Draft:  August 4, 2005
Approved: August 17, 2005  
School Committee meeting August 3, 2005

Under Report of the Secretary

 

Executive Session

Consideration and action to go into Executive Session to discuss negotiations with the PAA, Educational Technicians and Language Facilitators, BASE, and non-represented employees. (1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(D)).

 

Members present:  Jonathan Radtke, Tae Chong, Otis Thompson, Ellen Alcorn, Teri McRae

 

Members not present:  Jason Toothaker, Stephen Spring, Benjamin Meiklejohn, James DiMillo

 

At 5:40 p.m. Mr. Chong moved, seconded Mr. Thompson and voted unanimously to move into Executive Session to discuss negotiations with the PAA, Educational Technicians and Language Facilitators, BASE, and non-represented employees.  (1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(D).

 

At 6:24 p.m. Ms. McRae moved, seconded Mr. Thompson and voted unanimously to come out of Executive Session

 

7:00 p.m. - Business Meeting

Mr. Radtke called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Members present:  Jonathan Radtke, Tae Chong, Otis Thompson, Ellen Alcorn, Teri McRae, Benjamin Meiklejohn, James DiMillo, Sophia Njaa (arrived at 7:15 p.m.)

 

Members not present:  Jason Toothaker, Stephen Spring, Michael Imbergamo

 

Report of the Chair

Mr. Radtke asked that the members please indicate their preference of a date for the School Committee Annual Retreat.

 

Report of the Superintendent

Superintendent O’Connor:

• Mentioned the various maintenance projects taking place in the district this summer – custodians deep cleaning in all buildings, reconstruction of room 250 into classroom space for the ELOB high school, construction of third floor Central Office space at PATHS.  She acknowledged the maintenance and custodial staff for all of their work.
• Announced retirements/resignations:

1. Retirements:
1. Val Hart, ESL Intake Counselor/Multilingual Center, 10 1/2 years, eff. Aug. 31, 2005
2. Resignations:            Effective 08/31/2005

Kathleen Bahlkow            DHS/Special Education    1.0                             6 Years   Personal

Nancy Entwistle            Hall/Speech                       0.5 of 1.0              1 Year            Personal         

Catherine Smith            Portland High/English            1.0                              3 Years From LOA

            Kathleen Urey            King/Language Arts                      1.0                        3 Years From LOA

            Mallory Vaccaro            Moore/Math                      1.0                   3 Years   Personal   

 

Report of Committees

1.      East End Area School Building Committee – Ms. Alcorn indicated that the school is taking shape.  Superintendent O’Connor visited the site last week. Suggested that the school committee members might like a tour.  Mentioned that Sandy Miller, Clerk of the Works, estimates completion sometime in February 2006.

2. Policy Committee – Mr. Chong indicated that next meeting of the Policy Committee would be August 17^th at 4 p.m.
3. Finance Committee – Ms. McRae indicated that the City and School Finance Committees will meet on August 12^th at 8 a.m. at City Hall to begin discussions on consolidation.  The School Committee Finance Committee will meet on Sept. 7^th.
4. Legislative Affairs Committee – No report.
5. Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound High School – Mr. Chong updated the Committee on progress of the ELOB high school.
6. Other Committees and/or member concerns – Ms. McRae indicated that Randy Stewart will be leaving and requested that someone from the Finance Committee be included in the interview process.

 

Consent Items

Superintendent O’Connor reviewed donations and thanked contributors.

 

Report of the Secretary

1. Consideration and action to accept the meeting minutes of the June 15, 2005 meeting.

 

Mr. Chong moved, seconded Mr. DiMillo and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of the June 15, 2005 meeting.

 

 

Old Business  

1. Consideration and action to remove an agenda item from the table.

 

Ms. Alcorn moved, seconded Mr. Chong and voted unanimously to remove an agenda item from the table.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Consideration and action to authorize the superintendent to enter into an agreement with the State Department of Education and with Spring Harbor Hospital to have Portland Public Schools provide education instruction for up to twelve students at Spring Harbor between March 9, 2005 and June 30, 2005 and July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

 

Superintendent O’Connor briefly reviewed MOU and program at Spring Harbor.  She indicated that Harry Pringle had reviewed MOU to insure there would be no burden on the local budget.

 

Committee questions:

• Would we be supplying services to students who have been expelled from PPS?
• Spring Harbor agreement does not seem to contain anything to protect PPS if the DOE did not provide funding.

 

Mr. Thompson moved, seconded Ms. McRae and voted 2 – 5 to table the item.  (Student voted with minority)  Motion Fails

 

Committee Discussion/Debate:

Ms. McRae – asked if the MOU as well as the personnel to be approved could be on the August 17, 2005 agenda.  Superintendent O’Connor indicated that this could be on the August 17^th agenda.

 

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Thompson and voted 4 – 3 to table the item.

(Student voted with majority)

 

New Business

1. Consideration and action to approve a contract agreement between the School Committee and the Educational Technicians/Language Facilitators effective September 1, 2005 to August 31, 2007 pending ratification.

 

Mr. Thompson moved, seconded Mr. Chong to approve a contract agreement between the School Committee and the Educational Technicians/Language Facilitators effective September 1, 2005 to August 31, 2007 pending ratification.

 

Joline Hart spoke briefly to the Committee regarding this contract and acknowledged and thanked everyone involved with negotiations.

 

Clarifying questions:

Mr. Meiklejohn – asked if contract had been made public. Indicated he could not support because of lack of public exposure for the contract and he would need more time to review details of contract.

 

Mr. Radtke – tentative agreement would be available to the public.  School Committee met in Executive Session prior to negotiations providing negotiators with information to proceed with bargaining following the law of collective bargaining.

 

Mr. Meiklejohn moved to table the item.  Motion failed for lack of a second.

 

Mr. Thompson – School department is following requirements of law regarding collective bargaining process.

 

Vote on motion:  It was voted 6-1 to approve a contract agreement between the School Committee and the Educational Technicians/Language Facilitators effective September 1, 2005 to August 31, 2007 pending ratification. (Student voted with majority)

 

2. Consideration and action to approve the expenditure of up to $5,400 of the School Committee’s contingency account to the Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL) for the purpose of initiating the strategic planning process for the Portland Public Schools.

 

Mr. Chong moved, seconded Ms. Alcorn to approve the expenditure of up to $5,400 of the School Committee’s contingency account to the Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL) for the purpose of initiating the strategic planning process for the Portland Public Schools.

 

Ms. Alcorn spoke to motion.

 

Clarifying questions:

• Were any other groups approached in addition to ICL?

Superintendent O’Connor mentioned that an internal discussion regarding a strategic plan has been taking place for a while.  Other districts that have gone through the strategic planning process have used other groups whose fees were much greater.  ICL proposal seems reasonable.

 

Ms. Alcorn indicated that she had not contacted anyone other than ICL. ICL has worked previously with the PPS during the Study Circles process and is familiar with how PPS works.

• Will there be any out-of-pocket or other expenses?

Ms. Alcorn indicated that she does not perceive that there would be more expenses above $5,400.

• Research on other groups should take place.
• Would like Committee to discuss before going forward with a strategic plan.
• Concern about interviewing current members before elections.
• Other groups to consider are Board Network through the United Way or Maine Association of Nonprofits.
• What is current amount in contingency?  What has contingency been used for in the past?

Superintendent O’Connor indicated $30,000.  Funds have been used for Odyssey of the Mind Teams, dance at Deering High School.

 

Public Comment:  Ken Farber addressed the Committee regarding a strategic plan.

 

Vote on motion: It was voted 2-5 to approve the expenditure of up to $5,400 of the School Committee’s contingency account to the Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL) for the purpose of initiating the strategic planning process for the Portland Public Schools.

(Student voted with minority)  Motion fails.

 

Personnel

1. Consideration and action to approve the Personnel items listed below:

First Year Probationary Contract: Effective 8/4/05

Ayesha Farag-Davis            Reiche/Assistant Principal  Range 16, Step 1          1.0            $59,456*

   MEd/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

 

First Time Continuing Contract:   Effective 09/01/2005

Emily Serway               Riverton/Art                                        1.0                              

 

Change in Degree:            Effective 9/1/2005

Elizabeth Spinney            Lyseth/Reading                                    M-13               + $3,324

   MS/USM, Portland, ME

 

*Pending negotiations

 

Ms. McRae moved, seconded  Mr. DiMillo and voted unanimously to approve Personnel items as listed. (Student voted with majority)

 

Superintendent O’Connor introduced Ms. Farag-Davis, Assistant Principal at Reiche, who spoke briefly to the Committee.

 

2. Consideration and action to approve one-year only/interim positions as listed:

 

Effective 07/01/2005

Ken Kunin                    DHS/Principal    Range 21, Step 9          1.0                   $86,906*

    MEd/Lesley, Cambridge, MA

 

Effective 08/04/2005

Richard Wilson                PHS/Assistant Principal  Range 20, Step 3   1.0            $67,857*

   MS/USM, Portland, ME

 

Ms. Alcorn moved, seconded Mr. Meiklejohn and voted  unanimously to approve one-year only/interim positions as listed. (Student voted with majority)

 

Committee Focus on Educational Issues

1.      Discussion of out-of-district requests to attend the ELOB High School.

Superintendent O’Connor updated the Committee on three out-of-district requests to attend the ELOB High School.  State stature allows superintendents in sending and receiving districts authority to grant a subsidy waiver for a student to attend school in another school district.  Subsidy received from the state for a waiver is $6,100/student.   ELOB currently has 83 students.

 

 

 

Committee questions/comments:

• ELOB high school is a four-year commitment.  Can students go in/out each year?

Superintendent O’Connor - waivers would be handled in the same manner.  Each out-of-district waiver is an annual request.

• Are students from Long Island on waivers?

Superintendent O’Connor – Students from Long Island are under a different type of contract.

• Some members indicated they are against out-of-district waivers.  Students should pay tuition of $6,100 to attend.
• Enrollment needs to reflect population of city.
• Having students from sending districts outside of Portland would provide these students with an understanding and insight into Portland schools.
• Why would families move to Portland when they could possibly send their students to the school on a waiver.
• What is policy on students from other districts participating on sports teams?  What about students with special needs?

Superintendent O’Connor – students at ELOB can participate on teams at Portland High or Deering High.   Circumstances regarding requests for special needs students to attend from another district are taken into consideration as the receiving district would be responsible for the costs to provide services for these students.

 

Public Comment Prior to 11:00 PM

Ken Farber addressed the School Committee regarding their vote on the strategic plan.

 

Adjournment

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Chong and voted  unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Mary Jo O’Connor

Superintendent of Schools