===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, November 6, 2024 6:30 – Town Hall - Hybrid School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair - present Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair - present Carol Archambault, Secretary - present Peter Beardmore, Member - present Laura Brzozoski, Member - present Recording Secretary Courtney Fuller Guests: Anthony Sculimbrene Sr. Architectural Preservation District Committee 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 for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law 1. Call to Order by Brian Lehtinen at 6:30 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment 4. Chair’s Report Home Coming was a great success. Next Tuesday there is a Special Town Meeting at 7 p.m. Mr. Lehtinen reads a letter out loud from the PTO and is entered into the record and is also available online. Congratulations Representative Scarsdale and Kushmerek, we extend our respect. 5. Student Representative’s Report Homecoming went very well. There will be no school on November 11 th. 6. Review & Approve Minutes None 7. Review & Approve Warrants, Line Item Transfers, & Donations a. Warrants 10/11 to 11/4/24 $427,970.03 Warrants have been signed b. Line Item Transfer i. $105 from HS office supplies to accreditation line, because NEASC membership has increased ii. $80 from HS office supplies to Phys Ed, some items cost more than expected Ms. Archambault makes a motion to approve line item transfer, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve c. Donations i. PTO Penny Wars donations of $5,316.98 to go into gift account at Turkey Hill, earmarked for shade structure outside ii. PTO Scholastic Book Fair $2,408.38 to go into the gift account at Turkey Hill, earmarked for Library Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept both donations, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve 8. Superintendent’s Report Yesterday was our full day PD day, joint conference with North Middlesex district, hosted at the North Middlesex High School. We will be surveying staff for feedback about their experience during the day. An update 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 our Director of Facilities position, unfortunately the individual we offered it to has declined the offer, and we have repost ed the job. Article 2 requesting the Chapter 70 funding will be brought up for a vote at the Special Town meeting and needs a 2/3 vote for approval. I would like to express gratitude to all the veterans in our community for their service and their sacrifice. Upcoming Dates November 7th PACSAL Meeting 6 pm LMHS November 11 All schools and offices are closed due to Veterans Day November 12th Special Town Meeting 7 pm LMHS auditorium November 12th Report Cards are Available November 14th Family Zooms for Assessment Data 6:00 -6:30 Primary School, 6:45-7:15 Turkey Hill, 7:30-8:00 LMHS November 20, 2024 School Committee Meeting 6:30 Hybrid Town Hall December 4, 2024 School Committee Meeting 6:30 Hybrid LMHS 9. Presentation – Brooks House Mr. Sculimbrene Sr. shares the history on the Brooks House and how it became a part of Lunenburg property. As part of the Lunenburg Building Design Committee there have been many discussions on what to do with this property. The Brooks House always falls to the bottom of the list as far as spending money. Th e Architectural Preservation District Commission have been evaluating how we can move forward with preservation of the house in mind. The article contains 6 parts. We would like to create a lot that does not infringe on the library or extend into school property. We will only move forward with this, if we have support of the library Board of Trustees. It seems the community does not want the property sold, but perhaps long term leases, but if it does not work out the property comes back to the town. We want to create a better value and benefit for the town, while saving this building. The committee discusses benefits, concerns and possibilities. 10. New Business Action a. Facilities & Grounds Report The report consists of updates on Turkey Hill ADA study, the bid has been awarded to CSS Architect Inc. Turkey Hill and Primary School security system updates, along with the Turkey Hill exterior door replacement, and the Turkey Hill fire alarm project, will be going out as a combined bid and posted tomorrow. Bids will be due November 26, with projected completion assuming funds are available is August 15. We are making headway with custodial positions that are open, the director position is open, 3 gro unds and maintenance have been filled, and almost all custodial positions in all schools have been filled, we have 1 full time evening position at the Primary School. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept the report, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion, all approve b. ARPA Requests\Updated Capital Plan We need to look at projects that do not need bids, these need to be committed and contracted by the end of the year. For consideration the 911 compliance upgrade, some classrooms at Turkey Hill do not have phones, in order to be 100% compliance we need phones in every room, this costs $59,920 more than we budgeted. The generator at the Primary School is $172,000, pick -up truck with plow, window film, mini split phase 2, Turkey Hill door replacement included a vestibule addition, will be $82,000 additional money. Fire alarm needs to be upgraded to code is $100,000 over what was allocated. Ms. Brzozoski would like to advocate for the fire alarm, Dr. Burnham responds the fire alarm is currently working, just nee ds to be upgraded. Ms. Archambault states the cabling project is a quick thing, the generator would be good and a potential savings for the town in case of cold weather and frozen pipes. Dr. Burnham shares, that if all the prior committed funds are not expended, we do not want to have to return the funds, so the Town is looking for potential options that could be purchased quickly if we have left over money. Mr. Beardmore recommends filling the gaps, with existing approved capital items that have already been approved by town meeting if at all possible, while also recognizing the time constraint. Any item of the items on the list would be ideal. Also any item you can cross off the capital item requests. Dr. Burnham recommends the cabling to complete the 911 compliance. Ms. Archambault agrees with Peter, the projects that have started, but had to stop because we didn’t have the funding, this would also help to clean up the capital plan. Mr. Beardmore also suggests that if there is an amount of money that cannot fund a project, using the left over money on office supplies for all the schools, as it is generally underfunded. Dr Burnham shares that she met with Mr. Jeffries and there was conversation regarding field trips and how they are becoming harder and prohibitive because of the costs. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to use any amount of money to be used for office supplies, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve. c. Capital Planning Mr. Beardmore brings up the change in the amount on money the generator has come in now at $172,000. Do we as a school committee want to review our capital plan priorities? The committee discusses if ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 priorities change based on costs. Mr. Lehtinen states based on conversation, no action is needed we want to keep our list as is. d. Special Town Meeting Warrant Articles The committee discusses articles they want to support. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to support Article 2, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion, all approve. Mr Lehtinen reads article 10 out loud. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to support article 10, regarding The Brooks House, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve e. Secretary Negotiation Rep Appointment the secretaries are requesting to enter into bargaining. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to nominate Mr. Lehtinen and Ms. Brzozoski, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve. f. 2025 Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program Dr, Burnham shares this is a grant we applied for last year and would like to apply again this year. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to allow the team to apply for the grant, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve. 11. Old Business Action a. LEA Contract Ratification Mr. Beardmore steps out of the meeting due to conflict of interest, the Interim Town Manager is included in the action. Mr. Sculimbrene reports this is the first time doing this on the management side and that he learned a lot and hopefully this is the first step in a multi-step process to get them compensated. Ms. Archambault shares this was a deep dive, and also learned quite a lot. Some items included in the new contract are teachers on leave due to children and being able to hold their position. Teachers would like to extend their time out, although unpaid, but also have their position held open. This will be in effect 7/1/24 -6/30/27. We did increase in the event of death of spouse or child to 10 bereavement, close family member 1 extr a day, with potential of a 2nd day if travel was significant. Parental leave for either parent had an increase, they can use some of their accrued time, the rest could be up to a year of time off. Sick bank, membership is mandatory and upon accrual of the required days, members can donate, but also draw from it. The pay is 2.5%, 3.5%, 4.5% increases per year. If you have been employed with the Lunenburg Public School have worked for 30 years, there will be a longevity payment added to base payment and be paid regularly of 4%. Those that have worked within the school district for 20 years and have accumulated 100 sick days could have a one-time payment of $8500, based on the daily amount of $85 per day for 100 days. Mr. Sculimbrene makes a motion to approve the LEA contract, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve via roll call. b. School Committee Goals All goals are provided to the committee in their folder, there has not been any changes since the last meeting. Mr. Lehtinen reads out loud each goal, action steps, and benchmarks. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to approve the goals as written, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve. c. Superintendent’s Goals All goals are provided to the committee in their folder, There has been an added plan for moving from TCP, all over goals have no changes Mr. Sculimbrene makes a motion to accept superintendent’s goals, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve. d. Strategy for Continuous Improvement There have been no changes. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the plan as proposed, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve 12. Public Comment Mr. Sculimbrene Sr. I was recently involved in a NEASC audit for accreditation purposes and I can tell you, NEASC is worse the money that the town spends on it. NEASC accredits private schools as well as public schools. It was a really good process for the board that I was on for the private institution. Mr. Beardmore comments that a women he went to Lunenburg High School with, a grade behind him, posted a picture on Facebook of the “I voted” sticker and posted above it, my responsibility, my privilege, my vo te, with the American flag and under it said Thank you Mr. Lamoth, mom and dad for teaching me these things. I have mentioned Mr. Lamoth in our meetings many times, Mr. Lamoth was my sophomore Civics teacher and junior year was my US History teacher , and Mr. Lamoth had an enormous impact on my life, as did Mrs. Brockman and the many dozens of other teachers in Lunenburg in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s and they make up a very large part of who I am today. If you take that and multiply it over 15 00 students that we have in our schools today, and it carries forward, it might not be in the way of service on a school committee or joining the military, but the examples that our teachers set for us are everlasting. Mr. Lamoth was the head of the Democratic Party in Lunenburg and when he retired he was Select Board member for a few years, he died while in office, we ===PAGE 4=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 are so privileged that those traditions continue and we are so well served by our teachers. I am really proud of my fellow members and our faculty for coming to an agreement and finding a way forward to continue to serve our students. 13. Reports Ms. Brzozoski reports the Turkey Hill Advisory committee met on 10/28 and at that time the wiring was mostly done, and has since been completed, we went over the strategy for improvement plan and also the MCAS scores specific to Turkey Hill. On November 14 there will be an MCAS zoom meeting to go over the results for families at 6:15 and will also be recorded for parents to review at a later date. LEAF met last week, they reviewed bylaws and upcoming website Mr. Beardmore reports the Capital Planning Committee met Monday night we heard presentations from the fire department, IT department, and the DPW, we have completed hearing our request presentations and will be meeting next Wednesday remotely to discuss our evaluation process and timing, we will meet again in early December to finalize our priorities and submit the list to the Town Manager. The town manager screening committee will be meeting on the 18 th to go over applications with our consultant, we will then meet in the beginning of December for two nights to conduct interviews, and will be executive sessions. Hopefully our work will be done mid- December Ms. Archambault reports FinCom met on October 24th, there is a new member Tanya Dall there are still two vacancies if anyone wishes to get involved in your community, fincom is a great place to learn. The said there would be a municipal building update at the special town meeting. The parks said the new design group led them to a 14 million estimate, they do not have enough funds for phase 1 and will not be moving forward with their article. Mr. Menard discussed how everyone is having difficulty getting accurate estimates. The voted 5 to none to recommended approval of the $31,000 in Article 2. Article 5 affects everyone it has to do with the Prudent Investor and how funds can be moved to higher yields the voted to support. They talked about article 10 The Brooks House and voted no financial impact. Gene Russell will be the school liaison. The next meeting will be in the beginning of December and there will be a special town meeting before they meet as a group again. PTO met on Monday night, they made $95 at Shrieks and Krieks, but they had a lot of fun. Lunenburg gear will ship out this week or the beginning of next week, they were able to sell 170 items, but the total they made was not available yet. The sophomores are also going to do a gear sale, but they delayed theirs for the PTO. The PTO will also be doing a December 21st at 10 am in Leominster, they will be showing Sonic 3 and will be capping at 500 seats. They will also be having a fundraiser at Launch on March 20th. They will also have a fundraiser in collaboration with the elementary school to go to Worcester Railers and that will be on the 28 th of February as some of our students will be singing the National Anthem. The special someone dance is on February 1 st, they made $11,000 last year. They have put out requests for funding, they have received 11 responses and are willing to do $5,000 per school. The principals approve that the items requested are not in the budget, there is a zoom meeting on December 2 for all that have applied and the week after they will be notified. There was a lot of discussion on expensive field trips, ie Washington DC and trips abroad and coming up with ideas for funding and donations. Mr. Sculimbrene reports the budget task force met Monday and had a discussion with the head of the assessor’s board and examining the idea of a split tax rate, this would have a really high impact on business and a relatively low impact on citizens. But also the high impact would be the same for a large company as it would a small garage, there really is no way this would be allowed or beneficial. Mr. Lehtinen The Lunenburg Municipal Designer committee has been meeting regularly, first and third Monday of the month, we went over the RFP, we had one proposal that was submitted and another one that was submitted late, so that doesn’t count, they gave out three tours over 2 days. We went over scoring with Taylor and Burns and they have done some similar projects and rated them advantageous, we will gather some interview questions, and will be meeting off cycle on the 14th, potentially interviewing on the 18th. After the fact it came out that it was under bid by $44,000. The Finance Appointing Committee met and approved Ms. Tanya Dall as a new member, there is still an opening on the Finance Committee 14. Topics for Future Discussion : 15. Adjournment Mr. Sculimbrene makes a motion to adjourn at 8:35, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion all approve. Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller