7:00 PM Worksession
Central
Administration Building
“Challenging Student Excellence” |
I.
Meeting
Organization
A.
Call to Order Pledge
of Allegiance
Don DeFedele called the meeting
to order at
B. Roll Call Present: Chairperson
Barry
Martasian; Kevin Mulvey; Pat Watkins; and Cathy Kaiser,
Absent:
Carol Hueston; Bill Mudge
Administration
Present: James M. Halley, Ed.D, Superintendent of Schools; Barbara A.
Fitzsimmons, Ed.D, Curriculum Director; William J. Daly, Director of Human Resources
Absent: Daniel J.
McGregor, Ph.D., Director of Pupil Personnel Services; Joseph F. Quinn, Jr.,
Director of Administrative Services; and Maureen Buck, Controller
C. Calendars Don DeFedele and Dr. Halley discussed the important dates in April with the School
Committee.
D.
Presentations
Eric Seabury – To be continued on to
II.
Routine
Items Correspondence
Mr. DeFedele introduced the following correspondence into the record:
§
An invitation to the School to Career Expo at
the Quidnesset Country Club on
§ An invitation to view the artwork of the students from the district at the North Kingstown Free Library from April 3rd through April 29th.
§
Email from Kathleen Brown (Appendix A) regarding
Destination Imagination
§
A letter from a parent regarding an issue at the
high school; Mr. DeFedele stated he would talk to Mr. Foley about this and get
back to the School Committee.
§
An invitation to the Employee Recognition Dinner
on
§
RIASC/RISSA 11th Annual Meeting to be
held at the
III.
Unfinished
Business
A.
School Modernization Implementation
§ Dr. Halley stated that the minutes of the School Modernization Advisory Subcommittee have been made available to the School Committee (Appendix B)
§ There is a meeting this evening of the Advisory Subcommittee in the Wickford Middle School Library where RGB will be available to answer any questions that the committee may have.
§ Barry Martasian and Denise Coppa both stated that they felt that the minutes were “encouraging”.
B. 2004-05 School Budget
§
There is a Town Council School Budget discussion
on
§ Dr. Halley encouraged parents and the school community to contact the Town Council and let them know how they feel about keeping the school budget intact.
C.
2003-04 School Budget – No items, no discussion, nor
action taken
D. 2003-04
IV.
New
Business
A. Student Safety and the Use of Breathalyzers at High School Dances
§ Chief of Police, Steven Fage, mentioned that the high school staff had requested possibly using breathalyzers at school dances in light of recent highway fatalities and the use of alcohol at dances. Chief Fage stated that the necessity to use breathalyzers would be determined by school administration should there be a “reasonable suspicion” of student impairment. The police would then take the student into custody for “safe keeping only,” and then finally be turned over to parents. Chief Fage said that the high school is planning on using the breathalyzers at the April 24 dance.
§ Denise Coppa asked if some type of certification was to be given for school officials who took the training in the use of the breathalyzer equipment.
§ Chief Fage stated that no certification was required. Once school staff, utilizing their training, makes the determination that a student is impaired, police become involved and confirm the school officials’ findings. The police will also aggressively investigate the origin of the alcoholic beverages.
§ Denise Coppa stated that she wanted to make sure that the civil rights of the students will be protected, as she is certain that the school department wants everyone to know that this is the case.
§ Chief Fage responded that there will be no arbitrary testing. Only students who are suspected to be under the influence will be tested.
§ Barry Martasian asked if there were any other communities who use breathalyzers at school functions.
§
Detective Donald Barrington responded that
§ Pat Watkins questioned what would happen if a student refused the breathalyzer test.
§ Vice Principal, Paul Lombardi responded that because the school administrators will be trained to determine if the student is under the influence, and this will be confirmed by the police, the parents will be notified to come and pick up the student.
§ Don DeFedele wanted to know if the breathalyzers would only be used at dances, or if the school administration had plans to use them at athletic functions, etc.
§ Chief Fage stated that he had proposed their use for athletic functions as well.
§
Paul Lombardi said that they would be used at
the upcoming dance on April 24 as well as the proms, but he is not sure about their
use beyond this year.
§
§ Mr. Lombardi stated that this was indeed correct.
§ Mr. DeFedele then asked if the training for administration would be done every year.
§ Chief Fage stated that he did not anticipate the need, but if it was found to be necessary, it would of course be done.
§ Denise Coppa questioned if proms are out of town do school officials have permission from local police to use breathalyzers?
§ Chief Fage stated that wherever the prom is held essentially becomes school property, and therefore the school officials are responsible. The police in other communities are well versed in these types of situations and would know how to support the administration in their use of breathalyzers at the proms.
§ Kevin Mulvey commented that as this was a high school administrative procedure he felt that it was only up to the School Committee to make a statement of support, and not necessary for them to vote on this issue.
§ Don DeFedele stated that he agreed with Mr. Mulvey’s assertion.
§ Denise Coppa said that she believed that the School Committee did not have to legally approve the item; however, she certainly did support it.
§ Barry Martasian agreed, however he said he would also like to know if and when the school stopped using breathalyzers at dances.
§ Mr. DeFedele asked for a motion of support from the School Committee.
§ Kevin Mulvey motioned to support the administration and High School’s use of breathalyzers at school functions. Pat Watkins seconded this motion which passed with a unanimous vote.
B.
2005
§
Changes were made to November dates to hold
meetings on first and third Wednesdays of month so as to not interfere with the
Thanksgiving holiday.
§
The calendar was moved to the April 21st
Business Meeting for approval.
C.
Foreign Language Textbook Adoption and Curriculum –
Moved to the
D.
Policies
1.
NSBA #IJNDB Technology and Electronic Communication
Systems Policy
§
§
Don DeFedele said that this type of policy was a
hot topic at the NSBA conference last year as well as this year. He stated that this policy is consistent with
policies and sample policies from other schools. Important to realize that school department
is “not monitoring every email or phone conversation that goes by”. Mr. DeFedele also feels it is vitally
important to have a user agreement that each user reads and signs off to.
§
Pat Watkins commented that she was also
interested in the article in this morning’s paper. She stated that she is a union employee and
her employer has a very similar policy.
She said that her supervisors have the ability to look at her hard drive
and see what she’s doing.
§
Barry Martasian found this a “real touchy issue”
and cautioned the School Committee to “really understand the research on
this.” He asked where he could find the
policies mentioned by Mr. DeFedele as he felt there was a possibility of
“alienating teachers from the administration.”
§
Mr. Mulvey reminded the School Committee that the
policy had been reviewed by committee’s attorney.
§
Denise Coppa suggested making the user agreement
part of the regulations that are the guidelines for the policy.
§
Pat Watkins mentioned that a union leader at her
place of work was using email during negotiations to inform union members of
what was taking place. She was taken to
task and lost her job.
§
§
Pat Watkins agreed that the problem was more the
time of day the emails were sent, and not the content of the emails.
§
Dr. Halley stated that there was a vast amount
of legislation, particularly federal, and case law that defines what internal union
business is and what labor management relations issues are. What is in the policy is dealing with
internal union business rather than labor management relations. In most organizations management is not to be
involved in internal union business nor is management to support internal union
business.
§
Don DeFedele commented that “we will never stop
violations of this policy, however now the administration has the ability to do
something about it.”
§
Dr. Halley said that a policy has to be clear
enough so that it can legally hold up.
§
Denise Frederick, middle school tech educator,
stated that there is an Acceptable Use Policy posted for students and teachers
in classrooms and computer labs. She
knows of extremely few cases of abuse, and questioned if this new policy will supercede
that tech policy.
§
Don DeFedele reiterated that all users must sign
the user agreement.
§
Teacher James Viner asked if he didn’t sign the
agreement could he use his home email address instead.
§
Dr. Halley stated that signing the agreement
could be a condition of employment.
§
Robert Sullivan, President of NEA/NK, questioned
why unions were set apart for comment in the policy.
§
Kevin Mulvey stated that this was so because the
email system should be for school business only. The unions are identified so that it is clear
because much of their business is extraneous from school business.
§
Peggy Todd, Vice President of Elementary
Teachers, felt that more discussion on this policy was needed. She works with scholarships which is
association business, and does the majority of this by email.
§
Kevin Mulvey agreed. What he was referring to was union business
that becomes detrimental to the schools needed to be outlined in the policy.
§
Don DeFedele agreed and stated that it was not
the School Committee’s intention to shut off communication.
§
April Brunelle thanked Barry Martasian for
opening the discussion and wanted to be clear on who was doing the monitoring
of the emails.
§
Denise Coppa suggested paring the policy down to
a bare minimum.
§
Pat Watkins agreed, and suggested that the
School Committee submit the policy to the Policy Subcommittee and have it ready for the next Worksession in May.
§
Mr. DeFedele asked for a consensus to this
suggestion from the committee which he received.
2.
#IJNDB-R Regulation for Unacceptable Use of
Department Technology and Electronic Communication Systems – To the Policy
Subcommittee with the above policy.
At this point in the
meeting, a ten minute break was taken.
The meeting resumed at
3.
NSBA #JICD.2 Prevention of Harassment, Intimidation
or Bullying
§
Don DeFedele questioned why bus stops were not
included in the policy.
§
Dr. Halley responded that he specifically asked
that bus stops be taken out because of the legal ramifications involved. School administrators currently deal with bus
stop issues as it is.
§
Mr. DeFedele stated that he would have liked to
have seen more people stay for this discussion as these policies are very
important. What is new in the policy is
a report on the incidents of bullying in the schools. This will be given to the School Committee on
a semi-annual basis.
§
Bill Daly mentioned that there is a difficulty
in dealing with anonymous reports. They
cannot be shared with the bully because they can easily deny it. These anonymous reports should not be
allowed.
§
Mr. DeFedele agreed. The School Department can only go so far, he
said. Parents should be asked, “What is
worse, should your child continue to be bullied or allow us to investigate and
there is the possibility that your child will be retaliated against?”
§
Suggestions for amendments were made such as
removing the phrase “at school” in the definition.
§
Pat Watkins/Denise Coppa motioned to move this
item to the Business Meeting of
4.
NSBA #JICD.1 Student Policy on Sexual Harassment
§
Title will be changed to “Sexual Harassment
Involving Students”
§
Bill Daly stated that parents of accused
students want charges in writing.
§
Denise Coppa replied that confidentiality laws
preclude the school department from giving out that information.
§
Kevin Mulvey agreed saying that the school
department should conduct the investigation up to that point.
§
Pat Watkins questioned if a school investigation
had the same weight as a legal investigation, as only until a legal investigation
is completed is the documentation available.
§
Dr. Halley stated that is correct, if it is
unresolved it is separate from any personnel or student file.
§
Pat Watkins/Denise Coppa motioned to move this
item to the Business Meeting of
5.
#JICD.1-R Regulation for Student Sexual Harassment - Move to Business Meeting of
6.
NSBA #
7.
#GBEBC-R Regulation for Gifts to and Solicitation by
Staff – Move to Policy Subcommittee for review.
8.
#IJOC-R Regulation for School Volunteers – Move
to
Because of the lateness of the
hour, no further action was taken on this agenda.
V.
Reports
A.
Special Reports
B.
Standing/Subcommittee Reports
C.
Ad hoc Committee Reports
VI.
Committee
Member/Citizen’s Comments
·
Barry
Martasian felt that it was an excellent meeting and that democracy was
served. He wished that there was more
community attendance to see this.
·
Pat
Watkins mentioned Spirit Day and how well it was attended. She was disappointed that it was not
mentioned that the Concert Choir was representing
·
Dr.
Halley mentioned that the High School received the Sportsmanship Award for the
5th time.
·
High
School Jazz Band and Davisville Middle School Jazz Band awards – Dr. Halley
sent letters of congratulations and to Destination Imagination students as
well.
·
Kathy
Brown questioned if there would be changes down the road regarding reading
coaches at the School Committee level and how she could get involved if she
were interested. Mrs. Brown was advised
to discuss her questions with Curriculum Director, Barbara Fitzsimmons.
·
Dr.
Halley responded to this question by stating that there was a change to the
staffing in response to NCLB and change to Reading Coach is in process. It will come to the School Committee as a
report.
VII.
Motion to Adjourn was made by
.
Respectfully
submitted,
_______________________________________
Konnie
M. Mazur