GMRSC Members Michael Langknecht, Chair Sandra Brown, Vice Chair April Reipold Lesley Cogswell Heather Katsoulis Marjorie Levenson Jane Oakes Christina Postera Valeria Smith SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES APRIL 25, 2017 6:30 PM Turners Falls High School 222 Turnpike Road, Montague, MA Erving Advisory Members Student Representative Riley Wood GILL-MONTAGUE REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT MISSION STATEMENT Challenging and supporting every student to succeed through strong leadership, excellent teaching, and community engagement PRESENT: Committee Members: Mike Langknecht, April Reipold, Lesley Cogswell, Heather Katsoulis, Jane Oakes, Timmie Smith, Christina Postera. I. CALL TO ORDER - Mike Langknecht, Chairperson called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. II. ROLL CALL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS [quorum =5] III. WELCOME TO VISITORS Opportunity for public participation - Policy BEDH, #1 At the start of each regularly scheduled School Committee meeting, individuals or group representatives will be invited to address the Committee. The length of the public participation segment shall be determined by the chairperson. IV. IMPORTANT EVENTS A. April 27 GFMS/TFHS PTO Pasta Dinner and Talent Show @ 6 pm B. April 28 Hillcrest Pre-school Open House and Registration @ 12 pm C. April 28 Hillcrest Friends of Hillcrest Wine & Canvas Fundraiser @ 6 pm D. April 29 GFMS/TFHS GMEF Gala @ 7:30 pm E. May 1 Gill School Council Meeting @ 3:45 pm F. May 4 Gill PTO Meeting @ 5:15 pm G. May 8 Sheffield School Council Meeting @ 5:30 pm Additional Events- May 3- Hillcrest/Sheffield - Mass Bike & Walk Day May 10 TFHS- Gill Montague Community Partnership Meeting @ 3:30 p.m.
Timmie Smith informed the committee members that she was re-elected as the Chair for the Gill Selectboard Finance Committee. V. STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Riley Wood reported that on April 28 th Student Council will be attending the Western Mass Association of School Council meeting @ Minnechaug High School. Unity Day is May 12th and Prom will be May 13th. Riley asked on behalf of the student body when the new mascot will be talked about and he let the committee know that students would like to be involved. Mike Langknecht responded that once criteria have been set the student s will be notified and Christina Postera reiterated that the School Committee wants the student s ideas and involvement. VI. SUPERINTENDENT S REPORT The Superintendent reported that Dan Johnson, Sheffield Elementary School Custodian had retired after 22 years of service and he received a nice send off from the staff and students at the school on his last day. The Superintendent is finishing up his last rounds of formal observations at each of the schools. He informed the committee that the district was currently going through a Civil Rights and Special Education Audit. He reminded everyone that there is now a link on the GMRSD website for the community to give feedback to the District. The committee asked if a link could be added for the School Committee. The community has made inquiries about how to contact the School Committee as a group and not individually. VII. BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS REPORT - Joanne Blier reported that she will have the budget transfers and the operating budget ready for the next School Committee Meeting on May 9 th. Mistelle Hannah from Food Service will be attending to give a report on Policies regarding collections on overdue lunch accounts. The Auditors will be attending the May 9 th meeting. VIII. SCHOOL COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Sub Committee Reports No report IX. OLD BUSINESS A. TFHS Logo/Nickname: Discussion of selection process- Possible Vote Mike Langknecht reviewed possible way to proceed after the April 4 th, 2017 brainstorming meeting. He went over the Brainstorming Logo name criteria post it notes exercise that remained at the end of the meeting. Next, went over the TFHS Logo/Nickname Selection Considerations Draft Criteria #1 from April 4 th, 2017. The following recommendation were made. GENDER NEUTRAL Lesley Cogswell said it should be representative of a contemporary aspect of the community and/or represent features of the community. Jane Oakes said it should be representative of the GMRSD community and/or environment. MARKETABILITY April Reipold feels it is important to be able to market the logo/nickname they choose. Heather Katsoulis felt it marketability may not need to be an area of criteria.
NON DISCRIMINATORY Christina Postera asked the Superintendent to check with the School Attorney for language to be used on this topic. Heather Katsoulis noted that the school committee members had received several emails about this content area. Jane Oakes would like it to include unify and felt they need to be very precise on the nondiscriminatory criteria. Sandra Brown (absent) had sent an email to be reviewed that she suggested Should not legitimize or perpetuate stereotypes or prejudices against any group of people based on characteristics of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, social class, gender sexual orientation, age or disability. CORE VALUES Lesley Cogswell felt that the students have a strong connection to the words Strength, Dignity, Honor and Pride. April Reipold isn t sure that this necessarily needs to be an area of criteria. Jane Oakes suggested using values as a topic. The next steps will be to work on TFHS logo/nickname selection Considerations Draft Criteria #2 below: TFHS Logo/Nickname Selection 2. Draft Criteria from 4-25-17 GENDER NEUTRAL - It should be non-gender specific and appropriate for all student activities COMMUNITY RELEVANCE - It should be broadly relevant across the GMRSD community, the student body and generations of Alumni - It should be representative of the TFHS experience or history, either generally or specifically INCLUSIVITY - It should be inclusive of all students and community members, projecting a positive image. - It should be representative of positive qualities, ideals, or associations around which all people can rally and unify. MARKETABILITY
- It should be a graphically pleasing icon that is easily identifiable, easy to relate to, and unique (unusual?) that students (and everyone else) will embrace, enthusiastically and that will stand the test of time and look great in Blue and White NON DISCIMINATORY - Mascots/Logos/ nicknames will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability. VALUES - It should reflect or symbolize one or more of the values of integrity, persistence, empathy, continuous learning, strength, dignity, honor, pride, (respect?). (work in progress). Timmie Smith asked if the audience could be given the opportunity to speak and give some feedback regarding the Logo/Nickname Selection process. Rachel Stoler spoke and agreed that the logo should be non-discriminatory or stereotypical. She suggested that the mascot should not reflect or be associated with a group of people. Jen Audley, Gill Montague Community Partnership made a recommendation regarding the marketability area that it be distinctive. She feels it is important that people really like it and reiterated that we have a strong community at large of student and alumni. She does not want to see the process rushed and hopes the committee will take their time in making a decision no matter how long it takes. She questioned the student attachment to strength, honor, dignity and pride and thought that other important qualities of community and school may work better. Lou Leland is looking forward to the next steps and would like to see the committee think about the questions being asked before solidifying the decision making. She said that honor and respect can be interpreted in various ways. She is very appreciative of the process and work being done. Lesley Cogswell would like the community to know that the School Committee is looking for feedback and responds to emails and they take it very seriously. She feels this is a very important issue. X. NEW BUSINESS A. Acceptance of Gifts- The Superintendent reviewed the two donations received for the logo nickname change. One donation was from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. It was a grant received from Spark! A Generosity Fund to support Inspired vision and Action. The second was from a Go Fund Me Account set up by Rachel Baker which has raised over $6,000.00. The account was set up to help with uniform and supplies once a new logo is chosen. The Superintendent said the monies could possibly be used for a new banner for the marching band and Native American curriculum at TFHS/GFMS. Joanne Blier, Director of Business informed the committee that an account had been set up for the mascot/logo change donations. MOTION: Timmie Smith motioned and Heather Katsoulis seconded to accept the donations and request that the Superintendent send letter of gratitude to contributors. All in favor. Unanimous.
B. Review of Facilities Manager Job Description- The Superintendent reviewed the revisions to the Facilities/Energy Manager Job Description. This position will submit Purchase Orders and closely monitor the maintenance/ custodial department budget. This position will also require that he employee be available 24 hours a day to receive phone calls pertaining to facilities related emergencies. The committee recommended adding a salary range to the Job Description which will be $48,000 to $55,000. The committee would like to see S/he replaced with they. MOTION: Heather Katsoulis motioned and Christina Postera seconded to approve the salary range of $48,000 to $55,000. All in favor. Unanimous. C. Review of Administrators Contract Provisions - The Superintendent noted the language change to the agreement between the District and employee which had been amended to say contract between Superintendent and the employee. Compensation was adjusted to say the salary for the second and third years of the contract shall be subject to negotiations and shall be no less than the prior year contract. Statutory Leave was adjusted as recommended by the School s Attorney. If the Principal retires they may receive unused sick leave days at a rate of $20 per day for each day accumulated sick leave up to a maximum of 300 days. Family illness was increased from 7 to 15 days to be in alignment with the Teacher contract. Timmie Smith noted that the word contract should be capitalized throughout the document. MOTION: Lesley Cogswell motioned and Christina Postera seconded to approve the Principal Contract template with changes and amendments as recommended by the Superintendent and Director of Business. All in favor. Unanimous. D. Superintendent s Evaluation Schedule/Timeline- The Superintendent asked if his evaluation could be done at a different time of the year. He recommended August so that the student data would be available and his goals would be available for the committee to review. E. Approval of Election Warrant- MOTION: Timmie Smith motioned and Jane Oakes seconded to approve the May 15 th Election Warrant. All in favor. Unanimous. XI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES NONE XII. AGENDA REQUESTS A. Information Requests B. Pending Agenda Requests: subcommittees XIII. DATE OF NEXT REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETING IS: May 9, 2017 at TFHS TV Studio XIV. OTHER BUSINESS THAT MAY ARISE AFTER AGENDA IS POSTED All items must be discussed with the chair prior to the start of the meeting If a discussion topic is proposed after a meeting notice is posted, and it was not reasonably anticipated by the chair more than 48 hours before the meeting, the public body should update its posting to provide the public with as much notice as possible of what subjects will be discussed during the meeting. Although a public body may consider a topic that was not listed in the meeting notice if it was not anticipated, the Attorney General strongly encourages public bodies to postpone discussion and action on topics that are
controversial or may be of particular interest to the public if the topic was not listed in the meeting notice. Open Meeting Guide XV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Lesley Cogswell motioned and Christina Postera seconded to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m.