School Committee Updates–January 28, February 1, and February 4

January 28, 2014

The January 28, 2014 School Committee meeting included an executive session (not open to the public) to discuss strategy for collective bargaining with Lexington Education Association units and a public hearing on the Superintendent’s FY 15 recommended budget. There was also an executive session to conduct a strategy session in preparation for contract negotiations with Superintendent Ash. The recommended budget proposes $89.9 million to fund the district’s goals and sets aside $657,000 for the district’s future capital projects. The public discussion included requests from Lexington High School teachers to use some of the $657,000 to add staff at the high school to reduce teacher workloads. Other discussions focused on the need to appropriate funds for school supplies that have been funded by Parent Teacher Associations.

February 1, 2014

The public hearing included the opportunity for public comment on the budget under consideration. The potential addition of a part-time district-level communications specialist received several comments, and Superintendent Ash agreed with school committee members that this proposal would likely be removed from the proposed budget. Other topics of primary interest were concerns about class size, particularly at the high school level, teacher load at the high school, and the potential addition of a data analyst & assessment specialist for the district.

February 4, 2014

The February 4 meeting School Committee meeting continued the public discussion of Superintendent Ash’s recommended FY 15 budget. The discussion focused on recommendations for new staff. The committee eliminated Ash’s proposed part-time communications specialist (with a proposed annual salary of $30,00) and added a director of planning and assessment to the budget (with a proposed annual salary of $100,000). The director of planning and assessment would collaborate with the assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and professional development to incorporate more data-driven decision-making and research-based measures into the district. There was a debate amongst School Committee members about whether to hire the director of planning and assessment this year or in FY16, and whether these funds could be used in FY15 to add teaching staff. There was also a debate about lowering the cost of field trips.

The School Committee will vote on the proposed budget during the February 11, 2014 School Committee meeting.

The budget documents discussed in these sessions can be found on the School Committee Web site at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1220.

The January 7, 2014 School Committee Meeting included an executive session (not open to the public) to prepare for contract negotiations with Superintendent Dr. Paul Ash, whose contract will expire in June 2015. The public portion of the meeting focused on a review of Dr. Ash’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2015 and an update of the new Educator Evaluation System.

You can view the meeting at www.lexmedia.org through their Watch Us/On Demand section. Meeting minutes and related documents will be posted on the School Committee section of the LPS Web site.

Our next update will include a summary of topics covered at the January 21 School Committee meeting, which will include an executive session (not open to the public) to discuss strategy regarding Collective Bargaining with the following bargaining units: LEA Units C, D, and Tech Unit, a discussion of the Superintendent’s FY15 Recommended Budget (first presented at the 1/7/14 meeting), and School Committee Goals.

The committee unanimously voted to approve submission of a statement of intent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for Hastings School. Pending approval by the board of selectmen on Jan. 6, this statement of intent notifies the MSBA that Lexington could apply for future building projects for Hastings.

The committee also heard a report of the district’s MCAS results, which continue to outperform many comparable towns. There was discussion of the new PARCC assessment, which reflects the Common Core State Standards. Some classrooms in Lexington (none at Hastings) will participate in field testing of PARCC this spring. The state has delayed commitment to full implementation of PARCC and will revisit the possibility of transitioning from MCAS.

The committee voted to enter discussion of a potential new contract for Dr. Ash. Other agenda items included an update on the K-5 space options working group, a report from the solar task force, and presentation of the transition plan for Estabrook’s new building, which will open after February break.

For more information, you can view the meetings at Lexmedia.org via the Watch Us!/On Demand. Helpful tip: if you are interested in a specific agenda item, you can use the Chapter feature to go straight to that topic. You can learn more about the School Committee members, meeting agendas, and read Meeting Minutes and any reports discussed at these meetings as they are approved and posted on the Lexington Public Schools website in the School Committee section.

Middle Schools
The two middle schools are at capacity. Their enrollment will increase by at least 152 students by 2018-2019, and Dr. Ash is recommending that $40,000 should be included into the FY15 capital budget to hire an architect to study how well space is being utilized and to recommend possible re-designing internal space to create more educational spaces (moving internal walls, shifting closets, etc).

Elementary Schools
Presentation by Dr Ash, reporting the conclusions of a study on space needs done by Design Partnership.
This study showed the total number of general classrooms per school and the number of other educational classrooms (art, music, special ed), based upon the School Committee’s class size guidelines.

• All ILP rooms are full at Fiske, and, according to Dr. Ash, Special Education rooms cannot be used for general education. Note for Hastings: This school year an extra classroom was acquired from the consolidation of our current 2nd grade going from 4 to 3 classrooms, and that new classroom is now Special Education.
• The projected enrollment for next school year shows Estabrook with 4 empty classrooms and Fiske will be over capacity by 2 classrooms, and their space is predicted to get worse.
• Fiske also has the largest population of 2-, 3-, and 4-year old children. Right now there is no method to fully predict the influx of students at Estabrook following its opening.
• Note for Hastings: The capacity and projections for the next two years has Hastings needing the same number of classrooms it currently has.
• 2014-2015 Options for Fiske:
  • Convert Fiske art and music rooms into general education classrooms.
  • Convert one of two Fiske art and music rooms into general education and increase the class size beyond recommended guidelines in one grade.
  • Increase class sizes in two grades at Fiske.
  • Redistrict some Fiske students to Estabrook for the fall of 2014.
  • Any of the above plus seeking funding for new modular or permanent spaces for Fiske in 2015.

Discussion:

• A strong case was made that in 2 years or less, Estabrook’s extra classrooms will be filled, partly due to several multi-family homes and new construction.
• Strong support was shown for Bridge Elementary, which has the largest student population and feels that the renovations have not helped their space needs.
• All the schools have space issues, and that it is a system-wide issue that needs attention right now.
• Why is it that Fiske and Harrington may not have been built large enough at the time?
• Note for Hastings: The renovation/rebuild of Hastings will need much strategy given Lexington’s popularity and the predicted numbers in the years ahead in all the elementary schools.
• Bottom line: the long term solution goes beyond moving some classrooms/kchildren around at Fiske.