===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, November 15, 2023 LMS Collaborative Room #D132 6:30 p.m. - Hybrid School Committee Superintendent Carol Archambault, Chair - Present Dr. Kate Burnham Brian Lehtinen, Vice Chair - Present Business Manager/ HR Director Anthony Sculimbrene, Secretary - Absent Michael Cassidy Peter Beardmore, Member - Absent Laura Brzozoski, Member- Present Recording Secretary Courtney Fuller Guests: In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadc ast live over the Lunenburg Public Access channel, on Facebook Live on the Public Access Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be uploaded to the Lunenburg Access YouTube after the meeting. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and those reasonably anticipated by the Chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may be brou ght up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law 1. Call to Order by Carol Archambault at 6:30 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment Mr. Lehtinen thanks all the citizens for coming the town meeting and to the National Honor Society for babysitting last night 4. Chair’s Report Ms. Archambault thanks everyone that attended the Special Town Meeting. The AC Warrant was voted in favor. Thank you to the IT staff and everyone involved in the set up. Thank you to Mr. Cassidy for his years of service, your efficiency, transparency, kindness, and invaluable assistance through the pandemic. We wish you nothing but the best. 5. Review & Approve Minutes a. Regular Session 10/18/23 –Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to approve minutes, Ms. Brzozoski seconded the motion, all approve 6. Review & Approve Warrants & Line Item Transfers a. Warrant Total for the last two weeks is $213,362.67 no questions from the committee. Ms. Archambault has signed off and the warrant will be processed. No line item transfers 7. Superintendent’s Report Dr. Burnham also thanks everyone that came out and to those that supported our AC Project. We also thank the members of the Green Community Committee and we look forward to working together in the future, with the possibility of funding for the AC project phase 2 and any other projects that might be on our capital plan that would be eligible. Mr. Cassidy’s replacement Ms. Whittemore has accepted the contract, her title will be Director of Administration and Finance, and has a tentative start date of 2/12/24. Lunenburg secretary’s gift card drive will be beginning soon. Tomorrow will be the last day for collections for the food pantry. The annual tree lighting will be on 11/30 at 6 p.m. There is a scheduled early release day next Wednesday and schools and offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday. On Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 November 20 we will present to the capital planning committee. December 6 is the next school committee meeting at Town Hall at 6:30 and will be hybrid. 8. Student Representative Report - None 9. New Business Action a. FY 23 End of Year Report Mr. Cassidy presents the annual submission, this is a DESE document, includes revenue from local expenditures, part of this is the requirement of the School Committee Chairs signature. Also included are grants and revolving accounts, this data does get audited by an independent auditor and also a shares report to explain data numbers. The deadline to get this submitted to DESE is 12/1/23 . As of now the file is incomplete and will be submitted as incomplete, because we do not have the town data yet. If we do not submit this report by the deadline, there is a possibility, we will not receive our monthly Chapter 70 funds, so we will submit this incomplete and turn in an amendment when we have all the information needed. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept the end of year report, Mr. Lehtinen seconds the motion, all approve b. ESSER Update Mr. Cassidy shares the updates with closure of grant next September, we are on target to not overspend. Resignations of positions in ESSER has created a surplus, we have a position open for a Guidance Counselor that is currently being advertised. c. Petty Cash Ms. Peterson reports that Town Hall has contacted all town departments about petty cash reconciliation, there were three accounts we didn’t know about and have been inactive for 10 years, they are Special Services, School Committee, and Home Economics, due to turnover of positions, no one is aware of what took place with these accounts. We currently have the following active petty cash accounts, Superintendent, School extended day account, and all school accounts except the Elementary School. Ms. Peterson discusses the policy we currently have and a discrepancy with what Town Hall has, so that may need to go back and be reviewed. There is a school petty cash account, so Ms. Lorenzen was hired, no one was aware of this petty cash account, so town hall has told her to use the process of reimbursement, and she is currently comfortable keeping it this way. Regardless, we have to reconcile all these accounts, in order to do this we need to take money from our budget line to reconcile the accounts and then make the decision if we want to keep them. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to send the petty cash policy back to the subcommittee as well as keep these accounts open, rename and adjust the accounts accordingly and communicate with town offices as needed, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve d. Student Activity Class Accounts – Every year when a class graduates there is a Class Activity account, some of these accounts have been left open for upwards of 10 years and have pending money in them. The secretaries and Ms. Peterson have worked to contact the class advisors and the members of the stud ent council of each class. Mr. Lehtinen asks if these advisors were contacted. Dr. Burnham replies yes they were and in some cases the students weren’t willing to step up and take the steps necessary to move the money. Dr. Burnham shares that the funds could be used to defray costs of the more expensive field trips and be used as scholarships. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to table this item for the next meeting, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve e. Donations The class of 2027 float for homecoming parade, was made possible by Eurotech painting, they donated some paint, Bosworth family donated PVS pipe, and Cherry Hill Farm donated the wagon. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to accept the donations with gratitude, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve Discussion f. Athletic Reports Mr. Cassidy presents a summary of athletics department, we have a middle school and high school revolving accounts and a description of the expenses for each level. We could be looking at an increase in athletic fees in the next two years. MART services are available for after school sports, arrangements need to be made ahead of time g. FY 24 Grants As we are going to have a vacancy of a Director of Finance, things may be in limbo or run a little behind during our transitions. It will take us some time to have up to date and accurate data, but we will get there. h. FY25 Budget Development ESSER positions are not guaranteed, Mr Cassidy presents a slide show, and we are not asking the town to fund all of the ESSER positions. We are expecting a $1 million increase to our regular expenses in this next budget year. Health insurance is expected to increase 10%, total increase in expenditures of $7,672,125. We have a loss of $650,000 in ESSER funds, this is much more significant than we expected. Our anticipated 2.5% ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 increase to our budget will barely cover our insurance. Mr. Lehtinen suggests a letter be drafted from the school committee to legislation emphasizing our concerns and request assistance in finding ways to increase our funding. i. School Committee Goals Our three major goals as a school committee are (1) Budget (2) Policy and (3) Transparency and Communication Ms. Archambault reads out load the details of the goals and plans and checks in with the committee to make sure they are currently on task of meeting these goals 10. Reports Ms. Brzozoski reports the Turkey Hill advisory met yesterday, they are doing well, slight schedule adjustment, 4 th and 5th graders are having recess before lunch, which is working well, and hopes to expand it to 3 rd grade next year. Veterans Day looked a little different this year, due to spacing capacity, they held an assembly and honored staff members that had served. Next Wednesday is the traditional Turkey Hill Trot, permission slips are due Friday, also they are looking for paren t volunteers to help., if you are interested please contact the office at Turkey Hill for more information. The food drive is still going on and they are collecting canned corn and canned green beans. The advisory will begin reviewing the school handbook and restructuring the information, in order to be able to quickly find information you are looking for. Next meeting is December 5. Mr. Lehtinen reports there was a finance committee meeting on November 13 th, they introduced their 6th member to the committee, Mr. Passios is back The town manager had some articles they wanted to review, Article 1 had a few adjustments voted 5-0 for approval, Article 2 they also voted 5-0 and Article 3 was deferred early and voted 5-0 for approval Ms. Archambault reports there was a Master Planning Committee meeting, held at Smokestack Roasters, many new members of the community attended. The Consultant group presented some numbers of the survey previously taken by the community and gave time for break out groups to discuss the direction they believe the town should work on moving forward. The next meeting is December 7th. The Finance Nomination Committee met on November 7 th to reappoint Mr. Passios, there is still one opening on the Finance Committee. 11. Public Comment - None 12. Topics for Future Discussion Student Activity Class Accounts Budget Development 13. Executive Session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel makes Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to enter executive session at 8:19 and adjourn immediately following, Ms. Brzozoski seconded the motion, all approve 14. Adjournment Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller