# school-committee — 19 documents, concatenated for reading and search # # This is a CONVENIENCE BUNDLE, not a source. Every document below is # published separately and byte-identically; cite the individual file, # whose path is given in each header, rather than this bundle. # Index of all boards: https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/minutes/INDEX.txt # The town's own scanned original is linked per document. ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-06-05-minutes-6597.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-06-05 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-06-05-minutes-6597.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06052024-6597 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, June 5, 2024 Town Hall, Meeting Room Retiree Reception – 6:00 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: Time Santry –LMHS Principal, Carla Squier – THES Principal, Chad Adams – Primary School Principal Retirees: Kristine Bassett 32 years, Sarah Sabatini 32 years, Tim Normandin 31 years, Erinanne Burroughs 30 years, Mary Whita ker 24 years, Martha Sullivan 23 years In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this m eeting is being recorded and broadcast 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 Carol Archambault at 6:30 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment Mr. Beardmore thanks all appropriate parties in budgeting process and execution of the override votes. I was skeptic, but I was surprised and incredibly proud of our town. I hope this is a giant leap for the brand of Lunenbur g, to be a town that prioritize our children and education. I know there are a lot of people in Lunenburg that don’t agree with that, but we need to continue to work to make sure that the vision continues to become a reality 4. Chair’s Report Ms. Archambault congratulates our retirees for their service to the children and families of Lunenburg, it is greatly appreciated. To the Lunenburg High School class of 2024, the ceremony on Saturday was a reflection of you. Thank you to the high school administrators and staff for their preparation and to Mother Nature, for a glorious day, and we wish the graduates all is that good as they move forward. Representative Scarsdale has scheduled a regional meeting with DESE to discuss school budget issues. Mr. Waters and Dr. Gilman, Ms. Lemieux, Dr. Burnham and our school committee chair are invited to this meeting. It will be scheduled either July 12 or 19 at 9 am or 1, she is looking for availability, I will no longer be the chair at that point, but my thought is we reply that we will have someone available at that meeting. She is also requesting a brief overview of our school district with points that would be helpful to DESE . As the fiscal year draws to a close I feel it is important for the public to know that the superintendent and her team, despite the lack of a business manager have made sound fiscal decisions and our financial consultants tell us that we will close out the fiscal year strongly. We a re awaiting their final statements as they are awaiting confirmation through the town, difficulty with Munis, the town’s financial software has caused the fiscal year close out to be more challenging than normal, but we are looking Godward to a financial report at our June 26th meeting. Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 5. Review & Approve Minutes a. Regular Session 3/6/24 &3/27/24 – 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 5/20/24 to 5/30/24 $244,162.63 Ms. Archambault has signed b. Line Item Transfer $76,336 Mr. Livingston our contracted financial consultant suggests a transfer of funds between lines based on reconciling accounts and open issues from FY 23 and FY 22 lingering open, grants that need to be reconciled and Munis issues have made this an even more challenging situation Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve line item transfers as listed, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve 7. Superintendent’s Report Our retirees this year, we had several, Kristine Bassett who has been with our district for 32 years Sarah Sabatini, 31 years with the district, Tim Normandin, 31 years with the district, Erinanne Buroughs 30 years with the district, Mary Whitaker, 24 years with the district, and Martha Sullivan, 23 years with the district. A report of plans for the retirees is shared. Also the last day of school is June 12 th and will be a half day, and we look forward to having everyone back in August. 8. Student Representative Report Tatum Furman reports the last day of school is June 12 th which is a half day for all schools. The Primary School had a second grade concert last night. Turkey Hill Elementary School field day was today and there is a third and fourth grade music concert on June 7th. The Lunenburg Middle School has a fairy tale dance coming up on June 7th. Mrs. LeBlanc’s 8th grade civics class took civics MCAS. Graduation for the 8th grade is on Wednesday June 12th at 8:20 a.m. At the Lunenburg High School we said goodbye to our seniors at graduation last week on Saturday June 1 st, it was a great day. Finals start tomorrow and go until Tuesday. 9. New Business Action a. FY25 School Handbooks All changes in the handbooks have been highlighted for review. The consistency throughout the handbooks for the school is appreciated. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the handbooks for FY25, Mr. Lehtinen seconded the motion, all approve b. 2024-20225 Parent- Teacher Conference Pilot Mr. Adams shares that at Turkey Hill, parent teacher conferences will be held in January, to occur after some i-ready testing and report cards have been sent out. Ms. Squier reports the Primary School will also hold parent teacher conferences in January. T he Middle High School has decided to keep their parent teacher conferences as scheduled in late October and not change them. All schools will offer zoom options, as well as welcome any parents/guardians to make appointments with us and do not have to wait until conferences if they want to meet with us sooner. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept the changes at the Primary and Turkey Hill schedule of parent teacher conferences, Mr. Be ardmore seconds the motion, all approve. c. Unaffiliated Salary Schedule There are a handful of staff that are not in a particular bargaining unit, these are primary the extended day program staff. We generally bring a 3 year plan forward for i ncrease, however, with budget uncertainty, we are bringing a plan for just the next fiscal year. This represents a 2.5% increase. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to approve the increase, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve d. Hiring Screening Committee Appointment Our town accountant is resigning on August 4 th, we will need 1 school committee member to be on the screening committee, Mr. Beardmore volunteers. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to appoint Mr. Beardmore, Mr. Lehtinen seconds the motion all approve e. Payroll Modification The town manager has sent an email to notify employees of a change in July for payroll, currently payroll is paid in advance however, based on some timing of overtime, this will change. The committee discuss concerns over the lack of notification timing, as some employees will go a week without a check and feel this is unacceptable. The members do not agree with this process of change. Dr. Burnham suggests we wait a few days to see what options the town comes up with to combat the difficulties of weeks without payment. Discussion f. LHS Activity Fees Dr. Burnham shares a presentation of fees that are charged at each school level with an explanation of what the fee covers. The committee agrees that even though they would rather not char ge fees, understand this is necessary, and would like a very transparent look into specifically the high school fees and what they actually pay for. ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 10. Old Business Action a. 2024-2025 School Calendar Revised The calendar is presented with changes to include parent teacher conference dates Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to accept revision for Primary and Turkey Hill Schools, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve b. AARPA Funds Mr. Beardmore reports we need to follow through on what was discussed at town meeting. We need to write a letter and send it to the select board re-appropriating the AARPA funds. Ms. Archambault will create and send letter. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to have Ms. Archambault send the letter, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve c. FY25 Budget Dr. Burnham shares a spreadsheet for the override budget line item details of expenses and salaries. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to reconsider the FY 25 budget, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve. Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to approve the budget of $24,851,494 Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve. Discussion d. 2023-2024 SIP Progress Reports The committee is given the plans from each school as they are closing out the school year, there are no questions, thank you to the principals for all their work e. Topics for Delegation Bus bidding, state funding- inflation into chapter 70, millionaires tax. Ms. Archambault will be contacting Senator Cronin for an explanation of why the chapter 70 funds came out with $10,000 more. Any other topics, please forward to Ms. Archambault f. Assessment Report A slide show of spring i-Ready results are presented and discussed. 11. Public Comment Dr. Burnham thanks the administrators for staying throughout the entirety of the meeting and being available for any comments or questions. Ms. Archambault thanks Ms. Lorenzen for the nice snack assortment put out today. 12. Reports Mr. Lehtinen reports the Finance Committee met on 5/23, there was no special town meeting needed for the override, they were also looking for support on research and recommendations on collaboration of the town and school specifically with facilities, similar to what Mr. Beardmore talked about earlier today. They are looking for us to research and look for recommendations on how we can collaborate for the future. The town manager specifically mentioned about healthcare, the option for HAS and how that process will work. A rep from each of the unions will form a committee and vote on those changes, the town manager emphasized this would be a difficult process. Some of the committee member’s struggled with the ideas that the school is using excel for budgeting and again without a finance director. Even though many organizations use excel, once it does get to a certain level it does usually go into some other system, which then shows trends over time. Members are working on getting their term cycle back track, also frustrated with the minutes process in general for all committees and feel it’s out dated. Mr. Beardmore reports the Capital Planning Committee intended to continue our meetings through the winter to do a 5 year plus capital plan, however, a meeting was never called, as we were knee deep in budget, it is our intention to have a meeting next Monday, however, I haven’t received any notice or agenda to confirm that is happening. The high school advisory committee met several weeks ago, I have asked for further clarification from the vice principal at the high school is a potential new program involving work credit for some students, this is a new state program that can potentially target at ris k students and organize some sort of school credit around a program relating to part time jobs outside of school. The Athletic advisory committee has not met, but I have gotten some feedback from a couple of the booster club presidents that maybe we need to take another look at that policy around sports club fundraising and the athletic advisory program, as we have set up in our policy. A couple of the clubs have kicked off their spring/summer fundraising programs for fall sports and they ar e running them in different nature then previously, we aren’t selling baked goods or raffle tickets as much, now its text and web based appeals for funding, we aren’t getting the level of participation and compliance that we set out to get Ms. Archambault reports the master planning committee met, but I was unable to attend the meeting, as I was presenting senior awards, they are meeting Thursday night. ===PAGE 4=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 13. Topics for Future Discussion Next Wednesday will be the superintendent evaluation and reorganization of the committee On the 26th the meeting will be held remotely, Mr. Lehtinen will not be present Head specialist – discussion on concussions at next meeting 14. Executive Session: to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. 15. Adjournment Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to enter executive session and adjourn immediately following at 9:44 p.m., Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-06-12-agenda-6615.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-06-12 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-06-12-agenda-6615.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_06122024-6615 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 REVISED MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE EMERGENCY MEETING Wednesday, June 12, 2024 LMS Collaborative Room #D132 6:30pm HYBRID MEETING AGENDA School Committee Superintendent Carol Archambault, Chair Dr. Kate Burnham Brian Lehtinen, Vice Chair Anthony Sculimbrene-Secretary Laura Brzozoski Recording Secretary Peter Beardmore Courtney Fuller Guests: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7663167607?omn=89432928712 Meeting ID: 766 316 7607 One tap mobile+19292056099, 7663167607# US (New York) +13017158592,,7663167607# US (Washington DC) This meeting will be broadcast at a later date through the local access cable channel , and on the Public Access Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be found on the LunenburgAccess YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting.The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are 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 also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 1. Call to Order 2. Public Comment 3. Chair’s Report 4. Review & Approve Minutes a. Regular Session 4/3/24,4/10/24, 5/1/24, Special Meeting 5/14/24 5. New Business Action a. Committee Reorganization  Election of Officers & Appointment of Sub-Committee Members  Authorize Policies & Procedures to Remain in Force  Annual Student Activity Accounts Authorization  Annual Town Meeting-Auditorium Waiver b. Declare Surplus-Curriculum Classroom Materials c. Donation Old Business Action a. Superintendent Evaluation 6. Public Comment 7. Executive Session: to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position Of the public body and the chair so declares. 8. Adjournment Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-06-12-minutes-6615.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-06-12 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-06-12-minutes-6615.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06122024-6615 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE EMERGENCY MEETING Wednesday, June 12, 2024 LMHS 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 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 congratulates all the students, faculty, and staff on a great school year and for those that have the sum mer off, I hope you have a great summer! 4. Chair’s Report I understand there is some concern in the community regarding the cuts being made despite the passing of the override as promised before the override the following cuts are being made, a Humanities teacher at the high school, an intervention teacher at the high school, a class room teacher at the middle school, a Wilson reading teacher at the elementary school, a PE teacher that is split between the Primary School and the elementary school, and a soc ial worker in the Primary school, as well an instructional coach districtwide, these are the cuts being made due to financial reason. These cuts do equal the ESSER funds when cuts are made per contract. The remaining personnel do move around as their certification permits, paraprofessionals are not part of this cut, there may be a reduction in this area for other reasons ; the need for individual paraprofessional positions is constantly being reassessed. I hope that answers the questions people have concerning this, if you have any additional questions I would ask you to follow up with the superintendent or w ith the school committee chair. As you are aware I have one more year in my term on the school committee, but I am stepping down from being chair, I wish to thank the members of this committee both past and present for their hard work and keeping me on track. I would also like to thank the superintendent and Mrs. Peterson for always being available, knowledgeable, and flexible. One more very special thank you is to elected officials from the other boards particularly Renee Emkey and Evan Waters for their collaborations. Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 5. Review & Approve Minutes a. Regular Session 4/3/24, 4/10/24, 5/1/24 – Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to approve minutes, Mr. Lehtinen seconded the motion, all approve via roll call vote b. Special Session 5/14/24 Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to approve minutes, Ms. Brzozoski seconded the motion, all approved 6. New Business Action a. Committee Reorganization i. Election of Officers & Appointment of Sub-Committee Members Mr. Sculimbrene makes a nomination for Mr. Lehtinen to be the new Chair of the School Committee, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion. Mr. Lehtinen accepts nomination. Mr. Beardmore does want it noted that while he sup ports the nomination and knows Mr. Lehtinen will be an excellent chair, my reservation is that when you have a labor union and you have a potential conflict with that labor union, and they seek representation from their affiliation, and you are a member of that affiliated union, it creates a difficult situation, potentially for you, and wants to state in advance that there is reservation to put you in that situation, but also potentially a public perception A roll call vote to approve Mr. Lehtinen as the new Chair of the School Committee is approved unanimously via roll call vote. Ms. Archambault makes a nomination for Mr. Sculimbrene to become the Vice Chair of the school committee. Ms. Brzozoski makes a nomination for Mr. Beardmore as Vice Chair, he respectfully declines based on his feeling of potential conflict with union and his personal situation. A roll call vote to approve Mr. Sculimbrene as the new Vice Chair of the School Committee is approved unanimously via roll call vote. Mrs. Archambault reports the position of secretary should be someone who can be available during t he daytime hours, Mr. Lehtinen works at a school, and Mr. Sculimbrene in New Hampshire, leaving the options of Ms. Archambault or Ms. Brzozoski. Ms. Brzozoski makes a nomination of Ms. Archambault as secretary, Mr. Beardmore seconds the nomination. A roll call vote to approve Ms. Archambault as new secretary of the School Committee is approved unanimously via roll call vote Mr. Lehtinen will also be the official voting delegate to the MASC, Legislative Representative of the School Committee and also the Spokesperson as these are typically all done by the Chair The subcommittees are listed, changes to the Finance Committee will now be Ms. Archambault, Finance Committee appointing Committee will be Mr. Lehtinen, and the Wellness Advisory will be Ms. Brzozos ki, all other subcommittee appointments remain the same. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to accept the appointments as stated, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call vote ii. Authorize Policies & Procedures to Remain in Force Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to authorize policies and procedures to remain in force, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve iii. Annual Student Activity Accounts Authorization Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion authorize annual student activity accounts, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve iv. Annual Town Meeting- Auditorium Waiver Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to retain the annual town meeting auditorium waiver, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve b. Declare Surplus-Curriculum Classroom Materials The committee has been supplied with a list of items that have been determined to obsolete or irrelevant to the current curriculums being used in our classrooms. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to approve the items listed as surplus, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion. Roll call vote approved by Ms. Archambault, Mr. Lehtinen, Mr. Sculimbrene, Mr. Beardmore, abstained vote by Ms. Brzozoski c. Donation We have a letter of gratitude that we will be sending to Mr. Lucier for his continued support in post - secondary education in the fields of Creative Writing and Film Production. We received 4 scholarships in the amount of $1,000.00 each for our graduation seniors A donation of $2,265.39 from the PTO from the spring book fair will be deposited into the Primary School Activity account to help field trips. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to accept these donations, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call vote ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 7. Old Business Action a. Superintendent Evaluation Ms. Archambault summarizes the process, each member did their own evaluation, then they were combined, reviewed by Mr. Lehtinen and sent to the full committee for approval It has been determined that the first goal is Professional Practice and that goal was met. Goal number two is the i-Ready benchmark, this was very close, but not fully met. Third is the Climate Survey which was met The fourth goal is the Title 1 survey which was met. It was determined to be proficient in all standards. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the 2 year evaluation of Dr. Burnham, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call vote. 8. Public Comment - None 9. Executive Session: to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. 10. Adjournment Motion to enter executive session and adjourn immediately following made by Ms. Brzozoski at 7:36, seconded by Mr. Beardmore, approved unanimously via roll call vote. Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-06-21-agenda-6626.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-06-21 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-06-21-agenda-6626.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_06212024-6626 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE POLICY SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING Friday, June 21, 2024 9:00 a.m. Remote Meeting Agenda Policy Sub-Committee Superintendent Anthony Sculimbrene Dr. Kate Burnham Laura Brzozoski Guest: Liz Petersen __________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the Governor’s Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G. L. c. 30A, § 20, some public meetings are being conducted remotely. Meeting Link: Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85763602412?pwd=GrbJbRIsbwfn1pZObEQDi6a3IFcqat.1Meeting ID: 857 6360 2412Passcode: 326742_______________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Call to Order ________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Public Comment ________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Discussion: Ch 766 approval; student travel; school choice________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Public Comment ________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Adjournment ____________________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-06-26-agenda-6632.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-06-26 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-06-26-agenda-6632.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_06262024-6632 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, June 26, 2024 6:30pm REMOTE MEETING AGENDA School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair Carol Archambault-Secretary Laura Brzozoski Recording Secretary Peter Beardmore Courtney Fuller Guests: Kevin Bigelow-Athletic Director, Dave Abraham-Athletic Trainer, Dr. Ridley, Nadine Lorenzen-Food Service Director ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86530494155 Meeting ID: 865 3049 4155One tap mobile +13052241968,,86530494155# US +13092053325,,86530494155# US This meeting will be broadcast at a later date through the local access cable channel , and on the Public Access Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be found on the LunenburgAccess YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting.The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are 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 also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 1. Call to Order 11. Topics for Future Discussion 2. Public Comment 12. Executive Session: to discuss strategy with respect to 3. Chair’s Report collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting 4. Review & Approve Minutes may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or a. Regular Session litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares 5. Review & Approve Warrants & Line Item Transfers 13. Adjournment a. Warrant Total 6. Superintendent’s Report 7. New Business Discussion a. Head Injury Presentation b. Program Evaluation Action c. FY24 Budget Carryover Open PO’s d. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) e. Budget Task Force Appointment 8. Old Business Discussion a. FY24 Quarterly Budget b. Keystone Report c. Personnel Report Action d. Class Accounts-close out 9. Public Comment 10. Reports Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-06-26-minutes-6632.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-06-26 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-06-26-minutes-6632.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06262024-6632 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, June 26, 2024 6:30 – Remote School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair - Absent 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: Kevin Bigelow-Athletic Director, Dave Abraham-Athletic Trainer, Dr. Ridley, Nadine Lorenzen-Food Service Director 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 Mr. Sculimbrene at 6:35 2. Public Comment - None 3. Chair’s Report -None 4. Review & Approve Minutes – None 5. Review & Approve Warrants – Warrants approved and signed in total of $159,241.02 6. Line Item Transfers Mr. Paul Livingston our contract consultant shares a list of reclassification of $411,675 transfer from general budget salaries to general budget lines to meet the expected expenses. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to approve line item transfers, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve via roll call 7. Superintendents’ Report - School and district administrators will be participating as a team in the Department of Leadership Instructional Institute on July 29, 30, and 31. Also, want to make you aware the office manager at Dee Bus, Linda, has retired, we are hoping for a smooth transition, working with a new partner. We also received communication from the Mass School Building Authority, they are prepared to launch their next school survey assessment. The survey will include site visits at approximately 1,580 schools, as well as a compilation of existing data at approximately 120 schools currently in the MSBA program. This assessment will result in a published report sharing an understanding of the building condition and general environment for the Commonwealth Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 public schools. Beginning in the fall architectural and engineering experts will visit public elementary and secondary buildings. These will be evaluated regardless of whether or not the district has any plans for improvements. The assessment will evaluate key factors including the condition, capacity, maintenance, and educational environment. The data collected during the assessment is just one factor used to determine which school facilities present the highest level of need in urgency, and the results are not the sole basis the MSBA uses to determine any districts eligibility for funding. There will be an update related to scheduling of sites visits later in August. 8. New Business Discussion a. Head Injury Presentation Dr. Ridley from UMASS is a Sports Medicine and Exercise provider, joins Mr. Bigelow and Mr. Abraham in a discussion on concussion and how it correlates to CTE later in life. They discuss the steps they take at events where a concussion is suspected and return to play protocol. Dr. Ridley is available any time for future questions and concerns, you can also contact Mr. Bigelow or Mr. Abraham. b. Program Evaluation Ms. Hanscom has provided a slide deck to the school committee for review Action c. FY24 Budget Carryover Open PO’s Dr. Livingston explains why differences have occurred this fiscal year and presents the committee with a list of PO’s that are recommended to carryover in to FY25. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the open PO list, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call. d. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Ms. Lorenzen shares her presentation on CEP vs Universal Meal Program. At this time Turkey Hill qualifies to participate in CEP. The CEP program does bring in a little more money than the Universal Meals Program. Our students would not see any difference but the parents would need to fill out separate information for their student at Turkey Hill. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to approve CEP program at Turkey Hill, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call vote. e. Budget Task Force Appointment The committee discusses the ups and downs of the task force Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to appoint Mr. Sculimbrene and Ms. Brzozoski as a backup, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call vote. 9. Old Business Discussion a. FY 24 Quarterly Budget Mr. Livingston gives a quarterly budget update, committee asks when we might know how much money is left? We are hoping by 7/15 we should have that number. Does it look like we will have a surplus? Not as of right now b. Keystone Report Dr. Burnham has provided an update in the school committee folder, any questions contact Dr. Burnham c. Personnel Report Dr. Burnham shares that we 11 new hires, we’ve had 48 members of our staff that have left the district, and our open positions that are currently being processed. It is noted that salary has been the reason for many of the separations. ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Action d. Class Accounts –Close out The committee is provided the notes for each classes’ progress and status Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to table this topic, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, unanimously approved via roll call vote. 10. Public Comment Dave Rogers, 82 Highland Street Who is the Finance Director and what are they paid? With the reorganization of the school committee Mr. Lehtinen is in the teachers union, is this a conflict of interest? How long will Mr. Livingston with us? Mr. Sculimbrene clarifies that as long as Mr. Lehtinen is not on the school committee in the same district that he is part of the union, there is no conflict. Dr. Burnham shares that Dr. Gilson is our Finance Director, she will be paid $150,000 and has a 3 year contract. We don’t have an end date for Dr. Livingston, thus far the services have been approximately $31,000 and we are hoping for a 2 to 3 month transition period. Dr. Burnhams’ salary will remain the same and she will not take a raise for this year. Dr. Burnham goes through the list of questions from the school committee. As far as a running list of staff, we will be getting back to quarterly reports. A question regarding policy on bus driver hiring….we do not have any part of the bus driver hiring. Are we dropping IXL? It is still budgeted but we are looking into it. Why are we outsourcing landscaping is it a reasonable cost? We do outsource mostly for the playing fields, this is much easier for us and we do receive this at a reasonable cost, this isn’t a reasonable share with the town to include in a bid. Who pays for the electricity for the food pantry? This is not part of the school department responsibilities. Our custodians do clean the whole building, however at this time we do not have a custodian at TCP. Our maintenance and grounds department takes care of the lawn outside TCP. As far as TCP not having running water, I have not been made aware that has been an issue, they are looking into whether it’s a battery issue for the sensor, however, we do not have any students in the building at this time, and have not heard of this being an issue by any of the staff. There was a question/concern about library usage and availability at the high school. I want to remind everyone to go through the chain of communication and start with who is in charge, and move up the chain if you need more assistance 11. Reports – Tabled 12. Topics for Future Discussion Discussion for finance workshop Use of cell phones in school 13. Executive session : to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or a litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares 14. Adjournment Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to enter executive session and adjourn immediately after at 9:28 pm, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, approved unanimously via roll call vote Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-07-12-agenda-6653.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-07-12 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-07-12-agenda-6653.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07122024-6653 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE POLICY SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING Friday, July 12, 2024 9:00 a.m. Remote Meeting Agenda Policy Sub-Committee Superintendent Anthony Sculimbrene Dr. Kate Burnham Laura Brzozoski Guest: Liz Petersen __________________________________________________________________________________________ The Town of Lunenburg, in response to the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) is currently following the guidance from the Lunenburg Board of Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the CDC regarding the virus and steps communities can take to prevent the spread and all town facilities are currently closed to the public. In accordance with the Governor’s Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G. L. c. 30A, § 20, some public meetings are being conducted remotely. Meeting Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85204263005?pwd=rJQtqZ1jMxf51LCVybTtbDsOZLbqKP.1 Meeting ID: 852 0426 3005Passcode: 903238 _____________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Call to Order ________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Public Comment ________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Discussion: Student travel policy; concussion policy; Ch 766 program approval policy ________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Public Comment ________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Adjournment ____________________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-07-25-agenda-6669.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-07-25 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-07-25-agenda-6669.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07252024-6669 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 REVISED MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING Thursday, July 25, 2024 5:30pm REMOTE MEETING AGENDA School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair Carol Archambault-Secretary Laura Brzozoski Recording Secretary Peter Beardmore Courtney Fuller Guests: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3020039690?omn=89654259641 Meeting ID: 302 003 9690 One tap mobile +16469313860,3020039690 # US+19292056099,3020039690# US (New York) This meeting will be broadcast at a later date through the local access cable channel , and on the Public Access Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be found on the LunenburgAccess YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting.The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are 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 also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 1. Call to Order 2. Public Comment 3. Review and Approve Minutes a. Regular Sessions 5/22/24 & 6/5/24 b. Special Session 3/11/24 4. New Business Action a. AARPA Requests 4. Public Comment 5. Adjournment Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-07-25-minutes-6669.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-07-25 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-07-25-minutes-6669.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_07252024-6669 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, July 25, 2024 5:30 – Remote School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair - Present Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair - Absent Carol Archambault, 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 broadcast 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 Mr. Lehtinen at 5:31 2. Public Comment Peter Beardmore: I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the loss of Margherite Okerman, she was a pillar of our community for generations along with her husband. She was a librarian in our school system for 20 years at the same time her husband was our Facilities and Grounds Director. They were visible all the time and continued to be throughout the years. My deepest sympathy to her family. Last week there was a payroll change based on a policy that should not be in place, based on overtime. I do not believe our employees were appropriately or proactively communicated with. We acknowledge the miss of communication between the town and the school. As new leadership comes to town hall we need to work to be a true team and partnership 3. Review and Approve Minutes 3/11/24, 5/22/24, 6/5/24 Ms. Archambault would like an adjustment to minutes on 3/11/24. Ms. Brzozoski would like an adjustment to minutes on 5/22/24 – Will correct them and resubmit for approval. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the minutes on 6/5/24, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve via roll call 4. New Business Action a. AARPA Requests The select board has requested committees meet to request portions of the left over AARPA funds. The committee discusses the many projects that need to be done on the schools in the district. The committee ultimately decides to have Dr. Burnham prepare Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 the list to send to the select board. The number 1 ask is to have the study on the turf field completed and our number 2 ask is for the Auditorium booth audio support upgrade to include hearing aid compatibility. The rest of the list to include the items from the capital plan minus the AC project. 5. Public Comment – None 6. Adjournment Ms Brzozoski makes a motion to adjourn at 6:19, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve via roll call vote Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-08-07-agenda-6689.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-08-07 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-08-07-agenda-6689.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08072024-6689 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 REVISED MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING Wednesday, August 7, 2024 6:30 pm, LHS Collaborative Room #A130 HYBRID MEETING AGENDA School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair Carol Archambault-Secretary Laura Brzozoski Recording Secretary Peter Beardmore Courtney Fuller Guests: Andy Paquette-President and Chief Executive Officer-TMS Solution Inc., Paul Livingston-TMS Solution Inc., Dr. Susan Gilson-Director of Administration & Finance ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7663167607?omn=82681232506 Meeting ID: 766 316 7607 One tap mobile +19292056099, 7663167607# US (New York) +13017158592,7663167607# US (Washington DC) This meeting will be broadcast at a later date through the local access cable channel , and on the Public Access Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be found on the LunenburgAccess YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting.The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are 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 also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 1. Call to Order 2. Public Comment 3. Review and Approve Minutes a. Regular Sessions 5/22/24 Revised & 6/12/24 b. Special Session Revised 3/11/24 4. Review and Approve Warrants a. Warrant Total 6/27/24 to 7/22/24 $453,515.55 5. New Business Discussion a. Finance Best Practices b. Draft FY26-FY35 Capital Plan c. Review of Operating Protocols Action d. Chapter 70 Funding Update 6. Public Comment 7. Adjournment Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-08-07-minutes-6689.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-08-07 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-08-07-minutes-6689.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08072024-6689 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, August 7, 2024 6:30 – Hybrid - LMHS 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: Andy Paquette-President and Chief Executive Officer-TMS Solution Inc., Paul Livingston-TMS Solution Inc., Dr. Susan Gilson-Director of Administration and Finance In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and br oadcast 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 C hair. 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 Mr. Lehtinen at 6:31 2. Public Comment Sybil Kaufman, 27 Oak Ave as a marketing and Communications professional I received Myriad performance metrics related to social media channels. I doubt it will surprise you that our data shows Facebook as a forum for paid advertisements and predominantly negative trending conversations. In addition I work closely with Public Health researchers who are at a breakneck pace uncovering the detrimental effects of social media on individual and societal health and well-being. The loudest ugliest Facebook voices do not speak for the majority of residents in Lunenburg. The cyber bullying that occurred targeting a recently departed hire would never be tolerated if it were directed at a minor or if the words were spoken in person. Concerns about curricular or pedagogical methods or content should have been directed respectfully to this leadership body which could have dealt with them appropriately. To support our override campaign efforts I was part of a group who engaged in the discussing Lunenburg Facebook group that was tough, I did not like it and I honestly think that the in-person campaign efforts, like talking to people at sporting events, did more to advance our cause, and public understanding of the issues that hand in the end voter turnout in Lunenburg was still pretty low though we did pass the override. As soon as it was over I once again happily uninstalled Facebook from my phone, so while people like me, may not be joining the dialogue on Facebook, we are here, we're paying attention to what happens in our town, we're ready to stand up for due process including appropriate Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 governance as it pertains to our schools through this body. I recommend this or consider action that mirrors the work of the PTO and the Family Schools Partnership Compact and that you dig deep to enact creative ways to better connect this district with its community. If we have healthy alternatives to Facebook then the bullies’ outrage will seem less dominating and we'll be better for it. How about coffee with the superintendent or pizza night with the school committee? I'd be willing to buy a few pizzas if it meant we could actually have a dialogue as opposed to this very necessary but unengaged forum where the public may only comment and witness deliberations. There's no avenue for really asking questions in the moment. Thank you in advance for considering ways to build a collaborative connection to all Lunenburg residents not just parents. Lunenburg is better than its Facebook bullies and we need your help to drop them out. Dave Blatt I am coming to you both as a citizen of Lunenburg and also the chair of the Green Committee. I am going to ask you to help us as the Green Committee to use up state funds. I very much enjoyed your former facilities manager and the amount he was involved with the Green Committee, we did such things as multiple lighting upgrades, probably over $100,000 in lighting upgrades, the mechanical systems, variable speed drives, new water heater boiler, controls pipe installation, appliances, ie. the nice new oven, the cooler, the refrigerator, weatherization, and training on how to use these systems were all done by funds through the Green Grant, with virtually no money having to be paid out by the school committee or the town. We ask that you guys help us help you. We need your help in putting together the projects or getting something done so that we can be ready for our fall Grant. One of the things that I've talked about is the mini split project, the state wants to fund these, and all we need to do is make sure it's done the correct way and the correct wording is the right way and we believe that that will go over with flying colors. We have up to $200,000 that we can ask from the state in this round alone that's available. We would like to be able to use all of that $200,000 because they'd like to give our little town of Lunenburg that money, so please help me help you, help the town and get things done around the facilities. We think a deadline of September 15th to have data together, and then in early October we have to be able to submit. Grants will be awarded around February and need to be used with the year. While Mr. Hevy does attend many of the meetings, we are looking for the school committee’s help in allowing or directing him in ways to get this money spent. Mr. Beardmore When I was appointed in the school committee two years ago, I outlined four things that I wanted to focus on as a School Committee Member. In summary, they were student achievement, budget, facilities, and community engagement. I think that we've made some progress in all those areas, but not enough in any of them. As the events of this past weekend unfolded I was packing up to go camping with my son, I started to think, what is this going to do relative to moving the ball on student achievement, facilities, budget, and community engagement. My honest assessment was: probably not going to help, although I can tell you that I didn't foresee what was actually going to occur. I've lived here for a long time and I can tell you point blank, that racism in general and intolerance in Lunenburg is not a new. One of my classmates commented on Facebook this weekend, and he was right, there were more people in my class that regularly used the “N” word than there were minorities in my class, so this isn't a new thing. But we've made progress in Lunenburg over the years, we've made extraordinary progress. When I landed on the school committee I was introduced to the term SEL (social and emotional learning) and I can tell you that when I joined I didn't know what SEL meant. I had no idea, but I sat back and listened, and I read the research that was presented to me, and the clear facts about the climate in our schools, and whether our students felt safe or not, and accepted or not, and I was convinced that there was an issue that needed to be addressed. There was a small group of parents that objected to it and they brought the issue multiple times to school committee meetings and there was an open and honest and respectful debate about it. At the time I disagreed with those who had a problem with the SEL curriculum, but I have great respect for those people. I regularly speak with them at Town ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Meetings and those kinds of things. What happened this weekend, was not that, and it reflected a lack of curiosity about the process, a lack of interest in the merits of the candidate who was selected, a lack of confidence in the members of the community that participated in that selection, a complete disregard for our actual curriculum that doesn't mention white privilege or CRT anywhere in the curriculum, or the role that the person was hired for. It did bring up sexual preference, religion, all kinds of innuendo relative to postings that have been made online about that individual. Surprise, surprise that individual decided not to come here. I've sat here for two years and boasted about Lunenburg and we've joked that I'm a townie and I know this place pretty well. I didn't know it as well as I thought I knew it. I am thoroughly disappointed, frankly, knowing what I know now, would not have made the hire simply because of the other priorities that are on my list. We need to build consensus, we need to build community, and we need to bring people together. I'm not going to convince anybody of my views when it comes to social justice, and frankly I don't have the time or energy to do it, but I do want to move the ball forward and I'm very worried about our ability to retain and attract qualified personnel I believe in concepts that says you need a diverse group to come to the best solutions, I believe that our students who are in minority groups need to have people around them in the faculty that empathize with who they are and act or look like them. I'm worried that we will not be able to do that as well as we have in the past. The upside of this is that I think I'm in the significant majority, but there is an un-silent minority who feels very empowered. This is my town and I'm not going to tolerate that, and if that means stepping beyond the bounds of my position on the school committee I will do that. What occurred this weekend, it was everybody's right to say whatever they wanted to say, but it was not in good taste, it was disrespectful of this committee, our leadership, and people need to be called out and be asked to defend their positions. They're welcome to do it right here and on the zoom or anywhere else for that matter, but get ready because I'm done with being silent and listening to that just because the rules say as a school committee member that I need to make my statements here. People of a like mind need to confront this anywhere and everywhere. Mr. Lehtinen had a short statement, I encourage those who have specific concerns about curriculum, new hires, or other matters to engage directly with our administration rather than sharing concerns on social media. Direct communication with the administration helps ensure the concerns are addressed more effectively and constructively. We can work together respectfully to ensure the best educational experience for all students in our community 3. Minutes Review and Approve a. Regular Session 5/22/24 revised, 6/12/24, and Special Session revised 3/11/24 – Minutes for 5/22/24 were tabled for revisions. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to approve minutes for 3/11/24 & 6/12/24, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve 4. Review, and Approve Warrants a. Warrant total 6/27/24 to 7/22/24 $452,515.55 – Warrants have been signed, no questions or comments 5. New Business Discussion a. Finance Best Practices Andy Paquette and Paul Livingston our contracted accounting professionals from TMS Solutions, share a PowerPoint presentation regarding best finance practices, including possible options to better use the systems we have in place. ===PAGE 4=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 b. Draft FY26-FY35 Capital Plan Dr. Burnham shares a very early plan slide show of capital plan items for each school. The committee discusses each of the items listed and gives opinions and suggestions. This list will be distributed to the committee to be ranked. c. Review of Operating Protocols We have had no feedback regarding the protocols Action d. Chapter 70 Funding Update Mr. Lehtinen drafted a letter to the interim Town Manager, regarding allocation of some extra funds. Mr. Lehtinen reads it out loud. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the letter as written, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve 6. Public Comment Ms. Brzozoski This was a weird week as a member of the school committee, we can’t talk about certain things, we can’t share on Facebook where it can be seen by other committee members because, that is discussing outside of a posted meeting, we are bound by open meeting laws and we certainly cannot be discussing or commenting on employee matters. If you want to talk about an issue there are ways to do it, if you want to talk about curriculum or issues you are having, please come in and talk to or email Dr. Burnham, she responds to every email she gets, she responds to phone calls, she will call you back and talk to you. You can email us on the school committee, the district loves talking about their curriculum, they are proud of the curriculum. There is a process, and that is how we get it done. I saw how many comments there were on Facebook, and I only got two emails total from members of the public. Only two people cared enough to actually write out an email to members of the school committee. Tonight I expected someone to come and speak to us about the curriculum, based on the amount of anger and the wave of activity, but there was one public speaker tonight who came, and spoke on the topic. I would like to think we have learned as a community to maybe calm down and not lean into a mob mentality, to maybe next time stop and think, is this the same person on Facebook that is making this a bigger issue, and claim to be speaking for the silent majority. Our kids are watching and we need to show them how we want them to act in Lunenburg. Our strength is our sense of community, we are a small town, it makes it a little harder sometimes in a small district, our money doesn’t go as far, and we need to focus on our strengths, which is our community, our bonds, our connections, and our interpersonal relationships. This weekend there was hurt done, people were hurt, it is not a great reflection of our community. If a potential candidate for positions in our school were to come across the discussion that happened I am worried it would make them unlikely to want to apply. We are already having difficulty with getting qualified candidates for jobs, and I don’t think this helped. I want us to do better. Mr. Beardmore I do think there is a learning opportunity here, I discussed some of those briefly with the superintendent yesterday. The first is I think we need to think about our communications policy again. We need to think about how we are operating in a world of social media, because it is a real phenomenon and our protocols that we just passed really do not account for that phenomenon, I think I broke the protocol three of four months ago when misinformation was coming out in a way that the budget was being applied. Number one because I knew the facts and number two because I thought I saw something spinning out of control and nobody was doing anything. That was not my job and I should not be doing it, we need to be thoughtful about how we deal with it, because there is a trend, no doubt about it. Second thing is as this was going down this weekend I was thinking about how I want to be able to refer to our curriculum, our hiring practice, and the process, those kinds of things, and we have a well stated hiring policy, but our hiring policy in practice is not enshrined into school committee policy. If we are pointing people to anything, it should be the school committee ===PAGE 5=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 policy, I think that is something that has been overlooked, but I think we need to put that into our agenda for a future topic. Mr. Sculimbrene I purposely abstain from Facebook because it is not productive but the bigger point is in 1968 after Martin Luther king was assassinated a woman named Jane Elliot had a school project with third graders and in that third grade class she taught them about what discrimination was. She segregated the class and children based on their eye color and she told her students that the students with blue eyes were better than the students with brown eyes and gave them all sorts of different privileges based solely on their eye color. At the end of a period of a few weeks she told the children that all of this was garbage and it was just stuff she made up in a way to teach them about discrimination. Jane Elliot appeared on the Tonight Show at the invitation of Johnny Carson, when she came on the show she got a standing ovation from the crowd, because people in 1970 understood that racism was real and that discrimination was real. We needed to teach children about it and I am afraid that we live in a society in which people can no longer do that and if do not allow our schools to operate as a market place of ideas where people can hear different perspectives, then we are doing a disservice to our children. Our children are going to go out in a world that is multicultural and equipping them with the ability to deal with different and diverse views and making them aware of discrimination is core to student achievement. 7. Adjournment Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to adjourn at 9:34, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-08-16-agenda-6709.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-08-16 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-08-16-agenda-6709.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08162024-6709 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== SPECIALMEETINGNOTICESCHOOLCOMMITTEEMEETINGFriday, August16,20242:30pmREMOTEMEETING AGENDASchoolCommittee SuperintendentBrianLehtinen,Chair Dr.KateBurnhamAnthonySculimbrene,ViceChairCarolArchambault-SecretaryLauraBrzozoski RecordingSecretaryPeterBeardmore CourtneyFuller Guests:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________InaccordancewiththerequirementsoftheOpenMeetingLaw,pleasebeadvisedthatthismeetingisbeingbroadcastatalaterdateovertheLunenburgPublicAccesschannel.Meetinglink:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7663167607?omn=83333226950MeetingID:7663167607Onetapmobile+19292056099,,7663167607#US.Thismeetingwillbebroadcastatalaterdatethroughthelocalaccesscablechannel,andonthePublicAccessFacebookpage(https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/)andwillbefoundontheLunenburgAccessYouTubechannelwithin24hoursafterthemeeting.TheagendalistsallthetopicswhichmaybediscussedatthemeetingandarethosereasonablyanticipatedbytheChair.Votesmaybetakenasaresultofthesediscussions.NotallitemslistedmayinfactbediscussedandotheritemsnotlistedmayalsobebroughtupfordiscussiontotheextentpermittedbyOpenMeetingLaw. 1. CalltoOrder2. ExecutiveSession: todiscussstrategywithrespect tocollectivebargainingorlitigationif anopenmeetingmayhaveadetrimental effect onthebargainingorlitigatingpositionof thepublicbodyandthechairsodeclares3. Adjournment 1025MassachusettsAvenue,Lunenburg,Massachusetts01462978582-4100~fax978582-4103 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-08-16-minutes-6709.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-08-16 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-08-16-minutes-6709.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08162024-6709 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Special Meeting Friday, August 16, 2024 2:30 – Remote 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: In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast 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 Mr. Lehtinen at 2:30 : 2. Executive Session: to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares 3. Adjournment Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to enter executive session and adjourn immediately following at 2:32, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion. All approve via roll call Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-09-04-agenda-6739.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-09-04 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-09-04-agenda-6739.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09042024-6739 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, September 4, 2024 6:30 pm, Town Hall HYBRID MEETING AGENDA School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair Carol Archambault-Secretary Laura Brzozoski Recording Secretary Peter Beardmore Courtney Fuller Guests: Tim Santry-LMHS Principal, Norman Yvon-THES Principal, Carla Squier-Primary School Principal, Nadine Lorenzen-Food Service Director, Sibyl Kaufman-LEAF _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast live over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85906741187 Meeting ID: 859 0674 1187 One tap mobile+13052241968, 85906741187# US +13092053325,,85906741187# US888 475 4499 US Toll-free • 877 853 5257 US Toll-free Meeting ID: 859 0674 1187 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdujtUhVjm This meeting will be broadcast live through the local access cable channel , and on the Public Access Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be found on the LunenburgAccess YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting.The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are 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 also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 1. Call to Order 11. Reports 2. Pledge of Allegiance 12. Public Comment 3. Public Comment 13. Topics for Future Discussion 4. Chair’s Report 14. Executive Session-to conduct strategy sessions in 5. Review and Approve Minutes preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel a. Regular Sessions 6/26 & 7/25/24 or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract 6. Review and Approve Line Item Transfers & Warrants negotiations with nonunion personnel. a. 8/5 to 8/22 $463,413.80 15. Adjournment 7. Superintendent’s Report 8. Presentation-LEAF 9. New Business Discussion a. Back to School Updates b. FY26 Budget Timeline & Priorities c. 2024-2025 School Committee Goals d. Town Financial Policies Action e. Facilities & Grounds Report f. First Read Policies: Student Travel Policy, Chapter 766 Policy, Facilities Policies g. Donation 10. Old Business Action a. FY26 Draft Capital Plan b. Paraprofessional Contract Ratification Discussion c. CEP Update Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-09-04-minutes-6739.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-09-04 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-09-04-minutes-6739.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09042024-6739 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, September 4, 2024 6:30 – Hybrid – Town Hall 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: Tim Santry – LMHS Principal, Norman Yvon – THES Principal, Carla Squier, Primary School Principal, Nadine Lorenzen – Food Service Director, Sibyl Kaufman -LEAF In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast 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 C hair. 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 Mr. Lehtinen at 6:30 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment Mr. Sculimbrene responds to some of the past comments regarding more informal setting for our meetings. Based on the public meeting law in Massachusetts, this would not an option, once there are 3 members together it b ecomes a “public meeting” at which we need to follow those laws. 4. Chair’s Report I was able to attend a zoom meeting this summer to meet the new Primary School principal. I met with Sybil Kaufman a frequent face at our meetings, she has interest in starting a nonprofit educational foundation called LEAF, and she will be presenting that tonight. I also met up with Representative Scarsdale and two members of the Department of Education, and surrounding community leaders to discuss transportation issue s, and minimum required contribution, hold harmless, effectiveness of the foundation formula, in meeting the town’s needs. Inflation and the 4.5% cap on the student opportunity act which has severely impacted towns over the last few years with so much inf lation. Both meetings really laid a groundwork for achieving a fundamental change we need in the funding formulas, and in future meetings we hope to add more minimum aid districts outside of Representative Scarsdale’s district. Other members of Lunenburg that attended was Mandy Gilman from the PTO, Chris Menard, the finance Chair, Caesar Nuzzolo of the select board, Dr. Burnham and Dr. Gilson form the school district. We await more feedback from Representative Scarsdale and future meetings in a more cohesive group of districts that have these concerns over the funding formula. The finance committee reached out and there were concerns, the former town manager reached out and said that there were some updates and errors on the committee member’s terms. Tiffany Tavares term should end June 30, 2024, Jean Russell’s term should end June 30 th 2025. Also the state issued a new IGR this spring on smart growth reimbursement, coincidentally not long after we learned that we were no longer eligible for this funding and that she wanted to put it on everyone’s radar, the deadlines are coming up as soon as September 1 with the submittal by September 15, we could still be eligible. The town managers preliminary budget presentation February 20, 2025 would be the Council on Aging and Library. February 27, 2025 would be Information Technology and police. March 6th is DPW and facilities, March 13th is Fire department and LPS March 19th would be Administration, unclassified debt service, and Monty Tech. March 20 th would be public access committee, sewer, and other Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 moneyed articles. March 27 will be the FY 2026 budget public hearing and vote. Ms. Arhambault forwarded a mass school building authority email that they're having a competition for students to reimagine the M SBA logo so, I sent that along to Dr Burnham and she's going to send it out to the students who'd like to participate. It opens September 16th 2024 and the contes t welcomes all 10th, 11th, & 12th grade students attending Massachusetts Public Schools. The school committee also received a letter from Chief Gammell he forwarded the letter to us about the SRO program, and how it's crucial to building relationships and trust within the school community. The letter demonstrates just how impactful and life -changing this program is and the addition of Hank has been a blessing, but is truly the combination of both officer McNamera and Hank and he looks forward to our continued partnership and growth of the SRO program. Mr. Lehtinen read the letter out loud and into public record. Additionally, our letter concerning excess Lunenburg chapter 70 funds was sent to the select board, the finance, and the interim Town manager on Wednesday August 14th. September 26th the second annual town of Lunenburg official meet and greet will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 at Low Places Ranch. The start of school year was last week and kindergarteners were in this week. Welcome back everyone and I'm wishing everyone a safe and fun year of learning and growth 5. Review and Approve Minutes a. Regular Sessions 6/26 & 7/25/24 Mr. Beardmore made a motion to approve minutes on 6/26/24, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve with Mr. Lehtinen abstaining. Mr. Beardmore made a motion to approve minutes on 7/25/24, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve with Mr. Sculimbrene abstaining. 6. Review and Approve Line Item Transfers & Warrants a. 8/5 to 8/22 $463,413.80 No line item transfers, warrants have been signed. 7. Superintendent’s Report As of now there are no students awaiting bussing and no outstanding issues. Tuesdays was the first day of school for grades 1-12, the day went very well. Pre –k and kindergarten started yesterday September 3, and also went well. Fall athletics have begun. PACSAL meeting is the first Thursday of every mont h combination in person and zoom meetings. PTO meeting next Monday 7 p.m. at LMHS new members are always welcome. Fall benchmarks will be administered for K-8. iReady for 8th grade will be taken in September and February only. September 12 and 13th will be reading and the 18th and 19th will be math. Spring MCAS data isn’t accessible yet for full data release potentially available September 23rd Upcoming Dates September 5 – Open House Middle School September 11 – Pictures - Turkey Hill September 12 Open House High School September 17 – Pictures - Middle School September 18 – Pictures - High School September 18 – Open House – Turkey Hill September 18 School Committee Meeting Hybrid LMHS 7:30 September 19 & 20 – Pictures - Primary School September 19 Open House – Primary School September 27th is an early release for students 8. Presentation – LEAF Tom Littlepage and Sybil Kaufman shared their idea to create LEAF (Lunenburg Education Accelerator Foundation) the goal will be to raise money to help our schools where the budget may not stretch far enough for. The committee appreciates this information and looks forward to what they can do. The presentation is posted online. 9. New Business Discussion a. Back to School Updates Principals gave details of back to school happenings, new hires, class sizes etc. the information is posted online as a slide show b. FY26 Budget Timeline & Priorities Dr. Gilson provided the committee with an outline and timeline, this is also available online c. 2024 - 2025 School Committee Goals The committee reviewed the goals from last year. Goal one was budget, going forward this year we should continue to have budget as one of our goals. Mr. Beardmore states we need to be able to sustain what we are doing in a very competitive and inflationary environment. Ms Archambault reports we need to partner with the town and task force. Goal 2 was policy, committee agrees we did touch upon these during ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 the past school year, but maybe it is no longer “goal worthy” going forward. Goal 3 was communication transparency, Mr. Sculimbrene believes the committee did a great job with this goal, the fact that they got the override passed, it was a constant great job of communicating and keeping everyone informe d. Mr. Beardmore shares we need to continue this standard, how do we ensure accurate information is used in response to misunderstandings or misinformation? Mr. Beardmore would like to see a plan of record by the end of this year regarding Turkey Hill and the athletic complex Any ideas you have draft them up and send to Mr. Lehtinen d. Town Financial Policies The committee received documents of all town policies, Dr. Burnham shares they are still cross referencing to see if the school committee has any different expectations. Action e. Facilities & Grounds Report A report is shared and provided to the committee on projects that have been completed or are in progress at the schools. We also have 4 full time openings for evening custodian (1 at the Primary school and 3 at LMHS), 1 part time evening (THES) and 1 maintenance position. Will also be looking into hiring some students to fill in the gaps. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to accept the report as presented, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve f. First Read Policies: Student Travel Policy, Chapter 766 Policy, Facilities Policies . Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to waive the 1st read of the policies, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve g. Donation None 10. Old Business Action a. FY26 Draft Capital Plan Dr. Burnham surveyed the committee members and provided a chart of recommendations with priority rankings. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept the priority ranking, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion all approve Driveway at Primary School - $30,000 Playground at Primary School $30,000 Hot Water Tank _ THES $20,000 Generator at Primary School $70,000 Safety Film at Primary School $38,120 Security Camera Server Safety Film at LMHS Utility Pick up b. Paraprofessional Contract Ratification Discussion There was a 1 year agreement signed which was also reviewed by the town manager, the contract includes a 4% raise. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept as proposed, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, roll call vote to include Mr. Terenzini, all approve. c. CEP Update Unfortunately Turkey Hill was not eligible. 11. Reports Mr. Beardmore The athletic advisory met and approved fundraisers, discussed going to a different meeting format, maybe an annual live meeting and also a new format for approving fundraisers, most likely through email. Capital Planning met to discuss the calendar and the department heads were asks for their compulsory requirements for the presentations they bring forth. We will be bringing forward a proposed schedule in the next couple of days. The Town Manager selection committee is set to meet next week to discuss proposals for a recruiting firm, we were given $15,000 from the reserve account to fund a recruiting firm. Ms Archambault reports the middle school council will meet on September 24. Fin Com met on August 8 th, Mr. Lehtinen met with the finance committee for possible changes in health insurance, being a high deductible health program. On the 22nd Ms. Foyle met and explained the process and required to make this change, which would be to go to the health insurance committee. The health insurance committee has met and has suggested that it move forward to the select board. Financial investment advisor was present and a discussion was had on different investments that can be moved to high yield as laws have changed. Mr. Bernard was there to explain chapter 90 funding, currently they have $2.4 million dollars, but there is much work underway, after that work is paid off there is $1.6 million left over, our sidewalk project will be coming from his chapter 90 funding. ===PAGE 4=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Mr. Sculimbrene Budget task force looked at costs and expenses of the town and things that can generate revenue , Monday we will focus on gathering information about needs and wants from stake holders, namely the unions and for unrepresented non collective bargained people, their department managers. Hopefully we will be able to discuss proposals. I am hopeful we will find things to make the district function better. 12. Public Comment Anna Lockwood 91 Main Street I started listening when you were finishing up the conversation on capital planning. I agree with the truck coming in last and I’ll tell you why. Last week I was at Hannaford an d there was a truck there from DPW, that was getting older, and I really think we should be looking more into hand me downs, perhaps a schedule after the truck gets to a certain age it is available to be passed on to a different department. This will force the town to fund the trucks for the DPW. We need to start to talk about if the schools are expected to take hand me downs, at what part of their life cycle when is it available for grabs. A few years ago the senior center did the work for a grant to receive a van, once the grant was completed they were informed that MART was going to receive the van and the senior center would have the right to the van after so many years, so this is a practice that is done in the public sector. 13. Topics for Future Discussion Cell phone policy 14. Executive Session – to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiation with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel 15. Adjournment Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion at 8:42 to enter executive session and adjourn immediately following, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion. A member of the public comes in and asks for permission to make a comment. Ms. Brzozski rescinds her motion and Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion all approve. Mrs. Brzozski makes a motion at 8:46 to enter executive session and adjourn following, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion all approve Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-09-06-agenda-6751.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-09-06 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-09-06-agenda-6751.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09062024-6751 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE POLICY SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING Friday, September 6, 2024 9:00 a.m., Room#12, T.C. Passios Building Regular Meeting Agenda Policy Sub-Committee: Anthony Sculimbrene, Dr. Kate Burnham, Laura Brzozoski Guest: Liz Petersen The Town of Lunenburg, in response to the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) is currently following the guidance from the Lunenburg Board of Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the CDC regarding the virus and steps communities can take to prevent the spread and all town facilities are currently closed to the public. In accordance with the Governor’s Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G. L. c. 30A, § _____________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Call to Order ________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Public Comment ________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Discussion: Title IX Policies Update, Social Media/IT Policies Update ________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Public Comment ________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Adjournment ____________________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-09-18-agenda-6771.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-09-18 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-09-18-agenda-6771.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09182024-6771 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 REVISED MEETING NOTICE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, September 18, 2024 7:30 pm, LMS Collaborative Room #D132 HYBRID MEETING AGENDA School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair Carol Archambault-Secretary Laura Brzozoski Recording Secretary Peter Beardmore Courtney Fuller Guests: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the Lunenburg Public Access channel. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85906741187 Meeting ID: 859 0674 1187 One tap mobile +13052241968,,85906741187# US +13092053325,,85906741187# US 888 475 4499 US Toll-free 877 853 5257 US Toll-free Meeting ID: 859 0674 1187 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdujtUhVjm This meeting will be broadcast at a later date through the local access cable channel , and on the Public Access Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be found on the LunenburgAccess YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting.The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are 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 also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law. 1. Call to Order 11. Reports 2. Pledge of Allegiance 12. Public Comment 3. Public Comment 13. Topics for Future Discussion 4. Chair’s Report 14. Executive Session-to consider or interview applicants 5. Review and Approve Minutes for employment or appointment by a preliminary a. Regular Sessions 8/7/24 screening committee. 6. Review and Approve Line Item Transfers & Warrants 15.Adjournment a. 9/3 to 9/13/24 $377,997.08 7. Superintendent’s Report 8. Presentation 9. New Business Action a. Grant Authorizations b. THES Engineering Assessment RFQ c. FY25 Quarterly Budget Report d. Personnel Report e. Fall Athletics Report f. Keystone Report g. Donation 10. Old Business Action a. Second Read Policies-Facility Policies, Concussion Policy, Chapter 766 Policy Discussion b. FY26 Budget Timeline & Priorities c. SC Goals Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-09-18-minutes-6771.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-09-18 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-09-18-minutes-6771.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09182024-6771 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, September 18, 2024 7:30 – Hybrid – Town Hall School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair - Absent 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: In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast 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 Mr. Sculimbrene at 7:30 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment Ms. Archambault would like to thank Mr. Stevenson’s civic engagement class for inviting her to speak with the class on ways to be involved in your community and what it means to be a member of a public board. The class was very attentive and interested 4. Chair’s Report None 5. Review and Approve Minutes a. Regular Sessions 8/7/24 Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve minutes for 8/7/24, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion all approve 6. Review and Approve Line Item Transfers & Warrants a. 9/3 to 9/13/24 $377,997.08 No line item transfers, warrants have been signed. 7. Student Representative Kara Harunkiewicz reports for the district all students receive lunch for free this year, homecoming is October 19th, back to school forms are due, Chromebook insurance needs to be bought by September 20th, after school music lessons are now open, the Music Gators and the PTO need volunteers. At the High school picture day was today and they had a good open house last week. The 2028 class still needs a class advisor. The trip to Spain in 2028 has two spots l eft to fill. Currently we have classrooms remaining at under 60 degrees at times throughout the day. The Middle school has a Washington DC meeting on October 8 th for parents at 6 p.m. in the auditorium. Picture day was yesterday. Turkey Hill had their open house earlier today and they have a book fair that is open until the 20th. The Primary school has their open house tomorrow. Mr. Sculimbrene comments that he attended the open house at Turkey Hill tonight and it was the best one he had been to. We had a scavenger hunt and the kids were able to introduce their parents to the teachers and the music teacher sang Peaches with the kids, it was a great time, and a huge turnout. Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Ms.Brzozoski comments she went to the open house as well for the 5 th grade it was well attended and having the kids seems to have increased participation. It was fantastic, it was a nice scavenger hunt, it’s a great way to get the kids excited to show us around their environment. 8. Superintendent’s Report Dr. Burnham reports PTO is always looking for new members, their next meeting is October 7 th at 7 p.m. at the Middle School. There has been a water main replacement project underway on Mass Ave, the work has been focused in the area of the driveway entrance at the Primary School, Friday we did experience loss of water pressure due to flushing they hydrant, there were slight delays with busses, however, and there has been excellent communication between the water department and our office. In the near future they will be ready to convert the water flow from the temporary line to the new main that will require that the water be shut off, they will keep us updated as to when that will happen, we did advise them we will need advanced notice in order to alert families if there will be any impact to the school day. There hav e been some road paving projects around town the DPW director Bill Bernard has been excellent about providing us advanced notice, and we have been able to communicate with Dee Bus in case some routes needed to be adjusted. The Green Community, Dr. Gilson, and I have been working with the members of the green committee in town and Unitil regarding the mini-splits, that were installed this summer, and they are eligible for a rebate. The Green Committee will be working with us to submit a grant proposal to fund phase two of the mini-split project at the Primary School, we are hopeful that we will be able to secure satisfactory energy savings assessment documentation in time to submit by the October 18 deadline, if we are a recipient of the grant we would be able to install in the summer of 2025. We would then submit a proposal for mini-splits for Turkey hill and if we are awarded the grant that would be done in the summer of 2026. Fall iReady benchmark assessments will be completed this week, we plan to do zoom calls as we have the last few years. We have received access to the spring 2024 MCAS results, we are looking at that data, and an initial review shows movement in the right direction, particularly in math, we look forward to sharing those results on October 16. Upcoming Dates September 19 & 20 Picture Day at Primary School September 20 Primary School Open House September 27 early release day for students October 2 School Committee Meeting at Town Hall 6:30 October 16 School Committee Meeting at LMHS 6:30 9. Presentation – None 10. New Business Action a. Grant Authorizations Dr. Burnham brings forward a request to pursue two grants, the first is a Cyber Resilient Improvement Grant for $25,000. The second is Prism One Grant, this is a multi -year grant. Dr. Bookis, the Director of Teaching and Learning goes through the details and how this grant has the ability to help us supplement spending we will be doing in regards to stipends, personnel, leadership team, substitutes, etc. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to approve both grants, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve b. THES Engineering assessment RFQ Dr. Gilson has developed the document provided for review before we solicit for service. She documents all of her contacts including the Town Manager, MSBA, Assistant Town Manager and also other local schools that have pursuing their own studies. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to approve the posting of this request, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion all approve c. FY 25 Quarterly Budget Report There is a report that has been provided to the committee in their folder. Ms. Archambault makes a motion to accept this reports, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion, all approve. d. Personnel Report A report has been provided to the committee in their folder. Mr. Sculimbrene makes a motion to accept the report, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve. e. Fall Athletics report A report has been provided to the committee in their folder. Mr. Sculimbrene gives a shout out to Ms. Tousignant regarding the great invitational event for the cross country team at Martha’s Vineyard, it’s a great morale boost. Mr. Beardmore notes our cheerleading squad is substantially up in numbers this year and they are doing a great job. Mr. Sculimbrene makes a motion to accept the report, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion all approve. ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 f. Keystone Report A report has been provided to the committee in their folder. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to accept the report, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion, all approve g. Donation None 11. Old Business Action a. Second Read Policies – Facility Policies, Concussion Policy, Chapter 766 Policy there has been no questions or concerns from the public Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to waive the second reading of the policies, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve Discussion b. FY 26 Budget Timeline and Priorities a report of timeline and benchmarks for the town and finance committee along with the school committee. Our meeting with the finance committee will be March 13, 2025. The committee discusses the struggles of having a budget they can balance and vote on, because they have to wait until the health insurance number comes in. Perhaps it is time to move that item off our budget and onto the Towns budget, as the rest of the town departments do. c. SC Goals - Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to table this topic until the full committee is available, Ms. Archambault seconds the motion, all approve 12. Reports Mr. Sculimbrene reports the Budget Task Force met on Monday, we were soliciting information form the different stakeholders in town, I think every single union showed up, Paras did not, but were well represented by the teachers. We are either at the bottom or second to bottom rung among comparable towns, and for the first time the privilege of working in Lunenburg is not out-weighing the fact that we do not pay them enough. The police department is maid in the middle of the pack of their comparable towns, and they are losing people to those other towns, Brad noted that Chief Gammell is retiring on October 19th, my experience is that he is an extraordinarily good chief and they currently do not have a chief selected, so there is going to be a lot of uncertainty as they have contracts coming up. One thing the fire department added was the current proposal for work week hours for them is among the worst in the state, the problem we have is there is no full time person on Sundays, and at times our chief is out doing hospital runs instead of doing chief duties. There was a lot of good information from the secretaries’ rep as well as Mary Foyle. Chief Gammell gave a really heartfelt speech about the people in town being the biggest asset. Ms Archambault put her full finance committee report in the folder, an update included the MART grant is running out but the committee voted to transfer $5,000 into the account, so they would be able to continue serving some of our kids. Most of our current capital plans running in Lunenburg are underfunded and the interim Town Manager is hoping to have a short- term plan to protect the building envelopes. There was a comment TCP is running $90,000 in the red. There will be a warrant article at the special town meeting to appropriate $31,000 to the schools as a supplementary appropriation over the amount of Chapter 70. Also Ms. Tavares has stepped down from the committee so there is a vacancy on the finance committee. Mr. Beardmore The town manager screening committee met last week and we formerly hired Community Paradigm Associates, which is a consulting firm that will assist us in the search and selection of a town manager, they are building a community profile which will be part of the advertising, they are currently in the process of contacting department heads for their input. Our goal is to be screening initial candidates’ mid-October and potential interview by late October. Ms. Brzozoski As of June 6th Cheri Cordella is the new chair of PACSAL, she hosted a meet and greet for member s to connect, it was our first in person meeting in 2 years, she left attendees inspired for future meetings. Prior to the Middle School open house a new Facebook page created called Parents Advisory Council for all Learners, this is compiled for parents and guardians of children who receive special services, 504, ESL, Title 1, IEP’s etc., I recommend joining as it is a good way to network with other parents. On September 5 th PACSAL had a table in the gym during the Middle school and will also be at Turkey Hill and Primary School providing information. PACSAL will be held the first Thursday of every month a combination of support groups one month and official business the next month. The official business meeting will be a combination of in person and zoom. Our first in person support group will be Thursday October 3 at 6 p.m. it is for adults only in the collaborative room at the Middle High School. ===PAGE 4=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Dr. Burnham reports there is a full PTO report in the folder, briefly they will be doing their request for funds again where teachers can submit grant proposals, the total amount awarded will be $20,000 ($5,000 per school) A few fundraiser ideas were offers such as a Little Caesars pizza night, a movie night at the cinema, a fundraising calendar, and also talked about penny wars in two weeks. Additionally there is another report from Green Committee. 13. Public Comment Mr. Sculimbrene I am always impressed by how our different knowledge bases and experiences in life make this committee better and as we approach budget season I am confident we will do what we did last year, which is we stuck together we used everyone’s strengths. Carol and Peter gave a really compelling presentati on at town meeting, but you know I think we do a pretty good job as a committee, so I am confident that the budget even if it is stressful and difficult it will work out because we all really do have different complimenting skills, so I am glad that we are going to this together as a unit. 14. Topics for Future Discussion 15. Executive Session – to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiation with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel 16. Adjournment Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion at 9:08 to enter executive session and adjourn immediately following, Mr. Sculimbrene seconds the motion all approve Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2024-09-20-agenda-6776.txt BOARD : school-committee DATE : 2024-09-20 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/school-committee/2024-09-20-agenda-6776.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09202024-6776 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== LunenburgPublicSchools Dr. KateBurnham, Superintendent of Schools MEETINGNOTICESCHOOLCOMMITTEEPOLICYSUB-COMMITTEEMEETINGFriday, September20, 20249:00a.m., Room#12, T.C. PassiosBuildingRegularMeeting Agenda PolicySub-Committee:AnthonySculimbrene, Dr. KateBurnham, LauraBrzozoski Guest: LizPetersen_________________________________________________________________________________________ 1.CalltoOrder________________________________________________________________________________________2.PublicComment________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.Discussion: ITpolicies;Hiringpolicies________________________________________________________________________________________ 4.PublicComment________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Adjournment____________________________________________________________________________