Draft: April 29, 2004

Approved: May 5, 2004

School Committee meeting April 28, 2004

Under Report of the Secretary

Executive Session

Members present: Jonathan Radtke, Chairperson, Teri McRae, Walter Rumery, Stephen Spring, Otis Thompson, Kim Matthews, Tae Chong, Ben Meiklejohn, James DiMillo

Consideration and action to move into Executive Session to discuss a personnel matter.

At 6:26 p.m. Mr. DiMillo moved, seconded Mr. Rumery and voted unanimously to move into Executive Session to discuss a personnel matter.

At 6:41 p.m. Mr. Thompson moved, seconded Mr. Rumery and voted unanimously to come out of Executive Session

Business Meeting

Mr. Radtke called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.

Members Present: Jonathan Radtke, Chairperson, Walter Rumery (left at 9 p.m.), Teri McRae (left meeting at approximately 9:30pm), Kim Matthews, Tae Chong, Otis Thompson, Stephen Spring, Ben Meiklejohn, James DiMillo

Report of the Chair

Mr. Radtke:

Presented recognition plaques to the following Class A State Championship teams:

Deering High School:

Girls’ Varsity Basketball-Coach Mike D’Andrea

Boys’ Swim team – Coach Rick Horr

Boys’ Indoor Track – Coach Dick Kress

Football – Coach Greg Stilphen

Boys’ Cross Country – Coach Bruce Koharian

Scott Shibles, Deering High School Athletic Director, introduced various team members to the School Committee.

Portland High School:

Boys’ Varsity Basketball – Coach Joe Russo

Gary Groves, Portland High School Athletic Director, accepted the recognition plaque on behalf of the Boys’ Varsity Basketball team.

Informed the Committee members that they would be receiving information in their Friday packet regarding a parent effort to create an after prom event at Deering High School.

Report of the Superintendent

Superintendent O’Connor:

Announced resignations and retirements

Resignations – effective August 31, 2004:

Karen Faiman, Deering/Foreign Language, 5 years with Portland Public Schools

Sarah Miller, Deering/Foreign Language, 5 years with Portland Public Schools

Effective March 11, 2004:

Nancy Goldberg-Courtney, PHS/English from LOA, 6 years with Portland Public Schools

Effective March 2,2004:

Melissa Burke, from LOA/Kindergarten, 5 years with Portland Public Schools

Retirements – effective August 31, 2004

Kenneth DeRienzo, Presumpscot/Grade 4, 34 years with Portland Public Schools

Announced New England Math League results – Lyman Moore Middle School came in third with a score of 157. The top score was 167. Patrick McGorrill was the #2 scorer overall.

Introduced Steve Wessler, Director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence at USM who spoke to the Committee on the work being done at Portland High School and Moore Middle School through the Unity Project.

Reports of Committees

1. East End Area School Building Committee – Mr. Rumery indicated that things are moving along with demolition and that the company is doing a great job recycling. Indicated that there were a couple of issues that the Planning Board has and they would be meeting in a couple of weeks.

Policy Committee – Mr. Meiklejohn gave a brief overview of policies on the agenda for consideration and a first reading.
Finance Committee – Ms. Matthews mentioned that the School Committee had adopted an FY05 budget at their April 7, 2004 meeting and that the is an item for action on the evening’s agenda to consider a new budget figure due to a savings with health insurance premiums and debt service. The City Finance Committee held a public meeting and had indicated that the School Committee budget was too high to which the School Committee responded they felt the school department has slashed their budget over the last two years by cutting more than 80 positions, closing a school, turning over Sacred Heart to the City and will be turning over another piece of property in the near future. The City Finance Committee will be meeting on Thursday, April 29^th at 5 p.m. at City Hall.
Legislative Affairs Committee – Mr. Thompson indicated that the Committee had met prior to the evening’s School Committee meeting to discuss the relationship between the School Committee and Legislative Delegation. Mr. Thompson will try to arrange a meeting of the two groups for some time in June to look at the work done this year as well as future work of the legislature. They also discussed the tax revaluation process and changes in the funding formula.
Other Committees – No reports.

Report of the Secretary

Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. Meiklejohn and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of the April 7, 2004 and April 14, 2004 meetings.

Consent Items

Superintendent O’Connor reviewed the consent items and thanked the contributors.

Old Business

Consideration and action to approve the following policies:

JRA- Student Education Records and Information

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Spring to approve policy JRA- Student Education Records and Information

Mr. Meiklejohn reviewed the policy under consideration.

Public Comment:

Six community members spoke to the Committee regarding this policy.

Committee members discussed the policy:

Ms. McRae – does not support policy. People who do not return form will not receive information from colleges/universities.

Mr. Spring – indicated that students fill out questionnaires regarding colleges/universities when they take the PSAT and SAT.

Mr. Thompson – supports policy. Unable to write a policy that will cover all issues on whether or not form is returned.

Mr. Chong – fair compromise.

Mr. Meiklejohn – urged members to vote in favor of policy. If form were not returned then schools would not disclose information.

Vote on motion: It was voted 8-1 to approve policy JRA- Student Education Records and Information

B. ECB – School Pest Management

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Chong to approve policy ECB – School Pest Management

Mr. Rumery – asked how much the state is paying the school department to support this law.

Mr. Meiklejohn – indicated the state is not providing any funding to the school dept. He also indicated that the school department is in the process of coordinating pesticide application, etc with Public Works.

Public Comment:

Steven Scharf addressed the Committee regarding this policy.

Committee members then discussed the policy:

Mr. Rumery – since there is no funding coming from the state to support this policy he will be unable to support it.

Voted on motion: It was voted 6-3 to approve policy ECB – School Pest Management

At 8:25 p.m. the Committee recessed for 5 minutes.

At 8:33 p.m. the meeting was called back to order.

New Business

First reading of policies:

Mr. Meiklejohn reviewed policy BBAB – Student Representation to the School Committee

Ms. McRae – asked if student reps would also be members of the three standing committees or would they only serve on committees that have public members appointed. Not comfortable with students voting on committees. Would like this to be for juniors and seniors.

Mr. Thompson – recommends student reps be allowed to participate in committee work, i.e. Finance, Policy, Legislative Affairs.

Mr. Rumery – this policy is long overdue. Also feels that 8^th graders need to participate in a leadership seminar to prepare them for leadership roles. He would like to discuss the policy in a workshop session before voting.

Mr. Meiklejohn – indicated that student reps would not be eligible to be members of the standing committees.

Ms. Matthews – supports policy

Mr. Radtke – would like juniors and seniors to participate

Public Comment:

Steven Scharf spoke to the Committee regarding this policy and suggested possibly involving the Youth Advisory Council.

(Mr. Rumery left at approximately 9 p.m.)

2. Consideration and action to approve the 2004-2005 school calendar

Sally Loughlin reviewed the process used to develop draft 2004-05 calendar.

Mr. Spring – Would like to see November 2^nd – election day – as a day off from school to allow staff and students to participate in the electoral process. Ms. Loughlin indicated that there were only a couple of schools impacted by election day and a decision was made not to make this a no school day.

Mr. Thompson – asked if any thought had been given to starting school on Sept. 1^st or 2^nd .

Public Comment:

Kathleen Casasa addressed the Committee regarding the 2004-05 calendar.

Committee discussion on 2004-05 calendar:

Ms. McRae – indicated concerns regarding more half days on the 2004-05 calendar and due to these days there is less academic time, less productive time for students particularly in Jan. and May. She does have issues with teacher/parent/student conferences. Feels academic learning is affected by teacher preparation required for conferences. Concerned/frustrated that 4-5 days are taken out of academic time for staff development.

Ms. McRae moved to table the 2004-05 calendar. Ms. McRae then withdrew her motion.

Mr.Thompson – discussed the need for staff time as well as parent/teacher/student conferences.

Mr. Spring – staff time is very important.

Mr. Chong – asked if teachers could work Saturdays for parent/teacher/student conferences. Ms. Hart, Human Resources Director, and Ms. Casasa, PEA president, spoke to the Committee regarding Saturdays.

Mr. Radtke – indicated he was employed in a school system where every Wednesday morning was set aside for staff development.

Vote on motion: It was voted 5-3 to approve the 2004-2005 school calendar.

(Ms. McRae left at approximately 9:30 p.m.)

3. Consideration and action to approve a revised FY05 budget in the amount of $76,681,766.

Ms. Matthews moved, seconded Mr. Chong and voted 6-1 to approve a revised FY05 budget in the amount of $76,681,766.

Ms. Matthews reviewed the decrease in the budget due to lower than anticipated health premiums and a decrease in debt service.

Public Comment:

Steven Scharf addressed the Committee regarding the FY05 budget.

Committee discussion of FY05 budget:

Mr. Meiklejohn – would like to add music director back into the budget, but realizes this cannot be done and posed a question concerning the city’s expenses in the Art District.

Personnel

1. Unpaid LOA – Effective 9/1/04 – 8/31/05

Hope Keleher Reiche/Literacy teacher 1.0 Extended Childrearing

Darcie McDuffie Reiche/ESL 1.0 Extended Childrearing

Betsy Parsons Deering/English 1.0 Personal

Linda Rogoff Riverton/ESL 1.0 Personal

Cynthia Bartlett King/Nurse .50 of 1.0 Personal

Ms. Matthews moved, seconded Mr. Chong and voted 7-0 to approve Personnel items as listed.

Mr. Thompson moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo and voted 3-4 to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 p.m.

Motion failed.

Committee Focus on Educational Issues

Future task forces - Mr. Radtke asked Committee members to email him with any issues they might have that would need to be addressed by a task force.

Public Comment Prior to 11:00 PM – No members of the public were present to address the Committee.

Adjournment

Mr. Chong moved, seconded Ms. Matthews and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Jo O’Connor

Superintendent of Schools