HWRSD School Committee

Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District
 School Committee Meeting @ 7:00 p.m.
Thornton W. Burgess Middle School
May 8, 2007

 Present:
School Committee Members : Scott Chapman, Chair; William Bickley, Marianne Desmond, D. John McCarthy, Lisa Morace, Peter Salerno, Gilles Turcotte and Student Representative Doug Moore.
Administrators : Paul Gagliarducci, Donna Scanlon and Beth Regulbuto
Guests: Barry DelCastilho, Wilbraham Interim Town Manager; Ed Miga, Wilbraham Town Engineer; Dave Barry and Pat Brady, Wilbraham Selectmen; Ed Cenedella, HWRSD Director of Facility Operations; Doug Farmer, The Times; Levon Kinney, The Reminder; Alan Kinney and Bob Page, Concerned Citizens of Wilbraham; Ed Gorski, Hampden resident.
Absent : none

 Mr. Chapman called the meeting to order at 7:05. .

  1. General (see attached)
    1. Public Comment
       There were no comments.
    2. Minutes
      • Regular Meeting – April 24, 2007
        The Minutes of the April 24, 2007, meeting were reviewed. Mr. Salerno made a motion to accept the Minutes as written. Mrs. Desmond seconded and it was approved with two abstentions.
    3. Student Representatives
      Student Representative Doug Moore reported that things are winding down, especially for seniors as there are only 13 more days of school for them! The senior class went to High Meadows on Friday, the NHS senior dinner was last night, and members of Model Congress are traveling to Boston next week to testify on their school safety bill. Mr. Chapman thanked Doug for his contributions as a student representative and that he has been an asset to the School Committee. Since Doug mentioned school safety, Mr. Chapman added that he and Chief Farnsworth will be attending a Department of Justice conference on school safety next week and will report back to the Committee.
  2. Financial issues (see attached)
    1. Budget Updates
      Ms. Regulbuto and Dr. Gagliarducci attended the Hampden Annual Town Meeting and the budget was passed, including $6,000 to pay a DARE Officer stipend for schools in Hampden. There has been no additional news from the State, although the House Ways & Means is discussing more money and we hope to hear something in early June. Regarding the current year’s budget, a drastic spending freeze is in effect.
    2. Approve Warrants
       The warrants were approved.
       
  3. Other Business (see attached)
    1. Discussion on Wilbraham Sewer Project – Mr. DelCastilho
      The group convened to the computer lab to watch the presentation entitled, “Wilbraham Sewer System Expansion” by Wilbraham Town Engineer Ed Miga. Dr. Gagliarducci provided a brief history of the Minnechaug sewer system and its being in violation of Title 5 per the State DEP. He said there were four options, including: (1) building a treatment plant on Minnechaug property; (2) running a separate dedicated sewer line down Tinkham Road hooking up to the Springfield system; (3) running a separate dedicated sewer line down Main Street for Minnechaug; and (4) running a sewer line down Main Street which would alleviate some other sewer problems for the town of Wilbraham. The separate dedicated lines would not qualify for special financing. Option 4 is the choice being considered. Mr. Miga gave his presentation, stating that Minnechaug is the catalyst to getting the project going and it cannot wait any longer. Mr. DelCastilho gave a presentation based on the most up-to-date recommendations from the Selectmen and Finance Committees for financing the project. He explained that this needs to be approved at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting for submission in October for the subsidized interest rate.
      The group reconvened in the meeting room and Mr. Chapman asked for a motion to suspend meeting rules for an open discussion. Mr. Salerno so moved, Mrs. Desmond seconded and it was unanimously approved. There was general discussion regarding the costs and financing of the project. Mr. Salerno then made a motion that the School Committee vote to endorse and support the motion to be made at the upcoming Wilbraham Annual Town Meeting on May 14, 2007, relative to the Wilbraham Sewer System Expansion, Article 7. Mrs. Desmond seconded. During discussion Mr. McCarthy noted that he lives on Main Street and will be directly affected by this and he supports this project. The motion passed unanimously. Mr. Salerno stated that the work that has gone into the project should be celebrated. Special thanks to all those involved working in partnership to build the necessary infrastructure to make this town a better place to live.
    2. Capital Projects Review – Mr. Cenedella
       Dr. Gagliarducci explained that Mrs. Regulbuto and Mr. Cenedella have been working on this report together and are still putting finishing touches on it, as well as getting input from the building principals. Mrs. Regulbuto explained the new report is color coded based on the reports used (Hall, Brown, HWRSD) and is sorted from higher cost to lower cost by individual school. Mr. Cenedella congratulated both towns for completing so many of the projects, as shown on the report in yellow. He noted there is nothing on this report for Minnechaug, since the Feasibility Report was more than adequate, and no mention of Green Meadows since it is so new. Mr. Salerno requested that the information in the report be sorted and listed by year according to priority need, for fiscal planning purposes.
    3. MRHS Handbook Revisions – Mr. O’Shea
      This topic was tabled until a future meeting.
    4. METCO Recommendation for 07-08
       Dr. Scanlon distributed a revised METCO recommendation, which rescinded the Kindergarten recommendation of the previous memo, resulting in a total of 26 METCO students in the district next year. After some discussion, Mrs. Desmond made a motion to accept three new students in grade 5 at Thornton Burgess for the 07-08 school year as part of the METCO program. Mr. Turcotte seconded and it was unanimously approved.
    5. NSBA Call to Action Re: NCLB
       No action was taken on this “call to action”. Mr. Salerno had a copy of H.R. 648 (NCLB) to share with the Committee, and he would like the topic of lobbying and School Committee policy discussed at a future meeting.
  4. Correspondence/Written Reports Received (see attached)
    1. Superintendent’s Report
      Green Meadows Elementary School won a DEP Public Water System Award for Excellence for 2006, which places them in the top five percent of public water systems in Massachusetts!
    2. Misc. Correspondence (green folder)
      An enrollment report as of May 1, 2007, indicating current enrollment is at 3,796 was included in the misc correspondence.
  5. Personnel
    The School Committee noted the following appointments, resignations, leaves of absence, and retirements:
    1. Appointments (replacements unless noted otherwise*)
      • Margaret Cyr, PT Literacy Tutor @ MT, eff 4-26-07
    2. Resignations
      • None
    3. Leaves of absence
      • Gayle Fogarty, 4 th Gr Teacher @ SHS, SY07-08 (med)
    4. Retirements
      • None
  6. New Agenda Items (for upcoming meetings)
    1. Policy Manual Subcommittee (Ongoing)
    2. System Wide Curriculum Review (May)
    3. District Wide Improvement Plan Update (May)
    4. Community Education Report (May)
    5. Food Services Report (May)

The next meeting, May 22 nd, will be at Memorial Elementary School. There is a change for the June 12 th meeting, which will now be held at the Wilbraham Middle School. This meeting will also be the evening of recognition for retirees and others and will start at 6:30 p.m.

As there was no need for Executive Session, Mr. Chapman asked for a motion to adjourn. Mr. Salerno so moved, Mr. Turcotte seconded, and it was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Karen W. Belsky
Recording Secretary  

Next meeting scheduled for:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007,
At Memorial Elementary School