Permanent Minutes

PERMANENT MINUTES

TOPSFIELD SCHOOL COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING PROCTOR SCHOOL LIBRARY OCTOBER 3, 2013 7:30 PM

Members Present: Susan Archer (Chairperson), Katherine Carlson, Rosemarie Lucey and Gordie Spater Members Absent: Joe Quigley Others Present: Dr. Bernard Creeden (TRI TOWN UNION Superintendent), Christine Elliott (TRI TOWN UNION Director of Curriculum), Steve Greenberg (TRI TOWN UNION Assistant Superintendent of Operations) and Sarah O’Leary, Michelle Costa and Larry MacElhiney (Principals, Proctor School and Steward School and Acting Principal, Steward School, respectively) Dick Gandt (Selectman), Kathy O’Brien (Tri-Town Transcript) Aimee Mitchell (TESPTO Co-President) and Ellen Gaskell (Recording Secretary) 1. ROUTINES: a. Call to Order: Chairperson S. Archer called the meeting to order at 7:31pm. b. Remarks from the Public: None 2. REPORTS: a. Reports from Other Committees: None b. Reports of the Building Principals: i. Larry MacElhiney, Acting Principal Steward School 1. It was a lot of fun to be back; M. Costa returned October 1st . It is the 50th anniversary of Steward School. Mr. MacElhiney found a scrapbook. January 1963 was the official opening of the school. A year-long celebration is planned. There will be a focus on showing the scrapbook to 3rd graders. Developments are ongoing regarding the celebration plans. There are plans to contact the former superintendent. The legacy of Steward School will be chronicled. Paula Klipfel, the Curriculum Integration Specialist, will help with the presentation. 2014 is the 80th anniversary of the Topsfield High School. ii. Sarah O’Leary, Proctor School 1. The 6th Grade team is considering a Nature’s Classroom multiple-day field trip at the end of the school year. It is a 3 day environmental program; there will be a presentation on Oct. 10th; a representative from Nature’s Classroom will come out and talk to families. There will be a poll of students’ and their families’ interest level in Nature’s Classroom after that. It is an expensive program; it will require fundraising; the cost will be about $300 per student. To be viable, the program needs 70 students to attend. It would be a replacement for the Mt. Wachuscet hike. The trip will be paid for in installments and with fundraising, the last payment may be less than the previous two. Some scholarships are built in to the program cost. S. O’Leary will come up with a payment plan. K. Carlson said she was concerned about students who can’t go or can’t afford to go on the trip. S. Archer said based on parent feedback she’s heard, predicted a good turnout. Dr. Creeden said the TSC will have to approve the trip, since it will be out of state. Dr. Creeden said Nature’s Classroom

1 should probably come and talk to the TSC. S. O’Leary said it is a goal for Topsfield and Middleton to go on the trip together in the future. c. Report of the Superintendent: i. Personnel Update: The job description for the Title I Specialist has been developed and the grant has been approved. No grant dollars have been received from the Federal Government yet. The schools must receive the 1st part of the grant from the state before a person is put on staff. Dr. Creeden will send a copy of the job description to the TSC. See the Superintendent’s Report for additional information regarding the Personnel Update. ii. The October 1st enrollment, which is used for Chapter 70 aid and is the basis for SIMS and EPIMS reporting has been compiled. There are 28 sections right now, enrollments are tight in 4th and 5th Grades. In the Kindergarten: 41 were projected to enroll by NESDEC; 77 are enrolled. Several other families will move into town soon. Enrollment for K-6 was 563 compared to the NESDEC projection of 527. Dr. Creeden said we need to ask NESDEC to do the standard 5 year and a 2 year projection. G. Spater asked if there was a reason for the enrollment discrepancy in Kindergarten; Dr. Creeden said some families didn’t fill out the census and there can be a lag in hospitals reporting births to the town. Dr. Creeden said there was a 50% error in the NESDEC Kindergarten enrollment projection. Dr. Creeden said the school enrollment is factor in the Central Office apportionment schedule. iii. Two meetings are coming up in October: the Tri-Town Union meeting at Fuller Meadow and the K-12 Meeting at Masco. Dr. Creeden is looking for agenda items for both meetings. The current TTU agenda items are: the state of technology in the schools, the Educator Evaluation process and the Superintendent’s Self-Assessment, using SMART goals. Dr. Creeden noted that the Superintendent’s evaluation is the only Central Office position that is done publicly. At the K-12 meeting, one of the topics will be the focus on interface between 5th and 8th grade. G. Spater said attending the K-12 meeting is helpful to him because it shows where the elementary schools should allocate resources (in preparation for the students entering Masconomet). Dr. Creeden said other K-12 agenda items would be: the school calendar and developing extended studies learning opportunities for the children. He stated that next year, there would be a new transportation contract going out for bid for the Tri-Town and Masconomet. iv. Kelly Hebert, the new Town Administrator, convened a department head meeting today. The annual report of schools needs to be prepared; a TSC contact person is needed for this. Dr. Creeden said the TSC could do more extensive annual report of the schools, if necessary. G. Spater wondered what percentage of townspeople used the annual report. Kelly Hebert delivered a timeline for the warrant articles; a handout was distributed at the meeting. Dr. Creeden invited other officials to tour the schools between now and November such as the FinCom, Ms.Hebert , Capital Planning Committee members and Selectmen. v. Dr. Creeden said: some area rugs at Steward that were installed during the last renovation do not have the necessary fire rating and have to be removed; it will cost more than the $5K threshold for consideration as a capital item. The carpets will appear on the Capital Plan.. vi. K. Carlson said she’d spearhead the planning for school tours. S. Archer said she’d complete the Annual Report. vii. Report of the Assistant Superintendent of Operations: 2 1. Transportation: S. Greenberg said there are no overcrowding issues on the buses. Some bus route times are between 40-45 minutes and some are in the high 30s. S. Greenberg recently sat down with NRT Transportation to evaluate bus routes to increase efficiency. S. Greenberg said it’s not the number of stops that affects efficiency, it’s the routes themselves. K. Carlson was concerned about the length of time the students spend on the buses. S. Archer ask the TSC how to proceed; should the bus routes be evaluated? The TSC admitted that the Ipswich Rd. and Perkins Row bus stops have safety issues due to the nature of those roads. The number of buses has decreased, so the length of routes has increased. Masconomet bus times are shorter because they have one hub; the elementary schools have two hubs – Steward and Proctor. K. Carlson suggested the TSC look at the Proctor students that participate in early morning programs. K. Carlson asked if anyone knew how many Steward vs. Proctor are using the buses. S. Archer said looking at these bus ridership variables would require a major time commitment. S. Archer said if the TSC wants to look at transportation, they should take a vote to decide to do so and the assign a TSC committee to the task. Transportation might be an agenda item at a later meeting. S. Greenberg said it has been very quiet regarding families concerned about buses so far this school year. S. O’Leary said Proctor has a large number of bikers and walkers in the fall and bus ridership will increase in the winter. S. Greenberg said the optimal number of student bus riders is 65 students; that number is generally lower than that right now. S. Greenberg remarked that this bus company has done a great job. G. Spater said the TSC should look at the transportation piece during the upcoming budget season. S. Greenberg stated that a shared bus (with Masconomet) costs $25K; an unshared one costs $40K per school year. Chairperson S. Archer requested that the TSC table the discussion of the transportation concerns as of now and revisit them at a meeting next spring; G. Spater and R. Lucey agreed. K. Carlson asked about computing the Steward and Proctor ridership numbers; S. Greenberg said calculating these numbers puts a burden on the drivers. R. Lucey said she isn’t hearing complaints from parents. Dr. Creeden wondered if calculating bus ridership per school helps accomplish the ultimate goal. G. Spater feared incremental improvement in improving bus route times would come at too high a cost. The TSC tabled the transportation discussion. 2. DESE FY 2013 End of Year Report: S. Greenberg stated that there had been an End of Year closeout; the report has been emailed to the TSC. He asked Superintendent Creeden and TSC Chairman S. Archer to sign the report. If the TSC has any questions, please ask S. Greenberg. 3. NEW BUSINESS: a. DESE Educator Evaluation Model Implementation Update: There will be a training session in September 25th, during the early release day. At the October 15th Professional Development Day, staff can review goals and present their personal professional development plan to their primary evaluator. Non -professional status teachers (less than 3 years’ service in the district) will be evaluated on a yearly basis; professional status staff will have a 2 year self-directed plan. Besides the plan, there will be a mid-cycle evaluation and a final report. In the dropbox, there will be the training modules; go to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) website for more information. G. Spater asked Dr. Creeden if all professional status staff would have the 3 same cycle; Dr. Creeden said, “No; they would be on a staggered schedule.” M. Costa added that every staff member would have an initial evaluation, whether on a one or two year cycle. b. 2103 MCAS School and District Accountability Overview: There was a handout of the Power Point presentation distributed at the meeting and it will go up on the schools’ webpage. This is the first of two presentations. i. C. Elliott said MCAS Math scores were up. Math in Focus (MIF) seems to be very effective; she noted that you usually see a dip when a new program is instituted. This occurred even though 4,5 and 6 grades needed more backfilling of the program than the younger grades. Overall, there was a positive growth in Math MCAS scores in the Tri- Town. The Gr. 3 scores in Math were phenomenal! The number of “Warning” and “Needs Improvement” scores were reduced by 50%; “Proficient” and “Advanced” scores increased commensurately. There were improvements across the board. ii. R. Lucey asked C. Elliott, “In last year’s English Language Arts MCAS, was there an increased emphasis on poetry and non- fiction?” S. O’Leary said non- fiction has been a focus in past testing. iii. After the presentation, Dr. Creeden said the next MCAS presentation would concern an implementation plan for improvement. iv. K. Carlson asked is MCAS is a good teaching tool. S. O’Leary said DESE doesn’t release a large number of MCAS questions, but does let the schools see the Long Composition results. v. For more information about MCAS, please go to DESE website. c. School Committee Planning: i. District Goals 2013-16 Update: Dr. Creeden distributed a District Goals Implementation Status Report at the meeting. 1. C. Elliot spoke to the Tri-Town Tech Talk 2013-14 schedule, distributed at the meeting. The Technology Committee is in the process of being restructured. 2. Extended Studies Program: Dr. Creeden said he believed the problem of how to incorporate CLIC into the school had been solved and there was a need to form a related advisory group. 3. Dr. Creeden distributed a handout to the TSC the 1st chapter of the book, World Class Learners; it is being used as a study book in a group that he and Masconomet Superintendent Lockwood belong to. Dr. Creeden will be attending a meeting of the National Superintendent’s Roundtable in Washington, DC this weekend with European educators regarding educational models in Europe 4. R. Lucey would like both schools to have a CLIC program. S. Archer said enrichment programs should be a topic at an upcoming meeting. Dr. Creeden asked the TSC to appoint an advisory committee to the superintendent, which would include TSC and school council members, staff and perhaps member of FinCom. Dr. Creeden said Topsfield should look at what our neighbors are doing regarding gifted and talented programs. a. R. Lucey moved to establish an advisory committee to the superintendent to research Extended Studies Programs (ESPs), 2nd by K. Carlson; motion passed unanimously. ii. FY 2015 Five Year Capital Plan Review: S. Greenberg spoke to this topic; the last year’s plan is in the Dropbox. The town doesn’t have the resources to fund all the items in the plan; items keep getting pushed out. The DRA study is also in the dropbox. The capital 4 plan should be put in a logical sequence. Green Community Member/Selectman Dick Gandt answered to this: he said S. Clifford plans to come to the next TSC meeting to provide the TSC with an update. iii. School Committee Annotated Agenda Calendar 2013-14 (Revised): tabled d. Policy Development: i. Bullying Prevention Policy and Plan Revision: The new definition of bullying, as determined by MA General Law, has been incorporated into the school bullying policy; it expands includes definition to staff members ; staff to children bullying. R. Lucey moved to accept the new language in the schools’ bullying policy and plan 2nd G. Spater; motion passed unanimously. e. Correspondence: none f. Other: none 4. CONSENT AGENDA: a. Minutes of Previous Regular Meetings (8/22/13): No changes needed, K. Carlson approved the 8/22/13 TSC Regular Meeting Minutes; R. Lucey seconded; motion passed unanimously. b. Bills and Payrolls: were distributed at the meeting. i. Sign and Vote: BILL WARRANT /PAYROLL BW OR PAY DATE BILL WARRANT # P/R WEEK ENDINGS $ AMOUNT

PAYROLL 10/10/13 9/20 and 9/27/13 247,057.77

BW 9/20/13 14-10 33,273.86

BW 9/20/13 14-11 19,739.03

BW 9/23/13 14-12 51,453.79

ii. Vote Only: BW

iii. K. Carlson moved to approve the Bills and Payrolls, seconded by R. Lucey; motion passed unanimously. c. Home School Requests: Included in packet. d. Acceptance of Donations: TEF Grant for Musical Production and CLIC i. The donation requires the principals’, Dr. Creeden and S. Archer’s signatures; this was done at the meeting. ii. R. Lucey moved to approve the TEF Grant, K. Carlson seconded it; motion passed unanimously. e. Donation: Jason M. Santosousso and Family i. R. Lucey moved to accept the donation, seconded by K. Carlson; motion passed unanimously. 5. EXECUTIVE SESSION: THERE WAS NO NEED FOR IT. 6. ADJOURNMENT: At 10:13p.m., R. Lucey made a motion for the purpose of adjournment, seconded by K. Carlson. Motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully Submitted,

5 Ellen Gaskell Recording Secretary 2013-14

Per the Open Meeting Law, here is a list of the documents either distributed to the TSC before the meeting in the packet or at the meeting: 1. Agenda 2. Attendance Log 3. Bills and Payrolls Handout 4. Superintendent’s Report 5. Previous Minutes from Previous Meetings 6. Topsfield Enrollment as of 10/1/13 7. Ma School and District Profile: Topsfield MCAS Spring 2013 8. Principal’s Reports: Steward and Proctor Schools (1 report/school) 9. Topsfield Educ. Foundation 2103-14 Grant Application Form 10. Topsfield Educ. Foundation 2103-14 Grant Approval Process Form 11. Copy of Donation to Steward School: Santosuosso family 12. Policy JICFB: Bullying Prevention and Intervention 13. Topsfield Public School Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan Final Approved 12/10/10 Amended by TSC 10/3/13 14. Topsfield Bus Times: Beginning of School Year 15. District Goals Implementation Status Report 10/3/13 16. Tri-Town Tech Talk 2013-14 Schedule 17. Chapter 1: World Class Learners