School Committee Meeting 3/11/08

Candidate photos

Sherku: School Choice

Candidate Background Summaries

Candidate Questions

Interview: Patricia Lange (audio)

Interview: Ann Giombetti (audio)

Interview: David Proule (audio)

Interview: Miriam Goodman (audio)

SCHOOL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR / INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

3 minutes: Candidate overview - tell us who you are as a professional and why you are looking to leave your current position

2 minutes: How would you define the role of the School Business Manager/Director?
(Paula)

2 minutes: What safeguards do you employ to insure the budget is balanced annually? What recommendations would you make to the superintendent in the event the budget had to be reduced? (Paula)

2 minutes: Citing specific initiatives or activities, how do you report financial information to Principals/Directors; the Superintendent; and to the School Committee and Town Council? (Ed)

2 minutes: Describe measures you have put in place to streamline and build efficiency into the management of the Business Office. (Ed)

2 minutes: Describe the process you employ to collaborate with the Special Education Director to oversee reimbursement programs (Circuit Breaker/Medicaid) and grants?
(Roberta)

2 minutes: Have you ever found yourself in a compromising position whereby your supervisor requested you take action that you felt was not appropriate? If so, how did you handle the situation and whom did you share information with? (Roberta)

2 minutes: Please discuss your skills with respect to conflict resolution-describe a situation whereby you had to resolve a conflict between two colleagues or two staff members?
(Matt)

2 minutes: What has been your most difficult budget issue? (Matt)

2 minutes: Why do you want to work for Franklin Public Schools? (Susan Rohrbach)

2 minutes: Please discuss your experience in overseeing payroll functions-what type of accountability /checks and balances have you put in place? (Cora)

2 minutes: Describe some of the challenges you have had to overcome working with elected officials and municipal administration and explain how you established positive working relationships. (Jeff Roy)

5 Minutes: Follow-up

-----

Welcome to Franklin Matters!

Why Franklin, MA matters

• If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don’t like something, please tell me

Candidates - Background Information Summary

Candidate: Ann Giombetti
• Current Employer: Not employed, resigned from Lexington after one year due to extraordinary workload and after spending the year fixing a financial situation similar to the one Franklin faced this year.
• Experience: 20 years in school finance in well regarded, large and complex districts such as Newton, Framingham and Lexington
• Education: MP A BA Economics
• Other information: Strong skills in all aspects of Business Administration including Food Service, and Transportation, MUNIS experience.
• References from several superb superintendents (Irwin Blumer/retired from Newton and Mag Giffune/ Uxbridge) who both have state and national reputations.

Candidate: Miriam Goodman
• Current Employer: Woonsocket Public Schools
• Experience: 13 years experience in school business administration. Currently employed in large urban district with large budget.
• Education: MA Business Administration Rutgers, NJ / BS Early Childhood BU • Other information: Experience in food service, re-districting and transportation. Strong experience in finance professional organizations. Uncovered finance scandal by employee and was a whistle blower. MUNIS experience
• References in process of being verified.

Candidate: Patricia Lange
• Current Employer: Hudson Public Schools
• Experience: 5.5 years in education
• Education: MBA Babson / BA Economics
• Other information: Strong skills in accounting/ finance, experience overseeing food service and built strong relationships with municipal employees.
• References from a highly regarded superintendent (Sheldon Berman) who has a state and national reputation in school finance.

Candidate: David Proule
• Current Employer: Framingham Public Schools
• Experience: 14 years School business administration
• Education: MA Education/School Business Administration Boston College BS Business / Florida State University
• Other information: Strong experience in Food Service and Transportation.
Involved in MASBO and experience in MUNIS.
• References-worked with Chris Martes in Medfield and Framingham.

In the news - School interviews

School finance director candidates interviewed

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

The School Committee last night interviewed four candidates for the school business administrator job left vacant when they ousted Dolores McCoy to leave last fall. Officials put McCoy on administrative leave following numerous accounting problems, which School Committee member Susan Rohrbach described as "pretty complicated." The School Committee interviewed Ann Giombetti, who recently resigned from Lexington schools; Woonsocket Education Department Business Manager Miriam Goodman; Hudson public schools' Director of Finance Patricia Lange; and Framingham public schools Director of Business/Financial Operations David Proule.

Read the remainder of the article here.

School Business Administrator Candidates

School Business Manager Candidates, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Four candidates for the vacant business administrator position were interviewed by the Franklin School Committee Tuesday evening.

Patricia Lange (top left), Ann Giombetti (top right), David Proule (bottom left) and Miriam Goodman (bottom right) answered a series of questions.

More info on the interviews to follow.

Completing the Superintendent's Report (audio)

The remaining items of the Superintendent's report for this meeting. Wayne Ogden has already covered much of them with the prior presentations, here he gets into (1) an update on the MetroWest Health Study and next steps and (2) an update on the actions from the Forensic Report.

The meeting goes into Executive Session with a roll call vote.

Time: 7 minutes, 12 seconds



MP3 File

FY 2009 - Franklin School Budget info

The full budget can be found here (PDF)

The budget presentation made 2/26/08 can be found here (PDF)

The audio for the Q&A from the 2/26/08 meeting will be available here
Due to technical difficulties, I missed recording most of the actual presentation

An update on the Forensic Audit can be found here.



You can also go directly to the Schools page to find these budget files.

Educational Quality Accountability results coming 1/22/08

From the Franklin School Committee blog:

In April and May 2007, the Massachusetts Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA) conducted an independent examination of the Franklin Public Schools for the period of 2004–2006. The EQA analyzed Franklin students’ performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests and identified how students in general and in subgroups were performing. The EQA examined critical factors that affected student performance in six major areas: leadership, governance, and communication; curriculum and instruction; assessment and evaluation; human resource management and professional development; access, participation, and student academic support; and financial and asset management.

On Tuesday, January 22, 2008, the audit report will be presented to the School Committee.

and:

The state report finds that, on average, three-fourths of all students in Franklin attained proficiency on the 2006 MCAS tests, much more than that statewide. More than four-fifths of Franklin students attained proficiency in English language arts (ELA), more than two-thirds of Franklin students attained proficiency in math, and nearly two-thirds of Franklin students attained proficiency in science and technology/engineering (STE). Ninety-seven percent of the Class of 2006 attained a Competency Determination.

The report also pointed to shortfalls in school funding, which was “insufficient” to fully fund costs associated with increased enrollment, additional special-education teachers, contractual salary increases, and utilities. But the report praised Franklin for passing a $2.7 million property tax increase last spring, which “solidified the community’s commitment to the school district and the educational needs of the children in Franklin.”

And:

The EQA was created by the Massachusetts Legislature in July of 2000, to provide independent and objective programmatic and financial audits of the 350-plus school districts which serve the cities and towns of Massachusetts. The agency is the accountability component of the Education Reform Act of 1993, and was envisioned in that legislation. The complete standards can be read by clicking here.

The full 28 page EQA report on Franklin can be read by clicking here.

Mark your calendar for the Jan 22nd meeting!

Next School Committee Meeting - Tuesday, 11/27/07

Given the recent news about the shortfall discovered, Finance person suspended, investigation and audit underway; I don't think I will trust the cable network to deliver the next meeting to my door.

I plan on being there in person to hear more about what happened.