NPS Superintendent Search meeting: 2/14/11

All members of the screening committee (except Nicole Markel –traveling overseas) were present.  Meeting began at 6.10pm.  Stephanie Pick elected Chair of the committee.

The meeting was mostly led by Joe Wood – search consultant with New England Search Development Consultants.

Current status of the Search Process

·         The School Committee is responsible for appointing Superintendent.

·         The objective of the Screening Committee is to present up to 5 candidates to the School Committee.

·         The Superintendent position was posted on nesdec.org and advertized in topschools.org.

·         A brochure has been prepared to provide background on the Northampton schools system. 

·         Joe described the work of the focus groups – this work lead to the development of a desirable candidate profile and what should be the 3-5 starting priorities for the new Superintendent.

Results of the search so far

·         The collection of applications has been completed.  No further applications would be accepted unless the search is reopened.

·         14 applications are currently under review.

Next Steps

·         The Screening Committee received the candidate applications tonight in closed session.  They will need time to go over candidates and prepare questions and comparisons to the profile.

·         The Screening Committee will meet as a workshop on Feb 28 to review applications, confirm interview questions and affirm interview schedule.  

Interview Preparation

·         Screening Committee interviews will take place in March.

·         Each Screening Committee interview should be about an hour.  

·         8 questions should be prepared with 2 extras.  Candidates may be asked for a closing statement. 

·         Each candidate should be asked the same questions. 

·         Consultant probably will not attend interviews. 

·         There should be a greeter/escort to take care of the candidate before and after the interview.

·         The committee discussed how to develop good questions. 

·         A list of suggested themes was distributed. 

·         The Questions will not be made public in order to not give advantage to candidates or to give undue ability to prepare. 

·         Committee chose themes for questions.

·         The committee briefly mentioned that certain questions that should not be asked in interviews.

·         The committee noted that the process requires very strict confidentiality.

Alan McBride

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SchoolsWatch

NPS Full Board Meeting: 2/9/11

PRESENTChair and Mayor Clare Higgins, Alden Bourne (1), Lise Glading DiLorenzo (2), Howard Moore (3), Ed Zuchowski (4), Stephanie Pick (5) (arrived later), Downey Meyer (7), Jim Young (at-large), Mike Flynn (at-large).  Absent:  Lisa Minnick (6)  Staff:  Interim Superintendent William Erickson, Business Manager Susan Wright, Secretary Jennifer Towler.

PUBLIC COMMENTSeveral people spoke about the Fresh Wednesdays program.  Most expressed support for the program whose goal is to replace overly processed foods with more fresh, local produce and whole grains; some expressed concerns about the difficulty of carrying it out (e.g., eliminating chocolate milk will lead to children bringing in their own chocolate syrup, too much prep. time for kitchen staff , too expensive, fresh not always superior to fresh-frozen, depending on circumstances, etc.).  NPS Health Director Karen Jarvis-Vance provided a brief history of the program, explaining how the coalition was formed.  She recommended more parent representatives on the coalition and a tie-in with curriculum (some teachers already do this).

FRESH WEDNESDAYS
Mickie Darling, a second grade teacher and parent leader for the Fresh Wednesdays program, presented an overview of the program and its progress up to now.  Change is difficult, so transition should be taken slowly.  They are guided by research, specifically the Institute of Medicine standards and best practices.  Since its beginning here in October, the program has been successful, according to survey feedback from parents and students.  Between 170 and 260 parents have attended each time.  Benefits:  educates children about healthy foods, makes use of local foods, increases local purchasing, sustainable, limits processed foods.

What is healthy food?  minimally processed, whole grains, low in sugar, sodium and fat.  Real food, no flavored milk.

Children will eat healthy foods if you put them in front of them.  Healthy foods don't have to cost more.  You just have to look around and find where those healthy foods are for less.  Modeling is important. 

Dietician (sorry, didn't get her name) accompanied Mickie and listed the following food recommendations on behalf of the coalition:  no more sugared cereals for school breakfasts; no marshmallow fluff on sandwiches; no hot dogs, BBQ ribs, chicken bowls or french toast sticks (all have too much saturated or trans fat and sodium); no processed desserts (have freshly made dessert once per week); fruit for dessert; limit popcorn chicken and chicken nuggets to twice per month; use fresh or frozen vegetables, not canned; baked potatoes or wedges, not french fries; no juices or flavored milks.

How can school committee help?  Keep supporting Fresh Wednesdays; implement the above recommendations; work with kitchen staff to come up with healthy menus within budget.

Conclusion:  We, as educated, concerned adults should lead by observing the best practices re. nutrition, even when children resist.  Likened it to children saying they didn't feel like doing their homework.  Do we just let them do that?

School Committee DiscussionCH:  EZ is on the committee, as is Karen Jarvis-Vance, so any comments can be directed to them.
EZ:  Agree with KJV that more stakeholders need to be represented on coalition.  Change comes slowly and in moderation.  Important to be conscious of how this is going to be funded.  There isn't as much federal funding for this as you think.

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORTField trips approved.
Snow days:  5 so far out of 185-day school year (180 legally required).  Last day is June 27.  Days cannot be made up by lengthening school days, according to state.
Roof snow:  staff is doing well in determining where it needs to be removed and they're doing it.
CH:  City will pay for the cost of school roof snow removal.
School choice program:  committee voted to continue participating (allowing children from neighboring towns to attend NPS).

FY2012 BUDGET UPDATESusan Wright presented a detailed budget update, which I was not able to view. Please see SchoolsWatch's Budget & Property subcommittee meeting from Feb. 3 for this same information.
Conclusion:  At this time, there is a $1.2 million deficit for NPS, which does not include salary increases.  By the next Budget & Property meeting, SW will have a draft of the proposed FY12 budget.  Items that are likely to fluctuate over next few months:  school choice, circuit breaker (special ed. reimbursement), health insurance costs.

SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH UPDATEVice-chair Stephanie Pick has been leading this process for the school committee.  She reported:  weather has delayed some of the process.  NESDEC (consultants hired to do search) led a focus group for the public (one was cancelled and not rescheduled) and met with the school committee, administrators, faculty and municipal employees.  NESDEC then wrote up a summary and presented it to the school committee, taking their feedback.  A candidate profile will be given to the screening committee at its first meeting Monday.  The screening committee will first conduct a workshop open to the public, followed by a closed executive session so they can review applicants.  New screening committee member to replace one who had to leave: Stephanie Grimaldi, parent and education teacher at Westfield State College.  Goal:  to bring finalists to school committee by end of April at latest.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS[See SchoolsWatch's curriculum and budget & property subcommittee reports for Feb. 3].

NEASC accreditation process for NHSSchool committee members asked NHS Principal Nancy Athas a number of questions about the eight Wednesdays she has proposed to start school late so that teachers can participate in accreditation tasks. Concerns about:  insufficient notice for families, state laws regarding minimum number of hours school must be in session, morning not as good as afternoon to do this.

Rules & Policy committee to meet this Thursday at 6:00 pm at JFK. Conference committee to meet this week (see NPS website).  Invited State Senator Stan Rosenberg to talk about state funding for education.

Barbara Considine, SchoolsWatch

NPS Curriculum subcommittee meeting: 2/3/11

PRESENT:  

School Committee: Jim Young, Downey Meyer

Staff: Interim Superintendent Bill Erickson, Director of Academic Effectiveness Mark Prince, Principal Nancy Athas, Clerk Jennifer Towler

Public: Julie Spencer-Robinson (SchoolsWatch)

AGENDA

• Later Start Time for NHS Accreditation Work

• MassCore

• Set March Agenda

NHS Accreditation

NA: The high school is undergoing this important process, and we need time for the faculty to do the work related to it. Therefore, we are asking for a later high school start time for 7 or 8 Wednesdays, beginning on February 16 through May 11. Students would come in at 9:30, and faculty would have almost two hours of professional time to work with each other and compile the reports they need to. Our experience has been that when we have a later start time, due to the PSATs or for other reasons, it doesn’t detract from attendance. We are just about done with the core values and the rubrics.

JY: I’m sorry that Steve [Herrell] has left. We could use this opportunity to set up a mini lab experiment, and ask teachers how starting school later affects alertness.

MP: We could create a baseline—pick a class, and ask students and parents how they experience the later start time.

DM: We want to know if students get more sleep or just stay up later because they can sleep later.

MP: I talked to Joy Winnie because there are contract issues with transportation, and it’s all okay.

DM: It seems like a reasonable request. We will recommend it to the full School Committee.

BE: What is the cost of accreditation?

NA: $20,000-25,000. Fifteen people come, and we have to put them up. Lucky me—this is my third one. First Westside, then Greenfield, and now here.

MassCore

MassCore is a state-recommended, rigorous program of study that aligns high school coursework with college and workforce expectations. The recommended program of studies includes:

English: 4 years

Math: 4 years

Lab-based Science: 3 years

History/Social Science: 3 years

Foreign language: 2 years

Arts: 1 year

5 additional core courses: business education, career and technical education, health, and/or technology

Additional learning opportunities: AP classes, dual enrollment, a senior project, online courses for high school or college credit, and service- or work-based learning

MP: The state is putting these forth as default requirements. School committees have a right to vote in what you want. Higher ed set out requirements—this is what we’re looking for in 2014. MassCore is in our Race to the Top grant application. We know this is coming. It will impact the high school, therefore the middle school, therefore the elementary curriculum. What do we need to be thinking about? 80% of NHS students graduate meeting the foreign language requirements. When we add up all the units, there is still time in their schedule. We would like to create opportunities for students to develop career-based senior projects. It may increase staffing, which increases the budget.

DM: Where are the mismatches between the high school and MassCore requirements?

NA: Currently students take 3 years of math. If they don’t get at least a 240 on the MCAS then they have to take a fourth year of math, but that’s just 30 kids. English, social studies, and science are all okay. We offer PE all 4 years, but we only require Wellness 1 and 2. Are we meeting the PE requirement? I don’t know.

MP: Business and tech ed should also be considered. Michael Jacobsen said that 40% of high school kids come through his department, but it is cut to the bone.

DM: How much modification will be required by Common Core [a federal program]?

MP: Not much. MassCore was thought of long before Common Core.

DM: Will this be helpful to your accreditation process?

NA: We’re going to have to take a look at how we do things. The Endicott survey of students showed they want more tech ed. My predecessor made the choice to boost the arts at the expense of tech ed in order to prevent students from going to PVPA. That worked, and it still keeps students from leaving, but it’s time to see if we can offer more tech ed. Dual enrollment frees up seats, and seniors are ready for that experience. We also need credit recovery for students who fail two or more courses.

DM: Thank you for coming.

NA: I’m so happy to be here when it’s not controversial.

March Agenda

There was a general discussion about a number of items they want to pay attention to in the near future: tiered instruction, Disrupting Class, which is a book recommended by Jim Young, and the implementation of the middle school model. DM wants to know if we’re really doing what we’re supposed to be doing in terms of that model, and JY wants to bring to light a full reasoning for why we’ve gone with the middle school model so that it can be more effectively defended. BE said that Lesley Wilson could speak to those issues. MP noted that neither special ed nor ELL have been brought to the curriculum subcommittee, and it was agreed that it would be good to hear from Nathan Ziegler now that he is “fully entrenched” as Director of Special Education. 

Next meeting: Thursday, March 3 at 7:00. This meeting will take place at NHS. 

Julie Spencer-Robinson, SchoolsWatch

NPS Budget & Property Subcommittee meeting: 2/3/11

PRESENT:  

School Committee: Ed Zuchowski (Chair), Stephanie Pick, Howard Moore

Staff: Interim Superintendent Bill Erickson, Business Manager Susan Wright, Food Service Director Carol DiMauro, Director of Maintenance Mike Diemand, Director of Facilities David Pomerantz, Clerk Nicole Markel, one other person name unknown, and myself, Steve Herrell, filing this report.

Please note that I did attend this meeting, but not in the capacity of making a report for SchoolsWatch.  I attended simply to educate myself on the budget process, relative to the possible change in the high school start time.  Afterwards I was asked to write just a simple summary of the meeting anyway.  Therefore, much of the below is from some very rough notes and my memory!  I am sorry if it is somewhat incomplete.

This was the second of some preliminary meetings relative to the budget process for Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12), which runs from this July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 (the same as the City budget). 

Much of the meeting was focused on the needs of Capitol Projects.  Carol DiMauro, Mike Diemand, and Dave Pomerantz  presented a listing of the projects, and they and the committee discussed each item at some length.  The total of these projects is $910,500.  Here is the list (same as given in the minutes of the January Budget and Property meeting, but bears repeating):

Building Needs:

Bridge St. carpet replacement                       $20,000

Jackson St. A/C library                                   15,000

Leeds carpet replacement                               20,000

Leeds overflow parking lot paving                   30,000

Leeds parking lot repaving                            150,000

NHS Track Resurfacing and re-lining              85,000

Ryan curbing and sidewalk replacement          65,000

Ryan parking lot re-paving                              90,000

Ryan ventilation, and A/C library                     21,000

School furniture replacement                           10,000

School and Recreational Needs:

District-wide gym repainting                           36,000

JFK gym, floor refinishing                              15,000

JFK pool filter replacement                            75,000

Ryan playing field backstops, dugouts            60,000

JFK steamer and tilt kettle                             31,000

Bridge St. dishwasher                                    13,500

Ryan kitchen remodeling and equipment       140,000                                   

Jackson dishwasher                                       20,000

Jackson floor mixer                                        14,000

GRAND TOTAL:                                     $910,500

There was a sense among committee members that not all projects will be approved and included in the budget.  (This is only a small piece of the approximately $29,000,000 school budget).  They prioritized by assigning numbers to the projects, according to safety and health issues, and how badly repairs were needed.  No final decisions were made.   

Stephanie Pick raised this issue: If we are going to close Ryan Road, and/or possibly Bridge Street, we shouldn’t spend money on the projects relative to those schools.  

SW presented and discussed the “Revised Budget Shortfall Estimate,” and discussed various parts of it.  The report shows in conclusion, “Revised Preliminary Gap for FY2012: $1,188.019.”  That is, we expect that much less revenue for the schools (still based on a number of estimates and unknowns) than we had for this year.  SW characterized this as “dismal”

SW presented a “draft” of a time line for the FY12 Budget Process.    I’m pretty sure she wants to revise this (it lacks some specific dates) and it will be available soon, probably on the Northampton School Department’s website (as it has in the past), so suffice it to say here that the Budget & Property Subcommittee will take up the budget at all of its meetings; the School Committee itself does several reviews; and the ALT (Administrative Leadership Team) has several meetings re the budget.  In mid-May, the Mayor submits the city budget to the City Council.  In late May there will be the Joint Meeting of the City and Council and School Committee.  On June 9 the School Committee takes its final vote on the budget.  Still there are unknowns, but all is finalized by late July.

There was discussion of the elementary transportation fee, but no conclusion was made.

Thank you, Steve Herrell, on behalf of SchoolsWatch.

NPS SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING: 1/13/11

Present: Susan Wright, Jennifer Towler, Alden Bourne, Lise Glading-DiLorenzo, Howard Moore, James Young, Stephanie Pick, Mayor Clare Higgins, Isabelina Rodriguez, Mike Flynn, Edward Zuchowski, Lisa Minnick, Downey Meyer, and Kevin March

I.                   Roll Call

            During the roll call, Mayor Higgins introduced Howard Moore, the newly-                     elected School Committee member from Ward 3.

II.                Organization

1)      Election of Vice Chairperson: Stephanie Pick was unanimously elected Vice Chairperson.  SP noted that there is a 3-year term limit and that someone needs to get ready to take on the position next year.

2)      Election of Executive Secretary:  The superintendent was elected Executive Secretary.

3)      Adoption of Rules of Procedures: Motion to adopt rules and procedures, with the following changes: elimination of 9.4 (that stipulates all SC members need to return notebooks—members no longer receive notebooks because now most information is electronic); change of 5.2 and 5.5 (which would change the meeting time back to start time of 7:15 p.m.); and elimination of 10.1 (to reflect changes in School Committee’s hiring practices in light of the ed reform bill).  Motion to adopt amended rules and procedures passed unanimously.

4)      Meeting dates for 2011: Meetings will be held on the second Thursday of every month at 7:15 p.m. for the whole of 2011.  There will be three times when there will be three extra full board meetings: one in April for budget purposes, one in May for a joint meeting with the City Council, and one in June for presentation of budget.  Calendar was accepted by unanimous vote.

III.             Public Session

No public comments.

IV.              Announcements

Announcements were about forming subcommittees for the new calendar year and about a farewell party for Isabelina Rodriguez on Thursday, January 27^th. 

V.                 Recommended Actions

Minutes from the following committees were approved:

      12/2/10 Budget & Property Subcommittee

      12/2/10 Curriculum Subcommittee

      12/9/10 Full Board Meeting

      12/7/10 and 12/14/10 Ad-Hoc Committee

      12/16/10 Rules & Policy Subcommittee

VI.              Reports and Recommendations

·        Northampton High School Representative:

Kevin March, the student representative from Northampton High School,    reported that final exams are 1 ½ weeks away, the winter concert is in a week, and the Norway students will go to Woods Hole to do research before their trip.

·        Vote: Acknowledgement of Gifts

Vote to accept $17,004 from the Northampton Education Foundation for the SOS Book Fund.  These funds were raised through the plant sale and annual census drive.  The funds will be distributed to the schools on a per capita basis.

           

Vote to accept a gift of medical supplies totaling $1787.  Nurses from area schools were present to express how helpful the donation will be.

           

Vote to accept gift of $1,000 to NHS Special Education Department.

·        Vote: Acknowledgement of Scholarship

George Zimmerman announced that the estate of Eileen M. Kirby has given $266,000 to establish a scholarship fund at Northampton High School.  The interest from this money will support four scholarships for the following areas of study: art studies, fashion, public relations, and engineering.  The high school will announce the scholarship in 2012.  Mayor Higgins thanked Mr. Zimmerman for managing scholarship investments wisely.  Vote to accept this scholarship.

·        Report: High School Start Time Proposal

Susan Wright outlined answers to questions the School Committee had asked about the financial implications of starting the high school day at 8 a.m.  She reviewed the overall bus schedule and bus costs.   The district runs 11 buses, and each one holds 50 to 52 kids and costs about $45,000-plus to run.  A three-tier system would not work because of the time needed between each different run (for buses to finish up one route and begin another).  Because a three-tier system would not work with an 8 a.m. NHS start time (and later dismissal), the only solution would be to contract for extra buses just for the high school.   Four additional buses would cost over $180,000 (this number of buses would allow all current high school bus riders to continue to ride the bus), and if we limited the ridership and ran only three buses, the cost would be closer to $135,000.

During the discussion that ensued, School Committee members asked questions about how Special Education (SPED) transportation would be affected by any changes, about the possibilities of having fewer stops (“satellite stops”) for older kids to make the bus routes shorter, and possible other schedule scenarios.   Here is some of the discussion that followed:

Howard Moore: What would happen if elementary school got out earlier?  What would happen if NHS and elementary school started at the same time and high school and elementary school students rode the bus together?

SW Capacity is the biggest issue.  400 elementary students ride the buses.

HW: Numbers from last year are lower than the ones Susan Wright is quoting.

SW: We are using current numbers, and there are 393 elementary kids riding buses.

Mayor Higgins: I want to understand where we are going.  I want to frame the discussion.

Mike Flynn: We moved to recommend not changing the time.

Mayor Higgins: If we assume for a moment that we need to add buses, how much would it cost?

Alden Bourne: I want to make sure we’ve considered all scenarios.  How many kids wouldn’t get to school if we went to the minimum required by law?

SW: If we went to minimum required by law, 700 students would no longer receive transportation.  How many students couldn’t get to school is another question.

SP: We wouldn’t make the choice to provide transportation to 6^th graders [as required by law] but not 7^th and 8^th graders [not required by law to receive transportation].

SW: Whoever can’t get to school, we will provide transportation. Hard to determine who would truly be eligible who couldn’t get to school.

James Young: We did not approve the proposal that came before us because we didn’t think it was a good proposal because it disenfranchised people.  Here’s another solution.  Start JFK at 7:30, NHS at 8:05, and elementary at 8:55.  That would be cost neutral.

SW: In order to make that scenario work, the times would need to be later—7:40, 8:15, 9:05—and that would mean NHS students couldn’t get into Smith College courses [the issue is not just getting to the first class on time, but that the class periods at NHS would be out of sync with the day’s class periods at Smith College, if the start time went to 8:10 or 8:15].

There was then a discussion about the relative importance of the Smith College courses (are we giving too much priority to the 80 students who take Smith College courses?), and a few people pointed out that this connection with Smith College alleviates the need for extra electives at NHS.  Even without the Smith College consideration, a three-tier bus schedule doesn’t work.  One proposal was to have NHS students get out at 2:45 but not be picked up by buses until 3:30 or later.  There were two concerns about this: (1) no one would be there to supervise students at the high school (and Lisa Minnick pointed out that the students are the district’s responsibility while on school property and there would be a liability issue) and (2) some parents depend on older children to be home to meet elementary school children. 

Mayor Higgins: When does the current bus contract end? 

SW: We will be bidding for FY 13.

Kevin March:  Existing schedule would work if you switched JFK and NHS start times.

Mayor Higgins: We have a recommendation not to make a change.  We now understand the cost implications of making a change [between $135,000 and $180,000-plus, depending on number of buses].

LM: Mr. Moore came up with an alternative plan but I have serious concerns about putting high school students and elementary school students on the bus at the same time.

HM:  The numbers work.  If you are a high school student who can’t control himself, we have rules to address that.

KM: Ironically, I think the relationship between high school and middle school students might be worse than between high school students and elementary.

MF: [As a teacher,] I see issues on the bus between 2^nd graders and 6^th graders.  Things get said.  I wouldn’t be comfortable with any of my kids on the bus with high school students. 

Mayor Higgins: Does someone have a motion?  Right now we have a recommendation not to change the start times.

Nancy Athas [NHS principal]: If all things were equal, I would be in favor of later start time.  But I do have to say that we looked into this trying not to spend extra money.  It’s difficult to support later start time if it’s going to cost [close to] $200,000. 

SP: It’s incredibly frustrating.  We try in every vote to do what’s best for kids, but we can’t find a way to do this [start high school later] and still provide transportation.  Every time we can’t do something that we know is good is incredibly frustrating.  But we can’t find a way to do this that works for the district.

HM: What would it mean to combine high school and elementary kids on the bus?  He makes a motion to ask the administration to explore this possibility, but the motion is not seconded. 

Therefore, the start time for Northampton High School and the other schools will remain the same for the coming year.

·        Superintendent’s Report

[Here’s a link to a video clip from this part of the meeting, featuring the comments by both Stephanie Pick and Isabelina Rodriguez:

http://acmne.mirocommunity.org/video/19636/superintendent-isabelina-rodri]

SP asked for the floor and read a tribute to Isabelina Rodriguez honoring her many years of service to the Northampton Public School and her many accomplishments as superintendent. 

IR expressed gratitude for the tribute and began her report.

IR: Enrollment numbers look good, though some high school classes are large.  (The district had over 30 school choice applications for high school that they had to turn away.)  Kindergarten information nights have started, and people are out and about visiting schools.  By early March, we should have a handle on who will be registered for fall.  There were many kindergarten school choice students this year.  Mark Prince [director of curriculum effectiveness] has been working on Race to the Top.  He is looking into professional development opportunities.  Gwen Agna was honored at the Northampton Survival Center; a parent center is being named in her honor. Bullying plan is on website.  Protocols are there, and parents were notified by a connect-ed call about the website.  Reporting forms can be found online, and safe school webpage has been updated. 

            Met with Bill Ericksen [the interim superintendent], and he has attended the administrative leadership team meeting.  He will be visiting schools starting tomorrow [January 14].  Confident staff will welcome him warmly.

Met with the administrative team, and they identified the following priorities to focus on during budget discussions: Full special education and ELL continuum across the district, throughout the district; strong support for co-curricular offerings in arts, music, P.E., specials; academic rigor; social/emotional therapeutic support for elementary ed; support for at-risk students at secondary ed; full implementation of the middle school model; support for early literacy for pre-K to 2^nd; and class size at or below 20 for pre-K to 2^nd.

            As you hire an executive officer, be sure he or she is capable to run the district and make hard decisions.  Choose a person and then allow him or her to use his or her expertise to run the district.  Support the superintendent.  Work hard to build level of mutual respect. 

IR then concluded her comments by speaking about what an honor and privilege it has been to serve as superintendent and by noting that she will miss her colleagues.  She then announced that she has made a donation to the VINS [Volunteers in Northampton Schools] in honor of the School Committee. 

·        Superintendent Search

SP announced schedule for focus groups for teachers, administrators, parents, and city workers on January 19 and January 20.  There will also be focus groups for the School Committee.  NESDC (New England School Development Council) will prepare a summary of data from the focus groups.

SP reviewed the search schedule:

Tuesday, January 25^th at 6 p.m.  NESDC focus group with School Committee.  This is an open meeting.

Tuesday, February 1 at 6 p.m.  School Committee integration workshop with NESDC for us to have a discussion about all the collated information from the focus groups.  Priorities, how we are charging the search committee. This is also an open meeting.

Monday, February 7, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.  First meeting of the screening committee.  First part will be an open session, and the second part will be an executive session during which the screening committee will review procedures and take a confidentiality oath.

Monday, February 14, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Closed meeting of the screening committee to discuss all applications and semi-finalists.

·        Business Manager’s Report

SW brought five contracts forward for a vote and then reviewed the budget to-date, noting some budgets lines that were over and some that were under—but nothing was terribly unusual or worrying. 

            Here are some of the highlights from the very thorough report (available in office) SW presented:

(1) Analysis of Fresh Wednesday expenses shows that it’s holding its own. The first Fresh Wednesday incurred additional labor costs, but the December and January Fresh Wednesdays did not have extra labor. 

(2) Difficulty in retaining speech therapists in district because speech therapists can get higher salaries in hospitals, and we pay teachers’ scale for speech therapy.  IR commented that we need to look at different model for speech therapy.

(3) Capital Plan for updating cafeterias

(4) 1.5 million in school choice funds this year.  $245,000 used for additional preschool teacher and additional ESPs.  $396,000 will roll into next year’s budget.  Also, $169,000 in circuit breaker funds will roll over.

(5) Stimulus grants will be gone in FY12.

(6) Sub costs are lower so far this year.

(7) After school programs running in black.  Jackson Street is starting up after school program in spring.

Curriculum Subcommittee Report

Nothing new to report, in the process of rescheduling a meeting.

Building and Properties. 

BPS meeting with school councils scheduled for January 19.

Rules and Policies

Needs to meet one more time before finalizing vote. 

VII.            New Business

(1) SP will populate the subcommittees and all other committees.

(2) IR thanked the DPW and custodial staff for making sure schools were ready for school today [1/13—day after the snow day on 1/12].

(3) JY observed that the School Committee tends to have such packed agendas that they don’t always get to talk about new things.  He then held up a book called Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns (by Clayton Chirstensen et al) about the use of technology in schools: leveraging it to change how we deliver education in school.  Would like to spend time talking about innovative ideas.  Mayor Higgins said that she and SP will talk about a structure for addressing long-term goals and innovative ideas in the meetings, with the plan to put these ideas on an agenda for a future meeting.

Meeting adjourned shortly after 10 p.m.

Submitted by Emily Todd (ebtodd2002@yahoo.com)