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Home My WebLink AboutSchool Committee 10/18/2016Approved 11-1-16 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Town Hall, Room 3A&B � RECEIVED EI I:Wr�S OFFICE An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held at the Tow j �11L sdp, 10: 4l October 18, 2016. The open meeting session was opened and called to orde 00 Jb�y era �Y}} Neil at 7:00 Inn. ��4.LIJ , »EJ' I S Members Present: Also Present: Kiera O'Neil, Chair Zeffro Gianetti, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi, Vice Chair Teresa Murphy, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Fernando Edward Vozzella, Director of Finance and Operations Lauren Scher Jenn Walsh Members Absent: None Video Taoine: Dana Hourigan,15.Evans Circle COMMUNICATIONS: Letter from Parks & Recreation regarding Halloween Parade was introduced. Teresa Murphy has volunteered to judge and jenn Walsh has volunteered to be a parade leader. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT: Mr. Edward Vozzella is retiring as of June 30th after 10 years on the job. Zeff Gianetti and Kiera O'Neil thanked Ed for his service. Ed Vozzella has enjoyed working with all members of the district and the committee over the years. ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT: Professional Development: Approximately 30 people will attend the MASSCUE conference over two days. On the early release day, October 19th; there are several professional development opportunities including Lesson design, technology, paraprofessional training, empowering writers, new science standards, STEM conference, MA ELL conference. Students: It is very exciting that some of our students will be presenting at the MASSCUE conference. Also The QMS jazz band will be attending "Jazz Day" at Providence College. Anti Hazing: Secondary schools are required to send out an annual report to DESE indicating their compliance to Anti Hazing laws including the proper notification of students, staff, clubs, sports and outside organizations. We are mostly complete and are now seeking out, the outside groups. Teresa Murphywill be part of Southeastern MA STEM Advisory Committee. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Open Meeting Minutes of 10-04-16 A motion to approve the minutes as amended was made Istby Linda Fernando and 2nd by Lauren Scher.. Page 1 of 4 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Town Hall, Room 3A&B Motion Carries 5-0 Approved 11-1-16 Executive Session Minutes of 10-04-16. A motion to approve the minutes as amended was made ]st by Linda Fernando and 2nd by Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 5-0 Currently working on the FY18 budget and preparing for the upcoming Capital meetings. On November 29th there will be a capital meeting where we will present our needs. Field Trips: None (The one on the agenda was cancelled.) New Superintendent Search: In attendance for this portion of the meeting is James Hardy, Field Representative for MASC. Jim started the discussion by handing out the brochure used at the last search along with a tentative timeline (enclosed.) Highlights of the discussion included: Desired deadline: School Committee would like to have the search complete by March 1. Search process: Should it include focus groups, survey, a search committee? Jim Hardy indicated that surveys are helpful though response rate is low. Focus groups are not typically helpful due to very low turnout. MASC will provide a sample survey that can be posted immediately. Advertising options: Direct mail, paid advertising (Boston Globe, Ed Weekly), School Spring Key steps: Concentrate on what the committee is looking for. Establish guidelines and create the criteria. Create and stick with deadlines. Posting: Posting should remain open for 4 weeks with'a preliminary search committee review in January. Open Meeting Law: Preliminary searches can be done in a closed meeting as long as they nominate 3 or more candidates as finalists. (If these were held in open meeting then many candidates would not apply.) Finalists will be announced and interviewed in open meeting. Site Visits: Can occur prior to or after interviews of finalists. Must allow time to plan and schedule. Search Committee: Should be named by the end of December. MASC will train members and review confidentiality agreements. There should be a presiding officer, minute taker and all meetings must be properly posted. Jim Hardy proposed an alternate solution to the search process. He indicated that there is no law or mandate that requires the school committee to do a search. If the committee has an internal candidate in mind then it is OK for the committee to appoint that person. That would be considered a sign of good preparation by the committee. Another alternative would be to do an internal search first. If a candidate is selected the search is complete. If a candidate is not selected then all internal candidates are done and the committee can go to an outside search. Important: All internal candidates must be notified of decision to move on without them. If the internal search is done first, it cannot drag along an internal candidate throughout the external search. In all likelihood this would delay the announcement of a position by just 2 weeks. If an internal posting were to occur it could be done immediately with interviews and a decision by mid November. The survey could still be used for the internal search. Page 2 of 4 Approved 11.1-16 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Town Hall, Room 3A&B - The following timeline was drafted so as to help with the decision on how to move forward: October 21st: Post position internally and Post Survey online November 9th: Close posting November 16th: Interview internal candidates November 17th: Announce new superintendent OR the continuation of the search. November 18th: Have brochure printed and ready for mailing next week. December 29th: Posting will close January 9th: Search Committee starts Mid February: Interview finalists and complete Site surveys End of February: Announce new Superintendent Jenn Walsh motioned to start with an internal search and if no candidate found move to an external search. Lynn Cavicchi seconded the motion. Discussion: Still some concern over timeframes if we do the two step process. Would also like to have some comparison between internal and external candidates. Concern that two step process means that internal candidates are shut out of external search once internal search complete. Want honest community feedback Motion carries 5 - 0. Jim Hardy will have a sample survey to the committee on Wednesday and asked that they respond with any changes within 24 hours. Timeline dates reviewed. A workshop has been scheduled for Monday, October 24th at 7:00 pm to work on details. OLD BUSINESS: Sub Committee Updates 1. Audit: No update. 2. CIP: Working toward upcoming presentation. 3. Budget: Meeting to discuss next week. 4. Policy: Upcoming meetings to discuss priorities. Student Advisory Committee: Nithin Lankipalle provided an update on MHS. Student Passing Times: Students were surveyed and generally speaking are not in favor of extending the day to allow for more passing time in school. Students have mostly been able to adapt to the tight timeframes. Role of Student Advisory Committee: The group is working on defining their role. They have created a twitter account to communicate with students. Homework Policy: The group discussed the impact that the new schedule has on homework. At times it can be overwhelming but it is difficult to assess as every individual approaches homework differently. Citizens Comments: None Page 3 of 4 Approved 11-2-16 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Town Hall, Room 3A&B - School Committee New Business: chool Committee Other Business: Documents Used: MASC Proposed timeline for Superintendent Search MASC Sample Brochure for Superintendent Search Motion to adjourn: At 8:51 p.m., Kiera O'Neil asked for a motion to enter into Executive Session pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A, Section 21 for the Following Purpose: 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 not to reconvene in open session and the chair so declares; Role Call Vote: Lynn Cavicchi Yes Jenn Walsh Yes Kiera O'Neil Yes Linda Fernando Yes Lauren Scher Yes ...:...... - Motion U.C. 5-0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent Secretary to the Superintendent & School Committee Page 4 of 4