School Committee

Salem Public Schools School Committee Amanda Campbell​ ​ AJ Hoffman Beth Anne Cornell​ ​ ​Mary A. Manning Manny Cruz, Vice Chair​ ​ ​ Veronica Miranda Mayor Dominick Pangallo, Chair “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c.30A § 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033” June 16, 2025 POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING Notice is hereby given that the Policy Subcommittee will meet on Friday, June 20, 2025 at 9:00 am. This meeting will be held in person at 29 Highland Ave., Room 222. The agenda is as follows: 1)​ Approval of Minutes of Policy Subcommittee meetings held on May 16, 2025 2)​ Review of Policy 3105 BUDGET TRANSFER AUTHORITY 3)​ Review of Policy 3204 LEASE AND RENTAL OF SCHOOL FACILITIES 4)​ Review of Policy 3205 DISPOSAL OF SCHOOL PROPERTIES 5)​ Review of Policy 3301 ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING 6)​ Review of Policy 3601 STUDENT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES 7)​ Discussion of MGL Chapter 71 Sec 47: Athletic programs; school organizations; student activity accounts Respectfully submitted by, Shirley Dorai ​ ​ Executive Assistant to the School Committee & Superintendent 29 Highland Ave, Salem, MA 01970 Phone: 978-740-1212 Email: sdorai@salemk12.org  Salem Public Schools POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE May 16, 2025 Virtual Meeting 9:00 am Minutes Members In Attendance: Beth Anne Cornell - Chair, Manny Cruz and Mary Manning Member/s Absent: Mary Manning Others In Attendance: Superintendent Zrike T Approval of Minutes of Policy Subcommittee Meeting held on February 21 and March 21, 2025 Member Cruz made the motion to approve the minutes of February 21 and March 21, 2025. Chair Cornell seconded. A roll call vote was taken. Member Manning ABSENT AF Member Cornell voted YES Chair Cruz voted YES Motion passed with 2 votes in favor and 1 absent. Review of Policy 3105 BUDGET TRANSFER AUTHORITY This matter was tabled. Review of Policy 3204 LEASE AND RENTAL OF SCHOOL FACILITIES R The policy was discussed and changes were proposed. Member Cruz made a motion to approve the changes to Policy 3204 LEASE AND RENTAL OF SCHOOL FACILITIES for first reading. Chair Cornell seconded. A roll call vote was taken. Member Manning ABSENT Member Cornell voted YES D Chair Cruz voted YES Motion passed with 2 votes in favor and 1 absent. Review of Policy 3205 DISPOSAL OF SCHOOL PROPERTIES This matter was tabled. Review of Policy 3301 ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING This matter was tabled. Review of Policy 6402 TIME AND LOCATION OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETINGS The policy was discussed and changes were proposed. Member Cruz made a motion to approve the changes to Policy 6402 TIME AND LOCATION OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETINGS for first reading. Chair Cornell seconded. A roll call vote was taken. Member Manning ABSENT Member Cornell voted YES Chair Cruz voted YES Motion passed with 2 votes in favor and 1 absent. Discussion of MGL Chapter 71 Sec 47: Athletic programs; school organizations; student activity accounts This matter was tabled. Adjournment Member Cruz made the motion to adjourn at 10:05 am. Member Cornell seconded. A roll call vote was taken. Member Manning ABSENT Member Cruz voted YES Chair Cornell voted YES T Motion passed with 2 votes in favor and 1 absent. Respectfully submitted by, Shirley Dorai ​ ​ AF Executive Assistant to the School Committee & Superintendent R D FISCAL MANAGEMENT & NON-INSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS 3000 BUDGET 3100 BUDGET TRANSFER AUTHORITY 3105 Any request for a budget transfer between cost centers shall require a formal vote of the School Committee. Any request for a budget transfer in excess of $15,000, whether it is within or between cost centers of the school department’s operating budget, shall require a formal vote of the School Committee. Any request for a budget transfer that is equal to $15,000 or less and is within a cost center may be approved by the Superintendent of Schools or his/her designee and shall not require a formal vote of the School Committee. For budget transfer purposes, the school operating budget cost centers shall consist of: ● District Administration ● Regular Education – Districtwide ● Special Education – Districtwide ● Multilingual Learner Education - Districtwide ● Student and Family Supports – Districtwide ● Instructional Technology - Districtwide ● Operations and Maintenance ● Athletics ● Salem Early Childhood Center ● Bates Elementary School ● Bentley Academy Innovation School ● Carlton Innovation School ● Horace Mann Lab School ● Saltonstall K-8 School ● Witchcraft Heights Elementary School ● Collins Middle School ● Salem High School ● New Liberty Innovation School ● Salem Prep The School Business Administrator shall report to the School Committee no less than quarterly on all budget transfers executed within the previous quarter. Legal References: M.G.L. Ch 71, Sections 34, 37;DOR Opinion 94-660; DOR Opinion 93-983 Approved 4/5/21 FISCAL MANAGEMENT AND NON-INSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS ​ 3000 INCOME ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 3200 LEASE AND RENTAL OF SCHOOL FACILITIES ​ ​ ​ ​ 3204 The lease or rental of facilities full or part-time for periods of time in excess of 10 months continuous duration will be processed by formal lease (contract) procedures. Included are use of public school facilities by others as well as the use of outside facilities by the public schools. The School Committee shall vote on all leases or rental contract matters not covered by existing policy and for any full-time occupancy leases. The superintendent shall be responsible for any part-time rentals and leases and for the administration of all rentals and leases. Application materials and instructions are available through the superintendent of schools. Approved: 8/21/17 FISCAL MANAGEMENT AND NON-INSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS 3000 INCOME 3200 DISPOSAL OF SCHOOL PROPERTIES 3205 Equipment or material used by the schools may be determined by majority vote of the committee to be obsolete or, for whatever reason, to be no longer usable for school purposes. The superintendent will bring all requests to declare equipment/materials surplus to the full School Committee. By its vote, the committee will turn the material over to the Salem City Council for disposal according to procedures set by statutes of the city by-laws. The superintendent will inform the council of the vote and a description of the materials declared surplus. Legal Reference: General by-laws of the City of Salem Approved: 8/21/17 FISCAL MANAGEMENT AND NON-INSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS 3000 ACCOUNTS 3300 ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING 3301 The superintendent will be ultimately accountable to the School Committee for administration of all school department funds as appropriated as well as any revolving fund accounts. The accounting system used will conform to state requirements and good accounting practices, providing for the appropriate separation of accounts, funds, and special moneys. The School Committee will receive periodic financial statements from the superintendent or business manager, showing the financial condition of the school department. Other financial statements as may be determined necessary by either the School Committee or the administration will be presented as found desirable. Legal Reference: MGL 41:35 Approved: 8/21/17 FISCAL MANAGEMENT & NON-INSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS​ 3000 TRANSPORTATION​ ​ ​ Annual Review​ ​ 3600 STUDENT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 3601 1.​ Statement of Purpose & Scope of Policy A.​ The purpose of school transportation is to get pupils who live an unreasonable walking distance from home to school and back in an efficient, safe, and economical manner. Other purposes consistent with this definition include the provision of transportation for academic field trips in direct support of the curriculum and transportation for the support of the co-curricular program (e.g., music, drama, athletics). B.​ It is the intention of the School Committee to comply with the letter and spirit of the Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 68 and other laws pertinent to the transportation of pupils, and these shall govern any questions not covered by specific declaration of policy herein. MGL Ch. 71, section 68 states that “if the distance between a child’s residence and the school they/their is entitled to attend exceeds two (2) miles and the nearest school bus stop is more than one mile from such residence …, the school committee (city) is responsible for providing transportation to students in grades K-6. Further, the school district is required to provide transportation for students with disabilities who have transportation included as part of their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and 504 Plans. 2.​ Mileage Limits for Entitlement to District-Provided Transportation A.​ The Salem School Committee has determined that student bus transportation shall be provided at no cost for students in grades K-6 in accordance with MGL CH. 71, section 68. In addition to what is required by MGL, the Salem Public Schools provides transportation to students as per the following: ​ ●​ Pre-K: ​Not eligible ●​ Grades K-2: Students who live 1 mile or more from school ●​ Grades 3-5: Students who live 1.5 miles or more from school ●​ Grade 6: Students who live 2 miles or more from school (students in grade 6 are required to be transported 2 miles or above per MGL) ●​ Grade 7-12: Students who live 2 miles or more from school **These students are considered mandatory riders 1  B.​ The School Committee, at its discretion and to the extent permitted by Massachusetts’ law, shall authorize transportation to students who are not entitled to District-provided transportation to and from school as stated above. Such students shall be classified as non-mandatory riders. Student bus transportation shall only be provided to non-mandatory riders if there is excess capacity on buses being used to service mandatory riders. Additional seats shall be assigned on a priority basis to non-mandatory students using the following criteria: ●​ Economic status ●​ Walkable route access ●​ Younger sibling ridership Providing seats are available, the SPS Transportation Director will assess the above criteria for non-mandatory ridership requests using the following tiered assignment process: ●​ Tier One: applicants meet all three of the non-mandatory rider request criteria. ●​ Tier Two: applicants meet two of the three non-mandatory rider request criteria. ●​ Tier Three: applicants meet one of the three non-mandatory rider request criteria. In the event that more students apply for non-mandatory ridership than are seats available and above tiered criteria are met equally by the remaining students, the Transportation Director will give priority to students who live at the greatest distance. Consideration of the above will only be provided to: ●​ Grades 3-6:​ Students who live between 1 and 1.5 miles from school ●​ Grade 7-12:​ Students who live over 1.5 but less than 2 miles from school NOTE: Students in grades k-6 who live under 1 mile from school and students in grades 7-12 who live under 1.5 miles from school can seek a special exemption from the Superintendent if the student does not have access to a designated walkable route to school. In approved cases, the student will be placed into tier three for ridership consideration. See Section 3 below. C.​ No mileage restrictions shall apply to the transportation of a student whose individualized education program (IEP) or Section 504 plan includes entitlement to school transportation. In addition, multilingual learners who arrived in the United States within the last 12 months shall be eligible for bus transportation with no mileage restrictions for the remainder of the school year that they arrive at SPS. Students who are homeless or in foster care will be transported at no cost 2 and in conformance with the requirements of the McKinney Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act. D.​ Schools that identify transportation as a contributing factor to a student's chronic absenteeism will be referred to the Superintendent (or designee) to proactively identify options for reducing transportation as a barrier to attendance. E.​ A bus pass shall be required for each student who is transported by the Salem Public School District and will be issued to each eligible student. The bus pass is a valuable document and must be retained in order for students to ride the bus. F.​ Neither rerouting an established bus route when said bus is at capacity ridership, nor the addition of a bus to create a new route, shall be required to accommodate a request for a non-mandatory rider. When either rerouting or adding a bus is the only way to accommodate a request for a non-mandatory rider, that request will be denied. The last non-mandatory student rider who was provided transportation on a given route would be the first student to be denied transportation if that route should exceed capacity. G.​ A non-mandatory student rider may be denied transportation due to a violation of the district's code of conduct or a violation of the SPS transportation code of conduct. H.​ Eligibility for Transportation and Controlled Choice. Under the Salem School Committee’s student assignment policy, parents have the opportunity to select a school other than their neighborhood school. Busing will be provided for those children who enroll in a school other than their neighborhood school only if they meet the distance eligibility requirements detailed above and are consistent with the objectives of policy 5103 “Controlled Choice Student Assignment Policy.” For all others, transportation is the responsibility of the parent. Additionally, school choice students are not entitled to transportation services. I.​ Late Bus Transportation. “Late bus” transportation is for those students who stay past the normal dismissal times for school-related purposes at the middle school and high school. On occasion, when funds allow, “late bus” service will be provided to students at the elementary school level in conjunction with academic support programs. J.​ Rider Eligibility. Any persons who are not employees and/or Salem students are not entitled to District transportation and are prohibited from Salem School District buses. 3.​ Superintendent Exception and Annual Review In special circumstances, and in a limited number of cases, the Superintendent shall have the authority to make exceptions to this policy when a student’s or family’s circumstances may require additional support. These circumstances include but are not limited to economic hardship, sibling transportation status, or lack of access to a walkable route to school. 3 The School Committee shall review this policy annually. Legal Reference:​ Policy 5103, “Student Assignment” M.G.L. c. 71 §§ 7A, 68 29 U.S.C. §794 (Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) 34 C.F.R. Part 104 Approved: 5/2/2022 4