Losiewicz mentioned that it would be good for the kids that can't afford it or can't make it at night. Mr. Perry spoke to the comment about the I Pads as being about the whole technology package that he spoke about earlier to move ahead. Mr. Trowbridge said that some kids are leasing or loaning their I pads and some places are making it affordable to get them. Mrs. Hodges noted that there are grants out there for low performing schools and they are utilizing a lot of the money for I Pads. In some schools that are able to afford it they're getting them for certain group of kids or classes, she did not think that there were schools just buying I Pads outright for the students, but if you look at the schools receiving a lot of title money, those schools are putting them in place. Mrs. Hodges did think that this was the direction that it would go in the future. Mr. Trowbridge asked the Committee how they felt about Professional Development, either for the district or for the Committee, or school culture. Mrs. O'Neil thought that school culture was really something that should be looked at as creating a district that that people are excited about and to be a part of and the whole community spirit, with school culture from elementary all the way up is very important. I believe it's that part of the parent — school involvement and what does the school system look like that we send our children to? Mrs..Hodges said that she thought that is where the group will come together for the town and the school will have a lot of brainstorming in this piece of the plan to create this school and town culture. Mr. Trowbridge named more of the topics such as facilities, organization and operations, whether its consolidation of any service that we provide. If anyone thinks of anything else you can share it — believe whatever we come up with will only be the beginning. Once he has all these groups meeting together they will come up with 100 goals and we are going to see what we are going to accept as our long term goals. Mrs. Miller also wanted under restoring was the elementary music program and that it was quite a loss and it would benefit everybody to be brought back. Mrs. Hodges noted that the common thread here was funding and that the loss of these things was due to funding so part of our plan will be to look at our schools & town and look at how we can fund whatever priorities we come up with in the action plan that can support the priorities for both the town and schools. Mrs. Miller then mentioned that there had been an article in the paper about school lunches and nutrition. Mrs. Hodges said that she would have our Director of Food Services, Mrs. Dawn Langtry, attend the next School Committee Meeting and update the Committee on our food service department. Motion to adiourn: Chairman, Mr. Michael Trowbridge, called for a motion to adjourn the School Committee Meeting of October 11, 2011, at 9:05 PM for the sole purpose of adjourning. A Motion was made to close the meeting by Mr. Jim Perry, 2 "d by Mrs. Lisa Losiewicz. 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 U. C. 5 - 0 Respecyally submitted, Mary 0. Jackson Secretory to the Superintendent & School Committee