School Committee Highlights - January 22, 2007

SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING HIGHLIGHTS – January 22, 2007

**School Committee Meeting Minutes are posted to the Scituate Public Schools website, http://www.scituate.k12.ma.us/

Committee member in attendance: Maura Curran, Libby Michaud, Edward Tibbets and Michael Hayes
Administrators Present: Mark Mason (Superintendent), James Kelleher (Asst. Superintendent/Curriculum), and Paul Donlan (Business & Finance).
# of attendees: approximately 10

Special Matters:
a. School Committee Student Representative - Scituate High School Student Representative, Charles Powers and Alternate, Melanie Collins were introduced to the Committee. Their input is appreciated and valuable.

b. English Language Arts Pilot Program was presented by Dr. Kelleher, Ms. Wells, Wampatuck, and Ms. LeBlanc, Gates. The Task Force of over 30 teachers has been working on this project for 3 years. 60 teachers in grades K-12 have been piloting various programs and the Task Force has unanimously selected Prentice Hall for grades 6-12 while they are piloting both Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin for grades K-5. The English Language Arts Program (ELA) is critical to our schools. We have been using the materials in grades K-5 since 1993 and 6-12 since 1994. The books are older than many of our students. This new program offers a balanced approach of phonics and whole language skills. In the younger grades 50-60% of a typical student’s day (up to 3 hours) is related to reading and writing. These new programs will offer consistency across the entire system and allow our teachers to be more efficient and effective in the classroom, no more copying, borrowing and creating their own materials and tools while spending their own out-of-pocket money.

The ELA program accomplishes the following:
Consistency across all 4 elementary schools
Literature Centered with a variety of genres for different types of comprehension
Meets Federal requirements for English as a Second Language
(ESL) development (50-75 students/year in Scituate require this type of service)
Materials for gifted and talented
Adapted Readers for lower reading levels
Writing Lessons – grammar and writing workbooks
Bench marks in place to measure success
Meets MCAS Standards
Comprehensive K-12 program, all students at all levels benefit

The publisher has been loaning the materials to Scituate for the past 3 years, but the time has come for us to invest the $500,000 to purchase the ELA program. The cost of textbooks keeps going up every year and the longer we wait the more expensive it will be, also the old materials from 1993 are no longer in print and can not be purchased.

Routine Matters:
a. SCAMPS Overview – Joanne McIntosh the Director of the SCAMPS program for the past 11 years presented the plan to get the program back in the black by year end. Unfortunately, the program did not receive $9,000 worth of funding and several accounts had become overdue. There are 135 children involved in the after-school program, a 30% increase in enrollment. The self-supporting program is very successful. The board approved the plan.

b. FY’08 Budget Cycle – Paul Donlan reviewed the School Budget that has been presented to the Selectmen and Advisory Committees. The $27,006,187 budget would include 20 staff members (including 5 Teachers at SHS, 4 Special Ed Teachers a result of No Child Left Behind, 3 Reading Specialists, and 2 Teachers at Gates), and $500,000 for the ELA Program for grades K-12. The Gates position would reinstate the Industrial Technology Teacher which was cut last year. Industrial Technology is covered on the MCAS test. The budget did not include Assistant Principals or Librarians.
The $300,000 for desks and furniture, language lab upgrades and technology and equipment were not part of the total budget and would be part of a Town wide Debit-Exclusion Override figure. These items have been part of the budget for the past 6 years, but have always been cut. The Board approved unanimously to keep the $500,000 for the ELA program in the Operational Budget and put the $300,000 for equipment in the Debit Exclusion Budget. Dr. Kelleher presented an overview of the curriculum maintenance budget for the future which would be possible with the $500,000 for curriculum in the school budget. The increase to curriculum would help us to become as competitive as our neighboring school districts and allow the schools to reinstate programs that have been eliminated or not implemented.

c. Out-of-State Field Trip Request – Madame DuFault, Gates French Teacher and Dick Blake, Gates Principal, requested that 28 8th graders be allowed to travel to Quebec City for a cultural learning experience. The Board unanimously approved the request.

Superintendent’s Report:
Mr. Mason is scheduling a community meeting with Denise Kennedy from the State Office of Campaign and Political Finance to provide guidance to public employees and officials as well as citizens on the application of the laws governing override campaigns. Time and date to follow.

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.