Minutes
Quincy, Massachusetts - May 18, 2011
Regular Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Regular Mtg.
A regular meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 in the City Council Chambers, City Hall. Present were: Mr. Dave
McCarthy, Ms. Barbara Isola, Mrs. Emily Lebo, Jo-Ann Bragg, Mrs. Elaine Dwyer,
Mrs. Anne Mahoney, and Mayor Koch, Chairman
Chairman
Presiding
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The Superintendent called the roll and all members were present. Also present
were: Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Mrs. Tefta Burrelli, Clerk; Messrs.
Mulvey, Mullaney, Draicchio, Murphy and Keith Segalla. Ms. Papile, Todd
and Roberts. Ms. Allison Cox, QEA President, Tracey Christello, Citywide and
Donna Niosi, QHS Student Representative.
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Reg. Mins. Approved 4/6/2011
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mr. McCarthy, the Committee approved
the April 6, 2011 regular minutes as amended. There was one change in the minutes.
The ayes have it.
Reg. Mins approved 5/4/2011 Exec. Session Mins. Approved 3/23/2011
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mrs. Lebo, the Committee amended
the May 4, 2011 regular minutes to reflect that Mrs. Dwyer and Mrs. Bragg
abstained from approval of the Executive Session minutes for March 23, 2011.
The ayes have it.
Exec.Session Mins. Approved 5/4/2011
On a motion by Dwyer, seconded by Mrs. Lebo, the Committee approved the
Executive Session minutes for May 4, 2011. On a roll call vote, the motion passed
5-0. MRS. DWYER and MRS. BRAGG ABSTAINED.
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Student Recognition Nat. Hon. Society
This evening, the Committee recognized the National Honor Society graduating
seniors from North Quincy and Quincy High School, the Lions Club International
Essay Contest winner, and the Skills USA student. The students were presented
a Certificate of Recognition by the Committee.
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Open Forum
Ms. Linda Perry asked the School Committee to look into the School Committee
meetings not being shown on Channel 22. They are supposed to be shown at
noontime and 7:00 p.m. School Committee meetings will be replayed. They
haven’t been played since January.
Mrs. Cathy Hogan spoke to a request she had to teach physics and geometry in
a new and different way. The Superintendent will look into this.
Ms. Tracey Christello, Citywide would like the School Committee to: – restore
literacy, restore media, restore technology in the middle schools, reading in the
middle schools, include community service requirement at the high school,
standardizing of math packets and reading lists. Also, the high school foreign
language class sizes are getting larger. There are not enough seats in the lab
programs.
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Bldg. Update
Maintenance has been busy getting Veterans Stadium ready for graduations.
Electricians with Mike Draicchio have been tweaking security systems in the
elementary schools. A bucket truck was used to fix outdoor lighting. Mr.
McCarthy inquired about a leak in the Guidance area at the new high school.
Mr. Murphy said they are putting together a punch list working with Mr.
Santoro and Eugene Caruso.
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QHS Bldg. Committee Mrs. Dwyer reports
The Quincy High School Building Committee met today to review the latest tracking
log for repairs at Quincy High School. They replaced the entire damaged carpet
from the Glycol leak. There will be a Facilities Subcommittee meeting next week
to go review details. There will be a final walk through in third week in July.
Mr. Santoro has requested his staff to report to him anything in the building that
is not working probably.
Mrs. Lebo inquired about the auditorium seating. A mechanism in 12 of the chairs
has failed.
Mr. McCarthy inquired about the gym floor. Kenro has been back out and did a
test patch. The gym flooring was not dry enough when it was installed and painted.
Mr. Santoro, Mr. Cunniff, and Tishman will meet about the quality of that work.
Mr. McCarthy asked that Kevin Segalla be made aware because he has summer
rentals in that gym.
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Central Bldg. Committee Mrs. Bragg reports
Central Building Committee met on May 10 and was attended by Mayor Koch,
Superintendent DeCristofaro, Jen Fay Beers, Anne Mahoney, Joanne Bragg,
Doug Gutro, Mike McFarland and Tacky Chan. The neighbors want communication
as the building goes up. A hot line will be established for the neighbors. Ai3
presented all phases of construction. A traffic study was done and the intersections
can handle the volume of traffic. A meeting with Jack Gillan is scheduled.
No soil needs to be removed. There was discussion about flooding. They discussed
rain gardens and catch basins. Landscaping, the exterior building material will be
high quality and low maintenance materials that will fit into the historical nature
of our City. There were questions regarding paving Old Colony Road, parking
on St Ann’s Road, and the Stadium walls, how the roof is designed to handle snow,
rain, and drifts.
Neighborhood houses need to be protected during demolition. Demolition will
begin in September. The new school should be ready for September 2013.
Tomorrow night at Central there will be a PTO meeting at 7:00 p.m. to do the
presentation again.
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Service Animal Policy 9.7.12 approved
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mr. McCarthy, the Committee
approved the Service Animal Policy 9.7.12. On a roll call vote, the motion
passed unanimously 7-0.
Harassment Policy 1.8 Approved
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Ms. Isola, the Committee approved
the Harassment Policy 1.8. On a roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously
7-0.
Sexual Harassment Policy 1.8.1 Approved
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mr. McCarthy, the Committee
approved the Sexual Harassment Policy 1.8.1 with an amendment that ”this
policy also covers field trips and athletic events.” On a roll call vote, the
motion passed unanimously 7-0.
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mrs. Lebo, the Committee approved
the Policy Subcommittee minutes for May 3, 2011. The ayes have it.
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Substitute Teacher Process Mrs. Robert/Mr. Mulvey Report
Mrs. Colleen Roberts and Mr. Kevin Mulvey reviewed the Substitute Teacher
process. The requirements for a substitute teacher are 60 college credits or
an Associate’s Degree or higher. Every applicant fills out documents taken off
our website. They bring them into the Human Resources Department where
every applicant fills out a CORI form in person. They have to take the state
ethics exam and update their ING Form. They are put on a monthly updated
substitute list, and it is emailed to principals. It lists substitutes who have
certification, a Bachelor’s Degree, 60 credits or more, and level to work. We
have 300 active substitutes, 65 are certified, 20 are retires and 244 have a
Bachelor’s Degree or higher and the remainder have 60 credits or higher. We
are interested in substitutes who have a teaching certificate. Mrs. Roberts
works closely with principals to get a teacher with certification for long-term
substitutes. When they can’t find anyone, the principal and she make a decision
based on a particular substitute who works in that building and works well.
Department chairs, principals or the secretary call the subs. The teachers are
expected to leave lesson plans, schedule of the teacher’s day and the student’s
day. Principals or assistance principals orient the substitute. They check on
the substitutes during the day. We are informed if the substitute doesn’t do
well. Principals know the ones who are looking for a permanent job. This
process has been very successful.
Ms. Isola asked how the substitutes are evaluated. Mrs. Roberts answered
that they are not at this time. Mr. Mulvey said that the principals are the main
source and do the walk-throughs. Principals know and let Administration know
if the substitute is not working out well. They will then be removed from the
list. The same is true for long-term substitutes. There is no interview process.
Mrs. Lebo was concerned that they are hired without an interview and thought
that the high school principals are too busy to walk into a classroom to check
on a substitute. Mrs. Lebo asked that we survey the substitutes to see if they
have everything they need when they go into a classroom.
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CTE Advisory Board
The Center for Technical Education Advisory Board presented their Advisory
Report to the School Committee. Mr. Keith Segalla and Ms. Gina Scanlon introduced Mr. Zachary Egan, Chairman. Mr. Egan is an engineer at Gillette and
a graduate of North Quincy High School 2002. A graduate of UMass Lowell
with a degree in Engineering, he now works at Gillett and is a mentor to the
QPS Robotics team. Mr. Egan highlighted the CTE Advisory Board Report.
They have an active and involved Advisory Committee. This group meets
formally with teachers and administrators to determine new and emerging technologies and employment trends. They have attempted to expand opportunities
for industry partners to share their expertise and knowledge, to promote curriculum
updates, program direction, improvements, feedback on successful employment.
They provide personal resources, sharing industry trends and emerging needs.
They provide paid and unpaid job shadowing and internships in employment
opportunities. They also provide donated equipment and instructional materials
and opportunities for graduating students.
The Advisory Committee met in the spring of 2010 to establish priorities and
again in October 2010. They presented the Board’s goals. The members
reviewed the list of program needs for 2010-2011 and the 2011-2012 requests
from the Perkins Grant. Mr. Segalla said he received $126,000 for this year
from the grant. We prioritize first, safety is the main concern. The School
Committee said if there are any critical needs, he should make the Committee
aware.
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Saville Ave Houses in Subcommittee
Mrs. Dwyer met with the Superintendent and Mr. Cunniff. The Superintendent
said he sees no educational use for the two houses on Saville Ave. Mrs. Dwyer
put them into Subcommittee.
Coddington Hall in Subcommittee
Coddington Hall will be used for school administration. Mrs. Dwyer put that
into the Facilities Subcommittee. City Hall has hired an architect to design the
office space. There is a Capital Improvement Plan budget of $1.5 million to
renovate this building. It should be ready within two years.
Old QHS Bldg.
With regard to the old Quincy High School, Mr. Cunniff said he is working with
Symmes Mani & McKee, the architects of the new Quincy High School. They
will do the final design of that lot with regard to landscaping, drainage, additional
offsite parking, green space. SMMA will present several options and the City
will pick one of those. There is some overlap from past work with the high school.
Part of the old Quincy High School that was supposed to be demolished is still
standing. There is a proposal of $175,000 for SMMA and the City has budgeted
around $200,000 for testing services.
Mr. Cunniff is optimistic that the old Quincy High school will be down before
school starts, at least the abatement work should be finished by then. If not,
during Christmas recess. Mr. Cunniff will report back to the full School
Committee and keep the Quincy High School Building Committee involved.
The Committee asked where the funding is coming from. Mr. Cunniff said
this project will cost around $7 million. This includes all the architectural
services, demolishing and siting services. There are some open purchase orders
available from the new Quincy High School. There is contingency money
which will be used to offset this amount. On the City side, there is about
$3.5 million available in contingency money. He expects around $200,000
from Gilbane. The Mayor said the School Committee would be voting on
the design for that area and Mr. Santoro would be involved.
Coddington Hall
The estimated minimum cost for renovations to Coddington Hall would be
$1.5 million. With regard to the NAGE lease, Mr. Timmins said it has
expired. The Superintendent and he will meet with NAGE and tell them
how long the school department will stay at NAGE.
Mr. Cunniff said Gilbane is still under contract. Money has been held over
because the new Quincy High School is not closed out yet. After we finalize
the punch list, do the walk through and things are corrected, we will close
out, probably in September.
Mrs. Mahoney asked if they didn’t spend all the money how much of
that is left. Mr. Cunniff said there are 11 different purchase orders that
have a dollar value on them that were not used. It totaled more than
proposed extra services. SMMA proposed $175,000 for extra services,
however, there is money that was already slated for SSMA that we did
not use for other design services. That money is still available.
Mrs. Mahoney said she had wished they received a packet of information.
She understood that we have $3.5 million left over to do this project, but
it is estimated it’s going to cost $7 million. Where will the rest of the
money come from? Mr. Cunniff said they are not looking at this as a
separate project because we have to close off the hole in the back of the
building. In terms of design services he is very cautious in the way he
spends the money. He doesn’t get involved where the money is generated
from.
Mr. Cunniff said from verbal conversations he has had, half of that $7 million
will get us to removing the building and capping the site.
Mrs. Mahoney asked if we have approval to take the school down? Mr. Timmins
said he is dealing with the Mass Historic Society and Army Corps. The
Committee asked to be kept posted.
Mr. Timmins said he will email copies of the NAGE lease payment terms to
the Committee.
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QHS to MO Approved
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mrs. Dwyer, the Committee approved
Quincy High School trip to The Skills USA National Conference in Kansas City,
MO from June 18 to June 15, 2011. The ayes have it.
NQHS to Spain
Approved
On a motion by Mrs. Lebo, seconded by Ms. Isola, the Committee approved
North Quincy High School trip to Spain from April 19, 2012 to April 26, 2012.
The ayes have it.
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Additional Business
Ms. Kristen Powers will be present at the June 15 School Committee meeting.
On June 10, Columbia Pictures will take a portion of the Wollaston parking
lot from 11:00 a.m. to midnight. They will park four or five vans. The
PTO is on board. The Superintendent will report back to the Committee.
Mr. Timmins will draw up a contract and all funds will go directly to the
Wollaston School.
Dave McCarthy asked for a presentation from the Parks Department. He is
looking for a schedule of mowing, principals’ comments. The Superintendent
asked the Committee to send him questions.
Mr. McCarthy asked that the front of the old Quincy High School be cleaned
and the grass mowed. He asked that Mr. Segalla have his custodians pick up
the trash around the old high school and in the buses.
Mr. McCarthy asked about the elevator at Quincy High School. The Superintendent
answered that there were four call backs since March 10 – all under warranty.
With regard to the movie money, the Mayor said $10,000 will be used for the
fields for the Stadium. The other would go to school Athletic budget.
Mrs. Bragg asked that the CTE Admission policy be on the next agenda.
Mrs. Lebo congratulated Ms. JoAnn Morrissey, Food Services Director, for
getting a grant.
Mrs. Mahoney asked the Superintendent to check into Channel 22. She would
like to see a schedule.
Mrs. Mahoney again asked the Mayor consider using Quincy people when
he puts in the new roofing for the schools. The Mayor said there is an ordinance
he has to follow.
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Mrs. Dwyer removed Central Middle School, Coddington Hall, add (May 18 $1.5
appropriation) and future use of houses on Saville Ave. on the Facilities
Subcommittee. There will be a School Facilities Subcommittee meeting on
June 8, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. to discuss all the outstanding School Improvement
Plan work orders and the timeline for summer work.
Policy Subcommittee
Mrs. Bragg removed Middle School Interim Letters, Harassment Policy,
CORIs, Internet/Technology Policy re Social Networks moved into negotiations.
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Gift – US Flags
On a motion by Mrs. Bragg, seconded by Mr. McCarthy, the Committee
accepted 4,800 flags donated by Uncle Sam Rounsevile and Ms. Jean Kenney,
estimated cost $1,200.00. The ayes have it.
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Student Recognition Jr. ROTC
Congratulations went to the Junior ROTC at North Quincy High School for
earning the Distinguished Unit Award with Merit for academic year 2010-2011.
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Budget Subcommittee Mrs. Mahoney reports
The Budget and Finance Committee will meet on Thursday, May 26 at 4:30 p.m.
There is an increase in staff to accommodate ARRA positions. Five Special
Education positions in the ARRA funding and ten in Title 1 ARRA funding.
In order to get them into our budget, specialists were put into regular Title 1
and classroom teachers were taken out of Title 1 and put into our budget.
The net effect is there will be 15 new positions in the Quincy Public Schools
but not new to our school system. We had to absorb 15 teachers. There was a
reduction in longevity to reflect decrease retirements. These funds were shifted
to address new positions. We expect 14 retirements.
The ROTC program is now housed in North Quincy High School only. The
money from the Air Force for the instructor’s salary goes directly to the City.
The superintendent is working with the Air Force, and depending on the numbers;
we may go back to two instructors. There are only five or six ROTC students at
Quincy High School. The staff members are split between Quincy High and
North Quincy. Next year, any student that wants ROTC will be able to attend
North Quincy High School.
Coor. of Custodians moved to Dept. Head Line
Mrs. Lebo made a motion, seconded by Mrs. Bragg, to move the Head of
Custodians out of the Custodial line into the Coordinators and Department
Head section. On a roll call vote, the motion passed 4-0.
There is an increase in funding of $100,000 in the Textbook line to begin
implementation of new common core requirements. Within two years, we
will need new math books for the new Math Curriculum Frameworks.
There was an increase in funding to upgrade system software and classroom
computers.
The Bernazzani Elementary School is the only school that uses oil. All our
other school buildings are on gas. Mr. Mullaney increased this line to reflect
anticipated increase in energy costs.
There is an increase in funding for a planned upgrade of the bus fleet. Mr.
Mullaney has a plan in place to purchase new vehicles. We have 13 large buses.
Mr. Mullaney would like to purchase six new mini-buses, four large buses,
three vans, one of which will be for the handicapped. We would be looking
at one handicap van for a total cost of $735,000 for new buses over a three
year plan. While our buses are safe it is getting harder to maintain them.
Mrs. Lebo stated that we use seven buses to transport students and in 2000 we
purchased six large buses for Athletics. She would like people to know that
the Athletic Department is being subsidized a lot greater than it apparently
is as well as the bus drivers. We are using six buses for athletics, plus bus
drivers.
Regular Schools & Athletics $ 70,738,425
Expenses:
Regular Schools 18,594,535
Additional Equipment 108,500
Pensions 33,441
Total Budget $ 89,474,901
Credits
Circuit Breaker (1,938,000)
Educational Job Grant (1,298,455)
Total Appropriation $ 86,238,446
Mrs. Bragg asked that we take a look at the budget to find some money for
media. Reading and technology was cut in the middle schools last year.
A breakdown of overtime for the bus line $60,000. Mrs. Bragg asked to
relook at the MASC dues –provide a cost figure for the Committee. Mrs.
Lebo stressed the importance of having a Director of Curriculum. While
she applauds Ms. Roberts for the work she does, we are a school system with
over 9,000 students and we will be addressing the new assessments in the
next five years. There will be changes across the board in curriculum. At
the next meeting, the members will be looking at the movie money.
On a motion by Mrs. Mahoney, seconded by Mrs. Bragg, the Committee
approved the Budget and Finance Subcommittee minutes. The ayes have it.
Mrs. Mahoney inquired about the City Council meeting who identified $2.5
million for the City side. They said that the offsets would come from the
unemployment compensation budget that showed a surplus of almost $2million
Her concern was that the school department is asking for the reconciliation
money, from the 2011 budget. We anticipated an unemployment transfer
that is separate from the appropriation applied to our schools last year. She
was looking for clarification. Mayor Koch answered that everything is in
the budget the School Department has received for FY2012.
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Sp.Ed.Subcommittee Mrs. Lebo reports
The Special Education Subcommittee met on May 11, 2011. Mr. Mulvey
went through the CORI process and its history. Everyone that works in the
schools -- volunteers, chaperones, including bus drivers, are CORIed. Mr.
Mulvey explained the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
QPAC has a new Executive Board. The dates for next year were established.
They are October 26, February 1, 2012, March 28, 2012 and May 23, 2012.
There was a short discussion about program movement and if students in
substantially separate programs make too many school site changes. Ms.
Todd reported that the way CARES is structured was most beneficial to students
and that there is no space at Squantum. On a motion by Mrs Lebo, seconded
by Mrs. Bragg, the Committee accepted the Special Education Subcommittee
minutes. The ayes have it.
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Retirements
The Committee noted the following retirement:
Teacher Margaret Walker
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Executive Session
On a motion by Mr. McCarthy, seconded by Ms. Isola, the Committee went
into Executive Session at 10:42 p.m. for Collective Bargaining and Litigation
Issues with the QEA. On a roll call vote, the motion passed 5-0. MRS. BRAGG
and MRS. DWYER ABSTAINED. The Committee did not return to Open Session.