Carver Public Schools
Carver, Massachusetts
School Committee Meeting
Monday, February 12, 2007
Minutes
Committee Members Present:
Kay Spencer, Chair
Mary Kaminski, Vice Chair
Al Spicer
Barry Struski
Randy Webster
School Administration Present:
Elizabeth Sorrell, Superintendent
Matthew Gillis, Director of Business & Finance
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Kay Spencer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
I. Comments from General Public
None
II. Comments from EAPC
Cathy Sharon-Matthews, Vice President, addressed the committee regarding a program offered jointly by our local union, EAPC and the state affiliate, Mass Teachers Association. The program is called Mass Child, which was started when it became known how many teachers were providing clothing, medical care, eyeglasses, etc. for their students. Any teacher can report to the President of the EAPC their concern for a student and in turn an application will be completed and submitted to MTA. If the application is found to be legitimate, the local union
matches state funds.
III. Updates from Student Advisory Council and Captains Council
None. – Students unavailable for this meeting.
III. Approval of Minutes
Mary Kaminski made a motion to accept both January 12, 2007 minutes as written. Al Spicer second. Approved with four in favor and one abstention.
IV. Communications
A. Sedell’s Pharmacy/Board of Appeals– letter informing school committee, as abutters, that Sedell’s request for a retail package store license has been denied by a vote of 2:3.
B. DOE Commissioner, David Driscoll – The superintendent petitioned the Department of Education regarding the January 9, 2007 evacuation day due to a written threat on the wall of the high school. Specifically, she asked for a ruling on whether our high and middle school students and staff would be required to make up this day? His letter dated, January 29, 2007, states we do not have to make up the day.
C. Carver Athletic Boosters – New fund raising promotion was presented to committee. The proposal is to approach local businesses once rather than every season to ask them to become a member of the sponsorship program. There are different levels and CCAT, Ad Book, and sponsor announcements at games would be covered according to: Gold Club - $1000; Silver Club – $500, Bronze Club - $250; and Honorary Member – $100. Committee approved unanimously.
D. Request for Disposal – CPS Technology Department submitted a list of obsolete equipment for permission to remove and dispose from current inventory. Randy Webster made a motion to approve, Barry Struski second. All in favor.
IV. Reports from the Superintendent
A. Recognitions – Congratulations to the 2 French and 14 Spanish new members inducted into the French and Spanish National Honor Society.
Deb Gesualdo, Grade 4 teacher at Governor John Carver Elementary was named Teacher of the Week in Patriot Ledger.
Kudos extended to the Girls Varsity Basketball team for their outstanding, undefeated season and their road to tournament play.
Sarah Buttermore (class of '07) and Jolene Harju ('08), Carver High School students have won placement in the All State MMEA Music Festival. This is a great honor as this prestigious festival recognizes only the finest young musicians in the state. They will be performing at the 53rd MMEA Music Festival in Boston, March 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. These young women are both outstanding students and leaders at Carver High School, and their accomplishment should be a source of pride for the entire community.
The recipient of the Superintendent’s Award for Academic Excellence for the 2006-2007 school year is Sarah Buttermore. The criteria are: Three (3) year cumulative average, Rank in Class, Personal Selection by the Superintendent from the top 5% of the graduating class.
B. Personnel – We are fully staffed with the exception of the following openings:
Athletic Trainer, and Occupational Therapist (p-t). Administrators are checking with staff for projected retirements and employment changes. A district-wide advertisement is planned for March 11th Boston Globe, Education Help Wanted section for anticipated 07-08 position.
Also, the school system has joined the Mass. Association of School Superintendent’s (MASS) advertising consortium which will be a savings for our district and the MASS Job Site ad will publish yearly on the first and third Sunday of each month in the Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram and Gazette and Springfield Union.
C. Enrollment Reports -- monthly enrollment data, by grade level, was distributed.
D. MCAS Data Report – Review of data as it relates to the number of students who migrate (move in/out of our district) and its effect on our scores and how we can best serve these students by appropriate assessments and remediation, dedicated instruction before they take the MCAS exams. For this discussion, the math scores were reviewed. Administrative leadership team continues to work on the best avenues to improve scores and prepare students.
E. Silver Lake Career and Technical School view-booklets and applications were shared with the committee. The Middle School guidance department will work with students regarding potential placements at Silver Lake in addition to the Old Colony Vocational School. Silver Lake will be in charge of the selection process. Transportation will be provided by busing our students to the Carver/Plympton town line to take a Silver Lake bus to school at no charge.
F. In the News - Mary Kaminski congratulated the superintendent for the article about Women Superintendent’s in the Boston Globe, South section, which featured her picture and several quotes from her interview with the reporter.
V. Recommendations from the Superintendent
A. Policy Actions: Second Reading of the School Student Activity Account Policy – File DGB. No discussion. Motion to approve by Mary Kaminski. Second by Al Spicer. All in favor to accept policy as written.
B. Budget FY’08 - The superintendent presented a detailed budget for next fiscal year via power point slides. Highlights include: proposal to eliminate 7-12 transportation fee; reductions to budget from managed electricity expense by locking in new contract price, reduced natural gas projections by bidding through collaborative; reduced vehicle fuel expenses by procuring from state contracts, reduced special education tuitions and increased circuit breaker revenue. A review of all budget drivers was discussed, valued added revenues such as Mass Dept of Ed entitlement grants, competitive grants, booster
clubs contributions, awards and donations. The school district has been asked to level service all school level departments. Two level II request have been recommended, a .49 Clerk position for the Middle School Guidance Office and .2FTE Career Counselor for the High School. The School Committee would be asking the town for a 3.9% increase; however, if we receive circuit breaker money that we hope for, we will actually come in at the town’s percentage request.
C. Ben Ellis School – The state Department of Corrections requested a reconsideration of their request to use Ben Ellis for educational purposes. Additional details of their program were provided. The committee was unanimous in their decision that they did not want to entertain this use for the Ben Ellis building.
D. Jack Hunter, Carver Town Planner and Will Sinclair, Chair of the Redevelopment Authority came before the committee to explore the possibility of the RDA and maybe the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) collaborating with the school department to find an appropriate use for the Ben Ellis building. The building is a historical site and might be eligible under RDA and CPC guidelines for re-use, refurbish/renovation, etc. It seems that no group has definitive ideas about how the building should best be used. Perhaps through a memorandum of agreement, the town and school department could work cooperatively to find an appropriate end use for the building (i.e., boys/girls club, day care, etc.). The school committee would be open to options and suggestions and will the superintendent and
business manager will stay in communication with these town boards and will report back to the school committee.
VI. Reports from the School Committee
Barry Struski commended Elementary school for their recent award ceremony and offered his appreciation for the all the work done by the staff.
Mary Kaminski congratulated the students and drama staff on a great performance on their recent play, Noises Off. Also to the high school students and their advisor for the great experiences offered through the Mock Trial program
VII. Executive Session
Kay Spencer asked for a motion to go into Executive Session, Randy Webster motion, Barry Struski second. All in favor to adjourn and not return to regular session.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
Annmarie G. Metrano, Recording Secretary
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