Meeting Minutes of December 4, 2007

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 10^th.  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 13^th.

 

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