Another beautiful fall day
– great for anything outdoors! Hope your busy schedules allow for a quick walk
at lunch or a stop at the playground with your little ones. Remember – my
opinion only here, and documents in red can be found on the melroseschools web
site……
Report of the Student
Representatives
MHS Freshman Orientation
was held at the beginning of the day on August 28th, with a
separate, newly added “Welcome to Melrose High School” breakfast for new students and teachers. MHS is
hosting the NESBA band competition on Saturday, September 29th at
the MHS football field – 5:00 start with MHS going off at 7ish – come cheer
them on!
Announcements of the
Superintendent
Interviews were completed
for a new Business Manager with the expectation of a recommendation on 9/27. * Supt. Taymore provided training on September 14th
to teachers on SMART goals, with the deadline for this process on November 1st
(MOA Timelines).
Announcements of the
Chair
Ms. Thorp indicated that
the School Committee booth at the Victorian Fair was a success and that written
comments gathered there had been forwarded to Supt. Taymore. Citywide Open
Meeting Law Training is scheduled for September 24th and our next
meeting is on September 27th.
Consent Agenda
We ultimately approved the School
Committee Minutes of August 28, 2012; the Personnel Report (Personnel Report FY13-September); the Monthly Budget Summary (FY2013 Monthly Update-August); second vote on Amendment to Policy 4201
- Professional Staff Positions; second vote on new Policy 4202
- Professional Staff Hiring/Posting of Positions; second vote on repeal of
Policy 2114 – Interview Search Committee for Central Office
Administrators; second vote on repeal of Policy 2201 – Business
Manager; second vote on repeal of Policy 2202 – Special Education and
Pupil Services Director; second vote on repeal of Policy 2301
– Interview Search Committee for Principals; second vote on repeal of Policy 4202.02 – Posting of Vacancies; and approval of Warrants (Warrants 8-30-12).
Educational Programs and
Personnel
Supt. Taymore explained that
she has been working with Bridge Director Emily Rubenstein regarding assembling
a group of library experts to define an ELMS job description for today’s
educational needs and offer other counsel. She also indicated that school
library volunteers would not experience any change to the library program
compared with past years, and that one of the volunteers had graciously
arranged for library software training that would include the coordinators as
well as some teachers. * In anticipation of the next meeting’s presentation of
MCAS results, Supt. Taymore offered a presentation on No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) accountability changes (NCLB Accountability Changes).
* The MHS presentation originally scheduled was
moved to the next meeting as the Guidance Dept. has been focused on working
with students at the beginning of the school year.
Policy and Planning
Mr. Lehman offered a
recommended update to our By-Laws (By Laws Amendment – DBL – 20120 from 9/13).
Finance and Facilities
Supt. Taymore announced that
she is contracting with a local accounting firm to review the district’s system
of internal controls (Systemic
Review of Internal Controls). She
indicated that she did not believe there was any malfeasance, but that particularly
at this time (with her entry into the district and the change-over of Business
Managers), it would be very useful for us as a school community to examine our
financial practice and make any updates that are deemed appropriate. An article
in this morning’s Globe North speaks to this decision: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/09/26/melrose-school-audit-will-look-financial-human-resource-practices/9w1drOdV5ffounwizRPuJI/story.html.
I’ll work on getting back to
my (temporarily disrupted!) routine of publishing updates shortly after
meetings. As always, your kindnesses to students are so very much
appreciated and help our district more than you know!
