Another great Melrose Home
for the Holidays this past weekend! Our businesses support our schools in so
many ways – hope you’ll have a chance to check them out and find something in
them for the special people on your list.
I was late arriving to the last meeting due to a prior commitment, but
watching it on MMTV was a great way to catch up. Check the minutes for the
official version, but here are the highlights from my perspective. (Remember –
the page numbers in red are those associated
with documents from the 11/27 agenda packet in the IQM2 portal on the School
Committee page of our web site.)
Consent Agenda
The Committee approved
gifts, donations, and competitive grants (pp. 3-5)
as well as the Warrants (pp. 6-48).
Finance and Facilities
Dan Sullivan of Sullivan
& Rogers, LLC, presented the findings of their “Review of Systems of
Internal Controls over Financial Operations and Reporting” (pp. 43-61). You can also find it here: http://www.melroseschools.com/administration/pdfs/Audit_Report_Nov_2012.pdf.
* Supt. Taymore presented an assessment of
the district’s textbooks, commenting on the status of last year’s textbook
inventory, how she is advising staff to review their textbooks (currency,
relevancy, and condition), concerns about the math curriculum, and
considerations regarding future impacts on materials/associated expense. Her
memo is on p. 62 and the inventory (which Supt.
Taymore considers a working document) is on pp. 63-173.
She indicated that the biggest challenge is meeting the requirements of the new
state frameworks, including determination of an appropriate blending of fiction
and non-fiction reading. She applauded John McLaughlin for his support of a
pilot project that funds Nooks and materials for the 6th grade
history exploratory class. She has also asked Business Manager Jay Picone to
ensure that when curriculum is ordered, it includes a full range of materials -
from those for students with special learning needs to enrichment materials for
students who need more challenge. Supt. Taymore also spoke to the fact that
textbooks may be heading to more electronic materials, but that a textbook
budget will never go away; free books only apply to “dead authors”. In the
distant future, teachers will have the ability to create their own textbooks. * The preliminary budget timeline has been
released and can be found on p. 174, indicating
that voting on fees by the Committee is expected on January 8th with
the full budget presented on January 23rd. The timeline is very fluid and may change
according to information requested by the Committee to Supt. Taymore, financial
actions by the state, etc. The expectation is that this budget will be clearer
to the community at-large, and that principals will be more fully vested in the
discussion of their buildings as full cost-centers. (Supt. Taymore said that
there are very “rich” discussions happening among principals about things like
instructional materials vs. instructional supplies, etc.)
Policy and Planning
MHS Interim Principal
Marianne Farrell presented the MHS School Improvement Plan (pp. 175-189) and Winthrop Interim Principal Cynthia
Santosuosso presented the Winthrop School Improvement Plan (pp. 190-210). * Tabled
Policy #6208: Committee/Superintendent Relations was brought back for
discussion with some amendments from the prior meeting (pp. 211-213) and approved (on a first vote). * Mr. Lehman indicated that the Committee’s annual
Self-Evaluation document (pp. 214-215) was
included in the packets for review and comment, and the actual evaluation would
be conducted at the December meeting.
Announcements of the
Chair
The MA Association of
School Committees held its annual conference from November 7-10. Ms. Casatelli
was our delegate and voted on proposed resolutions. (Final results of that
voting and the resulting resolutions can be found here: http://www.masc.org/component/content/article/15-events/473-report-on-actions-taken-at-the-2012-delegate-assembly.)
I had the benefit of attending a wide variety of workshops and was able to
procure documents/presentations from a number of others (pp. 216-217).
Executive Session
We approved Executive
Session minutes from August 14th and September 27th and
also talked about a negotiation issue with non-union staff.
Our last meeting of the
calendar year is December 11th. Until then, we are grateful for all
that you do for our children, particularly at this busy time of the year!