School Committee — 2017-09-12

Agenda

1. Pilot Program: Substitute Teachers ( 5 minutes) (4:10)
2. Superintendent's Update (5 minutes) (30:02)
3. Opening Day Update (5 minutes) (37:35)
4. Summer Facilities Work (5 minutes) (40:55)
5. Emergency Plan Update (5 minutes) (42:48)
6. Superintendent's Proposed Working Groups for 2017-2018 (5 minutes) (43:40)
7. Second vote required - Policy DJG: Vendor Relations (47:44)
8. Second vote required - Policy IHAE: Physical Education (47:52)
9. Second vote required - Policy JBA: Student-to-Student Harassment (47:58)
10. Second vote required - Policy JICG: Tobacco Use by Students (48:05)
11. Second vote required - Policy KEB: Public Complaints About School Personnel (48:11)
12. Second vote required - Policy KEC: Public Complaints about Curriculum or Instructional Materials (48:17)
13. Personnel Report (48:23)
14. Monthly Budget Summary (48:29)
15. Concussion Report (1:10:22)
16. Second vote required - Policy KJA: Relations with Booster Organizations (57:42)
17. Policies for Review: MASC Recommendations (5 minutes) (49:20)
18. Policy KBE: Relations with Parent and Booster Organizations first vote (5 minutes) (58:26)
19. Enrollment Expectation: Fall 2017 (10 minutes) (1:15:37)
20. No New Business
21. Superintendent Salary (5 minutes) (1:24:45)
22. Superintendent Goal Setting Timeline (5 minutes) (1:37:40)
23. Student Advisory Committee Representatives (5 minutes) (1:37:58)
24. Committee Delegate to MASC (5 minutes) (1:38:17)
25. Liaison Reports (5 minutes) (1:39:35)
26. To approve executive session minutes of August 29, 2017 (1:41:44)
27. To conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with the MEA (1:41:56)
28. To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for the negotiation of Superintendent Cyndy Taymore’s successor contract (1:42:02)

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE MELROSE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MINUTES● SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Regular Meeting 7:00 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176

(ID # 5879) Educational Programs and Personnel Pilot Program: Substitute Teachers ( 5 minutes)

(ID # 5888) Announcements - Superintendent Superintendent's Update (5 minutes)

(ID # 5867) Announcements - Superintendent Opening Day Update (5 minutes)

(ID # 5866) Announcements - Superintendent Summer Facilities Work (5 minutes)

(ID # 5865) Announcements - Superintendent Emergency Plan Update (5 minutes)

(ID # 5868) Announcements - Superintendent Superintendent's Proposed Working Groups for 2017-2018 (5 minutes)

(ID # 5881) Consent Second vote required - Policy DJG: Vendor Relations Adopted

(ID # 5882) Consent Second vote required - Policy IHAE: Physical Education Adopted

(ID # 5883) Consent Second vote required - Policy JBA: Student-to-Student Harassment Adopted

(ID # 5884) Consent Second vote required - Policy JICG: Tobacco Use by Students Adopted

(ID # 5885) Consent Second vote required - Policy KEB: Public Complaints About School Personnel Adopted City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 9/21/2017 7:38 AM Minutes Melrose School Committee September 12, 2017

(ID # 5886) Consent Second vote required - Policy KEC: Public Complaints about Curriculum or Instructional Materials Adopted

(ID # 5869) Consent Personnel Report Adopted

(ID # 5870) Consent Monthly Budget Summary Adopted City of Melrose Page 2 Updated 9/21/2017 7:38 AM Minutes Melrose School Committee September 12, 2017

(ID # 5887) Consent Second vote required - Policy KJA: Relations with Booster Organizations

(ID # 5889) Policy and Planning Policies for Review: MASC Recommendations (5 minutes)

(ID # 5890) Policy and Planning Policy KBE: Relations with Parent and Booster Organizations first vote (5 minutes)

(ID # 5873) Educational Programs and Personnel Enrollment Expectation: Fall 2017 (10 minutes)

(ID # 5891) Finance and Facilities No New Business

(ID # 5874) Announcements - Chair Superintendent Salary (5 minutes)

(ID # 5875) Announcements - Chair Superintendent Goal Setting Timeline (5 minutes)

(ID # 5876) Announcements - Chair Student Advisory Committee Representatives (5 minutes)

(ID # 5877) Announcements - Chair Committee Delegate to MASC (5 minutes)

(ID # 5878) Announcements - Chair Liaison Reports (5 minutes)

(ID # 5880) Executive Session To approve executive session minutes of August 29, 2017

(ID # 5892) Executive Session To conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with the MEA

(ID # 5893) Executive Session To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for the negotiation of Superintendent Cyndy Taymore’s successor contract City of Melrose Page 3 Updated 9/21/2017 7:38 AM Minutes Melrose School Committee September 12, 2017 Note: The listed agenda items are those that are reasonably anticipated by the Chair to be discussed at the meeting. Not all items, in fact, may be discussed, and other items not listed also may be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law. City of Melrose Page 4 Updated 9/21/2017 7:38 AM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Christine Casatelli: Good evening. Welcome to the September 12th meeting of the Melrose School Committee. I am Vice Chair Chris Casatelli, Margaret Driscoll, the chair of the committee will be joining us later. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. item on the agenda is the report of the student representatives welcome please tell us who you are all right so I am Colin Caesar jr. and this is my second year on the school committee reps board nice to see you all again nice to see you again and this is our Emma hi I'm Emma Harvey I'm a senior at Melrose high

▶ 0:58 school this is my first meeting welcome thank you all right so last week school started on Wednesday and although that signals the end of summer vacation many students are happy to be back see their teachers and all their friends the hundredth year anniversary performance of the Marrow Symphony Orchestra was Saturday night students that was a spectacular performance and several Meadows high students were on the orchestra performed very well I really liked the guest conductor did you see him please continue so many students visited or volunteered at the Victorian Fair this past Sunday many MHS clubs activities had the booth stands representatives wandering the wandering the streets or having their own booth to you know speak out motors high school

▶ 2:10 whoo the speaking of the various activities we have the MHS activities fair is this Thursday after school basically a big fair at MHS describing all the different clubs, activities, everything Morris High has to offer for the students. And finally, for the non-sports stuff, the German exchange students will be arriving shortly for their three week stay, and shortly after that, the French students will be arriving for their stay the month after. Wow. Now over to Emma for the sports. Yes, so last Friday was the first football game of the season where the Raiders won against the Masconomic High School, 32 to 6, which I think most students left with no voice. I did, because I'm a cheerleader from O'Hurst High School,

▶ 2:59 which is a really good game. Also, the swim team beat Arlington and Watertown, 95 to 75 last Friday, and will verse Lexington tomorrow. And for the first cross country meet, which is today, I think it's still going on right now, against Woburn, as well as the girls volleyball game has a match against Woburn today. And again, for Woburn, the first soccer game was today versus Woburn. Very good, any questions? You two did great, thank you. Thank you very much. Next on the agenda is public comment. Is there a motion to open? So moved. Second. Moved by Ms. McAllister-Grant, seconded by Ms. Dugan. All in favor? Carries unanimously with one absent. Thank you, Mr. O'Connell. There are no requests.

▶ 3:55 Christine Casatelli: There are none. Okay, is there a motion to close public participation? So moved. Second. Moved by Ms. McAllister-Grant, seconded by Ms. DeSalm. All in favor? Public participation is closed. Is there a motion to move Ed Stations from- pilot program okay uh pilot program from the educational programs and personnel um is can we move it to um above so moved second announcements thank you mr absolutely should i come on oh wait all in favor okay carries so much for that memory thank you so much good evening i'm jess dugan um chair of the educational programs and personnel committee happy to um to discuss this portion of our agenda tonight titled pilot program substitute teachers superintendent thank you um as we all know we

▶ 5:03 struggle with substitute teachers for the past two budgets we've tried to raise the salary we've only been able to raise it five dollars because we've had to make some difficult choices to that and we have some proposals that we want to discuss for the elementary schools and I'm going to ask miss Cordick dr. carbs and miss Farrell to come forward to lay them out for you as a reminder to to the committee we piloted substitute solutions at the middle school and the high school over the past two years with the permanent subs those were successful the high school now employs two permanent subs year-round and the middle school as of this year one permanent sub year-round to help relieve some of the

▶ 5:48 pressure some of the pressure arises mainly from the amount of PD we do professional development we do during the day as well as other opportunities we do learning walkthroughs we do peer observations we do the instructional coaches coming in so we send people to special conferences we had a tremendous amount of teachers last year attending positive behavior intervention and strategy training and so it's not teachers absences necessarily so I want the public and the committee to understand on top of it all during the day or our IEP meetings with families and those meetings often go for a couple of hours and we cannot keep pulling our paraprofessionals to cover because those paraprofessionals are supposed to be attending to children so we're looking

▶ 6:46 for some in-house solutions and with that I will let the speakers address it so we have two different pilots going we're going to try one approach at Horace Mann and one approach at Lincoln okay so I'll speak please to Horace Mann so welcome back everybody I'm Mary Ellen Copts I'm the principal at the Horace Mann Elementary School the proposal that's on the table for the Horace Mann school came some out-of-the-box thinking if you will we know the problem is that we have a chronic shortage of substitute teachers although low pay is certainly one thing as a problem towards that the bigger problem that we see is the educational leaders in this community not just the principals but the teachers

▶ 7:33 as well is using our paraprofessionals to cover classes we've put a lot of time and effort and goodwill in training these exceptional teaching assistants so that we have a solid three tiered system of instructional support whereas a paraprofessional can push into as they do any block literacy mathematics science and give research based intervention anytime you pull that adult the child is not getting the intervention so that's a problem that we see as great beyond just pay and we don't live in a bubble we recognize that pay is a problem but I think as public educators we know that we can't cry money all the time we have to think outside the box so with that at the Harvest Man School the proposal that I have shared with my lead teachers and I

▶ 8:22 talked at length with with the superintendent was proposed by a parent in our community I think it's an excellent idea and what we're going to do is what the blessing of the superintendent is to move forward with a training program in which we would seek volunteers to come into the classroom the training would be around you know we jokingly called it a substitute boot camp but it would be provided by dr. Margaret Adams out of her office of curriculum just some general classroom strategies and things that parents or members of the community could support our family as students with we have an established as you know volunteer body through the bridge we have a wide range of professionals of the community and our hope is in thinking this way we

▶ 9:12 would we be more likely if we gave people the skills to have someone to volunteer for three hours then we would to say would you come in and after taxes will give you $48 do you understand saying so we want to we want to address that way in speaking with the number of people in the substitutes that we do have on hand they are they're really good so what happens inevitably is by January they're in all in long-term positions whether it be maternities or leaves and we're struggling so we want to give them the training we also want to give the messaging to the people who are coming into our building and I know that my colleagues share the same that we recognize and value the work you're doing we're going to give you the training you need we're going to give

▶ 9:57 you the recognition you name you are part of our team so we're taking a volunteerism approach and we are you know the skin in our game is not just our students but we're going to give you PD we're going to give you incentive that you can join professional development that the district is providing once you've been involved in the process so again outside the box thinking the fiscal picture is what the fiscal picture is but we want to as we have in the past at Horace Mann and in all our schools I would say in Melrose is just build on the expertise and the camaraderie of this community and see if we could take a volunteer approach so that's the present proposal for Horace Mann that we're considering and the Lincoln School is sort of working off of

▶ 10:40 the model that's been as successful as you heard from superintendent more at the high school and the middle school and that is that we hire two individuals to work two different shifts the first shift would start at 8 and it would go till 11 o'clock and then we'd have a half an hour window before the next individual would come and they would work with us until 2 30 when we're successful we were counting for the morning part of our day and the ending part of our day and these folks would be permanent members of our school buildings but working three hours a day and would be paid as such we would compensate them for the time that they're in our building being mindful the fact that we need to watch hours and ensure that we aren't exceeding what

▶ 11:26 we're hoping to be able to get and be careful that we're not stepping into territory that would require other things that could come along with a position like this I'm happy to report that on school spring we had 21 applicants and I started the process last week of interviewing had a few more today and have a few more tomorrow because we're really anxious to get these two individuals identified and get them into our building and and begin the process of having them get to know us with a building the size that Lincoln is with 20 classroom teachers and around 18 paraprofessionals it's a given chance that on any particular day someone will be absent for a variety of reasons and or someone may have to leave early due to a commitment outside of school and so

▶ 12:15 the ability that we would then have to be able to have these individuals cover these classes and and make sure that the learning continues is something that we're really excited about and invested in and as I've talked to these applicants about kind of what they would be doing in our building I said you kind of have to be like the jack-of-all-trades the only place that we won't throw you into is being our custodian being our school nurse or being our Chartwells person who's in the kitchen literally cooking the meals I said you could be any one of anybody else in the building and they looked at me one of them did today and said even you and I said sure we're not so we're excited and I'm I've been really the applicant pool as I mentioned is rich

▶ 13:03 there's a lot of people that are on it and the people kind of run the gamut for what they bring to the table some of them are very seasoned educators I spoke to someone who's who has just recently retired from public school education having done 25 years and said I just want a little something but I don't want something full-time and then we've got folks who are coming to us with virtually no official classroom experience but a lot of volunteering and yep and so those kind of people who just want to dabble and enjoy being in a school and like being around children so it's been interesting to see who who has jumped at this opportunity to apply on school spring and and and and chat with me about what the position really entails so mr. oh will you address some

▶ 13:50 of the data we're hoping to gather and how we're going to factor it into the budget process sure one of the things I think you've already mentioned is the fact that it's not just about staff that are absent again all of the things that we do are very important I think one of the things I didn't hear you mention are like our data team meetings and stuff these are regularly scheduled meetings we are monitoring how our children are doing so that we can have an immediate impact back in the classroom from those discussions and it's really crucial to be able to bring all the teachers to the table when we're having those meetings and so we're gonna have data around the reasons why people were out of

▶ 14:30 classrooms so that we can take a look at what it is we're doing why they're not in the classroom and then trying to look at again on a financial standpoint we have allocated X amount of dollars in the budget towards this process and the consistency that you get out of one individual or two individuals in a building does so much more than just talking about what the numbers are we will still work within our budget that we have for that line but just the importance of being part of a team and knowing that when you step out of a class to go to a meeting or to be out of the building that someone knows what your expectations are and who the children are and you know that they they believe that you are part of the staff and that's so important you know on a

▶ 15:17 regular day-to-day substitute situation you don't know who's coming into your classroom you don't know the ability of them to work with the children if they don't know who they are so I think there's a lot of different pieces of of data we can bring forward come the end of the year and again both of these are great programs and we'll see how it works out but you know all the other schools are waiting in line to be able to do this we start at the high school we moved it to the middle school and now this is the next step that we need to take so one of the things that the committee may not remember because I'm sure you have all six of our union contracts memorized is when we pull Paris for more than two hours they then begin to get overtime so even pulling

▶ 16:03 Paris has a cost to it so so that's a factor for us to also think about in all of this the the other thing is again I want to distinguish we basically end up with three types of situations we end up with long-term subs our maternity leaves our paternity leaves because we do both parental leaves illnesses in some FMLA Family Medical Leave Act that we have in place for some of our colleagues who have elderly that they're now caring for those are long-term sub positions that's a very different hiring process we're hiring somebody for anywhere from eight weeks to four months then we have our day-to-day subs is the typical situation I'm sick or my kid is sick I can't make it to work whatever it may be and

▶ 16:57 included in that is personal days that our staff has a right to but then we have all these other times we need to fill as the two principals and Miss Farrell referenced the data team meetings the learning walkthroughs the IEP meetings the sudden things that happen in a day you all know that we have elementary instructional leaders at every building so that when the principals are in my office or elsewhere they cover well somebody's got to cover for them when they get pulled so there's basically three categories of absences or that you need to think about our coverage that you need to think about and we're mainly focused on that third category right now so point of clarification the pilot program which is now standard practice at the high school

▶ 17:49 with the subs brought brings those classes together into one place so that that sub is supervising multiple classes at a time right is that the same at the middle school yes and there is a protocol in place at both in which the teachers have have an expectation to have complete sub folders work ready to go they get to know the permanent subs the permanent subs know the teachers there is an accountability measure with the principals the children are brought to a spot at the high school we took the old band room um and made that the um i don't know what we call it don't call it the resource room i know that um and um we go there if we don't have a need to cover multiple classes one of the permanent subs will go to the teacher's classroom similar

▶ 18:41 model at the middle school at the middle school we limit how many classes can come together obviously not only do we just have one permanent sub you're talking about a different age group an age group that likes to entertain themselves more um in silly ways and so we try to limit that so we're still bringing in day-to-day subs at the middle school and at the end of this year we'll make an assessment of whether or not we can um it's more cost efficient to do two permanent subs and the permanent subs at lincoln would not bring multiple classes together or we don't know yet no no it's not a model we would use at the elementary so okay so the idea of a permanent sub is what's similar but the model and their support would be

▶ 19:23 classroom based right okay great just for the committee's information there's no vote needed on this this is for informational purposes for us and I open to any questions discussion mr. Selm thank you for this presentation I look forward to seeing the fruits of the labor I just have a few questions can you clarify the job status I believe this would be at the Lincoln in terms of those two part-timers what do you you specified general time blocks but when you say part-time what kinds of hours per week are you looking for is the compensation commiserate the sub pay what are the union implications later down the road there are no union implications substitutes are not part of the teachers contract their independent contractors at will employees so there

▶ 20:19 is no union implication the sub pay is typically what's $60 60 $65 an hour we would consider I'd like to submit our resignations so we would have to go back and look at this and prorate it accordingly because it's a more permanent position and in terms of numbers of hours it's about 15 hours per person okay and then one final question what is the overall budget implications of all both of these programs we don't know at this point that's why it's a pilot we have to run the numbers we have to see where we save money on overtime for Paris or any other situation so that's why it's a pilot we're trying to figure out what is the budget implication and with risk excuse me with respect to training we've agreed to do the training in-house through you know

▶ 21:31 with coaches and principals and such so there'd be no budgetary implications there the only payment would be time so I'm gonna I'm gonna try to ask this a different way surely you have run sufficient numbers to think that this is cost effective in terms of having someone in the classroom and not paying over time and whatnot so cost analysis Mary Ann ran the cost analysis I do have some numbers if you'd like me to address that so for example let the numbers from last year there was an allocation of a hundred and eighty thousand dollars set aside for sub pay and the district spent two hundred and twenty thousand dollars last year so if that gives you a sense of then that was one year thank you very

▶ 22:22 you're welcome I would I would venture to bet that there are roughly three individuals in the last year year and a half who have been what we've considered to be daily subs who have showed up faithfully in every building as they've gotten the call and so the number of times that we have had to readjust schedules and kind of play a shell game with our people as far as who can cover what including the principals who have done their fair share of teaching art and PE I can't imagine that this in the end isn't going to be a cost-saving venture for the district and be shocked if it wasn't excellent thank you further questions miss McAllister grant thank you for thinking outside of the box the Lincoln position I just have one question well will those people be

▶ 23:10 expected to report every day yes okay so it's not on an as-needed basis whereas the volunteers would be we actually are gonna put a system in place where right now we're leaning towards using signup genius in which there is a number there is some predictability like I could tell you that where I need coverage tomorrow Thursday and Friday of this week where people you know we would put our need out that is determined because again the bulk of this again to emphasize is that we are in a you know a self professional development mode here and it's district and it's done well it's kind of an not common for someone to call out out of the blue to be very frank so we'll have a sense of what we need and using sign

▶ 23:49 up genius those people have gone through the substitute training and and have been agreed upon by the building principal which is myself will know by Sunday who's coming in and when so there's a system in place for that that's great so they can plan their schedules in advance correct great correct and the teachers will have a sense of who's coming in thank you you're welcome for the questions discussion through the chair the superintendent first of all thank you very much for your time and effort on this and this may have already been said time frame for this and plan for a report back and when so we want to be up and running by October 1st in both buildings and we can report back to you at the committee's will that's for you

▶ 24:39 Jessica Dugan: to determine terrific thank you I just want to give a shout out to the parent for those of you who don't know Christina Gagliano who's been a great partner to us in a lot of ways she sometimes serves as our unofficial grant writer as well and this was bugging her and she contacted me late last spring and said I have an idea let's talk and so we've spent the summer flushing it out and now we're at the stage where we want to try it thank you so these are these are both pretty exciting thank you all for your work on it I think it would make sense during the budget cycle that we revisit with some preliminary idea of how it's working as it would would ideally be built into the budget appropriately for next year I did have a couple questions about about the pilot

▶ 25:34 Jessica Dugan: so the sub budget was over last year the two positions at Lincoln look to alleviate the para poll so when the pairs are paid overtime does that come out of the sub budget or a different budget so but okay perfect so that's a direct alignment at Lincoln the can you explain the decision around to part-time as opposed to one full-time we were cognizant of the fact that these people would be part-time employees with us which would mean that we would we would make sure their hours did not allow them to be able to access benefits and things like that great so this is keeping it I think a very cost-effective solution as opposed to hiring you know one person for the full day five full days a week week we'd be heading down that path thank you and the value of PD and and

▶ 26:28 Jessica Dugan: teachers being pulled for the vast amount of in-school PD we do is tremendous what is our thinking right now around how to make sure that we keep that streamlined and efficient there's always a reason to go see see other things happening see other schools in action meet with delegates from places who want to come see our work at what point do we really start to look at that how is that feeling to us right now around specifically the amount of time teachers are spending out of the classroom so again everything is driven by the strategy overview all the PD is based on the strategy overview when dr. Adams comes here in the spring and she presents to you the PD schedule you can see the direct alignment between those things we've identified as priorities

▶ 27:17 not only in the strategy overview but now in your budget priorities so most of our work has been around social emotional learning technology what am I leaving out inclusive practices so that's been the bulk of our work the other work that is ongoing is very curriculum based and it's tied to the program reviews you see a lot of work still going on in science some revisiting of work in the writing curriculum based on the ELA review from last year and some work in math based on their review from last year so there is always a tie between the PD we do and the planning we do and the analysis we do it's a little bit difficult in this district if when you especially when you submit to me for permission which I have to sign off on almost everything and you

▶ 28:13 put something that I'm going what does this have anything to do with the other thing is don't forget that in your own policies and procedures as well as the union contract it is very clear that in order to get PDPs for salary advancement it has to be tied to your job responsibilities what are your job responsibilities what you teach and because of the new licensing requirements sel next is me sei sheltered english immersion and special ed so when we have courses or offerings in those areas staff are able to get advancement on the salary scale because it's tied to a multitude of directives and we feel like at this point it's reasonable and responsible the amount that we're doing and it feels like it's at a manageable place so we expect it to

▶ 29:10 Jessica Dugan: continue to increase we feel like we've kind of leveled off um it it never levels off because you never know what the state's coming at you with uh there's two things in the works from them right now that we're trying to think about um but the issue quite frankly is time and our staff are very conscious about time they want to be in the classrooms they don't want to be out more than they have to be um we just don't have sufficient time i could easily add five more pd days to the year without blinking you know but that's a monetary situation great thank you for that i think it's important for us to see um the the kind of broader budget implications of our goals and our in our strategy uh with no further questions thank you very much we'll return to the

▶ 30:00 regular agenda before we continue it I'd like to take a moment of personal privilege to remind our viewers that this meeting is being recorded thank you Ms. Castelli. She didn't have a script. Next on our agenda. My understanding is we will commence with the announcements of the superintendent schools. Thank you. So to Ms. Dugan's very point, superintendent's updates. One of our teachers, Jake Whitmore from the middle school had one of those great experiences he did an externship with Raytheon he was he's a math teacher and he was old he was able to see the connection between what he teaches as early as seventh grade to the workplace and he did a presentation I've seen the presentation and we're looking forward

▶ 31:17 to him sharing with his colleagues how you make learning more authentic based on what he learned while working at Raytheon again for PD not only are we we participating in PD we have begun to give PD because of our expertise Carrie Berman and Kim Talbot presented at the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association Summer Institute on inclusive practices in foreign language as you know mass core which is the graduation requirements for the state require all students regardless of who they are to take two six two years of a foreign language two consecutive years and when I first came here Kim Talbot and I had a long conversation about how do you make that happen for special education kids and Carrie and Kim have been partners in this for the six years

▶ 32:15 to the point where we now help other districts understand how you make that happened we continue our CBE work we applied for a grant and lo and behold we got to we're sending two teams to observe other schools in other parts of the state to high schools to understand some of the innovative practices help happening in other parts of the country we're sending a team to San Francisco San Francisco excuse me San Diego next month to look at an innovative school and then a second team will go to Philadelphia in April to look at some of the practices of going there this is through the bar foundation and the next generation learning challenger challenge which is one of the many groups in this country looking at how do you rethink high school so we're very excited about

▶ 33:12 that and then as somebody referenced we had our South Korea principals I wish I wish Jenny had stayed for it we had the best time I can't begin to tell you we just had the best time with them they contacted us out of nowhere they are visiting New York and Massachusetts it's something their government does to send them to learn about innovative practices don't ask me how they found us we cannot figure it out we think because we're a blue ribbon school they looked at us in Madison Park which if you know Boston schools is a vocational school 22 of them delightful delightful they were very interested in how principals in America have so much power because they have so little all right they kept

▶ 34:02 saying to us no but who decides and I said no they decide no doesn't know they decide well who decides who to hire they did they get to choose yes they get to choose it was just fascinating to see where the difference was the ambitions for the kids are the same the desire for kids to have success is the same but it was they were that they kept coming back to that subject who has control but they they were delightful and we were glad to host them and i'm sorry i forgot to wear my jewelry that they gave me i don't think i have to disclose it i got a lariat with with a a clip that in korean says the name of their district yeah all right so um so that that's uh the superintendent's update opening day was very good any questions on on the superintendent's update miss dugan

▶ 35:04 Jessica Dugan: Thanks, not a question, just wanted to let folks know that I was listening to a story on NPR today about competency-based education, and they were interviewing an educator from Kittery, Maine, but they did talk specifically about the work that's happening in Massachusetts at private schools and Melrose. So I think that was exciting, and for folks who are interested to kind of just look that up on public radio, it was it was a great story because it talks about what was working well and what was also challenging and not working well for them in Kittery and it again all informs the work that we're doing in relation to these visits that we have to go out and see other other districts at work thank you for that any

▶ 35:51 additional questions mr. O'Connell Thank You madam chair through you to the superintendent just very briefly a question and a comment mr. Whitmore is experienced with Raytheon sounds terrific I'm wondering is this something that just happens by chance is this something that he made happen and ultimately I'm wondering if this is something that can be replicated in future years with other teachers 21 is a professional development provider and actually a consultant as well and they will often send us opportunities that we will share with staff if anybody's interested in it and luckily this didn't cost the district anything so we're always pushing out information to the teachers encouraging them especially for summer study this is similar to our

▶ 36:39 science teacher who if you remember last year spent the summer on a ship in order to expand his understanding of environmental science so we're always trying to make those connections for our teachers thank you for that and my comment is with regard to Miss Berman and Miss Talbot's presentation very interested and excited to hear about this it's great stuff the kind of stuff that you know we love to see our administrators and educators being involved with I think it would be terrific if we could at some point as part of a larger presentation on inclusive instruction maybe have them and talk about that and with your special education generally because this seems like great work and something that more people should know about so thank you any additional questions or

▶ 37:32 comments for the superintendent uh opening day went terrific um i have to tell you i only had one parent phone call so that was great we continue to struggle with the crossing guards as you know marianne has shared some information with you recently um you may have seen was it this week we put the paper the newspaper ad in on thursday we're going to put a little ad we're going to actually pay for an ad in the newspaper looking for crossing guides cafeteria workers and drivers and substitute teachers um because we've tried other means and it hasn't worked school spring indeed is that this right and that hasn't really produced a lot so we're going to try that what are we doing now before we have the crossing guards so so for the time being right now of the 22

▶ 38:43 posts 17 of them are manned we should have two more people back within a car manned you said are manned yeah and we'll have two more people back shortly so in the end will be about three positions short and so at this point we cannot man them and the police department knows they lend a hand whenever they can but it's also challenging for them to be there every day so one of the things we're trying to do is assess is there a change in our pattern because as population shifts sometimes you have places that are no longer highly populated so that's one of the things we're trying to assess next next week one of the traffic supervisors is going to be going from post to post to see what the traffic pattern looks like we know that with the influx of

▶ 39:30 students this year that it may be very different and so we want to address it earlier rather than later and then know exactly how many positions we need to fill and I remind the committee and the public that the Parkway does not belong to Melrose that is DCR and it's their choice whether or not to have crossing guides and how many thanks with that in particular is that staffed as it has been in the past or has that changed its staff is it has as far as I know I've not heard anything different the opening week of school the police did give us extra extra police on the pathway and at Winthrop and Hoover but they cannot sustain that obviously if they get a call the police officer has to leave for

▶ 40:21 Christine Casatelli: the call miss Castelli do parents know where those holes and the crossing guards are have we made that public did we mention it at last week's meeting or not the actual post we can put it up on the website on the school's website which ones are not being covered yeah I think parents would like to know that and help their children navigate around those to the places where they are okay thank you summary of school building repairs John Shana the director of DPW has provided you with a short memo and many pages of all the work we did this summer i need to give my personal thanks to john ann waite denise gaffey it was an intense summer it was a difficult summer but i have to tell you every building was spic and span clean every

▶ 41:20 building had every repair i needed in spite of the fact that the building projects were our priority this summer so we managed to get it all done i don't know how but we did and you can see through the list all the things they attended to what typically happens is John and I do a walkthrough which we did and we had company and in August in which anything that they could not do we put on the winter list and I have to tell you there was only a couple of things and it really wasn't on the summer list it's just my stuff my eyes things i see like oh i don't like that tile there that could really use you know to be those type of thing because they got to every important thing this summer questions for

▶ 42:10 the superintendent please continue okay oh i'm sorry mr o'connell thank you madam chair um i you know i think i speak for all of us and wanting to compliment john shenna and his team and certainly miss gaffey but particularly you know in the short time i've been on the committee i've been continually impressed with john shenna's work both in the schools the literal work but also the amount of information and reporting he does and the level of detail he provides and it's it's to be commended and it's much appreciated so i just want to make that note thank you any additional comments uh emergency plan update uh as you know um under regulations um you do not have a copy of the emergency plan because it has to be confidential it has been

▶ 43:05 updated uh diane updates it every august and it's redistributed to the appropriate people one of the things that we're currently waiting on is the renumbering of rooms at the hoover in winthrop and once we have confirmation of that that will also go into the updated emergency manuals uh my proposed working just any any additional questions ms mcallister grant are those paper manuals or are they online uh they're not online they're paper manuals okay thank you additional questions seeing them the two working groups I have going for the fall are the activities fee group and they met June 19th they will meet again June 18th October 16th November 13th and their goal is to have a recommendation to the

▶ 44:01 school committee by budget season this is a slightly different committee than we've had in the past because we're including in this committee drama and band parents parents of students in regular activities as well as parents of athletic activity students so you should have that late December the other thing is the late start implementation committee which is five management and five Union and we will be meeting throughout this year so those are the two working committees I have at this time questions for the superintendent on proposed working groups for 1718 okay and the last thing I just want to give you a heads up on and we will bring it forward to the next school committee is miss Farrell Heather Josephson and myself have been working on a

▶ 44:56 scholarship program for ed stations as you know from the enrollment figures that i had shared recently we have a number of concerns regarding the number of our students on free and reduced lunch as well as homeless students or students new to this country who may not be able to afford the after-school program and we uh we think we have a good proposal for setting up a scholarship in some of our buildings heather met with representatives from the um permanent scholarship committee at the high school long-standing well-established committee to talk to them about practices regulations how you go about thinking about applications what you look for what what information you ask for and we will be bringing that forward to you on the 29th

▶ 45:50 is that our next meeting additional um 26 26 26 yeah and when that does go on our agenda that will go under the finance and facilities subcommittee to let everyone know that it would would not be on the rolling agenda that you would see at this point this is the Callister grant I had a question on the working groups do we have liaisons or representatives on either of those from the committee no if I may madam chair I am on the activities fee working group and the b2 and b2 yes which is a negotiation committee correct but the late start implementation thank you other questions or comments and you had one more item yeah just before I forget it is national concussion week and you do have the concussion report in the

▶ 46:47 warrant but I do want to show you the work that's being done at the high school we're doing a training with all the coaches and all the coaches will now have a flip chat that will help them make decisions all of our students are being taught and these will be around the building the concussion pledge to be educated honest and supportive and about getting receiving concussions and supporting their colleagues and all of our all of our athletes will have on their bags a little card that points out what they should look for so we are doing a lot of education around that this week any questions for the superintendent on concussions seeing none and next on our agenda is the consent agenda which tonight includes the school committee regular meeting

▶ 47:43 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: minutes of August 29th 2017 second vote required on policy DJG vendor relations second vote required on policy IHAE fiscal education second vote required policy IBA excuse me JBA student to student harassment second vote required on policy JICG tobacco use by students second vote required policy KEB public about school personnel second vote required policy KEC public complaints about curriculum or instructional materials second vote required policy KJA relationships relations with booster organizations the personnel report the concussion report and the monthly budget summary would anyone like to remove anything from the consent agenda miss McAllister grant the concussion report please the concussion report will go under educational programs and personnel

▶ 48:43 others mrs. Casatelli the the booster policy the booster policy will be moved to policy and planning anything else seeing none may I have a motion for approval so moved second made by ms. McAllister Grand seconded by ms. Dugan all in favor opposed that motion carries unanimously with none else next on our agenda is the policy and planning subcommittee good evening folks welcome to the policy planning portion of our program as some of you may recall my name is Ed O'Connell I am the chair of this subcommittee in which capacity I'm ably assisted by one Jessica Dugan we have now three matters under policy and planning and with leave of the committee I'd like to take them out of order item number two I'll move to the top policies review mask recommendations the committee

▶ 49:59 will recall that we're presently undertaking a comprehensive review of of our policy manual we're doing so in response to the updates recommended by the Mass Association of School Committees also known as mask mask has updated their policy reference manual as the committee knows we use that as a point of reference with regard to our policy making with that in mind we have in the packet and for our consideration tonight an updated mass policy update grid and five additional policies that we're proposing to update they are ADC smoking on school premises BBA powers and duties of the school committee BB BAB member qualifications BDD committee and superintendent relationship BEDA notification of school committee meetings and that's it under this

▶ 51:04 particular item I would note that these proposed policies as revised are on our agenda for informational purposes and at least for this evening's purposes no vote is required with all of that said is there any discussion comment questions concerns with regard to these five policies or the updated grid miss McAllister-Grant regarding the second policy revised ABC smoking on school premises I was able to get some feedback from members of the school wellness advisory committee which I'm a liaison to and they have a significant amount of expertise on tobacco wellness health etc and they asked specifically if there is is a separate policy on marijuana use or this that is intended to be included in this policy as well

▶ 52:07 we're waiting for guidance from the state on marijuana use policies um most of our professional organizations are trying to can i make the pun weed their way through it um sorry couldn't resist as you know so I think that depending on what the state regulatory committee comes out with that will drive what the policies may have to be so you don't want to jump the gun for it right now it's still illegal under what 21 and the school system follows the laws on that okay thank you and so had some additional suggestions which i did forward to the chair so he has the specific wording but to broaden it to be tobacco nicotine and vaping to cover be more comprehensive in terms of the terminology terrific thank you for that any other discussion comments miss castelli further on

▶ 53:11 Christine Casatelli: that one um i think even without guidance that we know that the marijuana policy would not pertain to our students or staff on campus is that correct so i'm not sure what guidance we're waiting for um i think really where the issues are going to lie are on medicinal and um anybody in possession of medicinal so i think that may be something that we're going to have to think about right now you know i um and and our attorney that's in play now right uh not really we really don't with the laws and medicine is any child who has medicine of any kind has to have prescription it has to be in the prescription bottle there has to be a signed certificate from the the doctor it has to be kept under lock and key by

▶ 54:02 the nurse so that's the only place that it's right now in play anything else like you said I think would be illegal on school grounds and of course the students under 21 mm-hmm so okay thank you for that and I'm asking mr. O'Connell if there's any updates on the relations with booster organizations sure are you speaking about the item from the consent agenda yeah so why don't we first of all any other comments or questions with regard to the five other policies miss McAllister Graham please so the third one powers and duties there was a list added in the final paragraph that says who the school committee shall appoint I don't see we covered we went over this at our last meeting we have I think and

▶ 54:51 the civil rights harassment officer was one of the people that we reviewed or appointed so I didn't know if they should be mentioned here as well or not it's regulatory I don't know if there's a need to repeat it in a policy well the school nurses and the school physician are sure here so we wouldn't want to exclude that I think that's a that's a good comment and would be a good amendment and then we had titled school resource officer and attendance officers I'm just wondering if that falls under supervisor of attendance no so that's different please school resource officers are a an agreement that we make between the district and the district attorney's office not every school district necessarily has them okay so that doesn't need to be included

▶ 55:46 here because it's particular to our district and then supervisor of attendance is that a different role from attendance officers or is that the same thing okay so maybe we just make that plural yep it's a good point and then somewhere else I had been down that it said the staff might I have to find it you might need to come back to me if anybody else because it had said oh yes communication the committee takes a broad view of its functions including communication and keeps staff informed about the needs and wishes of the community I didn't think we would be the ones informing staff I thought the superintendent would be the one doing that so this is number four on the first page of this same policy so I thought maybe under the communication it should

▶ 56:34 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: say keeping the superintendent informed right when I read that I you know I assume that was implied but we can clarify that that's a good point I thought it meant school staff any comment on that no the only thing that I would remind the committee is these are recommendations for mask not directives and the committee should do as they feel is needed to meet melville's needs any further discussion ms driscoll please just a point on that um we can define staff in any way we want so my my understanding with this is we could um it would also apply to the superintendent who we would delegate to who is delegated by virtue of other policies for distributing information or not as she sees fit so it can be read a couple of different ways so

▶ 57:30 as we're continuing to think about this it's another lens through which to filter that that sentence perhaps okay any further discussion seeing none uh with leave of the chair Welch move those five policies uh to a future agenda for a first vote uh miss castelli thank you for your patience from the consent agenda policy kja relations with booster organizations this was on for a second vote tonight under the consent agenda but please miss castelli i was wondering if there had been any updates in terms of um conversations or any feedback from any of the booster organizations sure and with that in mind why don't we segue uh to the next item and i i think the thinking of all of us is that there as one that's policy kb relations with parent and

▶ 58:27 booster organizations this policy as revised is in the packet on for first vote so uh miss castelli i did take your advice and the advice of the chair and i did reach out to a number of folks who were involved with both parent organizations and booster organizations and also had the benefit of spending some time at the district's booth at the Victorian Fair and talk to even more people about this and you know as I said at our last meeting these mask updates are very much housekeeping matters particularly this one revised policy KB is truly and simply just bringing together two policies one to existing policy one that relates to parent organizations and one that relates to booster organizations in addition there's some clarifying

▶ 59:26 language with regard to booster organizations but it's really nothing more than that it doesn't present a substantive change in policy and I think that was a concern that a lot of people had, people who talked to me about it. I think people heard that booster organizations were on our agenda and said, oh, there's going to be a change. I'm going to have to do something different. We're going to have to do something different with our particular booster organizations. But this policy, KB, doesn't change any of the rules of the road with regard to booster organizations or parent organizations. So I tried to assure people of that. That was the primary concern. I also had an opportunity with leave of the superintendent to meet with Mr. Fogarty to talk to him about this.

▶ 1:00:10 Mr. Fogarty, of course, deals with these groups on a daily basis, and he shared that same concern as voiced by them. Several sports booster organizations and their representatives were at the fall sports assembly and expressed concerns. They, too, had heard that there was going to be a change. But again, it's not really a substantive change. At its heart, policy KBE, as revised, is really bringing together two existing policies. So this is much more of a ministerial action. I would also note in this regard, and I try to assure people of this when I talk to them about it that policy KBE is really aspirational and hortatory in its intent and I think a fair reading of the of the policy would reflect that this isn't a

▶ 1:01:09 policy either in its prior form or its present form that was intended to be restrictive or limiting or or to impose specific constraints or conditions on these organizations that do great work for us so I think people need to be assured that nothing is really changing in that regard and the superintendent can comment on this but as she knows and I think as the committee knows there are are several other policies that address the process and procedure by which outside organizations make gifts to the school district and that also speak separately to fundraising and community outreach but this policy that's before us tonight for a second vote again really is aspirational it encourages it acknowledges the work of these groups it encourages the groups to work with

▶ 1:02:15 Christine Casatelli: building administrators and coaches and faculty advisors and it also to be sure encourages these groups to be aware of the responsibilities and the authority of both the superintendent in this committee and I think historically in this community booster organizations and parent organizations have been appropriately aware of all of that. So we have done some outreach and I hope we've taken steps to address the concerns about it. Ms. Casatelli. Thank you, Mr. O'Connell. I appreciate the extra effort that you took to reach out to these groups and to mr fogarty um so i i'm i accept this policy i i guess um maybe as a a further step we you know these groups want to maintain their autonomy i don't think we're going to take that away

▶ 1:03:17 Christine Casatelli: but when money is involved we need to have certain procedures in place and because there is turnover in booster clubs as students move on and parents are in and out i'm wondering i guess through the the chair to the superintendent what sorts of guidelines do we have in place with these groups with their input about money handling things like that because we want everyone to be well aware of the rules and want to be as transparent about this as possible You have, as a committee, I think it's eight or ten policies with which I share with every booster and advisory group. Not to interrupt, but those are policies I'm wondering about specific procedures. I cannot apply procedures to booster groups if they are non-profit organizations duly organized under the state regulations.

▶ 1:04:18 what i can hold them accountable to is reporting any donations to us in a timely manner for us to record how we got the money and what we did with the money um they cannot advertise in our buildings they cannot send um flies in our buildings without my approval that's all in your policies all right what they do outside of melrose public schools i have no say in if the new drama group wants to run ads and stand on corners i have i have no say but if they want to use our kids and they want to send the flyer around the high school they have to go through me first that is the truth of the matter when it comes to booster groups that are non-profit organizations with their own set of rules and charters and regulations they have to obey

▶ 1:05:12 I can only control what they want to do within our buildings and with our students and I run very strict control on that I also will not allow any fundraising by any for-profit group in our schools and I will not allow any for-profit group to use our children for fundraising but again what they want to do with children in their own neighborhoods I have no control of now you say you have all these policies is there any way to streamline it so anyway to streamline I don't know that would be very much up to the committee and how much they want to streamline it this is one attempt by mass to streamline it but because I'm thinking I mean the booster groups they're they're doing enough as it is let alone having to weed through our policies to figure out which ones

▶ 1:06:06 apply to them or not well i will tell you quite frankly it's a very simple thing it's called ethics if you're raising money and giving it to the schools you want to raise it in a way that you're accountable for that nobody can ever misconstrue anything you did and you want to give it to the schools in a way in which you not only get recognition but we can clearly be audited in a way that causes no problems for us that's the bottom line here all right i certainly don't want anybody slipping a thousand dollars to some coach saying go buy yourself 10 balls well i value what our booster clubs do and we we couldn't do half the things we do without them absolutely and we bet and we value it and i will tell you we have yet to run into a problem and your policies have

▶ 1:06:58 worked very well in avoiding those problems we also have very good working relationships with many of those groups do booster groups turn over years but I will tell you some booster groups turn over very slowly you know I've got seventy-year-old adults still running the booster group other times booster parents often come to meet me with me the band-aiders president meets with me almost yearly the drama parents we work closely with to help them get established when they have a question they shoot us an email I think most people want to do the right thing and they want to make sure that nobody in their midst does the wrong thing right nobody wants to be the little league team on the front page of the globe I just want it to be easy for them

▶ 1:07:52 to do the right thing and it us to help them and working together well i wish doing the right thing was easy all the time but unfortunately it's not this song uh i too want the booster clubs to be able to help our students and help our programs and i want it to be easy for them however a financial constraint that we're not talking about that i know is under discussion at the administrative level um in the working groups that you have going on uh superintendent tamor is one of liability for these uh staff that are being compensated by booster groups and so while i appreciate these policies i also recognize that there's a work in progress going on beyond the scenes and i expect more to come to us as you said earlier in this meeting by december

▶ 1:08:51 Thank you for that. Any further discussion? So, as a matter of procedure, let's first address policy KJA. Again, this was on our consent agenda for a second vote. It was taken off the consent agenda, so may I have a motion to approve this as revised? So moved. Made by Ms. DeSalem, seconded by Ms. Dugan. Thank you for that. Any discussion on the motion all those in favor passes unanimously thank you for that and that brings us to our final order of business and that's with regard to policy KBE this is on for a first vote again this is the much discussed relations with parent and booster organizations which we have been discussing it's in the packet it's a it combines our parent policy our parent organization policy

▶ 1:09:46 Jessica Dugan: and our booster policy may have a motion to approve so moved made by miss Dugan seconded by mr. Sal any discussion on that motion seeing none all in favor that it passes unanimously and that concludes our policy and planning portion of our program thank you very much thank you next on our agendas the educational programs and personnel subcommittee miss Dugan good evening again continuing on with the EP&P agenda first we'll take the item from the consent agenda the concussion report and for purposes of discussion is there a motion to approve the report so moved second made by Mr. Selm seconded by Ms. McAllister-Grant discussion Ms. McAllister-Grant I just had a question it mentions in the form that parents have been informed and the athletes and I was

▶ 1:10:53 wondering what does that look like is there a training is there there's a training there's a letter there's a there there is a process you have to follow when you know often the parents inform us if you look at the number 22 concussions only 16 were in athletic events six of them happened off-site parents will call and say to us you know my kid fell off the slide has a concussion the doctor has advised us of X Y & Z and we share that with the nurse the teachers and follow the concussion recovery protocols that everybody's been trained in so when it says that every athlete has been included in this does it mean that they've been given the information or did they have to like sign something I'm just wondering what the it means they received it they

▶ 1:11:47 received it they don't have it's been discussed with them right okay but they're also required when they sign up for athletics to watch an online training course and and as part of the sign up you certify as a parent and a child that you have watched that okay thank you that was my question great yes mr. O'Connell thank you so 22 reports of head injuries and I don't mean to put you on the spot madam superintendent any do you know if this is an increase over last year I realize that's a question what I will tell you is there's an increasing concern about girls with injuries okay and and I realize that and in this follow-up question is probably best put to mr. Fogarty 16 sports related reports have had injuries I'd be interested in knowing if we have a

▶ 1:12:39 breakdown between and among sports and as you point out I think we've all heard about the increase and concern over sports that young women are playing so thank you I find it interesting that the state doesn't ask us to break it down and that they've gone to this generalized report but I'm sure mr. Fogarty could I feel like we've received that in the past yeah and they and also with the data from previous years so there's a comparison of a trend yeah and I don't know why the state revised their procedures well we'll send a subpoena to mr. Farabody I do feel you know this is a piece of information when this comes up each year if this is something that we feel as a committee we would like more information on it certainly appropriate for us to discuss that the

▶ 1:13:32 only thing I would caution you about is if you have a singleton in the sport I certainly don't want to inadvertently disclose who the child is by the singleton in the sport yeah we have a past practice we can look back to to inform thank you further discussion mr. Selm so I'm going to ask this as a question but I want to be mindful that there are privacy issues one thing that would be of curious I would be interested in seeing would be those who are repeat concussion affected as many of us know if you've suffered one concussion the likelihood that you will get another one perhaps just walking down the stairs is greatly amplified by a factor of ten so I would be curious to see how many of those are repeat issues as opposed to first timers again mindful

▶ 1:14:37 however of privacy issues that quite frankly is dependent upon parents truthfulness and reporting you may remember under mr. Giro what we try to do is on our health forms ask that question big for that very reason that you're talking about so that maybe we could be a little bit more preventive and I don't know if it's always told to us I also find the interesting thing that people don't truly understand what is a concussion you know they think it's the kid who's knocked out and gets up and is dizzy and has blurred vision they don't understand a concussion is as simple as maybe a persistent headache for 24 hours so you know it's an it's an interesting perspective thank you and I would expect that something that the athletic department and extracurricular

▶ 1:15:33 as well as very aware of and they that they do look at in depth yeah from their lens thank you very much so no further discussion all those in favor of approving this report that motion carries unanimously next on the EP and P agenda is enrollment expectations fall of 2017 in our packet we do have a copy of the September 7th 2017 enrollment that we can refer to our conversation with the super so this is the September 7th I'll tell you I had the registrar run the numbers again for me today um we're up one um to uh to what's the number to uh 105 at the high school um so again um we're up approximately 160 161 kids from last year so this is not your october one census which will give you a breakdown of all your demographics and everything else one

▶ 1:17:02 of the more recent events that's happening is the older kid the older elementary kids moving in you know that the point of registration is the point at which we try to control class size it's our only opportunity to control class size so one of the things we're struggling with is if you say you look at the fifth grade at the Hoover I have 24 and 23 at the Horace Mann I have 23 and 25 at the Lincoln I have 19 22 and 19 at the Roosevelt I have 23 22 23 and at the Winthrop I have 19 20 and 20 so even when families are moving in above K we are trying to control class size it's not well understood i discussed it today actually with citywide pto to try to engage them in the conversation um it's not but i think it's important for the committee and the community to

▶ 1:18:03 understand it's not just about that k entry point it's about the entry whenever a child enters us from k through um five that is our only chance to try to even the numbers and i have a very hard time pushing a class to 26 when I have other opportunities to place a child in a class of 19 I'm thinking about the child's experience as well as the teachers obligations so that is a pattern we're beginning to experience as well the middle school we knew there would be a dip that is the end of that trough where you only had a 12 strand if you remember for several years you only had a 12 strand then you went to a 13 strand and then to a 15 strand so what you have in the middle school right now is the end of that trough in seventh

▶ 1:19:00 grade in seventh grade the high school you always have some variability but you can see that junior in that sophomore and senior and junior year is an uptick and that is where we are seeing the return from private parochial and charter as you know we received 25 students back to the middle in the high school this year and so you're seeing that uptick there so that is what it looks like as of today every day continues to change we are finding some of our DNRs again DNRs that did not report and we'll weed them out as we find them and the numbers will settle down by October 1 and we'll have an October 1 count for you the end of October we're given the month to finalize the figures and at that point Judy Chi and the data specialist will

▶ 1:19:54 also do the analysis of all the demographics and at this point you said we are up how much from last year and we expect that will go down slightly in general uh i think it'll go down a little bit but not much um it's been interesting uh discussion conversation miss casatelli thank you superintendent would you mind having uh someone on your staff um put the actual enrollments against what our projected was so we can see if we're on track or i actually did that you actually did that aren't you something i can also just tell you that what did you say it must have been nap time for her for the baby so the the projections for the total number of students put us in the year year 2021. they thought that in 2017 we would be at 3769 and we are at 3938 which is the year the

▶ 1:21:11 number they expected we would be at in terms of total enrollment in 2021. sorry I think 2020 was the year when we anticipated the greatest number of classrooms needed so we've already passed that according to where we are i'm sorry i was wondering if those projections included ecc or did not they do pre-k through 12. great thank you um and so i went grade by grade to see what number they projected versus what number we have most of them are actually just a couple under single digits difference except with the exception of first grade because last year we had a significantly larger increase than we expected so they thought we would have 283 first graders we have 332 wow so big difference there

▶ 1:21:59 uh 10th grade they said we'd have 240 students we have 266. so that's a pretty big difference so that accounts for about 75 yes thank you and then grade 9 grade 11 and grade 8 were all over beyond single digits not as substantial as first grade and 10th grade so if you could circulate that it would be great thank you so I'm gonna squeal on my secretary for a moment was at the symphony on Saturday and the Victorian fear on Sunday and she said if were at either event you had an understanding of the issue it was staring you in the face so people are coming for the fireworks one last thing yes do you think we need to revisit our projections not at this time i really don't at this time I think it's too early I think we just have to wait

▶ 1:23:16 Jessica Dugan: another year at least and see where it goes okay thank you further discussion conversation with our new space our new modular space we have room prefabricated with our new classrooms we have space in our buildings now we are not now capped out this year and don't know what to do next year we have room to grow within the next couple of years is that at least within one year we we had swing space in every building mr. McAllister grant I realized I wasn't looking at the bottom of the sheet the other area where it was beyond double digits is at the ECC they increase it they anticipated 294 we have 318 the ECC we do have some non Melroseans so all this to say we will look at the actuals at the end of

▶ 1:24:21 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: October or when that report comes out to the committee and look at budget implications as we move forward that concludes EP&P thank you very much next on our agenda is a discussion of the superintendent's salary so with your indulgence I will provide just a little bit of history you do have a document in your packets with respect to what the salary schedule looks like we are certainly entitled to vary from that schedule but that was designed to give some guidance and suggestion the superintendent is currently at step 3 and if you had as you followed the budget as we've gone along you will see that that number appears in the FY 16 and 17 budgets and we have adhered to that so that means as has been referenced prior in prior discussions

▶ 1:25:38 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: that the superintendent took a wage freeze last year so had things gone along it is possible she would have been at the step 4 point right now which is a 3% difference if things went along she would be this year potentially at a step five which would be six percent over the 174 836 amount so that just gives you you know that what those percentages are and what those amounts the differentials you can do the math and see so at this point with your indulgence I'm going to invite the superintendent to indicate to us what her preference is and the committee is certainly welcome to discuss and make a decision that that you wish so superintendent which if you would kindly comment Thank You mr. school as is my practice and I think some people would

▶ 1:26:45 probably tell me I'm foolish but my practice is to try to reflect what my administrators and my teachers are getting and not to exceed them and my administrators and my teachers are getting in the vicinity of two two and a half you know we made market adjustments to the teachers salary scale so while the polo was one it was more than the cola because we made those market adjustments and I think it came out to about two and a quarter two and a half on some cells and my most of my principals are getting in the vicinity of two again except for those principles that we're making a market adjustment on because their buildings have exceeded 400 and we've had that discussion as a group and I that's how I operate that what to to be in alignment with my staff

▶ 1:27:42 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: so as a point of reference should the superintendent if should you wish to vote 2% I just want to give you an understanding what those numbers are the the amount would be thirty four ninety seven if I've done my math correctly for a total of 178 392 332 or the in that vicinity so it just gives you a sense of perspective as to where that might fall on the on the salary schedule so I'm willing to entertain discussion or emotion on this topic mr. O'Connell madam chair notwithstanding everything that's been said I would like to make a motion that we move the superintendent's salary to step four which by my calculation is above the number slightly above the number uh you just described is there a second on that motion seeing

▶ 1:28:43 none is there another motion that the committee would wish to entertain miss casatelli i moved to move the superintendent to a two and a half as she had indicated that her staff is getting I'm if you would please indulge me by doing the numbers I'd appreciate it miss Farrell can we invite you to do the numbers on that it would be a little bit more than 178 332 and a little bit less than 180 81 correct miss Farrell has located her device that's okay while she's doing that I would just like to add that the superintendent took a freeze last year and I as far from greedy with her request so I'm I'm willing to to make that motion two and a half percent we we need a first let's get a fact and then I

▶ 1:30:07 will invite a second on that motion 179 206 90 so miss Casatelli is your motion to make to increase the superintendent's salary by two and a half percent to that particular amount correct do I have a second on that motion seeing none is there another motion that someone would like to make miss McAllister grant I'd like to move to suspend the rule so we can have an open discussion and come to an agreement about a motion together there is a motion on the floor to suspend the rules there's a motion on the floor so I just want to just second second second mayor Dolan the chair have a recommendation per conversation regarding what number she would like to see the superintendent has the employee correct I do not have a recommendation I want to be consistent with what the will

▶ 1:31:43 of the committee is mrs. McAllister grand so there was a market adjustment for some principals based on the size of their schools I'm wondering if a market adjustment for the superintendent based on the size of the district is appropriate it's one of my questions for the group mr. Selm with all due respect to the amount of work that superintendent does and with great appreciation of the work that she does with the increasing demands on our district I see an increase of $8,000 or even $6,000 to be half a para and so I'm struggling with a raise not on merit on merit I would gladly push for a raise but based on financial need within the city or the schools more accurately I really struggle with this idea miss Cassitale having been here through four

▶ 1:33:02 Christine Casatelli: superintendent searches I can say that each superintendent search we have leapfrogged the number so I think when you have a good employee you want to keep that good employee in place and avoid the disruption that comes with someone brand new new to your district when when you have a successful track record I encourage us to to keep the success going I just as how uncomfortable this is yeah and then if with the committee's indulgence let's make a motion so I appreciate that it's uncomfortable thank you and I I tend towards following the steps as was explained in the beginning so to me having our our leadership paid in line with their experience is very important and I think I would move towards something in line with what mr. O'Connell

▶ 1:34:11 had motioned mayor Dolan I'm gonna make a motion with 2.5% for the following reason I didn't second it thanks now that I there's several things the superintendent has said that's important one is it is important as we've dealt with in the city that department heads regardless of who they are are somewhat in line in terms of the percentages with their staff as we dig as we begin very difficult collective bargaining the superintendent to her credit has been has been particularly sensitive as has everyone on the city side of which all department heads receive a 2% increase right that that that is the reality in which we live in in this community and the superintendent has agreed to be unified with the city department heads as a whole not formally but informally to create a unified

▶ 1:35:11 non-union scale that is generally in line with our neighbors generally but in line with the abilities of this community to reach the needs of all its students and its citizens i think to understand that the superintendent does not get steps which is a four percent increase steps are a four percent increase in the Union and the teachers Union right that the two point five percent increase is is an appropriate increase at this time as would be in collective bargaining in 2019 so I'd make that motion do I have a second do I have a second second second by miss Castelli discussion was doing the steps would put her in line with her experience though is that correct step forward well I'm in my six year it's okay you're step forward

▶ 1:36:07 Jessica Dugan: accommodate the last year not taking an increase and from the calculation it was a couple hundred dollars off so I'm a little bit it's not that much different than a 2.5 but it would keep us in line with what is a guideline for us moving forward I feel comfortable supporting 2.5 but so to me it's a little bit of semantics just when we agreed six years ago five years ago whenever it was because we never had any guidance for administrators either and when we agreed back then to adopt the city's grid pattern for administrators as well one of the things that we talked about and the mayor talked about in this room is it's a guideline it's not a guarantee and in my own experience with my principals in the previous years sometimes somebody's people got a little

▶ 1:37:06 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: bit more than others depending on what their achievements had been during that year and if there were no achievements they got probably a cost of living raise if there were a lot of achievements they got the full step so it's a guideline it's not like I said a guarantee and we apply that to the principles as well further discussion on the motion seeing on the motion on the floor is for two and a half percent all in favor opposed abstentions seeing none that motion carries six in favor one opposed and no abstention mr. South okay I didn't see thank you next on our agenda superintendent goal-setting timeline once we have the agenda for our retreat on October 1st I'll have a better sense of how to set up that timeline and we'll proceed from there so that's just

▶ 1:37:59 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: basically an announcement next on our agenda is the student advisory committee representatives and they are before you this evening they do not need a vote they this is a report out to the committee our commit committee delegate to mas see as many of you know we there is it a legislative agenda that is put forward by the resolutions committee to the full board and the membership of the Mass Association of school committees that meeting is held on the Wednesday of the annual a joint conference in Hyannis on November 1st of this year is there someone who would like to represent the Melrose School Committee at as our committee delegate ms. Casa telly and then mr. so I would like to nominate myself for that role okay you are nominating yourself for that role is

▶ 1:39:02 there a second second and is there discussion mr selm i too was going to nominate myself but i will yield i will yield ed was going to nominate my esteemed and long time colleague very gracious of you mr selm is there discussion this on this motion seeing none all in favor opposed that motion carries unanimously we do have need for an executive session to approve executive session minutes liaison reports I'm sorry sorry liaison reports oh sorry liaison reports thank you was rushing through miss Dugan the Melrose Education Foundation has two upcoming events does anyone know the date of the night out the 14th October 14th is a fundraising event so check your many emails and social media places to find out information on it but it's a

▶ 1:40:12 Jessica Dugan: critical event to raise awareness and raise funds for the important work that the Education Foundation does also on November 18th a Saturday is the parent event that the Education Foundation coordinates. It's been a fantastic event in the past so if everyone could save the date and participate in support in that would be fantastic. What's the date again? November 18th. Saturday morning. More information to come. Other liaison reports? Mr. Sell. MOA's Human Rights Commission meets tomorrow night in this building upstairs in the Cassidy Cassidy conference room very good anyone else just thank you to all the committee members who were able to participate in the Victorian fair this year it was a wonderful fair on a stunningly beautiful day and we had some

▶ 1:41:16 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: great comments from the community a lot of engagement a variety of comments and questions from our families and an opportunity to engage with people who are not our families who are Melrose citizens and taxpayers former substitute teachers former staff members in our district who had some wonderful comments about the Melrose public schools so it was fantastic to hear them and to engage with them so thank you to the community for coming to our booth and participating with us seeing no additional liaison reports we will need an executive session to approve executive session minutes of August 29th 2017 to conduct strategy a sessions in preparation for negotiations with the MEA and to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for the negotiation of

▶ 1:42:10 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: superintendent cindy taymor's successor contract we will return to public session do i have a motion to enter executive session by ms casatelli seconded by ms dugan uh ms mcallister grant thank you may i have a roll call vote please ms casatelli yes mr selm yes mia dolan mr o'connell yes ms mcallister-grand yes ms dugan yes ms driscoll yes again we will return to public session we are now in executive session we are back to public session and the committee has voted to approve disclose and make available to the public upon request in accordance with the Massachusetts open meeting law and public records law the minutes of August 29th 2017 subject to redactions as determined by the chair given that that concludes our agenda for this evening

▶ 1:43:16 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: my I have a motion to adjourn so moved made by mr. O'Connell seconded by ms. Casatelli discussion seeing none all in favor opposed that motion carries unanimously and we are adjourned

Original documents

• Minutes (CivicClerk PDF)
• Agenda (IQM2 PDF)
• Agenda (IQM2 PDF)
• Bulletin (IQM2 PDF)
• Minutes packet (IQM2 PDF)
• Minutes packet (IQM2 PDF)
• Agenda packet (CivicClerk PDF)
• Agenda packet (IQM2 PDF)
• Agenda packet (IQM2 PDF)
• Other (CivicClerk PDF)
• This meeting on the city portal