6:00
PM Executive Session for a Level III Grievance
Pursuant
to RIGL 42-46-4 and 42-46-5 (1) and (2)
7:00 PM Worksession
Central
Administration Building
“Challenging Student Excellence” |
The
I.
Pledge of
Allegiance
II.
Call To
Order The meeting was called to order at
III.
Roll Call Present: Chairperson
Carol
Hueston;
Absent: Pat Watkins
Administration
Present: Daniel J. McGregor, Ph.D., Director of Pupil Personnel
Services ; 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:
James M. Halley, Ed.D, Superintendent of Schools
IV. Presentation New Choral Robes and Governor’s Proclamation: Norma Caiazza
·
High School Senior, Heather Bessie, stepped in
for Norma Caiazza who was at rehearsals for the school production of Cinderella
which is scheduled for March 12 through the 14, 2004. Ms. Bessie brought the new choral robes to
show to the School Committee plus a proclamation from Governor Carcieri. This
proclamation stated that because the North Kingstown High School Concert Choir
had been selected to represent Rhode Island in the 2004 National Festival of the
States WWII Memorial Dedication in Washington DC, May 28 through 31,
2004 would be declared North Kingstown High School Concert Choir
Days in the State of Rhode Island, and encouraged all of Rhode Island
citizens to join the Governor to join him “in recognizing the importance of
these days”. (Appendix A)
·
Kevin Mulvey thanked Ms. Bessie for bringing the
robes; he stated he was especially pleased to see the final result. Ms. Bessie responded that the students were
thrilled to have them.
·
The entire School Committee offered their
congratulations all around for the proclamation from Governor Carcieri, and
Barry Martasian and Denise Coppa proffered invitations for the choir to come
and sing at any School Committee meeting that is convenient for them.
V.
Routine Items
A. Correspondence and Good News
·
Don DeFedele
went over the correspondence that was recently received by the School
Committee:
1)
A
letter to Dr. McGregor from Elizabeth Pinto, the Director of Pupil Services at
the Jamestown School Department regarding their School Support Visit. She commended the “cooperation and collaboration of the
special education staff at
2) A letter from Senator Paul W. Fogarty regarding a bill he has submitted in this legislative session which calls for “a minimum 5% increase in the amount of school aid granted to each school district above the amount received in the previous fiscal year”. The bill goes on to state that “many smaller towns have fallen on the short end of the State’s school aid formula over the past several years” and it’s the senator’s desire that his bill will “close the gap between the amounts of school aid offered to rural school districts as opposed to the State’s urban centers”.
o Kevin Mulvey stated that RIASC will devote the highest level of lobbying against the bill as it does not help the majority of schools in the state.
3) A memo from RIDE Commissioner, Peter McWalters, regarding the fiscal year 2005 charter school aid projections based on the Governor’s budget.
4) Another regarding the state education aid projections based on the Governor’s budget which states that full day Kindergarten and charter aid are fully funded.
o
5) A memo from RIDE’s Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Legislative Relations regarding the preparation and filing of the school calendar.
o
6) Don DeFedele continued with the correspondence by mentioning a letter he alone received from the RI Labor Board rescheduling a hearing. Mr. Daly interjected that this item had been put into abeyance.
7)
He
then mentioned a fax from Celeste Bilotti at RIDE
regarding the School Construction Approval meeting of March 24th. Mr. DeFedele mentioned that
o Bill Mudge disagreed with Mr. DeFedele’s assertion that the Town Council has approved the construction projects.
o Mr. DeFedele responded that the Town Council had indeed approved the submission of the project to RIDE for funding which is what this letter is about.
8)
Next,
Mr. DeFedele mentioned an email from an individual interested in the
proposed bike path at
9) Then, he brought up a letter received from Harriet Powell regarding a phone call she made to the Attorney General’s office questioning the complaints made against the School Committee, Town Council and Superintendent Halley. Mrs. Powell wanted to know why there had not been any reports in the press as to “whether or not the AG’s office considered any of the charges to have merit, or even if any of the cases had been decided one way or another”.
o
o Carol Hueston replied that as Harriet Powell is her mother she was privy to the phone call and stated that her mother is specifically disconcerted with the AG’s office allowing some of the complaints to “fade away”. According to the letter, Mrs. Powell feels that this permits reputations to be “damaged with no chance of recourse, and that, possibly more importantly, those filing charges were getting a free ride and would never be shown to be mistaken or wrong.”
o
·
B. Calendars – Dr. McGregor and Mr. DeFedele went over the calendar for the next two weeks with the School Committee.
C. Personnel Items – There were no items, no discussion, nor action taken.
D. Financial Reports – There were no items, no discussion, nor action taken.
E.
Bids and Awards – There were no items, no discussion,
nor action taken.
VI. Unfinished Business
A. Elementary Report Card Revisions
· Barbara Fitzsimmons, Curriculum Director, reminded the committee that as she had explained during her presentation at the Business Meeting last month, the Elementary Report cards will be sent out each trimester with interim reports similar to the “Team-O-Grams” sent out by the middle schools. The front page of the report card will be personalized to each school with the principal’s name and phone number. The report card has been changed to reflect students’ progress to accepted standards. This report card is the evidence of a committee that labored for two years, and is still meeting. The report card is easier for teachers to use, and easier for parents to read and understand because it is computerized.
· Denise Coppa asked how teachers indicate that the students have improved or fallen off slightly.
· Dr. Fitzsimmons responded that teachers were asked to utilize the comment section and give full explanations.
· Bill Mudge asked if these changes had the support of all the teachers.
· Dr. Fitzsimmons responded that, as with all change, there were a few teachers who were resistant, they now had 5 reports to send out instead of 4, but she expected to have all on board eventually.
· Carol Hueston asked if there why there was no place for parents to make comments.
· Dr. Fitzsimmons replied that the report card envelope had to be signed and returned, not the report card itself. She would see to it that the envelope would have an area for parent comments.
· Parent, Kathy Brown, had questions regarding the section on the Interim Report entitled “Social Responsibility”; she was curious if this equated to the “Work Habits” area on the Report Card.
· Barbara Fitzsimmons replied that the two areas did correlate, and if teachers had additional information, they could add it in the comment area on both the report card and interim report.
· The question arose as to whether or not this report card would be used for special education students, or if there would be the necessity for a different one.
· Dr. Fitzsimmons reported that it was a difficult topic – “is it fair to use this report to evaluate their progress”? The report card works for all but 18% of the school population, and Dr. Fitzsimmons stated that they are still looking for a way to evaluate those students.
· Barry Martasian questioned how the previous report card addressed this issue.
· Dr. Fitzsimmons replied that the grades were asterisked with a written statement. Teachers have stated that they would prefer not to use this current report card for their special education students; however they will need a reporting format.
· Mr. Martasian interjected that the IEP meeting appears to provide the most information to the parents.
· Dr. Fitzsimmons agreed, however parents enjoy receiving reports on their children’s progress. “If we use this one which is based on standards in every classroom, there are some students who will never achieve that standard.”
· Mr. Mudge also agreed with Mr. Martasian in that the IEP meeting is more informative for parents.
· However, Dr. Fitzsimmons felt that “we do not want to be discriminatory by not giving a report card.”
· Mr. DeFedele suggested that this item be moved to the March Business Meeting for further discussion and vote.
B. School Modernization Implementation
·
Mr. DeFedele stated that the School
Modernization Advisory Committee held their first meeting in which they elected
Mr. David Burnham as Chair, and Mr.
· Bill Mudge motioned to appoint a School Committee member as liaison to that committee. Denise Coppa seconded the motion to open the discussion.
· Dr. Coppa initiated the discussion by stating that with other advisory committees, the School Committee found that liaisons from the School Committee adversely influenced discussion, “particularly with the Growth Management Committee”.
· Kevin Mulvey agreed, stating “with my experience with the K-5 Committee, we did not want any representation.” He also said that he would not encourage this.
· Barry Martasian also agreed and stated that he had a similar circumstance on the Capital Improvement Committee, and the then School Committee Chair, Dr. Cirillo sat in on only one meeting.
·
·
Don DeFedele stated that he felt that that the
people for the committee have volunteered and been chosen for the committee,
and a that School Committee liaison is not necessary.
·
Mr. Mudge informed the
·
Carol Hueston stated that as Dave Burnham has
been on both the School Committee and the Town Council, she sees no reason to
“oversee him.”
·
The vote on this motion was 1 in favor and 5
against.
C. 2004-05 School Budget
·
· Mr. Mudge also made a motion to request that Dr. Halley provide the 2002-03 and 2003-04 encumbrances and what they were earmarked for. This motion did not receive a second.
D.
2003-04 School Budget – There were no items, no discussion,
nor action taken.
E.
2003-04 School Department Goals and Objectives – Due to
the fact that the School Committee members are visiting, in groups, all
schools’ PTO meetings to discuss the budget, the KeyWorks meeting scheduled for
VII. New Business
A. Discussion of Student Achievements
· Dr. Barbara Fitzsimmons listed several areas where student achievement was reviewed and documented (Appendix B):
1) Communication
2) Problem Solving
3) Body of Knowledge
4) Responsibility
· Kevin Mulvey stated that he enjoyed seeing DMS students’ stories published on trays at McDonald’s.
· Denise Coppa interjected that “we cannot forget the rest of the kids who are not taking the SAT or going to college.”
· Dr. Fitzsimmons replied that Patti DiCenso, head of the guidance department, has said that some of these students have recently taken steps to go over the SAT and answer the questions; 86% of the students from North Kingstown High School go on to college.
·
Mr. Mudge said that there was a need to keep
track of where parents are not being responsible because that is
important. How do parents get graded?
·
Dr. Fitzsimmons’ reply was that “all parents
want their children to be successful and sometimes they just don’t know how.” “Yes, we would like every parent to be
actively involved, but regardless whether or not they are, we are going to help
the child to be successful.”
· Mr. Martasian insisted that school systems are successful if they offer a welcoming hand to parents.
· Mr. Mudge stated that his concern was that parents are helping their children to achieve these goals.
· Mr. DeFedele suggested that there are teachers who require parental signatures on papers and journal entries, etc.; and therefore these teachers can see that the parents know what their children are doing in class.
At this point in the meeting, a five-minute
break was taken. The meeting resumed at
B. High School Start Time
·
·
Mr. DeFedele agreed with all of Mr. Martasian’s
proposals and suggested that this also be coordinated with Jan Hall-Stinson,
and
·
Dr. Denise Coppa stated that research was done
here in
· Barry Martasian agreed and stated that because of a lack of sleep, children have been misdiagnosed with hyperactivity disorders.
· Dr. Coppa mentioned that five years ago the North Kingstown School Committee looked into this topic, but it was “squelched by parents” because of students’ sports and jobs. Dr. Coppa stated that in preparation for this meeting she contacted the Interscholastic League to determine if they had any specific regulations as when games or practices had to be scheduled. She was informed that the schools themselves made those decisions, and that the League had no rules, so this should not be given as a reason for not changing the High School’s bell time.
· Mr. DeFedele requested that Mr. Martasian get a firm date from Dr. Carskadon for the presentation, and contact Dr. Halley and the Transportation Department to establish bus time schedules.
· Bill Mudge recommended that Barry Martasian also draft a charter for the advisory committee which will be formed out of this special meeting.
·
Mr. DeFedele stated that the advisory committee
would create the charge, and asked that this be moved to the March Business
Meeting for further discussion.
D.
Policies – There were no items, no discussion,
nor action taken.
VIII. Comments
·
·
Cathy
Kaiser RIASC/SORICO meeting on Thursday in the Westerly Library.
·
·
X.
XIII.
Motion to Adjourn was made by
Respectfully
submitted,
_______________________________________
Konnie
M. Mazur
Approved