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Home My WebLink AboutSchool Committee 06/20/2017Approved 8-29-17 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The open meeting session was opened and called to order by Lynn Cavicchi at 7:05 pm. Members Present: Kiera O'Neil (arrived at 7:45 pm) Lynn Cavicchi Linda Fernando Jenn Walsh Lauren Scher Members Absent: None Also Present: Zeffro Gianetti, Superintendent of Schools Teresa Murphy, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Ed Vozzella, Director of Finance & Operations Video Taping: Dana Hourigan,15 Evans Circle, Mansfield, MA 02048 None Late Retirement for an adjustment counselor at QMS. ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT REPORT: None APPROVAL OF WARRANT: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Open Session Meeting Minutes of 6-6-17 Motion to approve the minutes by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 4-0 Executive Session Minutes of 5-11-17 Motion to approve the minutes as amended by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 4-0 Executive Session Minutes of 6-1-17 Motion to approve the minutes as amended by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 4-0 Executive Session Minutes of 6-6-17 Motion to approve the minutes by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 4-0 Executive Session Minutes of 6-14-17 Motion to approve the minutes by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 3-0-1(Jenn Walsh was absent from meeting and abstained.) OLD BUSINESS: FY17 Update. Ed Vozzella reported that the encumbrances have been reviewed. Final payroll will be reviewed next week. There is a $60,000 encumbrance for MHS roof of which approx $50,000 will be returned to the school. Books will close on July 15tb. At that point Deb Scott will reconcile with the town. The transition with Edward Donoghue is proceeding well. Page 1 of 4 _-I : J "i .• -rY m, Motion to approve the minutes by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 3-0-1(Jenn Walsh was absent from meeting and abstained.) OLD BUSINESS: FY17 Update. Ed Vozzella reported that the encumbrances have been reviewed. Final payroll will be reviewed next week. There is a $60,000 encumbrance for MHS roof of which approx $50,000 will be returned to the school. Books will close on July 15tb. At that point Deb Scott will reconcile with the town. The transition with Edward Donoghue is proceeding well. Page 1 of 4 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B Gifts: None Subcommittees: Approved 8-29-17 Audit: Joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen next week to appoint a new member. CIP: No update. Budget: No update. Policy: No update. STUDENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Mary Watkins gave an update on Student Advisory Committee. She met with the 2017-18 committee to discuss the history of the group and how the committee will operate moving forward. In August, they will elect the chair and they will set expectations for the school year. Cyrus Bernstein, Nicholas Ferraz, Daniel Radev, Stephanie Wright and Erin Daniel form next year's team. NEW BUSINESS: Butterfly Garden Proposal ff: John Nferatko, Lee Tighe, Karen Slarve The goal is to create an outdoor classroom. Milkweeds would be added to enhance the butterfly population. However, they could not plant the milkweed near the garden because of its weed nature. Instead, they have worked with "Keep Mansfield Beautiful" and picked a spot near the current native area of plants. The garden will blend in with the natural landscape. The conservation commission has assessed and approved. The curriculum to be covered is life cycle; plant structure; purpose in our community and photosynthesis. No Vote required. Approval ofFoundation Budget Review Committee Resolution: Whereas, the Constitution of the Commonwealth (1780) requires "it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences... public schools and grammar schools in the towns" And Whereas, McDuffy v. Secretary ofthe Executive Office of Education (1993) declared the "Massachusetts Constitution impose[s] an enforceable duty on the magistrates and Legislatures of this Commonwealth to provide education in the public schools for the children there enrolled, whether they be rich or poor and without regard to the fiscal capacity of the community or district in which such children live. It shall be declared also that the constitutional duty is not being currently fulfilled by the Commonwealth." And Whereas, Hancock v. the Commissioner of Education (2005) concluded "I do not suggest that the goals of education reform adopted since McDuffy have been fully achieved. Clearly they have not. Nothing I say today would insulate the Commonwealth from a successful challenge under the education clause in different circumstances." And Whereas, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center report Cutting Class (2011) found "the real value of the original foundation budget has eroded significantly over time, due in large part to rapid cost growth for health care and special education. Since the foundation budget's original design did not foresee this rapid cost growth, spending reductions have been forced in other key areas, especially Regular Education Teachers." And Whereas, the Foundation Budget Review Commission (2015) resolved "the good work begun by the education reform act of 1993, and the educational progress made since, will be at risk so long as our school systems are fiscally strained by the ongoing failure to substantively reconsider the adequacy of the foundation budget" Therefore We, the Mansfield, MA School Committee petition the 190th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to implement without further delay in full the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission. ]enn Walsh read the proposed resolution as recommended by MASC. The School Committees are asking the state to approve the budget. Ed Vozzella provided some background and the committee was in strong agreement. Page 2 of 4 Approved 8-29-17 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B Motion to approve the Foundation Budget Review Committee Resolution by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 4-0 Field Trip- MHS Cross Country Trip to Warwick, 111for tournament: Motion to approve trip by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Motion Carries 4-0 HR Job Description: moved to end of meeting. Kiera O'Neil in arrived at meeting 7:45 pm Student Handbooks: Teresa started the conversation highlighting some of the progress and the district's intent to move toward online handbooks in 2017-18. Joshua Rapozza and the administrators have worked together on common formatting and content. Teresa is very optimistic that the handbooks will be easy to access and update. Hardcopies and translations will also be available to those in need. Due to a scheduling conflict, QMS administrators were not in attendance so Teresa highlighted the changes. Discussions were held on religious holidays (yes, they are consistent across handbooks) and physical restraint (recommended title change.) Joshua Fogel, Tim Tichacek and Mary Watkins were present to discuss the MHS handbook. Noted changes were: Final exam exemption policy modified to discuss the absence policy for that final day; beverages (updated and clarified in handbook); Standardize testing accommodations (clarifying); parking; electronic media; signatory rights for 18 year old students; head injury and tardy policy. Sarah McCracken, Jennifer Hartman and Tanna Jango presented the changes to the elementary handbook Noted changes were health and wellness; cell phone usage; addition of hyperlinks to district policy page; allergies. Lynn Cavicchi recommended a series of edits to clarify discrepancies across the handbooks. Food policy will need to be handbooks once approved. Signatory rights should be reviewed against state law. Ongoing changes will be looked at throughout the year and brought to school committee for approval. Motion to approve the MHS handbook for content (requires formatting and creation of digital format) by Jenn Walsh/ Linda Fernando Motion removed to discuss open items. Motion to approve the MHS handbook for content (requires formatting and creation of digital format) for all items other than signatory content by Jenn Walsh/ Linda Fernando Motion Carries 5-0 Motion to approve the QMS handbook for content (requires formatting and creation of digital format) by Jenn Walsh/ Linda Fernando Page 3 of 4 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, lune 20, 2017 Town Hall, Room 3A&B Motion Carries 5-0 Approved 8-29-17 Motion to approve the Elementary handbook for content (requires formatting and creation of digital format) by Jenn Walsh/ Linda Fernando Motion Carries 5-0 HRJob Description: Teresa discussed the status of the position and the job description. A draft form is in place but does need some updating. Fortunately we do not need the entire description for the posting. Teresa would like to post as soon as possible. No vote will be taken on the job description tonight. A motion will be made to create the position. Motion to approve the creation of the HR job position by Jenn Walsh / Linda Fernando Discussion: Lynn Cavicchi asked how central office would be aligned once the new person came on board. Teresa indicated it was too soon to determine that and she hoped that the new person would work on functionally aligning staff for more efficient operations. Motion Carries 5-0 Citizens Comments: None School Committee New Business: Kiera O'Neil took this time to acknowledge Zeffro Gianetti' s and Edward Vozzella's retirements. Zeff has spent 3 years at QMS and the last three years building strong relationships; respecting all our leaders and doing what is best for our schools. Edward Vozzella is leaving after 10 years. He has led us through many tough budget years and has built great relationships with the town. The committee thanked them for their service and presented state proclamations. Motion to adjourn: At 9:06 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