Saugus School Committee
Time-Place:
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
An open session of the Saugus School Committee was held this date at the Roby School
Building. The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. with a salute to the flag.
Roll Call:
Mr. Grabowski
Mrs. Meredith
Mrs. Riley
Mr. Serino
Ms. Reed
present
present
present
present
present
Ms. Reed noted that the SCTV was recording the meeting. Parents in the audience were
also recording.
Public Comment:
Ms. Dawn Gaffney reported to the School Committee that the Saugus Anti-Drug Coalition
applied for and was awarded a grant for $6,449 to be used for the sole purpose of health
and wellness curriculum.
Special Presentation-Veterans School Grade 3 Presentation:
Students from the Veterans School along with music teacher, Ms. J performed “Hot Cup
of Cocoa” for the School Committee. The performance was enjoyed by all!
Student Representative’s Report:
Sam Delaney, Sr. Class, was present this evening and reported on the following high
school events:
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Paint Nite
Chipoltle Night
Planning of prom and after prom
Sr. Week
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to take the 8th grade field trip out of order.
8th Grade Field Trip to DC
Ms. Robbins, Principal BMS, was present to request final approval of the 8 th grade field
trip to DC. She noted that the trip will cost $663 this year and there has been a lot of
fundraising and parental involvement. The trip will take place June 9-June 12.
Ms. Riley moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED: to approve the BMS 8th grade field trip to DC.
Approval of Minutes
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was
VOTED: to approve the Minutes of February 20, 2015 Open Session as presented.
Ms. Riley abstained.
Ms. Meredith moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
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Saugus School Committee
VOTED:
amended.
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
to approve the Minutes of January 22, 2015 Open Session as
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to approve the Minutes of March 13, 2014 Open Session as
presented.
Ms. Meredith moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED: to approve the Minutes of January 9, 2014 Open Session as presented.
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to approve the Minutes of November 14, 2013 Open Session –
Organizational, as presented.
Voting of Warrants
Mr. Serino asked if they are working through the descriptions in MUNIS. Ms. Andrews
said they are not.
Ms. Riley moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to approve the Bill Schedule in the amount of $705,345.03
Finance Report
Ms. Andrews gave the following report:
As of 12/31/2014, the Saugus Public Schools has expended and encumbered $
11,058,050 against the $26,975,250 appropriation. With 6 months of the fiscal year
having passed, we are still on track in our spending.
Key Points:
 No progress has been made in MUNIS with regards to uploading the school
department descriptions or additional training requested by the school
department.
 The town accountant has begun to look at the issues in the revolving accounts.
 It has been challenging to pay bills from those accounts.
 The elementary substitute line item is over expended. This is because payroll is
still on the old system – ACS - and the information was posted via a journal entry
by the town payroll clerk. The funds will need to be transferred from the
elementary substitutes - special education to cover this –
 Budget Entry #11. I have done an internal payroll audit to track all employees
and be certain they are being charged to the correct line
item. This is particularly challenging with the paras, as their location or duties
may shift depending upon need.
 Budget Transfer #9. This entry corrects the teaching assistant line items based
on the results of my internal payroll audit. It also restores funding in a teaching
line as the employee decided not to retire just yet. Included in this entry is the
allocation for .5 assistant principal SHS and BMS as well as .5 Athletic Director.
 Budget Transfer #10 Allocates the balance in the extended summer special
education program to the out of district tuition – collaborative line item to fund the
cost of remaining tuitions.
 Budget Transfer #11 This entry is a request from Principal Moss to purchase
additional chrome books at Waybright School. Mr. Moss has enough funding in
his educational supplies line item but the chrome books should be charged to the
computer hardware line item. So this entry transfers the funding from the
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Saugus School Committee
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Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
educational supplies line item at Waybright to the computer hardware line item in
Instruction.
Budget Transfer #12 Corrects mispostings
End of Year Report – An auditor from Powers and Sullivan has audited the
EOYR .
The chargebacks are still not complete as additional expenses have yet to be
reported by the town.
There will need to be an amendment to the EOYR.
DESE Food Service Program Review – the review was held the week of January
26th and despite two snow days, the reviewer was able to complete the entire
review. The district was commended for its excellent Free and Reduced
Application process. The only issue that was found in that process was due to
the X2 glitches at the beginning of the school year which resulted in a late
download of the direct certification.
Grants
Actual to Budget December 2014
Title I and Title IIA
Discussion was held regarding computer hardware purchases. Mr. Serino asked for
a list of how many Chrome Books are at each school.
Ms. Andrews stated that the IT Director must be consulted before any purchases are
made.
Discussion was held regarding a large amount of money that was encumbered and
the school committee did not have input.
Mr. Grabowski discussed heating bills and does not want to get a big heating bill later
in the year.
Ms. Andrews noted that the Committee is receiving the same information as before, it
just looks different. She said that she hopes to have another report for March 12.
She also noted that you can’t go negative on line items.
Ms. Andrews said that she does not support freezing the budget again. She
suggested waiting until April.
Mr. Grabowski asked about the sub calling position. Ms. Andrews said it was posted
in the wrong line item.
Discussion was held regarding entry #9 head custodian overtime and transportation
savings using out own van.
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to approve the following budget entries:
#11 for supplies
#10 Special Education
#12 Miscellaneous
#9 Internal audit corrections
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Saugus School Committee
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
Superintendent’s Report
Belmonte Middle School Assistant Principal: The Superintendent reported that The
Belmonte Middle School Assistant Principal Search Committee has selected as the
finalist, Mr. William Donadoni, and that he has accepted the position and signed his
contract. Mr. Donadoni has been a teacher and administrator in the Lynn Public Schools
since 1997 and has served as teacher/ cluster leader/ and head of the SPED department
for Thurgood Marshall Middle School. Mr. Donadoni received his undergraduate degree
from Providence College, his Masters in Moderate Special Needs from Salem State
University and had completed post-graduate work in Educational Leadership at Gordon
College. Mr. Donadoni started at Belmonte Middle School this week and we are all
excited about his addition to our administrative team both at Belmonte and within the
Saugus Public Schools.
It was noted that Mr. Peter DiGuilio spoke today at the BMS and at the High School.
Students were very interested and reported to be the best assembly in a long time.
MSBA Update; Timeline: Wednesday evening, February 4 th 2015, the Superintendent
met with School Committee Chair Wendy Reed, Selectman Chair Ellen Faiella,
Temporary Town Manager Robert Palleschi, Executive Director of Finance and Human
Resources Pola Andrews and Administrative Assistant Donna McNeil and participated in
a conference call with directors at the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The
purpose of the call was to review and confirm the procedural check list that we are
currently working on to meet our timeline of 270 days to complete the requirements to be
selected to continue on to the Feasibility Stage from our initial invitation to participate. We
have submitted our initial compliance agreement and now we are tasked with finalizing
our Building Committee and reviewing recent building projects to estimate the amount
that will need to be appropriated for a feasibility study for Saugus High School. The
Superintendent has already contacted most of these Superintendents and is in the
process of creating a presentation for Feasibility Appropriation that will be presented at
Town meeting and will be posted on the SPS website
Snow Removal and Snow Day Impacts: As many people, including Governor Baker,
have pointed out recently, Massachusetts has had a record setting amount of snow
dumped on us over the last two weeks. Prior to these storms, we had not taken any snow
days, and now we have taken six days due to the time it takes to clear roadways, school
lots and sidewalks throughout Saugus. Currently, our last day of school has been pushed
to Wednesday June 24th 2015, leaving us only four remaining snow days that would take
us to June 30th, the last possible contractual day of school for teachers if needed.
Parents with concerns have contacted me that February and April Vacations may be at
risk, as well as by families who are planning on leaving for vacation on or before June
26th. Like these parents, I would like to be able to say, definitively, that I can guarantee
when the last day of school will be, but future storm could potentially add another day(s)
to our schedule, and we could have other hazardous days in the remaining six weeks of
“snow season”. I do think it would be prudent to develop a plan to either eliminate or
abbreviate April vacation based on the potential of having more snow days in February or
March, but obviously this would have to be approved by the school committee. There has
been some talk of making accommodations at the state (DESE) level for reducing the
amount of school days required this year, but nothing has been presented yet. My
recommendation is to continue discussions about starting the school year before Labor
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Saugus School Committee
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
Day as this will ensure more of a reserve of school days at the end of the year as well as
more school days during the year BEFORE MCAS or PARCC testing, rather than later in
June.
The Superintendent noted that they have extended the MCAS window as allowed by
DESE.
Charge back agreement; Finance Committee Presentation in March: The Superintendent
has been working with Temporary Town Manager Palleschi, Executive Director of
Finance and Human resources Pola Andrews and Town Treasurer Wendy Hatch to
develop an abbreviated document that summarizes the charges to schools from the town.
The goal is to present a document to the school committee that is agreed upon between
the schools and the town that will facilitate our budgeting process in the future.
Additionally, the School Committee and administration may choose to different budget
decisions based on the overall number of town FTE’s and/or services charged to the
school department. We will have a draft of this document presented to School Committee
in mid-March. At the Finance Committee meeting our hope is to work with the town to find
a way to reverse the trend of decreasing funding to the schools in order to close the gap
between the schools and the other town departments as was presented at our budget
hearing.
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Discussion was held regarding the budget.
Discussion was held regarding snow removal at the schools.
The Superintendent commended Mr. Materese and his staff. He also thanked
Agganis and the DPW for snow removal.
Mr. Serino asked for an update on MSBA and asked to have it emailed.
Ms. Meredith asked who was on the building committee. Discussed the makeup
of the building committee.
Mr. Serino encouraged people to get involved, to come to the meetings, and get behind
the School Committee
Ms. Reed noted that the town does not have a balanced budget and her concern is that
the school budget will get cut.
Ms. Meredith said the children are the future and she does not understand why we
always get the smallest piece of the budget.
Mr. Serino said we need to work our way back up the ladder.
Mr. Grabowski would like the Superintendent to give us a report on net school spending
at the next meeting.
Discussion was held regarding the vocational budget and the average cost per student.
Report of Executive Director of Operations, System Software/SIS
A corner of the Veterans School was hit by a plow. Agganis will take care of it.
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Saugus School Committee
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
Pesticide Application Act: Passed in 2000. We have to let parents know about
pesticides in the school. It is part of yearly maintenance.
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EPIMS Update: Reports filed.
X2 Update: invoices are in the packet. They do not pay for major support
Phone System Update: Discussed collaborative phone system with the town.
Phones system was hacked into. Verizon was notified.
Point of Sale Report: New report will be run next week. The committee will get a
breakdown of what is owed at the next meeting.
Transportation (Healy contract 2015): contract is up June 2016. Transportation
subcommittee will meet within two weeks. RFP process has begun.
Payment Policy: Mr. Serino will send the payment policy to the School
Committee. Mr. Grabowski asked Mr. Graham for a written explanation in the
report.
Ms. Meredith asked how long the X2 upgrade will take in May. It will be over a
weekend.
The bus contract will be in its second year.
Report of Committee Sub-committees
Finance Sub Committee: Ms. Riley reported that they met on Monday and a third
school committee member was in attendance.
The Finance Subcommittee met and voted to recommend that All Day
Kindergarten be increased. In an effort to expand and improve the All Day
Kindergarten program, the committee voted to raise tuition by $200.00 for the
20152016 school year.
Ms. Andrews explained the breakdown of kindergarten payments.
Ms. Reed asked if they have documentation of what it costs for all day
kindergarten. Ms. Andrews said they know what the money is for teachers and
parents. Nothing is charged to the kindergarten for supplies.
Mr. Grabowski asked how much was excessed last year in the kindergarten
revolving account. Ms. Andrews said there was $80,000 but they realized that
three paras were not being charged to the program and had to be shifted.
Mr. Serino said they need to look at the program costs and to fund the program.
Mr. Grabowski can’t support an increase if there are excess funds.
Ms. Meredith understands the logic, but said it would be a substantial amount of
money for some families.
Ms. Reed would like to see the costs and the numbers.
A registration for kindergarten is March 9th.
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Saugus School Committee
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
Mr. Serino would like to table it until they have more information.
Ms. Riley moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED: to table this increase of all day kindergarten as recommended by the
finance subcommittee until they get more information.
Discussion was held regarding protocol of a third member of the school
committee attending a subcommittee meeting.
New Business
Recommendation of Home School Program:
Ms. Meredith moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to approve a home school program for one student as recommended by
the superintendent.
Field Trips-SHS Student Council to Hyannis 3/11-3/13:
Ms. Meredith moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
to approve a student council field trip to Hyannis March 11-March 13.
SHS Softball to Mashpee 3/28-3/29
Ms. Meredith moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
March 29.
to approve the field trip to Mashpee for the SHS softball team March 28-
GiftsMr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED:
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to accept the gifts
SBEC $250 to SHS Model UN
SBEC $2775 to Oaklandvale for Chromebooks
SBEC $1825 to Waybright for MCAS Prep
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED: to approve the following gifts:
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Pearl Vision-Vision Screening Equipment to Belmonte
Saugus Anti Drug Coalition $6,449.28 to SHS for sole purchase of
Health and Wellness curriculum
Target $188.06 to SHS
Bills paid late / prior fiscal years: This is being addressed
Thank you: In packet
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Saugus School Committee
Regular Session
Open Session
February 26, 2015
Correspondence: Town Clerk Re: Special Election: It is a regular school day for
students and staff.
Mr. Serino moved, Ms. Reed seconded and it was unanimously
VOTED: to adjourn at 10:04 p.m.
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