School board business meeting

School board business meeting
Monday, December 20, 2010
in the auditorium [a note that the room sound was pretty bad and I missed some bit of what

School Directors present: Susan Guthrie, Gary Friedlander, Virginia Pollard, Diane DiBonnaventuro, David Ebby (Board President), Lyn Kugel (Vice President), Lisa Fair-Pliskin, Jerry Novick
Audience: About 6 people.


A performance by the Harriton HS choir

Construction update:

Administration building receiving new windows, in the same style as the old windows.

Jerry Novick (JN): congratulates Doug Young and staff for staging a great event around the Kobe Bryant Gym dedication. Raised lot of money for the Educational Foundation.

Michael Kelly re-appointed as assistant superintendent for a 5-year term.

David Ebby (DE): This was reviewed by the HR subcommittee of the school board.

Curriculum Committee report:

Announces two new courses for both high schools: Television Broadcasting and Sports & Entertainment Marketing

Gary Friedlander (GF): What is the cost of each course?
Superintendent McGinley: New new staff needed
Steve Barbado: $500 for development.
Diane DiBonnaventuro: We have a wealth of talent in the community in both these areas, and want to make these courses 'real' - encourages community members with this background to contact the schools
Lyn Kugel (LK): These courses will be offered at both high schools, designed to make use of existing resources, TV studios
Susan Guthrie (SG): The write up says that 87% of students are excited about these courses. Interested i how this poll was conducted, concerned that students will be forced to make a choice between this and other courses
SB: Not necessarily excludes taking other electives. Electives designed to be offered over years

Public comment:
R.B. from Ardmore: Regarding the new courses: What is the threshold number of students for running the courses, creating new sections?
CM: About 15. Number flexible. Can combine levels in one class when necessary
RB: Thought that schools had done away with putting different levels in same classroom
CM: Have done that for offering classes that way, not for structuring additional sections
DB: These kind of courses are project based and lend well to having different levels in same class

Facilities and Purchasing

Thursday, December 16, 2010
8:35 AM

Gary Friedlander (GF)
Jerry Novick (JN)
Diane diBonaventura (DD)
Christopher McGinley
Pat Guinnane
George Frazier
Victor Orlando
Byron Horner


I arrive late (8:35am)They already went through list of bills, BCMS contract, Harriton High School

Lower Merion HS
Talking about a section of classrooms that are too cold - Jerry questions for bad - Pat Guinnane "it’s a problem"
Lots of punch-list work at LM over the break

They have been losing water from the pool when the power goes out. It has happened twice -
Lost about 30k gallons each time - not sure where the water is going. 30k gallons in 2 days
JN asks about how to test it
GF: what is the worst case scenario? A. not really answered
JN: any safety issue? A. No
DD: how deep did we dig? Do we know what is under the well? Did the water get into a river? A. They are going to test it with dyes

Concerns about lighting controls - contractors still working with LMSD to fix the problems
We have a different vendors for each school - did this to save some $ at Harriton, then the LM guys (Neutron) reduced their price
Door access controls - at Harriton they are all electronic, remotely locked, etc; not happening at LM, they are working with Boro Electric to get this done. LMSD has provided a list of change orders to get what they want.

Discussion of the administration building renovations

Other matters
Looking to upgrade/change their HR solftware
Want to combine business office and HR
Looking at SunGuard product as the product of choice - $70,000 +$165,000 first year; $40,000 ongoing
Now we have Chronos (not that old, we pay for modules each year) and 10x (old system, since the 80s) - two legacy systems. Costs $65k per year

Two models:
1. Buy - $165k
2. SAAS - $80k per year, saves us on the equipment

Jerry digging into cost savings; asks about hardware savings
Sunguard also makes student software

Jerry: wants to see the whole cost structure/expenses/savings laid out
Timeline: want board approval in January, they have people retiring in the spring, they those people to help with the transition
Diane: wants to see difference in functionality


No audience questions

Math Program for Middle School - Editorial

update: The official LMSD summary is up

Last Wednesday night Nancy Acconciamessa, math specialist, presented the new math program (College Placement Math – CPM) to middle school parents. There were about 80 parents in the room and a number of math teachers. The material presented have been presented before, and covered on this website multiple times (See March 8 Curriculum meeting, March 25 Curriculum meeting, April 12 Education meeting, April 19 Business meeting). They are also on the district website (search for math sequence on www.lmsd.org)

A few parents were there to hear about the CPM program and learn about the student testing for placement in the various programs.

A larger number of parents at the meeting that were upset because their children are not responding well to the program. These parents were told that these were likely growing pains, and to give the program more of a chance.

Other parents spent time questioning the process of adopting CPM. They wanted to know what was wrong with the old method, how this method was chosen, etc. The only answer that was given to these questions was that this is a program that teaches math understanding, and is well aligned to the PA state standards. Parents wanted evident that the program works. They wanted to be convinced that CPM is a good choice. But this just wasn’t going to happen.

I am not a fan of the entire CPM program. BUT, I think we need to keep it in perspective. The curriculum is the curriculum. It is not set by CPM, or by any other program. It is set by the state and the LMSD. CPM is a tool kit for teaching the curriculum.

I don’t like the entire tool kit, but it is the kit we bought. So how do we make this the best math program for LMSD? I think we parents need to do the following:

• Talk to your kids. Figure out what they like and don’t like and communicate that back to the teachers. The kids don’t have to know your feelings about the program, but we need to communicate their perceptions back to the teachers.

• Encourage the teachers and the district to supplement the CPM materials and program in response to student needs.

• Make very, very sure that the district monitors results to ensure this program is working. We need to hold them to the promise that this is the best program for our kids. We should demand a quantitative measure of results.

But most importantly, we need to stay on top of all curriculum changes. This change to CPM has been in the works for YEARS. There were department level discussions, board discussion, open meetings, etc. Only a couple of parents attended the meetings and asked for data supporting the program. This year we put new science materials in the elementary schools with no data presented on the effectiveness of the materials. We put in a new writing program with a similar lack of evidence. This is the accepted process folks, and we are just letting it go on.

The current curriculum changes being implemented are Business/Tech & Info Sciences, Literacy, Social Studies, Family/Consumer Science, Health/PE, Art. Programs being developed NOW are are ESL, Guidence, World Languages, Gifted.

The curriculum changes are scheduled far in advance. It is very easy to see what is coming up, and to put in your two cents worth.

I realize this submission is an editorial, not a report. It represents my thoughts and spelling/grammar errors, not those of other OpenLM contributors. Feedback is always welcome.

Maureen

David Ebby re-elected President, Lyn Kugel elected VP

School board reorganization meeting
Monday, December 6, 2010

School Directors present: Susan Guthrie, Gary Friedlander, Lisa Pliskin, Diane DiBonnaventuro, David Ebby, Lyn Kugel, Virginia Pollard, Jerry Novick, Melissa Gilbert
Audience: About 15 people.

This meeting consisted of:

• Election of temporary president
• Election of School Board President and Vice President

Melissa Gilbert elected temporary president - just for this meeting, as per state law

Nominations for School Board President:

Diane DiBonnaventuro nominates David Ebby: Appreciates his leadership in the year just past, challenging year

Jerry Novick nominates Susan Guthrie: She has the skills need for resource management in Act 1 environment. Transparency is necessary.

Gary Friedlander: At last year's meeting he remember's David Ebby's supporters saying that president's term should be a 1 year term.

Lisa Pliskin: [listing Guthrie's strong points] Transparency, inclusion, commitment, breadth of knowledge

Diane DiBonnaventuro: At last year's reorganization meeting no one spoke about a 1-year presidency. Remembers that Gary siad that 1-year presidency was not the best thing. Diane thinks a 2-year rotating presidency might be the best thing.

Virginia Pollard: New to the board, watched Ebby lead in challenging times

Melissa Gilbert: Same voting as last year, will vote for most qualified person for the jon: Ebby

Votes for Guthrie: Guthrie, Pliskin, Novick, Friedlander

Votes for Ebby: DiBonnaventuro, Ebby, Gilbert, Pollard, Kugel

David Ebby wins 5-4

Nominations for Vice President:

David Ebby nominates Lyn Kugel
Susan Guthrie nominates Lisa Pliskin

Votes for Pliskin: Guthrie, Pliskin, Novick, Friedlander

Votes for Kugel: DiBonnaventuro, Ebby, Gilbert, Pollard, Kugel

Lyn Kugel wins 5-4

Promotion of high school gym dedication event:
Doug Young: Dedication of the Kobe Bryant LM High School Gym will beon Dec 16th, 6pm reception, 7 pm dedication. Music, student bands, surprise guests. Proceeds benefit Educational Foundation of Lower Merion. For tickets go to www.lmsd.org