Georgetown School Committee
Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7:00PM
Town Hall 3rd Floor Meeting Room
Special Session Minutes
Barbie Linares, Chairman
Pamela Lundquist, Vice Chairman
Michael Hinchliffe, Clerk
Suzanne MacDonald
Cheryl Lachendro
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In Attendance:
Barbie Linares
Superintendent Jacobs
Wes Vaughan
Peter Lucia Mike Murphy
Suzanne MacDonald Margaret Maher
Donna Straight
Pamela Lundquist
Julie DeRoche
Cheryl Lachendro
Michael Hinchliffe
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Chairman Linares called the meeting to order at 7:17PM. All recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman Linares wished the girls basketball team good luck tonight.
FY17 Budget Discussion
Chairman Linares recapped the meeting from last week where the Committee asked Superintendent Jacobs and the
administrative team to go back with a 3.5% increase to the FY17 budget. Handed out this evening were the
reinstated positions reduced from the original budget which include (in priority order): ( COPY/PASTE HERE)
There are two choices to be made with the above list:
Choice One: The budget which includes items 1-6 would be $14,287,553 or a 3.51% increase.
Choice Two: The budget which includes items 1-5 and 7 would be $14,289,420 or a 3.52% increase.
Supt. Jacobs briefed the Committee on the process followed to come up with the above content. First what was
looked at was looking at the enrollment figures by classroom. They chose not to reinstate the 4th grade teacher was
due to enrollment figures as well. We do want to restore that position but those grades should be below 25 per
classroom even with reducing a section.
Vice Chairman Lundquist stated that cutting any teachers is painful.
Restoring the .8 content teachers for small group instruction help students with high anxiety or have social issues
will show better results in small group instruction. It was painful to not be able to reinstate the GMHS custodian.
It was felt that the Committee and community preferred to bring teachers back over other positions, though they
are all important. The In School Suspension position could incorporate the current employee who has already been
the AD in our district.
Special Session Minutes 3/2/16
The library assistant was not put back in primarily because finding another way to deliver the service and every
student and classroom will have access to the library. Parent volunteers will be needed to cover the library when
the librarian is working with classrooms.
It appears that we are going to have to choose between 6 and 7 to get down to the 3.5% increase. This is a really
difficult decision to make. What is the education impact of taking out .4 content teachers at 7th grade and .3 at the
8th grade. A 0.8FTE represents (has to be .8 at a time because it represents a class in each core area.
#9 is to reduce .8 content teachers (these are the small group classrooms). In the 7th grade the math classes are
grouped differently. The current disciplinary information was asked about in the ISS. Some days there aren’t any.
That person is used daily as a substitute if there isn’t anyone in suspension. If a discipline issue arises during the
day, this is an alternative to suspension. This person is always the first daily substitute for the building. This is a
lower priority for some members.
Number 6 should be higher on the list since it is content teachers (move to below #2) and move #3 to #6 or moving
to #5. The special education secretary does have to ensure compliance and the job description is understood. Why
is this ahead of other things on the list. Donna Straight spoke to this position, over 100 meetings every year. They
take care of all of the paperwork, IEP’s, progress reports, notes, copied, sent out. Very tight timelines in some
cases 5 days to stay in compliance. At one time there were two full time secretaries and now there are only two
part time secretaries. It really is an impossible task for the amount of duties for the current staff. If this was not
restored, the person who would pick up those duties would fall to the coordinators who are already working more
than full time and on weekends. Even the learning curve piece is difficult and compliance issues would arise.
Looking at this long term, if they aren’t getting things out the door, you can lose at hearings, you need to look at
the out of placement/transportation costs.
Restoring the MHS network technician would be hard to replace with the director’s time. The student internship is
moving slowly and will take more time. There are three students who work at different times during the day and it
can build and grow over time. Mr. Lucia thinks Wes is being nice in his assessment of the time this person spends
fixing technology every day. He is supporting instruction every day if/when something goes wrong on a daily
basis, this is all he does. With the size of our district, do we have enough people supporting our classrooms? We
have enough tech support issues to warrant a full time employee.
(POST THIS FOR WHEN 3/9/16 7PM) Wednesday meeting with FinCom, this discussion 1, 2, and 6 should be
the top 3 priorities. Priority #7 is important that it’s one building with two separate schools/philosophies are there.
The way the discipline and handling of students is very different. There was a lot of turn over and have worked
hard to bring it back to a true middle school and have a true identity. One of the major elements is to have an
administrative presence at the school for the school. If the technology person is eliminated, that will fall to the
principal. That with the increase in supervision in the new system and taking away a tool that only he can fill, how
can that happen? Guy will be dedicated the majority of his time to the athletic director position. It’s draining to
have a half time AD only and most districts have full time AD’s. There has to be a game administrator at every
game which is paid from the athletic revolving account. It’s to manage the crowd, officials, for playing field set
up, this may be an MIAA requirement.
Pam what do people think about not restoring #7?
1-2-6-4-3-5 priorities. $200,896
MOTION: Pam Lundquist (S. MacDonald second) to proceed with the FY17 budget of $14,287,533 or 3.51%
increase. So voted (5-0). Motion carried.
Special Session Minutes 3/2/16
MOTION: Michael Hinchliffe (P. Lunduist second) to adjourn 8:31PM. So voted (5-0). Motion carried.
Respectfully Submitted,
Laura Markarian, School Committee Secretary
Special Session Minutes 3/2/16