GROTON-DUNSTABLE REGIONAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE Groton-Dunstable Regional High School Library 703 Chicopee Row, Groton, MA March 4, 2015 Approved 3.25.15 PRESENT: Ms. Alison Manugian, Chair Ms. Stephanie Cronin, Secretary Mr. Lou DeLoureiro Ms. Leslie Lathrop Mr. Jeff Kubick, Vice Chair ABSENT: Mr. Thomas Steinfeld ADMINISTRATION: Dr. Kristan Rodriguez Mr. Jared Stanton STAFF, PRESS, OTHERS: Pierre Comtois, Groton Landmark; Jon Sjoberg, past School Committee member; Rick Arena, Vice Principal High School; Mary Jennings, past Superintendent; Berta Erickson, past School Committee member; Greg Sheldon, Anna Elliot, Becky Pine, Municipal Building Committee I. Call to Order: The GDRSC Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Alison Manugian, Chair. II. Pledge of Allegiance Middle School students Shawn Wright (Grade 7), and Ashley Lawton (Grade 8) led the pledge. Ashley s favorite subject is ELA, learning about the Holocaust. Shawn likes math and learning about negative numbers, it is something you use in everyday life. Ashley is nervous about going to the High School but also looks forward to it, her sisters are there. Ashley plays volleyball, lacrosse, and field hockey. Shawn asked the Committee how long do you work as a team together. Alison Manugian stated you are elected for 3 years at the town elections, not everyone s term is up at the same time. You need to go to the Town Hall and take out papers and have 45 signatures, the election is held in May. Alison Manugian encouraged anyone who would like to run, there is a 3 year opening for Dunstable, there is two 3 year openings for Groton, and there is also a 1 year term opened in Groton to fill the recent resignation. Shawn asked Dr. Rodriguez how long did it take you to go to college. Dr. Rodriguez stated she did 4 years to receive her Bachelors, 2 years to receive her Masters and 6 to 7 years to receive her Ph.D. Dr. Rodriguez wanted to put all her learning into education. Dr. Rodriguez was an English teacher for grade 10 and some classes in the 11 th and 12 th grade. The Committee was also asked if there was a shadow day for students to shadow administration. Dr. Rodriguez stated right now we have a shadow day at the Middle School with parents.
GDRSC 3.4.15 Page - 2 III. Questions and Comments from the Public Jon Sjoberg, former School Committee member came up to introduce himself. He wanted to inform the Committee he has filled out the intent paper to fill the recent opening for the School Committee. At this time he is only applying for the remainder of this year s term and will decide if he wants to also run for the 1 year remaining that was opened after the resignation of John Giger. He is unable to attend the town meeting being held on the following Monday night where they will be appointing someone for the remainder of this year s term. IV. Announcements V. Presentations A. Girls Varsity Softball B. Boys Varsity Lacrosse C. Boys Varsity Baseball Rick Arena, Vice Principal at the High School presented all three field trip requests. He told the Committee they have been taking these trips to the Cape for several years. These trips are funded by the students and the program. We have to pay the same price for the bus regardless of how many students they have going. He also stated because of the amount of snow the Cape still has the dates could possibly change or the trips could be cancelled. L. LATHROP MADE THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE THREE FIELD TRIPS AS PRESENTED PENDING FINAL APPROVAL BY THE SUPERINTENDENT. SECONDED BY JEFF KUBICK. Stephanie Cronin wanted to know why these field trips that are the same every year have to come to the School Committee to be approved. Dr. Rodriguez explained it is our policy and feels it is important the School Committee is aware of overnight field trips, especially for new members who may not have been present in past approvals. The Committee also felt having one person present was much easier. VI. Reports A. Subcommittees a. Policy b. Business and Finance Jeff Kubick stated they have been discussing the upcoming capital stabilization fund that the Committee has approved to move on to the towns. Also discussed was this year s budget and it is on track. There will be more discussions on OPEB coming in future meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for March 18 th. c. Personnel and Negotiations B. Superintendent 1. Good News There is one more Press Release due to come out. We have been talking about building up our business department. We have a new club Distributive Education Clubs of America
GDRSC 3.4.15 Page - 3 (DECA) which was completed on January 13, 2015. These are business competitions for our students. We are in District 5 which includes Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Greater Lowell and others. It prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. It is based on principals of business administration. We had six students representing Groton-Dunstable at DECA: Catherine DeGroot, Felix Shen, Kirsten Habermann, Madison Ready, Julia Mendel and Ethan Webber. Most recently 3 of the students placed in their series events with Felix Shen placed second in Business Financial Services, Madison Ready placed sixth in Quick Service Restaurant Management, and Kirsten Habermann placed seventh in Accounting. Because they placed seventh or above they will move on to the State Competition which will be held on March 12-14 at the Copley Plaza in Boston. It is amazing for our students to place in our first year. Felix Shen, Madison Ready, and Kirsten Habermann will compete with the eight remaining districts in Massachusetts. Congratulations to them and also to Catherine DeGroot, Julia Mendel, and Ethan Webber who competed in the competition. C. Director of Budget and Finance D. Chair 1. FY 2016 Budget Adoption Dr. Rodriguez informed the Committee that Governor Baker s release of budget, initial review, will not have an impact on Groton-Dunstable. This is only phase 1 of the multi budgets for the state but we are good. Alison Manugian congratulated Dr. Rodriguez and Jared Stanton for the budget document. There was a tremendous effort preparing this document and made it very clear. This was great work, and solid numbers. ALISON MANUGIAN MADE A RECOMMENDATION TO APPROVE THE BUDGET OF $36,449,830 AS PRESENTED BY THE FOLLOWING FUNCTIONS: 1000 (DISTRICT LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION): $1,115,572 2000 (INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES): $18,362,765 3000 (OTHER SCHOOL SERVICES): $2,552,653 4000 (MAINTENANCE): $2,601,727 5000 (FIXED CHARGES): $6,898,818 7000 (FIXED ASSETS): $108,695 8000 (DEBT RETIREMENT AND SERVICE): $3,100,863 9000 (PROGRAMS WITH OTHER DISTRICTS) $1,708,737 SECONDED BY LOU DELOUREIRO ROLL CALL: L. DELOUREIRO, YES; L. LATHROP, YES; J. KUBICK, YES; S. CRONIN, YES; A. MANUGIAN, YES. VII. Discussions 1. Groton Municipal Building Committee Introduced was Greg Sheldon who Chairs the Municipal Building Committee for Prescott School and Anna Elliot who is the Vice Chair. Greg Sheldon wanted to thank the School Committee for allowing them to attend the meeting. The Board of Selectmen appointed the committee in December and we began work around January. We formed two sub-committees, first being Public Engagement which is to reach out to the public to learn of ideas for the future of Prescott School and to engage the community to come up with some alternatives, and the second being Research and Analysis, where will be looking at different business models on how to accomplish a variety of scenarios, from retaining town ownership and a business model that would help create a financial
GDRSC 3.4.15 Page - 4 plan to upgrade and renovate the building itself to accommodate potential civic, non-profit and for profit use of the building. Gary Sheldon continued to say the key is finance, we have looked into what other towns in the region that are with the same scenario. We are an advisory committee to the Board of Selectmen. We will layout alternative scenarios and the Board of Selectmen can accept or reject. Right now we are doing the research and learning ideas. The purpose of tonight was to begin a dialogue with the School Committee and discuss your interest. Over the next 6 to 7 months we would get our work done and be prepared for the fall town meeting to make a presentation. We want as much community to be involved and also researching the condition of the building and the potential it has. Alison Manugian, who is also on the Municipal Building Committee, it is good to start the dialogue with the School Committee. Alison Manugian stated our two concerns are sustainability and cost. We are open for discussion of ideas that could work. Dr. Rodriguez prepared a letter stating the updates the building is in need of and the floor plan of how the building is being utilized now. Dr. Rodriguez stated the top floor is for our Central Office and it used to its capacity. The first floor we utilize the large conference room. We have also utilized other spaces on this floor, they are not necessary but are nice to have. We would like to keep the classroom we have set up for a satellite space for our PAVE program. They also do vocational support in the mail room. The gym at this time is not used but we want to introduce a Wellness Program which would include classes to be held there that would be open to the school employees and employees of Groton and Dunstable. The basement floor we would like to keep some of our supplies there, the mail room, and maintenance department. The special education parent group (SEPAC) also has a room on that floor and they have a wonderful learning space there for parents and students to go and learn and they offer workshops. We have budgeted what our current costs are which includes utilities. If other people were to share the building with us there are some implications. We would want to make sure the building was open from 8 to 4, we are a public building and want to make sure the public has access. There is some level of security if we share with someone else, our offices would have to be secure. We would also want to share utilities if an outside agency was sharing the building and would want some reserved parking spaces for the staff. We are also looking into a new phone system, VOIP, voice over internet protocol, that would be an additional cost to us and to someone else coming in. These are our current needs, we are very centrally located and would be happy to remain in the building. We are looking into extending our present lease to allow us to have some continuity for FY 2016. Anna Elliot asked what would need to be done long term in order to remain in the building, remaining on the top floor you would need to be handicap accessible which would require and elevator which does not exist in the building now. Dr. Rodriguez felt if we were to remain long term that would be discussions we would have to have. Currently we have the first floor that is handicap accessible so we are able to meet those needs. Anna Elliot stated the offices are currently constructed in old classrooms, would the square footage be the same if actual offices were constructed. Dr. Rodriguez feels in long term we would not want to go any smaller or larger than what we presently have. Greg Sheldon asked if we would need to expand and have some on site educational programs on the first floor now or in the future. Dr. Rodriguez felt we would have to look into this, but feels these programs should be located in the schools and not at Central Office. If we have some extra space we would utilize for offsite satellite classes. Dr. Rodriguez also pointed out one of the issues is the air quality, it is based on per pupil and if we were to have classes of 25 we would have issues. Greg Sheldon introduced another member of the Municipal Building Committee, Becky Pine. Becky Pine stated by looking at the floor plan, the school is occupying most of the building, did we need all of this. Dr. Rodriguez explained they have gone over their needs and would be sending that letter out to the committee. Becky Pine wanted to know if any of the school funds would be available for upgrading the building. Dr. Rodriguez explained the money for building improvements is primarily for the buildings with students. SBA funds are available to buildings that have more students and not generally for a building with administration. Becky Pine stated we would like to have a public meeting in the building, we would like to work with the administration for a way to do this without too
GDRSC 3.4.15 Page - 5 much of a disruption. Dr. Rodriguez stated she has been approached regarding this and it is possible to do so and protect the work environment. Becky Pine felt it would be best to set up for a Saturday. Leslie Lathrop stated Prescott is a great location for Central Office, her concern is we could find the space in other building but the administrators would not be together and would not like to see that happen. The committee will keep the School Committee informed. They will continue their research and possibly come back to the School Committee in spring or the fall with more information. VIII. Approval of Minutes LESLIE LATHROP MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 25, 2015 AS PRESENTED IN OUR PACKET. SECONDED BY STEPHANIE CRONIN. IX. Vote to Accept Warrant Article JEFF KUBICK MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE PAYROLL WARRANTS TOTALING 0 DOLLARS AND FOUR ACCOUNT PAYABLE WARRENTS TOTALING $248,621.00 FOR A TOTAL OF $248,621.00. SECONDED BY LOUIS DELOUREIRO. X. New Business. XI. Adjournment LESLIE LATHROP MADE A MOTION TO ADJOURN AT 8:01 PM. SECONDED BY JEFF KUBICK. Respectfully submitted, Aine Bellofatto Recording Secretary