Business Meeting

Ms. Matthews called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m.

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

Members not present: Jonathan Radtke (Excused)

Report of the Chair

Ms. Matthews indicated that the flyer distribution policy would be discussed at the January 21^st School Committee meeting.

Report of the Superintendent

Superintendent O’Connor reported on the following:

The move of the Multilingual Office was completed over the holiday break. Thanked the maintenance department for their assistance.
Recognized John Beatty, Information/Education Officer, who is retiring from the City of Portland Fire Department, for his years of service working with students and staff in the Portland Public Schools.

Mr. Beatty briefly addressed the School Committee thanking the Portland Public Schools staff and administration for their support of his work in the school system.

Mr. Allen, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education, reported on a new project for middle school students. Twelve 8^th grade students will begin attending PATHS for six weeks (Monday-Thursday) in the manufacturing and construction programs.

Report of Committees

East End Area School Building Committee – Mr. Rumery indicated that in keeping with the green school concept approximately $20,000 of recycled materials would be used in the new EEAS. The next meeting of the EEAS Building Committee will be on January 8^th, 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Policy Committee – Mr. Meiklejohn indicated that the Policy Committee would meet on January 12^th, 4:30 p.m. at Central Office.
Finance Committee – Ms. Matthews indicated that the Finance Committee would meet on January 15^th, 4:45 p.m. in Room 209 at City Hall.
Legislative Affairs Committee – Mr. Thompson indicated that the Legislative Affairs Committee would meet on January 21^st, 6 p.m., in Room 250 at PATHS.

Report of the Secretary

Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. Rumery and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of the December 17, 2003 meeting.

Consent Items

Superintendent O’Connor reviewed the donation and thanked the contributor.

Old Business – None

New Business

1. Consideration and action to close the Veranda Street building at 331 Veranda Street effective September 1, 2004 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 from Central Office to the new location and the remaining funds to be used in support of the Elementary Facilities Master Plan in accordance with the report of the 3x3 Committee’s agreement.

Mr. Thompson moved, seconded Mr. Meiklejohn to close the Veranda Street building at 331 Veranda Street effective September 1, 2004 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 from Central Office to the new location and the remaining funds to be used in support of the Elementary Facilities Master Plan in accordance with the report of the 3x3 Committee’s agreement.

Mr. Thompson asked:

· what the plan would be for the relocation of Central Office Staff

· what the accessed value is of the Veranda Street property

· what the cost would be to lease property and would heat/maintenance be included in the cost

Superintendent O’Connor indicated that a plan is still being developed. Staff has looked at rental property on Congress St., which would require very little renovation, however, there is no parking and inaccessibility for the public would be an issue. Property at the J.J. Nissan building has parking but would cost approximately $200,000 to renovate. Superintendent O’Connor indicated that Lee Urban is searching for property. She indicated that there is also the possibility of relocating staff to Baxter School using portables and that no sale or lease would be effective until a location is found. The property is listed on the tax roles at $1.8 million of accessed value. An article in the Portland Forecaster indicated that Martin’s Point had offered $2 million for the property. The report of the 3x3 Committee and Veranda Street will be discussed at the School Committee workshop on January 14^th.

Mr. Stewart indicated that the cost of rental space is approximately $8 to $10 per square foot and that Central Office would need approximately 10,000 s.f. Cost of rental space could be $80,000 to $100,000 per year plus parking. He indicated that the rental cost probably would not include utilities. Currently the cost of heat/maintenance of Veranda Street is $70,000/year.

Mr. Rumery indicated that he received phone calls from the media yet he had not seen a report from the 3x3 Committee and he needs more information with facts before he can make any type of decision.

Mr. Rumery moved, seconded Ms. McRae and voted 7-1 to table the motion until the January 21, 2004 School Committee meeting.

Personnel

Consideration and action to approve the Personnel items listed below:

Change in Degree: Eff: 09/01/2003

Maryjane Johnston Clifford/Art +3,164

MED/Lesley University, Cambridge, MA

Unpaid LOA:

Ingrid Poulin Reiche/Grade 5 Personal

Effective: 01/26/04-08/31/04

Laura Pellerin Longfellow/Grade 3 Extend F.T. Childrearing

Effective 01/05/04-02/23/04

Election: Effective 01/15/04

Gail Senese Co-Director/Adult Education Range 1 Step 7 65,172

Ph.D/University of Wyoming

Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. Spring and voted unanimously to approve Personnel items as listed.

Committee Focus on Educational Issues

Superintendent O’Connor reviewed a Program Review survey that she would like the Committee members to complete to help provide her with direction on programs to be reviewed through June, 2004. She asked that the members return the survey by January 28^th.

Public Comment Prior to 11:00 PM

Tony Donovan - addressed the Committee asking where the School Committee meeting information is posted. He commented on the article in the Portland Press Herald regarding the sale of the Veranda Street property.

Al Higgins – spoke to the Committee regarding the issue of Central Office relocation and provided a brief history of this issue. He indicated that there is space at Baxter School as well as at PATHS that could house Central Office staff.

Steven Scharf – addressed the relocation of Central Office and the possible downsizing of staff. Indicated that rental of space should not be an option.

Bob Lavin – spoke to the Committee regarding the MEA data on King Middle School that was presented at a previous meeting indicating that he felt the information was erroneous and that the school system is failing the students. He mentioned graduation rates he obtained from the Dept. of Education web site. Mr. Lavin indicated that the Portland Public Schools Initiatives group has answers and solutions.

Superintendent O’Connor advised Mr. Lavin that the graduation rate information on the Dept. of Education web site is erroneous, that it is an error on the part of the DOE. The DOE only entered graduation information for Deering High School and did not include Portland High. Portland Public Schools has requested a correction of this information, but the state has not made the correction on their web site yet.

Adjournment

It was moved, seconded and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:44 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Jo O’Connor

Superintendent of Schools