SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING * * *

The GLOUCESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

__________________________________________________________________________________

Our Mission is for all Students to be Successful, Engaged, Lifelong Learners

SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, March 12, 2014 7:00 pm

Central Office – Superintendent’s Conference Room 2 Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

AGENDA

I. CALL TO ORDER/Statement of Mission II. SALUTE TO THE FLAG

III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS

IV. COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIRPERSON V. RECOGNITIONS

VI. GHS STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL VII. CONSENT AGENDA

* ^A. Approval of Minutes

1. Special Joint Meeting of the City Council & School Committee Minutes of February 18, 2014

2. School Committee Minutes of February 26, 2014

3. Special Building & Finance Sub-Committee Minutes of March 5, 2014 4. Special School Committee Workshop Minutes of March 5, 2014 5. Special Building & Finance Sub-Committee Minutes of March 6, 2014 6. Special Building & Finance Sub-Committee Minutes of March 10, 2014

* ^B. Approval of Warrants – Cover Sheets

* ^C. Approval of Transfers from 12/19/13 to 2/7/14, as recommended by the Building

& Finance Sub-Committee at its meeting on March 5, 2014.

School Committee Agenda – March 12, 2014 Page 2

* ^D. Acceptance of Grant

1. BOKs Reebok Foundation, Inc. - $1,000 ($500 received on 2/24/14).

* ^E. Approval of Out-of-State Field Trip Requests

1. GHS Junior ROTC to Reading, PA from Friday, March 28 to Saturday, March 29, 2014, to attend Reading High School Northeast Regional Drill

Competition.

2. GHS Junior ROTC to Daytona Beach, FL from Friday, May 2 to Wednesday, May 7, 2014, to attend National High School Drill Team Championship.

3. GHS Grades 11 and 12 to Canobie Lake Park, Salem, NH on Thursday, May 22, 2014.

VIII. DELIBERATIONS ON EDUCATIONAL ISSUES/SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT A. Introduction to the Standards-Based Report Card

B. Introduction to a 1:1 Digital Environment

* ^C. Superintendent’s Report

IX. SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS (Items listed under X. ACTION may be brought forward with reports)

A. Special Building & Finance Sub-Committee Meetings of March 5, March 6, &

March 10, 2014 — Chairperson Clancy Agenda: FY 2015 Budget Review X. ACTION

DISCLAIMER: Listed below are all known items that may require action but action may not be taken on all items listed; i.e., action items that are known including all votes taken by all sub- committees previous to the Friday before a Wednesday School Committee meeting and items that may flow from the Superintendent’s Report

A. FY 2015 Budget

To approve a budget in the amount of $38,605,623 to be published for the public

hearing scheduled for April 2, 2014 (As recommended by the Building & Finance

Sub-Committee at its special meeting on Monday, March 10, 2014)

School Committee Agenda – March 12, 2014 Page 3

XI. DISCUSSION/OTHER COMMUNICATION/OLD AND NEW BUSINESS A. Massachusetts School Building Authority Project Update

XII. EXECUTIVE SESSION XIII. ADJOURNMENT

List of upcoming meetings – Meetings will be held at the Central Office, Superintendent’s Conference Room unless otherwise noted:

• March 26

• April 9 & 30

• May 14 & 28

• June 11 & 25

  1    

The Gloucester Public Schools

Our mission is for all students to be successful, lifelong learners

Report of the Superintendent of Schools

School Committee Meeting March 12, 2014

1. Hiring Procedures

Since hiring procedures have been brought to the fore due to recent events, the following is a summary of hiring procedures:

• A request (verbal, email, written) is made to post the position by Principal/Administration/Superintendent;

• The posting is drafted by Director of Human Resources;

• The posting is authorized by Superintendent;

• The posting is posted internally, Gloucester Public Schools website, and through SchoolSpring when applicable by Director of Human Resources;

• The Principal forms a committee, screens applications, and schedules interviews with candidates;

• A recommendation for appointment is made through a letter submitted by the principal or department head;

• Said letter includes the form to recommend an appointment, the candidate’s resume, transcripts, proof of certification, the application of employment, references, and paperwork for a CORI and in the very near future, fingerprinting;

• CORI is processed by Human Resources Department;

• Fingerprinting process is initiated;

• We are waiting to find out what the time frame will be for fingerprinting;

• Negative CORI results will be shared with Superintendent and Director of Human Resources;

• Hiring of the candidate is authorized by the Superintendent pending the outcome of CORI/fingerprinting;

• An offer of the position is made verbally by the Principal;

• Upon acceptance, an appointment letter and a Personnel Action Form (PAF) is prepared by the Director of Human Resources;

• The appointment letter and Personnel Action Form is signed by Superintendent;

• The appointment letter is mailed to candidate;

• The PAF is sent to Human Resources, Payroll, and Accounting for data entry and recordkeeping purposes;

• The candidate completes the “new hire” packet with the Human Resources Assistant.

  2   2. Food Service

On Friday, February 28, the Director of Food Services filed with the courts on 41 families who owed $250 or above. Court dates are scheduled for May 8 (20 families) and May 15 (21 families). The 41 families at the time of the filing owed a total of $30,000. As has been the case, those families who have received letters regarding debt who have subsequently applied and qualified for Free and Reduced Lunch have been removed from any list that would lead to court action.

We have reached out to the City’s Legal Department and they will, again, be assisting the school district in this process. As was done in the spring, letters will be sent out by the Legal Department notifying families of the action taken. Also, on February 28 letters were sent out to the next 40 families in line, those owing between $150 to $200. The total amount owed for those families is $8,000. The Director of Food Services is prepared to file on those on the list who have not paid in full by Friday, March 21.

3. PARCC Testing Preparations and PARCC Parent Letter

During the week of February 24-28, GHS and Central Office representatives attended full-day PARCC trainings in Danvers. This information will be communicated directly to principals next week. On February 26, and March 6 and 7, we conducted field tests of the PARCC assessments at GHS, Plum Cove, and East Gloucester, respectively. Two classrooms at each school participated in a 30-minute simulation, and though several technical errors were encountered at GHS, none were seen at Plum Cove and East Gloucester. The GHS errors were not local, and were noted by other districts in their feedback. At this point we are ready to move forward with scheduled field test dates at each of the designated schools.

The attached letter was sent out to parents/guardians of students taking the upcoming PARCC pilot assessments and the MCAS exams. The grades taking both assessments are the following:

School Name Gr./

Course

Subject Area

Number of Classes

Mode of

Admin. Component Number of Sessions

East Gloucester

Elementary 3 Mathematics 2 Online PBA 2

Plum Cove

School 5 ELA 2 Online PBA 3

Ralph B O'Maley

Middle 8 ELA 2 Paper PBA 3

Gloucester High 9 ELA 3 Online PBA 3

  3   4. Educator Evaluation Update: Student and Staff Surveys

Work is underway in developing ESE’s model surveys for collecting student and staff feedback! During the 2014-2015 school year, student and staff feedback will join artifacts of practice, observations, and measures of student learning, growth and achievement as information used in the 5-step evaluation cycle.

To support districts DESE has developed a Student and Staff Feedback webpage:

http://www.doe.mass.edu/edeval/feedback/. This webpage provides information on the implementation timeline, updates on the survey pilot process, example survey items, and research regarding the use of student and staff feedback. Model survey instruments, guidance, and model contract language will be posted in July 2014.

5. K-12 Insight: Let’s Talk!

We are exploring the possibility of adding a K-12 Insight product called Let’s Talk! as a further means for reaching out to the community. Let’s Talk! is a way for the school district to monitor the pulse of the community while giving parents, teachers, staff, students, and community members a 24/7 channel for ideas, questions, concerns and praise. While not every submission requires a personal reply, Let’s Talk! embodies a district’s commitment to listening and responding with care.

Let’s Talk! would be prominently featured on the district’s website and accessible anytime, anywhere, on any device. Participants could provide their contact information or choose to remain anonymous. District staff can also update Let’s Talk! as they receive emails, calls, letters and in-person feedback from stakeholders. Let’s Talk! works via mobile app, too — far exceeding today’s “right-now” customer service expectations.

Let’s Talk! would represent our commitment to authentic communication, which would include reading, reflecting on and responding to stakeholder input promptly. Let’s Talk!

organizes feedback and ensures follow-up with appropriate staff. An intuitive

“dashboard” manages access and displays common themes, average staff response times and user satisfaction, turning every interaction into an opportunity for progress.

Stakeholders are always talking, and their conversations shape your district’s brand — often on social media and without district input. It’s easy for naysayers to cloud perceptions and hinder progress. Let’s Talk! seeks to minimize this impact by opening dialogue, identifying critical issues, and promoting solutions. The intended result is to establish goodwill, a culture of collaboration, and a relationship built on trust.

Let’s Talk! entries will hopefully represent a manageable range of opinions — many of

them positive. Let’s Talk! also addresses concerns at their earliest stages, preventing site-

level problems from becoming district-wide issues. Rather than magnifying criticism,

Let’s Talk! defuses it by strengthening communication, resolving problems and

promoting collaborative success.

  4   6. Calendar Options

In anticipation of bringing forward a calendar for the 2014-15 school year on March 26, we are presenting the School Committee with two options. Those options are attached, and we will describe at the meeting.

The Gloucester Teachers Association has also been asked to review both of those options,

and we are waiting for their response.

Gloucester Public Schools

Our mission is for all students to be successful, engaged, lifelong learners

Richard Safier, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools 2 Blackburn Drive Gloucester, MA 01930 Phone: (978) 281-9800/Fax: (978) 281-9899 Email: [email protected]

March 3, 2014

Dear Parents/Guardians,

In March, your daughter/son will be participating in a statewide field test of The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC exam. This is an exam that, if adopted by the state of Massachusetts, will replace the MCAS exam. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) intends to pilot this assessment both this year and next.

The purpose of the field test is to allow schools and students to experience a new test before it counts.

Field-testing also allows the DESE to ensure that test questions are fair, on grade level, and measure the intended skills. If you wish to learn more about PARCC, please visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/parcc/.

Your child will not receive a score or grade based upon her or his performance on PARCC. Over the next two years, Massachusetts is piloting PARCC to see how well it measures the state's learning standards and whether it should replace MCAS, our current testing program.

The window for the testing of PARCC is March 24 – April 11. Your son/daughter will be taking what is referred to as a Performance Based Assessment in either English Language Arts (ELA) or Math, not both.

The ELA Literacy test has three sessions dedicated and the Math has two.

For participating students in Grades, 3, 5, and 8, we are going to also administer the MCAS Exam as well, in addition to the PARCC. The reason is simple: the locations/schools where PARCC testing will be occurring include the district’s strongest areas of performance when it comes to MCAS testing. Two sections of Grade 9 will also be taking the PARCC in late March-early April, and the MCAS Science exam in late May.

We plan on putting distance between test administrations. MCAS exams (ELA) are scheduled for March 17-31 (and PARCC, March 24-April 11). Although there is some overlap between the MCAS and PARCC testing windows, we will schedule the administration of MCAS as early as possible and PARCC as late as possible in their respective time frames. This will maximize the amount of time between test administrations.

I thank you for your continued involvement in and support of your child's education, and appreciate your support in this matter.

Sincerely,

Richard Safier

2014-15 School Calendar Option A

August September

Open Houses

Sept. 11 – GHS -7:00 Sept. 16– W.Parish K-2 6:00 Sept. 17- O’Maley 6:00 &

W. Parish Gr. 5 6:00

Sept. 18– Beeman, East Glou.

Veterans’, Plum Cove &

W. Parish Gr. 3-4 Oct. 2 PreK 6:30

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Sept. 1^s Labor Day Sept 2 & 3 Staff Prof. Dev.

Sept 4 Students Return Sept. 8 PreK –K Start Sept. 9 Primary Elections Sept. 23 K-5 Early Release

October

November

December

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Oct. 7Prof Dev Early ReleasePreK-12 Nov. 4Prof Dev Early Release PreK-12

Oct. 13Columbus Day Nov. 6 Parent Conference PreK-8 Early Release Dec. 23 ½ day

Oct. 23 Parent Conf.. PreK-8 Early Release Nov. 11 Veterans’ Day Dec. 24-31 Vacation Nov. 12Sawyer Medal Night

Nov. 26½ Day -Nov. 27-28 Thanksgiving Recess

January

February

March

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Jan 5 School Re-opens

Jan. 13 K-5 Early Release Feb. 16 President’s Day March 3 Prof Dev Early Release PreK-12 Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Day Feb. 16-20 Winter Recess March 12 Parent Conf. PreK-8Early Release Jan. 27Prof Dev Early Release PreK-12

April

May

June

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

April 7 K-5 Early Release April 3Good Friday April 20 Patriot’s Day April 20-24 Spring Recess

May 25 Memorial Day June 14 Graduation

June 17Last Day for Students June 24 Last Day –Snow Days

2014-15 School Calendar Option B

August September

Open Houses

Sept. 11 – GHS -7:00 Sept. 16– W.Parish K-2 6:00 Sept. 17- O’Maley 6:00 &

W.Parish Gr. 5 6:00

Sept. 18 – Beeman, East Glou.

Veterans, Plum Cove &

W. Parish Gr. 3-4 Oct. 2 PreK 6:30

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Aug 27-28 Prof Dev for Staff Sept. 1 Labor Day Sept 2 Staff & Student Start Sept. 8 PreK –K Start Sept. 9 Primary Elections Sept. 23K-5 Early Release

October

November

December

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Oct. 7 Prof Dev Early ReleasePreK-12 Nov. 4 Prof Dev Early ReleasePreK-12

Oct. 13 Columbus Day Nov. 6 Parent Conference PreK-8 Early Release Dec. 23 ½ day Oct. 23 Parent Conf.. PreK-8 Early Release Nov. 11Veterans’ Day Dec. 24-31 Vacation Nov. 12Sawyer Medal Night

Nov. 26½ Day -Nov. 27-28 Thanksgiving Recess

January

February

March

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Jan 5 School Re-opens

Jan. 13K-5 Early Release Feb. 16 President’s Day March 3 Prof Dev Early Release PreK-12 Jan. 19Martin Luther King Day Feb. 16-20Winter Recess March 12 Parent Conf. PreK-8Early Release Jan. 27Prof Dev Early Release PreK-12

April

May

June

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

April 7K-5 Early Release April 3Good Friday April 20Patriot’s Day April 20-24^t Spring Recess

May 25Memorial Day June 14Graduation

June 15 Last Day for Students June 22 Last Day –Snow Days