Minutes
Quincy, Massachusetts - March 23, 2011
Regular Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Regular Mtg.
A regular meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday,
March 23, 2011 in the City Council Chambers, City Hall. Present were: Mr. Dave
McCarthy, Ms. Barbara Isola, Mrs. Jo-Ann Bragg, Mrs. Elaine Dwyer, Mrs. Emily
Lebo, and Mrs. Anne Mahoney, Vice Chairman
Vice Chairman
Presiding
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The Superintendent called the roll and Mayor Koch was absent. Also present
were: Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Mrs. Tefta Burrelli, Clerk; Messrs.
Mulvey, Mullaney, Draicchio, Murphy and Segalla. Ms. Roberts, Tenaglia,
Hughes and Todd. Ms. Allison Cox, QEA President, and Tracey Christello,
Citywide.
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Reg. Meeting Mins. Approved 3/9/2011
On a motion by Mr. McCarthy, seconded by Mrs. Bragg, the Committee approved
the regular session minutes for March 9, 2011. The ayes have it.
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Student Recognition Kevin Ung
The Committee recognized Kevin Ung, a Quincy High School senior, who
was voted Vocational Technical Outstanding Student of the Year. Kevin is
an Engineering student and in the top 10% of the senior class. He is captain
of the track team, on the Robotics Team, and assists students and teachers
with their computer equipment in school. He will be recognized at the
25th Outstanding Vocational Students Awards Banquet. Kevin will spend
four months in Shanghai doing an Engineering internship.
Supts. Report
The State Advisory (CVTE) will hold its board meeting on April 6 at Quincy
High School. The Third Annual “Credit for Life” Fair will be held on March
31 at the Boston Marriott Quincy. The Principal Induction Ceremony will
be held on March 24 at 4:00 p.m. It will feature our new principals, Nick Ahearn
and Jim Hennessey. The members received a schedule of the Emergency
Procedures Lockdown drills. Parents are notified before a drill occurs so they
know this is a practice drill.
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Open Forum
As no one wished to be heard at the Open Forum, the Committee went on
with the business at hand.
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Student Recognition Meaghan Peterson
Ms. Loretta McTiernan, President of the Quincy Lions Club, received a
Certificate of Appreciation from the School Committee for all the work the
Lions Club does with/for the schools. She introduced Meaghen Peterson,
Quincy High School Senior, who was the winner of the Lions Club local
contest. Meaghen went on to the regionals and she won there also. There
were 47 district clubs that participated. Meaghen read her award winning
speech “If I Were President, the Three Things I Would Work For” to the
Committee. The Committee presented her with a Certificate of Excellence.
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Bldg. Update
The Maintenance Department has been busy responding to many heating calls.
They have replaced two make up tank pumps and re-piped a return line at
Montclair, repaired a steam leak and plugged leaking tubes to the boilers at
Central. They have removed and installed two new 120 gallon domestic hot
water storage tanks at Broad Meadows, installed new blow-down drains at
Merrymount, replaced floor tiles in many areas at North Quincy High School
and have made several moves. Veterans Stadium is now officially open, and
all the plumbing and electrical components are up and running. Maintenance
continues to address daily work orders.
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Gift CTE Automotive Program
On a motion by Mrs. Dwyer, seconded by Ms. Isola, the Committee accepted
the donation of a 2003 Mazda MPV from Quirk Auto Dealership to the
Career and Technical Education Automotive Program. The ayes have it.
Mrs. Dwyer thanked Mr. Dan Quirk who continuously donates to the
CTE programs. The Committee is very grateful to him.
Gift CTE Legal & Protective Services Program
On a motion by Mrs. Dwyer, seconded by Mrs. Lebo, the Committee accepted
a donation of $4,470 in memory of James Zupkofska to the Career and Technical
Education Legal and Protective Services Program. The ayes have it.
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School Choice Withdraws from
On a motion by Mrs. McCarthy, seconded by Mrs. Bragg, the School Committee
accepted the Superintendent’s recommendation to withdraw from the obligation
to enroll non-resident students in the Quincy Public Schools for the 2011-2012
academic year for the following reasons:
Continued projected enrollment conditions at the elementary and
middle schools based on current and projected enrollments, and
Policy of the Quincy School Committee to adhere to class size guidelines.
On a roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously 6-0. Mayor Koch was
absent.
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Quincy High School Mrs. Dwyer reports
The Quincy High Building Committee has been briefed by Gilbane and
Tishman members. The Committee will receive the punch list in a new format
via e-mail. There are not many items left. They are waiting for the
weather to get a little warmer to do repairs outside in the parking lot and
landscaping.
Tishman/Gilbane will come to the April 6 School Committee meeting and
give an update of anything that is still pending. This will be the final wrap up.
Mrs. Dwyer told the members to be prepared to ask any questions regarding
the entire school project.
There were some serious leaks from elbow pipes at Quincy High School.
There are over 200 elbow pipes in the building. Not all of them came from
the same batch. The 12 that leaked are from the same batch. Substantial
testing was done over the February school vacation on the first floor where
the principal’s office is. More focus will be done over the April school
vacation. The next Building Committee meeting is April 1.
Mr. McCarthy will give his list of concerns in the Science and Technology
wing to Mrs. Dwyer.
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Central Middle School
Mrs. Bragg reports
80% Reimbursement rate for new Central
Mrs. Bragg read the following letter from Mayor Koch into the minutes:
Dear Members,
I wish to share with you a wonderful development concerning the Central
Middle School Project.
As our team continues to work toward the March 30, 2011 MSBA Board
Meeting, at which it is our hope and expectation that our Project Scope and
Budget Agreement will be approved, we have been working and re-working
our numbers and other submissions, in concert with staff at the MSBA. We
have been notified that upon consideration of our final income, population
and wealth factor numbers, the MSBA has calculated our final reimburse-
ment rate calculation to be 80%. This is a dramatic increase over the initial
projected rate, and I am delighted to execute the certification form – together
with the superintendent – locking in this rate. This is the maximum reimburse-
ment that a municipality can receive under the MSBA’s regulations – and I
cannot express enough how delighted I am at this outcome.
We should all be grateful for the hard work of the superintendent, the city
solicitor, our Building Committee and the rest of our project team, without
which we could not have achieved this great outcome. I am also very grateful
for the work of Katherine Craven and her staff at MSBA—while they have
been demanding, they have always provided us with the assistance we have
required along the way.
This is a major accomplishment that will result in substantial savings to the
taxpayers of the City of Quincy, all while we continue to work toward con-
structing what will most certainly be one of the premier middle schools in
the Commonwealth. Thank you for your efforts and support to date.
Sincerely,
Thomas P. Koch
Mayor
A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29 at 4:00 p.m. City Hall, second
floor conference room.
Mrs. Bragg asked the if Tishman could give the Central project presentation
at the next School Committee meeting. The Superintendent will check on that.
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CTE PIP tabled
The Career and Technical Education Program Improvement Plan was tabled
by Mrs. Lebo until the next meeting. She has questions on the plan which is
posted on the website but was not distributed before this meeting. She did
not want to ask questions without the members being able to look at the
documents.
CTE PIP to Subcommittee
Mrs. Bragg made a friendly amendment and moved this into the Policy
Subcommittee. Since the CTE Admissions policy is in the subcommittee, it
would be a good time to discuss both of them. She requested that this information be given out to everybody before the meeting.
Mrs. Dwyer asked why it had to go to subcommittee and why it couldn’t be
at a regular meeting. Mrs. Bragg answered that she is asking to discuss it at
subcommittee and then at a full meeting.
Mrs. Lebo suggested that in the future, the PIPs come to them for approval
like the SIPs because the process with the SIPs is so clear and easy to understand.
While going through the PIPs she found the format is not the same--some show
goals, some show benchmarks. She asked that formalizing the presentation
go into the Policy Subcommittee
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Faxon Field
Mrs. Bragg reported that a letter was given to the Committee this evening from
Mr. Jim Timmins, City Solicitor, answering questions that were posed in February
about Faxon Field.
Response from City Solicitor
The soil that has been stockpiled at Faxon Field was taken from the Quincy
High School site. It was placed there by contractors working on the project,
and, therefore has been subject of testing by Wheatstone Engineering. We kept
the soil onsite for re-use, as we are allowed to do so because it is in the category of “Urban Fill.” That is, it is fill (or soil) taken from an urban site, and
is therefore presumed to contain contaminants, but not at a level that is
hazardous to humans. When we excavated around the area of the old
Vocational Technical School and excavated the area that was formerly
Woodward Avenue, we unearthed a substantial amount of urban fill, all of
which was tested by Wheatstone. Any fill that was found to contain contaminants
below regulated level was kept onsite for re-use. Any that contained contaminants
beyond acceptable levels, was shipped off and properly disposed of, all under the
supervision of Wheatstone.
Mrs. Bragg added that the piles at Faxon have been tested, monitored, and
are properly stored at the site. So, the soil that is on Faxon Field is not
contaminated above the regulated level that is out there and apparently the City
has been working with the DEP and the DEP is satisfied that this matter has
been settled.
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Additional Business
Mrs. Lebo requests
Mrs. Lebo brought up the following items under Additional Business:
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She responded to a February 18 news article reporting that “open
enrollment was going to be allowed but capped.” If a student in
the City wants to attend a CTE program, be it at North or Quincy High,
they have the right to do that, and the cap should not hold them up.
They have a legal right to take those courses. Mrs. Lebo asked the
Superintendent to find out what the process is for the students to make
that choice in the eighth or ninth grade because it doesn’t show up
on the course selection sheet.
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The CTE Admissions policy that is posted on the website has not
been approved by the School Committee and the DESE so that policy
should say that it is a DRAFT, and the old policy should still be in
place unless another has been approved.
CORIs to Subcommittee
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What is our policy on hiring substitute teachers, how do they apply,
do they receive a CORI? Mrs. Bragg moved this into the Policy
Subcommittee.
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Mrs. Lebo gave the members a copy of Pathway to Prosperity Project
report. Quincy does a phenomenal job for our students as Kevin and
Meghan have shown. Project Lead the Way is in that report.
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A report from both the City side and Mr. Segalla on the e-mail situation.
Explain the difficulties that some schools experience with e-mails and
the difficulty that we sometimes experience e-mailing in the Quincy
Public Schools.
Mrs. Bragg asked that the “Bragg fund” be on the next Budget Subcommittee
agenda. Mrs. Mahoney will place that on the subcommittee when they do the
quarterly report.
Communications
Under Communications, Mrs. Lebo reported that QPAC is hosting a presentation
of Transitional 101 High School to Adulthood, on April 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Quincy
High School.
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Special Ed Subcommittee Mrs. Lebo reports
The Special Education Subcommittee met on March 16. Mr. Mullvey gave an
overview of the Open Meeting Law. Ms. Todd and her team gave an overview
of the Individual Transitional Plans. The substitute teacher sheet needs more
work and will stay in Subcommittee. First Responder and contact cards will be
combined into one form. Ms. Todd gave a report on how IEPs are implemented.
Ms. Todd has corrected the miscommunication about Progress reports at
Quincy High School. Progress reports will go home with students and it is up to
the parents to ask for it. QPAC has asked for a policy on CORIs. There are
some issues at one of our schools on QPS e-mail. Teachers had asked parents
to use GMAIL because our e-mail was not safe. We think that is a mistake also.
We’re asking for the IT Department at the City side and Mr. Segalla to talk about
what information is going out to the teachers about using e-mails and to make
sure that the information going out from the teachers is not contrary to our policy
about how we communicate to our parents about confidential information. The
next Special Education subcommittee meeting is at May 11 at QHS at 7:00 p.m.
On a motion by Mrs. Lebo, seconded by Mrs. Isola, the Special Education
Subcommittee minutes were approved. The ayes have it.
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Budget & Finance Mrs. Mahoney reports
On March 8, the Budget & Finance Subcommittee reviewed full day Kindergarten.
They went through all of the parameters and in the end took a vote to maintain
full day kindergarten. On a motion by Ms. Isola, seconded by Mrs.Dwyer
the Budget & Finance Subcommittee minutes were approved. The ayes have it.
On March 9, the Budget & Finance Subcommittee met to talk about the Literacy
Program and the budget. They went through the Literacy program and tied it to
different tiers. They received some additional information for tier instructions
by different grades. The Literacy Team went through from start to the finish
and showed how many students we administer to. On a motion by Mrs. Bragg,
seconded by Mr. McCarthy, the Budget & Finance Subcommittee minutes were
approved. The ayes have it.
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Executive Session
On a motion by Mrs. Dwyer, seconded by Mr. McCarthy, the Committee voted
to go into Executive Session at 8:07 p.m. to discuss collective bargaining for the
Clerical Union. On a roll call vote, the motion passed 6-0. Mayor Koch was
absent. They did not return to open session.