Facilities Meeting

SUBMITTED TO OPENLMN BY A MEETING ATTENDEE

Attendees:

Diane DiBonaventuro
Jerry Novick
Virginia Pollard

Chris McGinley

Pat Guinnane

Vic Orlando

Various staff and contractors

1. Questions about list of bills
1. P22 and P32 – p 22 changed #19 to reflect credit of $30K, p32 changed total
2. P30 #3 – transportation contract with private bus service when the school district cannot provide – mostly associated with HS athletics to fields while LM buses are transporting ES and MS children home
3. P34 #17 – charge for progress payment on the District Administrative Offices (DAO). $770K for the month, based on % completion, 10% retained on overall contract. (Completion milestones are reviewed each month before invoices are presented for approval).
2. Purchasing
1. LMHS in ground irrigation – estimate $180 for project. Irrigation contractor bid recommended came in significantly lower than other bid – team reviewed with contractor to determine that the scope was completely understood – going with lowest bidder. Bid excludes electrical work, and some of the major plumbing. Total of bids expected to come in under the estimate. Irrigation will be on the Arnold Field side of Montgomery Ave.
2. Professional services for asphalt
3. Mold problem in crawl space of DAO found. Contracting to have mold and contents of space removed - $25K. Need remediation – will be separate purchase order. Remediation will be a sump pump type system – not bid yet.
4. LMHS Change orders

i. Asbestos removal

ii. Burrough GC – sealing associated with window leaks. The windows leak in blowing rain.

iii. DAO – drain for water to gain access to crawl space

5. DAO change orders

i. Credit for conduit for fire alarm system

ii. Asbestos abatement - $121K additional – expects $150K – there may be 2 more items for phase 1.

iii. Architectural changes +/-

3. HHS – very little change. There are $346K pending change orders – 2/3 is 1 item, which is probably dead.
4. LMHS – getting close to finished. Pending change orders $325K – primarily associated with asphalt index.
5. DAO – 2 issues:
1. Steel work – steel required for HVAC placement not galvanized. Waiting for price and time impact to resolve. This is a design error – will probably be a $25K impact.
2. Crawl space mold issue.
6. Five year facilities plan reviewed. The current five year plan is estimated to cost $8M – there is $12M in reserve. Projects include air conditioning all classrooms (almost complete), enhanced security (cameras in buildings, access doors), various boilers, roofs, retaining walls, etc. The process (for the plan) in the future will be to present in January and approve at the March meeting so that the plan can feed into the annual budget process.
7. Jim Lill is accepting a position as the Director of Facilities for the Downingtown Area School District – congratulations and thanks all around.
8. The next Facilities Meeting is 6/9/11 (not on the district calendar), preceding the Wednesday, June 15^th board meeting.

New HS English 4 classes, new ES science, Homework Policy

Handouts: Agenda - HW draft policy - new HS classes and books - new ES science

Susan Guthrie (SG)

Virginia Pollard (VP)

Diane DiBonaventura (DD)

Melissa Gilbert (MG)

Chris McGinley (CM)

Steve Barbado (SB)

Nancy Acconciamessa (NA)

Jack Maguire (JM)

Mike Kelly (MK)

Wagner Marseille (WM)

XX: Principal of Penn Wynne – rep for elementary principals

Elementary Science Kit Resource - SEE ATTACHMENTS

Hasn’t been revamped since 1999

Process was started by Joey - did a survey; before Nancy got here

10 teachers were on a committee

Teachers reviewed text books and kits using a national rubric

Narrowed it down to Foss and STC

Then looked at modules and chose some kits

Nancy took over - FOSS and STC presented to teachers

Teachers looked at kits and manuals more and refined picks

A special ed and gifted teacher were also solicited for input

2 parents from each school came in - saw presentation - filled in survey

Chose a combination of the two (see attached handouts)

MG: does this integrate with math

NA: already did curriculum alignment

Average cost of replenishment is $100 per year per class per activity - comes out of building materials budget for replenishment - current costs are about $80

We currently have FOSS and STC in action now

These kits will be rolled out a few at a time

This year we did 4th grade ecosystems kits

Teachers felt the kids were better prepared for the PSSAs

DD: discussion of Penny (award winning teachers)

SG: looking at teacher training - is there training for the gifted and learning support teachers

NA: yes, the training will include how to make adaptation and extensions; these teachers will be involved in the teacher development

SG: will there be more of an effort to integrate the SE and gifted in the curriculum

CM: they aligning the gifted program with the regular curriculum - everyone is in the room at the same time

SG: very excited about the communication home piece

DD: how much of a school week is this going to take? Are they completing the modules?

NA: the plan is to do one kit next year. Following year the second kit, the third year the last kit

SG: at the end of the 3 years they are doing 3

CM: yes, we always ask them to do too much. We need to make sure that we paint a coherent picture so teachers understand how many minutes for each activity

DD: will there be staff development to help them manage this time

XX: teachers need to understand that they do not need to budget 80 minutes for literacy; literacy may be spread out over activities and throughout the day

DD: has someone really mapped out the day with all of these new programs?

CM: they are constantly doing this; teachers are also collaborating to fit it all in; get a lot of feedback from teachers

DD: just want to make sure that someone is thinking about it

DD: with "Journeys" it builds, one unit on the other

NA: the literacy components are being aligned with the literacy curriculum

VP: is there an opportunity to let the board see all the kits

NA: goes over the cost of the kits - we are starting with the physical science kits

MG: are we phasing this in because of the money?

CM: no - we don't want to overwhelm the teachers

MG: you can really see the improvement with the changes - would like to get this in as soon as possible

Audience: make sure kids get the point of the lessons - not just play with the kits

Audience: with the 5th graders, the teachers will really need to coordinate with the math pullout

Audience: talks about science literacy vs. stories about science; talks about the crazy biography on Magnus

Audience: one of the programs (STC) had fabulous magazines to go with them – can we get those?

SG: this is a good opportunity to align the HSA's with the curriculum

DD: are we recommending moving forward with this

High school electives - Jack Maguire – SEE ATTACHMENTS

Revamping senior English - it was English 4 -

Teachers were choosing most of the materials - enrollment followed the teacher, not follow the course

Now there are 3 courses:

Reading and writing non-fiction -

Modern and contemporary literature - ww2 to the present - will be about 2/3 of the kids

Literary traditions - was British lit - more inclusive of other traditions

DD: in the big picture - required to take English 1, 2, 3 then one of these 3

JM: there are also electives

MG: can you take 2 of these?

JM: this could cause a staffing issue; hadn't talked about that; will look at it

DD: can someone that is not a senior take these?

JM: no, not at this time, taught at a senior level; also changing the English 1 and 2 to match up with the keystone exams

MG: the traditions course still favors British lit; there is a level where we are reinforcing that British literature is the center of all civilization

JM: the 9th and 10th grades are world literature courses - but as we re-do we will have a more genre based curriculum

MG: the course description privileges British

JM: the concept of a "tradition" is taught using the British

JM: AP comp and AP lit would replace these courses

DD: are there actually textbooks

JM: a textbook in literary traditions

DD: is there anything we should know about in these books?

Discussion of reading and writing non-fiction

Course has a number of videos also

New AP psych book

MG: why aren't we using e-books? Need to have discussion about this

JM: nearly every AP psych class uses this book

Homework – SEE ATTACHMENTS

Hands out 3 docs - new AR, new policy, old AR

Took some of AR and moved it to policy

There is a discussion about the sentence regarding whether or not homework is part of the grade authenticity because an issue when homework is part of the grade

It will up to the teachers to determine the grading for homework

Teachers will be required to communicate to parents how homework will be graded

How much of the grade is homework varies greatly from teacher to teacher

They are going to leave it up to the teachers - will add a statement that the teachers should strive to make it consistent across courses

SG: policies for late work are all over the map; heard about late work being stressful for kids

WM: that is a major inconsistency; teachers are torn between requiring a deadline

CM: haven’t had conversations with the teachers yet

SG: in the days of the holistic child, this is stressful; send the wrong message to the kids; doesn't allow the kids to prioritize

Audience: there are teachers giving 0 credit for one day late; research distinguishes valuing responsibility and valuing knowledge

MG: there is also a question of maturity

DD: nothing wrong with an assignment teaching responsibility; there is a difference between an extenuating circumstance and just not doing the work

WM: comfortable saying there needs to be some consistency

MK: the intent was to read the policy next week

This conversation is for another forum - may be in the AR

Audience: what happens when there is an impasse between the teachers and parent - should be mechanism for the parents to go to someone else - some parents are afraid to take it up with the teacher for fear

DD: when you have a disagreement - Principal is always the next step

Changes to the AR:

There are many changes to the AR based on discussion last Friday, and other discussions around the district - see new draft

No more midnight/weekend HW deadlines

SG: in the parent/guardian section; why are we using the word "may"?

WM: his parents didn't speak English and didn’t go to school

SG: to her, may sounds optional

There was discussion about "may" last Friday

Audience: a number of parents felt that the HW contract was between the teacher and the school; an obligation on the part of the parent is unfair

District passes budget, closes $1.4 million gap with admin positions reductions, delay of purchases & services

Education/Special board meeting
May 9, 2011

School Directors present: Susan Guthrie, Gary Friedlander, Virginia Pollard, Diane DiBonnaventuro, David Ebby (board president) Lyn Kugel (Vice President), Melissa Gilbert, Lisa Fair-Pliskin, Jerry Novick
Audience: About 12 people.
audience: about 20 (about half are recipients of ISC grants)

ISC Mini Grants
presented by Jenifer Bale Kushner

funded by the HSA's
awarded to 28 teachers this year, across all 10 schools

Supt McGinley (CM);cases where something starts as a mini grant and is subsequently expanded [into a district sponsored regular program]

Budget:

CM: Initial budget proposed in advance of the governor's budget. had anticipated 500k less in funding. needed to cover $1.4 million in cuts. Tonight's budget addresses the latest cuts.

Can take exceptions for costs that we are not in control of, to raise axes above the 1.4% - in our case special education and retirement funding.

Because school districts are mandated to do certain things

Next year's shortfall could be $5 million if all the exceptions go away.

Victor Orlando (VO):
tax raise for median household ($250k value) = +$185

Gary Friedlander (GF: ) How do we determine what we need to do before the state budget is passed?
VO: can open budget again and approve another budget
GF: what is state reduces ss reimburse from 50 to 15%.
GF: believes there's going to be action on ss very soon , based on what they've been told.
Diane (DD): It's more an accounting function, because if they don't cut as much as anticipated then we have extra money from state and won't have to cut as much
VO: But our budget assumes that social security reimb stays at 50%
Jerry Novick (JN): what happens if not al the cuts come through
VO:
JN: The blame we get from Harrisburg is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mandates from state, pension funding not managed well, . Lucky to live in a district where people support public education, will continue to,
push for limitations on local tax have come in recent years. Future boards will have greater limitations.
Melissa Gilbert (MG): can you speak to where areas are that we think we will be able to make some cuts
CM: eliminate admin positions (assistant principal eg) other cuts in operations and technology - delay purchases and delay services. Good news is that tax collecting rates are exceeding projections, so hope to offset cuts.
DD: Q about soc sec subsidy:
Susan Guthrie (SG): one of the exceptions taken in past was grandfather debt, not taking this year. Wanted to clarify that we're not taking it because it's not available anymore. 2nd Q: what are hoops to reopen budget?
VO: personally never done it before but seen other districts do it.
CM: Board would approve a new budget. Options about what to do with surplus. Could rebate to people, or add to fund balance.
David Ebby (DE): those excess costs : we had been paying 4%, state wants 8%, then … eventually 21% is about $20 million for our district.
GF: part of this is Harrisburg's failure to address this 10 years ago
VO: in 01,02: in that year there was not contribution to pension liability. Since then many years with no appropriate contribution.
CM: in 2001 benefit was expanded. But recently state legislature changed the terms, for new employees.
DD: Every year our business manager brings this to our attention. Problem is that there was really not much we could do, even though anticipated.
Lyn Kugel (LK): is this a time we should be urging people to contact their legislature?
GF: last week was a presentation at west chester high school -
SG: there's an urgency behind this - will be decided soon- house will be debating act 1 exceptions tomorrow. other issues resolved by aery June. need to get involved now.
SG: can you talk about budget shortfalls prested at finance committee meeting?
CM: Projection given at finance committee meeting is that what gov has presented is final. Reluctant to say that it's worst case scenario. But it could be worse - future cuts in millions of $ would mean program cuts. Thinks that we've built programs and enhancements over the years that are meaningful. Would need to cut programs or ask public to vote on act 1 increases. Athletics, arts, languages, ethnology .. things not mandated by state
GF: If you want to see impact, look at Council Rock sd, had to eliminate 60 positions
CM: If you want to lookout long term underfunding look at Delaware - underfunded schools, people moved to PA
JN: impacts districts
Lisa Pliskin(LP): another alternative would be to increase class sizes. SB would have to consider.

Budget adopted

no speakers

May 6, Policy Committee Meeting, 8am

Policy committee meeting discussing the draft Environmental and draft Homework Policies

Draft Homework Policy handout:

Hw Policy First Read001


Pat Guinnane (admin)
Ken Roos
Dr Kelly
L Fair-Pliskin (board)
Gilbert (board)
Pollard (board)
McGinley (Superintendent)
W Marseille (admin)
MLT (press)
Gallery audience

I arrive at 8:12-has started
Gilbert- discussing environmental impact policy, should/to include buses,
driving..
Guinnane-Are you talking about kids who are walkers?
Gilbert-we should promote biking, scooters, yeah...
Fair Pliskin-at the very least car pooling.
Guinnane - nods makes notes.
Packets passed, not enough-more are exchanged
Policy 132 Home Work
New draft is read allowed
Read allowed - _A_dministrative_R_egulations
McG-we don't want to take away the teachers ability to design the class,
Gallery is taking notes
Questions from gallery around specific words, applied to ES, HS students
Questions regarding AR - training of Teachers in/about HW?
Questions around College Board info on college hrs of hw vs this policy
vs AP classes
McG and Marseille to be specific in implementation
*This Policy will be discussed-Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8 a.m.
Curriculum Committee Meeting - Admin. First Floor Conference Room *
Guinnane- Policy No. 709 Building Security
Policy No. 713 Access to School Facilities
Regards community groups requesting use of LMSD facilities, and fund
raising -sale of items (?)
fees and charges should apply
(believe his request is for more specifics in this policy, although it
is not clear)
9:20 adjourned.