May 27, 2021 Meetings

Weymouth School Committee

ZOOM Meeting
May 27, 2021
MEETING MINUTES
(approved 6/17/21)

Members In Attendance: Lisa Belmarsh, Chair; Tracey Nardone, Vice Chair; John Sullivan (arrived at 7:13), Secretary; Kathy Curran; Rebecca Sherlock-Shangraw; Carrie Palazzo

Members Absent: Mayor Hedlund

Also Present: Kathleen Smith, Superintendent; Brian Smith, Assistant Superintendent; Robert Wargo, Assistant Superintendent

The Meeting Came to Order At 7:03pm.

Chair Belmarsh led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Consent Agenda:
The Consent agenda included:

• Warrant 46-2021 in the amount of $1,509,605.26. Dated May 17, 2021.
• Regular Minutes: 5/13/21

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to accept the consent agenda. Seconded by Mrs. Curran. Roll Call vote. Motion passed unanimously.

Student Advisory
Josephine Burke, Katelyn Horan and Lauren Crisileo presented an update (attached to these minutes). Topics included CTE project of real babies ‘Charlie and Claire’, Unified Sports, and senior activities. Seniors Miss Horan will be attending UMass Amherst, and Miss Crisileo will be attending University of Georgia.

The committee thanked and congratulated the seniors.

Names of the 2021 graduates are posted on Pleasant Street.

Public Comment
The Chair reminded that public comment be in accordance with Policy BED, items on the agenda and kept to 3 minutes; if members wish to speak-name and address should be added in the chat.

There was none.

Students’ Human Rights Coalition Update - Nicole Loporto
Ms. Loporto introduced Terri Zeng, Gabriel Bernardes-Louis, and Gianna DaRosa. The students reiterated the importance of the Coalition forming to promote diversity, equity and inclusion and shared the mission statement. The group is made up of over 50 students and 30 faculty members. A coffee house event will be held to talk about actionable recommendations.

The committee thanked the students for their excellent presentations and keeping the committee and community informed. The presentation will be available on the WHS website.

Report of the Superintendent:
Superintendent Smith’s presentation (attached to these minutes) included an update on the MASC conference, senior graduation cap and gown pick up at elementary schools, Weymouth Evening High School graduation, Barnes & Noble Teacher appreciation awards, CTE shops and Weymouth Public Schools Teacher Appreciation Month. There will be appreciation ice cream socials for staff and educators on Friday, May 28.

The Superintendent reminded community members to register for full day Kindergarten if they haven't done so already.

Students and staff will be off Monday May 31, 2021, Memorial Day. There will be a rolling parade beginning at WHS at 11am.

Registration emails were sent to Adams and WHS families for a June 7 and June 28 vaccination clinic at WHS (12pm-4pm) for students 12 and older. The Superintendent expressed her thanks to the health department and Brewster Ambulance as well as district school nurses. There will be raffles for donations from Dan McCormack and Principal Strauss.

Superintendent Smith thanked Robin Howard and Safe Routes to School for organizing a safe way to walk to school day.

Currently there are 4577 in person students, and 924 remote students in the district.

The Superintendent presented The State of the Schools to Town Council on May 26, 2021. Appreciation and thanks was extended to Superintendent Elect Wargo, Assistant Superintendent Smith, Dr. Sullivan, Mrs. Curran, and other school committee members. She expressed her hope of a budget approval on June 21, 2021.

Return to School Update
Principal Struass shared that Donna Kamacha Perez was named MAVA outstanding CTE student for metal fab. Ms. Kamacha Perez is employed after graduation.

Sports and theatre (Adams Family) are underway as well as Gala and Graduation planning. Thanks was expressed to all the volunteers, post prom committee, Jen Dolan, Deb Greene and Michael Morrissey, Windrose of Weymouth, rotary and parent councils, as well as BJ’s for their donations. The Gala will be Tuesday, June 1 (rain date June 3). Graduation will be held June 5 at 10am (rain date 4pm same day or June 6 at 4pm). There will be a red carpet event prior. Appreciation was conveyed to Karen Monahan, Mr. Pappas, Mike Failella and Mike Manning, and Elaine Lane for all of their hard work in planning for graduation. Graduation will be streamed on WETC.

NEW BUSINESS

a. Weycare Update - Stacey Ware, Assistant Superintendent Smith

Weycare Director Stacey Ware reviewed the Weycare program that closed down March 13, 2020 due to the pandemic. The program employed 98 staff for over 750 students in 10 schools (primary, JECC and Adams). Weycare staff was furloughed and then later laid off due to the closure of the program. Challenges of staffing, EEC regulations and rates were highlighted as well as the advantages of bringing in an outside vendor. WPS would have oversight to ensure quality programming. The outside vendor would utilize WPS primary buildings using their own staff. In previous years, the after school program has contracted outside the district for after care programming (YMCA).

Staffing was talked over as well as private vs. public capabilities and hours of operation.

It was reiterated what a loss the program will be however for practicality of rebooting a new program at this time, seeking an outside vendor is prudent.

The committee thanked Ms. Ware for the presentation and asked to be kept updated on the RFP. It will be presented at a future budget sub meeting.

b. Review of Unit D Job Descriptions for ESP’s-Maryann Foley

HR Director Foley reviewed the committee members, timeline, and the need for job descriptions. Descriptions were created for: ESPs; program, instructional, inclusion, security, clerical, health, library, CNA, and ABA.

The committee will review for action at the next meeting.

c. Adopt and Approve Weymouth Public Schools Policy Manual (action requested)

The manual is a live document and has been worked on for the past 2 years. Mrs. Nardone expressed thanks to Mrs. Curran, Assistant Superintendent Wargo and Mr. Hardy from MASC.

Motion by Dr. Sullivan to accept the policy manual. Seconded by Mrs. Curran. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

It was mentioned to have the policy manual uploaded to a new service for easier updating. The conversation will continue.

d. Approval of School Committee Dates for 2021-2022 (action requested)

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to approve the 2021-2022 school committee dates. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

Meeting in person in the future and participation was talked about.

e. Approval of the Nomination MASC Friend of Public Education Award (action requested)

Chair Belmarsh read the MASC Friend of Public Education nomination letter into the record. Nominated students are recent graduates Olivia Pietruszewski, Janaysia Gethers, and Page Hardy.

Motion by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw to agree to submit the nomination letter to MASC. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Motion passed. Mrs. Curran voted present, other members voted yes.

f. Approval of Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services and Support contract (action requested)

Superintendent Smith shared that there were 5 strong finalists for the position of Assistant Superintendent. Melanie Curtin has been selected as the final candidate. The contract term is for 3 years from July 1, 2021-June 30, 2024 at a salary of $145,737.68. The Superintendent and committee expressed their congratulations and excitement.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to accept the contract of the Assistant Superintendent, Melanie Curtin,. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

Thanks were conveyed to the screening committee.

OLD BUSINESS

a. Review of Student Handbooks-Third Reading

Attendance was talked over at great length. The number of excused absences, chronic absences, accountability, excused vs. unexcused absence were discussed. Further conversation at the policy sub committee may be required. Parents are encouraged to work with individual buildings regarding their children’s attendance situations.

Motion by Chair Belmarsh to refer the attendance policy to the School Committee Policy Subcommittee for review. Seconded by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to approve the student handbooks. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

b. Approve 2021-2022 School Calendar (action requested)

Juneteenth has been added to the calendar.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to approve the 2021-2022 school calendar. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

c. Amended Measure 20 072 Adams Middle School Renovation as part of the new Chapman Middle School Project Filed with Town Council April 5, 2021 Update

There are no updates at this time.

d. Joint Committee on Community Host Agreement between Weymouth and Algonquin Gas Transmission regarding North Weymouth Compressor Station

There are no updates at this time.

Ms. Palazzo shared the names of the SEPAC executive board members; Ms. Ferreira, Ms. Graziano, Ms. O’Hara, Ms. Petit, Ms. McCabe, Ms. Fernandez. SEPAC is seeking a treasurer.

Announcements:
Weymouth Market-June 2, 2021-3:30pm-WHS Gold Cafeteria in a drive thru manner
Budget Subcommittee-June 9, 2021-6:00pm-ZOOM
Town Wide Parent Council-June 8, 2021, 7:00pm-ZOOM

Next School Committee Meeting:
Regular Meeting: Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 7:00pm

The Meeting adjourned at 9:28pm on the motion of Mrs. Nardone, seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote - passed unanimously.

Documents Attached to These Minutes:

• Student Advisory Update
• Human Rights Coalition presentation
• Superintendent's Report
• School Committee Date 
• 2021-2022 SY Calendar
• MASC Award Nomination Letter

Respectfully Submitted,

John Sullivan
Secretary

---