Carver Public Schools
Carver, Massachusetts
School Committee Regular Meeting
Monday, April 14, 2008
Minutes
Members Present: Kay Spencer, Chair
Mary Kaminski, Vice Chair
Al Spicer, Committee Member
Barry Struski, Committee Member
Randy Webster, Committee Member
Also Present: Elizabeth Sorrell, Superintendent
Laura Tilton, Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Technology
Matthew Gillis, Chief Operations & Financial Officer
RETIREMENT RECEPTION for Randy Webster – 6:30 P.M.
Members of the committee, community and staff gathered to honor Randy Webster’s 21 years of service and advocacy for the students and education of Carver Public Schools. A plaque from MASC (Mass Association of School Committees) was presented as well as citations for outstanding service by the House of Representatives and the State Senate. He was thanked for his dedication, integrity, fairness and respect to students, staff and parents and being a wonderful role model.
Regular meeting was called to order by E. Kay Spencer, Chair at 7:22 p.m.
- Comments from General Public - Dagmar Ryan, parent, addressed the committee with concerns about the reduction of staff for the schools and specifically changes at the Middle School. She felt there are many rumors and she wanted to know why some academic positions might not be filled when newer positions such as math lab teachers and music teachers would be filled. She was also worried about how these staffing changes would impact the middle school teams.
The superintendent indicated the reduction of staff comes down to a continuing decline in enrollment across the system which dictates the amount of Chapter 70 aid we receive. We are over 1.5 million dollars short in revenue with the decrease in students. Ms. Ryan said she understood cuts needed to be made but wanted to know why the particular positions in the middle school were being recommended. The superintendent indicated the math lab teachers were needed because we have a math deficiency and the math lab was instituted to remediate this problem. If we do not fix our adequate yearly progress within the next year, we could be in corrective action
with the state. As to the other allied arts, the school committee’s mission statement affirms that the school committee is committed to a broad based education for all students in all areas.
Bob Gonsalves, parent, addressed the committee with concerns about academic teacher cuts particularly in the middle school. He asked how decisions for cuts were determined. He asked the committee to be creative in finding other places to cut rather than academic teachers.
Andrew Clinton, high school student, asked if the math lab teachers were part of a grant. He also asked if there were any assessment tools for the math lab. The students take a pre-assessment G-Made test and also post tests. Al Spicer indicated that all the decisions for placement in the math lab courses were completely data driven.
Geraldine Barrett, mother of 3 primary students, addressed the committee about the Everyday Math program. She is worried because one of her children, in particular, is having problem with the spiral learning process. The superintendent offered Mrs. Barrett an appointment to discuss her concerns in more detail.
II. Comments from EAPC - Connie Koffman and Mike Riordan attended. Mike expressed his concern about the difficult budget times facing Carver. In Carver the worst case scenario is imminent, the reduction of force. There has been a long tradition in Carver of open communication, but unfortunately he fears the reduction in force implications have made the communication suffer a bit. In a school district of our size, 11 positions are significant. The association and its representatives will be meeting with the Superintendent this week to continue to discuss the process.
III. Updates from Student Advisory Council & Captain’s Council – Lacey Olson from Captain’s Council gave the following Spring Sports updates: softball team reached its 300th school win; boys and girls track team is undefeated; girls tennis is 4-1 with a new coach, Emily Holmes, boys tennis has great new young talent and the visiting teams have been very complimentary about our new tennis courts; baseball record is 1-1 and middle school signed up over 150 students for spring sports. Captains Council is preparing for nominations for next year’s board positions.
IV. Approval of Minutes - Motion by Al Spicer to approve regular and executive session minutes of March 10, 2008. Second by Barry Struski. All in favor.
V. Communications
A. MASC Day on the Hill – Barry Struski, committee member and the Liz Sorrell, superintendent will attend the annual Day on the Hill event on April 29, 2007 at the State House, Boston. Topics covered will include: adequate and equitable distribution of Chapter 70 school aid, charter school finance reform, early education and community partnerships for children, and funding to support education for mobile students.
B. Cranberry Country Moving Wall – correspondence was received from this committee informing the school district that the Vietnam Moving Wall will be on display from May 29-June 2, 2008 at the Battis Field in Middleboro and blocks of time have been set aside for local schools to sponsor field trips to view the wall.
C. PCC Summer Advanced Studies Program – Carver submitted 16 applications for the 41st annual Advanced Studies program. All applicants were accepted. 11 eighth graders and 5 ninth graders will attend.
D. Environmental Club – The Carver Board of Selectmen sent thank you letters to Michelle Littleton and Michelle Dinn, Advisors of the HS Environmental Club for the work their students have been doing for our town in the area of conservation.
E. Botany Fellowship – Lorraine Folsom, MS Science Teacher has been notified of the confirmation of her participation in the Science Teachers Enrichment program hosted by the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai, Hawaii, June 23-July 5, 2008.
F. School Entrance Age Policies Survey – the survey was distributed to the committee as a point of information relative to the entrance age to start kindergarten throughout districts in Massachusetts.
- G. In the News – Bobbi Sistrunk, Carver Reporter correspondent, was thanked for the article, “Elementary, my dear”. She reported on the elementary and primary school building project.
- VI. Reports from the Superintendent
- Personnel: Resignations were accepted from Danielle Miller, MS Music; John Bianchi, HS Music; and Andrea Blackwell, MS Special Education. Also retirements were acknowledged for Ruth Ann Alexander, MS Social Studies; Barbara Higgins, MS/HS School Psychologist; and Patricia McCarthy, HS Guidance Counselor.
- B. Enrollment/Class Size - Monthly enrollment report and comparison from previous year was distributed. The loss of 66 students from same time previous year was noted.
- C. Migration – data from each school for students both enrolling and withdrawing for the month of April was distributed. A total of 23 students withdrew or enrolled throughout the district in this month.
- D. Camp Bournedale Report: Lynn Bastoni, Middle School Principal, gave an extensive report on the Fall 2008 Camp Bournedale project. This educational experience will be for Grade 7 students from September 29-October 4, 2008. Although it is offered to all 7th graders, it is not a mandatory program. The goal is to enhance the curriculum by bringing the classroom to nature, to promote team building and to educate the “whole child”. The cost is $325 per student and currently a fund raising effort is happening with parents, grants, and corporate sponsors. An update of how many students will participate and money raised will be given at June School Committee meeting.
- E. Strategic Plan Renewal: Barry Struski has joined the Carver Master Planning Committee and the town would like to include a section for our schools in this new document. The last plan was done in 2001 and needs to be revised. Additionally, by including the school department in the strategic plan, it will make the district eligible for potential grants. The superintendent has requested the committee to designate a half day strategic planning retreat in early summer to accomplish this task.
- F. MSBA Warrant Article: The School Building project warrant article amount has been revised from $80,000 to $250,000 because a more detailed feasibility study has been required from the Mass School Building Authority. This study will focus on the potential solutions to the facility problems at the Governor John Carver School. This article will be included for voting at the May 20th Annual Town Meeting.
VII. Recommendations from the Superintendent
A. Christopher Donovan Center – Private School: Based on the initial study and site visit by Elizabeth Sorrell, Superintendent, Laura Tilton, Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Technology, Mary Kaminski, School Committee Vice Chair, Scott Knief, High School Principal and Maureen Gaughan,
Director of Special Education a recommendation was made not to recommend approval of the CDC to operate as a private school in Carver at this time. The evaluation at the time of the visit included materials, curriculum, site, etc. and are categories recommended by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Attorney Edward Conroy, representing the Christopher Donovan Center, asked the committee to postpone their vote in order to allow the CDC sufficient time to address the points raised from the visit. Randy Webster asked the Superintendent if there was an appeals process and if the visiting team would be willing to review the updated information provided by Helen Bradbury, Director of the CDC and re-visit the school. Kay Spencer asked a consensus of the committee relative to posting the vote. Mary Kaminski recommended taking a vote with the stipulation it could be revisited. Mary Kaminksi made a motion that the Visiting Team agreed the Christopher Donovan Center did not meet criteria for approval at the time the team made their visit. Al Spicer second. All in favor.
B. Proposal to Increase School Lunch Price: A request to raise school lunches for the 2008-2009 school year was put forward by Matthew Gillis, Chief Operations & Financial Officer and Kath Farrar, Food Services Director. The recommended price increase is to meet the increased cost of groceries to provide healthy meals. Al Spicer made a motion to approve the following increases: Middle and High School lunch will increase from $1.75 to $2.00, High School super lunch will increase from $2.25 to $2.50; adult lunch will increase from $3.00 to
$3.50 and milk will increase from 40 cents to 50 cents per carton. The motion was second by Barry Struski. All in favor.
C. Out of State Field Trip – Updates on previously approved trips: Junior class trip for Fall 2008 to Virginia has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Also, the request for the Senior Class trip to New York is still pending.
A request by Daniel Portelance of the High School Culinary program was presented for four students to attend a Culinary Skills Competition at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island on 5-2-08. Al Spicer made a motion to approve, Mary Kaminski, second. All in favor.
- VII. Reports from the School Committee
The committee was asked to complete and return the annual evaluation for the Superintendent by April 25, 2008.
Also the committee reminded the public to get out and vote for Town Elections on Saturday, April 26. Randy Webster thanked the committee for the privilege of serving with them over these past many years.
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, Al Spicer second. All in favor by role call.
Meeting adjourned: 9:25 PM.
Next regular meeting: Monday, May 12, 2008
Respectfully submitted by: Annmarie G. Metrano, Recording Secretary
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