Regular Meeting of the Regional School Committee

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 7:00 p.m.

High School Library

 

Present:            Elaine Brighty, Chair                                Jere Hochman, Superintendent

                        Sonia Correa-Pope                                 Wendy Kohler, Exc. Dir. of Prog. Dev.

                        Kathleen Anderson                                  Rob Detweiler, Dir. of Finance & Operations

                        Maureen Ecclestone (left at 8:45)             Mark Jackson, HS Principal 

                        Michael Hussin                                        Public

                        Marianne Jorgensen                                 Press

                        Gabriella Booth, Student Rep                   Debbie Westmoreland, Recorder

                        Chrystel Romero (arrived at 7:18)

 

Absent:             Michael Katz, Andy Churchill

 

1.  Welcome                                                                                        7:10 p.m. (A/B)

A. & B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review—Ms. Brighty called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.  She then reviewed the procedure for the audience to speak, reviewed the agenda, and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

C.   Minutes—Tabled

 

2.  Announcements and Public Comments                                        7:12 p.m.

Lisa Halpern, Amherst parent, distributed to school committee members and read aloud a written statement asking the school committee to reject the proposed change to the ninth grade science curriculum.

 

3.  Superintendent’s Update                                                             7:15 p.m.

Dr. Hochman introduced Mark Jackson, High School Principal, noting that he will give an update on where things stand with the ninth grade science proposal that was discussed last week.  Mr. Jackson said the question to be considered in putting new science curriculum in place is “What is the best thinking of the scientific community now regarding what’s worth knowing,” not “What is everyone else doing?”  He stated that the proposed course is designed to align the Amherst curriculum with what the scientific community recommends.  Joel Wolf, Amherst parent, Ms. Halpern, and Katherine Sanderson, Amherst parent, shared their thoughts regarding the proposed course.  Ms. Sanderson stated that she feels it is important to look at some other respected districts similar to Amherst Regional that are teaching this type of course to see if it is working.  Ms. Halpern asked what the impetus is for changing the ninth grade science curriculum.  Mr. Jackson stated that factors include dissatisfaction with earth science as it has been taught historically in the district, adequately preparing students for the new tenth grade MCAS science tests, and the proposed course contains more currently highly-valued content according to the science standards. Ms. Sanderson stated that she has never heard an administrator in Amherst say that MCAS is a reason to change the curriculum.  Mr. Jackson stated that he did not say that MCAS is the main reason for making the change; however, MCAS is a reality and students will be required to pass it in order to graduate.  After further discussion, Mr. Jackson said he is happy to continue the conversation with parents who have questions about the proposed curriculum. He noted that he will be happy to talk to other districts about their curriculum, but it should be kept in mind that this is a local decision and some parents may disagree with the final decision after the research is done.  Dr. Hochman noted that he thought the dialogue tonight was very good.  He stated that the work done in putting together the proposed curriculum was based on standards, including the most rigorous state frameworks in the country, national standards and professional group standards.  Dr. Hochman also noted that one factor that has to be considered in establishing curriculum is if it is interesting and motivating to kids.  Whatever curriculum is approved, it will be supported with professional development for teachers and curriculum writing in the summer.  Mr. Jackson distributed the High School Profile for the 2007-2008 school year, explaining that it is a document that is sent to colleges with every student transcript.

 

A.  Comprehensive Program Review Update—Dr. Hochman distributed and reviewed a summary of the final report from the Comprehensive Program Review that was completed for the three districts last year.  He noted that remarkable progress was made in all categories in all three districts compared to the mid-cycle review done in 2003 for Amherst and the Region and in 2005 for Pelham. Dr. Hochman noted that the full report is posted on the Massachusetts DOE website.  Ms. Brighty stated that this was a huge leap in a short amount of time and asked Dr. Hochman to express the thanks of the School Committee to all those who worked so hard on these efforts.

 

Dr. Hochman took a moment to distribute and briefly review a document outlining progress on goals, areas of concentration, and through-lines, noting that he wanted to provide an update to the School Committee.   

 

B.  State of the District Report—Dr. Hochman distributed a draft copy of a new report created this year called the State of the District Report.  He noted that the goal was to create a document that blends some of the information and data that is available in several other documents to provide a snapshot of the districts.  Dr. Hochman noted that he will schedule a public meeting to present a “state of the district” report to the community when the final document is completed.

 

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                  8:15 p.m. (A) / 8:40 (B/C)

A.  FY09 Budget

Timeline—Mr. Detweiler distributed and Dr. Hochman reviewed the timeline for the budget process.  He noted that in budgeting for FY09 we will plan three years out with an eye toward “What’s optimum to achieve the goals of the school districts?”  Planning will be around priorities for the districts and how those priorities can be achieved by 2011. 

 

Meeting 1 Data and Direction—Dr. Hochman distributed the document Budget Planning Meeting 1: Data and Direction, noting that it will be updated on a regular basis as information becomes available during the budget process.  He briefly reviewed the table of contents, explaining that the data in the document will set the stage for many of the budget decisions that will be made over the next months.

 

B.  FY08 Budget Update—Mr. Detweiler distributed and reviewed a reconciliation of the FY08 budget as of November 2008.  Ms. Romero asked if maternity leave comes out of risk and benefits.  Mr. Detweiler noted that it is kept in the control account because it is not known from year to year if there will be maternity leave expenses.  Ms. Brighty thanked Mr. Detweiler for providing the update, noting that it is very helpful as we move into the budget planning.  Ms. Jorgensen asked about the E & D balance.  Mr. Detweiler said that the auditor is still completing the audit and he will provide the balance to the School Committee as soon as it is done.

 

C.  Policies

Policies for Second Reading

600.01 Instruction: Goals of Instructional Program—Ms. Jorgensen made a motion to approve the policy as written.  Ms. Correa Pope seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

600.02 Instruction: Instructional Materials Selection—Ms. Jorgensen made a motion to approve the policy as written.  Mr. Hussin seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

600.04 Instruction: Curriculum Development and Instructional Program Evaluation—Ms. Jorgensen made a motion to approve the policy as written. Ms. Romero seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Policies to be Deleted

600.05 Curriculum Adjustment and Modification and 600.06 Evaluation of Instructional Programs —Ms. Jorgensen made a motion to delete these two policies.  Ms. Anderson seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Policy for First Reading

600.05 Educational Challenge and Support—Ms. Brighty reviewed the changes that have been proposed to this policy.  Ms. Jorgensen asked if we need to define a limit of how much we can support students.  Ms. Brighty said that limit is defined in the special education policies.  Dr. Kohler said that her understanding is that the school committee wanted a policy that addresses challenge/rigor.  She said that the intent of the word “support” in this policy is used with regard to support for challenge.  Ms. Romero stated that she likes the wording as written.  Ms. Brighty said what was being aimed for is acknowledgement that all children need to be challenged and all students need support at some point. Dr. Hochman noted that we need it written in policy that we will provide differentiated instruction that will support students to pursue areas in which they can be brilliant.  Ms. Jorgensen suggested that perhaps the policy should have a different title to reflect what Dr. Hochman said.  Dr. Kohler suggested using the phrase “educational challenge.”   After further discussion, Ms. Brighty asked School Committee members to email Dr. Kohler if they have additional ideas for changes.

 

5.  New Business                                                                                8:32 p.m.

A.  Appoint Chief Procurement Officer—Mr. Detweiler provided a brief explanation of why the School Committee needs to appoint a Chief Procurement Officer.  Ms. Romero asked if this is public information so people who may have been interested could come forward to apply.  Mr. Detweiler said  that normally the Director of Finance or the Superintendent is appointed to the role.  Ms. Ecclestone made a motion to appoint the Director of Finance and Operations as Chief Procurement Officer as defined by provisions of MGL c. 30B; section 2.    Ms. Jorgensen seconded and the motion passed with one abstaining.

 

6.  Reports                                                                                          None

 

7.  Sub-Committee Reports                                                               9:14 p.m

Ms. Brighty said that BCG is meeting tomorrow. BCG members are supposed to talk to their committee members about whether they support the idea of having a public engagement process for long-term budget planning.  Dr. Hochman explained that the purpose of a public engagement process is to determine what the priorities of the community are through a true representation of members of the town.  Ms. Anderson said the idea of public engagement is very noble and she likes it a lot.  However, what she experienced in the Planning Amherst Together community planning was that only 500 to 600 of the more than 30,000 members of the community actually participated.  She is afraid that the process will still yield only the same type of information public officials “get at the coffee shop.” Dr. Hochman said the second part of the public engagement process is to do polling that reflects a representation of the entire town.  Ms. Jorgensen said that she saw the presentation about public engagement and it is a very concerted effort.  Ms. Brighty said that BCG also asked that board members be made aware that a tight FY09 budget is coming up because there is a projection of a $1.9 million deficit.  BCG would like input from the boards on what their thinking is in regard to an override this year.  She asked that the board keep it in mind at this time as budget planning moves forward.

 

Ms. Brighty reported that the Food Service Committee has prepared a survey that will go out to parents through their students on December 10th.  Students in third through tenth grade and staff will also be asked to complete surveys.  Ms. Brighty noted that research has been done regarding districts that are doing in-house food service programs but there has been no compelling data to support returning to an in-house program.

 

Ms. Jorgensen noted that the Regional Agreement Sub-Committee is meeting next Thursday, December 13th.

 

8.  School Committee Planning                                                          None

A.  Calendar Review

B.  Items for Upcoming Meetings

 

9.  Adjournment                                                                                  9:30 p.m.

Ms. Jorgensen made a motion to adjourn at 9:30 p.m.  Mr. Hussin seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Debbie Westmoreland

 

Approved 12/18/07