MANCHESTER ESSEX REGIONAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MANCHESTER ESSEX REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
REGULAR MEETING OPEN SESSION
7:30 pm
DATE: January 5, 2010
PRESENT: Ms. Beckmann, Dr. Carroll, Ms. Coviello, Chairman, Mr. Evans, Mr. Giedt, Ms. Harrison, Ms. Ingaharro, Superintendent O’Neil, Business Manager, Judy Mulligan and Avi Urbas.
A. Call to Order
The Chairman called the Meeting to Order at 7:30 pm.
B. Recognition of Achievement
The Superintendent referred to Ms. Raucci to report the food drive that was conducted around the recent Holiday Season. Ms. Raucci introduced Jim Thomas, the Elementary School Student Council representative. He spoke on the initial steps taken to introduce the food drive to our students. A visit was planned to the Beverly Bootstraps Pantry and three students were present who spoke on their visit to the Food Pantry. The students met to put a plan together for their food drive and they were able to collect over 3,800 lbs of food over a 10 day period to donate to the Food Pantry which they considered to be a remarkable success. They were also proud because it showed the great compassion for others that our students have at Manchester-Essex Elementary.
Mr. Thomas reported that the communication received from Beverly Bootstraps was that our donation of food was one of the top five that they get any time in any year and they compared our food drive to the one done by the Beverly Post Office an the Beverly Hospital. We had about 300 Middle School students who participated, but there were also a number of High School teachers who tried to motivate High School students to get involved as well. He felt that we probably had pretty universal participation by the School-at-Large.
Principal Raucci noted that during the food drive, several Elementary School students informed her that they had seen High School students contributing to their food drive and Ms. Raucci stated, following that she noticed that several Elementary students brought in toys for the High School toy drive – she sees a nice “give and take” here and hopes that continues. The School Committee was very pleased to hear that report. Ms. Coviello stated that she also heard from Beverly Bootstraps of the great contribution made by our students and on behalf of the School Committee thanked the students and all who participated and represented our school so well. A round of applause followed by those present.
The Superintendent next reported that prior to the Holiday vacation; Manchester Essex Regional High School was identified by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best High Schools in America and fell into the Silver Medal Status based on APA, State Assessment and criteria identified by the Magazine. She believes that it is certainly an incredible acknowledgement, not only to the High School but to the entire School District in terms of standards set and the community support for our schools. We had previously been named as one of the best high schools in the State and now to have the National recognition is a source of great pride for our two communities and certainly for the district. That information has been out, circulated in the schools and in the local paper and especially as we go
into the budget season trying to preserve he best of the best.
Student Representative Report
Caitlin Parker reported that mid-term exams are coming up soon. The Alpine Ski Team has been organized and will be meeting on January 8th. Thus far from the Guidance Dept. there have been 76 college acceptances with 79% of the Senior Class having applied to college to date. Ms. Coviello thanked Ms. Parker for her report and noted that it is very exciting about the Alpine Ski Team.
Public Comment
Ms. Coviello asked for public comment at this time. There was none.
C. Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent O’Neil took great pleasure in introducing to the School Committee and to the Community the finalist candidate and our next Business Manager, Avi Urbas who was present and has been attending our School Committee Meetings and has been here in the District for consulting and doing some interning. The Superintendent reported the search process for the Business Manager’s position which started in November, 2009 and brought us to the appointment of our new Business Manager. The Superintendent stated that following the Search Committee’s selection, that information was forwarded to the School Committee at the end of December, 2009.
Mr. Urbas has worked as Management Consultant for Public School Districts, has worked with District Management Counsel in Cambridge, MA as a Senior Consultant, Equity Partner and Leadership Team Member. Prior to that he was Director of Strategy Development for Educate in Baltimore, Maryland. His past experience was with J.P. Morgan and he holds a BA from Johns Hopkins in its Level one Chartered Financial Analyst Program.
The Superintendent stated that Mr. Urbas has had experience with working with Senior Management teams in School Districts, managing budgets and personnel similar to our school in size and operation; he is bright, intelligent, and articulate and brought these skills to bear in the last few months. He has been in our district as an Intern and has worked with the leadership team and instructional staff in terms of enhancing communications. He is familiar with the systems and processes in our district and the Superintendent believes that will effect a smooth transition. He has worked with the Building finances as well as MSBA and MTC with the grant applications and comes forward with a high level of technology skills, looking at efficiencies and has already implemented some here. He has a
solid understanding of the budget process and the drivers and reporting requirements. He already has a good, sound working relationship with the Business Office and the Leadership Team and has trained under the very best.
The Superintendent was pleased to bring Avi Urbas forward as the next Business Manager. He will begin on April 1st, following the retirement of Judy Mulligan at the end of March, 2010. A round of applause followed by the School Committee.
Update on Parking
The Superintendent reported that on January 4th staff had parked in the parking lot. Jim Lee and his leadership team worked out a system where seniors are able to fill up those remaining spaces in the parking lot and we have relieved a lot of pressure from parking on the street in using as many parking spaces are available now. The Superintendent believes that at the present time there are about 50 spaces available. Mr. Geidt reported that they have noticed a big difference on the street. No cars parked on Rosedale and Joe Lucido counted 5 cars on Norwood Avenue, it is encouraging.
Update on Field Trip Permission
The Superintendent noted that at the end of November Eric Majors came forward to the School Committee to talk about an extended field trip of one month long and it has been scheduled in the book however the trip has been moved up to occur in July, 2011 in order to have sufficient time for fund raising. As the trip gets closer he will come back to the Committee with more details – the Committee had already voted
D. Budget Workshop FY 11 Budget
The Superintendent noted that the tentative budget was presented to the Town Boards and looked at a level a little under 10% to deliver the same level of services this year with the built in increases, inflation, health, utilities, etc. The charge to the School Committee was to go back to look at a reduction. The Superintendent has come forward with two scenarios for discussion with component parts for the reductions that have been discussed at the Administrative Council and would like to discuss with the School Committee. The attached chart clearly shows the scenarios that were discussed for reduction: (1) To reach a cut of 5.5% increase an amount of $440,000 and (2) To reach a cut of 5 % increase an amount of $520,700 (Chart –additional cuts needed).
The Superintendent reviewed each item in the three tiers listed. Questions and a lengthy discussion ensued following the presentation. Superintendent O’Neil, Ms. Mulligan and Ms. Harrison responded to questions relative to funding and student enrollment. It was noted that the reductions as shown are definitely cutting back on delivery of services.
Ms. Beckmann believes that the School Committee needs to make certain decisions before meeting with the towns. Ms. Harrison also felt it was reasonable to ask the teachers for their input. Ms. Coviello noted that we have already cut back significantly in several different areas in order to make the minimum requirement for debatable increases that happen yearly. Mr. Evans recognizes that no one wants to be in this position and he wishes we didn’t have to be either. Ms. Beckmann believes that we need to start looking at the scenario of 4% to see what that would mean to our school district. In taking that step back, we then need to have that discussion with our town members and ask them what extraordinary measures we might be able to take over he course of this year and next, are
there things we can share services on, are there things that we can look at across the board so that everyone between the towns and the school district can look at together. Ms. Coviello agreed that we need to work toward the 4% scenario and she would like the Administration and the Administrative Council to come forward with that scenario because we need to start voting on some of these things.
Ms. Harrison noted that a significant part of the way we got to this point in our budget is that we have $626,000 increase in our programs with other district major costs, i.e. a major SPED cost and it is an amount that we cannot reduce, avoid or postpone and it will continue to go up. It is one of those fixed costs that we cannot control. The Superintendent stated that the Administrative Council looked at the Kindergarten fee and the Furlough days for all employees* subject to agreement with META, we would reach the 4% figure; beyond that, we would be looking at cutting positions. Both items listed in the third tier would bring us down to 4%.
Mr. Giedt recognizes that no one wants to cut positions, but he would ask the Superintendent to work up a position cutting budget, it may help with our presentation to the towns. It was noted that the Administrative Council has worked hard to consider the cuts that were proposed. Other thoughts from the Committee were to look at things like sports fees, and other activity fees, there may be other areas found where we could save money. The Superintendent stated that the Administrative Council did think outside of the box and tried to come up with other ideas for raising funds.
Public Comment was invited from staff members present: There was none.
Ms. Coviello asked that the Committee take the information that was presented as well as ideas that came forward from our Committee and prioritize it in our minds so that we will be in a position at our next meeting to come to a consensus and direct the Administrative Council to go forward.
Superintendent O’Neil understood that the Committee would resume on Monday and she asked if they could come to some decision around the administrative piece. Ms. Coviello stated that the Committee wanted to see a very clearly what the leadership picture would look like with the budget changes discussed and also how we know it is going to work because the Administrative Council feels strongly about it. She also asked the Superintendent to bring the model she had forwarded to the Committee, to see what that would look like as well. The plan was to look deeper into the recommendations that have already come forward from the Committee as well as the information to come forward from the Administrative Council.
Public Comment - Re. the Elementary School Principal Search - Are we going to spend any money to start up the search? On the stipend hold backs, some of these stipend positions are for work that is already being done and that some of the people continue to do. Would you also hold back the title that go with those positions and say you can’t fund those positions?
Response – Ms. Coviello stated we have not advertised the Principal’s job yet and no money has yet been spent on the search. She referred to the Superintendent to respond on the stipend position. The Superintendent stated that we would look to prioritizing and delivering the services based on what the Principles see as most critical to deliver to students. We may also look for alternative ways to do that; if we use some of the half-day release days, professional development, we may be able to organize some of the work that needed to be done at that time, but we would slow down that work next year.
Public Comment – Suzanne Otterbein, Manchester. Concerning the Kindergarten proposal, she agrees with Anne, once a half day class, full day option is introduced, the curriculum to teach those students will suffer. Secondly, she agrees with Morgan that potentially having one hundred families having the burden of coming up with that budget short fall by coming up with those fees. Athletic fees – she is distressed to hear they may be raised because it is a flat fee for every family participating in sports and again she sees those students who don’t participate in three sports are subsidizing those who are either participating in higher cost sports or more sports. Her suggestion would be to perhaps charge more money for those participating in a higher cost sport, or charge for each
sport per student. She recognizes that parking fees may potentially have to happen, but it seems like it is a fee or penalty to those who live in Essex because it is more likely that it would be the high school students who are driving over from Essex.
Ms. Coviello stated that the Committee has decisions to make as those in attendance heard at this meeting.
Public Comment – Tim Gates, Manchester. Discouraged about exceeding prop. 2 ½. Recognized there are some costs that there is no control over. He also felt that relative to renegotiation, it may have been something that should have been looked at before signing the contract last June. About the parking fees, he felt we should discourage Manchester students from driving to school. Some cities or towns allow certain street parking for only residents of that street. Opposes any number over 2 ½ for an operating budget.
Public Comment – Jeff Soulard, Chairman, and Essex Finance Committee - Mr. Soulard thanked the School Committee and recognized that year after year they are faced with difficult decisions. We do all face the Prop. 2 ½ however there are things like SPED costs that we have no control over. He stated that if we come in with a 4% increase, it would still create an override. As Mr. Giedt suggested, to perhaps looking at the worse case scenario, cutting positions or whatever it may be, to see what that looks like. Mr. Soulard also felt it was important to show the options to the public to let them know why an override. Mr. Soulard asked Ms. Mulligan the amount in School’s Choice Reserves.
Ms. Mulligan responded that at the end of FY 09 the amount in School Choice Reserves was approximately $1 million and we have budgeted in all these discussions; $200,000 is in the FY 10 budget and we have put up $400,000, half of the $800,000 left to support the FY 11 budget. The E & D numbers, we have not completed the audit for FY 09; she believes that if we contribute $200,000 to what we are talking about there is not going to be a lot left, but she does not yet have a solid number.
Mr. Soulard stated that he asked not because the school is being asked to spend all they have in reserve, but if we get into an override situation, it may seem tough if the school is sitting on a large reserve and we are asking people to take furloughs. Ms. Mulligan responded that we will be sitting on $400,000 with School Choice and we do not know what FY 12 is going to look like and if the well is dry, then where do we go. Mr. Soulard understood that completely. He does not have the answers to what is more important but he felt that with the school budget, everything is important. He stated that we could get 30 families to show up to say what the most important thing is that happens in the school and that is why our job is so difficult.
Superintendent O’Neil noted that we average about 15 students in our AP courses.
Public Comment – Elaine Cheshire, Manchester – Asked if the school busses could be canceled. She feared that things that make our school special may be cut. She believes that if we can raise some money by charging for parking it would be fine, but felt we should speak to the town to see how that will play out; because even it is just resident parking, students who drive will continue to park in the street. She is not complaining about fees for parking, but she also felt that perhaps we should also think about increasing other things like sports fees. Ms. Mulligan responded that it is a State requirement to run school busses for over two miles.
Ms. Coviello believes that meeting with META is important, because she does not think that any teacher in our district wants to see programs cut. There were no further questions from the Committee.
E. Finances
Ms. Mulligan recommended that the School Committee approve the following warrants:
Voucher No. 1043 in the amount of $1,929,897.40
Ms. Harrison moved to approve, Mr. Giedt seconded, members present voted unanimously in favor.
Voucher No. 1044 in the amount of $12,961.13
Mr. Evans moved to approve, Mr. Giedt seconded, members present voted unanimously in favor.
F. Approval of Minutes – Open Session November 3, 2009, November 17, 2009, December 3, 2009 and Executive Session October 6, 2009
Members present were not prepared to vote - the Minutes were held over to the next School Committee Meeting.
At 9:45 pm there being no further business to come before the Committee, the Chairman asked for a motion to adjourn. Ms. Ingaharro moved to adjourn, Ms. Harrison seconded, members present voted unanimously to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted, Attested to:
Evelyn L. DelGizzi Superintendent Marcia Adams O’Neil
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