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Home My WebLink AboutSchool Committee 04/25/2017Approved 5.16.17 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 25, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held at t Tozw H 1 on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. The open meeting session was opened and called tc. ile -. t�1e ',J?IeiW7:01 pm. IU14C, �_�_r_a v9 , Members Present: Also Present:��{ „ Kiera O'Neil, Chair Zeffro Gianetti, SuperlUndl'it't I?ch000ls : 19 Lynn Cavicchi, Vice Chair Teresa Murphy, Assistant $uperjpter}gyof Schools Linda Fernando Edward Vozzella Dire tIXV k`ina} ce, eri tions Tenn Walsh Lauren Scher Members Absent: None Video Taping: Dana Hourigan 15 Evans Circle ;IluriuRl L STIllY[17LT111111111t0(�7T SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT: No staff updates. ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT: 1. Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning job search: Bernadette Conroy is leading the search team. Teresa will join the search in the second round. There were 67 applicants of which 20 were chosen to move forward to the next round of screening. 2. Director of Facilities job search: Applicants were screened. Next week starts the first round of interviews. 3. Teacher achievements: a. Jackie Prester (MHS) was elected as MassCUE Treasurer for 2017-18 b. Rayna Freeman (JJ) was electedas MassCUE President elect for 2017-18. This position will roll into President. c. Jill Sheriden (QMS) was chosen to attend a 2 day course at the Rasberry Pi Academy where she will learn coding techniques for a new ''tiny" computer which she will bring back as part of her curriculum. These minicomputers will be purchased for the classroom. 4. Civil Rights audit: One of our district action items is to administer a district survey on discrimination and accessibility in schools. This survey will be managed by K12 Insights. It will be available online (website and newsletters) and via hard copy. It will be offered to students in grades 8 - 12, all parents, all staff and all community members. Prior to the survey, parents will be notified with an opt -out feature. The committee questioned the cutoff at grade 8. Per Teresa there was no hard fast rule, they felt that they would be the most accurate responses starting with that age group. Going forward the survey should be distributed annually and the district can look to change the grades at any point in time. Additionally, this is the year for the Bi -annual Communities that Care Survey. The final survey is the school climate survey being managed through MCAS. APPROVAL OF WARRANT: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Open Session Meeting Minutes of 4-11-17 Motion to approve the minutes by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 5-0 Page 1 of 4 Approved 5-16-17 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 25, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B Executive Session Minutes of 4-11-17 Motion to approve the minutes by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 5-0 FINANCE AND OPERATIONS REPORT: FYI updates: Attempting to forecast May and June costs for buildings & grounds and special education. FY18 Budget: We picked up an additional $10,000 from the town per John Stanbrook. We will apply these funds to special education. GIFTS: 1. Robinson School garden added 8 raised garden beds. The Mansfield DPW donated 28 yards of loam for the project. 2. Mansfield Girls Softball Association donated $2000 to install a batting cage on the East Street softball field. Mansfield High Girls Softball is also contributing to the effort. Bob LaConte has approved the structure and location. It is a temporary structure that can be removed in the off season. 3. Harbor One Bank has donated $5000 to the CHAMPS Summer Institute. Thank you to all for their contributions. OLD BUSINESS: Sub Committee Updates 1. Audit: Met to prepare for the next audit. The next effort is to establish a Fraud Hotline per charter. The committee is reviewing how to do that and to write policies regarding its use. 2. CIP: Next meeting May 2. 3. Budget: Complete. Will start looking at FY19. 4. Policy: Wellness Policy going to committee for review. Homework policy to be reviewed by administration at each school; hope to implement sometime in the fall of 2017. Student Advisory Committee: Will meet with Teresa Murphy on Friday. Current activities at MHS include Senior Assassin; National Honor Society induction; AP testing; senior assemblies; prom and MCAS for grade 10. NEW BUSINESS: Special Education Reserve: At the last meeting John Stanbrook provided an overview of this new account. Tonight the committee will determine whether or not to create the account. Motion to approve creation of the special education reserve fund by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. Discussion: It was noted that policies still need to be built around this. Tonight is only for the creation of the account and details can be worked out over the next year. Motion U.C. 5-0 FY18 Budget: Vote to approve final number: Motion to approve the FY18 budget amount of $49,067,951 by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi. Motion U.C. 5-0 School Choice for FY18: Discuss and Vote option for 2017-I8: Motion to NOT allow school choice for FY18 by Jenn Walsh / Lynn Cavicchi.. Discussion: Questions were asked regarding the future of school choice in Mansfield. It was Page 2 of 4 Approved 5-16-17 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 25, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B determined that once the new fiscal year starts, a study group would be established to review the pros and cons of school choice. Perhaps this is something that would be beneficial in the future. The new assistant superintendent for Finance and Operations does have experience with school choice. Motion U.C. 5-0 Executive Session Minutes. Review and vote for release., Kiera O'Neil suggested that each set of minutes are reviewed and approved separately. The goal is to annually review executive session minutes for release. Motion to approve executive session minutes of 1-26-16 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. Motion Carries 4 - 0 - 1 (Lauren Scher abstained, was not on committee at that time. ) Motion to approve executive session minutes of 2-23-16 by Linda Fernando / by Jenn Walsh. Motion Carries 4 - 0 -1 (Lauren Scher abstained, was not on committee at that time.) Motion to approve executive session minutes of 3-22-16 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. Motion Carries 4 - 0 -1 (Lauren Scher abstained, was not on committee at that time. ) Motion to approve executive session minutes of 5-16-16 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. Motion Carries 4 - 0 - 1 (Lauren Scher abstained, was not on committee at that time. ) Motion to approve executive session minutes of 6-13-16 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. Motion Carries 5 - 0 Motion to approve executive session minutes of 6-21-16 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. Motion Carries 5 - 0 Motion to approve executive session minutes of 9-8-15 by Lynn Cavicchi / Jenn Walsh, Motion Fails 0 - 4 - 1(Lauren Scher abstained, was not on committee at that time.) Friday April 14, 2017 attendance review.- Zeff Gianetti provided the school committee with a summary of student and staff absences for April 14th (Good Friday.) The attendance meets with the DESE guidelines of a day of "Low Attendance" (where attendance has an impact on instruction.) 31% of the student population was absent (largest numbers were at MHS.) Zeff pointed out that the district paid approximately $5500 for substitute teachers. 16 positions across the district could not be filled and were managed by other staff or by combining classrooms. There was board concern that the school did not provide adequate coverage for missing teachers. Addressing the coverage, Teresa Murphy pointed out that the administration and office staff at each school worked for weeks to make sure that coverage was provided. However, there just were not enough subs to cover the number of teachers out. The board asked if the district would seek out advice from the union to which Zeff responded that the district had reached out in the past and the union was not in support of it being a workday. Some members felt that we should track who provided religious notes feeling that it was a "free pass" not to attend school. However, the district is not in a position to ask how students or staff spent their day. The board pointed out that the high numbers may have been due to it being Friday before vacation and not just religious observances. They asked if the district could provide some history on absences during the Fridays leading into vacation week. Good Friday attendance /options will be reviewed and brought forward on the next agenda. Field Trips: None Citizens Comments: None School Committee New Business: None Other (items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meetings None Documents Referenced: Page 3 of 4 Approved 5-16-17 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 25, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B 2017 Good Friday Attendance (staff and students) Motion to adjourn: At 8:02 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; Motion to adjourn into executive session by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh. 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