7:00 PM Business
Meeting
“Challenging Student Excellence”
|
The
Level III Grievance scheduled for
I. Pledge of Allegiance
II. Call
To Order The meeting was called to order by
Roll Call Present: Chairperson
Hueston,
Administration Present: James M. Halley, Ed.D; Superintendent of
Schools; Barbara
A. Fitzsimmons, Ed.D, Curriculum
Director; Joseph F. Quinn, Jr., Director of
Administrative Services, William
J. Daly, Director of Human Resources; and Maureen
Buck, Controller;
Absent: Daniel
J. McGregor, Ph.D., Director of Pupil Personnel Services
III. Contract Signing NEA/NK and the North Kingstown School Department
·
Union
President, Robert Sullivan and
IV. Open Forum
V.
Routine Items
A.
Disclosure of
Executive Session Votes
·
·
B.
Correspondence and Good News
·
·
Pat
Watkins thanked the School Department for her complimentary ticket to the NKHS
production of Cinderella on March 12-14th.
·
·
C.
Calendars – Dr. Halley went over the
calendar for the next two weeks with the
CONSENT AGENDA
Approved items
on the consent agenda are marked with *
on a motion by Pat Watkins and seconded by
Approved
items that were exempted or amended
within the consent agenda are marked with ** as indicated immediately following
the item.
Withdrawn
or Tabled Items from the consent agenda are marked with *** as indicated immediately
following the item.
D.
Approval of Minutes of Prior Meetings*
1.
January
7, Executive Session Minutes**
2.
January
21, Business Meeting Minutes
3.
February
9, Budget Worksession Minutes
4.
February
10, Budget Worksession Minutes
1.
February
11, Worksession Minutes**
** Mr. Martasian had minor questions which were
quickly answered. There was no need for
the minutes to be amended.
E.
Financial Reports*
1.
Financial
Reports Overview
2.
Monthly
Deficit Monitoring Report
3.
Year
to Date Expenditure Report
F.
Bids and Awards *
1.
Change Order
a) Additional costs for the
Replacement of Fishing Cove Elementary School Roof
G.
Personnel
Items*
1.
Appointments,
Certificated Staff:
a)
Kara
Osborne, .2 FTE Social Studies Teacher at the
b)
William
Dwyer, 1.0 FTE Music Teacher at
c)
Sharon
McCarthy, .6 FTE Family & Consumer Science Teacher at the North Kingstown
High School, Step 1, pro-rated for 93 days in the 2003/
2.
Appointment,
Non-Certificated Staff:
a)
Karin
Pierson, Mini Bus Driver for the North Kingstown School Department, Step 1 @
$69.19 per day, effective
3.
Resignations,
Non-Certificated Staff:
a)
Judy
Fry, Special Education Paraprofessional at Forest Park Elementary School, 6
hours per day, effective January 23,
b)
Gail
Burda, Adult Education Director, effective
VI.
New Business
VII. Unfinished Business
A. Consideration of Closing Schools for
Religious Holidays for Vote
·
Kevin Mulvey stated that this item was placed
on the agenda at his request at the last meeting. He felt at the time that the item should be
considered a separate item from the school calendar because he was fearful the
Jewish holidays would be on the school calendar for only one year. However, he has “rethought this matter,
because no other holiday is so designated.”
·
Don DeFedele added that he did not disagree,
however he wanted to make sure that the holiday stays on the calendar; if the
committee “does not vote this may not continue.”
·
Mr. Mulvey then stated that perhaps all
holidays should be named and voted on.
·
Pat Watkins reminded the committee that some
holidays are contract driven, and advised that the policy subcommittee was the
best solution for the problem. She then
motioned to move the subject to the policy subcommittee. Carol Hueston seconded the motion which
passed with a unanimous vote.
B. Consideration of NKHS Math Proposal for
Vote
·
Kevin Mulvey wanted to add his congratulations
on a job well done to Vice Principal John Lalli, to those given by his
colleagues at the last Worksession regarding this topic.
·
Pat Watkins motioned to accept the NKHS Math
Proposal. Carol Hueston seconded the
motion which passed with a unanimous vote.
C.
Consideration
of School Calendar for Vote
·
Denise
Coppa stated that it did not make sense to change the February vacation from
the fourth week back to the third week, and have the vacation end with
Presidents Day which is the Monday of the fourth week.
·
Dr.
Halley agreed, and stated that the school department follows state
recommendations for holidays and vacations when developing the calendar.
·
Pat
Watkins motioned to approve the school calendar and Carol Hueston
seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
·
Bill
Mudge asked Dr. Halley when he thought Professional Development days would be
announced. Dr. Halley responded that the
days would be known before the first day of school.
D. Minutes of
·
Don
DeFedele mentioned that at the February Worksession it had been stated that the
distribution of the School Committee minutes should not be distributed until
after they are approved at Business Meetings.
·
Barry
Martasian clarified that if a citizen wanted to read the minutes prior to their
being approved, they simply needed to come to the administration building and
request a copy for review.
·
Mr.
DeFedele agreed and stated that the copies were merely no longer going to be
dispensed to the schools and others until after they were approved in case
there were amendments that needed to be made.
·
Carol
Hueston asked if each and every page was going to state that it was an
“unapproved” copy.
·
Mr.
DeFedele instructed the School Committee secretary to indicate in the
background of each page that it is a “DRAFT” copy.
·
Pat
Watkins motioned to approve the changes for School Committee Meeting Minutes
distribution. Carol Hueston seconded the
motion which passed with a unanimous vote.
E. Policies
1. NSBA #JFA Initial Admission to
·
Kevin Mulvey motioned to approve the policy and
Denise Coppa seconded the motion.
·
Pat Watkins mentioned that there were already
petitions before the administration, formal requests for an appeal to a policy
which the School Committee had not even adopted yet.
·
Don DeFedele agreed, and stated that
Kindergarten registration had yet to take place.
·
Dr. Halley said that in order to appeal there
must be a decision; whatever rules apply after April 29th, after Kindergarten
registration.
·
Mr. Mudge stated that the policy change gives
no latitude for an appeal.
·
Dr. Halley replied that anyone can always
request an appeal by simply writing a letter, that is the school department
policy.
·
Kevin Mulvey stated that parents must look for an
exception to the policy for their appeal.
·
Mr. Mulvey’s motion passed with a vote of 6 to
1, Bill Mudge voting “No”.
2.
NSBA #BE
·
Kevin
Mulvey motioned to adopt the policy and Denise Coppa seconded this motion.
·
Don
DeFedele declared that “Open Forum” is removed from the Worksession only
because the public can speak after each agenda item. There is a “Citizens Comments” section for
the community to speak on any topic at the end of every meeting. The sign up sheet was initiated out of time
constraints and consistency, “not to stifle the public”. As for the community wanting to place items
on the agenda, School Committee members must also give their suggestions to the
Chairperson or Superintendent 14 days in advance.
·
Carol
Hueston reminded the committee that Mrs. Lynne Haft, the previous Chairperson,
was fond of saying that “School Committee meetings are not public meetings, but
meetings in public”.
·
Bill
Mudge objected to the removal of “Open Forum” from the Worksession meetings,
and suggested that the committee seek legal counsel prior to implementing this
policy. He also stated that he opposed
having the community contact the superintendent or chairperson two weeks prior
to having something placed on an agenda.
·
Don
DeFedele responded that the public is often contacting him to place items on
the agenda. If he tells them that he
will not place what they want on an agenda, citizens have every right to
contact the rest of the committee and obtain a consensus. Mr. DeFedele went on to say that that he had
obtained several emails requesting more structure at meetings. People attend meetings and because the “Open
Forum” at some meetings can take some time, these people can wait hours before
the topic they came to hear discussed is ever reached.
·
Mr.
Mudge stated that with the loss of “Open Forum” at Worksessions, the public
cannot feel free to come to meetings and speak early.
·
The
motion passed with a vote of 6 to 1, Bill Mudge voting “No”.
F. Consideration
of 2004-05 School Budget for Vote
·
Kevin
Mulvey made a motion to accept the Superintendent’s $49,281,642.00 budget. Denise Coppa seconded the motion.
·
·
Maureen
Buck responded negatively.
·
Dr.
Halley stated that some items are budgeted and are included in the amendment to
the budget such as administrative costs.
·
This
discussion continued further with the same question being asked by Mr. Mudge
about the 2003-04 budget and the 2002-03 budget. He received the same response. Dr. Halley tried to give Mr. Mudge a detailed
explanation, but he interrupted and asked for it in writing.
·
Mr.
Mulvey’s motion passed with a vote of 6 to 1,
·
Mr.
Mudge then made a motion to cut $2.1 million from the Superintendent’s
Budget. This motion did not receive a
second.
G. School Modernization Implementation
·
Don
DeFedele brought the list of appointments to the new School Modernization
Advisory Committee to the attention of the committee (Appendix
D)
·
Pat
Watkins motioned to accept the appointments and Carol Hueston seconded the
motion. The motion passed with a vote of
6 to 1. Bill Mudge voted against the
motion stating that he was not objecting to the people on the new committee,
but rather to the bond issue that would be necessary to realize the school
modernizations.
H. 2003-04
Budget
·
Bill
Mudge asked where the $323,429.00 surplus from the 2002-03 budget
had been applied to the 2003-04 budget.
·
Don
DeFedele asked if that weren’t a Town function.
·
Dr.
Halley stated that indeed it is a Town function, and the amount is paid back to
the general fund.
·
Mr.
DeFedele stated that it is the starting point for the next year’s budget.
·
Dr.
Halley mentioned that there is an explanation to that effect in the current
budget.
·
Mr.
DeFedele remarked that he had received a copy, as had the rest of the
committee, of a transmission to Mrs. Buck regarding the audit of that budget
stating that there were no findings which required further action.
·
There
is a KeyWorks meeting scheduled for
VIII.
Reports
A. Completed Security Reports
·
Kevin
Mulvey expressed his dismay with the expensive damage at the high school. He stated he had yet to see a worse report.
·
Dr.
Halley replied that it has been an issue since the high school has been
open. Partly due to the students during
the day and partly due to the fact that the school is well used after hours. He continued by saying that he and Mr. Quinn
had discussed hiring security.
·
Mr.
Quinn acknowledged that the building does receive incredible use each day with
proportional vandalism. He said that the
answer is to improve supervision, “but hiring hall monitors costs money”. He stated that it was unfortunate that
security cameras were not installed when the school was built. Mr. Quinn informed the committee that where
the vandals can be identified, they are billed.
·
Mr.
Mulvey felt that the security reports should be sent home to parents to impress
them and the students with the numbers and cost, and perhaps embarrass the
students into taking more pride in their school.
·
Mr.
Mudge asked if it would be possible to add a time stamp to the report that
would indicate exactly when the incidents take place.
·
Mr.
Quinn replied that he would see to it.
B.
Subcommittee Reports
·
Barry
Martasian announced that a meeting had been scheduled for
C.
RIASC
and other Legislative Activity
·
Kevin
Mulvey announced that RIASC will be holding a legislative workshop on
IX.
Comments
·
Dr. Halley: “I just wanted the School Committee to know,
at Mr. Mudge’s request, that Representative Carter is inquiring into the
appropriateness of our school housing aid all the way back to 1985.”
·
Bill
Mudge: “Gee, I wish I knew that. Excuse me, Dr. Halley, you misspoke. He’s not doing it because I asked him to do
that. Let the record reflect that
clearly. Mr. Carter is not, ok, going
back to request information back to 1985 because Bill Mudge asked him to do
that, or was Bill Mudge aware of that.
Thank you; please be specific.”
·
Pat
Watkins: “Mr. Carter is not here to…”
·
Bill
Mudge: “Well I’m here, and I’m telling
you that I didn’t tell him or ask him to go back and get that data, so you
don’t need Mr. Carter here.”
·
Don
DeFedele: “It is in the record.”
·
Julie
Rishworth stated that she wrote a letter to Dr. Daniel McGregor regarding her
son who was born after the September 1st cut off date for
Kindergarten. In response, Dr. McGregor
stated that there was no point in appealing
·
Don
DeFedele advised Mrs. Rishworth to appeal under the new policy.
·
Mr.
Adrian Rishworth requested advice on how to accomplish that.
·
Dr.
Halley replied that the Rishworths should write to the school department with
an appeal for an individual exception.
·
Korrine
Erickson spoke regarding the new Kindergarten policy and parental
confusion. She stated that the school
department and School Committee deal with the policy and regulations daily, and
asked that they remember that parents are perplexed and to please be gentle
with them.
·
Ellen
Jordan thanked the committee for hearing her concerns regarding considering
Jewish holidays as days off from school, and voting to recognize this as an
addition to the school calendar.
X.
Adjourn
Respectfully
submitted,
_______________________________________
Konnie
M. Mazur
Approved
7:00 PM Business Meeting
BUSINESS
AGENDA ADDENDUM
V.G. 4. Appointment Administrator:
a)
Kathleen
Mort, Ed. D., Principal at Wickford Middle
School, with an annual salary of $91,909,
effective
5.
Resignation,
Administrator:
a)
Tyler
Page, Principal at
Appendix A
PTO
MEETINGS
|
SCHOOL |
DATE |
TIME |
DON |
DENISE |
KEVIN |
CAROL |
BILL |
PAT |
BARRY |
|
High School |
April 27 |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
|
DMS |
March 25 |
|
X |
X |
|
|
X |
|
|
|
WMS |
March 9 |
|
|
|
|
X |
X |
X |
|
|
DE |
March 11 |
|
|
X |
|
|
X |
X |
|
|
FC |
March 16 |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
FP |
March 11 |
|
|
X |
|
X |
X |
|
|
|
HE |
March 2 |
|
X |
|
|
X |
X |
|
|
|
QE |
March 9 |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
SL |
March 16 |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
X |
|
|
WE |
March 8 |
|
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
|