School Committee

Salem School Committee Meeting Minutes Monday, April 23, 2018 A Regular meeting of the Salem School Committee and Formal Public Hearing was held on Monday, April 23, 2018 at 7:05 p.m. in the School Committee Chambers at Collins Middle School, 29 Highland Avenue, Salem, MA. Members Present: Ms. Mary Manning, Mr. James Fleming, Ms. Kristine Wilson, Ms. Ana Nuncio, Mr. Manny Cruz, Ms. Amanda Campbell, and Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Members Absent: None Others Present: Margarita Ruiz, Superintendent, Kate Carbone, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Margaret Marotta, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services, Kristin Shaver, Business Manager, Jill Conrad, Chief of Systems Strategy, and Kelley Rice, Chief of Communications. Call to Order Ms. Manning called the Regular Meeting of the Salem School Committee to order at 7:05 p.m. Approval of the Agenda Mr. Fleming moved to approve the agenda as presented. Ms. Wilson seconded the motion. The motion carried. Approval of Minutes Deliberation and Vote on the Minutes of the Regular School Committee Meeting Held March 19, 2018 – Tabled From 4/11/18 Deliberation and Vote on the Minutes of the Committee of Whole (COW) Meeting Held April 11, 2018 Deliberation and Vote on the Minutes of the Regular School Committee Meeting Held March 19, 2018 – Tabled From 4/11/18 Discussion Mayor Driscoll explained that she has not been able to review the Minutes and asked to table the Minutes listed on the agenda for the next School Committee meeting to allow additional time for her to review. The three Minutes, as listed on the agenda, remain tabled. Questions and Comments From the Audience Mr. Fleming moved/motioned to open the public hearing on the Salem Public Schools Proposed FY19 School Budget. Mr. Cruz seconded the motion. The motion carried. Mayor Driscoll informed the audience that the Public Hearing would remain open to the next School Committee meeting. Fawaz Abusharkh, 4 Harrison Road shared that he agreed with Mr. Fleming in that the community did not need to listen to information presented this evening that did not have anything to do with the School Page 1 of 10 Committee budget as this serves only to confuse the people. It was not the expectation of the community as the meeting was scheduled for the FY19 School Budget. Mr. Abusharkh shared feedback and concern regarding the information shown on the budget presentation, the decreased number of students due to other school choice, average cost per student, increased expenses, and central office increases. He does not see why the increases in central office continue. Mr. Abusharkh said he thinks it is concerning; this year’s budget amount should be less than last years’ or the same, at most. Mr. Abusharkh continued it is sad to see Ms. Margaret Marotta go and continued that they are losing a lot of people at Salem Public Schools and losing Salem High School’s Principal, Mr. Angeramo, shows system inefficiency, because Mr. Angeramo is a 25-year employee and is highly qualified. Mr. Abusharkh shared his concerns on the amounts of last year’s and this year’s budget totals. He does not see how this budget should stay or exceed last year’s budget amount. Cyndi Napiakowski, 19 Valley Street, the Music Coordinator for the System and Ben Chertok, Collins Middle School Music Teacher and Percussion team shared that they went to Dayton Ohio for the World Championships, after winning the Connecticut Regional as well as the New England Regional, one week beforehand and ended up making finals. They made amazing performances and ended up 5th place in the country. They are very proud of their students. Ms. Napiakowski continued that they are thrilled that there are requests made for capital improvements. They would be more thrilled if the High School bathrooms and music area can be included on that short list. Lisa Hansen-Damato, 53 Hathorne Street shared that she addressed the Committee, two weeks ago, stating that she was dismayed to learn, that evening, that while Saltonstall School would be welcoming 35 to 40 students from the Nathaniel Bowditch School they would only be gaining one half of an FTE. She shared her concern that resources did not appear to be allocated equitably among the schools receiving student from the Bowditch School - with Saltonstall receiving proportionally vastly fewer resources than every other school. Ms. Hansen continued that she stated these concerns that evening, on April 11, 2018, in writing to each School Committee member the following day, and yet again at the Finance Subcommittee meeting last week. Ms. Hansen said she is horrified that the budget presented this evening presents an even worse picture for the Saltonstall School. They are losing staffing resources (.5 FTE), while the plan remains that Salem would be receiving 35 to 40 Nathaniel Bowditch School students. Ms. Hansen said that it baffles her that 40 students would be added while staff was being lost. The Saltonstall will have the largest increase percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the entire district, in the implementation of this plan. Yet, Saltonstall is the only school gaining students but losing staff under this proposed budget. Ms. Hansen continued that in addition, she believes that under this plan, Saltonstall has the unique distinction of being the only school in the district without a Full-Time Bilingual staff member whose job is to communicate with families. As she mentioned in the Finance Subcommittee meeting last week, what commonly happens now in their schools is that someone is pulled out of the classroom to communicate with the Spanish speaking families; a paraprofessional or another teacher stops their work to go make a telephone call to a family. Ms. Hansen addressed the new .4 family coordinator addition and 1.0 paraprofessional cut, the new 1.0 cut and .4 addition) not having been included at the School Committee meeting on April 11, 2018. Ms. Hansen continued that she had the opportunity to speak with their principal this morning and ask what exactly does their school needs to be successful next year and he was very clear in his response, he would like to eliminate the 1.0 paraprofessional cut that is in the proposed budget, add a .7 family engagement coordinator as the Superintendent mentioned earlier – they have a .3. Ms. Hansen continued that they need someone there full-time, not half time, not .7 but full time; they would like a .7 add to get them to a full-time position to communicate with their Spanish speaking families. They would also like to keep the .5 Special Education teacher that is already included. These changes result in a total of 1.2 FTE add, which seems very reasonable for a school that is adding 35 more students with high needs to some degree. Page 2 of 10 Ms. Hansen reminded the School Committee that the Nathaniel Bowditch School budget was nearly 4 million dollars last year and continued that the fact that she is there begging for $70,000 dollars to support 40 of those students seems absurd to her. Ms. Hansen drew the School Committee’s attention to paragraph 8, the Fresh Start Resolution, adopted by the School Committee last month quoting: “The School Committee recognizes that high performing or urban education systems are able to combine quality with equity. It will be important for the School Committee to ensure that as we implement this plan for a fresh start for Bowditch and Horace Mann students that the students, staff, and schools receiving new students have adequate resources and support to provide all students with a quality learning experience.” Ms. Hansen stated that, as she wrote in her letter to the School Committee two weeks ago, it was the language that the School Committee adopted. Ms. Hansen continued that they have made that promise to the students of their district and said she strongly urges the School Committee to ensure that these resources are deployed equitably so that the 35 students, they would happily welcome to the Saltonstall School next year, will have the resources they need to be successful. Leanne Schild, 354 Essex Street shared that the Saltonstall has a strong teaching team, and she has no strong serious concern in that particular middle school. Ms. Schild said that she thinks that the confusion might be that they keep hearing middle school numbers but it is grades 6 through 8 grades. The reality is that with multi-age classrooms, Saltonstall is 7/8. There are thirteen students going into grades 7 and 8 but there is eleven students going into grades 5 and 6 and a couple of students going into the lower grades. Ms. Schild continued that her particular concern is actually social-emotional needs classroom supports, especially around that 5/6 level, because they had a big turnover this year alone. Staff and teachers were new this year in 5/6 and plenty of parents had a number of issues with that particular grade level. Having this many new students transitioning in seems Ludacris not to give them the right classroom supports; to lose a paraprofessional and bilingual family engagement support in times like this makes no sense to her at all. One of their framework pillars they talk about is their commitment to enhancing family engagement and communication but to increase 35 to 40 new students and not have anyone in that position makes no sense to her. Ms. Schild continued by mentioning the 4th Pillar, which talks about investing schools specific initiatives –the social emotional curriculum at Saltonstall is also called a responsive classroom. She hears there is $15,000 towards their budget and that the Saltonstall would have to come up with $5,000 on their own doesn’t make sense to her. She questions that as well, because that has nothing to do with trying to make sure that those socio emotional needs are into place. It also talks about new staff, which they are also not getting. It just does not seem that the Pillars they are trying to put in place, when they made their priorities and budget decisions for FY19, are being met. Another thing she does not completely understand about the budget is some of the line items in the FY18 and FY19 comparison such as instructional supplies for teachers showing to be less at the Saltonstall School when the school is paying out-of-pocket for tissues and other supplies. Ms. Schild also questions the presentation information that shows a decrease in supplies while increasing student intake. Lev McClain, did not say his address shared this is the first time attending a School Committee meeting and that he was asked by a Saltonstall parent, who has some concerns about the budget, to come and speak. Having never been to one of these meetings himself, Mr. McClain said it made sense to come and personally hear and keep an open mind. Mr. McClain continued that he has had some concerns about the plan for moving the Nathaniel Bowditch School into the rest of the system. He has heard, in conversations around town, many people patting themselves on the back for sort of writing the inequitable situation they had at the school where students have been placed in more specific facility, because they needed specific support and did not get it. Mr. McClain continued that he heard very little of how students would be supported and that parts of the Superintendent’s presentation this evening did not make much sense. In looking at the budget and FTE transfers, it was pretty clear that 7 ELL teachers were being lost from Nathaniel Bowditch School and 7 were being added to the rest of the district. The idea was to continue the support they needed and spread out across the district. It is clear, from looking at the individual school numbers that those educators had not proportionally followed those students. Thus, Page 3 of 10 it is very difficult for him to take that promise, at face value, of educating the Bowditch students where they are going. Mr. McClain continued that he heard the Superintendent note that they had the ability to move some of the resources as they needed and determined and that students need the support in certain places and that Saltonstall was carrying surplus ability in terms of enrollment, two things that seem incompatible to him: how can they have a school that was carrying a surplus capacity to educate the students and say they are flexible enough to move resources when needed – one of those things does not ring true. How can both be true at the same time? Mr. McClain continued that as he looked at the estimated numbers for next year, it looks like the average class size for Saltonstall as a middle school is about the same as the average class size for the Collins Middle School. Two ELL teachers are being added to the Collins Middle School to support the students are not being, and have never been, added to the Saltonstall School. The average class size at the elementary level, it looks like the Saltonstall was going to have the largest average class size than any of the schools despite adding the smallest number of additional students to that grouping. Asking the teachers in that situation to take on this additional task of educating these new students without giving them additional support to do that work seems inappropriate to him as well. Mr. McCain continued that he has a real concern that they as a community moved so quickly to address this issue with the Nathaniel Bowditch School and sort of take it off the books that they really did not come up with a firm plan with how they were going to support these students after the move. And that is really the bottom line for him – that these students are being dis-serviced by this. They were already dis-serviced because of where they were. He does not think that they really put pencil to paper to figure out how they were going to support the students going forward. Carly Dwyer Naik, Winter Street a Saltonstall parent, former teacher, and who lives in a bilingual household shared that she has been following up on comments that they have been hearing. It does seem counterintuitive that they are bringing in students from the Nathaniel Bowditch School and they do not have a single full-time person in Saltonstall to aid bilingual communications between students and parents. Saltonstall does not have the same ELL support; it is not proportioned across the district as was said. She is not presenting new information but following up on continued support, coming from a position of someone who has been in a classroom, a parent of a student in the district, and coming from a bilingual household. The lack of support being shown to school is confounding, because how can they be cutting a full-time paraprofessional and not adding a full-time bilingual family support had they not had those ELL supports in place while putting undue support onto teachers. She just does not think that is a recipe for success or that show it would work in the best interest of these students and families. She is also curious as to why they have not explored the options in bilingual education K-12 in this district. Kathleen Coates, 51 Hathorne Street commented that presentations give good information about adds and subtracts in terms of FT for next year. Some of the things that she is hearing which she hopes can be addressed in the future are where they are baseline. What supports already exist at these schools today and what are they adding and taking away? She thinks that will give them a clear picture of where they stand as opposed to just seeing the adds and the removals of FTEs in the presentation. Jason Yarrington, Brangiver Court shared that he is also a Saltonstall parent and wanted to talk more about the budget across school district. Much change is being done, a lot of people and resources and this should be a time to shift those resources for a big move forward, not just simply redistributing or spread out. He is seeing more numbers in reduction, 30 FTEs taken down and a proportion of those redistributed. He is not hearing talks about how by closing the school and saving all this money and saving all these FTEs they can reinvested that back into the schools. He hopes that stays in the conversation throughout the process. Page 4 of 10 Elisabeth Wrenn, shared she is a Saltonstall parent and is very happy at Saltonstall and the Salem Public Schools. She is one of those parents who are convinced that Salem Public Schools can do a great job. Ms. Wrenn said she is also a Social Worker and aware that when the Nathaniel Bowditch School closing students its students face negative interpretations of the reasons for the closing. The Nathaniel Bowditch School students need to know that they are not just trying to keep the bare minimum in place to keep things going; this is a moment to show these students and finance is how they do that in the community to say they are going to give them more – there is a reason they dismantled their school and it is not just to keep the bare minimum going –it is not just to squeeze you in where they can and get by. Ms. Wrenn continued that she thinks this is a pivotal moment to show the Nathaniel Bowditch School students and Salem students that they matter and that they are going to support them in this enormous transition and that they are not alone, they have their support. Donna Pelletier, 10 Summit Avenue shared Kindergarten parents are wondering and anxious when they are going to receive the new assignments. Ms. Pelletier said they are doing their best to honor the old child and think they all know the resources they need to do that, to really care and embrace the students. Andrea Hoffman, 3 Victory Road commented that she notice, in talking with a lot of parents, that perhaps they can consider doing some sort of behavioral training for the teachers this summer. There is a lot of classroom management that needs to be helped with. They are having more students in the classroom; classes are getting larger. This is something the School Committee may want to consider for the upcoming year to help out. Mayor Driscoll reminded everyone that they are keeping the Public Hearing open and asked School Committee members if they have any deliberations or additional comments they would like to relate. Ms. Campbell echoed her earlier comment, during the Superintendent’s presentation and at their Finance meeting, that she would really like to see the breakdown of the supports at each school, a concern that was shared by parents and she does not see the level of support she was hoping for. She knows and understands that part of that is because they have 1.7 million dollars in contractual obligations and such but to see how each school category is actually and specifically supported may address some of her current concerns. Mr. Fleming echoed the concerns of Ms. Campbell and asked that the concerns made by audience members this evening regarding the Saltonstall School be addressed. Mr. Fleming said it does not appear at this time that the resources that were added and subtracted in the presentation account for proper education of the Nathaniel Bowditch School students being added to the Saltonstall school. Mr. Fleming also requested the particular 4th grade cohort situation at the Horace Mann School be addressed in this budget this year. Mr. Fleming requested further explanation of the 8% administrative cost set forth in this budget, on the FY19 Personnel section. He cannot tell what the addition is. He would like to have a separate explanation as it keeps increasing year after year. Ms. Wilson said she would like to see the middle school classroom size for each class. She called last week and got very different numbers than what was reported this evening. They received the information for K through 5 grades but not grades 6 through 8. Ms. Manning clarified and detailed what the School Committee members may need in order to answer all their questions altogether. Ms. Manning explained that what the School Committee and the community really need is the big picture of what the school resources are – to know what was there and the proposed additional and subtractions from that information. Then everyone would see what they are actually doing for the schools, the entire picture of actual additions and eliminations. Page 5 of 10 Mayor Driscoll requested further detailed information on Early Education to get a sense of what that looks like. Some of that is in the budget and they may need to identify some that may need additional resources. Ms. Manning said she saw research information on the Early Childhood program. Mayor Driscoll said that when she thinks of Early Education, she thinks of before Kindergarten. It does not necessarily have to be their Early Ed program. There are probably opportunities to enhance the number of classroom they have. There are students on the waiting list for the Head Start program. Incoming Kindergarteners have higher standards and they want to do everything they can to provide students with a classroom environment before coming into Kindergarten for the first time, based on the Kindergarteners they had. It is a larger question about what model they want to adopt. Additional classroom spaces may not be something they can take on as a district but maybe something that they can work with Head Start or assistant provider. They have the YMCA at the High School, Pathways at two of their Salem Schools right now (Bentley and Carlton), they are talking about relocating them and there may be an opportunity to grow the number of participants. The rural budget that just came out had actually enhanced funding for vouchers and so might actually match up pretty well. Ms. Manning suggested increasing the number of parents and students that they support through that child program, even by just 6 students could make the difference. Members agreed. Mayor Driscoll said it was a good point and added they have their own programs, programs that exist within the contractors and the Parent Home program, which they support but involves going into. Mayor Driscoll mentioned another area they need to get clarity on is Salem State paying part of their services in rural taxes agreement for the Horace Mann principal. They had some discussions about that. They have a history with Salem State. At one time, it was half Saltonstall and half Horace Mann and then it combines all into Horace Mann. They need to make sure that is still in line to happen with this eyelet. Mayor Driscoll continued that she feels they identify the same resource to spend on two different things. The School Committee identifies it and Salem State identifies it for different things and they need to get that tightened up with them as well. Mayor Driscoll continued that the other category that she thinks warrant some additional discussion on their part is the technology investments. They have the 1-to-1 program at the Collins Middle School, which they are looking forward to continuing but now they are looking to roll that up to the High School. They could create all the infrastructure with IT, in terms of enhanced Wi-Fi, additional fiber optics to lease where the building can support the types of enhancements that they want but she is not sure where they have clarity on what their policy is going to be from the sustainable perspective. They have some resources from the tower plant as part of the community benefits agreement to support that but not necessarily fully. Mayor Driscoll continued that she thinks it belies the question many districts have of family participation for students who cannot afford it. There are lower end programs for students who can and they need to determine what they think they want to do. Mayor Driscoll continued that she wants to have some investment made but want to make sure they can sustain it long-term and suggested, at their next meeting, a schedule for a Committee of the Whole (COW) to tackle some of those policy issues. Ms. Manning commented that the 1-to-1 list on the presentation also mentions Saltonstall as shown on the presentation data. Mayor Driscoll said that if they are going to adopt a program of having it at the middle school level, they should surely have it in all of their middle school grades too. Mayor Driscoll said that the Capital list they have before them this evening is a proposed list. She is still trying to close the budget gap overall before they can submit a balanced budget. She does not know if every item on the 1.2 million dollars list is going to get it. Mayor Driscoll continued there is beyond the school budget that they recommend to city council that is a significant expenditure that goes in to supporting schools. It is the largest part of their city’s budget. There are trying to recognize where they have challenges and new work but there are also things they have to fund every year as part of whether there is a contractual agreement or increasing cost items. They do not necessarily have a lot of discretion and said she thinks it should be noted they are not only giving schools a million dollar more this year, it is significantly higher Page 6 of 10 than that. It should also be noted that it is a major commitment on the part of the community and it is something they pride themselves on but it also has a limit. Mayor Driscoll continued that she would like to have the thoughts of School Committee members at a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting – to think about what some of the policy initiatives should be around the 1-to-1 program. Mayor Driscoll continued that she thinks they need to get straightened away on the Finance Subcommittee on some discussions. She had some discussions with the staffs on how they are going to manage the 1-to-1 and middle schools that do not have them. Members briefly shared further insight and discussion and agreed to schedule a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting to further discuss the topics including the program adoption in all of their middle school levels also mentioned earlier. Members agreed. There being no further questions or comments at this time regarding Salem’s participation on Salem Public Schools Proposed FY19 School Budget, Mr. Fleming motioned to continue the Public Hearing for April 30, 2018, the next School Committee meeting. Ms. Campbell seconded the motion. The motion carried. The hearing will remain open until April 30, 2018. Superintendent Report – Margarita Ruiz Superintendent Ruiz highlighted that the Nathaniel Bowditch School ran its second Sontag Acceleration Academy, to help students master key standards in Math and Science, this past vacation week. Students, in grades 3 to 8 participated in the academy. Ms. Ruiz also highlighted that the Bates Elementary and Endicott College partnered to deliver a unique vacation academy for 20 students from Bates. Bates teachers were paired with Endicott student teachers. Student teachers had the opportunity to observe experienced teachers deliver high quality instruction and then had a chance to deliver the lesson plan on their own and receive teacher feedback. It was a learning opportunity for teachers and students. Superintendent Ruiz invited members of the School Community and the community to drop in to When Art Speaks, a K-12 art exhibit that will be on display at Salem Town Hall. The art exhibit officially opens and features art in different mediums from students across the district. This is the 2nd year they have been able to showcase student work at Old Town Hall. The exhibit will be on display on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this upcoming weekend. Ms. Ruiz publicly congratulated and welcomed Margaret Marotta as fellow Superintendent and personally expressed her gratitude for having the opportunity of working with Ms. Marotta. Presentations and Reports Update on the Proposed Salem Public Schools FY19 School Budget Superintendent Ruiz presented a proposed FY19 Salem Public Schools budget and explained that the budget was built around 3 core principals: placing the interest of students at the center of their decision- making, collaborate and be transparent with school leader decisions, and continue to evaluate limited resources against enrollment trends. Ms. Ruiz walked everyone through the presentation and provided details accordingly. The presentation involved FY19 Budget guidelines and priorities, information on Enrollment Trends from 2012 through 2019, FY19 Budget Summary, District Resources, Expenses by Category, Bowditch FTE Transfer and Reductions, Elementary and Middle School Class Size Information, FY19 School and District-Wide Adjustments, FY19 Capital Proposed Expenses (proposed capital projects), Sick Leave Buy-Back, “City Side” Estimated School Expenses, and Long-Term Enrollment Trend. The proposed FY19 Budget presentation concluded with 3 Key Priorities, which is moving the strategic plan forward, successfully welcoming and integrating students coming from the Nathaniel Bowditch School throughout the district for the 2018/19 school year, and continuing the momentum of the High School redesign. Page 7 of 10 Discussion on FY19 Capital proposed expenses (proposed capital projects) Mr. Fleming clarified that the presentation on Capital Proposed Expenses is not part of the School budget presentation but rather a city’s expenditure. Superintendent Ruiz agreed and said that it is not part of the operating budget for the district. Ms. Manning clarified that the Mayor had asked Superintendent Ruiz to provide this information at this meeting. Ms. Ruiz agreed. Mr. Fleming stated that the School Committee never, at any time, reviewed these expenses and that it was an administrative decision. Superintendent Ruiz agreed and reiterated that the Mayor had asked for this information to be presented at this meeting. Ms. Manning explained that she feels some of the information being presented might go through Buildings and Grounds, for example, and they were expecting this information. Discussion on “City Side” Estimated School Expenses School Committee members further discussed the topic of sick leave buy back and retirement, information that the Mayor had requested be presented at this meeting. Mr. Fleming wanted to ensure that the community understands that this is not part of the School Committee budget expense or expenditure. Action Item Deliberation and Vote on the Collins Middle School 8th Grade Field Trip to Washington D.C. on June 11-13, 2018 Mr. Fleming motioned to approve the Collins Middle School 8th Grade field trip request to Washington, D.C. on June 11-13, 2018. Ms. Wilson seconded the motion. The motion carried. Deliberation and Vote on the Approval of the Salem High Jr. R.O.T.C. Out-of-State Four-Day Field Trip Request to Washington D.C. on July 11-14, 2018 Mr. Fleming motioned to approve the Salem High Jr. R.O.T.C. out-of-state four-day field trip request to Washington, D.C. on July 11-14, 2018. Ms. Campbell seconded the motion. Ms. Manning opposed. The motion carried. Questions and Comments from the Audience Lynn Mullen, Chelmsford, MA on behalf of the Salem District Art teachers shared additional information on their 2nd annual When Art Speaks and invited everyone to the opening on Friday night at Salem Old Town Hall, from 6 to 8pm, Saturday from 12 to 6pm, and Sunday from 1 to 3pm. It is open to the public and they hope to see everyone there. Beth Kontos, Salem Teachers Union wanted to point out before they meet again they consider that they are losing about 200 students between now and next year. After conversations in the last couple of weeks, from looking over the budget, 16.5 paraprofessionals certainly 13.8 teachers is a lot too but she wanted to focus on paraprofessionals because throughout the district they use paraprofessionals for their skills in the classroom but also as substitutes as needed. They never have enough substitutes in their classrooms and in their schools and it is very important for the students to have someone they already know. So, she has to say that paraprofessionals would get their greatest bang for the buck. They are extremely valuable to them, in Salem schools. They are necessary. Ms. Kontos asked School Committee members to please consider that. Ben Chertok, Collins Middle School Music Teacher shared that he has been in the City of Salem now for 12 years and noticed the lack of audience members present at this evening’s meeting, wondered if there is more the Salem School Committee can do to engage more of their Salem community in this discussion, and offered some examples they might consider. Page 8 of 10 Carly Dwyer Naik, Winter Street a Saltonstall parent, former teacher, and whom lives in a bilingual household wondered if there has been any effort from the School District to apply for the Apple grant. Mayor Driscoll responded that she knows they have grants for the program they have right now at Collins Middle School. They are not on Apple products; they are using Chromebook. They are certainly trying to be aggressive in seeking grants. They want to explore all options. Hillary Bryly, 17 Cleveland Road a Horace Mann mom wanted to make sure they get clarification about who is going to pay the salary of their principal. They had a meeting at the school where the Superintendent and the Salem State Dean of Education was present. They were told that Salem State was not paying that salary. They also have a family engagement coordinator and does not know if Salem State funds that as well and if that will continue as she did not see it listed on the budget line items. She wants to make sure they are going to continue with that too. Mayor Driscoll responded that those are on their list too. Finance Report a. Approval of Warrants April 19, 2018 in the amount of $234, 192.79 April 26, 2018 in the amount of $517, 218.34 Mr. Fleming motioned to approve the warrants as stated on the agenda. Ms. Manning seconded the motion. The motion was approved. Budget Transfers There were no budget transfers School Committee Concerns and Resolutions Mr. Fleming said he would hope that, with the loss of Ms. Margaret Marotta, they consider the return of one Assistant Superintendent on the FY19 budget preparation in terms of special education. In light of Mr. Fleming’s comment, Mayor Driscoll suggested considering a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting, next week on April 30, 2018, where they can talk about the leadership structure for Pupil Personnel Services. She knows that the Superintendent is looking at that. Maybe at the next meeting they might at least have some conversation about some potential ideas for what that organizational structure might look like. Mr. Fleming shared his concern that he heard a city plan relative to the reduction of parking spaces at the Collins Middle School. The Collins Middle School continues recreation of the entrance of Bertram Fields. Mr. Fleming requested that issue be referred to the Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee before the next School Committee meeting and asked that a member of the city planner or representative be present at the meeting. Mr. Fleming offered to coordinate schedule of the meeting with the other members. Mayor Driscoll agreed. Ms. Manning motioned to schedule a Subcommittee meeting relative to Bertram Field’s renovation impact on parking space at the Collins Middle School. Mr. Fleming seconded the motion. The motion carried. Mr. Cruz asked if they were going to have a presentation on the ALICE program. Mayor Driscoll responded that they talked about putting it on a larger school safety on the agenda for a Committee of the Whole (COW) discussion at a later date and thanked Mr. Cruz for tracking that. Page 9 of 10 Mr. Fleming motioned to support setting up a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting at 6pm prior to the next Regular School Committee meeting on April 30, 2018 to discuss High School Technology Initiative and Pupil Personnel Services Leadership Structure. Ms. Manning seconded the motion. The motion carried. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the School Committee this evening. Mr. Cruz entertained the motion to adjourn. Ms. Manning seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted by: ________________________ Angelica Alayon, Secretary Salem School Committee Meeting Materials and Reports School Committee Agenda April 23, 2018 Minutes of the March 19, 2018 Regular School Committee Meeting Minutes of the April 11, 2018 Committee of the Whole (COW) Meeting Minutes of the April 11, 2018 Regular School Committee Meeting Proposed FY 2019 Budget Salem Public Schools (SPS) Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Draft, Revised 4/20/18 Field Trip Request From Collins Middle School Field Trip Request From Salem High Jr. R.O.T.C. Page 10 of 10