Minutes
Quincy, Massachusetts - September 18, 2013
Special Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Special Meeting
A special meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday,
September 18, 2013 in the Gillooly Room of the NAGE building at 5:00 pm.
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 the victims of this week’s tragedy in the
Washington Navy Yard and also for Mrs. Cindy Wilson, a Quincy Public Schools
teacher at several elementary schools
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The Superintendent called the roll and Mrs. Lebo and Mr. McCarthy were absent.
Also present were: Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk;
Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Clancy, Mrs. Cunningham, Mr. Draicchio, Mrs. Fredrickson,
Ms. Garofalo, Ms. Hallett, Mr. Kelly, Mrs. Kisielius, Mrs. Lally, Mr. Mullaney,
Deputy Superintendent Mulvey, Mrs. Papile, Mrs. Perkins, Ms. Roy, and
Mr. Keith Segalla.
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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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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.
Dr. DeCristofaro introduced some staff members with new positions in the Quincy
Public Schools: Cindie Lally, Payroll Manager and Kathryn Clancy, Assistant to the
Business Manager. He also introduced the Special Education Team Administrators:
Catherine Carey, Donna Cunningham, and Richard Kelly.
Mrs. Lebo arrived at 5:05 pm.
Ms. Isola then reviewed the purpose of the meeting: for each Subcommittee chair
to review and revise their current goals and Agenda items. Ms. Isola noted that last
year, this proved to have been an effective way to start the school year and allowed
the Committee to accomplish a significant amount over the rest of the school year.
District Improvement 2013-2014
Dr. DeCristofaro then spoke about the Superintendent’s Annual Plan that will be
presented at the September 25, 2013 School Committee Meeting. He reviewed Plan
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. Other components of the District Improvement Plan include
the Curriculum Plan, the Technology Plan, the Professional Development Plan,
the Budget Book, the District Profile, and the School and Program Improvement Plans.
The Educator Evaluation process was added this year as a ninth component. 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.
The Superintendent’s Annual Plan presents seven goals for School Committee to
choose from and this will be finalized at the September 25 meeting.
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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.
After meeting in Subcommittee groups, the School Committee reconvened at 5:40 to
share their discussions.
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 Budget
and Finance Subcommittee, their goal and purpose will remain as presented. For the
Facilities and Security Subcommittee, Mayor Koch reviewed the progress of the
Security upgrades with Mr. Draicchio. The items in Facilities and Security will be
reviewed and prioritized at the first Subcommittee of the year. For the Health,
Transportation and Safety, the first two items on the School Committee Agenda will
be retained. A third goal will be added: Increasing communication with parents on
nutritional guidelines and standards of our new Wellness Policy.
For the Policy Subcommittee, all items currently in Subcommittee on the Agenda will
be retained. Mr. Bregoli noted that the item related to CPR training might be
something to work with the new High School Health Interventionists moving
forward. For the High School Community Service pilot, the Community Service
Coordinators will be invited to the first Policy Subcommittee meeting to discuss
student completion of hours during the summer and increased roles for the Deans and
Class Advisors. At the end of the year, Mr. Bregoli would like to assess adding
Grade 10 to the pilot. The Math Graduation Requirement discussion is waiting on
information from the state on whether this will become a mandate. Facility
dedications will be discussed at the first Subcommittee meeting and at subsequent
meetings, there will be discussions about extracurricular eligibility and advertising/
sponsorship. Mrs. Mahoney will share her research on how other cities and towns
structure this. Mr. Bregoli made a motion to add the Residency Policy to the items in
Subcommittee for review. On the motion, he noted that he would like to see a more
detailed policy that outlines residency verification procedures. Mrs. Lebo seconded
the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.
The Special Education Subcommittee is unique in its close collaboration with parents
on agenda items for the four Subcommittee meetings. The goal for this year is to
facilitate communication about the implementation of the Special Education Program
Improvement Plan by monitoring and reporting on compliance with Special
Education regulations and supporting initiatives to increase communication and
professional development for parents and teachers. There are also proposed main
topics for each of the four meetings: (1) presentation of the Program Improvement
Plan, (2) Evaluations and the IEP Process, (3) Highlighting Special Programs; and (4)
Social and Academic Success for Students with Disabilities. In addition, the
Subcommittee will work with QPAC to increase parent participation at meetings,
including posting videos of presentations on QPS’s SchoolTube site.
The Teaching and Learning Subcommittee made wording changes to Goal 1, adding a
step to review the District Profile in Winter 2013 and amending the first step to
include review of a Library Program Improvement Plan. For Goal 2, “and
assessment” was added after “curriculum” and the third goal was changed: To be
informed and updated on all issues regarding the implementation of the
Massachusetts Educator Evaluation process and its effectiveness. Action steps will
be added to this goal as the year progresses.
A draft calendar of proposed meeting dates for the October and November review of
Program Improvement and School Improvement Plans was shared and changes
proposed. A revised calendar will be shared.
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There was no Additional Business, Communications, Reports of Subcommittees, or
Executive Session.
Adjournment
On a motion by Mayor Koch, seconded by Mrs. Hubley, the Special School
Committee Meeting was adjourned at 6:00 pm. The ayes have it.