Newton PTO Council Minutes - January 26, 2010

 PTO Council Minutes

January 26, 2010
Ed Center, Room 210
 
In attendance: Tricia Bombara (Burr), Janet Clay (Peirce), Jennifer Conley (Horace Mann),  Stephen DeJesus (Burr), Lucia Dolan (PTO Council Equity), Theresa Fitzpatrick (Angier), Sue Flicop (PTO Council Board), Ellen Gibson (Underwood/Bigelow), Martha Golub (Angier), Ruth Goldman (Bowen), Margaret Hannah (Health & Safety, NNHS), Dana Hanson (Burr), Bruce Henderson (Oak Hill), Laura Holt (PTO Council Co-President), Wendy Hurwitz (Williams), Rhanna Kidwell (PTO Council Co-President), Jodi Klein (Peirce), Lori Lass (PTO Council Secretary),  Janice Lipof (Memorial Spaulding), Donna Manley (Bigelow), Liz Richardson (PTO Council Board), Yun Saksena (Countryside), Agi Sardi (Lincoln Eliot), Karen Solari (Horace Mann), Marcia Tabenken (PTO Council VP), Lexi Turner (Underwood), Donna Whithane (Williams), Caroline Wilson (Zervas).
 
Special Guests:         Jim Marini, Superintendent
                           Reenie Murphy, School Committee
                           Claire Sokoloff, School Committee
                           Setti Warren, Mayor
 
I.              Comments by Jim Marini, Superintendent
 
A.   Budget process has begun
1.   Good news from governor is that he is trying to level fund all cities and towns.
2.   Still, every department is looking for efficiencies and ways to make reductions.
3.   Full budget will be presented the first week of March.
4.   Superintendent available to speak to PTO Council about any budget questions, so that we can communicate back to the parents.
 
B.   Technology
1.   Mayor is willing to have discussions about finding new ways to fund technology in schools, rather than rely on inequitable system of having PTO’s raise money for each school.
2.   Plan to look at technology as integral to the education process.
 
C.   Emergency Response Team
1.   Recently experienced the death of a student at Peirce and the death of a teacher at Bigelow.
2.   Feels it’s time to ratchet up the training that the Police Department, Fire Department, PTO Council and School Committee all provide to the schools.
 
D.   Space Issues
1.   At the Feb 8th School Committee meeting, Pat Kelly and Mike Cronin will present their research on space issues to the School Committee and offer their options on how to deal with it.
 
E.   Six Principal Positions Open
1.   Currently, five elementary schools (Memorial Spaulding, Peirce, Horace Mann, and two others) plus one middle school (Oak Hill) have open principal positions.
2.   To date, 78 people have applied for the elementary school positions.  Major focus in the spring will be to hire these replacements.
 
 
II.           Superintendent Search, Reenie Murphy and Claire Sokoloff
 
A.   Process
1.   Moving along, right on track.
2.   Over the summer, discussions held about what kind of person would be a good leader for Newton.
3.   Hired a search firm, Hazard, Young & Attea (HYA) and set up our own group, which is half educators (such as Pat Kelly, Mark Springer), half citizens (Laura Holt, Ellen Gibson, Bruce Henderson), plus two students (one from Newton North High School and one from Newton South High School.)
4.   The reason a search firm was hired is that the hiring situation has changed since last time Newton hired a superintendent (11 years ago).  There are many more open positions that qualified candidates, so search firm is trying to woo administrators from their current positions.  As a result, confidentiality issues are of a greater concern to all candidates.  These candidates do not want their names to go public unless they are a finalist for the job.
5.   The educator/citizen group spearheaded the effort to survey the community and decided with which stakeholders should do focus groups.  They also pulled together the report on what Newton wants for its next Superintendent.
6.   Next steps:  on Feb 9, 10, and 11th the Search Committee will go out and visit candidate sites.  On Feb 23, 24, and 25 the six finalists recommended by the search firm will come to Newton.  Each day there will be an open interview with the School Committee in the morning (at 100 Walnut Street), then a private Search Committee interview in the afternoon, followed by an open evening meeting (each of which will take place at Day Middle School).  On Feb 26 the School Committee will deliberate and if a candidate is found, then it will become public at the end of March.
 
B.   Questions
1.   Who puts together the information to sell Newton to the candidates?  The Search Committee puts together the report on what kind of superintendent Newton wants.  The search firm says that it is having no trouble selling Newton to the candidates because of its reputation for outstanding public schools.  All of us can participate in the Newton TAB blog, which the candidates have been encouraged to look at.
2.   Will there be feedback forms for the evening forums?  Yes, great idea.
3.   Does not having a permanent superintendent have a negative effect on the principal searches?  Not really, because Newton is so well known.  The principals will report to the superintendent, so it could be an issue in some cases, but not usually.
4.   What happens if we don’t like any of the six finalists that the search firm recommends?  Then we will keep going until we find a candidate that we do like.  The School Committee might not be able to come to an agreement on Feb 26th, and so they might have to invite some of the candidates back again.  The window doesn’t close this spring, we can keep looking into summer if we have to.
 
III.         Comments by Setti Warren, Mayor
 
A.   Education is a priority
 
1.   Feels that education is the bedrock of society and is a very high priority for his administration.
2.   Having said that, we need to look at eachother as one whole city (not just the “school” side versus the “city” side).
3.   Need to look at the coming year, as well as 5 – 10 years out, so we can plan better.
 
B.   Budget
 
1.   Balanced city budget due to the commonwealth by June 30th.  So it has to get to the Aldermen by mid-April, so they have time to review and vote on it.
2.   During the month of February, Mayor Warren will go out to the wards and do mini budget sessions, so that he can hear from the community.
3.   Three areas that Newton needs to address:
a.   Have to reduce the cost of healthcare for all city employees, not just teachers, because it is the biggest budget driver.
b.   Have to address the very serious infrastructure issues.  The School Committee has done the work to evaluate its buildings, but the city still needs to evaluate all of its buildings.  We need to change how we do maintenance for all buildings and foresee projects several years out.
c.    Have to listen to the needs of parents and students, which is a critical aspect of communication.
4.   How will these issues be addressed?  We’ll use performance management for all areas of the city, look at what we’re doing right and wrong.  We’ll use a 311 system to collect information from citizens.  We’ll have to think of new ways to address problems.  For example, we need to change the way we deal with snow on sidewalks.  The Mayor believes we should have an ordinance to clean off sidewalks.
 
C.   Questions
1.   From Angier PTO, the parents were shocked recently to see just how bad the building’s problems are.  How bad does it have to get before something will be done?  What can parents do to move the process along?  The Mayor plans to re-organize his administration and  put all the maintenance groups under the Department of Public Works and have one person look ahead to review problems, examine costs and create a plan to put before the community.  Millions of dollars of work needs to be done over 5 – 10 years.  The Mayor plans to do the re-organization happen some time between spring and summer.  In the short-term, he will work with the School Committee to address the needs as best we can.  Have to realize that we are playing catch up for decades of neglect.  Mayor will ask the public for  help when he has a plan in place.  Everything will be out in the open.
2.   Blue Zone Safety:  having police officers come to our schools and write tickets has the biggest and best effect on delinquent drivers, but the police department is slow to respond to such requests.  How can we work with the Police Department better?  The Mayor said he will organize a meeting with the School Committee, Police Department and Mayor’s Office to talk about safety issues.  Will include Safe Routes Committee, working with Officer Mintz.  FYI:  Police Chief Cummings has budgeted a new person for ComStat, which is  a program that allows him and  his staff to use real data to look at problem areas in the city so that they can best allocate resources to deal with them.  Margaret Hannah added that she felt we needed a culture change, and that we need a city-wide policy where the abuse of parents and staff who try to enforce the rules will not be tolerated.
3.   Where do things stand with the GIC (Group Insurance Committee)?  The city, in conjunction with the former central administration officer, had researched potential savings if we combined city employees into a group insurance plan.  The research showed that we would gain savings in the first year, but it was not clear what would happen over time.  That deeper analysis has yet to be done.  Right now, our biggest concern is cost savings over time.  In order to join GIC, we would need 70% of the union to approve the move.  Brookline and Arlington just voted for this. In Newton, our working group is still studying this.
4.   How do you feel about technology and funding it in the schools?  The city needs to make some serious, equitable technology investments in all the schools.  We need to look beyond the traditional revenue streams (i.e. the PTO’s).  One possibility is getting involved with local non-profits universities, and corporations, such as Boston College and LaSalle and others, and becoming involved in a larger partnership to fund technology.  Need to look at technology as a capital investment.  We will be looking at all the infrastructure needs of the city at all levels.  Comment from Sue Flicop who is working on a task force on this issue:  the PTO Council and Newton School Foundation task force has the goal of getting PTOs out of technology fundraising in five years.
 
IV.          Liz Richardson, State and Federal funding information
 
A.   Race to the Top funding
1.   The governor signed the Education Reform Bill recently, which had to be done so that Massachusetts could qualify for the federal “Race to the Top” funding.  The goal of this funding is to reduce the achievement gap between racial groups and improve innovation.  Newton, having done our Strategic Plan last year, is in a good place to receive funding for innovation.
2.   Governor said he will keep the city and town aid level-funded.  Keep in mind that our city aid was cut last year, so we are already starting with a deficit.
3.   Claire Sokoloff commented that $23billion in federal funds had been set aside for this program.  Massachusetts is seen as a very good candidate, because we have model public education.  To receive funding, the city has to be willing to be more accountable at all levels.  Our portion would come to $90,000 a year for 4 years, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s something.  We expect to hear by next January whether or not we got it.
4.   To be a candidate for this, had to get accountability sign off from School Committee, Newton Teacher’s Association and the Superintendent.  Newton was the only city/town where its teachers do not have a current contract, that agreed to sign.  Over 200 communities in the state expressed interest, but unions did not sign and they were shocked that Newton’s union did.
5.   By participating in the “Race to the Top”, we can qualify for other grants.  Newton is well-positioned to go after grants because of all the strategic planning we did last year. 
6.   Massachusetts is seen as a model for teaching other states how to do public education well, and Newton could be at the forefront of this.
7.   The downside is that projects have to be tied to quality and performance of teachers and administrators.  As Newton sees it, this is the future of education, and we may as well drive the process rather than stand by and have it drive us.
8.   In addition, we have to fight to make sure that public school funding is not negatively affected by charter school funding, which is most often seen in poorly performing districts.
9.   One idea for the future is that Newton could consider using this money for an innovation school, such as a math/science school or a school for the arts.
 
 
B.   Circuit Breaker funding
1.   Any SPED student whose needs require an allocation of 3x more than a typical student, then the state reimburses the city for those expenses.  In past years the reimbursement level was 70%, it’s been reduced to 40% and it could go even lower.
 
C.   Stimulus Funding
1.  We will get the second half of our stimulus funding from last year, which will come to $1.7 million, but then it runs out.  Next year will be a real issue.
 
V.            Other issues
 
1.   Private school busing task force being created to review what the city should do about cost of busing students to private schools.
2.   Charles Bank Road parents are asking for a waiver of the bus fee, since their children live across the Mass Pike from their schools and it is not safe for them to walk (even though the distance is short).  This is one of four “safety zones” here the students live across a major highway from their schools.  Another example is Oak Hill students who live in Newton Highlands on the opposite side of Rt. 9.  No decision to change the bus policy.  It’s a complicated issue.
3.   Redistricting is not on the table yet.  It may be brought forward by Pat Kelly at the Feb 8th meeting to discuss space issues.  Claire recommends that parents follow the space issue carefully and give the School Committee feedback.
4.   Phase III of ESCO (energy efficient monitoring of school buildings) taking place.  Day was able to get its roof replaced with the energy savings achieved.  Heat consumption and electrical consumption are both down significantly after energy-efficient measures were installed.
 
 
 
Next meeting:  Tuesday, April 7th, 7:30 p.m., Room 210 of the Ed Center, 100 Walnut Street.
 
Submitted by Lori Lass