===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, January 17, 2024 LMS Collaborative Room #D132 6:30 - Hybrid School Committee Superintendent Carol Archambault, Chair - Present Dr. Kate Burnham Brian Lehtinen, Vice Chair - Present Business Manager/ HR Director Anthony Sculimbrene, Secretary - Present Peter Beardmore, Member - Present 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 brought up f or 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 - None 4. Chairs Report I am working with the finance committee to schedule our budget meeting, they have us scheduled with them on the March 14th, and we will need to move our public hearing from March 20 to March 13, if the members of the school committee could let me know by 4 pm tomorrow if they are available to attend. 5. Review & Approve Minutes a. Regular Session 11/15/23 –Mr. Sculimbrene makes a motion to approve minutes, Ms. Brzozoski seconded the motion, roll call, Ms. Archambault – yes, Mr. Lehtinen – yes, Mr. Sculimbrene – yes, Mr. Beardmore – Abstain, Ms. Brzozoski - yes 6. Review & Approve Warrants & Line Item Transfers a. Line Item Transfer $14,840 To transfer money from Capital Improvements to Maintenance of Building Contract Service for the High School elevator repair. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the line item transfer, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion, roll call, Ms. Archambault – yes, Mr. Lehtinen – yes, Mr. Sculimbrene – yes, Mr. Beardmore – yes, Ms. Brzozoski –yes b. Warrant Total 1/3/24-1/9/24 $ Mr. Beardmore requests the warrant information get into the folder with more time prior to the meetings, no questions Ms. Archambault has signed off on warrant 7. Superintendent’s Dr. Burnham reports Kindergarten registration is open, pre-k registration will open March 1. There will be a kindergarten readiness meeting via zoom on January 30, at 6:30. There is a delay is the start day of our new Director of Finance, we will need to hire consultants for the interim time until the position is filled. A note on inclement weather delays and closing decisions, I work very closely with the town DPW and Police department for advisement on current and anticipated road conditions. I also communicate with our Grounds and Facilities team on conditions of our schools. My Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 responsibility is to educate our students and to that we need to be open and provide a safe arrival and dismissal. If there are any parents that have student drivers, they can use their best judgement to drive them to school that day or keep them home. Reminders Feb 7th School Committee meeting 6:30 Town Hall Feb 19th All offices and schools will be closed due to Presidents Day Feb 19-23 All schools are closed for school break Feb 28 School Committee meeting 6:30 LMS 8. Student Representative Report – None 9. New Business Discussion a. Proposed FY25 Budget Ms. Archambault takes a moment to remind the committee of the budget goal they have set. A presentation is given in part by Dr. Burnham, Julianna Hanscom – Director of Special Services, and Annica Scott-Director of Teaching and Learning. The presentation is available on the website for everyone to view. A comparison of what we had available for services, staff, and academic plans in 2019 vs 2024 is shared. We are anticipating a 10% increase in health insurance to be $500,000, Contractual increases of $400,000 and the loss of ESSER funds of $600,000. While we knew ESSER funds would not be continuing, the increase in health insurance was unexpected. Each school was then discussed with potential positions to be cut. Mr. Be ardmore expresses this is a lot of information to digest, he disagrees with moving our meeting and public hearing dates, it has been scheduled this way through out time, we need to express to the finance committee that we need to keep our meeting on the originally set date. Mr. Lehtinen agrees with Mr. Beardmore, we need to explain all the factors that are in play and that we need to keep our date of March 20th. Ms. Archambault will speak with town manager and fincom to discuss the need for the date of the 20th. Ms. Archambault also brings up the option of scheduling an additional meeting to continue the discussion on the budget, it is determined an additional meeting will happen on January 24, 2024. Ms. Brzozoski questions will there be more potential cuts on top of these. Mr. Sculimbrene suggests a dollar value be included next to the positions up for potential cuts, while Dr. Burnham can make that happen, this process isn’t just about eliminating a dollar total, but also we need to make sure the impacts are not detrimental. Mr. Beardmore wants to assure staff, families and the community that we as a school committee have a hard task in front of us, we thank the administration and the superintendent for putting all this information together for us, and we will move forward to ask lots of questions and clarifications and make the best decisions we can. Mr. Lehtinen appreciates the time put into this and is really concerned with a loss of the athletic director and what that means for our student., to put the position into the hands of an administrator is going to be really hard for them to keep up and make sure our department is running at its best. Paraprofessionals are another support system we need to keep, as our classrooms are going to potentially be larger. Ms. Archambault states this is with no AP classes being cut, approximate class sizes are pretty stable at 25, and we haven’t taken any programs away. If anyone has any questions please email them to lps@lunenburgschools.net 10. Public Comment – None 11. Adjournment makes a motion to adjourn at 9:35 seconds the motion, roll call, Ms. Archambault – yes, Mr. Lehtinen – yes, Mr. Sculimbrene – yes, Mr. Beardmore – yes, Ms. Brzozoski – yes Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller