Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees
November 1, 2007
Minutes
In attendance:
Kay O’Dwyer, John Sullivan, John McEnaney, Pam Wheaton Shorr, Cathy Vaucher, Emil Ronchi, Robert Sousa, Christopher Fauci Ms Cynthia Canavan arrived at 7:15PM Not Present: Nina Cullen-Hamzeh
Also in attendance, Dr. Albert F. Argenziano, Interim Managing Director
Location: Community Room at the
The Chair, Ms Kay O’Dwyer opened the meeting at 7:10 P.M. She began recognizing several members of the audience for public comment.
Decision: Ms. Vaucher moved and Mr. Sousa seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the October 4 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Yeas: 7 Nays: 0 Abstain 0 Mr. Fauci did not vote Motion Passes
Decision: Ms. Vaucher moved and Ms. Shorr seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the October 11 Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Yeas: 7 Nays: 0 Abstain 0. Mr. Fauci did not vote Motion Passes
Ms O’Dwyer noted that Ms Cullen Hamzeh, Interim Academic Director was not present, She recognized Mr. Jed O’Conner, who provided a written report from Ms Cullen Hamzeh, which Mr. O’Conner summarized and a copy of which is attached.
Ms O’Dwyer recognized Dr. Argenziano, Interim Managing Director for his report. Dr. Argenziano shared his report as well, which is attached.
The Chair recognized Ms Galiel to provide this month’s Classroom Commentaries, a summary of the activities at each grade level. A copy of her report is attached.
The Chair recognized Ms. Rebecca Perry to provide a presentation of her analysis of the MCAS results for MCCSP. A copy of her presentation is attached.
The Chair recognized Dr. Sullivan, Treasurer, to provide a Financial Committee update. Mr. Sullivan shared his report, a copy of which is attached. He then reiterated his view that the School is financially viable for the current academic year, but that we will face serious cash flow issues in the beginning of the next fiscal year if we do not take some preventative measures now. He noted that we are much closer to our goal of addressing this based on increased enrollment, expense reductions, and anonymous donations to the Foundation. He also noted that Dr. Argenziano is in the process of developing revenue enhancement ideas that he will have more detail on within the next two weeks. Dr. Sullivan noted that he has begun looking at the projected budget for next year and suggested several ideas for increasing faculty morale and retention. He asked the Personnel Committee to seriously consider the financial implications of any proposed leadership structure, suggesting that they strongly consider a single leader model (with an assistant) rather than a two leader model. Mr. Ronchi expressed his happiness that he has a balance sheet and income statement.
The Chair recognized Ms Vaucher, Chair of the Governance Committee for her report. She informed the Board that the committee would be putting forth a motion this evening to address the issue of staggering Trustee terms in order to comply with the By Laws. She stated that addressing this issue was one of the top priorities for the Governance Committee.
The Board will be comprised of three separate classes of Trustees, plus an Ex Officio Trustee, where terms will be staggered and individuals are appointed to serve in a specific class of Trustee. Trustee Classes will be established as follows:
Class A Trustees: Class A will be comprised of a maximum of four Trustees seats, with the first term effective immediately, and expiring at the close of the January 2008 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. The second term will begin at the close of the January 2008 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees, and will expire at the close of the January 2011 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. Subsequent terms will begin at the close of the January 2011 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees and will run for three years each, successively.
Class B Trustees: Class B will be comprised of a maximum of five Trustees seats, with the first term effective immediately, and expiring at the close of the January 2009 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. The second term will begin at the close of the January 2009 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees, and will expire at the close of the January 2012 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. Subsequent terms will begin at the close of the January 2012 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees and will run for three years each, successively.
Class C Trustees: Class C will be comprised of a maximum of five Trustees seats, with the first term effective immediately, and expiring at the close of the January 2010 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. The second term will begin at the close of the January 2010 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees, and will expire at the close of the January 2013 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. Subsequent terms will begin at the close of the January 2013 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees and will run for three years each, successively.
Ex Officio position: There will be one Trustee position that will be Ex Officio, reserved for the School’s Chief Staff Person, per Article V Section 1 of the MCCPS By Laws.
Board Officers will be elected without regard to Trustee Class.
Incumbent Trustees that have served less than two years as Trustees as of the date of approval of this action will have service in a Class A or Class B Trustee Position be considered to be fulfilling an incomplete term, and will not have that service be considered part of a term limit.
Incumbent Trustees as of the date of approval of this action will be assigned to the various classes as follows;
Class A: Cynthia Canavan, Pam Wheaton Shorr, Robert Sousa
Class B: Kay O’Dwyer, Chris Fauci, Cathy Vaucher
Class C: Emil Ronchi, John McEnaney, John Sullivan
Ex Officio: Nina Cullen Hamzeh.
For all future appointments to the Board of Trustees, the Board will specify in the appointing motion, which Trustee Class the Trustee is a part of, and will specify the end date of each Trustee’s term.
There is no implied or explicit guarantee of continuation of service for these incumbents beyond the expiration date of their individual first terms as described above.
Discussion: Mr. McEnaney presented PowerPoint slide show demonstrating the staggering issue, and a model of the trustee seats under the proposed motion. A copy of the presentation is attached. There were several questions from Trustees about the specifics of the motion and its implementation.
Yeas: 8 Nays: 0 Abstain 0 Mr. Fauci did not vote Motion Passes
Ms Vaucher noted that the Governance Committee will commit to put forth Pam Wheaton Shorr and Bob Sousa’s name for reappointment as Trustees prior to the January 2008 Regular Trustee’s meeting.
Ms Vaucher went on to provide an update on the approval for Mr. Fauci. She said that she was still working on finding a time where she and Mr. Fauci could get with the Ethics Commission, and that she would continue to update the Board on progress.
Ms O’Dwyer recognized Ms Wheaton Shorr who noted that the Personnel Committee was still exploring models for leadership, but given the advice of Dr. Sullivan, felt that there was only one model left for her committee to pursue. The Board had a brief discussion about the idea of eliminating models strictly based on financial reasons. Ms Shorr expressed her frustration that her committee would potentially be selecting a model we couldn’t afford, which would not be a good use of her committee’s time. The Board understood this frustration, but generally agreed that the Personnel Committee should continue to look at the leadership models independent of financial constraints. The Board also generally agreed that we should spend some time in our Retreat Sessions understanding the vision for the school, and how the leadership model relates to that so that we can provide more solid Board direction to the Personnel Committee.
Mr. Ronchi provided an oral Foundation Report that they have received $25,000 in anonymous donations. The Foundation is still going through the process of appointing Trustees to reach a full complement on their Board. Mr. Ronchi also reminded the Trustees that he had charged each of us with providing an name of a potential donor the Foundation could approach to begin discussions.
Ms Canavan noted that one of the anonymous donors reached out to her to facilitate the donation. Ms Canavan made the following statement to express her gratitude and the thoughts of the anonymous donor, “I wish to thank and gratefully acknowledge a generous donation made to the Foundation this week in the amount of $5,000.00. The donors who want to remain anonymous, expressed to me that despite the lows the school experienced last year, they are convinced MCCPS provides a wonderful and well rounded education and experience for the children who attend the school and they want to see the school continue its mission of providing an excellent opportunity for children.”
The Chair recognized Mr. McEnaney to talk about the Community Relations Committee. Mr. McEnaney noted that the Board approved the committee a month ago, but that there were no members approved yet. He relayed that since he proposed the initial motion, he took the liberty of seeking out community members to join the Committee, and has had some initial informal discussions about the direction of the committee. The Committee will be involved in the set up of the upcoming Open House, and will work on establishing a multi-month communications plan for the school, developing a ‘brand tag’ paragraph about MCCPS to be included in all press pieces, and setting up a stakeholders meeting for the coming month. Mr. McEnaney noted that all meetings of the committee will be Open Meetings.
Mr. McEnaney asked the Chair to approve the following individuals for membership on the Community Relations Committee pursuant to Article VI Section 1 of the By Laws – John McEnaney, Kathy Cormier, Mary McCrae, and Cathy Vaucher. The Chair approved the appointment of the named individuals. Mr. McEnaney related the Committee would make a recommendation to the Board Chair at the next Trustee’s Meeting for appointment of a Committee Chair.
Mr. McEnaney also noted that he anticipated asking for a teacher to be appointed to the Committee, and that he had been in contact with a specific teacher, but had not solidified the commitment yet. In response to a question from Mr. Fauci about soliciting the faculty for members, Mr. McEnaney responded that he would be open to adding additional faculty members to the Committee. He further went on to describe his view of the Committee as having representation from the PTO (Ms Kormier), the Marblehead/Swampscott community (the two towns combined are the largest student group) (Ms McCrae), the faculty (the teacher in process for appointment), a Trustee (Mr McEnaney or Ms Vaucher). He suggested that the next most important member to add would be a stakeholder from a town other than
Ms O’Dwyer noted that both the Interim Academic Director and Interim Managing Director signed their contracts as approved by the Board. She noted that the Interim Academic Director signed her contract at the rate of $88,000.
Mr. McEnaney asked about the release of Executive Session minutes from the October 11 Executive Session. He noted that since the purpose of that Executive Session was to discuss negotiations on a contract that had been now signed, was it appropriate to release the minutes. Ms Canavan advised she needed to review the minutes prior to giving advice on if the minutes can be released; wanting to be sure there is nothing in those minutes that should still remain withheld. Mr. McEnaney agreed to forward a copy of those minutes to the entire Board for their review. Ms. Canavan will then advise if they can be released in draft form to the public and posted on the web as draft. Further, if they are released in Draft form, the Board will vote at the next open meeting on the approval of the meeting.
There was a brief discussion on the process for approving Executive Session minutes and how to do that, as well as on how to determine if they can be released. The Board generally agreed that it should be a specific topic discussed at the Open Meeting Law training session to be held on November 8, 2007.
Ms O’Dwyer reminded the Board that the next session of the Board’s ‘Retreat’ would be held on November 8, 2007, and that the primary focus for this meeting was to receive training on the Open Meeting Law from an expert in the field. She went on to seek for the Board to agree on the next session for the Board Retreat beyond November 8. There was much discussion among members as they compared calendars to search for an agreed upon date. The board settled a meeting on November 17, 2007 at 7 PM as a pot luck working dinner, with the location to be determined.
Ms O’Dwyer asked about the status of the Stakeholder Meeting. Ms Vaucher noted that she needed to have a discussion with the Board Chair about the agenda for the meeting so that she could set up the meeting and selection of a moderator.
Action Item: The Chairs of the Community Relations Committee, the Governance Committee, the Personnel Committee and the Board Chair meet to discuss the structure and agenda for the Stakeholders meeting.
Ms O’Dwyer reminded the Trustees about the Board Learning Session in Shrewsbury on Nov 15 and asked who would be attending. Ms Vaucher, Ms Canavan, Mr Fauci, Mr McEnaney, and Ms O’Dwyer all noted they would be attending.
Ms O’Dwyer asked again about the hosting of a Board Faculty Social, and Ms Shorr volunteered to host the social at her house, and the date of Nov 30 was tentatively set as the date pending confirmation from Ms Shorr.
Ms. O’Dwyer noted that she was presenting a School Commendation to Ms Eileen Perry for her outstanding work in recruitment, specifically around the actions from the story Ms Vaucher related at the Oct 4 2007 meeting.
In New Business, Ms Shorr spoke about the idea of the school hosting intellectual seminars, and host a seminar series that could tap into the intellectual energy of the community, and has the potential of increasing positive press and image of the school, as well as potential for revenue. Mr. McEnaney agreed that the Community Relations Committee will take a look at getting such a series off the ground, and recommend how best to host these sessions in the future
Ms Vaucher moved and Ms Shorr seconded a motion to adjourn.
Yeas: 8 Nays: 0 Mr. Fauci did not vote Motion Passes
The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:45
Respectfully Submitted
John T. McEnaney
Clerk
Report of the Interim Academic Director, November 1, 2007
Presented by Mr. Jed O'Connor on behalf of the Interim Academic Director
State of the School Report
11/1/07
1) Nina Away for 2 weeks
· Plan is in place to cover duties.
· She extends her thanks to everyone who offered to help.
· Available by cell if necessary. See Eileen for the international number.
2) Enrollment Update
· Total of 201 students as of Monday, October 29, 2007
· School continues to advertise & distribute fliers
- Special thanks to Mira Bishop who has been collecting donations to pay for ads congratulating our 8th graders for scoring 2nd in the state in English Language Arts
· Open Houses scheduled for the evening of Thursday, November 29th & from 10 - 1 on Saturday, December 1st
· Tours are available upon request
3) Conference Report Summary
· Academic: 4
· Special Needs: 20 (+1 for Mediation)
4) Special Ed Update
· MCCPS SPED PAC - approved By-laws and officers elected on 10/10/07
5) Classroom Commentary (separate report read by Deb Galiel)
6) MCAS Summary (separate report/presentation by Rebecca Perry)
· review of test results
· school’s reponse
7) Recent Events
· Cooks for Kids aired. This TV show that did a segment with Bill Idell and is an excellent representation of what we do with kids & nutrition in our food service department. A link will be added to website.
· Halloween Social
- many students brought guests (former students, friends from other schools)
- Mr. Ruth as DJ, lots of food, a movie – fun for all!
· Halloween Bazaar
- many students & parents organized games
- community members & MCCPS families enjoyed the event
· The Walk for My Brothers’ Table was completed by 8th graders, a parent, and teachers. MCCPS raised about $600 for MBT. Thanks to Mr. Ruth, Mr. McCarthy, and Monsieur Rafla for accompanying the students.
8) Sports
- The soccer team has been doing an outstanding job with a record of 5 -0. We have a few gamesleft including the MA Charter School Fall Classic to be held this Sunday, Nov 4, at memorial field in Salem
- x-country had thier final meet this past Tuesday with tower school and again ended up placing 1st overall
- both seasons will officially end with a combined x-country/soccer awards banquet to be held Friday Nov 16 at charter hall, where Coach Ruth will present the participants with thier well deserved trophies.
9)
8th Grade class trip (end of the year)
Report of the Interim Managing Director, November 1, 2007
To: Board of Trustees
From: Dr. Albert F. Argenziano
October was an eventful month for us. Dr. Paul Dulac, Superintendent of Schools in
I had the opportunity to secure Mary Jo Hollender, Esq., for our Trustee Meeting Retreat #3, which will be held on November 8, 2007. Attorney Hollender will present and have a Q/A session on the Open Meeting Law and proper conduct at meetings.
Alternate plans, to assist with our deficit, are introducing new programs for January and July. The former would be to established to increase our cash flow for the period of January through June. The latter would be to provide a bridge of cash during the summer months and assist with the FY09 budget. The final plan, or Step III, would be to enhance fund raising efforts and donor sources for assistance.
Finally, the school, staff, students, and parents have a daily comfort level. We must continue to maintain that comfort level.
Thank You.
Classroom Commentaries, November 1, 2007
Presented to the MCCPS Board of Trustees by Ms Deb Galiel
November 1, 2007
Visitors will be welcomed to Exhibition and asked, “What have you done today to make you feel proud?” Fourth grade students will present the song “Proud” in American Sign Language.
From becoming immigrants with suitcases of treasured belongings to sharing their immigration stories to performing French, fourth graders will be demonstrating their knowledge and understanding.
5th grade students will share their learning about the Mayan, the Aztec, and the Inca cultures in several ways. They will present Power Point presentations focusing on one of these cultures. They combine their knowledge of folktales and their knowledge of the Inca by writing their own folktales that take place in the Incan Empire. They will make a Mayan mask, and a time line that includes events of all three cultures.
In 6th grade visitors see well-prepared students, recite their poems clearly and eloquently in the Poetry Café, and speak about the process of writing poetry and how they created their samplers.
Visitors will discover an exhibit on ecosystems. Large wall murals of 13 different ecosystems will be displayed on the walls of 6B. Each mural will consist of colorful drawings and curator notes of organisms that reside in that ecosystem. The "curators" will be on hand to explain in more detail about the ecosystem and the organisms they have studied.
Through geometry and science explorations 7th grade students will identify shapes and designs within their community. They will create a poster of nature's patterns and identify the geometric shapes and properties.
Through science projects and creative arts projects visitors will explore the world of cells ,their structures and the basic functions of organisms,
Visitors should expect a night filled with hours of performances, demonstrations, and displays of student work. For music the band and choir will perform. There will also be 6th grade poetry compositions, and 4th grade French songs performed. 5th grade original compositions will be written, and proudly hung on the 5th grade walls.
In the 8th grade, Aquaponics designs are completed, prototypes have been built and are, for the most part, operational. Plants are growing and are being measured to capture data for a math project. Students will be using spreadsheets for their supplies cost. They will be writing an equation for the cost of producing their unit as well as a profit equation for what they expect to make if they sell x number of units. They have also been measuring the plant growth within their units and they will graph the data points and draw a line of fit using the least squares method. They will then calculate the equation of the line.
We are currently working with motion and had a wonderful "Myth Busters" class today. The class was polled as to whether a Josh Becket Fastball, a Tiger Woods drive, a quarter dropped off the
The research skills and math done to calculate energy was very impressive. In addition, the class was shocked at the results. Ask an eighth grader to find out the results?
The 8th grade humanities classroom will be divided into stations for each Utopian Society group. The groups of 4 or 5 students will have three things to share: a document outlining the details of their utopian community, a poster or other visual aid illustrating the major elements of their community and a 5-minute oral presentation to visitors who stop by their table. In addition, visitors will be given a rubric upon entering the room; this rubric will be used to evaluate the oral presentations.
A gallery will be set up in the art room. On display will be a printed diptych of leaves completed by 5th graders. The first composition is white cardstock with black acrylic paint and the second composition is black paper with white acrylic paint, for both the subject matter is leaf prints.
Students will also display their Mayan inspired masks. The masks are made out of clay. The student learned about Mayan artwork and how to create a relief sculpture.
6th grade students will display three watercolors of the organisms that live in their ecosystem. Visitors will be able to see the process that is involved in creating the watercolor compositions. There will be two organisms that will not have any color and will be left in sketch form, one will still have grid lines and the other will be transferred onto watercolor paper. This will clarify how students learn how to draw proportionately and how the images are transferred.
7th: grade students have been studying depth and how to create depth in a composition. Students will create an organic drawing of “cells” and will shade it properly to create volume. They will also overlap their “cells” to demonstrate another technique in creating depth, clarifying fore, middle and background.
8th grade students will display their self-portraits done in pencil.
For CSL fourth graders have been actively helping
In fifth grade parents will see Shriners materials, the kid's collection containers and Excel spreadsheets with data and graphs of the data.
In sixth grade, students will display their recycling poems.
Seventh grade, will display fermenting tomatoes used to extract seeds for replanting in the spring, and a recipe for Green Tomato Salad.
Eight graders will be running the school promotional video, which they have produced, edited, and filmed.
Presented by Ms Rebecca Perry
View a copy of this Presentation Here
Financial Report to the MCCPS Board of Trustees
John D. Sullivan, Ph.D.
Treasurer & Trustee
Executive Summary
Commentary
Additional actions outside the Finance Committee are also in process such as the Auction etc.
MCCPS Balance Sheet
MCCPD Income Statement
TRUSTEES TERM PROPOSAL PRESENTATION
By the Governance Committee
View a copy of the Presentation HERE
