Carver Public Schools
Carver, Massachusetts
School Committee Regular Meeting
Monday, February 26, 2008
Minutes
Members Present: Kay Spencer, Chair
Mary Kaminski, Vice Chair
Al Spicer, Committee Member
Barry Struski, Committee Member
Also Present: Elizabeth Sorrell, Superintendent
Laura Tilton, Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Technology
Absent: Randy Webster, Committee Member
Matthew Gillis, Chief Operations & Financial Officer
Kay Spencer called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
I. Comments from General Public
None.
II. Comments from EAPC - Connie Koffman and Mike Riordan were unavailable to attend the meeting. They are looking forward to the on-going negotiation process.
III. Recognitions:
A. Voice of Democracy State Finalist – Jessica Knuth, CHS junior, was recognized for receiving a 3rd place finish at the state level in the Voice of Democracy Audio-Essay Competition.
B. Silver Key Award – Senior Erica Kierstead was awarded the Silver Key Art Award from Boston Globe for her stained class artwork. The award is on a regional level and recognizes originality, technical vision and personal vision/style.
C. Music Competitors – Jenna Foley was recognized for her acceptance to MMEA Southeast district chorus and Jolene Harju was accepted to the band for flute (1st chair, 1st part). Additionally the following students will be auditioning for SEMBSA: Jenna Foley (alto), Elaine Perkins (alto), Caitlin Lepak (alto), Bill Leatherbee (trumpet), Jodi Ferry (clarinet), Stephanie Blischke (trumpet) and Gabriella Guimaraes. Results will be announced at March meeting.
IV. Updates from Student Advisory Council and Captain’s Council
Captain’s Council – Both Boys and Girls Basketball teams have qualified for tournament play. Richie King obtained 1000 points, only the 5th player in Carver history to reach this milestone. Wrestling team sent 5 wrestlers to all state and Paul Walsh and Dan Confar participated in all states. Co-op Sacred Heart & Carver ice hockey and
gymnastics teams had a successful season.
Captain’s Council will be sponsoring a Freshmen Summit in March will assist students in making good decisions and being positive student leaders. Also in March, 8 student athletes will attend You Lead Program at Abington High. This program is sponsored by MIAA and reinforces health
decision making skills. Spring sports registration nights are coming up and High School season starts March 17th and MS season starts April 7th.
Student Council – Cam Crehan, Student Council treasurer reported Council sponsored a dinner for the Fire/Police/EMT personnel. The event was well attended and donations of stuffed animals were given to the departments. The junior class sponsored a Hypnotist Evening,
2/26. A Movie Night is being sponsored Feb. 28th for all students. On March 8, there will be a faculty/student basketball game. Seniors are planning their Senior Dinner Dance.
V. Approval of Minutes - Motion by Mary Kaminski to approve regular and executive session minutes of January 14, 2008. Second by Al Spicer, All in favor. One abstention.
VI. Communications
A. Department of Education - Dr. Joan Brinckerhoff of the Program Quality Assurance Division wrote a letter of opinion regarding the facilities issues at our primary and elementary schools as noted during our internal Coordinated Program Review held during the week of October 29, 2007. The final report will indicate two citations, one in special education and one for civil rights regarding problems with our facilities. This information will be used as supporting documentation for our School Building project. As a side note, Carver Public Schools has just
received notification that we will have a Title I audit in March.
B. Old Colony Y Before/After School Program – Matt Gillis and Liz Sorrell met with administrators of the Old Colony Y program on January 11th to discuss the further use of our facilities. Until now, the “Y” has used our buildings as rent free space, however, Mr. Gillis and Ms. Sorrell do not recommend the continuation of this arrangement. Rather, it has been proposed to charge a monthly fee of $1000. The superintendent asked for committee feedback. All members were in agreement regarding the importance of continuing this valuable service to parents and their children; however, in these hard fiscal times they felt the price was not unreasonable and agreed to impose this charge. Al Spicer was concerned about consistency of the fee schedule with other
groups and the Superintendent assured him that “town” groups such as youth basketball, etc, were not for profit groups that used our facilities according to our school committee policies. Matt Gillis and Liz Sorrell will contact Old Colony Y regarding the rental fee and will write a new rental agreement.
C. Resignation/Retirement– Doris Soliwoda. The School Committee accepted the resignation of Mrs. Soliwoda who has been an elementary teacher in our district since 1997. She will be missed by her colleagues and students alike.
D. Recognition to Kimberly Feeley, Information Services Coordinator and Annmarie Metrano, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent for their collaborative work on the new EPIMS project required by the state.
VII. Reports from the Superintendent
A. Enrollment/Class Size - Monthly enrollment report and also a comparison from last year to this year was distributed. The loss of 44 students from same time previous year was noted. An age structure from the town census will be provided at a future meeting.
B. Migration – data from each school for students both enrolling and withdrawing for the month of December was distributed. A total of 16 students withdrew or enrolled throughout the district in this month.
C. School Calendar for 2008-2009: Three options were submitted to the School Committee all of which had been preferred by the administrators. This option starts school before Labor Day and includes a 2 week break in December. Additionally, one of the teacher’s professional days will be November 4 – Election Day. Laura Tilton is working with other districts to offer a shared professional development offering for our staff. Details will be published as soon as possible. The School Committee was unanimously in favor of supporting the “Option A” calendar. The calendar will be posted on the school website: www.carver.org after the first of March. Currently the school and town departments’ data services are being re-routed from previous Adelphia lines to Comcast lines. This will mean changing all our IP addresses.
D. School Building Authority Updates – Carver School Schools is 1 of 44 districts selected out of over 423 proposals to move forward in the School Building process and were chosen as most in need. We have completed a feasibility study and the next step is to form a School Building Committee which must consist of the following required members: Local chief executive officer, administrator of the town, at least one member of school committee, Superintendent of Schools, local official responsible for building maintenance, a representative of the office or
body authorized by law to construct school buildings in that town, Primary and Elementary school Principals, a member who has knowledge of the educational mission and function of the schools (a teacher from each building), a local budget official or member of the local finance committee, members of the community with architecture, engineering, and/or construction experience to provide advice relative to the effect of the proposed project on the community and to examine building design and construction in terms of its constructability. An open invitation was given for any community members who are interested in serving on this committee to contact Annmarie Metrano, Superintendent’s Office at 508-866-6160. Hopefully, this committee will be in place by the end of March. The committee will meet two evenings per month on the first and third of Mondays. This will be an approximately 3 year commitment to the committee work. As the process progresses, the MSBA will
give us a window of 120 days in order to have a town debt exclusion vote.
E. Report on Professional Development – Laura Tilton, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology highlighted the full and half day professional development opportunities offered to our staff this year. Additionally, a preview of the upcoming Summer Institute offerings was distributed.
F. FY’09 Budget – The Superintendent gave a presentation of the accomplishments to date in our district including: new weight/fitness room, tennis courts and basketball courts; professional development workshops and trainings, improved SAT scores for the high school, low drop-out rates, improved reading levels at the primary school and numerous art, music and athletic accomplishments. A snapshot of the financial situation facing the school department as the FY’09 budget is being prepared was presented which may include a reduction in staff throughout
the district. It is a time of severe need. The annual budget hearing with school committee and the public will be March 10th at 6:30 p.m.
IX. Recommendations from the Superintendent
A. Out of State Field Trip – The grade 7 Trailblazer team from Middle School submitted a request for a one day field trip to New York in late May-early June. The committee was concerned about having
equity of educational experiences which would not be accomplished because only one team would be on the field trip. Also, because next year all grade 7 students will have the opportunity to attend the Camp Bournedale project, and the current grade 7 students will go to New York as part of their 8th grade field trip plans which tie closely to their social studies curriculum; the committee voted to disapprove the request. The superintendent and committee did note their appreciation to the team teachers for their time and commitment to the field trip request.
VIII. Reports from the School Committee
Barry Struski informed the committee member he has been asked to join several town committees and was pleased with the opportunity to serve and network with other committees and the community.
XI. Executive Session
Kay Spencer asked for a motion to go into Executive Session, not to return to Regular Session for the purpose of discussing personnel issues. Mary Kaminksi made the motion, Barry Struski second. All in favor by role call.
Meeting adjourned: 8:40 PM.
Next regular meeting: Monday, March 10, 2008
Respectfully submitted by: Annmarie G. Metrano, Recording Secretary
Minutes approved by Committee 3/10/08
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