NASHOBA REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
January 11, 2007
School Committee in Attendance: Don Adams, Ellen Sturgis, Tricia Kelly, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso (6:05 p.m.), Cathy Giunta, David Horne< SPAN LANG="en-us">
Absent:[Marker] Mel Govindan, Laura O’Neil
Administration in Attendance: Michael Wood, Superintendent of Schools, George King, Assistant Superintendent for Finance
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Don Adams called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. in the Office of the Superintendent.
APPROVAL OF THE WARRANTS OF JANUARY 11, 2007
WARRANT NO. DATE DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
2744 [Marker][Marker] 1/11/07 VENDOR $ 269,555.58
2745 1/11/07 BENEFIT $ 22,986.23
2746 1/11/07 PAYROLL $ 972,067.87
MOTION
Cathy Giunta made a motion to approve the warrants as detailed in the memo dated 1/11/07 and noted above. Seconded by Brian Burke. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia Kelly, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, Cathy Giunta, David Horne VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (6-0)
APPROVAL OF THE DECEMBER 14, 2006 MINUTES
MOTION
Cathy Giunta made a motion to approve the minutes of December 14, 2006 as amended. Seconded by Ellen Sturgis. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia Kelly, Cathy Giunta, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, David Horne, VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (6-0)
CORRESPONDENCE
□ Information from Dave Tobin, Executive Director, MAVA (Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators) regarding Regional School District Regulations
□ NESDEC Stow enrollment info
□ MASC School Leadership registration info
□ Stow Building Task Force (SBTF) Chairman’s Report
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT (This report may be viewed on the District website at www.nrsd.net)
Mr. Wood distributed the following report to the committee:
Security Program Update
Mr. Spratt has shared with me a revised timetable for the installation of the magnetic locks. These will be turned on as they are installed so new procedures will be in place soon at each school. Signet, the vendor installing the cameras had scheduling complications due to the holidays. They are scheduled back for January 10, 11, and 12. Mary Rowlandson, Luther Burbank, Emerson, and Sawyer are completed. Complications at the Emerson site were worked on Wednesday, January 3rd.
This is Phase I of our security project. The approximate cost of this phase is $16,000 plus the labor of our electrician. Phase II includes installation of cameras at our high school. The estimated cost of this phase is $36,000 which has been identified from a revolving account. Again, the District’s electrician will work with the vendor. Phase III will be the presentation of identification cards to all employees. Equipment will be purchased to photograph each employee and provide a card to be placed on their person. The cost of this equipment is estimated to be $7,000. Our own staff within the Human Resources Department will implement this phase. Phase IV will have the same card activated as their own swipe card for entry into the buildings. A timeline for Phases III and IV include having the cards distributed by the end of May and t he
cards activated for the start of school in September.
u Installation of wiring started last week and should be finished at Emerson and Sawyer (12/8/06).
u Installation of wiring at Pompo (12/11/06) and should finish by Wednesday (12/13/06).
u Installation of wiring at Center will begin on or about 12/14/06 and Hale by the end of the beginning of 12/18/06.
u Once the buildings are wired installation of all of the video intercoms will take place.
u Everything completed by 1/19/07
There have been comments that I have not fully communicated the details of this initiative and that there were not opportunities for public input. I will be sure as the next phases are launched I do more to give people advance notice in a greater variety of venues and that if they want to give input they can then attend meetings or communicate to their representatives or me.
Tri Town Update
Representatives from Municipalities Organized for Regional Effectiveness issues presented. They discussed ways that the thirty-nine communities and Worcester could work together to strengthen their bargaining power, identify ways to work collaboratively on municipal projects such as waste disposal, business enterprise zones, and other municipal efforts that one community might find daunting to take on individually. Regional Special Education Transportation was an issue raised as something that the group could possibly facilitate a regional conversation.
Mr. King discussed the changes in the Chapter 70 formula that took effect with the FY 2006 budget. He reviewed the presentation he has previously done for the school committee. A question was raised if the changes noted would reduce the minimum aid requirement for each town and Mr. King explained that it would not. At the moment with current information known the Chapter 70 formula would generate about $200,000 of new aid to the District in FY 2008.
Mr. Wood reviewed the security changes explained above.
The group discussed how they are individually handling building permits for 40 B’s. Concern had been expressed that if there aren’t strategies to control the growth they will have significant financial impact on the respective communities, most notably on the schools.
Students Attend Inaugural
Two of Nashoba Regional High School students attended the inauguration of our governor on January 4th. Mr. Smith chaperoned Alyssa Browne of Stow and John Stefos of Lancaster. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Nashoba Invited to Become a Compass School
Nashoba Regional High School has been selected to be part of a pool of schools from which a new group of Compass Schools will be chosen. The Massachusetts School and District Accountability System outlines the provision of a program to recognize and celebrate improvements in student performance, and to gather and disseminate information on successful programs and practices. Initiated in 2001, the Exemplary Schools Program includes management of the Department's Commonwealth Compass Schools Program and the coordination of nomination processes for federal programs: Title I Distinguished Schools Recognition Program and No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Program. We will be notified later this spring if we are chosen.
Walk Through Exercises for Data Collection
The District is conducting classroom walk through exercises this week in an effort to collect data on our professional development program. A walk through is a three to five minute observation of the classroom, the lesson and the learning behaviors exhibited during the visit. Our instructional coaches and administrators are conducting the walk through exercise. Ms. Sally Sullivan develope d the tool along with Laura Friend and the help of the Professional Development Committee. This will give us quantitative data on how our professional development has changed practice over the last few years, and will give us a baseline for moving
forward. Every classroom in the District will be visited.
Parent Access Parent Workshops Continue
There are a number of workshops being held to meet the demand of new parents interested in signing up for parent access to the Power School’s Grade Book for their child. We have also compiled the initial participation rates. We initially invited 753 students’ families, today’s enrollment of middle school students is 751 making our participation rate at about 35% overall.
At each school our participation rate is: Burbank 24% Sawyer 41% Hale 39%
At each grade level our participation rate is Grade 6 39%; at Grade 7 31%; and at Grade 8 36%.
In the district 37 parents have signed up for automatic email notification of progress. Others are signing onto the site to look at information. Upcoming trainings are:
1/19/2007 Sawyer at 8:30 a.m. 1/25/2007 Hale at 6:00 p.m. 1/30/2007 Burbank at 8:30 a.m.
2/7/2007 Sawyer at 6:00 p.m. 2/12/2007 Hale at 8:30 a.m. 2/27/2007 Burbank at 6:00 p.m.
Calendar Committee Input
The Calendar Committee is meeting throughout January and if parents want to give input they can email their building principal or Marianne Boswell at mboswell@nrsd.net to share their thinking.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Ex-0fficio Report by Ms. O’Neil
Ms. O’Neil was not able to attend the meeting, but she forwarded the following report to the committee:
¨ Last week, Kylie Ricker was named to the 2006 NSCAA/Addidas High School Girls All-America Soccer Team. She is one of 78 chosen nationally and one of 3 from Massachusetts. She was also honored as the MVP for the Mid-Wachusett League for this past season. Kylie will play soccer at the University of Maryland next year.
¨ Last Saturday (12/9), both the wrestling and indoor track teams had their first competitions. The wrestling team overpowered Canton, Norton, and Quincy in the quad-meet at Nashoba. At the Don Woods Memorial Indoor Track Tournament at Fitchburg High, Courtney Baker, Jill Perreira, Whitney Koch, and Kylie Ricker each won their respective events. The boys’ basketball team lost against Hudson and Nipmuc in their first two games of the season. The girls’ team hosts Fitchburg in their season opener tonight. The hockey team won their season opener 10-1. And, the ski team is hoping for even just a little snow so their races can
begin.
¨ Yesterday, Spanish and German classes attended a play in Cambridge called “Wings of Desire,” to learn about the techniques and ideas behind producing a play that the students will be able to utilize in their own productions in the spring.
¨ The Holiday Choral Concert is tonight, and the singing groups, along with the band, will perform at the holiday assembly next Friday.
¨ On Friday, December 15th, the newly organized peer mediation organization will have its last training session under the instruction of Sawyer’s Mr. Verdolino. Lindsay Capone, a senior, organized this program with the help of Mrs. Calo, after observing how it works at nearby high schools.
Mr. Adams recommended moving to New Business on the meeting agenda and hearing from Mr. Sullivan of Powers and Sullivan. The committee agreed.
NEW BUSINESS
Audit Presentation
Mr. Dick Sullivan of Powers and Sullivan discussed the District’s FY 06 audit with the committee and gave a brief overview of the following reports:
¨ The Report on Examination of basic Financial Statements for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2006
¨ Management Letter of June 30, 2006
¨ Reports On Federal Award Programs for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2006
Mr. Sullivan told the committee that the District had an overall good report and that things are going as one would anticipate they would. He added that the audit process went very smoothly and that information was received in a timely manner. Regarding the Management Letter, Mr. Sullivan reported that the four points identified in the 2005 Audit have been addressed. He told the committee his only recommendation at this point would be for the district to implement a Disaster Recovery Program. Regarding the Reports On Federal Award Programs, Mr. Sullivan said there was nothing to disclose to them that would need to be reported. Mr. Burke asked if there would be a report on student activities and Mr. Sullivan replied that there would be a separate report on this sent at a later date. He was not sure of the time frame for this report
yet.
Mr. Burke commented on a typo in the report on page 11 of the on Examination of basic Financial Statements, noting the year should be “2006”. Mr. Sullivan apologized for this. Ms. Sturgis inquired about page 5 of the same report, noting that the high school project is listed as “new”, however it was a remodeling project. Also, Ms. Sturgis asked if language could be added to note 12 on page 31 of the same report which would make it clearer. Mr. Sullivan said he would be open to any suggestions the committee might have.
Audit Advisory Committee members Mr. Jim Medeiros of Stow and Mr. David Wiley of Bolton addressed the committee regarding their involvement in the Audit process. Both told the School Committee the Audit Advisory Committee met once without Mr. Sullivan to review. The said there was a second meeting in December which Mr. Sullivan was included in. At this meeting they discussed the audit planning process, problems and also improvement of controls. Concern was raised by several members of the school committee that there is still no Lancaster member on the Audit Advisory committee.
Facilities SubCommittee, by Ms. Kelly
Ms. Kelly read the minutes from the last Facilities Subcommittee meeting which took place on Thursday, January 4, 2007. Copies of the turf field proposal and the District Facilities 5-yr. Capital Plan were included in the evening’s packet. The committee discussed the turf field proposal. Chair Don Adams asked Mr. Wood when the committee could expect to have a discussion regarding the turf field. Mr. Wood responded that would take place after the Budget workshop on January 27th. Mr. Wood added the addition of the turf field will allow for more attractive playing fields and create more revenue with better gates during the week-end. Mr. Adams inquired about the cost savings regarding maintenance of the fields with the installation of the turf field. Mr. King responded that there would indeed be a savings and estimated that to be in
the area of $10,000. Mr. Horne commented that this would be an investment.
Ms. Kelly noted the line item for a new high school track slated for the year 2012 in the facilities capital Plan. She commented that at the time the decision was made to resurface the high school track rather than completely re-do it, it was discussed that the football field would be the only field to be regulation size. Mr. King responded that there may have been some misinformation at the time and that regulation size is defined as 60 yards wide.
Finance SubCommittee, by Ms. Giunta
Nothing to report.
Personnel SubCommittee, by Ms. Giunta
Nothing to report.
Policy SubCommittee, by Ms. Kelly
Nothing to report.
NEW BUSINESS (Continued)
FY 07 Transfers
Mr. King distributed an updated spreadsheet of the FY 07 Transfers to the committee and read from a memo regarding the transfers which was intended to be part of the committee meeting packet. . Mr. King told the committee that most of the transfers revolve around salaries. He said some schools are seeing an increase and some a decrease and this in almost all cases results from the hiring of new teachers at either a higher
or lower level than the teacher being replaced. He added that although they mig ht see significant changes in individual cost centers, the District wide variance to budget is quite small. Mr. King also noted a couple items that are being addressed in the budget, which he said include the insurance line item and Special Education clerical.
Add money to the insurance line items. Relatively small amounts to each, and this should cover the balance of the year. The rates on the District disability plan went up a bit due to the increase of payroll covered. The dental program saw a few more subscribers than we were anticipating. Other insurance line items saw minimal increases based on actual bills.
The line item for special education clerical requires a relatively large transfer because the planned offset we were going to utilize there is being used in the special education teachers line instead, hence the large decrease in that item.
Discussion ensued.
MOTION
Motion moved by Ellen Sturgis to approve the FY 07 Budget Transfer request as recommended in a memo by George King, dated January 9, 2007. Seconded by Tricia Kelly. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia Kelly, Cathy Giunta, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, Monica CampoBasso, David
Horne VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0)
Grant Acceptance
Mr. Wood called the committee’s attention to two letters requesting acceptance of donations to the Lancaster schools.
MOTION
Motion moved by Monica CampoBasso to accept the donation from the Harper family in the amount of $3000 and Steve Boucher for $2000, in Association with Central Mass Sand & Gravel, to the Mary Rowlandson Elementary and Luther Burbank Middle Schools. Seconded b y Cathy Giunta. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia
Kelly, Cathy Giunta, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0)
MOTION
Motion moved by Cathy Giunta to accept the donation of three cameras to Luther Burbank Middle School. Seconded by Monica CampoBasso. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia Kelly, Cathy Giunta, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0)
OLD BUSINESS
Nothing to report.
CITIZEN INPUT
Mr. William Joss of Stow commented that the Concerned Citizens of Stow recently saw an article entitled “A Uniform Look”. He asked if the District ever considered uniforms for the students in the lower grades and suggested this might be worth considering. Mr. Joss also commented on the increase in taxes seen in the tax bills recently received by many Stow residents and asked the committee to keep increases as low as possible when looking at the proposed budget for the District.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
MOTION
Motion moved by Ellen Sturgis to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of reviewing the Executive session minutes and to decide which to release to the public, to include the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, and School Committee Secretary, and to conduct no further business after. Seconded by Monica CampoBasso IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia Kelly, Cathy Giunta, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, Monica CampoBasso, David Hor ne VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0)
RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION
The regular meeting of the school Committee resumed at 8:13 p.m.
ADJOURN
MOTION
Motion moved by Ellen Sturgis to adjourn. Seconded by Monica CampoBasso. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Tricia Kelly, Cathy Giunta, Brian Burke, Ellen Sturgis, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0)
The meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Linda DeStasi
Executive Assistant
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