Sept. 24, 2012 Special Meeting

Agenda

Special Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Monday, September 24, 2012
Gillooly Room, NAGE Building, 1st floor
5:30 p.m.

I. Approval of Minutes: None.

II. 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. An individual may not exchange their time or yield to others.

III. Superintendent’s Report: None.

IV. Old Business: Review of meeting minutes from January 28, 2012 Special School Committee Meeting.

V. New Business:

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

B. District Improvement Plan 2012-2013 Overview - Superintendent DeCristofaro

C. 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. Reports of Subcommittees: None.

IX. Executive Session: None.

X. Adjournment:

Subcommittees of the School Committee

Subcommittee Items


Budget & Finance
Isola/Bregoli/Hubley/Koch/Lebo/Mahoney/McCarthy

School Facilities & Security
McCarthy/Bregoli/Hubley

  1. Sterling Building Plans Referred to Subcommittee by the School Building Task Force in 1998.

  2. Coddington Hall $1.5 million Appropriation Referred to Subcommittee at the May 18, 2011 School Committee Meeting. The City of Quincy has appropriated $1.5 million to refurbish Coddington Hall to serve as the Quincy Public Schools administrative offices. Wessling Architects has been chosen to complete the design phase of the project and construction cost estimating is underway as of February 2012.

  3. Houses on Saville Avenue Referred to Subcommittee at the May 18, 2011 School Committee Meeting. Currently home to the School Maintenance and Public Building departments, the School Committee and Superintendent see no future educational uses for these properties.

  4. Outside Lighting Audit Referred to Subcommittee at the February 8, 2012 School Committee Meeting. To address safety concerns, an audit was requested to look for lights that need repair or replacement and locations that would benefit from additional lighting.

  5. Coddington Hall Parking Lot Rental to Quincy College Referred to Subcommittee at the February 8, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Assess feasibility of managing the building parking lot as rental property during the renovation process.

  6. Acceptance of Provisions of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 71, Section 37M Referred to Subcommittee at the March 21, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Discuss proposed consolidation of the School Maintenance Department budget with the City of Quincy Department of Public Works.

  7. Motion for the Public Buildings and Parks Departments to Attend School Committee Meetings Referred to Subcommittee at the June 13, 2013 School Committee Meeting. Mr. McCarthy proposed that representatives from both the Public Buildings and Parks Departments attend the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee meetings where the School Improvement Plans are presented and that each department appear before the School Committee bi-annually in the fall and spring to present on current projects and issues.

Health, Transportation & Safety
Hubley/Lebo/McCarthy

  1. School Meal Charges Referred to Subcommittee at the March 21, 2012 School Committee Meeting. New state and federal regulations require formalization of the school meal charges policy.

  2. School Wellness Policy Referred to Subcommittee at the March 21, 2012 School Committee Meeting. New state and federal guidelines will require revision of the existing Wellness Policy.

  3. Science Lab Safety: Referred from the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee at the April 2, 2012 meeting. High School Science labs have been reviewed and needed updates for compliance completed; Middle School Science labs still to be evaluated.

School Policy
Bregoli/Isola/Mahoney

  1. Graduation Requirements Referred to Subcommittee at the September 7, 2011 School Committee Meeting and discussed at the October 11, 2011 School Policy Subcommittee. The discussion centered around adding a fourth year of Math as a graduation requirement and all agreed to table the issue until more is known about the impact of the new Common Core Standards on the Massachusetts frameworks.

  2. New Educator Evaluations Referred at the September 7, 2011 School Committee Meeting and shared with the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee. Two meetings have already been held to begin exploring the requirements of the new regulations (9/21/11 Ad Hoc Subcommittee meeting and February 13, 2012 Teaching and Learning Subcommittee meeting) and further discussion will be held in Executive Session as it pertains to collective bargaining.

  3. High School Community Service Pilot Referred to Subcommittee at the December 14, 2011 School Committee Meeting. A resolution was introduced proposing a phased-in Community Service requirement and further discussion is needed to create a pilot program for both high schools.

  4. Conflict of Interest: Volunteering, Tutoring, Hiring Referred to Subcommittee at the January 11, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Review and discussion of existing policy requested.

  5. Adding CPR as a Graduation Requirement Referred to Subcommittee at the March 21, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Review and discussion of existing policy requested.

  6. Exempting Student Athletes from Physical Education Requirement Referred at the May 2, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Student athletes who compete in three seasons of athletics with parent permission and maintenance of academic eligibility, would not be required to take Physical Education classes. Review and discussion of existing policy requested.

  7. Adopt a Project Referred at the May 2, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Maintenance department requested a review of the policy and process for project approval.

  8. Advertising/Sponsorship Opportunities Referred at the June 13, 2012 School Committee Meeting. Review and discussion of amending the existing policy requested to explore the possibility of raising revenue by accepting advertising sponsorships.

Special Education
Mahoney/Bregoli/McCarthy

  1. Substitute Teachers for SPED Originally referred to Subcommittee at the January 17, 2007 School Committee Meeting. At the Special School Committee Meeting on January 28, 2012 and the Special Education Subcommittee meeting on February 1, 2012, it was agreed that some progress has been made in the way that substitute teachers are informed and educated about accommodations for special needs issues. A form has been developed for classroom teachers to share information and the goal for implementation is the 2012-2013 school year.

  2. Special Education Program Assessment Referred to Subcommittee at the January 28, 2012 Special School Committee Meeting. This will be an ongoing discussion of the curriculum initiatives for Special Education.

Rules, Post Audit & Oversight
Lebo/Bregoli/Hubley

Teaching and Learning 
Lebo/Hubley/Isola

New Educator Evaluations Referred at the September 7, 2011 School Committee Meeting and shared with the School Policy Subcommittee. Two meetings have already been held to begin exploring the requirements of the new regulations (9/21/11 Ad Hoc Subcommittee meeting and February 13, 2012 Teaching and Learning Subcommittee meeting) and further discussion will be held in Executive Session as it pertains to collective bargaining.

Ad Hoc Committees:

Channel 22
Mahoney/McCarthy

Created at the October 27, 2007 School Committee meeting to encourage the greater use of Channel 22 across Quincy Public Schools.

Central Building Committee
Mahoney

Minutes

Quincy, Massachusetts - September 24, 2012
Special Meeting of the Quincy School Committee

Regular Meeting

A special meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Monday, September 24, 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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There was a moment of silence for Merrymount student Ethan Coffey and his father Thomas Coffey, who were killed in an accident over the weekend.

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The Superintendent called the roll and Mr. Bregoli, Mr. McCarthy, and Mayor Koch were absent. Also present were: Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk; Mr. Draicchio, Mrs. Fredrickson, Ms. Hallett, Mrs. Kisielius, Mrs. Morrissey, Mr. Mullaney, Mr. Mulvey, Mrs. Papile, Mrs. Roberts, Ms. Roy, Mr. Keith Segalla; and Mrs. Tracey Christello, representing the Citywide Parents’ Council.

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Open Forum

As no one requested to speak at Open Forum, the School Committee went on with the business at hand.

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Old Business

There was no Approval of Minutes or Superintendent’s Report on the Agenda, so the Vice Chair moved directly to Old Business and noted that the minutes from the January 28, 2012 Special School Committee meeting had been included in the School Committee packets should anyone need to refer to them.

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New Business

Ms. Isola then moved to the New Business section of the Agenda and spoke about the purpose of the meeting: for each Subcommittee chair to look at their current goals and Agenda items, review the status of each one, and set a time frame for achieving those goals. Ms. Isola expressed her appreciation for everyone taking the time to participate in this evening’s meeting, noting that last January’s Special School Committee meeting was very effective in terms of what was accomplished over the rest of the school year.

Mayor Koch arrived at 5:40 pm.

District Improvement Plan Overview

Dr. DeCristofaro then spoke about the District Improvement Plan, the Team Organization structure, and the focus on working in a team and having common goals. Quincy Public Schools is a distributive model of management, with each person in the system having a place in site-based or system-wide teams. The school system is focused on curriculum and instruction, both organizationally and through budget appropriations. Each team reviews the Framework standards, key questions, indicators, and benchmarks to plan their work and then work their plan through goal setting aligned with documentation and other sources of evidence. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has standards and indicators that are aligned with the Quincy Public Schools Standards; the Team Alignment chart illustrates which standard each team works under. The School Committee falls under Standard 1, Leadership, Governance, and Communication. DESE Conditions of School Effectiveness are used by the schools at all levels in developing and assessing their goals. The DESE District Analysis, Review, and Assistance Tool (DART) information will be incorporated into the updated Annual System Profile and Progress Report. Other components of the District Improvement Plan include the Technology Plan, the Professional Development Plan, the Budget Book, and the School and Program Improvement Plans. The District Improvement Timeline shows the cycle for each of the District Improvement Plan’s components for planning, implementing, assessing, and reflection. All of the components are readily available to the public on the Quincy Public Schools website on the QPS Info page; an Overview links to each of the District Improvement Plan’s components and supporting documentation.

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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 and to review the items on the Agenda for each Subcommittee. A draft calendar of proposed meeting dates for the October and November review of Program Improvement and School Improvement Plans was shared for each Subcommittee to consider.

Mr. Bregoli arrived at 6:05 pm.

When the group discussion resumed, each Subcommittee had the opportunity to propose additions and changes to their goals and to set meeting dates. For the School Committee Purpose statement and Goal, all agreed to leave to them as they are currently worded. For the Budget and Finance Subcommittee, their goal and purpose will stay the same, but the meeting calendar will be revised back to quarterly meetings. The meeting dates for this year are: October 22, 2012; January 14, 2013; April 8, 2013; and April 29, 2013, which will be the first meeting for the FY2014 budget. All meetings will be held at 5:00 pm. For the Health, Transportation and Safety, the first two items on the School Committee Agenda are ongoing. The third item is about safety enhancements for the Middle and High School science labs. Mr. Keith Segalla updated the School Committee that the middle schools have had signage and first aid kits installed; for ongoing monitoring and replenishment, the High School Safety Teams will be responsible in their buildings and the possibility of creating these for the Middle Schools is being explored. This item will also be retained on the Agenda to be reviewed at a later date. An additional item was referred to this Subcommittee, Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS), an initiative that will be piloted at the Parker, Lincoln Hancock, and Marshall Elementary Schools with Student Support Services. The next Health, Transportation, and Safety Subcommittee meeting is November 15, 2012 and the Health Services, Student Support Services, Food Services, and Transportation PIPs will be reviewed. For the Policy Subcommittee, all items currently in Subcommittee on the Agenda will be retained. The first meeting will be October 9, 2012 to review the Instructional Technology PIP and set priorities for the fall among the items currently in Subcommittee. There will also be a Policy Subcommittee meeting on October 25, 2012. The Special Education Subcommittee has its first meeting on October 17, 2012; the remaining meeting dates are January 16, 2013; March 27, 2013; and May 15, 2013. The goals for this year were set at the last Subcommittee meeting in May and include facilitating communication about the implementation of the Special Education Program Improvement Plan by further developing the website to include updated information; monitoring and reporting on progress report distribution, IEP implementation, the adoption of the substitute checklist, the rollout of the new parent guide and Special Education Handbook; and updating the Special Education Program Booklet. The Teaching and Learning Subcommittee retained their first goal and updated the second and third goals to be: (2) To be informed and updated on all issues regarding the Massachusetts Frameworks and to work with the district to align and implement curriculum, assessment, and instructional practices while analyzing and determining curriculum needs and their costs by March 2013. (3) To be informed and updated each fall on data indicators that will describe trends and proficiency gaps and work with the district to identify opportunities to improve. In addition to meetings to review the Elementary, Middle, and High School Improvement Plans and the Academic Program Improvement Plans, the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee will hold a meeting on November 26, 2012 to discuss the Annual District Profile and Progress Report and Graduation Requirements; the Policy Subcommittee will also be invited to attend. At a meeting on December 17, 2012, the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee will discuss the new Educator Evaluation System; Kevin Mulvey will be invited to attend, along with the Policy Subcommittee. Beginning in January, the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee will meet on the third Monday of the month, as needed. Mrs. Lebo asked about moving the Graduation Requirements item from the Policy Subcommittee to the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee; this will be discussed at the October 9, 2012 Subcommittee. Dr. DeCristofaro will follow up with Mr. McCarthy about the Facilities and Security Subcommittee Meeting on October 16, 2012 and reviewing the Subcommittee’s goals and items currently on the Agenda.

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There was no Additional Business, Communications, Reports of Subcommittees, or Executive Session.

Adjournment

On a motion by Mrs. Hubley, seconded by Mrs. Mahoney, the Special School Committee Meeting was adjourned at 6:45 pm. The ayes have it.