November 17, 2022 Meeting

Weymouth School Committee

Humanities Center & Zoom
November 17, 2022
MEETING MINUTES
(approved 12/8/22)

Members In Attendance: Dr. John Sullivan (7:02pm), Chair; Tracey Nardone, Vice Chair; Carrie Palazzo, Secretary; Kathy Curran, Rebecca Sherlock-Shangraw; Steve Buccigross;

Members Absent: Mayor Hedlund

Also Present: Robert Wargo, Superintendent; Brian Smith, Assistant Superintendent; Melanie Curtin, Assistant Superintendent

The Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm
The meeting is being recorded and available on WETC.

Mrs. Nardone led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

A moment of silence was observed for Sandra Carle who passed away on 11/16/22. A former Boston Public Schools teacher and long time Weymouth Education Foundation board of directors.

Consent Agenda:
The Consent agenda included:

• Warrant: 18-2023 Date: 10/31/22 Amount: $ 915,134.01
• Warrant: 20-2023 Date: 11/14/22 Amount: $ 881,465.95
• Regular Minutes: 10/20/2022
• Executive Session: 10/20/22
• Meeting of the Whole: 11/07/22
• Field Trip: WHS - Grades 9-12 DECA - District 1 - Quincy Marriott, Quincy, MA Tuesday, Dec. 13 - Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to accept the consent agenda. Seconded by Ms. Palazzo. Motion passed unanimously.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to take the Report of the Superintendent out of order. Seconded by Ms. Palazzo. Motion passed unanimously

Student Government
Students Daniel Rios, Lee Nowicki, Lauren Byrne, Patience Christopher, Josephine Burke, and Brook Lenahan came to the table for the Student Senate report (attached to these minutes). Topics included:
Mock elections, art show and winter concert, CTE coops, council news, gender neutral bathrooms, homecoming, pep rally, Wildcat Athletic Leadership Council, upcoming extracurricular events, and ’You Can’t Have Community without Unity’ event on 12/15/22 at WHS starting 5:30.
The committee thanked the students for attending and for their report.

Report of the Superintendent:
Superintendent Wargo thanked Ms. Loporto for her work with the Student Senate. Joelle Holder was introduced to the committee. Ms. Holder is a Boston University Grad student doing her Superintendent practicum with Weymouth Public Schools.

Assistant Superintendent Smith gave an overview of his observation of lunch at Chapman. There are 3 lunches each day providing over 400 meals to students at each lunch. Organization order for lunches fluctuates by homeroom, alphabetical order and grade-organized by the school assistant principal. Participation has risen to 75%. Kitchens prepare an estimated number of meals; there are other offerings if a particular item runs low. The community can reach out directly to building Principals if they have concerns.

Education Support Professionals were recognized on 11/16. Superintendent Wargo expressed his thanks and appreciation to all ESP’s across the district.

Champions is providing before and after school care and all elementary schools have programs and are at capacity; depending on site (26-39 students) and ratio of staff to student. There are waitlists at locations. Once staff increases, waitlists will be worked on.

A successful professional development was run on November 8, 2022. Presentations were led by district staff professionals.

Seussical will be presented on November 19 & 20.

Professional status was awarded to teachers with 3 years of service.

Congrats were expressed to boys and girls cross country, dance and cheer team, boys soccer and girls swim team.

The Dreamcatcher Classic will be at WHS on November 24, 2022 at 7:30am.

Public Comment
In accordance with Policy BEDH.

~Councilor Belmarsh
Expressed concern for long lines and access to food for students at Chapman and shared community feedback as well as her support for the free lunch program and offered help to establish a successful program. She additionally requested data and information regarding wait time, other measurements, behavior and outcomes. Building principals may be contacted with concerns.

~Danielle Graziano, 430 Ralph Talbot St.
Expressed hopes that special education would be more visible in the main goals of the strategic plan. Staffing, safety and non compliance in offering services as well as decreasing out of district placements were mentioned as well. There is an estimated 14% increase in tuition as well as in out of district placements.

~Jacqueline Rouseau, 1673 Commercial St
Verbalized her concern for her granddaughter attending Chapman and her needs not being accommodated.

The Superintendent advised that incident reports are shared with the committee monthly. November will be forthcoming.

NEW BUSINESS

a. Budget Sub-Committee Report from November 16, 2022 (Action Requested)
Mr. Buccigross gave an overview of the meeting held on 11/16/22 which began at 6:01 pm and ended at 7:13pm.Topics included: Esser III grant amendment, clean tech audit, food service financials, End of year agreement, clean WHS student activity audit finding, and capital requests.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone and seconded by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw to approve the report of the budget sub-committee. Motion passed unanimously.

b. EOYR (End of Year Report) agreement between Town and Schools (Action Requested)
Mr. Buccigross reviewed the purpose of the agreement is to document what is already being done to calculate net school spending. Last signed copy is from FY16. The Mayor’s office is still reviewing the agreement. Allocation methods were discussed, as well as 1410, 1420, 4210 and 4230.

Other municipality agreements are similar. A suggestion was made to review the agreement annually or at least every 3 years to revisit expenditures and calculations. Direct expenditures in addition to indirect expenditures was talked over and it was suggested to remove ‘indirect’ from the agreement. ‘Other departments as determined’ on the last page was talked over. An allocation method should be determined for this.

Motion by Mr. Buccigross to accept the End of Year agreement with modifications discussed and authorize the Chair to sign. Seconded by Mrs. Nardone. Motion passed unanimously.

c. Job Description: Deputy Director for Event Facilities
This is a Town HR job description that was discussed at the meeting of the whole.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to support the Deputy Director for Event Facilities job description. Seconded by Ms. Palazzo. Motion carried unanimously.

d. School Building Usage MOA (Action Requested)
Assistant Superintendent Smith reviewed the document and advised that fee structures are in alignment for custodial and base rate to cover use of facilities. There are also additional costs for lighting and stage equipment/personnel. Policy KF and KFR are included as well as a preamble in the MOA.

Planetarium procurement is currently being worked on.

Motion to accept the school building usage MOA by Mrs. Nardone and seconded by Dr.Sherlock-Shangraw. Motion passed unanimously.

e. Mass Association of School Committees Resolutions Report
The Chair thanked the committee for nominating him to represent the committee. Chair Sullivan, Principal Meehan, and architect James Liebman presented on equity aspects of the new building. MASC voted very similarly to the committee on resolutions.

f. Consideration on becoming a paperless committee (Action Requested)
Personal preference and opting in or out was talked over. Subcommittees may still require the option of paper. Members have options to print materials themselves as well.

Motion by Mr. Buccigross to make televised school committee meetings paperless. Seconded by Mrs. Nardone. Motion carries 5-1, Mrs.Curran voted no.

OLD BUSINESS

a. School Committee Goals (Action Requested)
It was suggested to add to goal #4 special interest of the committee to identify space and expand the CTE program (master facilities plan). It is included on goal 3, strategic plan. It was emphasized to have special interest in bringing back special education out district placements.

Motion by Mrs.Nardone to accept the school committee goals as amended for 2022-23. Seconded by Mrs. Curran. Motion passed unanimously.

The titles of each of the goals were read into the record.

Motion by Ms.Palazzo to further amend the 2022-23 school committee goals, #2-target open date changed to September 1, 2024. Seconded by Mrs. Nardone. Motion passed unanimously.

b. Policy JIC – Student Discipline (Second Reading)
c. Policy AC – Non Discrimination including Harassment and Retaliation (Second Reading)
d. Policy AC-R – Non Discrimination including Harassment and Retaliation (Second Reading)
e. Policy GBA – Equal Employment Opportunity (Second Reading)
f. Policy GCF – Professional Staff Hiring (Second Reading)
g. Policy JB – Equal Educational Opportunities (Second Reading)
h. Policy KCD - Public Gifts to the Schools (Second Reading)
i. Policy JFBB-1 – School Choice (Second Reading)

Edits to above policies were for citations.

Public comment
There was none.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to combine the second and third reading of policy JIC, AC, AC-R, GBA, GCF, JB, KCD, JFBB-1. Seconded by Mrs. Curran. Policy JFBB-1 is replacing the current policy of JFBB. Policy AC-R positions will be added. It was reiterated for principals to look over JIC. Motion passed unanimously.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to accept policy JIC, AC, AC-R, GBA, GCF, JB, KCD, JFBB-1. Seconded by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw. Motion passed unanimously.

j. Update and status of Abigail Adams and Johnson - Assistant Superintendent Smith
Assistant Superintendent Smith gave a review of the meeting. The update is attached to these minutes. He shared that the designers attended Tuesday's meeting and design development was presented. Student capacity will be up to 375. Next meeting will be on 12/13/22 at Adams.

Building names have not been finalized yet.

Mid year school move and supply issue pushing the target opening date back was talked about.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
-SEPAC Meeting-November 29, 2022, 7:00 pm via zoom
-Abigail Adams/Early Education Facilities Committee - December 13th - 3:30 - Abigail Adams
-Budget Sub-Committee Meeting - December 14th - 6:00 p.m.- School Administration Building
-Happy Thanksgiving
-Seussical this weekend

Next School Committee Meeting:
Regular Meeting: Thursday, December 8, 2022 - 7:00pm

The Meeting adjourned at 8:29pm on the motion of Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw, seconded by Mrs. Nardone. Motion passed unanimously.

Documents Attached to These Minutes:

• DECA Field Trip
• Student Senate report
• End of year agreement
• Deputy Director for Event Facilities job description
• Building Usage MOA and regulations
• 2022-2023 School committee goals
• Policy Sub-Committee Report and Policies for First Reading (all attached to report)
• Policy JIC – Student Discipline
• Policy AC – Non Discrimination including Harassment and Retaliation
• Policy AC-R – Non Discrimination including Harassment and Retaliation
• Policy GBA – Equal Employment Opportunity
• Policy GCF – Professional Staff Hiring
• Policy JB – Equal Educational Opportunities
• Policy KCD - Public Gifts to the Schools
• Policy JFBB-1 – School Choice
• Abigail Adams project update

Respectfully Submitted,

Carrie Palazzo
Secretary

---