THE ARLINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006
Present: Jeff Thielman, Chair Susan Lovelace
Sue Sheffler, Vice Chair Paul Schlichtman
Suzanne Owayda, Secretary Martin Thrope
Sean Garballey
Superintendent: Nate Levenson
Asst. Supt. Kevin Hutchinson
Sp. Ed. Director: Barbara Cataldo
Student Rep EJ Harris
Call to order:
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
¨ Arlington High School students, Jean Dao, Cecil Avila, and Emily requested that the physical education requirement for the class of 2008-2009 be amended to a two-year requirement instead of the current four-year requirement.
¨ Barbara Goodman, and Susan Stewart of Stand for Children announced that Stand for Children is hosting a state wide School Funding Rally to advocate for increased state aid to all local public schools. The rally will take place at the State House on Wednesday, April 26th; buses will be leaving from assigned spots in Arlington and other communities.
Consent Agenda All items listed with an asterisk (*) are considered to be
routine and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the Committee so requests, in which event the item will be considered in its normal sequence.
¨ 2nd reading of proposed amendment to policy JCA (limiting open enrollment in schools that are beyond capacity and lowering of maximum class size for open enrollment classrooms).
¨ 2nd reading of proposed amendment to policy JJDA (requiring bond to the town treasurer for student activities accounts)
¨ 2nd reading of proposed amendment to policy KE (chapter reference to Unit A & AAA contracts for public complaints).
¨ 2nd reading of proposed amendment to policy KEC-R (adding cross reference to Materials
Selection Policy)
¨ 2nd reading of proposed amendment of policy KF (Contract Ref: Unit A & AAA)
¨ Approval of the regular meeting minutes of: February 14 & 28, 2006
¨ Approval of warrant # 06127 in the amount of $620,215.73
¨ Approval of field trip
On a motion by Mr. Thrope seconded by Ms. Owayda it was
Voted to approve the consent agenda as presented.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
¨ Supt. Levenson announced Deb D’Amico as the next Hardy School principal
¨ CFO search – is nearly complete, Nate hopes to bring a candidate and contract for approval at the next meeting
¨ A facilitator has been appointed, met with the executive committee and has mapped out the first few steps in the action plan.
¨ Building reimbursement – a former SBAB auditor has been hired to put together all required reports for submission to the state.
¨ ELL – A review of the new program indicates that 95% of the plan has been implemented. A full presentation to the school committee will be scheduled.
REVIEW AND VOTE ON PROPOSED FY ’07 BUDGET
Supt. Levenson presented his amendments to the budget proposed on March 14th. Recommended changes include the restoration of the METCO director to full time, splitting the K-12 director of health, wellness and counseling into two positions: a K-12 director of counseling and coordinator of at risk services and a lead teacher of health, physical education and FACS, increasing the traffic supervisors time in the afternoon to 30 minutes and changing the leadership in the ACE program. Supt. Levenson explained that to offset the changes he would use $15,000 from the utilities budget, $15,000 from grant reserves and $23,000 from various salary lines.
Committee members discussed the budget and amendments. Mr. Thielman noted that the budget reflects the motions passed by the School Committee directing the Superintendent on how to build the budget; it is pro-child and pro-teacher and urges approval by the committee.
On a motion by Ms. Lovelace seconded by Ms. Owayda it was
Voted to adopt the amendments to the budget as presented by Superintendent Levenson. Unanimous vote
Mr. Thrope offered a substitute motion seconded by Mr. Garballey
Moved that the superintendent return to the school committee at the next meeting with a transition budget proposal with a more collaborative structure for 2006-2007. Motion defeated (Mr. Thrope and Garballey with yes votes; student rep also noted his support of the motion)
On a motion by Ms. Lovelace seconded by Ms. Sheffler it was
Voted that the Arlington School Committee adopts the FY2007 Arlington Public School budget in the amount of $35,319,943 as amended. Roll Call: 5-2 motion carries (Ms. Lovelace, Owayda, Sheffler and Mr. Thielman voting yes, Mr. Garballey and Mr. Thrope with no votes, student rep was not in favor of the vote).
POLICIES & PROCEDURES REPORT
¨ 2nd reading of proposed amendment to policy BCG (changing review from three years to two years)
On a motion by Mr. Thrope seconded by Mr. Garballey it was
Moved to amend policy BCG Policy Revision and Review from a current 3year review cycle to 1 two year cycle.
Mr. Schlichtman stated that the policy manual is up to date, aligned, and on line. He believes that review of the manual requires a slower and more thoughtful approach and urged defeat of the motion. Ms. Sheffler agreed with Mr. Schlichtman pointing out that the School Committee must focus on fine tuning best practices, monitoring the budget and revenue seeking.
Vote on the motion: 4-3 defeated (yes votes by Mr. Thrope, Mr. Garballey, and Mr. Thielman)
VOTE TO SCHEDULE ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
Mr. Thielman announced that the committee must decide and vote on when to hold the organizational meeting; it has been historically held at 7:00 before the first meeting in April. Intentions for office are Ms. Sheffler, Ms. Lovelace, and Mr. Garballey, both Mr. Schlichtman and Mr. Thrope expressed desire to serve. Both were not campaigning for a position but did not want to foreclose options.
On a motion by Ms. Owayda seconded by Ms. Lovelace it was unanimously:
Voted to hold the school committee organizational meeting on Tuesday, April 11th at 7:00 pm
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Both Ms. Owayda and Mr. Thorpe commended the performing arts department on their recent outstanding music concerts.
NEW BUSINESS
On a motion by Ms. Owayda seconded by Ms. Lovelace for discussion purposes it was
Moved-Whereas the current graduation requirements represent an undue burden on the students of the high school , seeking an academic workload, and whereas these students have petitioned this Committee in good faith for reasonable measures to remove this burden, it is moved that the current graduation requirements for the Class of 2008 and beyond be amended so the physical education be two year requirement in accordance with relevant state regulations.
After discussion on a motion by Mr. Thrope seconded by Ms. Lovelace it was
Voted to refer the motion to the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment subcommittee with a report back to the full committee by the first meeting in May. Unanimous vote
EJ Harris announced that the musical “Godspell” would be playing on April 7th and 8th at Arlington High School.
On a motion by Ms. Lovelace seconded by Ms. Owayda it was
Voted to adjourn @ 9:50 pm
Submitted by
Karen Tassone
Committee Secretary
| 
