Meeting Minutes of November 7, 2006

Regular Meeting of the RegionalSchool Committee

Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 7:00 p.m.

High School Library

 

Present:            Elaine Brighty, Chair                                         Jere Hochman, Superintendent

                        Tom
Flittie                                                        Rob
Detweiler, Dir. of Finance & Oper.           

                        Andy
Churchill                                                  Rebecca
Trietley, Dir. of Food Services

Maureen Ecclestone (arrived at 7:18 p.m.)        Alvin Morton, SS Administrator

Alisa Brewer (arrived at 7:07 p.m.)                   Jeanne White, SS Administrator           

Sonia Correa Pope                                           David Slovin, SS Administrator

Michael Hussin                                                 JoAnn Smith, SS Administrator

Maria Geryk, PPS Director

Margaret Collins, HEC

Cecelia Buckley, HEC

Tracy Farnham, PelhamSchool Committee

Press

Debbie Westmoreland, Recorder

 

Absent:             Michael Katz, Marianne Jorgensen

 

1.  Welcome                                                                                        7:04 p.m.

A. & B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review—Ms. Brighty called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m.  She then reviewed the agenda and welcomed everyone to the meeting. 

C.   Minutes—Mr. Hussin made a motion
to approve the minutes of October 24, 2006 . Mr. Churchill seconded and
the motion passed with two abstaining.  Mr. Churchill made a motion to
approve the minutes of October 30.   Mr. Flittie seconded and the
motion passed unanimously.

 

2.  Announcements and Public Comments                                        None

 

3.  Superintendent’s Update                                                              None

 

 

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                  7:10 p.m. (B)/9:27 p.m. (A & C)

A.  Policies for Approval—

Policy 410.03  Enrollment: School Admissions—Ms.
Brighty reviewed the minor change that was made to this policy based on
the last review.  Mr. Churchill made a motion to approve this policy.
Mr. Hussin seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Policy 410.04 Non –Resident Students—Ms.
Brighty reviewed the changes that were made to this policy based on the
last review.  After some discussion, Mr. Flittie made a motion to
approve this policy.  Mr. Hussin seconded and the motion passed
unanimously.

Policy 420.05 Interrogation and Searches —Ms.
Brighty reviewed the changes that were made to this policy based on the
last review.  Mr. Hussin made a motion to approve this policy.  Ms.
Brewer seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Policies for First Review—

Policy 120.08 Public Complaints about Curriculum and Instructional Material —Mr.
Churchill stated that he feels the district needs a policy that
implements a clear process for community members to use in lodging
complaints or suggestions.  He would like to see this and policy 120.09
for personnel complaints broadened to be a way of dealing with and
respecting public input rather than just a complaint policy.

Policy 120.09 Public Complaints about Personnel—Ms.
Brewer suggested adding the requirement that people cannot speak about
particular personnel at school committee open sessions. 

Policy 600.04 Curriculum Development and Modification—Ms.
Brighty noted that two existing policies have been combined (600.04 and
600.05) to make them one clear policy.  Dr. Hochman noted that he will
have some suggestions for this policy prior to the next reading.

Policy 600.05 Curriculum Adjustment and Modification—Ms. Brighty noted that this policy needs to be deleted if the combined policy reviewed above is approved.

Policy 420.08 Physical Restraint Policy—Ms. Brighty noted that state law requires a policy on physical restraint and the district has not had one. 

 

B.  Budget Timeline—Mr. Detweiler
distributed and reviewed the timeline for FY08 budget development for
each of the three districts: Amherst, Pelham and Region.  The outline
includes dates for all School Committee budget presentations.  He noted
that the timeline is a work in progress and is being refined on an
almost daily basis.  Dr. Hochman noted that he and Mr. Detweiler have
been meeting with Town Manager Larry Shaffer and Town Business Manager
John Musante to discuss and define what is meant by level services
budget in this year’s process. 

 

C.  Adequate Yearly Progress—Dr.
Hochman reported briefly on the AYP/MCAS data that was presented in the
School Committee agenda packet, reviewing particularly the sub-groups
in which the Regional District did not make AYP.  He noted that the
schools are doing a success plan on every student who did not perform
at the proficient level and he will report more at a future meeting. 
Ms. Brighty noted that the schools as a whole are performing
beautifully, and she appreciates that the district will now be looking
more closely at the sub-groups. 

 

5.  New Business                                                                                7:48 p.m./9:27 p.m. (B)

A.  Hampshire Educational Collaborative—Dr.
Hochman introduced Cecelia Buckley and Margaret Collins from HEC who
came to address the School Committee.  Ms. Buckley noted that Amherst
was a founding member of Hampshire Educational Collaborative 33 years
ago so she understands that the decision to possibly withdraw
membership is not being made lightly.  Ms. Buckley also explained that
the Governor’s Board is meeting in November and is planning to drop the
member assessment fees significantly and expressed hope that the School
Committee will take that into consideration in making a decision.  She
expressed that the Collaborative has great respect for the financial
constraints faced by the district and stated that HEC can provide any
data reports the Committee may want in making their decision.  Dr.
Hochman then reviewed the information he presented to the School
Committee in their agenda packet regarding the cost/benefit analysis of
membership in HEC.  Mr. Churchill asked Ms. Buckley what the
Collaborative’s expectation is with regard to a change in the dues
structure.  She stated that the new structure will be presented on
November 15; therefore, she cannot be specific at this time.  She said
that hypothetically if a member district can provide one or two rooms
for special education use they may see no cash payment required to
HEC.  Ms. Buckley noted that another service of HEC is grant writing.
Ms. Brewer made a motion to notify Hampshire Educational Collaborative
of the intent to withdraw membership for a two-year period and/or full
withdrawal of membership and to include language in the notice
requesting an opportunity to reinstate membership pending satisfactory
revision of the dues structure.  Mr. Flittie seconded.  There was brief
discussion in which Mr. Churchill noted that this decision saddens him
due to the long history with the Collaborative.  He expressed the hope
that the dues structure will be changed in a way that will allow the
district to maintain membership.  The motion then passed unanimously. 
Ms. Brighty turned the floor over to Ms. Ecclestone at 8:10 p.m. to
allow the Pelham School Committee to meet and take a vote on the HEC
agenda item.  Ms. Ecclestone adjourned the Pelham meeting at 8:11 p.m. 
Ms. Brighty then thanked Ms. Buckley and Ms. Collins for coming.

 

B.  Truck Donation—Ms. Ecclestone made
a motion to donate a 1984 GMC truck, VIN#2GTHK34MXE1510735, to the
Amherst Fire Department with the understanding that the
Amherst-PelhamRegionalSchool District shall be relieved of any
responsibility for its condition and therefore held harmless of any
future liability in connection to this truck.  Mr. Churchill seconded
and the motion passed unanimously.

 

6. 
Reports                                                                                         
7:16 p.m. (A)/ 8:12 p.m. (B)

A.  Food Services Annual Update—Dr.
Hochman introduced Rebecca Trietley, Food Services Director, noting
that she is presenting an overview of the food services department. 
Ms. Trietley reviewed information on the Balanced Choice program; USDA
nutritional guidelines, USDA government commodities, variety of foods
offered, ala carte food offerings, the universal free breakfast program
that was established by Chartwells, the point-of-sale system, the
percentage of students who receive free or reduced-price lunch,
participation statistics, composting and the staffing at the middle
school and high school.  Ms. Brewer asked if a routine presentation can
be made that includes the data charts outlining participation rates. 
Dr. Hochman said such data can be included in an end-of-year report to
the School Committee.  Ms. Brewer asked if Ms. Trietley has worked with
Nutrition Advisory Committees in the past.  She said she has and is
working to establish a working committee here to implement components
of the Wellness Policy.  Mr. Churchill asked if Chartwells is
experiencing any financial loss by offering the free breakfast
program.  Ms. Trietley said that there have not been any losses due to
the program because they receive governmental reimbursement for those
meals.  Mr. Flittie asked if there is a target date for implementation
of healthier ala carte choices.  Ms. Trietley explained that the goal
is to make these changes within two years, while taking financial
considerations into account.

 

Mr. Detweiler then reported on the Chartwells
contract and the business model upon which it was premised, noting that
this year the district agreed to limit Chartwells’ loss to the
management fee only.  He noted that the district had to own the
economic loss of changing the mix in the vending machines since it was
a district decision to make those changes.  Mr. Detweiler will provide
more specific financial/trend data in the upcoming budget reports. 

 

B.  Student Services Annual Update—Dr.
Hochman introduced Maria Geryk, Director of Student Services.  Ms.
Geryk then introduced Student Services administrators Jeanne White,
JoAnn Smith, David Slovin and Alvin Morton.  She then reviewed the
services structure of the department and the types of professional
development training the department is offering.  Mr. Slovin then
reported on the PRISM model for discipline and the district safety
manual.  Mr. Morton briefly reported on his role in the department,
which includes review and revision of forms and policies to ensure
consistency across the three districts.  He also serves as the
compliance administrator for the district, including oversight of 504
plans, home schooling, and school choice.  Jeanne White reported on the
ELL program, including programming for ELL students.  Ms. White noted
that the restructuring of the ELL program includes coordinators within
the schools who will work with her, including Joan Snowdon at the High
School level, Carol Kaneta at the Middle School level and a person yet
to be hired at the elementary level. JoAnn Smith reported on the
special education data for the current school year.  Ms. Ecclestone
asked why Mr. Morton thinks the percentage of students on 504 plans in
Amherst is so low in comparison to Pelham and the Region.  Mr. Morton
said that there was no real consistency in the eligibility process
across the districts when he came in.  He believes that the consistency
that is now being implemented, along with the implementation of DECAP,
will make those numbers more consistent.  After further discussion and
clarification of some specific data points, Ms. Brighty thanked Ms.
Geryk and the Student Services administrators for their presentation. 

 

7.  Sub-Committee Reports                                                   7:05 p.m.

A.  Budget Coordinating Group (BCG)—Dr.
Hochman reported that the charge of the group is to coordinate the
budget planning process for the Amherst town departments, AmherstSchool
District and the RegionalSchool District. He noted that the budget
calendar is now set.  Ms. Brighty stated that most of the budget
information that has been set by BCG is now posted on the Town website.
Mr. Flittie complimented Mr. Detweiler for setting up the budget
calendar that served as the model for the town timeline, as well.

 

School Committee Planning                                                   None

A.  Calendar Review

B.  Items for Upcoming Meetings

 

8.  Adjournment                                                                                  10:04 p.m.

Mr. Hussin made a motion to adjourn at 10:04 p.m.  Mr. Churchill seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Westmoreland

 

Approved 11/21/06