NASHOBA REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
August 23, 2007
SCHOOL COMMITTEE IN ATTENDANCE: Cathy Giunta, Don Adams, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso, Richard Fly, David Horne, Lynn Colletti (6:05)
ABSENT: Mel Govindan, Cristina Shea[Marker]
ADMINISTRATION IN ATTENDANCE: Michael Wood, Superintendent of Schools, George King, Assistant Superintendent for Finance
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Cathy Giunta called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. in the Office of the Superintendent.
APPROVAL OF THE WARRANTS OF AUGUST 23, 2007
WARRANT NO. DATE DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
2809 [Marker] 8/24/0[Marker]7 VENDOR $269,986.15
2810 8/24/07 BENEFIT $ 460,301.69
2811 8/24/07 PAYROLL $ 206,822.02
MOTION
Brian Burke made a motion to approve the warrants as detailed in the memo dated 6/14/07 and noted above. Seconded by [Marker]Monica CampoBasso[Marker] IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne, Richard Fly, Cathy Giunta VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (6-0-0)
[Marker]APPROVAL OF THE SUMMER WARRANTS[Marker]
WARRANT NO. DATE DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
2787 6/29/07 VENDOR $ 353,318.63
2788 6/29/07 BENEFIT $ 540,190.19
2790 6/29/07 PAYROLL $ 1,011,685.33
2791 6/30/07 VENDOR $ 516,628.80
2800 7/13/07 VENDOR $ 305,000.54
2801 7/13/07 PAYROLL $ 437,708.64
2802 7/13/07 PAYROLL $ 226,092.42
2792 6/30/07 VENDOR $117,138.17
2803 7/27/07 VENDOR $ 175,735.65
2804 7/27/07 PAYROLL $ 560,283.46
2805 7/27/07 PAYROLL $ 220,240.25
2806 8/1007 VENDOR $ 308,146.88
2807 8/1007 BENEFIT $ 23,120.80
2808 8/1007 PAYROLL $ 210,993.29
Brian Burke made a motion to approve the warrants as detailed in the memos dated 6/28/07, 7/12/07, 7/27/07 and 8/09/07 and noted above. Seconded by Don Adams IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne, Richard Fly, Cathy Giunta
VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (6-0-0)
APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 14, 2007 MINUTES
MOTION
Don Adams made a motion to approve the minutes June 14, 2007, as amended. Seconded by Monica CampoBasso. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso, Richard Fly, Cathy Giunta, Lynn Colletti ABSTAIN: David Horne
VOTED AND PASSED. (6-0-1)
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Ms. Giunta mentioned there were Executive Session minutes to review. The committee decided to look at these at the conclusion of their regular meeting.
CORRESPONDANCE
Mr. Wood reviewed the correspondence in the evening’s packet, which included:
¨ The MASC Legislative Bulletin
¨ Letter from Mr. Wood to Sarah Young of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)
¨ Notification from the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association that a student in Kathy McHale’s class, Lindsey Marie Gonzalez, was awarded an honorable mention for her participation in the high school division of their poster contest.
¨ Letter from the Town of Stow Finance Committee
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Opening of School
Mr. Wood reported to the committee that he has visited all the schools and they all look great and are ready for the opening of school. He said that there are a couple of capital projects which are still being completed but they would be done for the start of school.
Enrollment
Mr. Wood told the committee that the District is planning to open its doors with 3322 students for the fall of this year. He said the District closed its doors in June with 3323. Additionally, Mr. Wood said that the district plans to do an in depth analysis after school has started so that the high school registration process can be finalized. At first glance, he said, our kindergarten class appears smaller than the previous two years. Mr. Wood said the Mary Rowlandson Elementary enrollment is also less, but that all of the 3 yr. old students have not been entered into our system. He also told the committee that the District is aware of at least eleven (11) students who are registering at the high school on August 26, 2007, which will bring us to about 40 students more than last year. Mr. Wood also said
that School Choice for Kindergarten has remained at 3 in Lancaster, 2 in Bolton, and 4 in Stow.
NEASC
Mr. Wood reported that Mr. Roche has been working this summer with his administrative team, principal’s council, and teachers to implement the plan outlined previously. He said that Mr. Roche has been in contact with Ann Ashworth from NEASC and she agreed that if the work as he discussed, along with significant progress on the schedule is made, we will be off warning status with no difficulty.
New Staff Orientation
Mr. Wood reported that new staff orientation starts on Monday, August 27th. He said that all new teachers go through staff training on Monday, with all new staff starting on Monday for orientation. He told the committee that all teachers are back on Wednesday, August 29th for the only staff day before school starts. He also told the committee that freshmen orientation is on Thursday morning, August 30th, and some high school teachers have been assigned to coordinate this.
Dee Bus
Mr. Wood reported that Mr. King met with Dee Bus Company management and drivers this morning. And they are excited and ready to drive on September 4, 2007.
MSBA
Mr. Wood reported that he, Lynn Colletti and Bill Spratt, met with representatives from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) this morning, along with Town of Stow Board of Selectmen member Ellen Sturgis. He said they spent almost three hours touring both Pompo and Center Schools to help the team see what the Statement of Interest was referring to. The next step, he said, is for an assessment team to come out and conduct an in depth analysis of our need. He told the committee this should be done some time between now and the end of the calendar year. He added that neither visit is an indication of funding.
Communication
Mr. Wood reported that feedback on his evaluation suggested that staff did not know how decisions were being made or believed that he was making them without their input. He told the committee that 2 action steps he is taking to communicate better how decisions are being made and who is making them include a training of all teacher leaders in the district on how to run meetings and communicate decisions/action items/recommendations being made by their committees and secondly, this work will all be prominent on our internal web site for Teaching and Learning. He said that while he thinks the District has generally been very communicative about how decisions have been made, he wants to take more decisive steps to ensure that our staff has better knowledge of the process being used and the participants in the process. He told
the committee that he has also asked that the administrators request building representation on all district committees and he has streamlined what is being done so people don’t feel overwhelmed. He said that all of this was communicated at the end of the year to staff.
Finance
Mr. Wood said that as many people know already, the district is projected to receive more Chapter 70 funds this year. He said that in light of this, and when it has happened in the past, the School Committee has brought the matter up for discussion and held a vote. He told the committee that he thought it would be prudent to wait until the District’s Schedule 19 report has been competed (September 30th) to have a good understanding of the FY 2007 financial picture. Mr. Wood said that the first quarter of FY 2008 will be done and the auditors may have a projected excess and deficiency amount to review. He said that he would have a recommendation as to what amount, if any, is to be returned to the towns by the end of the first quarter.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Ex-0fficio Report by Ms. Shea
Nothing to report.
Facilities SubCommittee, by Mr. Govindan
Nothing to report.
Finance SubCommittee, by Ms. Giunta
Nothing to report.
Personnel SubCommittee, by Mr. Adams
Nothing to report.
Policy SubCommittee, by Mr. Adams
Nothing to report.
SPED PAC, by Mr. Burke
Mr. Burke reported that SPEd PAC Chair, Joan Finger, has been active over the summer, meeting with Tracy Conte and parents. He told the committee that a schedule of upcoming meetings for the school year will be distributed to students when they return for the start of the school year. Additionally, he told the committee that the meeting schedule is posted to the SPED PAC listserve.
NEW BUSINESS
Maynard
Ms. Giunta reported to the committee that she and Mr. King met with 2 members of the Maynard School Committee and the Maynard Superintendent of Schools to discuss the possibility of regionalization to include Maynard, at their request. She said that their proposal included only the regionalization at the high school level. Ms. Giunta told the committee that she relayed to the members of the Maynard School Committee and the Maynard Superintendent that Nashoba Regional School District is a K-12 district, and has gone to great lengths to see that all students in the district enter the high school at the same level.
Collaborative Appointments
MOTION
Don Adams made a motion that the committee appoint Mr. Wood to the Boards of Directors to the CASE, Assabet, and FLLAC Collaboratives. Seconded by Monica CampoBasso IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne, Richard Fly, Lynn Colletti, Cathy Giunta VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0-0)
Subcommittee Appointments
Mr. Wood reviewed the recommendations for the School Building Committee and the Community Competition Complex Fundraising Committee.
[Marker]MOTION[Marker]
Monica CampoBasso made a motion to approve the recommendations for the Community Competition Complex Fundraising Committee and the School Building Committee as recommended by the superintendent and described in Appendix IV. Seconded by Don Adams IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Brian Burke, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne, Richard Fly, Lynn Colletti, Cathy Giunta
VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0-0)
[Marker]OLD BUSINESS[Marker]
Ms. CampoBasso told the committee that in going through some old files she discovered that she had been mistaken in her references to conversations with the former Athletic Director, Pete Richards, regarding the Lacrosse team. She said that she had been certain that Mr. Richards told the committee there would be a one year trial, and was quite adamant about it in subsequent meeting discussions. However, in reviewing information recently regarding this issue she found that Mr. Richards actually did not say that and that he did tell the committee there would be a two year trial period. Ms. CampoBasso apologized to the school committee, the administration and to Mr. Richards.
CITIZEN’S COMMENTS
Mr. Gray of Stow addressed the school committee and commented on the discussion around Maynard joining the district. He told the committee that the only real answer to have total control and absorption.
Mr. Joss of Stow addressed the committee and said there was a recent newspaper report that there were 14 new teachers at the high school, and asked if this were true. Mr. Wood said these were not new positions, but rather new staff that was hired to replace teachers who had left the district due to retirement or other reasons.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
MOTION
Motion moved by Brian Burke to enter into Executive Session to review executive session minutes of June 14, 2007. Seconded by Don Adams ROLL CALL VOTE: Cathy Giunta- YES, Brian Burke- YES, Don Adams- YES, Monica CampoBasso- YES, David Horne- YES, Lynn Colletti- YES, Richard Fly- YES VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0-0)
REURN TO REGULAR MEETING
ADJOURN
MOTION
Motion moved by Monica CampoBasso to adjourn. Seconded by Don Adams. IN FAVOR: Don Adams, Monica CampoBasso, David Horne, Richard Fly, Brian Burke, Lynn Colletti, Cathy Giunta
VOTED AND PASSED. UNANIMOUS (7-0-0)
The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Linda DeStasi
Executive Assistant
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