Board of Education Regular Meeting January 8, 2008, 7:00 PM Middletown High School Library/Media Center

Transcription

1 Board of Education Regular Meeting January 8, 2008, 7:00 PM Middletown High School Library/Media Center I. CALL TO ORDER Board Members Present: Sally Boske, Bill Boyd, Sheila Daniels, Renee Johnson-Thornton, Jay Keiser, Ted Raczka, and Judy Russo Board Members Absent: Corinne Gill and Barbara Weiss Others Present: Superintendent of Schools Michael Frechette, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum/Instruction John Hennelly, Assistant Superintendent for Administration Barbara Senges, Interim Director of Pupil Services and Special Education Ann Perzan, Director of Facilities Ken Jackson, Manager of Transportation Mike Milardo, Parent Leadership Coordinator Donna Marino, Grants Coordinator Elizabeth Nocera, Middletown High School Principal Robert Fontaine, Director of Athletics/Student Activities Mike Pitruzzello, Director of Vo-Ag Rebecca Isaacson, WWMS Principal Gene Nocera, WWMS Assistant Principal Kristen Marszalek, Keigwin Principal Tracey Koff, Keigwin Assistant Principal Rob Conroy, Bielefield Principal Renata Lantos, Farm Hill Principal Pat Girard, Lawrence Principal Enza Macri, Macdonough Principal Jon Romeo, Moody Principal Jeff Wallowitz, Snow Principal Jim Gaudreau, Spencer Principal Mark Proffitt, Wesley Principal Joe Cassella, K-12 Language Arts Supervisor Hayley Zinn-Rowthorn, PLTI Coordinator Donna Marino, Director of Technology Bob Polselli, Coordinator of Guidance Ralph D Amato, K-12 Fine Arts Department Head Marco Gaylord, Youth Services Coordinator Justin Carbonella, Board Extern Franca Biales, Assistant to the Superintendent/Board Secretary Marcy Poppel, MFT Representative Ann Lohrand, Hartford Courant Reporter Daniela Altimari, Middletown Press Reporter Sloan Brewster, and fifty-two (52) visitors. Chair Raczka called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. II. SALUTE TO THE FLAG III. ADOPTION OF AGENDA MOTION: Vote to table Agenda Item XII. Mid-Year Superintendent Evaluation until the next regular Board of Education meeting when all Board members are present, passed with a motion by Mr. Boyd and a second by Ms. Boske passed with five (5) in favor Ms. Boske, Mr. Boyd. Ms. Daniels, Ms. Johnson-Thornton, and Ms. Russo and one (1) opposed Mr. Keiser. MOTION: Vote to add an action item, new Bylaw #9131 Community Members on Board Committees this evening so the Board could begin putting parents on committees was made by Mr. Boyd with a second by Ms. Boske unanimous vote. MOTION: Vote to remove Consent Agenda Item #VII.C. Personnel Action as there are none passed with a motion by Mr. Keiser and a second by Ms. Boske unanimous vote. MOTION: Vote to adopt the agenda, as amended, passed with a motion by Ms. Boske and a second by Ms. Daniels unanimous vote. IV. DISTRICT HIGHLIGHTS IV.A. Safety Salute Award - Michael Gosselin Chair Raczka commended Mr. Mike Gosselin for his actions during the recent Middletown High School auditorium fire. He introduced Mr. Joseph Barbera, Senior Risk Control

2 Page 2 Consultant from CIRMA (Board of Education insurance carrier), who presented Mr. Gosselin a plaque for his rapid response and action. Chair Raczka asked for a volunteer to be Acting Secretary and Mr. Boyd agreed. V. PUBLIC SESSION Chair Raczka explained the rules of Public Session. Marco Gaylord, K-12 Fine Arts Department Head spoke in support of the new Fine Arts courses for approval by the Board. Kristen Marszalek, parent and Assistant Principal at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, spoke about the excellence that defines Middletown Public Schools and the incredible work Woodrow Wilson Middle School teachers do every day. Salvatore Caracoglia, former Middletown Public School teacher, requested an investigation of his termination. Chair Raczka called for a five-minute recess at 7:21 PM. The meeting was reconvened at 7:26 PM. Hayley Zinn-Rowthorn, K-12 Language Arts Supervisor spoke about reading in the district and the need for additional reading teachers. Kathy Adams, Middletown High School teacher, spoke in support of additional administrative and teaching staff for Middletown High School for the next school year. Cheryl Miller, Woodrow Wilson Middle School parent, asked the Board to reconsider tutors for students and resource rooms. Diane Jordan, parent, spoke about Juvenile Diabetes and shared information on general diabetes facts. Dave Reynolds, Coordinator of Vocational Education 6-12, provided a handout and addressed the Board regarding additional courses for Vocational Education. They will increase instructional time, expand student options, and help the district stay current with educational trends. Ralph D Amato, Coordinator of Guidance at Middletown High School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School, asked for Board support of one additional full-time guidance counselor and one full-time career counselor. Rebecca Isaacson, Director of Vo-Ag, along with Vo-Ag Student and FFA President Nicole McKay, requested an additional Animal Science teacher to meet the needs of the current student body and expand course offerings. Donna Gagnon-Smith, spoke about student files, plagiarism, and using free resources available to the district (i.e. senior citizens and Wesleyan University). Lee B. Smith, addressed the Board regarding a FERPA hearing and the Office of the Child Advocate. Jolie Crescimano-Goss, parent of Spencer School second grader, asked the Board to hire more speech pathologists. VI. COMMUNICATIONS Ms. Daniels stated that Board member Corinne Gill was absent due to illness and Barbara Weiss was in Florida due to a death in her family.

3 Page 3 VI.A. State Department of Education - Cambridge Group Report Dr. Frechette introduced the State Department of Education (SDE) Team of Meghan Martins, Deborah Richards, Patrick Proctor, Susan Kennedy, and Maria Synodi. Ms. Martins thanked the Board for their patience moving through this project. The team explained that this is a fairly new process for the State Department of Education and the new legislation. Middletown is the second of 12 districts going through the process. The delay was due to Cambridge s calibration of the data to insure consistency across districts. School reports will be released tomorrow. The Cambridge Quality Review Reports are the beginning of a relationship. The report identifies what is currently in place and offers next steps. The team will continue to be involved and look at resources to continue the district s improvement efforts. They provided an overview of what the district does well, where it needs improvement, and next steps. They responded to Board member questions. Mr. Keiser encouraged Chair Raczka to pursue Charter revisions in the area of hiring practices with the City Council. He suggested that Dr. Frechette use information from the Cambridge Quality Review Report in his budget presentation to the City Council, as it was very comprehensive. VI.B. Morale Improvement Plan - Public Comment and Board Dialogue Chair Raczka stated that the Superintendent presented a plan at the last Board meeting and this is an opportunity for parents, community members, and Board members to share comments and have a dialogue. Kristi Huston asked about the timeline of presenting Cambridge to the parent groups; suggested open meetings at each school with all parents invited; list of participants on the Parent Advisory Committee on Page 2 does not include parents; she would like to see at least one parent on each committee; and on Page 4 she didn t think Adopt-A-School for Board members was started. Dr. Frechette and Mr. Keiser responded to her questions and provided clarification. Martha Banks-Serindag asked how parents would know outcomes; will there be updates; was not familiar with School-Family-Community Partnerships and Youth Services Bureau, asked if there was another way to involve parents other than Middletown Schools Association (MSA) which she said is not a viable parent organization at this point; on Page 3 regarding the Partnership Dr. Frechette added this would afford an opportunity for the SDE to present to the MSA; she suggested School Board members rotate schools to get to know other schools, rather than adopting one school; and how would outcomes be communicated. Donna Marino and Lisa Schuerholz-Winters provided an overview of the School-Family- Community Partnership initiatives (the focus is on student achievement) at schools and Justin Carbonella, Youth Services Coordinator explained that the Youth Services Board is an advisory group and shared areas which the Youth Services Bureau is actively involved throughout our schools, Adult Education, community agencies, including Developmental Assets, programs for first time offenders, a youth development initiative, and the Youth in Government program which places students on City boards and commissions. There was a brief discussion of Board member assignments for Adopt-A-School. Chair Raczka mentioned the Superintendent and him having lunch at each school. ESL teacher Marisa Friske praised the Lawrence and Spencer School principals for their efforts and asked the Board to consider assistant principals to give them additional support as they are overburdened with additional programs such as DEAL and ESL.

4 Page 4 Board member Jay Keiser asked who is the member on the Faculty Advisory Committee (Page 2). In response to Mr. Keiser s question regarding when a retreat would be held Chair Raczka said probably in February or during the winter. Mr. Keiser said he hoped teachers would be willing to take an active role on the Professional Development Committee and suggested the three levels should be combined with the District. He also encouraged having different teachers on the committees to reach out as much as possible. Parent Norm Zimmer felt core issues had been missed in Morale Improvement Plan, that the teachers were intimidated by the administration s autocratic style. He feels the report is just the beginning and the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent need to do a lot more. He feels there is a lot of hurt and anguish. Teacher JJ Smith stated she does not feel intimidated by anyone in the district and that there is a good administrative team in place in Middletown. Teaching has changed dramatically over the past ten years. It is a tough job being a teacher. Teachers should work together. She is embarrassed by what is going on. She does not think low morale is felt by all teachers. She has never received any negative feedback in the seven years she has been a teacher in Middletown. She encouraged everyone to do their part. Chair Raczka said a great deal of work went into creating the Morale Improvement Plan. There needs to be more work in the area of monitoring for outcomes. He concurred with Board Member Barbara Weiss recommendation to enlist assistance from a consultant outside of education to assist us and it should be part of a February/winter retreat. Everyone needs to be more committed to how we do business and all avenues pursued. He feels the entire Board is committed to this process. The district needs to focus on what our goals are. He thanked everyone who has come and spoken. VII. CONSENT AGENDA MOTION: Approval of the Consent Agenda passed with a motion by Ms. Boske and a second by Mr. Boyd unanimous vote. VII.A. Minutes of December 14, 2007 BOE Regular Meeting VII.B. Minutes of December 18, 2007 BOE Regular Meeting VII.D. Bylaw #9323 Construction of the Agenda (revision) - Second Reading VIII. COMMITTEES VIII.A. Budget Committee Mr. Keiser shared that the Budget Committee met yesterday to review the Financial Reports. VIII.B. Policy Committee Ms. Russo said the Policy Committee had met earlier today and is moving forward with policy review. VIII.C. Communications Committee The Communications committee has not met. IX. ACTION ITEMS IX.D. Bylaw #9131 Community Members on Board Committees

5 Page 5 Mr. Boyd stated that the Policy Committee met that morning and drafted a policy and mechanism for getting parents and community members on Board of Education committees. He stated in the past it has been difficult to find people willing to participate. He would be making two motions, one for the Board to vote on the first reading this evening and a second one whose wording is the same as the content of the policy. This bylaw was ed to Board members today for review. MOTION: Move that Bylaw #9131 Community Members on Board Committees, be adopted for first reading passed with a motion by Mr. Boyd and a second by Ms. Boske unanimous vote. MOTION: A motion with the same wording as the content of the proposed Bylaw #9131 just voted on was made by Mr. Boyd with a second by Ms. Johnson-Thornton. The action proposed in Bylaw #9131 could have been done as a policy, bylaw, or motion. As the Bylaw would not go into effect until a second reading, this second motion was to propose the same action in the form of a motion so that it could be carried out immediately. This was not a motion to implement the Bylaw immediately, but a separate motion that had the same effect as the Bylaw. There was a lengthy discussion on doing this and setting a precedent; voting on first and second readings must be at regular meetings; in between the two reading approvals, it was suggested, we could gather names and identify committees for those people to serve on; folks could attend committee meetings now as a member of the public; some felt that that this would be satisfactory while others felt that these parents would not feel that they were members of the committees. Mr. Boyd urged that we pass this equivalent motion so that action could get started and parents wouldn t feel that we were procrastinating on putting them on the committees. Mr. Raczka stated that he would support this parallel motion, because we need to move forward with deliberate speed. Note that this is not a motion to implement the Bylaw early, but a separate motion in its own right. VOTE: The motion outlining the process of appointing members to the committees and specifying their roles passed with a motion by Mr. Boyd and a second by Ms. Johnson- Thornton with four (4) in favor Mr. Boyd, Ms. Johnson-Thornton, Mr. Raczka, and Ms. Russo and three (3) opposed Ms. Boske, Ms. Daniels, and Mr. Keiser. IX.A. Board of Education Meeting Dates 2008 Mr. Keiser suggested adding the Budget Workshop on Thursday, January 10, 2008 and a Special meeting to adopt the budget on Thursday, January 17, 2008 meetings to the schedule, changing February 25 th to 26 th (Tuesday meeting), and changing the December, 2008 and January, 2009 dates to: a regular meeting on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, Superintendent s budget presentation on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, Budget Workshop on Tuesday, January 13, 2009, and regular meeting including adoption of budget on Tuesday, January 20, MOTION: Approval of the Board of Education Meeting Dates as amended passed with a motion by Mr. Keiser and a second by Mr. Boyd unanimous vote. IX.B. Other New Committees MOTION: Creation of a typical three-member standing Curriculum Committee of the Board of Education was made by Mr. Boyd and a second by Ms. Daniels. Dr. Hennelly stated he was very much in favor of a Curriculum Committee and felt it would be very helpful. Mr. Boyd said this committee would study new course proposals and overall flow

6 Page 6 of curriculum and make recommendations to the Board. Dr. Frechette said he thought this was an excellent idea. VOTE: Creation of a typical three-member standing Curriculum Committee of the Board of Education passed with a motion by Mr. Boyd and a second by Ms. Daniels unanimous vote. IX.C. New Course Proposals for Middletown High School MOTION: Approval of New Course Proposals for Middletown High School was made by Ms. Boske and a second by Mr. Boyd unanimous vote. Dr. Hennelly recognized the accomplishments students are making and by Board approval would show Board support. In response to a question, Dr. Hennelly confirmed that Board approval of the new course proposals would not be an obligation in the budget process. Ms. Boske asked if the positions needed for these new courses were in the Superintendent s Recommended budget and Dr. Frechette said yes. Mr. Fontaine explained that with minimal staff increases, the high school would be able to have quite a few more offerings. He added that this is more about Board members embracing these as worthwhile courses. This is one step to improve programs at the new high school and part of the long-term vision of the new high school. There was a discussion about the impact of high school reform and not knowing what is coming in the future; reducing study halls; meeting immediate needs and not increasing staff or programs in areas; and classes outside of the core areas keeping many students engaged and in school. VOTE: Approval of New Course Proposals for Middletown High School passed with a motion by Ms. Boske and a second by Mr. Boyd unanimous vote. Ms. Boske encouraged Board members to attend Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) forums. In response to a request, Mr. Fontaine said he will prepare a list of courses phased out and being phased out for Board members. X. REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT X.A. Financial Statement In response to a question regarding the large difference in Overtime between last year and this year, Dr. Frechette said it was attributed to weather issues and the building fire. X.B. Building Project: Middletown High School There was a discussion about access to the new high school auditorium from the Building Committee minutes, educational specifications, athletic changes, and referendum funding. Mr. Jackson will provide the Building Committee decisions to Dr. Frechette who will share them with the Board. X.C. Transportation Report In response to a question, Mr. Milardo explained that the difference between the Disciplinary Issues and Bus Conduct Reports categories is that Bus Conduct Reports are reports prepared by bus drivers and the Disciplinary Issues reports come from his office. The 12 disciplinary issues from December are totally separate from the 68 bus conduct reports. XI. DISCUSSION ITEMS

7 Page 7 XII. PERSONNEL MATTER MOTION: Vote to go into Executive Session at 10:10 PM passed with a motion by Ms. Daniels and a second by Ms. Russo unanimous vote. XII.A. Executive Session MOTION: Vote to return to Public Session at 10:36 PM passed with a motion by Ms. Boske and a second by Ms. Russo unanimous vote. Public Session XIV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Vote to adjourn at 10:36 PM passed with a motion by Ms. Boske and a second by Mr. Boyd unanimous vote. Respectfully Submitted, BB/mkp Bill Boyd Acting Secretary