Jan. 28, 2012 Special Meeting

Agenda

Special Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
January 28, 2012
Gillooly Room, NAGE Building
9:00 am

I. Approval of Minutes: None.

II. Superintendent’s Report: None.

III. Open Forum: An opportunity for community input regarding the Quincy Public Schools. After giving his or her name and address, each speaker may make a presentation of no more than four minutes to the School Committee.

IV. Old Business

V. New Business:

A. Meeting Overview/Purpose - Mayor Koch, Ms. Isola

B. Regular Meeting Agenda Format - Ms. Isola

1. Suggested Changes

2. General Agenda Items (Resource)

C. District Improvement Plan Overview - Superintendent DeCristofaro

D. District Improvement Plan~School Committee Connections - Ms. Isola

1. Quincy School Committee Organizational Alignment

2. Quincy School Committee Subcommittee Organizational Alignment

3. Review of Current Subcommittee and Ad Hoc Agenda Items

VI. Additional Business:

VII. Communications:

VIII. Hearings: None

IX. Reports of Special Committees:

X. Executive Session:

XI. Adjournment:

Subcommittees of the School Committee

Subcommittee Date Referred Business Pending
Budget & Finance
Isola/Lebo/Mahoney 10/7/2009 Half-Time Teachers
  9/15/2010 Opportunities & Challenges
  9/15/2010 Short & Long Term Goals
School Facilities    
McCarthy/Bregoli/Hubley    
  3/4/1998 Sterling Building Plans
  10/20/2004 ADA Report
  5/18/2011 Coddington Hall $1.5 Appropriation
  5/18/2011 Future uses of houses on Saville Ave.
Health, Safety & Security    
Hubley/Lebo/McCarthy 3/26/2008 Increase School Breakfast Participation
  3/17/2010 North Quincy Traffic Intersection
School Policy    
Bregoli/Isola/Mahoney 6/15/2011 Substitute teacher interviews & evaluations
  9/7/2011 NCLB Federal Mandate
  9/7/2011 Graduation Requirements
  12/14/11 High School Community Service Pilot
  1/11/12 2012-2013 School Year Calendar
  1/11/12 School Committee Meetings 2012-2013
  1/11/12 Conflict of Interest: Volunteering, Tutoring, Hiring
Special Education    
Mahoney/Bregoli/McCarthy 1/17/2007 Substitute Teachers for SPED
  9/24/2008 INSPIRE Initiative
Rules, Post Audit & Oversight    
Lebo/Bregoli/Hubley    
     
Teaching and Learning    
Lebo/Hubley/Isola    
     
AD HOC COMMITTEES:    
Channel 22    
Mahoney/McCarthy 10/27/2007 Encourage greater use of
     
New Educator Evaluation Regulations    
Isola/Lebo 9/7/2011 Begin investigating requirements

 

Minutes

Quincy, Massachusetts - January 28, 2012
Special Meeting of the Quincy School Committee

Special Meeting

A special meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Saturday, January 28, 2012 in the Gillooly Room of the NAGE building. Present were: Mr. Paul Bregoli, Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Mayor Thomas Koch, Chair, Mrs. Emily Lebo, Mrs. Anne Mahoney, and Ms. Barbara Isola, Vice Chair.

Vice-Chair Presiding

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The Superintendent called the roll and Mr. McCarthy was absent. Also present were: Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk; Messrs. Draicchio, Mullaney, Mulvey, Murphy, Keith Segalla; Mrs. Papile; Ms. Todd; Mrs. Tracey Christello, representing the Citywide Parents’ Council, and Ms. Linda Perry, representing the Quincy Parent Advisory Council to Special Education.

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Open Forum

Linda Perry expressed her appreciation that the School Committee members gave up their Saturday morning to have this meeting; she wanted it to be a matter of record that two members of the public attended the meeting.

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New Business

There was no Approval of Minutes, Superintendent’s Report, or Old Business on the Agenda, so the Vice Chair moved directly to New Business and spoke about the purpose of the meeting: to formalize goals and hone in on what the School Committee would like to accomplish over the next year, both in the full School Committee and the individual Subcommittees. Mayor Koch spoke about the work that has already been done to review the meeting Agenda format in conjunction with the new Open Meeting law to ensure compliance. Ms. Isola then moved to suspend Robert’s Rules to allow for a free discussion of the agenda items.

The first item discussed was the Regular Meeting Agenda. Open Forum is currently the third item on the agenda and begins at 7:15 pm. Ms. Isola reminded the School Committee members that they are free to suggest any changes to Open Forum as long as they meet the parameters of the Open Meeting law. After some discussion about the length of time Open Forum can take under certain circumstances, it was agreed that Open Forum will move to be second on the Agenda and that an individual speaker is limited to four minutes. Also, an individual speaker may not exchange their time or yield to others. The Chair or Vice Chair may suspend Open Forum with a two-thirds vote of the School Committee. Dr. DeCristofaro reminded the School Committee members that there is usually a pattern of active public interest (for example, the spring budget season), and the Agenda can be planned accordingly to assume that a large amount of the meeting time may be dedicated to Open Forum.

Under Old Business, both the Building Projects and Central Middle School items will be moved to Subcommittees and reported to the full School Committee under Reports of Special Committees. Hearings will also be removed from the Agenda. For Additional Business, Mayor Koch suggested that any item to be voted on should be an Agenda item and not presented here. Mrs. Lebo asked for clarification as to whether this was the place to bring up suggestions for future Agenda items and all agreed. Dr. DeCristofaro suggested that Agenda items that come to the attention of the School Committee after the meeting has been posted can still be communicated and a Revised Agenda posted within the 48 hour window. Mrs. Mahoney noted that there may sometimes need to be discussion about whether items are Subcommittee or full School Committee Agenda items.

The next change discussed pertained to Subcommittees. On the Agenda, the item will now be called Reports of Subcommittees. On the last page of the Agenda, Business Pending will be changed to Subcommittee Items; each item will have a short description and a time frame for completion, when possible. Two Subcommittees have name changes: School Facilities will now be School Facilities and Security; Health, Safety, and Security will now be Health, Transportation, and Safety.

Dr. DeCristofaro then reviewed that this Subcommittee reorganization will allow for the Program Improvement review to be shared among the different Subcommittees rather than being concentrated in the Policy Subcommittee. This coordination will allow School Committee members to get to work more closely with the directors and coordinators on their issues. Mrs. Lebo mentioned that the New Educator Evaluations will be a cross-Subcommittee issue, involving both the Teaching and Learning and School Policy Subcommittees.

Ms. Isola made a motion to approve the Agenda changes as a whole. Mr. Bregoli seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it 6-0. Mr. McCarthy was absent.

Mrs. Lebo suggested announcing the format changes at the February 8, 2012 School Committee meeting so the public is aware of the changes before they take effect at the March 7, 2012 School Committee Meeting.

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District Improvement Plan Overview

Dr. DeCristofaro spoke about the District Improvement Plan and the Team Organization structure and the focus on working in a team, having common goals, and the team working together to that end. This School Committee meeting is the beginning of the process for planning, followed by implementation, re-evaluation, and the creation of new goals, perhaps in September, to coincide with the new school year. The teams have SMART goals, which are measurable, but this may not be universally applicable to School Committee goals. The School Committee falls under the first of the six Standards: Leadership, Governance, and Communication, but the Subcommittees will interact with principals, directors, and coordinators across the Standards. Going forward, the Subcommittees and their goals will be added to the Team Organization booklet.

District Improvement Plan ~ School Committee Connections

The School Committee and Superintendent and Leadership Team members present then split up into Subcommittee groups to discuss their goals. When the group discussion resumed, each Subcommittee had additions and changes to their goals. In addition, Mrs. Lebo suggested changing the wording for the Quincy School Committee purpose statement to read: The Quincy School Committee reviews and approves the Quincy Public Schools’ budget and establishes policies and guidelines in order to ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to learn and succeed. All School Committee members present agreed to this wording change.

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There was no Additional Business, Communications, Hearings, Reports of Special Committees, or Executive Session.

Adjournment

On a motion by Mayor Koch, seconded by Mrs. Hubley, the Special School Committee Meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m. The ayes have it.