Minutes of the School Committee Regular Meeting Milton High

Minutes of the School Committee

Regular Meeting

Milton High Library

April 4, 2012

Committee Present: Glenn Pavlicek, Chair; Denis Keohane, Vice Chair; Kristan

Bagley-Jones, Leroy Walker

Not Present: Mary Kelly, Lynda Lee Sheridan (arrived late)

Staff Present: Mary Gormley, Superintendent; John Phelan, Assistant Superintendent

for Curriculum & Personnel; Matthew Gillis, Assistant Superintendent for Business.

Call to Order

The Chair called the April 4th meeting of the School Committee to order at 7:02 pm

Approve Agenda

The committee approved the agenda after the deletion of Item 7b.

Citizens Speak

A Glover parent, Ms. Adrienne Sullivan, came to speak about the student assignment

policy. She was unhappy with the recent contingency budget plan to move classrooms

of students from one school to another. She requested a task force to study the student

assignment policy and would like more transparency on the curriculum differences

between the French and English classes. Next, Mr. Amar came to speak as a member

of Citizens for a Diverse Milton and urged the administration to continue to make

progress towards improving the number of faculty members of color. Chris Navin, also

from CDM, asked for a systemic view of staff diversity and asked the MHS principal

screening committee to consider diversity when making its decisions. Justin Renz, a

Milton parent, also came to speak about student assignment and the perceived

discrepancy between the French and English programs. He would like a comparison of

MCAS data between the French immersion students and the English/FLES program.

Finally, Frank Schroth, editor of MyTownMatters, came to mention the Candidates

Forum to be held at Fuller Village on April 14th at 1pm.

Superintendent's Report

Topic One: Milton High School Drama Club. Although Dr. Sheila Walsh was unable to

attend, the members of the Drama Club did attend. Their play was one of three to

advance to semi-final rounds at Weston High on March 10th. This is the first time Milton

High has made the semi-finals since the year 2000.

** Note Lynda Lee Sheridan arrived at 7:29 pm. **

Topic Two: Pierce Middle School Globe Scholastic Art Awards and Acknowledgment for

Stephanie Sherman, Winners of the Artist’s Magazine's 2012 All Media Art Competition.

Ms. Sherman introduced the Pierce students who won and displayed their artwork for

the committee. She also brought her award-winning self-portrait.

Topic Three: Milton High School Music Program (All State Festival participants and

After-School Singers) with Dr. Noreen Diamond Burdett, Fine Arts & Family/Consumer

Studies Director.) This year, Andrew Mowe has a recommendation for the Eastern US

festival. In the past 30 years, Milton High has only had four students who have gotten

to this level. In addition, the following students were congratulated for having been

selected to perform at the recent Eastern District Junior Music Festival. Milton High

School students Kristen Ingraham, Tansy Massey-Green, Christine Stafford, Monika

Cormack, Johance Liverpool, Liz O'Connor and Jackie Ruscito. Pierce Middle School

students Simon Eder, Emily Dsida, Katherine Steele, Alison Reed and Walker Stroud.

Also, as part of this presentation, the MHS After School singers gave a brief

performance.

Topic Four: Milton High Family/Consumer Studies (National Nutrition Month) with Eileen

Lovett, MHS teacher. Ms. Lovett, along with teaching assistant Latrice Coleman and Dr.

Noreen Diamond Burdett, discussed a new project for the students. During March, the

Foods I and Foods II classes worked with the Milton Food Pantry to produce a

community cookbook. At Pat Brawley's request, the students, using the computer lab,

calculated calories, etc. This cookbook will be published in June of 2012.

Topic Five: Milton High School Site Council Presentation, Led by Milton High Principal

Dr. Joseph Arangio, the Milton High School Site Council, which included Alan Cron,

Vice Principal, Vernon Nelson and Catherine Queally, Teacher Representatives, Regine

Jean-Michel and Stephanie Charlemagne, Student Representatives, Betty White, David

Taugher and Steve Shapiro, Parent Representatives, came to present the School

Improvement Plan. The ultimate goal of the plan is to boost student achievement, with

a focus on teacher performance. Speakers took turns talking about the strengths of

MHS, and noted that half of Milton High students are in either AP or Honors courses.

There was some discussion about the recent NEASC report, with an emphasis on

acquiring 21st Century Skills. Other topics were on how to motivate students, teacher

evaluation and how to find the time to institute some of these initiatives. They also

discussed the communication plan and how to keep parents, guardians and students

apprised of the goals. The Site Council presentation can be viewed here:

http://www.miltonps.org/documents/MHSSiteCouncil.pdf

Topic Six: Consolidated Facilities Report with William Ritchie, Consolidated Facilities

Director. As the director of this newly-created department, Mr. Richie said he will be

giving annual updates to the school committee. He said he aims to develop a budget

and well as a short-and long-term plan to oversee resources, buildings and grounds in

the town. He gave a brief powerpoint presentation on his progress so far, as well as

pointing out optimum staffing levels. One of his next goals is to get Milton High School

certified as an Energy Star school. The presentation is posted here:

http://www.miltonps.org/documents/ConsolidatedFacilities.pdf

Happenings: Mr. Phelan discussed the April 11th event at MHS which will feature

music, student work and both oral and video presentations celebrating Milton’s 350th

Anniversary. He thanked Ms. Sheridan for partnering with the schools on this project.

Also, there was an update on the search for a new Milton High principal. The search

committee has been formed. Ms. Gormley talked about the success of the Best

Buddies prom and congratulated two students Emily Posse, who finished sixth in the

regional spelling bee; and Al Lenz for finishing in the top 20 in the regional geography

bee.

Health & Wellness Subcommittee

Ms. Bagley Jones gave a report on bullying prevention efforts. She cited the

outstanding effort by Rich Guarino and Lisa Veldran for their work on the BPAC

committee. She mentioned the anonymous tip line for reporting bullying and the

"bullying boxes" for reporting bullying in each school. Next, she talked about work of

the CATZ programs, which are working on student/athlete conditioning, as well as a n

early morning exercise program for MPS staff. Ms. Bagley Jones said she would like

support to implement more discussion of substance abuse and other behaviors. Mr.

Walker agreed, indicating that he would like to set aside time to talk about drug abuse

prevention. Ms. Gormley praised the work of the Health and Wellness Committee

Finance Subcommittee

Topic One: Powers and Sullivan End-of-Year Financial Report (June 30, 2011)

Because of Ms. Kelly's absence, this was postponed to a later date. Mr. Gillis noted that

this was not a comprehensive audit and said that we are in compliance with DOE

regulations.

New Business: The Next School Committee meeting is scheduled for April 25th

Old Business: None

Next Meeting Agenda Items: Mr. Walker requested the committee request a report on

drug abuse prevention. He also requested that Ms. Morgan return to discuss the topic of

"pink slime" as it pertains to the Food Service program. Also, there was a request to

invite the Debate Team in for recognition.

The Chair entertained a motion to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of

discussing contract negotiations with ASME unit and to adjourn directly from Executive

Session and not return to Open Session.

Move: Mr. Walker

Second: Mr. Keohane

Roll Call Vote: Unanimous.

The meeting adjourned at 9:29 pm.