Ms. Dobrow said she and Mr. Schmertzler went to the meeting of the Board of Selectmen this summer and talked with them about the Lincoln School facilities’ needs for upgrading. Members of the Finance Committee were also present for the thirty to forty-five minute discussion. Ms. Dobrow also said she had the opportunity to greet the faculty and staff at the new faculty orientation and the faculty and staff are very enthusiastic about the new year.
Mr. Brandmeyer said Mr. Creel would outline the process and describe what is planned for the upcoming year. He explained that the District has hired Symmes, Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA) to develop a district master plan for facilities.
Mr. Creel said the Facilities Subcommittee has been meeting for about a year and has developed information for the scope of the master plan. Mr. Creel said that he created a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a firm to help do an assessment of the current state of facilities, and help to prepare a facilities master plan. Twenty firms expressed interest in the RFQ. Nine firms were represented at a walk through which took place on July 5 and the District received proposals from nine firms. The proposals were reviewed by the Subcommittee which selected three firms for the next round by reviewing the proposals against criteria. These three firms were interviewed by the Subcommittee and all three firms were excellent. After Mr. Brandmeyer and Mr. Creel checked references, SMMA was asked to submit a proposal which was accepted by the District in mid-July. SMMA has done successful master plans and implemented them for several Massachusetts school districts.
Mr. Creel said the preliminary schedule is in the School Committee’s packet. The initial site review has taken place. Mr. Creel said this is an ambitious but do-able schedule. The aim is for the School Committee to be in position to make a presentation on facilities at the November 4 State of the Town Meeting. SMMA will provide enough information for the School Committee to be in position to make this presentation to the town. It is also planned that SMMA will take the Baker study of the Hanscom campus and will build it into the master plan for the District.
Mr. Brandmeyer said the State of the Town presentation would focus on the condition of the buildings and there would then be a process to determine options for how to proceed. Ms. Dobrow said the Subcommittee would meet with SMMA and develop a presentation for the State of the Town which would be brought to the School Committee for approval.
Mr. Schmertzler asked about Hanscom and federal support. Mr. Brandmeyer said DODES will be visiting on October 6. The solicitation for the contract to run the Hanscom Schools will be released soon. Ms. Manos asked whether, for the State of the Town meeting, the presentation would focus on both current facilities condition and needs from an educational perspective. Mr. Brandmeyer said it would. Ms. Dobrow said that SMMA would conduct extensive interviews with the administration and with team leaders. Mr. Brandmeyer said SMMA will assess conditions, collect programmatic information, and match programmatic information with facilities.
Mr. Brandmeyer said the next step of the process will involve processing ideas and settling on a focus for a proposal. He wants to ensure the community that when they look back they will feel that this effort has served them well. He said that the last building project, which took place twelve years ago, was limited in scope but that the community may perceive it to be more extensive than it actually was. He said community members may wonder why there are failed systems twelve years later; actually, what many might not realize is that not only was the majority of the school untouched by the last addition/renovation, but also that there are large parts of the school buildings that date from the 1950s. Mr. Schmertzler commented that there is a drawing that shows what was done twelve years ago and what was not.
Ms. Manos asked whether green building options are being considered. Mr. Creel said one of the selection criteria was that the firm chosen have green experience and that all three of the finalist firms did. Mr. Creel said he believes the District should look for opportunities to be energy efficient and green but should also look for facilities, options, and materials that can be maintained over time. Mr. Schmertzler said when the planning took place for the new high school they considered some green options which were too expensive at that time, seven years ago, but that the economics might be different now.
Ms. Manos commented that it is important to be mindful of the values of the community in going forward. Ms. Dobrow said that developing ways of understanding community values was one of the things the subcommittee looked for in the firm that was chosen to do the assessment and planning work. Mr. Brandmeyer said that there will be conversations with the community as the planning moves forward. Mr. Schmertzler opined that community values are important but it is the School Committee’s responsibility to lead.
Mr. Brandmeyer said this work began last spring with the report on what was accomplished last year. Last spring the School Committee approved district goals for this year and beyond. This is the second year of multi-year planning. Tonight’s report would focus on two goals: (1) Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and (2) Leadership and School Culture.
Mr. Naso presented the report on work plans for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. The first work plan related to Learning Expectations and Curriculum Articulation. More curriculum information is being made public on the website. Mr. Naso will be pursuing ways to provide faculty easy access to curriculum information, perhaps electronically. More detail will be provided in the mid-year report, the end of year report, and the specialist reports.
Ms. Manos suggested that the availability of curriculum information on the web sites should be mentioned at the open houses this fall. Mr. Naso said phase two of the website will have a link by grade to the curriculum information. Mr. Naso said some teams will be providing curriculum information in hard copy at the open houses. Ms. Hessler suggested that the District News could highlight the availability of this curriculum information on the website. Ms. Trask suggested that this information could also be placed in The Hansconian. Mr. Kaufman said, when the school subscription lists are operational, an e-mail with an embedded link would be useful. Ms. Manos asked whether when curriculum information is posted a note informing parents of this is sent. Mr. Brandmeyer said parents are informed of major postings but not of smaller additions.
Mr. Naso presented the work plan on Assessment, Student Progress and Student Support Processes. He spoke about monitoring proficiency. MCAS is important but the District has other data. The District must consider carefully the information they are using to inform themselves and the community and consider how to draw the picture about results. In communicating with parents about an individual child the District has the MCAS score but it also has a pattern of data and information developed over a period of years.
Mr. Naso said the District wants to pay close attention to subgroup performance and to practices which will help to close the achievement gap. For Special Education, three types of information are being collected: profile of student enrollment in Special Education, summary of parent feedback forms, and summary of students who meet/do not meet annual IEP goals.
Ms. Manos asked about high performing students. Mr. Naso said common assessments will have two bump versions, one to determine whether students are meeting expectations and a variation which informs whether a child is exceeding expectations.
Ms. Trask asked how the District supports students who need help. Mr. Naso said that there are a range of options. In classrooms there is flexibility to differentiate. Additional regular education supports include tutorials. Special Education services are available for students who qualify. The appropriate response is determined on an individual basis. The instructional support team considers this. The District Accommodation Plan sets forth all the strategies the District can draw on when a child is experiencing difficulty.
Mr. Naso reported on the work plan on Program Planning and Implementation. The District is implementing changes, following through, and looking at results. For example, the new Grade 6 Technology/Engineering and the Foreign Language expansion will be monitored to see if the District is getting good results.
Mr. Brandmeyer presented the work plans on Leadership and School Culture. The first work plan relates to the multi-year planning process and mission/vision statements. Regarding mission/vision, Mr. Brandmeyer said that he intends to survey students, parents, faculty, and community members to determine their response to the current mission/vision statement. He is planning to use a web-based survey which will seek to determine whether the current mission and vision statements resonate with the groups in question. After the survey results are obtained, he will report back to the School Committee and determine next steps. The mission/vision statements might still be valid or they may need to be changed. Depending upon the result, a process will be determined for going forward. If only a small change is needed this could be completed this year. If more comprehensive changes are needed, then the project will take longer.
Mr. Brandmeyer said effort is being made to align the District Goals and the School Improvement Plans. He is suggesting a change which will make this alignment easier. Up to now, the District Goals have been formulated at the same time as the School Improvement Plans. He is suggesting that the School Advisory Councils develop two year improvement plans which will make alignment easier. The Administrative Council and the School Improvement Councils will be considering how to do this.
Regarding mission/vision, Ms. Hessler said respondents might think the current statement is okay if they are not aware of other possibilities but might have a different response if aware of other possibilities. She asked whether there are key pieces that should be added in prompts in the survey or perhaps a series of focus group conversations. Mr. Schmertzler noted that the response to the survey on School Committee communications was small and wondered whether there would be a high enough response rate for the survey on mission/vision to be useful. Mr. Brandmeyer said with the right outreach there could be a higher response rate on this subject. Ms. Antia asked whether it would make sense to add links to other town’s mission/vision statements as samples. There was some discussion about whether this could lead respondents to answer in ways they might not otherwise have. Ms. Hessler suggested that other mission/vision statement could be used to create prompts for the survey.
Ms. Manos commented that the mission/vision work is important. She said she appreciates Mr. Brandmeyer proceeding with it but that she also thinks the School Committee should stay close to this work and should review it and offer comments in detail. She noted, crediting Ms. Hessler, that mission/vision is the heart and soul of the District. She said she favors qualitative discussion and that when the discussion is deeper more subtle points are raised. Ms. Dobrow said the School Committee is happy for Mr. Brandmeyer to take the lead in this inquiry but he should come back to the School Committee with greater detail. Ms. Manos wondered whether the core values from the handbook might serve as comparisons for people in evaluating the current statement.
Mr. Brandmeyer reviewed the work plan to develop and pilot programs relating to Social Emotional Learning, to identify and promote opportunities for student leadership, and to improve transitions for students between grades and schools. He said the Social Emotional Learning initiatives are an outgrowth of Institute Day. Hanscom Primary School faculty will participate in Responsive Classroom Training. At the Hanscom Middle School, training will be provided to support the Open Circle at grades 4 and 5 and to support the Advisor/Advisee Program at grades 6 to 8 with the program effectiveness being evaluated. At the Lincoln School the effort will be to develop greater consistency of language and expectations regarding positive school culture and social/emotional learning. At the beginning of the year, Sharon Hobbs met with middle school students and set expectations for their behavior. Steve McKenna went over lunchroom rules with students to establish expectations.
Ms. Manos said manners are important, suggested students should be held to the highest standard in this area, and asked whether this might be explicitly addressed in a work plan. The Committee discussed the need for parents to teach manners at home and the need for teachers to reinforce this learning. Mr. Naso said it is important not to draw a wedge between parents and teachers and not to presume that one or the other is not doing enough. Ms. Dobrow commented that respect is implicit in Lincoln’s school culture. Ms. Antia asked what are the objectives we want built into a positive school culture. Mr. Kaufman commented that he is very impressed by the respectful nature of the students at Hanscom Middle School.
Mr. Brandmeyer reported on the goal to redesign the District’s website, to develop guidelines for posting to the District’s website, to develop and implement an on-line Faculty Handbook, and to plan, update and provide resources for improved electronic communications. Mr. Brandmeyer said the website’s redesign and launch was complete. He plans to continue to expand efforts to communicate electronically.
Mr. Creel presented a report on transportation. He began by recognizing the exemplary job done by Stephanie Brown in devising routes, tracking and monitoring ridership and fee revenue, and responding to parents’ needs. He reported that bus capacities are in line. He noted that ridership for bus 9 (the mini-bus for Hanscom) has been low but said this bus services the temporary housing so ridership varies over the course of the year.
Mr. Brandmeyer reported on enrollment. Mr. Brandmeyer said there have been some minor shifts in enrollment. All classes are below the class size target. The Hanscom second grade is larger than anticipated and a third section was added in August. This was required under the contract to operate the schools at Hanscom. The Lincoln METCO enrollment is almost filled with two seats still available. Christina Horner is looking to fill these seating, focusing on first graders and on filling lower grades before higher grades.
Mr. Naso presented a report on new faculty and administrative appointments accompanied by a memorandum setting forth details about degrees and professional experience for each appointee. Mr. Naso said that the most recent hire took place last Friday and there is one additional vacancy which came up recently. He said the new faculty orientation has taken place and mentors have been assigned for the new faculty members.
Mr. Naso presented a slide show highlighting a few of the many in-district curriculum projects undertaken this summer. He highlighted work on the grade 4 sound unit, the grade 6 engineering program on transportation systems, mathematics common assessments, curriculum integration projects, and the art program power point project. He noted that this was only a small sample of the projects. Ms. Dobrow thanked Cheryl Lecesse for the article in the Lincoln Journal about the summer projects. Mr. Naso said a high percentage of the District’s teachers were involved in these projects.
Ms. Hessler asked how the District can preserve this work when teachers leave. Mr. Naso said the District needs to build the capacity of all its teachers to assume leadership and ownership and Wednesday afternoons and summer projects, with careful planning, help to do this.
Mr. Brandmeyer said this summer’s accomplishments are the result of the building of structure that has taken place over the last three years. He said this was a result of the renegotiation of the teacher’s contract and of funding summer work. Mr. Kaufman commented that institutionalization of information is important for teachers, teachers want to know what the expectations are, and the work that is being done makes it possible for teachers to do good work. Mr. Creel commented that this summer work shows how facility use has changed and that schools used to be closed for the summer with no work taking place. Mr. Schmertzler said that planning for the new high school considered the possibility of a twelve month school year.
Mr. Creel said the School Committee adopted policies regarding student activity accounts in 1997 in response to changes in the law. At that time the School Committee approved an agency account and four checking accounts. Mr. Creel said in recent years only three of the checking accounts have been used with only one account being used for the Lincoln School. He recommended reactivating the fourth account now that there is a principal for grades K to 4 and 5 to 8 in Lincoln. He also recommended that $5,000.00 be transferred from the Student Activity Account to provide initial operating funds. Each account would be in the control of a principal with the primary responsibility for students. Mr. Creel said he would monitor to see whether $5,000 is the right amount.
Mr. Schmertzler moved that the School Committee vote to authorize the re-activation of the Lincoln School 5-8 checking account and the transfer of $5,000.00 from the Student Activity Agency Account to provide initial operating funds. Ms. Dobrow seconded the motion. All elected members voted in favor, with Ms. Trask concurring.
Mr. Brandmeyer presented a proposed new introductory web page for the School Committee’s approval. The text for this introductory page was taken from other School Committee approved communications. Ms. Manos suggested that the first paragraph explicitly state some of the School Committee’s powers and duties. She suggested that a link be provided to sign up for the School Committee news in the paragraph which discusses the posting of minutes and agenda. She suggested changing “Superintendent’s Office” to “Central Office” in the sentence about how to request a public document. Mr. Schmertzler suggested that there should be a link to the Facilities Subcommittee.
Mr. Brandmeyer said from tonight’s meeting the following would be posted: the Long Term Agenda, the profile of new faculty, and the work plans. Ms. Dobrow thanked Mr. Brandmeyer, Mr. Naso, and Mr. Picker for their work over the summer.
The Committee discussed how to get more consistent staffing to videotape School Committee meetings and how much priority they should devote to this task. Ms. Manos offered to investigate the possibility of meeting in town hall and using the video equipment in place there. Ms. Hessler said there is comfort for citizens in knowing that they can watch the meetings.
Mr. Brandmeyer said more items will be added to the long-term agenda as the year proceeds. Two meetings are planned for the Hanscom Air Force Base. A special meeting is contemplated in Boston that does not need to be attended by all the School Committee members. Mr. Schmertzler said he wanted to make sure there was adequate time for the Facilities Subcommittee to report to the School Committee to prepare for the presentation at the State of the Town meeting. The Committee decided that the Facilities Subcommittee would report on October 5 and October 19 and that if necessary they would report again on November 2. The first quarter report for FY07 will be added on October 19. Ms. Manos said it is helpful for the long-term agenda to note first reading and second reading which is required for policy but helpful for other votes. Ms. Dobrow moved that the School Committee vote to adopt the long-term agenda as amended. Ms. Manos seconded the motion. All elected members voted in favor with Ms. Trask concurring.
Respectfully submitted,
Sara Rolley, School Committee Recording Secretary