Minutes
Quincy, Massachusetts - January 28, 2012
Special Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Special Meeting
A special meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Saturday,
January 28, 2012 in the Gillooly Room of the NAGE building. 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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The Superintendent called the roll and Mr. McCarthy was absent. Also present were:
Dr. Richard DeCristofaro, Secretary; Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk; Messrs.
Draicchio, Mullaney, Mulvey, Murphy, Keith Segalla; Mrs. Papile; Ms. Todd;
Mrs. Tracey Christello, representing the Citywide Parents’ Council, and Ms. Linda Perry,
representing the Quincy Parent Advisory Council to Special Education.
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Open Forum
Linda Perry expressed her appreciation that the School Committee members gave
up their Saturday morning to have this meeting; she wanted it to be a matter of record
that two members of the public attended the meeting.
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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 and spoke about the
purpose of the meeting: to formalize goals and hone in on what the School
Committee would like to accomplish over the next year, both in the full School
Committee and the individual Subcommittees. Mayor Koch spoke about the work
that has already been done to review the meeting Agenda format in conjunction with
the new Open Meeting law to ensure compliance. Ms. Isola then moved to suspend
Robert’s Rules to allow for a free discussion of the agenda items.
The first item discussed was the Regular Meeting Agenda. Open Forum is currently
the third item on the agenda and begins at 7:15 pm. Ms. Isola reminded the School
Committee members that they are free to suggest any changes to Open Forum as long
as they meet the parameters of the Open Meeting law. After some discussion about
the length of time Open Forum can take under certain circumstances, it was agreed
that Open Forum will move to be second on the Agenda and that an individual
speaker is limited to four minutes. Also, an individual speaker may not exchange
their time or yield to others. The Chair or Vice Chair may suspend Open Forum with
a two-thirds vote of the School Committee. Dr. DeCristofaro reminded the School
Committee members that there is usually a pattern of active public interest (for
example, the spring budget season), and the Agenda can be planned accordingly to
assume that a large amount of the meeting time may be dedicated to Open Forum.
Under Old Business, both the Building Projects and Central Middle School items will
be moved to Subcommittees and reported to the full School Committee under Reports
of Special Committees. Hearings will also be removed from the Agenda. For
Additional Business, Mayor Koch suggested that any item to be voted on should be
an Agenda item and not presented here. Mrs. Lebo asked for clarification as to
whether this was the place to bring up suggestions for future Agenda items and all
agreed. Dr. DeCristofaro suggested that Agenda items that come to the attention of
the School Committee after the meeting has been posted can still be communicated
and a Revised Agenda posted within the 48 hour window. Mrs. Mahoney noted that
there may sometimes need to be discussion about whether items are Subcommittee or
full School Committee Agenda items.
The next change discussed pertained to Subcommittees. On the Agenda, the item will
now be called Reports of Subcommittees. On the last page of the Agenda, Business
Pending will be changed to Subcommittee Items; each item will have a short
description and a time frame for completion, when possible. Two Subcommittees
have name changes: School Facilities will now be School Facilities and Security;
Health, Safety, and Security will now be Health, Transportation, and Safety.
Dr. DeCristofaro then reviewed that this Subcommittee reorganization will allow for
the Program Improvement review to be shared among the different Subcommittees
rather than being concentrated in the Policy Subcommittee. This coordination will
allow School Committee members to get to work more closely with the directors and
coordinators on their issues. Mrs. Lebo mentioned that the New Educator
Evaluations will be a cross-Subcommittee issue, involving both the Teaching and
Learning and School Policy Subcommittees.
Ms. Isola made a motion to approve the Agenda changes as a whole. Mr. Bregoli
seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it 6-0. Mr. McCarthy was
absent.
Mrs. Lebo suggested announcing the format changes at the February 8, 2012 School
Committee meeting so the public is aware of the changes before they take effect at
the March 7, 2012 School Committee Meeting.
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District Improvement Plan Overview
Dr. DeCristofaro spoke about the District Improvement Plan and the Team
Organization structure and the focus on working in a team, having common goals,
and the team working together to that end. This School Committee meeting is the
beginning of the process for planning, followed by implementation, re-evaluation,
and the creation of new goals, perhaps in September, to coincide with the new
school year. The teams have SMART goals, which are measurable, but this may
not be universally applicable to School Committee goals. The School Committee
falls under the first of the six Standards: Leadership, Governance, and
Communication, but the Subcommittees will interact with principals, directors, and
coordinators across the Standards. Going forward, the Subcommittees and their goals
will be added to the Team Organization booklet.
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. When the group
discussion resumed, each Subcommittee had additions and changes to their goals.
In addition, Mrs. Lebo suggested changing the wording for the Quincy School
Committee purpose statement to read: The Quincy School Committee reviews and
approves the Quincy Public Schools’ budget and establishes policies and guidelines in
order to ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to learn and succeed.
All School Committee members present agreed to this wording change.
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There was no Additional Business, Communications, Hearings, Reports of Special
Committees, or Executive Session.
Adjournment
On a motion by Mayor Koch, seconded by Mrs. Hubley, the Special School
Committee Meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m. The ayes have it.