NORTH KINGSTOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

6:00 PM Executive Session Regarding Nonrenewal

Pursuant to RIGL 42-46-4 and 42-46-5(a) (1) (2)

7:00 PM Business Meeting

Minutes

 

           I.          Pledge of Allegiance

         II.          Call To Order                      The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM.

Roll Call Present:  Chairperson Don DeFedele, Vice Chairperson Dr. Denise Coppa, Lynne Haft, Barry Martasian, Bill Mudge, Kevin Mulvey, Pat Watkins, and Cathy Kaiser, Jamestown School Committee Representative

                                                                               

                                                Administration Present:  James M. Halley, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools, Barbara A. Fitzsimmons, Ed.D, Curriculum Director  William J. Daly, Director of Human Resources, Joseph F. Quinn, Jr., Director of Administrative Services and Maureen Buck, Controller

                                                Absent:  Daniel J. McGregor, Ph.D., Director of Pupil Personnel Services

 

       III.          Open Forum

 

·         Kathy Brown did not see in the minutes of the January 22, 2003 meeting where the fact was stated that the School Committee, and each school, received a copy of the Kindergarten Survey.  She would like this stated again, and she would like to have a copy of the survey.

·         Glenn Scott, a parent of a high school hockey player, would like to again bring the School Committee’s attention to the program and request their support.

 

       IV.          Routine Items

 

A.                  Calendar – Dr. Halley reviewed the calendar for the next two weeks with the school committee.

 

CONSENT AGENDA   

Approved items on the consent agenda are marked with * on a motion by Pat Watkins and seconded by Lynne Haft (7/0).

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Withdrawn or Tabled Items from the consent agenda are marked with *** as indicated immediately following the item.

 

B.                   Approval of Minutes of Prior Meetings

 

1.        January 22, 2003 Business Meeting Minutes*

2.        January 27, 2003 Special Meeting with RI Legislators Minutes*

3.        January 29, 2003 School Budget Worksession Meeting Minutes*

4.        February 5, 2003 School Budget/Reconfiguration Meeting Minutes*

5.        February 12 Worksession Minutes ** Exempted by Denise Coppa with an amendment regarding the development of an evaluation tool for the arts curriculum.  Minutes so amended were approved 7/0.

6.        February 13, 2002 Budget/Reconfiguration Meeting Minutes*

 

C.                   Financial Reports*

1.        Financial Report Breakdown

2.        Grant Report

3.        Cafeteria Report

4.        School Buildings Feasibility Study Scope

 

D.                  Textbook Adoptions

 

E.                   Bids and Awards*

1.        Award of a New School Bus Contract – Roberta Hazard and William Hazard

 

F.                   Personnel Items*

 

1.                Appointment, Bus Nurse:

 

a)                   Laura Whitaker, Registered Nurse to ride the bus, $20 per hour, 30 hours per week, effective February 4, 2003

 

2.                    Appointments, 2002/2003 Pre-School Coordinator:

 

Lynn Bushoven                   $3499.00

 

3.                    Appointments, 2002/2003 Advisors:

 

Davisville Middle School

 

Savas Synodi                        Learning Academy                              $500.00

Celestino Marsocci              Learning Academy                              $500.00

Deborah Santagata              Learning Academy                              $500.00

 

4.                    Request for an Extension of an Unpaid Parental Leave of Absence, Certificated Staff:

 

a)                   Pamela Dillon, 1.0 FTE Media Specialist at Hamilton Elementary School, until April 21, 2003.

 

5.                    Request for an Unpaid Family Medical Leave of Absence, Certificated Staff:

 

a)             Barbara Jean Medeiros, 1.0 FTE Dance/Drama Teacher at Forest Park Elementary School, for up to 13 weeks, effective 2/24/03.

 

6.                    Retirement, Non-Certificated Staff:

 

a)                   Norman Briggs, Maintenance Foreman, effective March 7, 2003.

 

7.                    Resignation, Non-Certificated Staff:

 

a)                   Harold Lane, 2nd Shift Custodian at the North Kingstown High School, effective February 28, 2003.

 

b)                   Virginia Rowe, Food Service Worker at Davisville Elementary School, effective February 14, 2003.

 

8.                    Resignation, 2002/2003 Interscholastic Coach:

 

a)                   Kevin DuBois, Asst. Girls Junior Varsity Tennis Coach and Boys Varsity Tennis Head Coach, effective February 13, 2003.

 

9.                    Approval of List of Layoff Notices, Certificated Staff

 

10.           That the North Kingstown School Committee directs the Superintendent of

Schools to award a North Kingstown High School diploma to any and all veterans

who withdrew from North Kingstown High School between June 27, 1950 to  January 31, 1955 without having completed the requirements for graduation, and who subsequently enlisted in any branch of the Armed Services in order to serve this country during the Korean War.  No other requirement shall exist other than to demonstrate withdrawal from North Kingstown High School and service during the Korean War.*

 

11.       Log of School Committee Motions effective from February 12, 2003 forward.*

 

END OF CONSENT AGENDA

         V.          New Business

 

A.            K-12 Art Curriculum.  – Dr. Coppa would like to see the final evaluation tool prior to the art curriculum going into play.  Dr. Fitzsimmons assured Dr. Coppa that this would happen.  Lynne Haft/Pat Watkins motioned to approve the curriculum which received a unanimous vote.

               

VI.           Unfinished Business

 

A.                  2002-03 School Department Budget – Pat Watkins commended the School Department for their forethought in snow removal this year.

 

B.                   2003-2004 School Department Budget – Lynne Haft/Denise Coppa moved to approve the Superintendent’s budget.  Pat Watkins/Kevin Mulvey amended this motion stating: “Move to approve the Superintendent’s Budget with the following changes: 1. Addition of $17,000.00 to support the interscholastic hockey program.  2. Increasing the LINKS Donation by $3,000.00.” The vote on that amendment was 7/0.  Bill Mudge/Kevin Mulvey amended that amendment with an additional $3,000.00 for the High School Hockey program to bring it in line with what Coach Keith Kenyon advised is required to run the program. The vote on this amendment to the amendment was 7/0. 

·         Barry Martasian would like to include an invitation to visit each school while they are in session in the cover letter of the budget to the Town Council.

·         Denise Coppa would like to also include that the Committee is moving forward with the Superintendent’s budget intact, supporting seven K-5 elementary schools with the needs of students in mind.

·         Pat Watkins stated that she believes in seven K-5 schools and integrated Kindergarten and she believes that it is going to take longer than originally thought to implement reconfiguration changes.

·          Bill Mudge initiated dialog of staff and salary increases and submitted handouts of summary sheets which are appended to these minutes (Appendix A and B)

The vote to approve the Superintendent’s Budget was 6/1- Bill Mudge voting “No”.

 

C.                   2002-03 and 2003-2004 School Department Goals and Objectives –Motion to table this item to KeyWorks meeting scheduled for March 19, 2003; Pat Watkins/Lynne Haft – Vote 7/0.

 

D.                  School Modernization Advisory Committee – discussed as previously approved

A ten minute break was taken at 8:50 pm cc 1:44:27.  The meeting resumed at 9:00 pm.

E.                   Elementary K-5 Organization Advisory Committee

(Below is taken from the Comments Submission Form submitted by Kevin Mulvey)

Date: February 26, 2003 Agenda Item: Reconfiguration

Committee Member: Kevin Mulvey

Comments:

• Last night I believe each of you publicly stated that you support a seven-school configuration.

• There are only three ways to configure seven schools in our current environment (which excludes concepts that we haven’t discussed, like magnet schools): seven K-5 schools; six K-5 schools with the seventh serving as a kindergarten center; some arrangement of pairing schools in a non-K-5 configuration.

• Last night I believe that six of the seven of us stated that we support placing the kindergartens in the community schools, as opposed to returning to a kindergarten center arrangement.

• From comments made by Committee members, I believe that there is not a consensus to contemplate pairing configurations. In fact, even those in support of such an arrangement have acknowledged that there is sufficient opposition within the community that they would not anticipate putting forth such a plan. Please keep in mind that the current DES arrangement would not continue in a paired configuration. Under such a situation, DES would take in students in its assigned grades from its paired school. DES currently enjoys a unique situation that would not continue under pairing.

• That leaves us with only one arrangement to consider: a seven school K-5 configuration.

• We have such a plan before us. I do not believe that we, the Committee, could develop a more non-biased or well-researched medium-to-long term arrangement of utilizing seven schools.

• Adopting this arrangement, at this time, does not preclude you from further consideration of the feasibility of implementation under budgetary constraints that may be faced. If you would feel more comfortable, make a motion to amend my motion to provide the flexibility that you desire.

• Acting to adopt this arrangement now will at least finalize our discussions of which plan would be implemented if budgetary constraints so permit. If we do not accept a specific configuration arrangement now, we will only be delaying the inevitable. We will devote more time to a process that I do not believe will arrive at a better arrangement than we have before us. Also, if this decision is put off too long, we risk not being able to have the Fishing Cove facility ready should funding be secured to ensure implementation.

• Mr. Mudge, I know that you would like to consider the possibility of a kindergarten center arrangement. It seems clear from the Committee member’s comments last night that you will likely find little support for that arrangement. My guess is that you will be inclined to vote ‘no’ to this motion because it is not your first choice, and I can appreciate that. However, I ask that you consider that instead of opposing this motion because it is not your optimum solution that you consider voting on the merits of this plan, in the context of solutions that are possible to bring forward. I ask the same of those of you who see value in a pairing solution.

• Again, I do not see us coming to a consensus on any arrangement other than a seven school K-5 configuration. I do not see any advantage, only disadvantages with delaying action to adopt a configuration arrangement.

(Below is taken from the Motion Submission Form Submitted by Kevin Mulvey)

Date: February 26, 2003 Agenda Item: Reconfiguration

Committee Member: Kevin Mulvey

I move that:

The School Committee adopt the seven school K-5 reconfiguration plan that was presented by the North Kingstown School Committee Elementary School K-5 Organization Committee to the School Committee on November 13, 2002, with the following caveats:

• That the districting lines for DES may require adjustment to accommodate a continuation of full-day kindergarten, should the Committee decide to continue this program

• That the districting lines may require slight adjustment to accommodate efficiency in busing

• That implementation of the reconfiguration plan be decided separately, by action of the School Committee, upon finalization of budgetary funding matters

Seconded by: Lynne Haft

Discussion was as follows:

  • Barry Martasian stated that he didn’t want anyone to think that he had already made any firm decisions on reconfiguration.  He supports submitting a budget which shows support for seven K-5 schools, but he does not believe he can vote for reconfiguration this year.
  • Denise Coppa has two main concerns.  She agrees in principle, but

1.  She cannot reconcile the two committee reports, and she believes that to be extremely important.

2.  There is a School Committee Policy which states that the School Administration draws the border lines for the school district and then gives the maps to the School Committee for approval; so she cannot support the motion to adopt the K-5 Committee proposal.

  • Bill Mudge’s feeling is that this current seated committee had no dialog with the community regarding this topic.  He recognizes that they had opportunities to go to previous meetings but the new problems such as start times and the preschool at Fishing Cove need to be addressed.
  • Don DeFedele stated that he does support the seven schools and that he did not want to appear “wishy-washy” to the Town Council on this topic.
  • Lynne Haft commended Kevin Mulvey for bringing the motion forward even though she could not vote for it.  She did not feel comfortable committing to it because of budgetary reasons, the COZ, and the situation at Davisville Elementary School.  She said she would be in favor with no time constraints on the motion.
  • Pat Watkins stated that she agrees with the concept of seven elementary schools, and totally agrees with the integration of Kindergarten into the elementary schools because she thinks it is best educationally.  Having been at Davisville Elementary School today, she would oppose any plan that would take full day Kindergarten out of DES.
  • Dr. Halley agreed with Kevin Mulvey in that it would be nice to pass this motion now; however he felt that it was a bit premature.  He felt that the School Committee should table the motion until more information from the SACs could come forward.  He also commended the two advisory committees for the hard work that they did in providing the School Committee with information to help them in making their difficult decisions.
  • Pat Watkins/Lynne Haft motioned to table the K-5 Elementary School Advisory Committee proposal until further information from the school community is brought forward.  The vote on this motion was 6/1 with Kevin Mulvey voting “No”.

VII.         Reports

 

A.            Subcommittee Reports

·         Barry Martasian reported that the LINKS program is looking for a director; that the mentoring program is going strong, however in need of men – children need good male role models; the Community Relations Subcommittee minutes of the first meeting is presented at this meeting, updating the School Committee website was discussed, as was placing a student on the School Committee.

·         Pat Watkins reported that the next COZ meeting will take place on March 6, 2003; and the next Jamestown Subcommittee meeting will be March 5, 2003.

·         Lynne Haft reported that she has been attending the Labor Management Subcommittee meetings; requested that the Policy Subcommittee look into creating a policy for if and when a child goes missing.   In relation to the Community Relations Subcommittee, she has been asking PTO members what they would like to see on the School Committee website, and what they need from the School Committee Secretary in their packets, or if they even need a packet.

 

B.                   RIASC and other Legislative Activity

·         Kevin Mulvey brought forward two bills on transportation being presented in the RI General Assembly by Jamestown Senators which were emails that he received.  (Appendix C and D)

 

IX.                Correspondence and Good News

·         Barry Martasian spoke of emails he received; the DMS breakfast on March 4; letters regarding the Middle School String Program; High School Block Scheduling.  Barry Martasian/Kevin Mulvey motioned to put the High School Block Scheduling on the March 12, 2003 Worksession agenda.  The vote on this motion was 5/2 with Lynne Haft and Pat Watkins voting “No”.

·         Lynne Haft mentioned meeting a recently hired substitute teacher from Cranston who stated that she has never worked in a district with such a high quality of teachers and programs for students.

·         Don DeFedele referred to emails and letters he received; the DMS breakfast celebrating the only middle school in the state recognized as a Regent’s school.  He would like to recognize Boy Scouts of Troop 22, Mark and Matt Burke, on making Eagle Scout.

·         Dr. Halley reported that the Girls High School Gymnastics Team finished second in the State, and has had a top performing team over the past 15 years.

X.                  Comments

·         Dr. Halley stated that since the Budget has been passed, a Budget which reflects the desires of the community, the community needs to contact the Town Council and the school community needs to get its voice heard because the voices that try to keep taxes down are very loud.

·         Terry Ohs stated that she was surprised that the School Committee passed the 2003-04 Budget since the Town Council declared they would not accept the Superintendent’s Budget as it was.

·         Kathy Brown thanked Barry Martasian for placing the High School Block Scheduling on the next agenda.

·         Linda Avanzato disagreed with Dr. Halley’s stance that the Block Scheduling at the High School is not an issue for the School Committee at this point.

 

 

 

 

                                               

XI.                A motion to adjourn to Executive Session pursuant to RIGL 42-46-4 and 42-46-5 (1) and (2) for Personnel issues*, negotiations, discussion and Home Schooling Requests was made by Denise Coppa/Pat Watkins at 10:23 pm, clock counter 3:08:42.  A vote yielded unanimous approval.   The school committee will return to open session following the executive session; however, no business will be conducted.  *At the election of the employee, the personnel matter may be heard in public.

 

                                                                               

                                                                                                Respectfully submitted,

 

 

                                                                                                _______________________________________

                                                                                                Konnie M. Mazur

                                                                                                School Committee Secretary