Meeting Minutes of September 18, 2007

Regular Meeting of
the AMHERST School Committee

Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 7:00 p.m.

Middle School Library

 

Present:            Andy Churchill, Chair                              Jere Hochman,
Superintendent

                        Elaine Brighty                                          Hwei-Ling Greeney, Select
Board     

                        Kathleen Anderson                                  Paul Wiley, Crocker Farm Principal

                        Sonia Correa Pope                                  Nick Yaffe, Marks Meadow Principal

                        Chrystel Romero (arrived at 7:29)            Mark Prince, Wildwood Principal

                                                                                       Public

                                                                                       Press

                                                                                       Debbie
Westmoreland, Recorder

                       

1.  Welcome                                                                                        7:08 p.m.

A. & B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review—Mr. Churchill
called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m. He then reviewed the agenda and
welcomed everyone to the meeting.

C.   Minutes—Ms. Brighty made a motion to
approve the minutes of August 13, 2007. 
Ms. Anderson seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

2.  Announcements and Public Comments                                        7:10
p.m.

There were no announcements or public comments.

 

3.  Superintendent’s Update                                                              8:08 p.m.

Dr. Hochman reported that Governor Patrick is establishing a
set of committees for the “Readiness Project” focusing on various aspects of
education.  There is a committee on
long-term funding and John Musante, Town of Amherst Finance Director, will be a
member.  Dr. Hochman reported that
engineers and architects from MSBA will be touring the Wildwood facility this
week.  He then noted that Chartwells is
hosting “We’re Eating Local Food” week next week and all of the schools will be
participating.  Dr. Hochman reported that
he just received an email that there will be a Four-Board meeting at 8:00 p.m.
on Monday, September 24, for John Musante’s presentation on FY09 budget
planning.  Dr. Hochman then distributed
and reviewed a worksheet summarizing the FY07 budget reconciliation.

 

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                 
8:22 p.m.

A.  District Organization Committee—Dr.
Hochman reviewed the reasons the School Committee brainstormed at their August
2007 meeting for establishing a committee to research the current organization
of the elementary district compared to other possible configurations.  He also reminded the School Committee of
their thoughts on who should be involved in the research and the charge they
proposed for the committee.  After very
brief discussion, the committee reached consensus that the charge should stand
as written at the August meeting.  Dr. Hochman
suggested using Learning@arps and the elementary newsletters to recruit
interested community members to serve on the committee.  School Committee members can also forward
names of those they would like to be considered for the committee to Dr. Hochman.  The list of interested volunteers will be
given to the School Committee for their consideration.  It was determined that the district will
provide clerical support to serve as an administrative liaison to the district
organization committee. 

 

5.  New Business                                                                               
8:19 p.m. (C)/8:41 p.m. (A & B)

A.  Amherst Agreement—Dr. Hochman noted that
he included in the agenda packet the entire agreement that the Town of Amherst has struck with the University
of Massachusetts since it includes an
agreement about Marks
Meadow School.  The basic term of the agreement in relation
to the schools is that if, in the future, the Town vacates the Marks Meadow
school building, the Town and the University will negotiate a new agreement in
which the University may reimburse the Town for a portion of the net costs of
educating students living in University tax-exempt housing.  Mr. Churchill noted that this is a good
accomplishment in reaching a Town-wide agreement with the University.

 

B.  Memorandum of Understanding between Amherst Police &
District—Dr. Hochman noted that the Memorandum of Understanding has been in
existence for years; however, he was not sure if the School Committee was aware
of the agreement.  He wanted to bring it
to their attention.  Ms. Anderson asked
why the memorandum deals strictly with issues of drugs and alcohol.  Dr. Hochman stated that the district is
required by state law to report some issues, and state law supersedes the
memorandum. As a result, issues such as violence in schools would be reported
as required under the law.   

 

C.  FY07 Budget Vote—Dr. Hochman briefly
reviewed the reason a vote is necessary, noting that the official FY07 budget
amount approved at the Amherst Town Meeting was $45 more than that approved by
the School Committee.  Ms. Brighty made a
motion to establish the FY07 budget in the amount of $19,264,119.  Ms. Romero seconded and the motion passed
unanimously.

 

6.  Reports                                                                                          7:24 p.m.

A.  Crocker
Farm School
Improvement Plan—Dr. Hochman noted that in order to devote adequate time to
each School Improvement Plan, the decision was made with the principals to
present the Crocker Farm plan tonight, the Marks Meadow plan at the October
meeting and the Wildwood plan at the November meeting.  He noted that Wildwood is working to put
together a climate survey of the school which will become a substantive piece
of the plan.  Dr. Hochman noted that this
is also a transition year because it will be first time that the schools are
ready to blend their AYP/MCAS planning with their School Improvement Plan.  Dr. Hochman then introduced Paul Wiley,
Crocker Farm Principal, who reported on the current status of the school
improvement plan, which is in the last year of the three-year cycle.  Mr. Wiley distributed and reviewed a list of
the six major goals included in the plan and the status of each, which include
1) coordinated literacy program; 2) math vocabulary development; 3)
parent/guardian community partnership; 4) interdisciplinary/interethnic
leadership team; 5) communication and outreach and 6) MCAS improvement plan.  Mr. Wiley spoke in particular about the
Conversations program that was put into effect two years ago; efforts to increase
home/school communications; and successful efforts to bring up student
performance, which were implemented without “teaching to the test.”  He also spoke about Crocker Farms’ work on
the Latino Student Achievement Initiative; responsiveness protocols; safety and
security; the “every school” list; the Homeworks! program, which was in place
in 2005-2006 and he hopes to bring back this year; mentoring; Leadership and
Learning Community Initiatives; social justice; and the school improvement plan
beyond 2007-2008.  Ms. Romero asked how
the Homeworks! Program was funded in the past. 
Mr. Wiley said it was funded through a small grant with people donating
their time as well as some of the meals that were provided.  Mr. Churchill thanked Mr. Wiley for his
presentation, noting that it is exciting to hear about the work and initiatives
at Crocker Farm.  Since Mr. Wiley will be
retiring at the end of this school year, Mr. Churchill asked him how he would
advise the School Committee as they go forward with looking at the district
organization.  Mr. Wiley stated that if
we can give each child the optimum chance to do well in school, and we push
them in that direction, we will be fine. 
He said it does not matter how schools are configured if we do not do
the work to help children achieve.  He
stated that he sees poverty as an issue in this district that we need to pay
attention to, but it is not a reason for lack of success.  It is; however, a reality that our children
face.

 

 

7.  School Committee Planning                                                          7:11
p.m. (A1)/8:58 p.m.

A.  Sub-Committee Reports

1. Amherst
School Committee
Assignments

Mr. Churchill reviewed the list of
Amherst Sub-Committee assignments: Audit Committee (Ms. Brighty); Comprehensive
Planning Committee (Mr. Churchill and Ms. Anderson); District Organization
Study Committee (Mr. Churchill and Ms. Romero); JCPC (Ms. Brighty and Ms.
Anderson); Budget Coordinating Group (Mr. Churchill and Ms. Brighty); 250^th
Commemoration Committee (Ms. Anderson); ACTV Board Member (Ms. Anderson unless
Mr. Morales continues)

 

2. “Buy Local” Effort Update

Mr. Churchill noted that he and
Ms. Brighty attended a brainstorming meeting with members of the Select Board,
the Town Manager, Town Meeting members and others interested in ways to
increase “buy local” efforts.  He noted
that buying locally will help maintain the health of our town economy.  At the Select Board’s direction, the Town
Manager’s staff has researched town purchases that were made from businesses in
the 01002 zip code during the last year to get a snapshot of current buying
patterns.  Mr. Churchill reported on two
ideas that are under consideration to support “buy local” efforts.  First is to find ways to work with Chamber
members to make them more aware of the purchasing process of the town and
schools so they can compete for business. A second idea is to ask the Chamber
to help town departments make connections with local businesses that provide
needed goods and services.  Ms. Greeney,
Select Board, spoke to the School Committee about the effort, noting that she
was not speaking as a Select Board member. 
Ms. Greeney is attempting to schedule another meeting of the planning
group to help determine next steps. 

 

B.  Calendar Review—WW open house, September
19

 

C.  Items for Upcoming Meetings—Marks Meadow
School Improvement Plan;
Update on District Organization Committee; Demonstration of Data Warehouse;
Marks Meadow Portable

 

8.  Adjournment                                                                                  9:09 p.m.

Ms. Brighty made a motion to adjourn at 9:09 p.m.  Ms. Anderson seconded and the motion passed
unanimously.

 

                                                                        Respectfully
submitted,

                                                                        Debbie
Westmoreland