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Notes provided by: Mary Megson School Committee Meeting December 9, 2003 All SC members were present along with Joanne Gurry, Ron Addelson and Bonnie Bisbiscos. Kay Dononvan was sick and not present. Agenda: Suzanne Owayda announced that all SC meetings will be broadcast live. Goals Presentation for 2004-2005: All the Principals and School Council Members were present for the Goals Presentation. It went on for over 2 hours and the best summary is in the Arlington Advocate. The overall feeling was that full funding is necessary to carry out many of the goals and many will have to be postponed until there are the necessary funds available. The SC Goal was to develop a multi-year budget process that is more participatory, including the perspective of administrators, teachers, students and community members and provide educational opportunities for the community to learn about the school budget. Jeff Thielman thought this year should be pilot for the start of this approach and the SC should attempt to align the goals to the budget now. He feels there is no point in waiting for next year. His amendment was defeated by a vote of 4-3. Jeff, Sue and Marty were in favor and Paul, Joanni, Barbara and Suzanne were opposed. Paul Schlichtman
was recognized for all his work with the Mass. Association of School Committees.
He is now president-elect of the organization Dallin School Update: Ron Addelson reported that Kay Donovan is planning on meeting with the Infrastructure Committee in December to find out what plan of action should be taken on the Dallin rebuild. Committee Votes: Fall '04 -fees would be doubled on rentals Budget Timeline: Jan 11th-Budget workshop 1-4 PM -Proposed budget presented and discussed Jan. 13th. SC meeting- SC Members may present proposals for any budget changes and then it will be sent to the Finance Committee Sue Sheffler said there are important topics that need to be discussed in relation to the budget such as 6 or 7 schools, class size and programs. Subcommittee Reports Budget Dec. 3rd- Met with Alan Tosti about the O'Neil formula. Leslie Meyer discussed that Parks and Recreation could be requested by the School Committee to consider giving the schools an exemption on payment of ice fees, as is the current policy on field permit fees. Community service from the students could be offered to help offset this. Will invite Parks and Recreation to next budget meeting. Plan to meet before Jan. 11th to evaluate budget process. Community Relations- Rob Addelson said that GIS(Geographic Information System) software which the town owns could be used to look at redistricting across town. . Suzannne, Joani and Kay will be developing a flow chart to look at different scenarios and various outcomes in redistricting students. The committee talked with Dave McKenna about lack of crossing guards at certain schools.There have been cuts and placements near immediate school areas was the priority.It was also decided to ask the town to supplement the school budget to pay for the 3 crossing guards near St. Agnes. Curriculum and Instruction- Monitoring the impact of removing pre-requisites at the High School. Early numbers show students doing OK but waiting for feedback from the teachers. Maintaining standards was questioned by some of the SC.They will hope to have some teachers at their next sub committee meeting on Jan. 12th to find out if courses have become less rigorous..The committee would like to involve the students and parents more in the course selection process.They also want to have Guidance at the Ottoson involved a bit more in the course selection. Policy and Procedures- Amended SC subcommittee policy so all SC minutes will be distributed in the packets before the next scheduled SC meeting. Authorized signatures-Suzanne signs payroll and vendor warrants. At the moment there are no individual invoices just totals. Capital Plan Update- The 05-09 Capital Plan has been sent to the Capital Planning Committee.No major projects on the list. SPOT
offers these notes as a service to the community. |
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