NORTH KINGSTOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Wednesday, April 15, 2003

7:00 PM Worksession

Central Administration Building 100 Fairway Drive, North Kingstown

“Challenging Student Excellence”

Minutes

I. Pledge of Allegiance

II. Call to Order: Roll Call: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM.

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

Absent: Patricia E. Watkins

Administration Present: James M. Halley, Ed.D, Superintendent of Schools; Barbara A. Fitzsimmons, Ed.D, Curriculum Director; William J. Daly, Director of Human Resources; and Maureen Buck, Controller

Absent: Daniel J. McGregor, Ph.D., Director of Pupil Personnel Services; and Joseph Quinn, Director of Administrative Services

III. Presentation: Donna Thompson: Summer School Program

· Denise Coppa questioned whether or not there were any enrichment programs specifically targeted towards middle school students. Ms. Thompson replied that along with the programs that were offered in the past i.e. Baby Sitting Certification, First Aid, Intro to 6^th Grade, and Intro to Middle School, there was a questionnaire sent to middle school teachers requesting suggestions, and she was awaiting responses.

· Lynne Haft commended Ms. Thompson and the program will be presented to students district wide this summer.

IV. Open Forum:

· High school student, Peter Tausek, came forward to inform the School Committee of the senior class’ displeasure at being denied the privilege of wearing the school colors at graduation.

V. Routine Items:

A. Correspondence and Good News

· Barry Martasian received email regarding school colors, the reconfiguration of schools, and the school budget; a reminder from Jean Larson regarding the art exhibition at the Town Library; an invitation to the cheerleaders’ banquet; and a communication from Toni Silveira regarding class ranking.

· Bill Mudge received the same letter regarding class ranking; the same messages concerning reconfiguration.

· Lynne Haft has “Good News”: four students at Davisville Elementary will receive $50 savings bonds for writing essays about Fair Housing, and they will be receiving their bonds at a recognition dinner at the Coast Guard House; the North Kingstown High School Concert Choir has received the honor of being the choir chosen from the State of RI to sing at the dedication of the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC. Ms. Haft also received the same letters and emails mentioned by Mr. Martasian and Mr. Mudge.

· Kevin Mulvey received the same emails and letters, and would like to mention that his son has artwork in the Library Exhibition.

· Denise Coppa would like to also mention “Good News”: Davisville Elementary School has received two grants from Wal-Mart this week, $1000 for Literacy and $500 worth of shrubs for Earth Day; she received the same letters and emails mentioned by the other members, as well as an invitation from the employee recognition committee, and a letter from RIDE approving the $5,000,000 Capitol Improvement list.

· Don DeFedele received a letter from Troop 22 listing their Eagle Scouts. He would like plaques made in recognition of their achievements which he will present to them. He also received a letter from Pauline Lisi about the students receiving the honor for the Fair Housing essays, and an invitation to Cultural Awareness Day which will be presented in the Media Center on May 8 in the High School.

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

C. Bids and Awards

VI. New Business

A. Gerald Foley: Interim Report on High School Graduation

· Mr. Foley presented his report and explained the process that the High School Seniors go through during their last year in preparation for their graduation.

· Don DeFedele declared that he felt that there was miscommunication regarding the vote that was taken at the March 25, 2003 meeting which upheld the original SIT Committee’s recommendations and the School Committee vote in 2001. The School Committee at that time agreed with the SIT compromise because the majority of the community desired to maintain tradition. Mr. DeFedele chose to honor the desires of the majority, and stated that he will not change his vote until he sees that the community, and not just the students, has their voice heard as well. He did state, however, that he is pleased to see the students at the meeting and that they went about stating their case and bringing it forward to the School Committee in the proper manner.

· Bill Mudge agrees that it is a community issue.

· Lynne Haft thanked Mr. Foley for his report and stated that she feels that the alum need to be honored, however the students need to have the graduation for their own.

· Kevin Mulvey stated that at this time, the policy states that the gowns should be brown for boys and white for girls. He supports the students’ desires to change to the current school colors; however, they need to change the colors of the graduation gowns in the proper manner.

· Mr. DeFedele agreed with this assertion and stated that the change in the colors of the gowns should have been initiated at the first graduation committee meeting.

· Public comment ensued with a letter from The Executive Board of the Class of 2003 being presented to chairperson, Don DeFedele by High School Senior, Mary Rafferty. Included with this letter was a petition with signatures from senior class members. (Appendix A) Ms. Rafferty also answered questions put to her by various committee members.

· Members of the audience spoke in favor and against changing the colors of the gowns worn at graduation.

· Don DeFedele requested that the item be placed on the April 23, 2003 Business Meeting Agenda.

B. SAC Appointment Term of Office – Currently a one year term. There is a suggestion to change to a two year term of office with over lapping terms. After much discussion, the committee agreed to place the item on the April 23, 2003 Business Meeting Agenda.

C. Middle School Enrollment Issues – Kevin Mulvey put this item on the agenda because when he and Pat Watkins were at Wickford Middle School discussing the budget with the PTO, the topic of future population growth came up. He would like to begin the discussion of possible overcrowding now before the issue is critical.

· Kathy Brown commented that the K-5 Elementary School Advisory Committee’s Plan did not address the issue of which elementary schools would feed which middle schools

· Dr. Halley suggested taking a look at districting lines for the middle schools

· The item was continued to the meeting of April 23, 2003.

D. Revisit High School Program of Studies – As Dr. Mort could not be at this meeting, Mr. DeFedele was reluctant to initiate dialogue on the topic; but because it was apparent many members of the audience were present to discuss the issue he requested that Mr. Foley give some background.

· It is evident that music and arts High School students are concerned about removing elective courses out of class ranking.

· This topic is moved to the May 14, 2003 Worksession for further discussion.

E. Discussion: Pre-engineering Class at High School – Per Dr. Halley: 27 students have signed up for the class.

· Bill Mudge would like to know if there is a 4-year syllabus developed for this area of study and where he can obtain one.

· A student from the audience mentioned that pre-med courses and pre-law courses would also be of interest to many students.

· This topic was moved to the April 23, 2003 Business Meeting.

F. 4^th Grade Reading Enrichment – Bill Mudge is requesting a presentation with respect to transition of students falling behind in reading. Dr. Fitzsimmons replied that she could comply with the Committee’s request to have a presentation ready in June.

G. Plan 2004 School Committee Calendar – (Appendix B ) To Business Meeting of April 23, 2003 for adoption

H. Policies - none

VII. Unfinished Business

A. Development of a Community Survey in Relation to the Seven K-5 School

Recommendation – Dr. Halley informed the committee that a public relations firm had looked over the survey and had determined that it was strong. They suggested that the committee establish a scale and have the responders rank the top 4 values. This item is moved to the Business Meeting of April 23, 2003.

Due to the lateness of the hour, no further action was taken on this agenda.

B. 2002-03 School Budget

C. 2003-04 School Budget

D. 2002-03 School Department Goals and Objectives

E. 2003-04 School Department Goals and Objectives

F. School Modernization Advisory Committee

G. Elementary K-5 Organization Advisory Committee

H. Reports

· Subcommittee Reports

· RIASC and Other Legislative Activity

VIII. Comments

· Leila O’Connell feels that a values based survey requires a good deal of time to process and does not believe that the time is there to complete the survey satisfactorily.

· Kathy Brown is concerned that the intent of the survey was not stated in the opening paragraph. She is also interested in the method of distribution as there was some discussion at a previous meeting about having the survey distributed town wide. She would like it to be distributed town wide and have the survey state where one could obtain an additional copy should one need to do so.

IX. A motion to adjourn to Executive Session pursuant to RIGL 42-46-4 and 42-46-5 (1) and (2) for Personnel issues*, negotiations, and Home Schooling Requests was made by Denise Coppa/Lynne Haft at 10:37 pm, clock counter 3:37:09. 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