Lincoln School Committee
Minutes of February 27, 2003
Hartwell Building, Lincoln MA

  1. Greetings and Call to Order
    The meeting was called to order by Sue Hollingsworth, Chair, at 7:05 p.m.
    Members present included: Sue Hollingsworth, Chair; Ashton Peery, Vice Chair; Jan Nyquist; and Anne Doyle.
    Also present were Michael Brandmeyer, Superintendent, and Dave Jack, School Business Administrator.
    Members absent: Dr. Jeanne Whitten; Mark Masterson; Michelle Gardner-Ince , Mark Smith, and Ron Deak, Hanscom Representatives; and Sherice Horton, METCO Representative..

  2. Public Comments
    Maureen Haviland,a parent of a current 4th grader and incoming kindergarten student, asked the School Committee about the Kindergarten Forum that was to take place prior to a decision being made about the kindergarten program for the 2003-2004 school year.

  3. Chairperson’s and Members’ Report
    Sue Hollingsworth mentioned the passing of Mr. Cotoni, a Lincoln resident who worked as a crossing guard for many years and who will be missed by members of the community.

  4. Superintendent’s Report
    Mr. Brandmeyer reported that he and Jeanne Whitten, along with Christina Horner, attended the New England Minority Network Career Fair last weekend at Harvard University. The trio met and collected resumes from 30 viable candidates. Mr. Brandmeyer thanked Dr. Whitten and Ms. Horner for giving up their Saturday to attend this fair.

    The Superintendent visited the Lincoln sixth graders’ Greek Show and Tell project last week in Kathy Wickerham’s Social Studies class. He congratulated the students on their creativity. The sixth graders made persuasive speeches, wrote and acted out Greek Tragedies with a modern theme, and also wrote their own music.

    The Superintendent announced the speaker for Diversity Day the afternoon of March 5th. Dr. Pedro Noguera from Harvard University will address the faculty on the topic of empowering all students for high achievement and closing the achievement gap. Dr. Noguera will address Lincoln parents on Wednesday, April 2, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Donaldson Auditorium.

  5. Time Scheduled Appointments
    1. Mr. Edward Morgan from the Board of Assessors spoke to the School Committee about a new program the Town will be offering senior citizens. Seniors may choose to work for the Town to earn tax credit up to $700. Since some of the senior citizens may want to work in the schools, Mr. Morgan wanted the School Committee to be aware that the town was implementing this program.

    2. Report on Lincoln Public Schools Food Service Program
      David Jack, Business Administrator, and Pat Visocchi and Jean Maver, Co-Directors of Food Services presented their concerns to the School Committee regarding the break-even status of Food Service and the continued rising costs for labor and food. The food service directors reported that they had three sources of revenue in the past: selling lunches, Federal and State reimbursements, and snack sales. Currently snacks are not being sold so this revenue source is gone. Lincoln also offers lunch 144 days a year due to the half-day Wednesday schedule as compared to 180 days in other districts.

      The administration is proposing to the School Committee that a subcommittee be appointed to review the financial and operational aspects of the food service program. Mr. Timmer volunteered to be a parent member of the subcommittee. Mr. Brandmeyer suggested that the goal of this committee is to look at ways to reduce financial liability and increase the nutritional value of the meals served.

    3. Accept Gift of $500
      The Millipore foundation donated $500 to Hanscom Middle School to provide prize incentives and resource materials to the students presenting projects of academic excellence at the Annual Science Fair held at the school.

      Ashton Peery moved to accept the $500 donation. Anne Doyle seconded. Approved 4-0.

    4. Kindergarten 2003-04 : Update
      The Superintendent presented the anticipated enrollment numbers of Lincoln resident children starting kindergarten in the 2003-2004 school year. Registration packets have been mailed to the families of these children and the completed packets are expected to be returned to the Lincoln School by March 15th. Mr. Brandmeyer also reviewed the School Committee class size policy for kindergarten which sets the target size at 18 students, with a maximum of 20 students per section. The policy for METCO allows for two students per section on a space-permitting basis.

      Mr. Brandmeyer is recommending that the School Committee plan for four sections of full day kindergarten funded through the operating budget. He also is recommending that METCO staff begin the process to register Boston resident students but wait to offer seats to families until after the district completes the registration process and identifies the number of seats available.

      Jan Nyquist mentioned that at the School Committee meeting in December, the Committee promised to set a date for a Kindergarten Forum. The Kindergarten Forum date was tentatively set for March 10th.

    5. NCLB: School and District Report Card
      The Superintendent reviewed the requirements of the School and District Report Cards that are required this spring since passing of the Federal Law: No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

      After some discussion members of the Committee felt it helpful to use this opportunity to put the focus on curriculum and programming when we create our School and District report cards.

  6. Curriculum
    No Discussion

  7. Policy
    1. Enrollment of Non-Resident Students: Vote
      Rescheduled for the March 20th School Committee meeting.

  8. Budget and Financial
    1. Warrant Approval
      Jan Nyquist moved to approve the warrants totaling $ 1,157,969.04
      This warrant consisted of two Payrolls and one Accounts Payable.
      Ashton Peery seconded. Approved 4-0.

  9. Old Business
    No discussion.

  10. New Business
    No discussion.

  11. Approval of Minutes
    Ashton Peery moved to approve the minutes of the School Committee meetings on the following dates:
    January 29th, January 30th, February 6th, February 10th and February 13th. Jan Nyquist seconded.
    Approved 4-0.

  12. Information Enclosures
    No discussion

  13. Adjournment
    Sue Hollingsworth moved to adjourn the open meeting to convene in Executive Session.
    Ashton Peery seconded. Approved on a roll call vote: Sue Hollingsworth, Yes, Ashton Peery, Yes, Anne Doyle, Yes, and Jan Nyquist, Yes.
    The meeting adjourned at 9:09 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by
Stephanie Brown