Meeting Minutes of March 11, 2008

Regular Meeting of
the Regional School Committee

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 
7:00 p.m.

High School Library

Present:            Elaine Brighty, Chair                                Jere Hochman,
Superintendent

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

                        Andy Churchill                                         Kathy Mazur, Human Resources
Director

                        Chrystel Romero                                     Wendy Kohler, Exec. Director of
Prog. Dev.

                        Maureen Ecclestone (arrived at 7:13)       Debbie Westmoreland, Recorder

                        Michael Hussin (arrived at 7:15)               Press

                        Michael Katz (arrived at
7:36)                 Public

Absent:  Kathleen Anderson, Gabriella Booth (student
rep), Marianne Jorgensen, Michael Katz

1.  Welcome                                                                                        7:10 p.m.
(A/B)/7:36 p.m. (C)

A. & B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review—Ms. Brighty
called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. without quorum. She then reviewed the
agenda, announcing that the committee will go into Executive Session at the end
of the regular agenda. She noted that the committee will not return to open
session.

C.   Minutes—Ms. Romero made a motion to
approve the minutes of February 5 and March 4, 2008.  Ms. Ecclestone seconded and the motion passed
with one abstaining.

After voting on the minutes, the School Committee recognized
and congratulated the ARHS Russian students and their teacher, Jude Wobst, for the
outstanding job they did in the National Russian Essay Contest sponsored by the
American Council of Teachers of Russian. 
Ms. Brighty noted how extraordinary it is for 21 of the 28 ARHS
participants to receive medals in the competition.

2.  Announcements and Public Comments                                       
           7:11 p.m.

Joel Wolf, parent, stated that he has heard nothing but the
highest praise in the community regarding the principal search process for all
of the schools.  He said he would like to
thank Dr. Hochman and anyone else who worked on the searches for the wonderful
process.  Ms. Brighty also expressed the
thanks of the School Committee, noting that committee members have also heard
high praise for the process.

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

Dr. Hochman apologized for being a few minutes late to the meeting.  He explained that he was attending a meeting
of the Leverett Finance Committee at 6:00 p.m. to talk to them about the
Regional budget.  Dr. Hochman then
reviewed the interview process for the Middle School principal search and
announced that he has appointed Glenda Cresto to the position, beginning July
1.  Mr. Churchill expressed appreciation
for Middle School finalist Mike Hayes and the service he gave to the district
over the past two years as an interim co-principal.  He asked what capacity Mr. Hayes will serve
in next year.  Dr. Hochman explained that
a number of people are serving in interim positions at this time, including
Fran Ziperstein, the other Middle School Co-principal. He explained that the
standard process is for interim employees to return to their previous position
when the interim job is finished; however, nothing is decided yet until he has
an opportunity to look at all of the openings across the district.

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                              None

5.  New Business                                                                                7:16
p.m.

A.  Legislative Action Statement—Dr. Hochman
reminded the committee that they received the Legislative Action Statement that
was developed by the Legislative Action Committee at their meeting last
week.  He noted that the Legislative
Action Committee is hopeful that the School Committee will endorse the
statement to be sent to state legislators. 
The statement would also be sent to other school committees for their
consideration.  After discussion, it was
decided that the statement should be revised and brought back to the committee
with some changes and clarification:

1.  Mr. Hussin asked
for clarification regarding the $3,000 “floor” on chapter 70 funding. The issue
will be clarified and brought back at the next meeting.  2.  Mr.
Churchill suggested focusing more on increasing circuit breaker funds.  3.  Ms.
Correa Pope asked for clarification of point number seven regarding extended
learning time, which Dr. Hochman provided. 
4. Ms. Romero suggested moving point number three to the first position
to give it more emphasis. 

B.  2008-2009 School Calendar—Mr. Hussin made
a motion to approve the 2008-2009 calendar as presented, with a school opening
date of Thursday, August 28.  At Mr.
Churchill’s request, Wendy Kohler reviewed the differences between the proposed
08-09 calendar and the current 07-08 calendar. 
After brief discussion, Ms. Romero seconded and the motion passed
unanimously.

C.  School Choice Hearing—Dr. Hochman
distributed and reviewed a packet of information regarding school choice
students in the Regional Schools.  The
data included information about school choice students in grades 7-12 at the
opening of school in August, an update with October 1 numbers, and a chart
showing projected school choice enrollments in grades 7-12 for the 2008-2009
school year.  Dr. Hochman noted that the
recommendation is to open five seats in seventh grade, five seats in ninth
grade, two seats in tenth grade and one seat in eleventh grade.  He noted that this recommendation does keep
the district on a declining trend in school choice enrollments, but he feels it
is a safe approach for now.  Dr. Hochman
reminded the committee that the process for school choice is to clear any
waiting lists on an annual basis and accept new applications for all seats,
which will be filled through a lottery system. 
He noted that the information is presented tonight for the School
Committee’s consideration and it will brought before the committee for a vote
at a future meeting.

6.  Reports                                                                                          None

7.  Sub-Committee Reports                                                               None

8.  School Committee Planning                                                          None

9.  Adjournment                                                                                  7:39 p.m.

By roll call vote, the committee voted to go into Executive
Session at 7:39 p.m.  They did not return
to open session.

                                                                        Respectfully
submitted,

                                                                        Debbie
Westmoreland

Approved 3/25/08