Meeting Minutes of January 22, 2008

Regular Meeting of
the Regional School Committee

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 6:30 p.m. Executive Session/7:30
p.m. Open Meeting

High School Library

 

Present:            Elaine Brighty,
Chair                                Jere Hochman, Superintendent

                        Sonia Correa-Pope                                 Rob Detweiler,
Director of Finance & Operations

                        Andy Churchill                                         Press

                        Michael Hussin
(left at 8:02 p.m.)             Public

                        Kathleen Anderson                                  Debbie Westmoreland, Recorder

                        Marianne Jorgensen                                

                        Maureen Ecclestone                               

                        Gabriella Booth

                        Chrystel
Romero

                        Michael Katz (left after
executive session)

 

Executive
Session:  The Regional School
Committee voted by roll call vote to enter executive session at 6:30 p.m.  Ms. Brighty noted
that they will return to open session at approximately 7:30 p.m.

 

1.  Welcome                                                                                                    8:01 p.m.

A. &
B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review—The School
Committee returned to open session at 8:01 p.m.  Ms. Brighty welcomed
everyone to the meeting and then reviewed the agenda.

C.   Minutes—Mr. Churchill made a motion to
approve the minutes of December 18, 2007. Ms. Jorgensen seconded and the
minutes were approved, with minor corrections, with one abstaining.

 

2.  Announcements and Public Comments                                       
           None

There were no announcements or public comments.

 

3.  Superintendent’s Update                         
                                               8:06
p.m.

A.  Middle School Principal Search—Dr. Hochman noted that the Middle School Principal position was
posted in a variety of places around the country and that a number of
applications have been received.  He then
reviewed the process, explaining that the interview committee of parents and
faculty has been set up and members have been notified.  Committee members have begun to look at all
of the applications received.  After a
review period, the interview committee will meet with Dr. Hochman
to determine semi-finalists to be interviewed. 
Semi-finalists will go through an interview process with the interview
committee, after which the committee will meet again with Dr. Hochman to recommend finalists for consideration.  Dr. Hochman then
reviewed the interview process for the finalists. Ms. Anderson asked if the
School Committee will know who is on the interview committee.  Dr. Hochman said he
will compile the final list and provide the information to the School
Committee.

 

B.  Scholarships, Awards and Prizes—Dr. Hochman noted that the list of scholarships, awards and
prizes was provided in the agenda packet as requested by the School Committee
at an earlier meeting.  Ms. Anderson
noted that the Martin Luther King Breakfast Scholarship is not included in the
list.  Dr. Hochman
will make sure it is added to the list.

 

Dr. Hochman reported that he is
hosting two State of the District meetings tomorrow,
January 23.  The first meeting will take
place at 1:00 p.m. at the Bangs
Center.  The second meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m.
in the Middle School cafeteria.  Ms.
Jorgensen asked what the difference will be between the two meetings.  Dr. Hochman said
that both meetings will begin with a brief presentation by him regarding the
districts and the new “State of the Districts” report will be officially unveiled.
The rest of the meeting will be devoted to community discussion of the mission
and values of the school system. He stated that the most important thing is to
get people in the room together and find common ground. Dr. Hochman
noted that the afternoon meeting will probably be more informal because he
anticipates a smaller number of participants. 

 

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                              8:19 p.m.

A.  FY09 Budget Assumptions—Dr. Hochman reviewed the list of information that has been
provided to the Regional School Committee to date.  He and Mr. Detweiler
then reviewed the information contained in the document Meeting #2: Budget
Assumptions in detail, noting that the data will be updated continuously as
information becomes available from the towns and the state. 

 

School Choice:  When reviewing the school choice information, Dr.
Hochman distributed and reviewed a document regarding
choice in the Regional Schools.  The document outlined school choice enrollments at the beginning of
the 2007-2008 school year; changes in those enrollments to date; and a
worksheet for use in determining recommendations for school choice openings in
the 2008-2009, if the committee votes to remain a choice district.  After brief discussion, the school committee
decided not to take a formal vote on choice at this meeting.  However, they did direct the administration
to go forward with determining which grade levels should have additional choice
slots opened for next year in order to make a recommendation at a future
meeting. 

 

In reviewing information on Excess and Deficiency (E&D)
funds, Dr. Hochman noted that the current E&D cap
is 3.5%.  The Regional Agreement Review
Committee is currently discussing whether to increase the cap to 5%, which is
the percentage used by all other Regional districts in
the Commonwealth and is the amount recommended by the Commonwealth.  During the review of Circuit Breaker funds,
Dr. Hochman noted that we will be lobbying the
Legislature to increase the percentage of circuit breaker reimbursement because
it is the one thing that would benefit every town in the Commonwealth.

 

During review of the information on expense assumptions, Dr.
Hochman reminded the committee that the Districts
reached an agreement with the unions for a one-year contract extension with a
1% salary increase for FY08.  The
agreement also included reopening negotiations this year for FY09.  When discussing class size assumptions, Ms.
Jorgensen asked that Dr. Hochman provide the
committee with a list of how many positions have been lost during the past few
years of budget cuts.  Ms. Brighty thanked Dr. Hochman for
providing the assumptions, stating that the information is very helpful in the
planning process.

 

B.  FY09 Budget Discussion—Mr. Detweiler distributed and reviewed the Regional budget
worksheet.  He noted that if the FY09
budget is level funded with only the known increases (utilities costs,
insurance increases, etc.), it will increase over FY08 by $1,128,924, which
represents an increase of 4.1%.  In order
to support that level of budget with the current revenue assumptions, cuts
would be required totaling $407,229. Dr. Hochman
noted that these numbers will fluctuate a great deal over the next few weeks as
more information is confirmed regarding revenues and expenses.

 

Mr. Detweiler noted that the
current budget figures include the assumption of including $100,000 of E&D
funds for budget support.  He explained
that it would be prudent to include another line called E&D contingency
that would build funds in the budget that could be used in case of an
emergency.  He noted that if no such
amount is included in the budget, the district would have to get the approval
of all four towns in order to spend additional E&D funds if an emergency arises.  Although no amount has been included in the
budget figures at this time, Mr. Detweiler encouraged
the committee to consider this during their planning.  Ms. Jorgensen asked if there is a recommended
amount for E&D contingency.  Mr. Detweiler said
he is still getting advice on the amount and will bring a recommendation to the
School Committee at a future meeting.

 

Mr. Churchill asked about the effect of moving
transportation costs out of the Regional budget if the Regional Agreement
Review Committee votes to make that change. 
Ms. Jorgensen stated that the committee is meeting this Saturday and
hopes to vote at that time. A report will be made for presentation to the
School Committees; however, she stated that there does not appear to be a great
impact on the towns because the Regional assessment will go down while the
elementary budgets will increase.  Ms.
Jorgensen thanked Mr. Detweiler for the information
provided in the budget worksheet, noting that it is very helpful.

 

5.  New Business                                                                                9:38
p.m.

A.  2008-2008 School Calendar—Dr. Hochman noted
that the agenda packet includes two drafts of the 2008-2009 school calendar: a
pre-Labor Day start and a post-Labor Day start. 
He noted that 08-09 is a quirky year due to a number of factors,
including the fact that Labor Day falls on September 1^st.  Dr. Hochman
explained that the calendar has been distributed in a number of ways to receive
feedback and he will bring a recommendation to the committee at their next
meeting.

 

6.  Reports                                                                                          None

 

7.  Sub-Committee Reports                                                               9:54 p.m.

A.  Regional Agreement Subcommittee—Ms.
Jorgensen reported that the committee is looking at two issues: transportation
and the E&D cap.  She noted that the
committee has reached agreement on transportation and hopes to vote on whether
to increase the E&D cap to 5% at their meeting this Saturday. She explained
that a concern expressed by a member of the subcommittee is what controls there
are on how funds will be spent if the cap is increased to 5%.  Ms. Brighty noted
that MASC officials have stated that there are no restrictions on School
Committee use of funds and they recommend that the Committee should not develop
any sort of guidelines or policies governing the use of E&D funds. 

B.  Food Service Committee Update—Ms. Brighty reported that the RFP will be going out on February
1^st. 

 

8.  School Committee Planning                                                          None

A.  Calendar Review

B.  Items for Upcoming Meetings

 

9.  Adjournment                                                                                  9:25 p.m.

Ms. Brighty adjourned the Regional
School Committee at 9:50 p.m. 

 

                                                                        Respectfully
submitted,

                                                                        Debbie
Westmoreland

 

Approved 2/5/08