Meeting Minutes of August 28, 2007

Regular Meeting of
the Regional School Committee

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 7:00 p.m.

High School Library

 

Present:            Elaine Brighty, Chair                                Jere Hochman,
Superintendent

                        Kathleen Anderson                                  Rob Detweiler, Director of Finance

                        Andy Churchill (arrived at 7:24 p.m.)       Public

                        Maureen Ecclestone                                Public

                        Michael Katz                                           Press

                        Marianne Jorgensen                                 Debbie Westmoreland, Recorder

                                                                                      

Absent:             Sonia Correa-Pope, Michael Hussin,
Chrystel Romero

 

1.  Welcome                                                                                        7:10 p.m.

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

C.   Minutes—Ms. Anderson made a motion to
approve the minutes of August 14, 2007. 
Ms. Ecclestone seconded and the motion passed with two abstaining.

 

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

There were no announcements or public comments.

 

3.  Superintendent’s Update                                                              7:12 p.m.

Dr. Hochman noted that tomorrow is the first day of the new
school year for teachers.  He stated that
the district will monitor legislation issues all year long, particularly
discussions about Regional schools and bills about charter schools.  Dr. Hochman then distributed a letter from
Paul Reville, Governor Patrick’s appointee to Chair the Massachusetts State
Board of Education.  Dr. Hochman then
briefly reviewed the various training sessions that have been provided for
staff and administrators over the summer, including extensive training in use
of new computer programs in human resources, business office procedures, and
new curriculum guides.  New teachers
began work yesterday with orientation sessions at the district level in
addition to work in their individual schools. 
Dr. Hochman stated that he understands that some inaccurate statements
were made at the August 27 Select Board meeting regarding his negotiations with
the Town of Amherst for use of the Middle School swimming pool.  He reviewed the history of negotiations over
the past few years regarding costs associated with the use of the pool, noting
that he felt it was necessary to address the inaccuracies.

 

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                  7:31
p.m.

A.  Regional Agreement Subcommittee—Ms.
Brighty noted that the primary reason the School Committee planned to establish
a Regional Agreement task force is to revisit the E & D cap and elementary
transportation as written in the current agreement.  She stated that any recommendation for
changes to the Regional Agreement must be approved by a two-third majority of
the Regional School Committee and passed by majority vote of each of the
towns.  Ms. Jorgensen, Ms. Brighty, Ms.
Ecclestone and Mr. Katz volunteered to serve on the sub-committee as School
Committee representatives.  Ms. Brighty
noted that the sub-committee must include representatives from each of the member
towns.  It was decided that Dr. Hochman
will send a letter to the Chairs of each town’s Select Board and Finance
Committee asking for names of two representatives from each town.  The representatives should have some
background knowledge of the Regional Agreement and the ability to understand
the financial aspect of the agreement. 
The sub-committee will be charged with reviewing the E & D cap and
elementary expenses related to transportation, and making a recommendation for
action to the school committee.  Mr.
Detweiler noted that the Department of Education is unhappy with the
transportation arrangement of the Regional Agreement; therefore, it is
important for the work to be completed as soon as possible. 

 

B.  Food Service Contract Discussion—Ms. Brighty
noted that discussion began at the last meeting regarding whether to bring food
service back in-house or to put out an RFP for a new contract when the
Chartwells’ contract expires at the end of this fiscal year.  She briefly reviewed some of the findings of
the sub-committee that met prior to contracting food services with
Chartwells.  Dr. Hochman then reviewed
the list of pros and cons of the various food services scenarios that Mr.
Detweiler developed for the School Committee. 
The scenarios include a pure contracted services arrangement, an
in-house program or a combination of contracted and in-house, which is the
current arrangement.  As requested at the
last meeting, Dr. Hochman reviewed some of the financial shortfall numbers from
years in which food services were handled in-house.  After brief discussion, it was decided that a
small sub-committee of the School Committee will meet one time with Mr.
Detweiler to go over finances and participation rates in detail and bring a
recommendation to the full committee about whether to put out RFPs.  Mr. Katz, Mr. Churchill, Ms. Brighty and Ms.
Romero will serve on the subcommittee. 
Ms. Westmoreland will find a mutually agreeable meeting time and post
the meeting.

 

C.  Clubs and After-School Activities—Dr. Hochman
reviewed the reason for the request to charge a High School activities
fee.  Ms. Jorgensen made a motion that
the Amherst Pelham Regional
School District may
establish fees for participation in after-school activities, as approved by the
Director of Finance and Operations.  Any
fees collected shall be immediately turned over to the treasurer of the
District for deposit into an Activities Revolving account, to be used for the
sole purpose of defraying associated expenses. 
Mr. Katz seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

5.  New Business                                                                                            8:03 p.m.

A.  Instrument Rental Fee—Dr. Hochman reviewed
the request from Music Department Chair David Ranen to increase the current
instrument rental fee from $40 per year to $50 per year.  Several issues were raised by committee
members including 1) which students are eligible to rent school-owned
instruments; 2) how will repair cost overages be covered since the proposed
increase would still not cover the full amount; and 3) will increasing the fee
put up an additional barrier to participation for socio-economically
disadvantaged students.  After
discussion, Dr. Hochman stated that he will bring more information to the
School Committee at their next meeting so they can make a fully-informed
decision.

 

B.  Responsiveness Committee Report—Dr.
Hochman noted that a full report on the Responsiveness Report and the Social
Justice Commitment will be made at a future School Committee meeting, however,
he wanted to get the information out the school committee now for their
review.  He then reviewed the reason for
establishing the Responsiveness Committee and the highlights of their
work.  Trainings were completed in August
with all maintenance and transportation staff, and principals will be reviewing
the information in their faculty/staff meetings tomorrow.  Ms. Jorgensen commended the committee for
their work on these issues.  Ms. Anderson
asked if there is a statement for students similar to the statement in
recommendation number eight regarding an emotional and psychological safety net
for staff.  She also asked if the term
“at risk” is being used as a euphemism for students who are traditionally at
risk of being discriminated against. Dr. Hochman noted that the purpose of the
entire document is to ensure that students have a way to access help from trusted
adults anytime they need it. He also stated that he will clarify with the
committee chair, but his understanding is that the term “at risk” in this
document refers to students who have shown indications of risk to the safety of
self or others.  Ms. Anderson noted that
she would like to see language included in the second bulleted point under
recommendation number three that refers to the cultural competency issues that
arise in listening and response. Mr. Churchill stated that the portion of the
document dealing with areas of strength highlight that some things have already
been put in place to deal with some areas of concern from the recent past.  Ms. Brighty reiterated the thanks of the
School Committee for the quick work that was done to address the “code of
silence” that has been a problem in the district.   Ms. Jorgensen requested that the School
Committee be allowed to participate in the first-responder training.

 

C.  Social Justice Commitment—Dr. Hochman noted
again that a detailed report will be made regarding the social justice
commitment at a future meeting.  He then
reviewed the history of why a social justice commitment document was developed.  Dr. Kohler then reported specifically on the
work of the Social Justice Commitment committee.  She noted that the goal is to have the Social
Justice Commitment be a living, working document that will be embraced and
defined by every member of the school community—both individually and
collectively.  Ms. Anderson suggested adding
three additional resources to the document: Economic
Apartheid, The Color of Wealth,
and You Call This a Democracy. Ms.
Brighty thanked Dr. Kohler and members of the district who worked on the Social
Justice Commitment draft for their work, noting that using the term
“commitment” reminds everyone of the importance of the work.

 

D.  District Handbook Pages—Dr. Hochman
explained that the district pages for the school handbooks include policies and
information that applies to all schools and grade levels to ensure consistency
at every school.  He then distributed
copies of the 2007-2008 high school and middle school handbooks for each member
of the school committee. 

 

E.  Proposed Policy Revision: 420.06 Conduct of
Students: Attendance—Dr. Kohler reviewed the proposed changes to Policy
420.06 Conduct of Students: Attendance. 
Ms. Brighty noted that this is the first reading of this policy and a
vote will be requested at the next meeting. 
She asked that committee members email any questions or suggested
changes to her and Dr. Kohler.  Mr.
Churchill thanked Ms. Brighty and Dr. Kohler for their work on the policy
manual.

 

6.  Reports                                                                                          None

 

7.  Sub-Committee Reports                                                               9:08 p.m.

Ms. Brighty reviewed sub-committee assignments that are
needed for the upcoming school year. 

 

8.  School Committee Planning                                                          None

A.  Calendar Review

B.  Items for Upcoming Meetings

 

9.  Adjournment                                                                                  9:15 p.m.

Mr. Churchill made a motion to adjourn at 9:15 p.m.  Ms. Anderson seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

                                                                        Respectfully
submitted,

                                                                        Debbie
Westmoreland