Franklin Matters

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Re-org of school committee

Re-org of school committee

nomination of Roy for chair, seconded, vote was unanimous
nomination of Mullen for vice-chair, vote was unanimous

special municipal relief commission

Letter from Vallee
“special municipal relief commission”
Looking at other ways to generate revenue and cost cutting options

Added to agenda for next week

Financial Planning Committee 2010 model

This will be the input for the model Thursday at the Financial Planning Committee meeting

Financial model, initially based upon no increase in services, then if you have needs and would add, what would your priorities be? Roberta, Matt, Wayne and Miriam will be presenting on Thursday evening

Salaries and benefits account for 83% of the model

3.2M increase, salaries biggest driver

2008 was the peak for school choice students and associated revenue

Picked 2006 as the year to return to, most justifiable

Looking for apples to apples numbers, teachers based upon enrollment, less maintenance, SPED, since 2006 what have we learned we can live without, or that we really need?

We need to think strongly of where we should be going, this model does not reflect our feelings at this point.

“Went from planning on going from good to great to talking about pockets of greatness”

Capital needs - textbooks

Capital need for instructional services – Michelle Kingsland Smith

Tried to get a text book line item into the operating budget and have not been able to do so
Hence requesting from the capital funds, books at all grade levels
Either an increase in enrollment, more students than books, or outdated books, some 10 years old; for example, the US History II textbooks end with the Vietnam War

Heavily into professional development with new reading program
$150,000 covers various grade levels

Honor students got vocabulary books, College Placement students did not get one
Books were prioritized, it is a struggle

Do you need an endorsement vote from the School Committee?
I think that would be great

Electronic text books? CDs.

live reporting - Capital needs - facilities

Capital needs – facilities
Mike D’Angelo

Provided a document in June at the end of the school year was updated and re-estimated for this document

This will be refined again by the time it gets to the capital committee
Does not deal with the High School, only with the other buildings

Projects 1-9 all around Davis Thayer but will put the building into a good position
Elevator, toilets, doors/locks, power wiring
Only the schools built recently have the necessary capacity to support the requirements
Painting and re-carpeting the whole building

Parmenter – renovated in 1987, wearing out now
Kennedy – same issues with power wiring
When and if the projects are done it will provide 30-40 years of sustainability

Remington/Jefferson carpeting has almost doubled since last presented

Rebuilding field behind Horace Mann talked of for a few years

Phone PBX systems in the schools, aggregated lines, reduced number of lines
Upgraded security system at Kelleher/Sullivan, would be appropriate to bring to same level as other buildings in town

Item included for the modulars to remove and update the area after they come out
Cover sheet with details supporting behind it on separate pages

Armenio – like the format with all the back up data
D’Angelo – elevator with require new electrical, separate poles service the building and the modulars. Would need a new 800 AMP service in the building

Davis Thayer is one of the more heavily used fields in town, number is for natural grass, re-sod,

Geothermal?
Installation of terminal units, the unit in the room would blow the heat and air out; those pieces in the buildings are what are actually failing right now

More cameras, digital recording, door controls remotely,
We know whoever enters our buildings, name, time stamped, picture taken
Could be considered a safety issue

Industry still a couple of years away from products that can reduce the cost of making the electricity

live reporting - refreshed statement of interest

Asst Supt Sabolinski - submitted a refreshed statement of interest for the high school building application for state reimbursement assistance; enrollment projection required this time around (had previously been required within 2 years). DOE has a standard method of calculation to put all school districts on a level playing field.

What was remarkable looking at the accumulation of data is how old the systems really are? It is really astonishing how good shape the building really is.

science labs, cafeteria, guidance space, music rooms, theater arts all in insufficient and inadequate space

Cafasso - enrollment projections are really just educated guesses, it is good that there is a standard measurement, but there is analysis that would show more like 1700 students than the 1600 students projected.

Mullen - executive summary contains a repeated word, "limited" ultimately limits the education that can be provided to our students.

Ms MacLeod - honestly the bathrooms are gross, coming from a middle school with state of the art facility and supplies and get to the high school it is quite different

Mr Slight - it is not a horrible place to get a high school education, a lot of things need improvement

Rohrbach - I'd like to hear from the School Building Committee to see if there is a Plan B. I'd like to do something sooner rather than later but I am not sure what our options are.

Cafasso - trying to get a sense from the State as to where they are leaning, what does it seem like we can get, what are their thoughts on the submission. No estimate from state yet on when we would hear. Committee open to new or renovation or anything else along there, want to get a sense from the state before doing much else

Mullen - reminder that the committee is not just the High School. We are looking elsewhere and in particular at what we can do with the modulars. Will come back next time with info to make a formal request to the Building Committee