April 24, 2018 School committee

4/24/2018

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School Committee
Community Notes
Tuesday, April 24, 2018 @ 7pm
Avery School

Committee Members in Attendance:

Mayanne MacDonald Briggs
Steve Bilafer
Kevin Coughlin
Josh Donati
Lisa Laprade
Melissa Pearrow
Tracey White

Administrators in attendance:

Michael J. Welch
Ian P. Kelly
Sam A. Rippin

Agenda - submitted by Amy Hicks, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent

Post Election School Committee Swearing In and Reorganization
Student Update- Evan Landry & Abigail Jiminian
Superintendent's Update - Michael J. Welch
Reports
- Technology Report - Technology Director Dr. Don Langenhorst
- FY18 Quarterly Budget Update – Asst. Supt. for Finance Sam Rippin
Old/New Business*
- Discussion & Approval of Town/School Cost Sharing Agreement – Asst. Supt. for Finance Sam Rippin
- Dedham Human Rights Commission Nomination- Discussion & Vote
Subcommittee Reports & Updates
- Policy
  - Discussion and Vote to Adopt Completed Policy Manual
- Budget
- Equity and Inclusion Task Force
- Negotiations
- SBRC
Review and Approval Vote of Prior Meeting Minutes
Discussion and Approval Vote of Donations - Asst. Supt. for Business and Finance Sam Rippin
Public Comment
Acknowledgements and Announcements
Executive Session

Meeting Notes:

Superintendent Mike Welch called the meeting to order
Town Clerk Paul Munchbach conducted the swearing in for Kevin Coughlin, Steve Bilafer, and Lisa Laprade for the new terms on the school committee that they were elected to at the recent election
Committee Reorganization after the recent elections
- Tracey White thanked Mayanne Briggs for serving as Chair for the year, and presented her with flowers
- Ms. Briggs thanked the entire public schools team for a great year and putting the schools on a great trajectory, and thanked the other members of the board and administration
- Superintendent Welch thanked Ms. Briggs for her strong leadership and for always doing what is best for kids
- Superintendent Welch asked for a motion to nominate a new chair for the school committee
  - Tracey Walsh nominated Steve Bilafer, Josh Donati seconded
    - Nomination was unanimously approved, and Superintendent Welch approved Mr. Bilafer as the new committee chair
- Mr. Bilafer asked for nominations for a Vice Chair
  - Melissa Pearrow nominated Kevin Coughlin, Tracey White seconded
    - Nomination was unanimously approved, Mr. Bilafer approved Mr. Coughlin as the new Vice Chair
Student update - Evan Landry and Abby Jiminian
- Nothing to report from ECEC, Avery, or Middle School
- High School:
  - May 2 at 7pm - a presentation on the short and long term impact of vaping
  - Prom tickets will go on sale soon, Prom is May 18 at Gillette Stadium
- Greenlodge
- Riverdale
  - will host Folk Night on Wednesday 4/25
  - Riverdale School will host Elementary Science Fair
- Oakdale
  - students have all completed the ELA MCAS
- Riverdale
  - Food services will host a free, healthy breakfast on _____
  - Spring Fair will be held on May 19, pre-sale raffle tickets are available
Superintendent’s update - Michael Welch
- Schools are coming off a much deserved April break
- Excited for progress over the last 43 days of the school year
- Superintendent’s report contained embedded links for the committee
- New principal appointments
  - Jim Forrest named permanent HS Principal
  - Kim Davies named principal of new ECEC
- Town had been behind in official annual reports
  - None had been filed since 2014, Superintendent Welch did not know of this
  - Met with Nancy Baker on April 3 with Ms. Briggs and Mr. Rippon to find out how to complete the reports, Asst. Superintendent Dr. Cynthia Kelly assisted in drafting annual town reports for years 2014-2018
    - Reports have now moved onto final drafts, which were submitted yesterday
- Dr. Kelly is working with Michael Madieros, social studies teacher at DHS and students, to compile a report of all of the previous school administrators in DPS
- Philosophy and participation in Middle School athletic program meeting was held Mon 4/23
  - Many other administrators and some committee members were in attendance
  - Anticipate sending out a survey to students and parents on the athletic programs the week of May 7
- Had meeting with Dedham Youth Services Network just before vacation
  - Library, Park and Rec, Dedham Community House, counselling services, and many others were in attendance
  - Raised concern that students on free and reduced lunch don’t have access to those programs during the summer
    - Looking at ways to coordinate breakfast and lunch services to continue through the summer
- Construction of ECEC
  - Major milestone - concrete pour of floor for kindergarten wing over a single 14 hour pour. No problems were encountered
  - Will be pouring the floor of the preschool wing next week
  - Remainder of the floor poured the week after that
  - Construction continues to be on time and on budget
  - “Coupola” put up this past week
  - Exterior masonry starting to be installed
- Superintendent asked for questions from the committee
  - Ms. Laprade asked about the panorama survey that went out before vacation
    - Dr. Ian Kelly is overseeing the panorama project
    - About 200 responses have been received so far to the panorama survey
    - Principals will continue to send out reminders to families
    - Survey window will be kept open to get as many responses as possible
    - Responses so far pretty evenly split across the schools
    - Mr. Donati asked about accessibility of the survey to families in different languages, Dr. Kelly mentioned that many language options are available to families
- Mr. Bilafer thanked Superintendent Welch and the work of Cynthia Kelly and others for the hard work to get the annual reports done
- Mr. Bilafer encouraged all middle school parents to take part in the survey about the sports program
Technology report - Dr. Langenhorst
- Last year’s technology report asked that the tech team “Be bolder”
- Other members of the tech team in attendance
  - Judy Foley - technology integrator K-12
  - Mike Dewar - database specialist
  - Mike Yang - network systems administrator
    - Dr. Langenhorst introduced him to the committee, joined DPS from Foxboro schools in November
- Tech Plan and Action Items
  - Tech Plan - 3 year plan, as well as FY17, FY18, and draft of FY19 plan all available online
  - Top 10 Countdown of most exciting DPS Tech Updates
    - Some honorable mentions: quarterly meetings with Special Education; projector/whiteboard updates at DHS and upcoming in elementary; updated filtering and monitoring toward improved digital citizenship; student registration upgrades; 4is - Student, Staff/Electronic Records; Library 5 Year Plan
    - 10 - update network summer 2018 - $380,000 total cost, ½ cost will be E-rate supported
      - Updates to wired network and equipment and wireless capability
    - 9 - new website, full transition completed over the past summer
      - High School art students take website pictures
    - 8 - student data privacy
      - Dedham is one of leaders in MA in protecting student data privacy
      - All vendors sign contracts to agree to DPS terms in safeguarding data
      - Supporting professional development for teachers around process of procuring educational tech resources and increasing teacher knowledge of privacy laws
    - 7 - unified protection management
      - Employed top tier firewall to prevent unwanted traffic from entering our environment
    - 6 - PowerSchool for Special Education
      - Teachers can access student IEPs and other disability information by logging into PowerSchool
    - 5 - Cool PD: many different pedagogical approaches taken to provide high quality tech PD to teachers
      - Now have a mastery-based badging system for teachers who have mastered certain technologies
    - 4 - Blended and Digital Learning
      - Teacher training for FUSE Fellows this year to train teachers to be teacher trainers in blended/specialized learning
      - 12 DPS teachers are early adopters of the approach
    - 3 - internet access at home
      - Almost 96% of Middle School students reported high speed broadband connectivity at home
      - Will continue to dig into student survey data
    - 2 - 1:1 initiative
      - All students in grades 3-12 have a Chromebook with their name on it - grades 6-12 have a take-home model
      - MCAS testing grades 3-8 on Chromebooks, piloting grade 10 next year
      - All teachers have Chromebooks
    - 1 - Fiber Network
      - Project cost of $172,000 covered mostly by Erate, State and Federal bonuses, Comcast payments to town - town got paid $22,600 to build the network
  - Next technology plan will cover FY2020-2022
    - Upcoming trends - advancing cultures of innovation, deeper learning approaches, growing focus on measuring learning, redesigning learning spaces, coding as literacy, rise of STEAM learning
    - Educational technology important developments - makerspaces, robotics, analytics technology, virtual reality
- Lisa Laprade asked if the desktop computers have been removed from elementary schools
  - Dr. Langenhorst reported that classrooms will be down to one computer in each classroom connected to the Smart Board
  - All Unit A teaching staff at all levels already have Chromebooks, paraprofessionals also have access
- Josh Donati commended the technology department for excellent work, especially for helping students the Friday before vacation connect to the internet at the Marriott hotel
- Melissa Pearrow added that the staff and teachers had extensive involvement in all of these projects
  - She also asked if the current robotics classes would be expanded to also include classes in Virtual Reality
    - A new class called “emerging technologies” will be introduced next year
    - 3D printing classes and coding classes also in place at HS and MS
- Mayanne Briggs asked about wearable technologies for students to use virtual reality to gain better access for students will special needs - recommended the district connect with the March of Dimes to expand more technologies
- Ms. Briggs asked what the biggest need will be for the upcoming year that the committee can start advocating for now
  - Dr. Langenhorst said there are well-coordinated developments that just need time to get to where they want to be
- Tracey White commended the tech team for their dedication, and mentioned that Dedham students are leaders in technology skills
  - Asked if there would be an opportunity for parents to take a class to help them catch up to students in technology - Dr. Langenhorst said there has been outreach to PTO meetings and would love to see continued outreach to parents
- Mr. Coughlin thanked the finance committee and town meeting for supporting technology endeavors, and congratulated Dr. Langenhorst and the tech team for all they have accomplished
- Mr. Bilafer thanked the tech team for making sure the students, staff, and schools are able to make the best use of the technology that they have, said the tech team makes the entire district and the committee proud
- Supt. Welch said that Dedham is in top 5 districts in MA for technology infrastructure and support
  - Commended Mike Dewar for adapting to collect over 200 pieces of data on every student and the time he commits to adapting and updating technology
  - Commended Judy Foley for being the best professional development coordinator, making sure that the staff are comfortable in learning the new technology
  - Commended Mike Yang on the massive updates to the network
  - Mentioned that district is aggressively pursuing updates to classroom practices
  - New ECEC will have floor to ceiling SmartBoards, adaptive technology for hearing-impaired students, and other cutting-edge technology and equipment
  - Classes that give students instruction in computer programming are often very small classes, we should continue to make that grow to reach more students
  - Dedham is very well positioned to be able to have all students take MCAS online next year as mandated by the state
FY18 Quarterly Budget Update - Asst. Superintendent for Finance Steve Rippin
- Committee has GoogleSheet and written narrative with updated information about budget quarter that concluded March 31
- Mr. Rippin reports that district is in excellent shape in regards to all budget areas
  - Remaining funds for both administrative pay cycles and instructional pay cycles are in line with remaining necessary expenses for salary and other staffing expenses
  - Spending in the non-personell areas are slowing - encourage most spending to be done at the beginning of the year, much less needed at the end of the year
  - Facilities expenditure has been on track, remaining funding matches needs for the rest of the year
- Highlights in the narrative
  - System-wide balance remaining has risen since the second quarter
    - During 3rd quarter, district cleaned up Special Education out of district placement tuitions using state Circuit Breaker initiative, so those balances have been updated
    - Governor Baker approved supplemental appropriation to state budget to offset costs of serving students displaced by hurricanes in Caribbean
      - DPS received over $17,000 of this funding, which was less money than the district initially thought they might get
      - Future reimbursement may be higher, likely between $35-40,000
    - Areas of concern
      - Mr. Rippin doesn’t see any major areas of concern at this point, not concerned about potential for negative impact of future surprises
- Expects to finish the remainder of the year with a balanced budget
- Melissa Pearrow asked about when the district will know for sure how much $$ will be granted by the state for the hurricane displaced families, Mr. Rippin clarified that the district has to spend the money upfront and then is reimbursed
  - Supt. Welch clarified that the expenses in ELL teaching at multiple schools will far outpace the funding given by the state, so costs will have to be borne by the operating budget - will add up total expenditures for serving these students in the future
- Tracey White asked if the next year budget will account for additional spending for serving these families for future years
  - Mr. Rippin and Mr. Welch have already factored in addition ELL spending into the FY19 request, but there may be wiggle room for that spending
- Mr. Bilafer thanked Mr. Rippin for the report and ongoing stewardship of the finances
Old and New Business
- Took up use of abandoned rail bed corridor (“Rail Trail”) as old business
  - Mr. Bilafer thanked the Board of Selectmen for the updated substitute motion for Article 19 in the spring Town Meeting Warrant, emphasizing the need for a traffic study for the area around the Avery/HS
  - Selectmen Mike Butler and Brendan Keogh presented update on Selectmen’s decision from Monday 4/23 meeting
    - Initial motion at Selectmen meeting had 3 parts:
      - First part about hiring collaborator to help town work through the issue of the Trail
      - Second was a need for a traffic study
      - Third was plan report to future Town Meetings
    - Only part of the motion was approved by the board - the hiring of a collaborator(Part 1)
    - Board deferred to the School Committee to be able to discuss and maybe oversee the conducting of a traffic study around the school campuses
  - Tracey White wants to prioritize the safety and education of the students as a priority in dealing with the use of the rail corridor
    - She said the committee has asked for a traffic study many times and has been told no
    - Thinks that the area of a traffic study should look at Eastern Ave. near Route 1, Whiting Ave to River St., around High Street - since that area has frequent traffic backup (larger than the drafted area from the original Selectmen’s motion)
      - Mr. Butler said that a larger area of the traffic study would likely be possible
    - Has recently through personal experience seen and realized how large the traffic backup is around the school campus area
    - Wants the School Committee wants to oversee the traffic study instead of a committee for a rail trail or another purpose
      - Mr. Butler agreed that it makes sense for the School Committee to take responsibility for the traffic study
      - Mr. Bilafer mentioned that there are other projects where the School Committee has collected the data, but then collaborated with other town departments/agencies - this traffic study could be similar in that it would serve the needs of the town’s project and also addressing the school traffic ongoing problems
  - Josh Donati clarified that the hired collaborator voted on by the Selectmen at their meeting would then have a committee component, different from the original committee proposed by the older draft of Article 19
    - Mr. Donati also emphasized the need to have a comprehensive traffic study to prevent there being many more unanswered questions in the future
  - Mayanne Briggs reiterated the need for the completeness of the traffic study on all ends - wants a full-year traffic study to get a complete picture of what the traffic flow looks like around different events and at different times of the year
    - Wants to make explicit that the school department and school committee are a key stakeholder and should be engaged in the process facilitated by the collaborator
    - Mr. Keogh agreed that expanding the area of the study makes sense, Board is balancing lots of input from many groups on considering this issue
  - Kevin Coughlin thanked the Board of Selectmen for stepping up and taking leadership on this issue in regards to the traffic study
    - Mentioned that the last time the traffic study was discussed was at a meeting about the Rail Trail feasibility study in 2016, but it was never followed up
    - Asked what the Board of Selectmen expects from the School Committee right now in regards to dealing with Article 19, and asked why dealing with the issue is so rushed through many meetings this week
      - Mr. Butler asked for one or two committee members work with the Selectmen tomorrow to work on figuring out a scope of work for a traffic study, and the frequency of observations for the study that the committee would like
  - Mr. Butler clarified that the timeline of the revised article was intended to require that the Board of Selectmen reports on the project at each town meeting
  - Ms. Briggs clarified that the mitigation work from the ECEC is costing quite a bit of money (over $500,000 in Article 16 for spring Town Meeting warrant); when the Avery School was built not enough mitigation was done, so the committee and the town owes it to the neighbors to take a thorough look at the traffic
  - Lisa Laprade asked if the $50,000 grant the Friends of the Rail Trail group had secured for the traffic study would still be available if the school committee requests the study
  - Supt. Welch said that the HS/Avery campus area has become increasingly popular and has more traffic over the past many years
    - Said that the town owes a full and thorough traffic study to the 1000+ students at the HS/Avery campus, wants to prioritize and emphasize safety of students - cannot as Supt. feel comfortable recommending the study favorably unless it is ensured to be incredibly thorough
  - Mr. Bilafer mentioned that the committee will consider the article the selectmen put forward and look at a replacement for Section 2 of their proposal at their Thursday working meeting
  - Mr. Bilafer asked for public comments on the issue
    - John Heffernon - member of the Finance and Warrant Committee
      - His committee will vote on whatever is in front of them at their meeting on Thursday
      - Reminded the Committee that there can be a substitute motion on the floor at Town Meeting, if more time is needed to sort out clear language to put in front of town meeting
      - Suggests the committee not try to rush anything to complete by Thursday, but work on the language to make sure it’s right and can use a substitute motion
    - Susan Butler - Precinct 6 TM member, abutter to the Rail corridor
      - Requests the committee think of two questions before the beginning of the traffic study:
        What is the goal of the traffic study?
        What type of metrics are we using to weigh the pros and cons of the possible reuse of the abandoned rail corridor?
    - Sherry King - Precinct 1 resident (Riverdale)
      - Parent of 2 young children in DPS, very grateful to the work of the committee
      - Also thanked the Selectmen for leadership on the rail trail issue
      - Disclosed that she is a Rail Trail supporter, but acknowledges that there are many unanswered questions and does not expect any consensus at this time about what to do with the rail corridor
      - Wants to find a way to collectively move forward on the traffic study and investigating the future needs of the town
      - Wants to see more improvement and thinking about how to continue to move the town forward and for students to have new opportunities - doesn’t want the town to leave well enough alone
    - Jean Daley - Precinct 3 TM member and trail abutter
      - If the study concludes that the school campus is too busy to have the trail go through, but that the town wants to pursue a trail, would the School Committee have to give control of their parcel of land back over to the town?
        Mr. Bilafer cannot answer what they might do, said the school committee has a controlling interest in what happens with the parcel. Focus right now is to gather more information to shape future discussions
      - Asked if the school department would put something else on the portion of the corridor that they own, like tennis courts
    - Lindsey Barich (sp) - Precinct 6 resident
      - Asked if there were traffic studies done before the construction of the Avery and Middle Schools
      - Asked if the traffic study would be used to address current traffic needs, or to see how the traffic would change with the proposed trail
        Mr. Bilafer said that the traffic study would be done for the benefit of the schools
        Mr. Coughlin doesn’t want the traffic study to be looking at the rail trail issue
        Ms. White said that if this article is the means through which the Committee can get the traffic study that they’ve asked for for years, she’d support that
        Ms. Laprade doesn’t think that the collection of information about the impact of a rail trail isn’t possible until the trail is built, so the study would have to focus on current traffic and safety
        Ms. Briggs wants to see what the impact of the rail trail coming through the middle of the school campus
      - Asked if the school master plan process would include a traffic study - Mr. Coughlin said the studies that have been done were included in the feasibility study phase of a project - this study needs to be done to address the needs of the entire campus and neighborhood
        Melissa Pearrow added that the previous studies only dealt with individual building projects, not the needs of the campus
        Lisa Laprade asked if foot traffic would be included in the study, Mr. Bilafer said it would be
      - Asked how much previous feasibility studies cost, Mr. Rippin said the full feasibility study cost about $700,000, part of which was for a traffic study
  - A meeting specifically about the Rail Trail issue scheduled for Thursday
- Discussion & Approval of Town/School Cost Sharing Agreement – Asst. Supt. for Finance Sam Rippin
  - Audit of end of year report for 2017 was handed out - the audit only revealed one finding
    - The only finding was that the School Department does not have a School/Town Cost-Sharing Agreement
      - Town allocates to the school department $16 million for shared costs, much of which was for health insurance
      - Having a cost sharing requirements is a requirement of an audit
    - Handout outlined the categories of shared costs, and the methodology of how those costs are allocated
      - Said that the committee should review the information, and that the Committee would consider it at next week’s meeting
      - Mr. Bilafer asked if there would be a vote needed from the committee to approve an agreement, Mr. Rippin said there would be
    - Mr. Bilafer asked if there were any immediate questions, board agreed that they’d like to review the information and vote at their meeting next week
- Dedham Human Rights Commission Nomination- Discussion & Vote
  - Mr. Bilafer said he has not had time to have discussion on a nominee to the Human Rights Commission
  - Committee agreed to move the issue to next week
  - Mr. Bilafer asked any members to let him know if they’d like to serve
  - Supt. Welch said the commission was discussed heavily at the recent Equity/Inclusion Task Force meeting
    - Believed that the school committee does not have to choose their member by the time the public application window closes on 4/27
- Sub-committee reports and updates
  - Policy - Ms. Laprade
    - Sub-committee voted to adopt the new fully revised policy manual
    - Encouraged the full committee to look at the full manual to vote on it later
    - Electronic sharing of the policy manual document doesn’t work well
    - Mr. Bilafer commended the committee on the hard work they’ve done on the manual
    - Asked for the item to be put on the agenda for the May 15 meeting for approval and vote
  - Budget - Mr. Coughlin
    - All items school department requested for Town Meeting were approved by FinCom
  - Equity and Inclusion Task Force - Mr. Donati
    - Last meeting was April 11, next meeting is May 9
    - Talked about the recent surveys that went out
  - Negotiations - Mr. Bilafer
    - Opened negotiations with Unit A
    - Ongoing negotiations with custodians and secretaries
    - Further updates will be in executive session
  - SBRC - Ms. Briggs
    - Next meeting upcoming
- Approval of previous meeting minutes
  - Review of minutes from March 21
    - Ms. Briggs spotted one error and requested it be edited
    - Mr. Donati moved to approve the minutes, Ms. Briggs seconded, committee approved
  - Review of minutes from April 3
    - Ms. White moved to accept the minutes, Mr. Coughlin seconded, committee approved
      - Mr. Bilafer abstained as he was not in attendance
- Donation approval
  - Endicott Community Greenhouse donated $500 to the ECEC for shirts for the Kindergarteners wear for the upcoming field trips
    - Ms. White moved to accept donation with grateful appreciation, Ms. Briggs seconded, committee approved
- Public comment was taken earlier
- Acknowledgements and announcements
  - Melissa Pearrow congratulated Mr. Rippin on presenting a budget with no issues
  - Lisa Leparde announced Greenlodge School fundraiser on Friday 4/27 at 7pm at the Victory Grill, tickets available at the door
  - Mr. Donati announced Mother Brook Community Group annual meeting Wednesday 4/25 at 6:30 at MBACC
  - Mr. Coughlin acknowledged his brother (product of the DPS) for being one of the 100 most influential person in Boston
  - Ms. White announced Take a Walk, Little League events, James Joyce Ramble all happening this Sunday
  - Ms. Briggs motioned to adjourn the public meeting and move to executive session, and Ms. White seconded, each member of the committee voted in favor

MEETING ADJOURNED at 9:46 p.m.

Notes taken by Molly Uppenkamp
Notes reviewed by Heather Springer

Keywords: Rail Trail, Article 19, Traffic Study, Substitute Motion, Technology, Budget, ECEC

Community Notes are not official minutes or transcriptions of a meeting. They are intended to provide summaries of discussion and actions taken at meetings. For official meeting minutes, visit the Town of Dedham’s website or contact the Town Clerk.

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Community Notes

April 24, 2018 School committee

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