Mt. Greylock Regional School District

Transcription

1 School Committee Open Session Minutes Date: January 26, 2017 Start: 7:06 pm Adjourn: 9:19 pm Location: Library, MGRSD Williamstown, MA In Attendance: Committee Members Also Present C. Greene K. Grady, Interim Superintendent C. Dodig N. Rauscher, Business Manager W. Penner M. MacDonald, Principal S. Hebert, MGRHS Student S. Miller A. Terranova Absent: G. Fuls I. The meeting was called to order by S. Hebert at 7:06 p.m. II. Circulate Warrants & Minutes for Approval Warrants were circulated for approval. The minutes in the packet were from the November school committee meeting and had already been approved. III. Agenda Requests, Public Comment, Student Advisory Committee Agenda Requests: None. Public Comment: None. Student Advisory Committee: The Student Advisory Committee reported that they were able to place a second microwave in the cafeteria. IV. Efficiency & Regionalization Grant Presentation At the request of K. Grady, the Chair motioned to accept a change in the order of the agenda in order to allow for Dr. Malkas and Bill Diehl to give their presentation. Dr. Barbara Malkas, Superintendent of North Adams Public Schools, discussed the possibility surrounding an educational collaborative within Northern Berkshire County. There is currently an opportunity for an Efficiency & Regionalization Grant through the Massachusetts Governor s office to apply and conduct a needs assessment with the end goal of exploring the possibility and viability of a Northern Berkshire Educational Collaborative. Bill Diehl, Executive Director of the Collaborative for Educational Services located in Northampton, MA explained that his organization could assist in establishing a Northern Berkshire Collaborative while a Page 1

2 needs assessment was conducted and if a collaborative was established, could assist with running the collaborative until it was in place and could be turned over to the members within Northern Berkshire County. Collaboratives can assist with advocacy, shared services, and cost savings for member districts. Mr. Diehl passed out information about the Collaborative for Educational Services which details the services that his organization provides. (See Attached). The two goals for the planning grant would be to build a Special Education program that is cost effective, and to build a framework for a collaborative by April At that time, a collaborative agreement would come before the school committee for consideration. V. Math Department Presentation: Mary MacDonald, Principal, along with Brandon Price, Bob Thistle, Luke Polidoro, and Crystal Williams joined the school committee to give a presentation on the Math department. M. MacDonald detailed the ways in which the department worked around the retirement of Courtney Gibson in order to not immediately hire a replacement teacher during FY17. For FY18, there is a recommendation to hire a replacement teacher. Fifteen formal courses are currently offered by the math department at Mount Greylock in addition to other programs that are available through MCLA. In the school year, 67% of students scored 3-5 on the MCAS. There have been several new math department members within the past five years and the department has quickly become one of the best in the county. Plans for the future include a desire to offer more sections for the classes that are offered. We would also like to offer new classes. A. Terranova commented on wanting to know more about what happens to our students after thy go through our programs. M. MacDonald commented that she is working with the Guidance department on a proposal which would allow us to better track what happens with students after they leave Mount Greylock. C. Dodig asked about class sizes: M. MacDonald talked about actual class sizes versus average class sizes based on the class type (averaging between 20-21). S. Miller discussed current needs of the math department with the staff present at the meeting. VI. Williams College Update Kaatje White, Director, presented a power point and gave updates on the Williams College Center at Mount Greylock. In the spring, science class will happen in May. Arts In Tech class will take place for 8 th graders. Additional Greylock Talks sessions are under way. In addition efforts are underway to begin a Model UN. C. Greene asked what happens at the end of the year to thank the students involved with the Williams Center at Mount Greylock. There was discussion about the variety of things that are done to show appreciation. VII. Superintendent s Report Page 2

3 VIII. K. Grady updated the committee on the mid-cycle coordinated program review for Mount Greylock. There were no findings and the school is currently in compliance. Record Access Officer was published on the District website. C. Greene asked if we could standardize a form for use by anyone who needed to make a Public Records request. K. Grady updated the committee on the Parent Advisory Council. Lynn Lyons will be presenting for the PAC on 3/14/16 at 7PM in the library at Mount Greylock. Preparation is underway for the mitigation proposal for the changes that will be made to the District Health Insurance plans. MCLA is currently being considered for a grant that, if received, would provide additional college opportunities for students to have college opportunities during high school as well as potentially during summer vacations. The New Teacher Induction program is ongoing and on track. Reports of the Subcommittees: a. Building Subcommittee: Mark Schiek gave an update on the Building Subcommittee. The 90% construction documents have been submitted to the MSBA and the project is currently on budget. Value Engineering options are on the table in case the project moves out of budget. Steel package bid came in about $500, lower than the cost that was originally anticipated. Site work will continue as long as the weather continues to hold. If not, construction will pause until the spring in order to avoid incurring additional costs. The Gymnasium and Auditorium construction work is currently on target. Gym classes will be held outside weather permitting once the gym is taken offline. In addition there will be a room inside that will serve as an exercise room and an area where physical education can take place indoors if outside activities can t take place. b. Finance Subcommittee: Line Item Transfers: MOTION by A. Terranova to approve line item transfers in the amount of $ to cover an increase of 1.5% for non-union personnel. SECONDED by C. Dodig. No Discussion. VOTE: MOTION PASSES. Regional Transportation: N. Rauscher explained that the DOE recommends that regional schools establish a revolver account for regional transportation funds. What that will allow is an additional year to spend funds related to regional transportation costs without negatively impacting E&D. MOTION by C. Greene to establish a Regional Transportation Reimbursement Fund, SECONDED by C. Dodig. VOTE: FY18 Preliminary Budget Discussion: The District is on track with the FY18 Budget timeline. A more detailed budget will be brought forward to the next MG Finance Page 3

4 Subcommittee meeting which the Town Administrators will be invited to attend. d. Negotiations Subcommittee: C. Dodig stated that the fourth mediation session with MGEA is scheduled for February 6 th. C. Dodig remains hopeful that a settlement is attainable. e. Policy Subcommittee: The following policies were on the Agenda to be reviewed by the school committee for a second read: 1. CHA Development of Procedures 2. CHC Procedure Dissemination 3. CHCA Approval of Handbooks and Directives 4. CB Regional Superintendent 5. CBD Superintendent Contract 6. CBI Evaluation of Superintendent MOTION by S. Miller, SEONCDED by C. Dodig to accept these policies as presented. VOTE: MOTION PASSES. IX. Williams College Capital Gift Update C. Dodig informed the committee that two qualification packages have been received from the RFQ. The task group is meeting on January 27 th and will review and score both of the submissions and will report out a recommendation during the February meeting for approval. X. Regionalization Update C. Greene reported that a large part of the regionalization discussion has been around Chapter 70. Continued analysis of the numbers is underway to weigh the benefits of different scenarios to weigh out options for regionalization. The next steps would be to meet with the Towns and the other committees to discuss the work that is taking place. If the numbers are favorable and the committee decides to move forward, a request could be made during the regular Town Meetings in the spring to consider regionalization. The full regionalization study can be found on the Mount Greylock website under Resources. MOTION by C. Greene to accept the response to an RFP from MARS to hire MARS to do the work as specified in the proposal up to $ plus transportation. SECONDED by A. Terranova Discussion: C. Greene noted that she believes the total cost of the work outlined in this proposal would be about half of the money needed to fully analyze the data surrounding potential regionalization. S. Miller wanted to discuss the impact this would have on public involvement and engagement and how the school committee would continue to engage the public in discussion. S. Hebert discussed the roles of school councils and C. Greene talked about individual school identity and how they would translate during a regionalization and yet still stay distinctive. It will be very important to actively discuss these issues with the Page 4

5 public if regionalization is to move forward. There is also the question of what would the cost be to not regionalize. VOTE: XI. Other Business Not Reasonably Anticipated by the Chair Within 48 Hours of the Meeting None. XII. Administrative Reports Accolades and Announcements: Several 8 th grade class members will be a part of Project 351 a program started to focus on leadership and unity across the state and is designed to have a student representative from every town. The middle school just concluded a Greek fair. Three students have been named Athlete of the Week on iberkshires. XIII. Upcoming Meetings: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 MG Regular Open 7 PM XIV. Motion to Adjourn : MOTION to adjourn to Executive Session with no intent to return to Open Session per M.G.L. Chapter 30A sec. 21 (a) (3) to discuss strategy with respect to a collective bargaining issue with MGEA and the Chair declares that an open session may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the School Committee and to approve executive joint session minutes 11/30/16 &12/13/16 by C. Greene SECONDED by S. Miller. ROLE CALL VOTE: Hebert Aye, Terranova Aye, Miller Aye, Dodig Aye, Greene - Aye Meeting Adjourned at 9:19 PM Respectfully submitted, Jonathan Nopper Mt. Greylock Minutes Recorder A DVD recording of this meeting in its entirety is available at the District Office. Page 5