Minutes for the Pelham School Committee Meeting of January 6, 2011

Attendance: Debbie Gould, Nora Maroulis, Kathy Weilerstein, Lisa Desjarlais, Maria Geryk, Rob Detweiler, Ed Martin, Fred Vanderbeck, John Trickey, Paul Lipman, Debbie Jacque, Joanne Smith, Public

 

1.       Welcome

a.       Debbie Gould called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM

b.      Agenda Review

 

2.       Announcements & Public Comment

a.       Debbie made a statement addressing an email that had circulated to parents. She mentioned that the school choice families have always been a welcome part of the Pelham community but the current model, with school choice being such a large percentage of the total school population, is not viable in the long term. The Town has been very supportive of the School and the School Committee must be both respectful and responsible in seeking out options that may be more efficient and more viable without sacrificing education quality. She let people know that the School Committee has discussed the possibility of eliminating new school choice slots for kindergarteners next year. This may be the only way the School Committee will have options in the future for different models. Debbie assured people that the School Committee would look to school administrators and teachers to help identify the best models if and when the time came. 

b.      Kathy – spoke about the need to maintain respectful dialog and work together to provide solutions. She mentioned the work of the visioning committee and invited people to participate. She also reminded people that School Committee meetings are not the place for discussion. Parents and residents should feel free to call or email School Committee members if they wish to talk to us. Kathy let people know that there will be a forum which will allow for more discussion on school choice in the future.

c.       Nora – spoke about the commitment of the School Committee to the Pelham School. She reminded people that it is the desire of the School Committee to see the school continue to thrive.

d.      Paul Lipman – First grade teacher at Pelham, spoke about the importance of Pelham maintaining its autonomy and control and staying small.

e.      Diane Curtis – School choice parent, spoke about the way in which school choice has transformed the school in positive ways. The Pelham School has become like a regional magnet school and should be a model for the Commonwealth. She would like to see efforts made to change the funding model for school choice.

f.        Dan Rose – Pelham parent, spoke about his concerns from the tax payer perspective. He purchased his house in Pelham because of the schools and was willing to pay more. He has concerns about paying so much in real estate taxes and worries that he is subsidizing school choice families.

g.       Kristin Mattocks – School choice parent, apologized if her email was offensive to the School Committee – she did not mean it to be. She wanted to inspire people to action and was hopeful this would achieve that.

h.      Elaine Fronhofer – School choice parent, spoke about the need for better information on how the finances work for the school.

i.        Debbie Jacque – Pelham kindergarten teacher, spoke about her long experience in Pelham and the various models she has taught under. She expressed the importance of having a standalone kindergarten program with a reasonable class size.

j.        Lisa Zephyr – Pelham parent, spoke about the ways in which her child has benefited from the school choice children and she would hate to see that eliminated.

 

3.       Supt update

a.       Maria apologized that Mike Hayes was not in attendance to talk about the Middle School. His wife, Sarah, just had her baby – a daughter, Meaghan Linn. Maria and Mike have gone to both Leverett and Shutesbury School Committees to talk about transition to the Middle School and to make sure all communities feel their voices are heard.

b.      The K-16 Math Council is looking for additional members. The Council will be using the information that has been collected thus far and making recommendations about how to move forward. Debbie asked if there was Pelham representation on the Council. Lisa mentioned that she is on it. Kathy suggested that it may be valuable to have a Pelham teacher on it. Paul Lipman expressed a willingness to serve.

c.       Amherst College donated money for a volunteer coordinator. Kim Stender has been hired into the position. She will be working on partnerships with the community.

 

4. Principal update:

d.      Lisa made a visit to Shutesbury with Beth Graham.  She was able to sit in on several math classes where the teacher was using Investigations.

e.      Lisa is working on getting arts integrated into the classrooms.  She provided the School Committee with the Amherst Elementary Art Curriculum guide and a brief synopsis of how art is currently integrated at Pelham.

f.        The school is preparing for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly.

g.       Lisa is hopeful that Roger Tinknell will be coming in February through a grant from the Pelham Arts Council.  The Afterschool Art Program has inspired a great deal of interest.  About 46 children have signed up.  The program will begin in February and there will be 2 6-week sessions.   Lisa will ask parents to contribute a nominal amount FOR SUPPLIES. Some parents have volunteered to help as well as donating supplies.Lisa will fund it with student activity funds and Lennie Ware will donate some funds to the program.

h.      Lisa and Paul have been working with Eshu Bumpus and Jonathan Keezing on a Mass Cultural Grants Arts proposal to bring them in as Artists in Residence with a focus on Folk Tales and storytelling through writing and puppetry. There will be a total of 48 sessions if the proposal gets approved. 

 

5.       Continuing Business - None 

 

6.       New Business

a.       Interim Financial Statements – Rob reported that the Pelham budget looks to be in good shape. There has been some shuffling of the line items but there is no reason for concern.

b.      Preliminary FY2012 Budget – Rob presented a preliminary budget for FY2012. If there is level funding for FY2012 the budget shows a need to cut approximately $27,000. John Trickey mentioned that the Town is expecting a decrease in Chapter 70 money. Therefore, even if the Town level funds the School, it will mean a reduction in funding to the rest of the Town. The School Committee will need to look at potential cuts at the next meeting to get to level funding.

c.       Warrant on Charter School Funding – Debbie spoke about the public forum that she and Kathy had attended which addressed funding for Charter Schools. At the forum, School Committees were encouraged to bring a non-binding warrant to Town Meeting that would encourage the Commonwealth to rectify the issues with the current model of funding Charter Schools. Debbie distributed some warrants that other towns have passed. Neither warrant was particularly clear so Debbie agreed to contact Richard Selig to see if he had any language we could use. Debbie will also bring this to the 4-town meeting.

d.      Accept Gifts - Kathy made a motion to accept $1,404.00 from the Town of Pelham Cultural Grant for Pelham Cultural Arts Programs and $350.00 from Marie and Warren Hall for Classroom Instructional Supplies. Nora seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

7.       Subcommittee Reports

a.       Pelham Visioning – Kathy reported that the group is looking at other districts around the State to see how they are structured. They are also investigating the different ways in which  agreements can be written to allow towns to maintain control. Nora asked if the Visioning Committee will ultimately provide some recommendations since this is what people have been expecting. Kathy said that ultimately they will, they just need to get answers to questions as a first step.

b.      Superintendent Search Committee – Nora reported that they met this week with the search firm and had been given 5 candidates. They will interview all 5 next week. Nora expressed the importance of the public’s participation once we have finalists. There will be 1-2 opportunities for the public to meet the candidates and provide feedback. The schedule for the candidate visit will be on the ARPS.org web site. Lisa will email the schedule to the Pelham school and Nora will try to get something in the Pelham Slate.

c.       Policy subcommittee –  Kathy made a motion to accept the following policies. Debbie seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

                                                              i.      Anti-Bullying Policy

                                                            ii.      Handbook Policy

                                                          iii.      Agenda Policy

 

 

8.       School Committee Planning

a.       Calendar Review

                                                              i.      4-Town Meeting will be January 29^th at 9:00 a.m. in the Middle School library.

b.      Items for upcoming meetings:

                                                              i.      Update on District Initiatives

                                                            ii.      Discussion of preschool

                                                          iii.      Need to schedule a meeting for an open discussion about school choice in March.

                                                           iv.      February meeting will be the hearing on school choice. March meeting will vote on whether or not to be a choice school.

                                                             v.      February meeting – Mike Hayes will come talk about the Middle School.

 

9.       Meeting was adjourned at 9:02 PM