Draft: December 18, 2003

Approved: Jan. 7, 2004

School Committee meeting December 17, 2003

Under Report of the Secretary

Executive Session

Members present: Jonathan Radtke-Chairperson, Walter Rumery, Stephen Spring, Teri McRae, Kim Matthews, Ben Meiklejohn, Tae Chong, James DiMillo, Otis Thompson

At 6:12 p.m. Mr. Rumery moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo and voted unanimously to go into Executive Session to discuss negotiations.

At 7:01 p.m. Mr. Chong moved, seconded Ms. Matthews and voted unanimously to come out of Executive Session

Business Meeting

Chairperson Radtke called the Business Meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.

Members Present: Jonathan Radtke-Chairperson, Walter Rumery, Stephen Spring, Teri McRae, Kim Matthews, Ben Meiklejohn, Tae Chong, James DiMillo, Otis Thompson

Report of the Chair

Mr. Radtke:

Mentioned that anyone who is interested in becoming a member of the Facilities Task Force should contact Central Office by Friday, December 19^th.
Indicated that the flyer policy would be on the January 21, 2004 agenda.

Report of the Superintendent

Superintendent O’Connor:

Announced the retirements of Grayce Studley, Multilingual/Director, after 21 Yrs in Portland, effective 12/31/03, and Travers Jackson , District/Migrant Coord., after 20 Yrs in Portland, effective 1/31/04

Announced that Shoshana Hoose has been notified that Portland Public Schools is the recipient of a $2,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation to be used to participate in a statewide effort to encourage youth voting.
Indicated that due to a family emergency the report from Steve Wessler would be on a future agenda.
Introduced Michael McCarthy, Principal at King Middle School, who briefly reviewed MEA math results with the Committee.

The Committee briefly discussed the report, demographics of the student population, and the work being done at King Middle School.

Invited Jim Banks to speak regarding the retirement of Grayce Studley. Mr. Banks acknowledged and thanked Grayce for all of her work with the Multilingual Program over the last 21 years in the Portland Public Schools.

Report of Committees

East End Area School Building - Mr. Rumery indicated that there are four subcommittees meeting regarding the EEAS – Electrical, Mechanical, Site Design and Technology.
Policy Committee – Mr. Meiklejohn indicated that the Policy Committee would meet on January 13^th, 4:15 at Central Office.
Finance Committee – Ms. Matthews announced members of this Committee – Walter Rumery, Teri McRae and herself. The Committee met on Monday, 12/15 at Central Office. Public budget meeting dates are March 4^th, 6:30 p.m. at King Middle School and March 8^th , 6:30 p.m. at Moore Middle School.
Legislative Affairs Committee – No report.

Report of the Secretary

Ms. Matthews moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of the December 1, 2003 and December 3, 2003 meetings.

Consent Items – None

Old Business - None

New Business

1. Consideration and action to accept the report of the 3x3 Veranda Street Committee regarding the RFP for Veranda Street.

Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. Chong and voted unanimously to accept the report of the 3x3 Veranda Street Committee regarding the RFP for Veranda Street.

2. Consideration and action to close the Sacred Heart building at 83 Sherman Street once the Multi-Culture Center has completed its move to Baxter School and transfer the property to the city for proper disposition with the understanding that any proceeds from the disposition are to be used first to offset the cost of the move to Baxter School and the remaining funds to be used in support of the Elementary Facilities Master Plan.

The Committee spent some time discussing this item asking:

If there was any indication from the city that they would be willing to uphold the School Committee’s vote; would property be released to the city or only if they agree to School Committee vote.

Mr. Radtke indicated that he has reiterated to the City Finance Committee that any monies from the sale of the property would go towards the Elementary Facilities Plan. He also indicated that the proposed motion is an expression of the School Committee’s wishes

Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. Meiklejohn to close the Sacred Heart building at 83 Sherman Street once the Multi-Culture Center has completed its move to Baxter School and transfer the property to the city for proper disposition with the understanding that any proceeds from the disposition are to be used first to offset the cost of the move to Baxter School and the remaining funds to be used in support of the Elementary Facilities Master Plan.

Ms. Matthews proposed a friendly amendment to the motion:

To close the Sacred Heart building at 83 Sherman Street once the Multi-Culture Center has completed its move to Baxter School and transfer the property to the city for proper disposition provided that any proceeds from the disposition are to be used first to offset the cost of the move to Baxter School and the remaining funds to be used in support of the Elementary Facilities Master Plan. If there are no proceeds the city will pay for the cost of moving the Multilingual Center to Baxter School.

Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo to accept the friendly amendment.

Further discussion by the Committee:

if the motion passes can the Committee tell the city what to do
this is a statement of what the Committee wants to hear from the city
should study future educational use of the building before returning it to the city
a commitment was made to include a representative from Bayside on any committee formed to study the disposition of the building
would like to trust that city would use proceeds to offset educational costs
as long as a building is used for educational purposes the school department is responsible, if no longer used for education then it becomes city property.
a statute on education buildings indicates that a building could be held for 3 to 5 years and there is no need to turn back to the city immediately
city supports new building process; see no educational value in Sherman Street and would like a recommendation before the city decides what to do with property
city could invite a Parkside representative what they would like to see happen with the building
would prefer to return building to city with a verbal agreement regarding the disposition, funds, etc.

Public Comment: Steven Scharf addressed the Committee on the disposition of 83 Sherman Street.

Ms. Matthews moved, seconded Mr. Thompson and voted 8-1 to amend the amended motion back to its original form.

It was moved, seconded and voted 7-2 to close the Sacred Heart building at 83 Sherman Street once the Multi-Culture Center has completed its move to Baxter School and transfer the property to the city for proper disposition with the understanding that any proceeds from the disposition are to be used first to offset the cost of the move to Baxter School and the remaining funds to be used in support of the Elementary Facilities Master Plan.

Committee Focus on Educational Issues

Superintendent O’Connor provided a brief overview of the work of the study circles, the action forum, and the subcommittees that have been formed. She indicated that her intent is to attend the first meeting of each subcommittee group. The charge of each task force is to look at areas for dialogue and input. Each task force will report to the School Committee on what they envision regarding education, school choice, educational culture, etc. on March 9^th.

Subcommittees include:

Organizational Culture (Mary Jo and Andy Grannell)

Expanding Process of Public Engagement (Peter Ventre and Karen Tucker)

Schools as Community Centers (John Shoos and Sandra Lovell)

School Configuration (Mark Adelson and Mary Milling)

Committee members discussed what things they might look at in a workshop session from the data provided, i.e. the possible duplication of the Many Rivers program, and also to gain a common understanding of some of the issues being addressed.

Members also mentioned:

· that they would like to hear from the public regarding budget priorities, what the public supports

· give parents and students more choices in classes, schools, etc. School choice was a theme throughout the study circles document

· that at the action forum the attendees did not appear to mirror the student population; elderly and multilingual populations were not as well represented

· the need to talk about all of the great progress the schools have made; increase communication about what we do well

· good idea to give direction to the task forces, but do not put restrictions

Public Comment prior to 11 p.m.

Robert Lavin addressed the Committee regarding the Study Circles process and a task force he has organized – Portland Public Schools Initiatives – which would be a fifth task force. This group has met and feels that students needs are not being met, i.e. unjust process at Deering High School – if student arrives late is assigned detention. Also mentioned the MEA report for King Middle School and that there is no reason that all students cannot exceed on MEAs.

Mr. Rumery asked that a notice be provided to organizations who have distributed flyers through the schools that the policy will be discussed on January 21^st.

Ms. Matthews moved, seconded Mr. Meiklejohn and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Jo O’Connor

Superintendent of Schools