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Home My WebLink AboutSchool Comm 04/24/2018Approved 05-08-18 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Town Hall, Room 3ab An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in rooiglUrAf;�e Ao SH'al'l on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. The open meeting session was reconvened after RF tiye i-1 �Mion and called to order by Kiera O'Neil at 7:04 p.m. 1 1 Mcz, ro J E T T Members Present: Administration Present: Kiera O'Neil Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Lauren Scher Edward Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Jenn Walsh Members Absent: Linda Fernando Video Recording: None Kiera O'Neil provided guidelines for the public hearing to discuss the FY19 School Budget. Jenn Walsh motioned to open the public meeting at 7:08 pm. Lauren Scher seconded the motion. Motion Carries 4 - 0. Public Hearing on FY19 Budget: Edward Donoghue presented the budget. Slides have been used in prior presentations to school committee and finance committee. He detailed the budget by category. Teresa spoke to the slide on staffing requests. These are positions that we had hoped would be in the budget but were not added. These stand as a placeholder for our future needs. Teresa concluded the presentation by highlighting recent accomplishments: • Second year of full day free kindergarten • Beneficiary of capital improvement projects including new technology 0 Full time human resources director • 4th year of having an assistant superintendent of teaching and learning • Improved school safety and security • New reading program at the elementary schools Kiera opened up the hearing for public comments. There were none. She opened it up to committee comments. There were none. She asked for a motion to close the public hearing. Jenn Walsh motioned to close the public hearing. Lauren Scher seconded. Motion Carries 4 - 0. Communications: Kiera O'Neil highlighted a letter from Barrows Insurance thanking the Mansfield Public Schools for allowing Barrows Insurance to host the 'Together We Can' dances. Kiera highlighted the history of the dances which started in 1992. TWC has raised $8700 since 1992 and have contributed to organizations such as Mansfield Girls Softball, MHS All Night Party, YMCA Reach out for Youth and Citizens Scholarship Foundation, and more. Kiera thanked the Barrows family for their support. Superintendent's Report: e Reminder to families ---this Friday is an early release day to make up for one that we lost due to snow. Page 1 of 4 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Town Hall, Room 3ab • Water: 2 new bubblers to replace ones that are no longer usable will be installed tomorrow. One at Robinson and one at QMS. The water will be tested and then we'll know if the solution that we're trying will be the resolution to our issues. • Pat Lambrecht has been hired as Custodial Supervisor. This is a second shift position. • Tika Naik placed second for her individual documentary "College Conflict, Court Compromise: The University of California vs. Bakke." She will now head to the National History Day contest from June 10 to the 14 in Maryland. • Percussion: Matt McGuire sent me a Percussion Marching Band field trip update to share with you. He reported that the students worked extremely hard. It's only the second year of having a marching percussion band (they used to be a standstill) and they made- it to the final round (out of three rounds) of the World Championships in Dayton OH last week. Last year they didn't make it past the first round. Overall, they came out 14th out of 65 groups. They beat out more than 50 programs from around the USA. Two weeks before they left for the Worlds, they won the New England Championship. Both events marked a great finish to the year for percussion! Mr. McGuire expressed his appreciation to the SC for supporting the trip to OH. • Congressman Joe Kennedy ---guest speaker for Social Studies classes; student Paige Oliveira is his intern. His great-uncle President Kennedy made a stop at MHS (when it was located in QMS) in October, 1958 when JFK was a MA Senator. Approval of Warrant: None Approval of Minutes: Open Session Minutes of 4-10-18 Motion to approve the minutes by Jenn Walsh / Lauren Scher Motion Carries 4 - 0 Executive Session Minutes of 3-27-18 Motion to approve the minutes by Jenn Walsh /Lauren Scher Motion Carries 3 - 0 -1 (Jenn Walsh abstained; was absent from meeting) Executive Session Minutes of 4-10-18 Motion to approve the minutes by Jenn Walsh /Lauren Scher Motion Carries 4 - 0 Old Business: Committee Updates: Audit: No update CIP: No update Budget: No update Facilities: Meeting on May 2 Polio. Homework Policy meeting on April 25 Page 2 of 4 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Town Hall, Room 3ab New Business: School Choice: Teresa Murphy opened by explaining the idea of school choice. School committees must vote annually on whether or not to participate in the state's school choice program. If a district were to participate, they would identify the openings by grade level and open those grades to the public. Every year Mansfield has reviewed school choice and has voted not to participate. However,, enrollment has declined in Mansfield and it is -expected to continue to decline in the upcoming years. With this trend, the district and committee must take a closer look at the pros and cons. Teresa noted that school choice is used currently in areas of the state where there are declining enrollments or very small districts. Mansfield has addressed the decreasing enrollment by cutting classroom teachers at the elementary level and by cutting teams at the middle school. We are just now getting back to manageable levels after the peaks of our enrollment. Teresa recommends that the district does not approve school choice for FYI 9. However,, she would like to start discussions and long range planning so that we would be prepared to support school choice if needed in the future. Kiera agrees with Teresa stating that every year we consider the possibility a little more and that we need to review based on our enrollment numbers and the activities of neighboring districts. Lauren felt that there is a fundamental problem at the state level and that is the lack of funding. $5000 per student is reimbursed to districts who accept school choice students. That amount has not changed in over 10 years and is extremely low compared to our actual per pupil expenditures. She is open to looking ahead to the future. Lynn sees school choice as a revenue tool and an enrollment management tool. It will be the responsibility of the committee to exercise due diligence before making any final decisions that impact our students. Jenn does not feel the district is yet at a place where we can add new students as we are just recovering from budget issues from a few years ago. Motion not to participate in School Choice for 2018-19 by Jenn Walsh /Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 4 — 0. Policy: Code Title Notes Action Motion 1 Motion 2 Vote EEA Student Remove requirement for bus Amend JW LS 4-0 Transportation driver list. Services 1HBEA English 1JL.J%a:tnLbg1%11&%a_Sge Add new language per MASC Amend JW LS 4-0 Learners Discussion: Since adding to JW LS package, State guidance dictates amends seconds that we should identify these motion amended students as 'English Learners.' for new motion title Upcoming Agenda Items: Page 3 of 4 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Town Hall, Room 3ab May 8: 3rd quarter financial update from Ed Donoghue, personnel policies, superintendent evaluation May 22: handbooks June 5: school improvement plans New School Committee Business: None Documents Referenced: FY19 School Budget czy- - Motion to adjourn: At 7:48 p.m., Motion to adjourn the open meeting by Jenn Walsh / Lauren Scher. Motion Carries 4 - 0. Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Secretary to the Superintendent & School Committee Page 4 of 4