The meeting began and ended as anticipated in the Town Office Building, Selectmen's Meeting Room. Following the Call to Order & Executive Session at 7:02 PM, the Committee returned to Open Session at 7:35 PM.
Chair Margaret Coppe began with a moment of silence out of respect for the lives lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy last Friday. She then read a statement on behalf of the School Committee, published in the Lexington Patch and Lexington Minuteman.
Superintendent Dr. Paul Ash also expressed his sadness for the loss of life to elementary school children and school staff. He invited Police Chief Mark Corr, Fire Chief John Wilson, Assistant Superintendent for Business & Finance Ms. Mary Ellen Dunn, and Director of Public Facilities Mr. Pat Goddard to the meeting to address concerns related to school safety.
Chief Corr said, "no one wants to hear that they [his department] have received new military-grade assault weapons" and that they have been to Hartwell Ave, training for the impossible, but that is what has been happening. They will be prepared to respond as quickly as possible in the event of the impossible. Chief Wilson said that the schools will have everything they need from his department. Ms. Dunn described Crisis Management Teams (a.k.a. Incident Management Teams) at each school, of which building principals are a part. Each Team is equipped with a "go bag" and an "All Hazards Guide", created as part of LPS' Readiness & Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) implementation grants. Mr. Goddard described some of the security features at all schools and entrances.
School Committee members had questions, responses, and comments. I had loosely prepared some remarks pertaining to the Newtown tragedy - - I will post them in a separate post after this.
Members had various reports and updates to share:
- Vice-Chair Alessandrini informed about the "how-do-we-begin-to-restore-elementary-foreign-language" meeting he and I attended last week with Elementary Principals Trach, Lipsitz, and Anton, and Assistant Superintendent Pilarski. We were presented with the approach to elementary school schedules; he asked that the members of the Committee receive the schedules that we saw.
- Member Bonnie Brodner updated on the Cary Memorial Building's renovation project and asked Member Jessie Steigerwald to share information related to upcoming Capital Projects Planning Committee meetings (to which she is a voting member liaison).
- Member Steigerwald attended an EDCO Collaborative meeting and shared that Weston has a subcommittee looking at a later start to the high school day; Weston is interested in LHS' later start (8:30 AM) on Wednesdays.
- I attended the Permanent Building Committee (PBC) meeting last Thursday and updated related to the two school renovation projects at Bridge & Bowman Schools and the new Estabrook Elementary School project.
At Bridge & Bowman, PBC reviewed :
- Scheduling the core rooms behind the library (referred to as "D-2")
- HVAC refinement
- Punch list from Phase 1
- TLT Construction's approach to planning and scheduling the various trades for the period from now through summer
- Work continues during vacations, on nights and weekends
At Estabrook:
- Project is on schedule
- The GMP (guaranteed maximum price) is due to MSBA in early January
I also raised the fiscal issues related to pending federal sequestration budget cuts and the governor's recent mid-year 9C budget cuts for FY13. State tax receipts are lower than projected. The cut to the state's special education circuit breaker reimbursement account (identified at $11 million) will have an impact to LPS. Added to the as yet unknown Congressional outcome of pending across-the-board sequestration federal budget cuts (identified as an additional potential $300 million cut to Massachusetts) and we are in for some interesting times. The 9C budget cut process is designed to ensure that the Commonwealth's overall budget remains balanced. View the FY13 budget HERE and details related to the 9C cuts HERE. I also recommend viewing the non-partisan MassBudget and Policy Center (MBPC) analysis, found HERE. For information about federal sequestration, check HERE and HERE.
When we got to the first item on the Agenda, it was 8:30. We approved the Unit A Contract (teachers' contract) with the Lexington Education Association (Massachusetts Teachers Association union affiliate). As a member of the bargaining team, I was thrilled to learn that the LEA had ratified the new three-year contract only a few hours before our meeting. The terms agreed to were 2% in year one; 2.25% in year two; and 2.75% in year three.
Tom Plati, Director of Educational Technology and Assessment, clarified some 2012 MCAS data. Member Steigerwald objected to claims that LPS had "closed the achievement gap". Why it is true that MCAS scores in 10th grade ELA were100% Proficient or Advanced (no Warning or Needs Improvement), we are committed to high achievement for all students and for the long haul. Dr. Ash said there would be no "resting on laurels"; results of the focused work of getting all students to Proficiency are just beginning to bear fruit.
This proved a perfect segue to the presentation on the District-wide Professional Development to Increase Educator Capacity and Student Learning. Mr. Len Swanton, Director of Professional Development (now referred to as "professional learning") and Ms. Carol Pilarski, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development, gave an impassioned, comprehensive presentation on meeting student needs with better tools for teaching through professional learning. Their presentation, in turn, perfectly teed-up Dr. Ash's Update on Improving Professional Relationships. Presentation documents will be posted HERE.
The meeting adjourned at 10:55 PM. The next meeting of the School Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at 7:30 PM in the Town Office Building, Selectmen's Meeting Room, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, when we expect Dr. Ash to present the FY14 School Budget.
When we got to the first item on the Agenda, it was 8:30. We approved the Unit A Contract (teachers' contract) with the Lexington Education Association (Massachusetts Teachers Association union affiliate). As a member of the bargaining team, I was thrilled to learn that the LEA had ratified the new three-year contract only a few hours before our meeting. The terms agreed to were 2% in year one; 2.25% in year two; and 2.75% in year three.
Tom Plati, Director of Educational Technology and Assessment, clarified some 2012 MCAS data. Member Steigerwald objected to claims that LPS had "closed the achievement gap". Why it is true that MCAS scores in 10th grade ELA were100% Proficient or Advanced (no Warning or Needs Improvement), we are committed to high achievement for all students and for the long haul. Dr. Ash said there would be no "resting on laurels"; results of the focused work of getting all students to Proficiency are just beginning to bear fruit.
This proved a perfect segue to the presentation on the District-wide Professional Development to Increase Educator Capacity and Student Learning. Mr. Len Swanton, Director of Professional Development (now referred to as "professional learning") and Ms. Carol Pilarski, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development, gave an impassioned, comprehensive presentation on meeting student needs with better tools for teaching through professional learning. Their presentation, in turn, perfectly teed-up Dr. Ash's Update on Improving Professional Relationships. Presentation documents will be posted HERE.
The meeting adjourned at 10:55 PM. The next meeting of the School Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at 7:30 PM in the Town Office Building, Selectmen's Meeting Room, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, when we expect Dr. Ash to present the FY14 School Budget.