The School Committee is in the process of updating all policies, with a target date for completion of the end of the 2014-2015 school year. At the 9/23/14 meeting, they began the public review of the policies under consideration, focusing on the following areas:

1. Policy Manual Review Process
2. Section A of Policy Manual: Foundations and Basic Commitments
3. Section B of Policy Manual: Board Governance and Operations
4. Review and Discussion of Individual Policies, Including Draft Non-Residence Policy

All policies under review can be found at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1107.

The next School Committee meeting is on 9/30/14.

The Enrollment Working Group presented information on trends on enrollment, more data on student numbers, the types of methods they use for predicting enrollment, and the possibilities of why these methods are/are not working in Lexington.

The presentations can be seen here:

• Presentation Slides
• Background Report

Upcoming School Committee meetings:Sept 23, Sept 30, and Oct 7th.

Report on School Capacity

The 9/17 meeting of the School Committee included a presentation about building capacity at all nine schools. Slides are available at: http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Page/4316

The primary focus of the school committee meeting on 9/17 was a report on building capacities across the nine schools. The architectural firm SMMA presented analysis of the space at each building, relative to standards from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. This analysis will be used in relation to enrollment projections presented on 9/16. Quite detailed slides, including about spaces at Hastings and enrollment/class sizes across schools, are available at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Page/4316.

The MSBA is expected to respond to the Hastings statement of intent within 4-6 weeks. If approved, this will lead to a feasibility stage to consider renovations or new construction.

At the 9/30 meeting, the Committee will consider pros and cons of different options to address potential capacity concerns across the schools.

Superintendent Search Process
The committee also considered the potential make-up of the search committee for the superintendent search. Decisions about the process will be made at the 9/30 meeting.

School Committee Meeting, 8/26/14

The following agenda items were discussed. For more information on each of these items, you can view the meeting at LexMedia in the OnDemand section (http://www.lexmedia.org/ondemand.html), and you may also find related documents in Meeting Minutes as they are published at lps.lexingtonma.org

1. School Committee Policy Manual Revision Process – Presentation by Jim Hardy, MASC
2. Approval of the Bridge School PTA Fund Raising Project (approved)
3. Vote to Approve the Textile Recycling Program (approved)
4. Superintendent Search Process (see timeline at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Page/5062)
5. Suggested School Committee Dates for September and October. Meetings are scheduled for 9/16, 9/17, 9/22 (executive session), 9/23, 9/30, and 10/7.
6. Vote to Appoint School Committee Member to the Ad Hoc School Master Planning Committee (Jessie Steigerwald appointed).
7. Update School Committee Liaison List (assignments to be posted at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Page/1150)
8. FY16 Budget Guidelines and Timetable

The April 29 School Committee Meeting covered the following items. Please note that all reports related to the agenda items below can be found at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Page/1921. You can also view the meeting at Lexmedia (www.lexmedia.org) by going to the On Demand/Watch Us portion of the site.

1. Vote to Approve Lexington High School 2014-2015 German Student Exchange Trip to Erding and Berlin, Germany, June 23 – July 15, 2015 – APPROVED
2. Vote on Solar Task Force Recommended Solar Panel Installation
3. Youth Risk Behavior Survey
4. Vote on Recommendation to Address Fiske Overcrowding – the committee voted to approve the recommendation for a team—teaching approach in the Fiske 5th grades to resolve a projected enrollment of 27 or more students in the three Fiske grade classrooms for the 2014-2015 school year. As part of the contract with the LPS teachers’ union, if an elementary school class has 27 or more students an aide will be hired to help in the classroom; the approved recommendation would have two fully certified teachers in these classrooms whenever core academic are taught rather than a one teacher and one aide in each classroom.
5. FY 2014 3rd Quarterly Financial Report
6. Traffic Safety and Mitigation Policy (First Reading)
7. Public Hearing on School Choice (scheduled for a vote on May 13; Dr. Ash recommended that Lexington continues to not participate in the School Choice program, which would allow students who do not live in Lexington to send their children to Lexington Public Schools if there is room).
8. School Committee Liaison Assignments—assignments reviewed based on agreements to date.

Consent Votes
1. Vote to Approve Lexington High School 2014-2015 French Student Exchange Trip to Antony, France, and Brussels, Belgium, February 5-21, 2015–APPROVED
2. Vote to Accept a $700 Donation from Weidong Wang and Microsoft Corporation for the Chinese Language Program at Lexington High School–APPROVED
3. Vote to Accept a $250 Donation from Xiongwei Zhou and Rong Li in Support of the 2014 LHS Science and Engineering Fair–APPROVED

The Vote to Establish a Subcommittee to Examine School Holiday Recognition was postponed to a later meeting due to time constraints.