Minutes
Quincy, Massachusetts – March 20, 2019
Regular Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Regular Meeting
A regular meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday,
March 20, 2019 at the Coddington Building at 6:30 p.m. Superintendent
DeCristofaro called the roll and present were School Committee Chair Mayor
Thomas Koch, Mr. Anthony Andronico, Mr. Paul Bregoli, Mr. James DeAmicis,
Mr. Douglas Gutro, Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, and Mrs. Emily Lebo, Vice-Chair.
Vice-Chair Presiding
Also present were: Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk; Ms. Lori Broughton, Ms. Marianne Collins, Mr. Michael Draicchio, Ms. Sara Dufour, Ms. Sarah Ginn, Dr. Beth Hallett, Mr. Edward Holmes, Ms. Rebecca McInnis, Mr. James Mullaney, Deputy Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Erin Perkins, Ms. Madeline Roy, Mr. Keith Segalla, Mr. Edward Smith, Mr. Lawrence Taglieri, Ms. Joan Walsh; Quincy Education Association President Allison Cox; and Citywide Parent Council Co-President Courtney Perdios.
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There was a moment of silence for the men and women serving overseas.
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Regular Meeting Minutes Approved 3.6.2019
Mr. Gutro made a motion, seconded by Mr. Bregoli to approve the
Regular Meeting minutes for March 6, 2019 as presented. On a voice vote, the ayes have it.
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Open Forum
As there was no one to speak at Open Forum, School Committee moved on to the next item on the agenda.
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Superintendent's Report
Dr. DeCristofaro opened the Superintendent’s Report with recognition of the middle school students who participated in the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Eastern Junior District Chorus & Band: Abigail Coughlin, Atlantic Middle School; Tess Louzan, Broad Meadows Middle School; Grace Cunniff, Mary Doherty, Vivian Fu, Devereaux Fuller, Matthew Maderos, Yu Fan Mei, Christiana Nguyen, Maia Popa, all from Central Middle School.
On March 2, Quincy High School student Stephen Hallahan performed as part of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Senior All-State Chorus.
Inspire Quincy featured Middle School STEM Fairs at Central, Broad Meadows, Sterling, and Atlantic; the Massachusetts Music Educators Junior District Chorus & Band students; and the Saturday STEM Academy for elementary and middle school students.
Upcoming Arts Performances, include the High School Spring Concerts on April 4 at North Quincy High School and April 9 at Quincy High School; High School Musical at Broad Meadows Middle School on March 20 and 21; Fiddler on the Roof at Quincy High School on March 22-24; and Mama Mia at North Quincy High School on May 3-5.
Dr. DeCristofaro recognized NQHS graduate Anthony Greene, who is a student athlete at Northeastern University and will be playing in the NCAA tournament game against Kansas on March 21.
A South~West Building Committee Meeting and tour of the new building was held on Thursday, March 14. Transition planning is underway with the Sterling Middle School staff, details will be shared in the weeks to come prior to the June 3 opening day for staff and students.
Upcoming events include the Credit for Life Fair on March 21 at the Tirrell Room, the Quincy Public Schools Special Olympics event on March 22, and the School~Community Partnership Recognition Breakfast on March 28. The Spring Health Symposium will be April 3, Wellness Teams from all schools will meet to collaborate about healthy Social Media interactions.
At the upcoming Chronic Absenteeism & Lowest Performing Student Symposium, elementary and middle school Principals and Student Support staff will be meeting to share best practices around educating and motivating students and families about the importance of consistent attendance on successful achievement of academic goals.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has a new focus on sharing best practices and Quincy Public Schools is being recognized for the graduation rate and low dropout rate. Mrs. Lebo noted that this is a positive reinforcement of all of our efforts to support students and families.
The Saturday STEM Academy will continue through March, over 300 students from Grades 3-8 at all school sites are attending.
Dr. DeCristofaro concluded the Superintendent’s Report by announcing a Parent Academy for Career & Technical Education on Thursday, April 4
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Old Business
There was no Old Business on the Agenda.
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New Business
CVTE Program Update
Executive Director of Career Vocational Technical Education Keith Segalla and Quincy High School introduced CVTE students Kari Bollinger (NQHS Early Education & Childcare); QHS SkillsUSA District Medalists Ethan Graney (Silver Medal in Computer Programming and Chase Reardon (Gold Medal in Technical Computer Applications); and Outstanding Career Vocation Technical Education Student of the Year Maggie Zheng, Health Care Technology major.
The upcoming Parent Academy will allow Grade 8 and 9 parents to meet members of the Arts & Communications faculty, current students, and industry contacts. Other events include Thursday, April 4, the Innovative Engineers Presentations will be held at Quincy High School; Women in the Trades Summit on Thursday, April 2 with 13 representatives from local unions; the QHS Fashion Show on Thursday, May 9, and the CVTE Program Advisory Team Meeting, Thursday, May 16.
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New Business
School Nutrition
Program Update
Quincy School Nutrition Director Sara Dufour and Assistant Director Sarah Ginn presented a School Nutrition program update. Last spring, a North Quincy High School Graphic Design program student designed a new logo now used on aprons and caps for staff. The daily menus are posted on the interactive menu app NutriSlice, which has nutritional information. Under the National School Lunch Program regulations, meals required to be made up of five components: grain, meat, milk, fruit, vegetables (5 categories). Salad bars at both high schools are up and running, with a huge increase in sales over the pre-packaged salads previously available. A Terraponic garden to grow lettuce and herbs is on display at NQHS.
The Farm to School grant has funded the purchase of 7 industrial-sized blenders (75 servings at once), salad bar equipment for North Quincy High School, and two “Fresh Green Wandering Machine” portable salad bars which traveled to all elementary schools plus the Della Chiesa Early Childhood Center in Spring and Fall 2018. Local Harvest days were held at Point Webster (May 2018) and Atlantic Middle School (February 2019), serving lunches made from kale, carrots, and garlic from QPS school gardens.
An initiative for this school year is to introduce more made from scratch food options for the middle and high school cafeterias. Greek turkey burger, parfaits, ramen noodle bars at the high schools, desserts using chickpeas instead of butter are all being tested out. Try a New Vegetable Day will be held at elementary schools this spring for a full week. Next year, new menu items will include grain bowl bars at the high schools, dessert hummus, and avocado “chocolate” mousse. Athlete nutrition will also be a focus for next school year.
New equipment recently purchased included a walk-in freezer at North Quincy High School, refrigerator at Snug Harbor (replacement), and replacement computers for Beechwood Knoll and Central. Grant opportunities pending would replace the oven at North Quincy High School and summer food support for equipment and supplies. A salad bar will be installed at Snug Harbor later this spring. Four LEAP program students from NQHS are part of the School Nutrition staff, training for positions, with the first student recently hired.
Mr. Gutro thanked the presenters, asked about expanding the culinary options for elementary school students. Ms. Dufour said that the space and equipment limitations at the elementary school present some obstacles as the food is prepared offsite and heated up at the schools.
Mr. Gutro asked about the upgrading serving materials to compostable materials. To replace trays, bowls, straws, would be addition $25,000.00 annually. Mrs. Hubley asked for the sustainability information to be shared with School Committee.
Mr. Andronico asked about purchase numbers for the traveling salad bars. Ms. Dufour will follow up.
Mrs. Lebo thanked the presenters, Quincy Public Schools has really come a long way with the food options available to the students. Mrs. Lebo said that students have raised the importance of using sustainable serving materials and noted that the City will be looking at composting pilots, so School Nutrition will be part of this initiative.
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New Business
Digital Learning Week
Curriculum Team Administrator Edward Smith reviewed the Quincy Public Schools observance of Digital Learning Week, reinforcing the use of technology as a teaching and learning tool, not a learning outcome. At the elementary schools, students explored the Typing Agent program, posted completed work on the Seesaw app for teacher review, enhanced a geography lesson through Google Earth, experienced coding with a codeable robot, practiced MCAS question and navigation on Chromebooks, collaborated on projects through GoogleDocs, and worked on an Architectural CAD program to design tiny houses. At the middle school level, students supported Math skills through Khan Academy, explored STEM topics on Everfi Future Goals, interacted on a daily basis with the Collections ELA program, researched online from trusted database sources, identified classical music sound clips, and created algorithms for probability to outwit a computer game. At the high school level, digital learning is integrated into all curriculum and career and technical education classes. In addition, college and career planning for all students is done on the Naviance system.
Mr. Smith summarized that the thoughtful integration of technology is meant to enhance learning and allows teachers to have the ability to spend more time helping students, increasing collaboration and communication.
Mr. Gutro would like to be able to demonstrate the effect of the Digital Literacy staff on increased usage in the elementary schools. Mr. Gutro said that this is the kind of data that will allow us to track student performance and achievement.
Mrs. Hubley said that each professional development or continuing education opportunity will allow teachers to tweak their lessons.
Mrs. Lebo would like to capture whether teachers feel that they can be more effective within the classroom with the use of technology.
Mayor Koch left the meeting at 8:15 pm.
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Additional Business
There was no Additional Business.
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Communications
Upcoming meetings include a School Committee Meeting on April 10, 2019, at 6:30 pm at the Coddington Building, a joint Teaching & Learning/Special Education Subcommittee meeting on March 27, 2019, followed by a Policy Subcommittee meeting.
Mr. Andronico made a motion to explore the eliminatation of Styrofoam products from School Nutrition service in the Athletics & Wellness Subcommittee. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gutro and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.
Dr. DeCristofaro will be away March 21-26, 2019 and Deputy Superintendent Kevin Mulvey will be available for any questions or concerns.
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Reports of
Subcommittees
All School Committee and Subcommittee meeting minutes are posted online at www.quincypublicschools.com/schoolcomm/2018-2019.
Teaching & Learning
Subcommittee
Mrs. Lebo reviewed the Teaching & Learning Subcommittee meeting held on February 27, 2019. There were presentations on the NWEA MAP Assessment for Science, an update on Project Lead the Way and Massachusetts Capital Skills Grant funding, and a review of the Advanced Placement Program for Grade 5 students.
Athletics & Wellness
Subcommittee
Mr. Gutro reviewed the Athletics & Wellness Subcommittee meeting held on March 13, 2019, where a review of Health & Wellness Initiatives, Professional Development opportunities, and a review of Winter Athletics and Middle School Athletics and a preview of Spring Athletics was presented.
Facilities, Security &
Transportation
Subcommittee
Mr. Gutro reviewed the Facilities, Security, & Transportation Subcommittee meeting held on March 13, 2019, where Dr. DeCristofaro reviewed the status of MSBA Statement of Interest filings, the construction of the new South~West Middle School, the new Emergency Call Buttons and pending funding for security camera upgrades and repairs.
As there were no corrections, the minutes of the February 27, 2019 Teaching & Learning, March 13, 2019 Athletics & Wellness and Facilities, Security & Transportation meeting minutes were approved as presented.
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Executive Session
There was no Executive Session.
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Adjournment
Mrs. Hubley made a motion to adjourn for the evening at 8:30 p.m.