Wednesday, November 5, 2003

7:00 PM Worksession

Central Administration Building                                                                                          100 Fairway Drive, North Kingstown

“Challenging Student Excellence”

 

Minutes

 

Prior to this evening’s meeting, a reception was held to honor Stony Lane Art teacher, Timothy Belt.  Mr. Belt was named Elementary Art Teacher of the Year by the Rhode Island Art Education Association, which recognizes one Art Educator annually at the elementary level.  This award honors Tim for his accomplished teaching and guidance in art education.  Mr. Belt has taught in North Kingstown elementary schools for more than 27 years, and is currently the full time art teacher at Stony Lane School.  Dr. Halley and Don DeFedele extended the administration and School Committee’s pride and congratulations to a well deserving award recipient.

 

 

                                               I.      Pledge of Allegiance

                                             II.      Call To Order The meeting was called to order at 7:07 PM.

                                           III.      Roll Call                          Present:  Chairperson Don DeFedele, Vice Chairperson Dr. Denise Coppa,

                                              Carol Hueston, Barry Martasian, Bill Mudge, Kevin Mulvey, Pat Watkins              

                                              Absent:  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; Maureen Buck, Controller

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

 

                                           IV.      Open Forum – No audience member participation

 

                                             V.      Routine Items

 

A.                  Correspondence and Good News

·         Bill Mudge would like to add an email from parent Kathy Brown to these minutes (Appendix A)

·         Don DeFedele mentioned a letter from the Auditor General that has become an agenda item (New Business Item A), and an invitation to the governor’s Education Summit on November 19^th.

·         Dr. Halley would like to interject some good news:  Davisville Middle School was named a Regents School this week for the third year in a row.

 

B.                   Calendars – Dr. Halley went over the calendars for the next two weeks with the School Committee.  Bill Daly mentioned that there will be a meeting of NKAPP on November 18^th.

 

Don DeFedele suggested that the School Committee move item V. H.  New Business – Full Day Kindergarten to this point on the agenda.  There were no objections to this suggestion.

 

V.  New Business

H.  Full Day Kindergarten

·         Dr. Halley opened the discussion by stating that the law for kindergarten enrollment goes into effect with the next school year as kindergarten students must be 5 years old by 9/1/2004.  There will be a decrease in the total number of kindergarten students because of that.  There will be a savings over the next few years as these students enter elementary school and he would like the School Committee to consider full day Kindergarten for the district.  Currently, the pilot project at Davisville Elementary School appears to be very successful.  These full day kindergarteners seem more prepared for first grade.

·         Kevin Mulvey stated that he requested this item be placed on this agenda in order to have a discussion started so that a vote could be taken at the next business meeting in order to include full day kindergarten in next year’s budget planning.

·         Don DeFedele requested further information from Barbara Fitzsimmons, Curriculum Director.  Dr.. Fitzsimmons stated that she had provided a couple of website offerings to the School Committee for their perusal.  The limited testing that is done on full day K students does show that they are more fully prepared for first grade.  In her own experience, first grade teachers “run up to me to tell me that you have to know that it is glaringly obvious which students have gone to full day K.  They write three sentence papers!”

·         Kevin Mulvey was happy for this news, however stated that he was reluctant to ask Dr. Halley to develop a budget with a program that the School Committee had not voted on.

·         Dr. Halley reminded Mr. Mulvey that the School Committee did not receive the budget until January, and as he knew the views of the School Committee on this topic, he was prepared to include full day Kindergarten in the budget.

·         Don DeFedele stated that the December Worksession could be devoted solely to this item.

·         Bill Mudge stated that he would like to know the cost of the program before having it go to the community.  He would also like to see documented evidence of the success of the pilot program at Davisville Elementary School.

·         Barbara Fitzsimmons replied that there is an increasing amount of data available.  “We will be assessing the Kindergarten students at the beginning and the end of the year to see who will need more assistance.  This will be available in May.”

·         Barry Martasian stated that there is data out there online.  He read a report which followed a child from full day Kindergarten through grade 8.  The report stated that the child benefited greatly socially.  Mr. Martasian stated that his main concerns were drawbacks for personnel, no redistricting, “and I’d like to have a comfort zone – I’d like to have half day available as well…”

·         Dr. Coppa mentioned that the School Committee had talked about not making full day Kindergarten mandatory, and having the possibility of half day available for those parents who wished to send their child for half the day only.

·         Kevin Mulvey questioned dismissal times in that scenario.

·         Dr. Halley stated that those students who opted for half day would be dismissed at their half day dismissal time, while the others would remain in class until the close of school.

·         Barbara Fitzsimmons replied that Davisville Elementary’s pilot program started out with that type of option, but by the third week all of the children were involved with the full day program.

·         The question arose as to how much aid was allotted by the state per child for full day Kindergarten.  Maureen Buck replied that the amount is $500 per child.

·         Don DeFedele again suggested that this item be moved to the December 5, 2003 Worksession.

·         Gen Meegan, Reading Specialist at Davisville Elementary School, commented that reading gains this year are tremendous.  “I’m hoping that this is because of great Kindergarten teaching.”

 

V. Routine Items

 

C.                   Financial Reports

 

1.        Status Report of School Fund Capital Reserve For Capital Improvement

·         Bill Mudge opened the discussion stating that he was concerned about the changes he saw in the reports since their last distribution to the School Committee.  He mentioned that over $913,000 was transferred from the Debt Service Fund into the School Capital Reserve Fund by the Town Council on June 24, 2002, and yet never reflected in that fund.  Mr. Mudge supplied his copy of the minutes of the June 24, 2002 Town Council meeting where this fact is stated when he was asked by Maureen Buck, Controller, from where he was getting his facts (Appendix B).  Dr. Halley recalled the issue and stated that the funds were immediately used for payment on the new high school.  Mr. DeFedele noted that the Town Council’s minutes reflect that this is what the funds were earmarked for. 

·         Mr. Mudge was concerned as to why the administration insisted that there was no money to fix the elementary school roofs when this clearly indicates that this in fact was not the case, and that there was obviously over $900,000 available.

·         Dr. Halley stated that the money was committed to the High School, and as there was no way of knowing what the final cost would be, the money could not be used on the roofs of other schools.

 

2.        Monthly Deficit Monitoring Report

·         Bill Mudge stated that the School Department spent over $100,000 to remove mold over the last three months.  He would like to know when it is going to be included as a line item on this report, as law requires it.

·         Maureen Buck stated that the law required it only if it was in excess of the adopted purchase services budget.

 

3.        Year to Date Expenditure Report

·         Don DeFedele questioned whether the $723,258.02 in the Transfer column on page 2 reflected the monies required to do the work on the elementary school roofs this fall.  Mrs. Buck replied in the affirmative.

 

D.                  Bids and Awards – none

 

VII.  New Business

 

A.                  Exceeding 5.5% Tax Levy – Auditor General’s Guidelines (RI Law 44-5-2 which states towns may levy taxes in excess of 5.5% only under emergency conditions – Appendix C)

·         Dr. Halley said that pensions for the 2004-05 budget will be increased by $373,000 and he stated that the School Committee should take the position that unfunded mandates should be excluded from any cap.

·         Don DeFedele stated that the School Committee should show the legislature how it feels about such unfunded mandates by taking an official position.

·         Pat Watkins approved and said, “Many unfunded mandates don’t give us this kind of time”, meaning between the date of the letter (October 6, 2003) and budget planning in January.

·         Don DeFedele agreed and advised that the School Committee draft a position paper.

·         Pat Watkins stated that other school districts might be interested in getting behind the issue and “our representative to SORICO could take this to them as they are a good advocate.”

·         Don DeFedele will approach the Town Manager to discuss how best to broach this topic with the Town Council, as they might also be interested in getting behind the position paper because the issue affects town finances as well.

 

B.                   Deficit Monitoring Report – School Committee would like to move this to a meeting when Cindy Olobri, Finance Director for the Town of North Kingstown, would be able to attend to enter into the discussion and advise on this topic and the 5.5% Tax Levy law.  She is currently engaged with the firefighters’ union arbitration.

 

C.                   Teacher Code of Conduct – Move to January Worksession

D.                  Discussion Pertaining to Conduct of School Committee Members

·         Bill Mudge started the discussion of this topic by again requesting, as he did at the October 22, 2003 Business Meeting, how Dr. Halley felt that Mr. Mudge acted in an unethical manner as a School Committee member.

·         Pat Watkins objected with a point of order and requested that personalities not become an issue.

·         Don DeFedele stated that Dr. Halley brought this concern to the School Committee so Mr. DeFedele asked Mr. Martasian to do research as it is not a personal issue.  He placed the item on the agenda for all members to discuss, and stated that Mr. Martasian had prepared a power point presentation regarding Ethics for School Committees (Appendix D), which contained RI State law, NK School Committee Policy, as well as guidelines from the National School Boards Association.

·         Mr. Mudge demanded an answer to his request with which Mr. DeFedele refused to comply, and requested that Mr. Martasian go on with his presentation.  At this point, Mr. Mudge left the room.  He returned to his seat at the end of the presentation.

·         Dr. Coppa did not feel that the School Committee’s time was best served by watching Mr. Martasian’s presentation. Mr. DeFedele disagreed, and Mr. Martasian continued.

·         At the conclusion, Kevin Mulvey and Pat Watkins both agreed that the School Committee policies needed to be updated.

·         Don DeFedele agreed with this assertion and stated that “there are some issues that we specifically need to have policy on, but are we going to change the policy itself?”

·         Pat Watkins stated that within the Policy Manual guidelines for the chair would be helpful if added.  She added that she would be willing to “brainstorm” with Mr. DeFedele “to come up with a list of thoughts to present to the committee.”

·         Carol Hueston agreed with this stating, “I think it is a good idea, and needs to be written down someplace.”  The chair’s guidelines should be for each future chairperson, and should be consistent.

·         Bill Mudge asserted, “The State rules are succinctly clear.  To think that we could put something in writing that would be any better” would be arrogant.  He also claimed that he could not agree with this NSBA statement in the presentation: Abiding by majority decisions of the committee, while retaining the right to seek changes through ethical and constructive channels. Mr. Mudge in addition refuses to go along with the School Committee to promote the RGB Feasibility Study which would modernize 5 schools but would necessitate a $45,000.000 bond to NK voters.

·         Barry Martasian tried to explain to Mr. Mudge the need for him to form a united front with the Committee.

·         Mr. Mudge responded, “I can’t do that!”  Mr. Mudge also wanted the record to show: “Before we leave this item I want Dr. Halley to state how I was undermining the committee. I want Dr. Halley to state in what way I acted unethically.”

·         Don DeFedele replied, “I am not going to turn the School Committee meeting into a ‘dog and pony show’.”

·         “I have the right to have him state what his concerns are and to follow it up in writing,” was Mr. Mudge’s response.

·          Mr. DeFedele then turned this over to the School Committee to see if there was any consensus.  The response from the committee was “No”.  Mrs. Watkins again restated that personalities should not become an issue in School Committee meetings.

 

E.                   Use of E-Mail by School Committee Members – The Attorney General’s office has requested that the North Kingstown School Committee draft a policy on this item and send it to them for review.  Dr. Halley suggested that the Policy Subcommittee meet with Ray Spears for this purpose.  Pat Watkins is aware of other districts in New England who have set policies for teachers and students, etc. for this purpose.  She will access this information and make it available for the Policy Subcommittee for their meeting.

 

F.                   Discussion on Fiscal Terminology

·         Dr. Halley presented a draft entitled “Budget Process” which basically will define for the public what the budget process is.  He was hoping to have this fully discussed when Cindy Olobri is available to come and meet with the School Committee.

·         Don DeFedele suggested that the paper was excellent and should be later adopted as a position paper.

·         The School Committee agreed, and the item was moved to the November 19, 2003 Business Meeting for adoption.

 

G.                   Discussion on School Committee Agenda

·         Don DeFedele opened the discussion by stating that according to School Committee policy, the chair and Superintendent were the ones who were to place items on the agenda.  He liked to keep it open to all members of the committee and that is why he offered them the option of suggestions at meetings.

·         Mr. DeFedele and Pat Watkins will discuss this item when they are “brainstorming” other policy matters to see if there is anything that needs to be changed.

 

VIII.        Unfinished Business

 

A.                  School Modernization Implementation

·         Kevin Mulvey asked what the next step would be regarding the remodeling projects planned for Wickford Elementary, Davisville Elementary, and Wickford Middle School.

·         Dr. Halley responded that he asked Glenn Stinson to reactivate the School Modernization Committee and ask Harriett Powell, Joe Kochhan, and Tom Grennan of the Asset Management Commission to also join them.  The next step would be to specify projects and work with RGB on models and diagrams with costs and recommendations to present to the Town Council for bonding referendum.  “Essentially the Modernization Committee would be the advocacy group for the project.”

·         Barry Martasian was interested in knowing when a study of the fields and grounds of the schools would take place.

·         Dr. Halley assured him that that was already occurring.

·         Bill Mudge was curious why Dr. Halley chose these particular members of the Asset Management Commission to join the School Modernization Committee.

·         Dr. Halley stated that he felt that “we should have a cross section of the community.”

·         Kathy Brown asked “No matter what happens it is agreed that construction is years away – correct?” Dr. Halley responded: “Two years.”  Mrs. Brown continued: “What are we going to do in the mean time? I would hate to think that students that are in these schools now are suffering educationally simply because they must wait for school improvements.”

 

B.                   Necessity of Construction Statement – Blank document provided for School Committee’s perusal; Document dated November 6, 2003 titled “Renovations & additions to existing Davisville Elementary School and construction of new 550 student middle school or renovations and additions to existing Wickford Middle School” also enclosed for School Committee’s review.

·         Bill Mudge requested that this copy be put on the January Worksession

·         Denise Coppa stated that “since it was already submitted why do we need to talk about it?  The form we submit is from the DOE.”

·         Bill Mudge responded that he questions the input in data on the form.

·         The School Committee agreed to remove the item from the January Worksession

 

C.                   DE, SL, FP Roof Contract Work

·         Bill Mudge requested the status of the elementary school roofs “as we stand today”

·         Dr. Halley gave the following outline

o        Stony Lane – end of the project; however we have run into weather trouble

o        Forest Park to start on the weekend; Professional Development day on Monday; workers to work next weekend and then all of Thanksgiving weekend; shouldn’t be as difficult as Davisville Elementary as they do not have to go through the entire roof

·         Bill Mudge would like to know the cost of the clean up and testing at Davisville Elementary School.

·         Dr. Halley responded that those figures are not available as of yet; however, the extra days lost will be made up.

·         Bill Mudge suggested the contractor might have some responsibility for penetrating the roof.

·         Don DeFedele and Denise Coppa agreed with this assertion.

·         Bill Mudge continued with, “Dr. Halley stated that I delayed the award of the contract and I would like to hear what he has to say.”

·         Don DeFedele did not allow much further discussion on this matter.

 

D.                  2003-04 School Budget – No Discussion

E.                   2003-04 School Department Goals and Objectives – Next KeyWorks Meeting: November 12, 2003

 

F.                   School Security – No Discussion.  Mr. Mudge stated that he was not prepared to discuss this item at this time.  Mr. DeFedele asked if the item could be removed from future agenda until Mr. Mudge was ready, and he agreed.

 

Even though the entire agenda was not discussed, Pat Watkins/Carol Hueston made a motion to adjourn the meeting to Public Comments at 10:00 pm. Vote 6/1 Bill Mudge voting “no”.

 

  IX.         Comments

·         Bill Mudge would like to extend his appreciation of the excellent presentation of the Teacher of the Year Award to Kathleen Mellor this past week.  The Governor put in an appearance at Davisville Middle School, and it was an excellent showing for a worthy recipient.   However, Mr. Mudge would like someone to look into the paint at DMS; it could do with some refurbishing.

·         Mr. Mudge would also like an overview by the Superintendent or Mr. McGregor regarding the computer program documentation special education evaluations.  He would like a presentation of the program for SELAC, and he would like to know how much the software cost.

 

X.         Motion to Approve Home Schooling Requests was made by Pat Watkins/Carol Hueston in order to refrain from having to adjourn to executive session.  Vote on this motion: 7/0.

 

XI.        Motion to Adjourn, Vote 7/0, made by Pat Watkins/Kevin Mulvey at 10:09 pm. No clock counter available as the recording equipment was experiencing technical difficulties.

 

                                                                                                Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                                _______________________________________

                                                                                                Konnie M. Mazur

                                                                                                School Committee Secretary

 

 

From: Kathy & Win Brown <wickfordbrowns@earthlink.net>

Date: Tue Nov 4, 2003 10:14:41 PM US/Eastern

To: <Carol_Hueston@NKSD.NET>, <Kevin_Mulvey@NKSD.NET>,

Patricia_Watkins@NKSD.NET>, <Denise_Coppa@NKSD.NET>,

Barry_Martasian@nksd.net>, <BILL_MUDGE@NKSD.NET>, bmudge2@cox.net

Cc: <Don_DeFedele@NKSD.NET>

Subject: RGB Priority Summary document

>

At the last School Committee Business meeting (Wed., Oct. 22), you all know how concerned I became when I read the RGB Priority Summary document that Dr. Halley distributed during the meeting.  When I quickly reviewed the copy of the document, I noticed several inaccuracies in the document and brought this up during closing comments.  I was assured that the document "would go no further", that it was "irrelevant" to the discussion, that the inaccuracies didn't matter because the document was not being used and would not be distributed further.  I accepted that and therefore did not pursue having the document corrected.

>

A few days later at the town council meeting (Mon. Oct. 27), I was very surprised when the town council held up and referenced a copy of this document.  I thought I should send this email since all members of the school committee were not present at this meeting, and even those that were there may not have realized the summary document had been distributed to the council.  It had been included with "The RGB Report".

>

I had a phone conversation about this summary document with Don last week and he said he would contact the town council president.  He said he would make it clear that the school committee did not use the summary document to reach any decision.  I felt they should also be notified that it contained errors, but he did not concur.

>

The night of the council meeting I felt very betrayed.  I was told one thing during the school committee meeting, and the opposite happened. 

My primary concern is that an inaccurate document is in circulation.  As the committee has stated over the last year trust needs to be rebuilt, and to me, this undermines progress made.

>

Thank you for your time, I felt it was important all school committee members were notified of the fate of the RGB Summary Priority document.

>

Kathy

>