[0:11] Call the meeting to order. Welcome, everyone. It is March 12, 2013. That is a work session of the North

[0:20] Kingstown School Committee. We apologize for our slight delay in getting started. If everyone could

[0:26] stand so we can say the pledge allegiance to the flag.

[0:31] The pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

[0:38] One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

[0:44] Can

[0:49] you stand up?

[0:51] I'm going to stand up.

[0:52] I'm going to stand up.

[0:53] We're going to stand in the blood canina.

[0:54] Laryne, when you're ready, could you call the roll?

[0:58] Linda Avanzano.

[0:59] Here.

[1:00] John Biscardos.

[1:01] Here.

[1:01] Larry Serisi.

[1:02] Here.

[1:03] Cheryl Clarken.

[1:04] Here.

[1:04] Robert Jones.

[1:05] Here.

[1:06] William Munch.

[1:07] Here.

[1:07] Kimberly Page.

[1:08] Here.

[1:08] Julia Held. Thank you.

[1:13] Three, could you hand me the calendars?

[1:19] March 13th, 8 a.m. Budget Subcommittee Meeting, Central Administration Building.

[1:23] March 26th, 7 p.m. School Committee Business Meeting, North Kingstown High School.

[1:28] March 29th, Good Friday, Schools and Office is closed.

[1:32] April 8th, 7 p.m. Town Council Preliminary Budget Hearing for School Fund.

[1:37] April 9th, 7 p.m. School Committee Work Session, North Kingstown High School.

[1:41] Thank you.

[1:44] Yes, if everybody can get that message, you need to add April 8 to your calendar, it's

[1:48] a Monday, and we're going to be meeting with the town council to discuss our budget.

[1:53] That'll be, as Lurie said, at the high school.

[1:56] Actually, we're not sure yet.

[1:57] It depends.

[1:58] It's either going to be at the senior center or the high school.

[2:01] Okay.

[2:02] April 8?

[2:03] Yes, Monday, April 8.

[2:08] Great.

[2:09] Dr. Ajay, do you have any presentations or recognitions?

[2:13] Yes, you know, it seems like every March we get a lot of really wonderful news about North Kingstown

[2:20] and it's worth just spending a few moments to talk about.

[2:22] Just, you know, in this weekend alone, we had a major performance of guys and dolls

[2:29] that included over 100 students of the high school.

[2:32] It was a huge success.

[2:34] Our boys basketball team was in the state championship.

[2:37] Our boys hockey team was in the state semifinals

[2:39] and our girls hockey was in the quarterfinals in the past week.

[2:43] We have, in the past couple of weeks, Justin Zirambi won his weight class in state wrestling.

[2:50] The girls gymnastics team won a state championship.

[2:53] The North Kingstown Swimmers Boris Partle Latichi was first in the state in the 100 meter freestyle

[3:00] in the Rhode Island male swimmer of the year.

[3:03] Our girls swim team came in second in the state.

[3:06] We have a team that won four individual medals

[3:09] of the academic decathlon and we have Steven Landry,

[3:13] a student in the fifth grade at Hamilton Elementary School,

[3:17] who won the Rhode Island Spelling Bee and will be going to the national competition for the Spelling Bee.

[3:21] That's a wonderful thing. On top of all these

[3:25] wonderful things that our kids have accomplished, you know, this is the month where

[3:29] our links organization had their ladies night out. A huge fundraiser for

[3:35] programming in the district and the booster club has their banquet on March 24th.

[3:41] And again, those two organizations bring in so much and add so much to our school community.

[3:46] So it's a good time of year to kind of recognize all of that extra-curricular work coming together

[3:54] and the fabulous things that our kids are doing.

[3:57] Last month, we talked about the test scores in this district and how they're moving in the right direction.

[4:01] and they've been high for several years on top of that.

[4:05] Well, the extracurricular programming is as good as it gets in North Kingston as well.

[4:09] And I just couldn't help but reflect on that this weekend as I was waiting in line for

[4:13] guys and dolls and watching through the faculty dining room wall to see the boys basketball

[4:20] team on TV and getting reports on my cell phone about the hockey game going on.

[4:25] So it was quite the week.

[4:27] Have

[4:31] we said anything here about the U.S. public or U.S. healthier school challenge,

[4:37] the bronze award that five of our schools won?

[4:40] Not yet.

[4:41] I didn't mention that.

[4:44] Trish Colley, the head of our cafeteria program, filed for a federal program and was recognized

[4:52] with all of our elementary schools for this bronze medal.

[4:58] and USDA's Healthier U.S. Schools Challenge Bronze Award for five elementary schools.

[5:05] So, again, just one more item to brag about here in North Kingstown.

[5:11] Great. Thank you. Does anybody else have any other things that we need to brag about?

[5:14] Linda.

[5:15] Just to add on, we discussed that Bronze Award at the last wellness meeting,

[5:19] and Trish said that each elementary school will be getting some funding as a result, as

[5:26] a prize.

[5:26] And we're going to talk about how to use that funding to benefit each of the schools with

[5:32] nutrition and activity in some way.

[5:35] We haven't decided yet, but we'll report back to the committee when we do.

[5:38] All right.

[5:39] Thank you.

[5:41] All right.

[5:42] That brings us to citizens' comments.

[5:44] We have four citizens who have signed up, so I'll take you in order.

[5:47] The first one is Matt Leonard, our new audit committee rep.

[5:57] Good evening. My name is Matt Leonard.

[5:59] I live at 71 Wampanoag Circle.

[6:02] I am your sole representative to the audit committee,

[6:05] and I wanted to come and just talk to you about what's been going on.

[6:11] I don't speak for any other members of the audit committee,

[6:14] or the audit committee as a whole.

[6:15] But I did want to let this committee know that we did receive

[6:18] the management letter from LG CD Audit and Firm.

[6:26] That's the new audit firm that the town hired

[6:28] to take a look at the town's financial statements

[6:31] along that obviously includes the school department as well.

[6:36] And I'm delighted to report to the members of the school committee

[6:39] that there were no significant findings,

[6:42] no material weaknesses on the school department side.

[6:46] However, there were significant deficiencies on the townside, which did affect the school department.

[6:59] The school department, as you all know, your finances have been held under the lens of a microscope for many years.

[7:06] I think this is a terrific report. We've had so many special audits, special procedure audits have been done on the school department.

[7:13] So I think it's a job well done.

[7:15] You've come a long way to where we are.

[7:19] The town finance director is also leaving.

[7:22] Last day is Friday.

[7:24] So this is going to obviously put additional challenges on the school department as well

[7:30] because so much of the finances are down in the town with money transfers

[7:34] and posting and things of that nature.

[7:37] So I'm also recommending to the school committee that you request

[7:41] the management letter if you've not received it and review those significant

[7:48] deficiencies and seek to get some resolution. Thank you. Thank you.

[7:56] Next up we have

[7:56] Anna Pilkington. Sorry about that.

[8:08] Hi my name is Anna Pilkington. I live at

[8:10] 560 Potta Road. Members of the school committee, approximately 70 days left

[8:17] in the school year, Mrs. Carney at Quinescent Elementary School was transferred to another

[8:21] school.

[8:22] The parents of Mrs. Carney's class received notification of this event until after she

[8:29] was transferred and when the children returned home from school.

[8:33] The parents normally were greeted by happy children, but were instead greeted by crying

[8:39] upset children at the end of the day.

[8:41] The school sent home paperwork, one from the principal saying that we had a new

[8:46] teacher and one from the teacher introducing herself. The letter contained no explanation

[8:52] of what happened or why the transfer had occurred. Upon contacting both the principal and the

[8:59] superintendent, we only received the explanation that it was a personal matter and in the

[9:03] best interest of our children. The parents now have children who don't want to go to

[9:08] school and who do not want to discuss their day because they are upset. We have children

[9:13] who would normally chat about their day and now will not respond. When we had Mrs.

[9:18] Carney, they would recount the whole day and they would tell us everything they had

[9:23] done. Mrs. Carney was a wonderful teacher, and after the first week of school, she

[9:29] contacted the parents personally and let us know how they did, realizing that

[9:34] kindergarten was difficult for the children. Mrs. Carney would contact us if

[9:40] there were any troubles in school, Mrs. Kearney would go out of her way to make sure the children

[9:44] had everything they needed. Mrs. Kearney would check with the parents if a child did not

[9:49] act correctly during school, wondering if there was something wrong. Mrs. Kearney sent

[9:53] home books every week for reading and along with sight words for us to memorize with

[9:58] the children. Mrs. Kearney was always prompt to any questions we had about our children.

[10:04] If the school had problems with their cheating, how come the transfer took so long?

[10:08] Why did the school not contact the parents of the school of the class and get feedback

[10:13] from all of the parents?

[10:15] Did the school department observe Mrs. Carney and how many times did that?

[10:21] Did the school department get a complaint from one parent, many parents or any?

[10:26] If they invested a year in the implants, did they take one parent's word or observation?

[10:32] Why couldn't the school department have Mrs. Carney have a co-teacher in the class

[10:38] and to avoid this traumatic event on our teacher.

[10:43] Why is this language, reading and language

[10:45] art specialist looking at our children?

[10:48] Are they teaching, testing all the kids at SQUINESA,

[10:52] or are they just testing Mrs. Carney's,

[10:54] or just the, or all the kindergarten?

[10:56] If our children are below expected levels,

[11:01] why haven't the parents been told?

[11:04] How does the school decide what is best for our children

[11:06] room without even consulting the children.

[11:10] We feel that the transfer of Ms. Cardi should be investigated

[11:14] and the parents deserve more than an answer

[11:16] than it is personable.

[11:19] We feel that it was handled in a poorly and unprofessional

[11:24] manner.

[11:24] It is personal because it is affecting our children

[11:27] every day.

[11:29] Thank you.

[11:30] Thank you.

[11:33] Jessie and Megan Harkin.

[11:44] Good evening.

[11:46] Jesse and Megan Larkin, 18 Pilgrim Drive.

[11:49] We would also like to speak on behalf of Amy Carney,

[11:53] our son's teacher, who was involuntarily transferred.

[11:57] It's not so much the transfer for us as the way in which it was handled.

[12:01] We chose North Kingston based solely on its school system.

[12:06] We could have lived pretty much anywhere.

[12:08] And seeing how things are handled in this manner has given me some concern.

[12:13] And the way in which this transfer was carried out was confusing, but most of all extremely

[12:19] unprofessional.

[12:20] You know, I would have expected some sort of meeting or, you know, excuse me, my public

[12:26] speaking is a little off.

[12:28] But I would have expected a meeting and not a bake sale flyer.

[12:31] You know, we received, you know, we basically received a piece of paper on Monday afternoon

[12:37] saying that on Friday an involuntary transfer had taken place and

[12:41] with no information whatsoever none and

[12:45] the principle has been

[12:48] less than helpful and has not given us pretty much the time of day no no returned information no return calls and

[12:56] Basically, I wouldn't be standing here in front of you tonight if you I didn't feel as if she was an absolutely fantastic teacher

[13:02] He's progressed our son's progressing very well. I'm not going to talk for or speak for anyone else

[13:07] though I have consulted with other parents,

[13:09] and they seem to be of the same opinion.

[13:12] Many of them work nights.

[13:13] They can't be here this evening to say the same.

[13:16] But as I said, it's not so much the transfer.

[13:19] I understand some things need to be done,

[13:21] but there was definitely no warning,

[13:24] and she has an open door policy.

[13:27] You could go into her classroom at any time,

[13:29] and which both Megan and I had done,

[13:31] and never had any concern for our son's progress.

[13:37] And as far as her communication with us,

[13:39] I mean, she would call us weekly at home

[13:41] and email four and five times a week

[13:44] just to say how he was doing and that he's, you know,

[13:47] progressing fine.

[13:48] His math is, you know, off the charts

[13:51] and I know it's, you can't base it all on one child

[13:54] but all the other parents seem to,

[13:56] well, most of them anyway seem to be in consensus

[13:58] that their kids are doing fairly well.

[14:03] And, you know, I understand through legality,

[14:05] red tape unions so on and so forth that some things can't be divulged at this

[14:10] time. However, I would say it was more the manner in which it was handled and on

[14:18] I don't know on what planet you and form five-year-olds before their parents

[14:22] that something like this is happening and just kind of send them home with a

[14:25] note this long.

[14:29] Yeah I mean you know and just there have been many things

[14:32] I'm not going to get up here and bash people in the school and so on and

[14:36] and so forth, but there was a lot of what I thought to be unprofessional behavior, and

[14:41] I would definitely like to have it looked at, and whether or not it's a reinstatement

[14:45] or not.

[14:46] Obviously, there are many things to be handled, but the way it was handled on our arm, we

[14:51] were pretty unimpressed with our first go around and what you hoped to achieve by

[14:56] taking someone out with 12 weeks left of the school year and...

[15:00] What are you going to cram a bunch of kindergartners for the last 12 weeks, like it's finals week and hope it turns out all okay?

[15:06] I really don't understand. Not an education professional, but I know poorly handled situations when I see them.

[15:15] So I don't know if you have anything to add.

[15:19] Thank you very much.

[15:20] I can't know that she would love her job back if given the chance, she told me.

[15:24] So hopefully you guys can reconsider. Thank you.

[15:29] Thank you.

[15:31] Richard Welch?

[15:35] Yeah, I thought about calling him Dick Welch, but I thought he wrote Richard here.

[15:41] That's my God-given name, Richard Welch, eight-hour lane.

[15:46] Although I'd like to be able to take a lot of credit for the results in the audit report seen as I was on the committee for four years,

[15:55] it seems that history keeps on repeating itself when it comes to the audit report

[15:58] in that you end up getting a clean slate with no condescending remarks, which kind of comes

[16:07] as a surprise to me when we have certain people who constantly come in front of both the town

[16:12] council and the school committee and berate the administration and its way of handling

[16:17] its books, et cetera. I didn't know what to expect with the new auditor, seeing as the

[16:23] The old auditor had been around for a number of years.

[16:26] There was a good chance that the new auditor wasn't going to keep on making the same errors

[16:33] over and over again in their review, but it turned out that I guess the old auditor and

[16:38] the new auditor come up with the same information that there are issues on the townside that

[16:43] don't exist on the school site.

[16:46] So I'd like to say again, the school committee, the school administration has done an

[16:50] an excellent job for the town. Worked very hard and I can take partial credit on that.

[16:57] I'm trying to become more efficient in saving taxpayer money.

[17:01] And just my only message to you is keep up the good work and thank you.

[17:08] Thank you.

[17:09] Thank you.

[17:12] Is there anyone who's come here to speak at Citizens' Comments who didn't sign up?

[17:17] Point up, Chris.

[17:23] Chris Madoian, 70 Spring Road.

[17:25] I just want a couple of quick comments, Dr. Oje, thank you for throwing out the comment

[17:29] about the Booster Club.

[17:30] I saw you all reaching down for your pens and PDAs to put the data in, but it's actually

[17:34] Saturday, March 23rd.

[17:35] I thought you were going to say 24th.

[17:37] So there are tickets still available if you'd like to come out and support NK Booster

[17:41] Club and the athletic programs.

[17:44] And just a couple of other quick notes you read, most of them I just know because

[17:49] I tweet about them.

[17:50] So at NK Booster Club if you're looking for some information.

[17:52] But Zach Emmerich was another outstanding individual who not only won at the Rhode Island,

[17:58] but he actually won the New England 600 and in doing so set a Rhode Island state record.

[18:02] So I figured we'd throw that out there to him as well.

[18:05] So that's all I had. Thank you.

[18:06] Thank you, Chris.

[18:07] All

[18:13] right. Thank you very much, everyone.

[18:15] That brings us into Superintendent's Report.

[18:19] I'm just going to be brief.

[18:21] I just want people to know that if these are topics that are of interest to you,

[18:25] Chris, I know one of these will be for you.

[18:27] We are, in the next few weeks, I plan on making a presentation to the school committee on

[18:34] the 26th about the future use of Davisville Elementary School, and on April 9th, I plan

[18:40] on having presentations about the NK Foundation, a private group put together to help with

[18:48] funding, particularly around business partnerships for the district, and to look to open a

[18:55] discussion and include our athletic director about, you know, a new approach to athletics

[19:05] funding.

[19:07] That will be on April 9th as well.

[19:10] I think it's on the 26th that we're inviting a number of the first-place people. The gymnastics

[19:17] Just let folks know anyone who had a first place state in the States or something.

[19:25] All right.

[19:27] That brings us to the Consent Agenda.

[19:31] So are there items that people would like to exempt from the Consent Agenda?

[19:39] Mr. James.

[19:40] I would like to exempt D6, but mainly for comment, not on a particular issue.

[19:48] Thank you.

[19:49] Is there anything else?

[19:53] Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

[19:55] So moved.

[19:56] Second.

[19:59] Great.

[20:01] So all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say aye.

[20:05] Aye.

[20:06] All those opposed?

[20:07] Motion passes.

[20:09] Mr. Jones, item D6.

[20:12] Thank you, Mr. Page.

[20:14] My point on D6 is, again, not on a specific coach.

[20:18] I would say it's a good trend to keep seeing our coaches brought before the committee before the season starts.

[20:28] But I'd just like to point out when you look at the list and you look at the salaries

[20:34] and you sort of start to scratch your head why one coach of the same position might make different from another

[20:42] or the girls' teams or the boys' teams and whether baseball is comparable to softball,

[20:47] that I just encourage the administration and I know there's an effort ongoing about this,

[20:56] but that we streamline the co-curricular and extracurricular stipend system and move

[21:05] it away from sort of a confusing formula system that might lend itself to both gender

[21:11] in equities and other sort of distortions and move to a much simpler system that seems

[21:17] to be used by far more of the districts in the state that also can allow for a much more

[21:24] fair and equitable way of paying coaches, of assigning coaches, and keeping a healthy

[21:31] balance with what's also market competitive rates.

[21:36] I agree completely with Mr. Jones on this one. That is exactly the philosophy I'm approaching this presentation on April 9th.

[21:46] And some of these items are going to be part of negotiation with teachers, but some of these things we can probably do unilaterally as well.

[21:55] So I'm looking for the same kinds of things, streamlining it, simplifying it, more equitable.

[22:02] And in the process, finding ways to save some money and fully fund all of the teams that we have running.

[22:11] Or to get to a point where if there is some fundraising to be done by particular teams that all of the burden isn't on just a couple of particular teams.

[22:24] Mr. Sreese and Mr. Mudge.

[22:26] Mr. Mudge.

[22:27] Mr. Mudge.

[22:31] I was going to make a motion to approve D6, and we can certainly have more discussion

[22:37] on it.

[22:37] Seconded.

[22:38] Mr. Mudge, wishes?

[22:39] All right.

[22:39] You have a motion to second.

[22:40] Mr. Mudge.

[22:41] Yeah.

[22:42] Dr. Lusier, I wish you, in your evaluation play, you know, particular attention to

[22:47] the difference between co-curricular and extracurricular funding, extracurricular

[22:55] of being defined by at least the federal government is that where town money, town funds are being

[23:06] used to basically pay for the program. And it is the responsibility, you know, it's placed

[23:13] really, we place it on the taxpayers' shoulders. The co-curricular are supposed to be those

[23:20] type of funds that are set up for the benefit of the kids like a walking club, a math club,

[23:28] and so forth and so on. Now there's a blind difference there, but it is also supposed

[23:34] to be a type of an investment in its self-sustaining. It doesn't take, it shouldn't take,

[23:47] as I

[23:48] local community. So I wish you'd look at that issue and look at the federal

[23:56] guidelines put up by the Department of Education. Quite frankly, I was

[24:01] interested in some of the lists that we had in here, like we have a walking

[24:04] club and we have some other clubs and I'm saying, gee, you know, that's a heck

[24:09] of a lot of, you know, clubs were having and we're paying for somebody

[24:11] to provide guidance on a walking club. I don't know what a walking club is, but nonetheless

[24:20] we need to take a good look at that. So I'd like to get some clear definition between

[24:25] the responsibilities of the taxpayers' programs and those of what I believe is the co-curricular

[24:32] falls under the self-supporting rule.

[24:37] If you could adjust that, I'd appreciate it.

[24:39] Next, I'm going to give you a presentation.

[24:43] Yes, I don't know regarding the distinction of funding on those issues, but just to speak

[24:50] briefly to the walking club, we offer a lot of clubs at our high school, and a lot of

[24:57] children that are not involved in athletics participate in these clubs.

[25:01] There are kids who are, you know, ill and recovering from something, or they're not

[25:09] around Wickford together with a teacher and get exercise that way.

[25:15] And I mean it's just another activity for the kids after school that is very beneficial.

[25:21] And we have a lot of those different activities.

[25:23] They're all funded in that one line, budget line.

[25:28] It's just another option for the kids after school if they're not participating in structured

[25:33] athletics.

[25:34] I think we need to make sure we don't forget.

[25:36] that a lot of kids do not participate in structured aquatics and need other opportunities.

[25:42] Thank you.

[25:44] And Mr. Brest-Garden?

[25:45] I just want to thank Dr. Ajay. He knows all too well how I feel about

[25:51] approving coaches as the season's already in play.

[25:54] And I think this, you know, once the component of the stipends for them is cleared up,

[26:03] but I think it's going to even make your job a lot easier.

[26:06] So thank you for doing that, it's appreciated.

[26:09] Thank you.

[26:12] Great, seeing there's no other questions,

[26:14] we have a motion on the floor and a second.

[26:19] Do we need to take a roll call vote or is this?

[26:22] Okay, so all those in favor of approving D6, say aye.

[26:25] Aye.

[26:26] All those opposed?

[26:27] Motion carries.

[26:29] All right, that brings us to unfinished business

[26:32] and to administrator contracts.

[26:35] Mr. Chair, would you like to start this conversation?

[26:37] Sure. On your agenda is a list of six administrators whose contracts are coming up for renewal.

[26:46] What I am proposing to the committee tonight is that you accept the renewal for the terms

[26:53] that I have listed to you in the executive session and that you give me an allowance

[26:59] of a total of 0.623% over what has already been budgeted, which is 1%, to allow for a

[27:13] performance-based wage approach in which no administrator would be receiving more than

[27:20] a 2% increase, but their wage increase would be dependent upon their previous performance,

[27:26] as noted in their recent evaluations.

[27:32] And make a motion to approve the superintendent's recommendation.

[27:36] Second.

[27:38] Great. I don't know. I see hands up already.

[27:41] So what we can do is we can just go down the table from here.

[27:45] I know we have gone round and round at this table in prior times.

[27:49] Dr. Ajay, in talking about, you've heard the committee say very much

[27:53] if we wanted performance-based evaluation.

[27:54] And so I think they can be did appreciate that we could take the time where you could explain to us how each person was a little bit different in their recommendation for the term of their contract for the amount.

[28:06] And I appreciate you taking that time without.

[28:10] So, Mr. Sreese.

[28:13] Just to be very brief and just thank Dr. Roget for the work that he's put into making these recommendations.

[28:25] I know we've gone round and around on the discussion of this several times,

[28:35] And hopefully we're at a place that everyone's comfortable with, and that's fair and equitable.

[28:42] And we're maintaining some consistency.

[28:48] I do like the fact that we continue on the path that we had started several years ago with performance-based contracts and performance-based pay increases.

[29:05] These particular contracts, the term of the contract, and the pay increase, or lack of

[29:14] pay increases, is tied to performance.

[29:18] That is the direction that we had initiated several years ago, and I hope to continue

[29:24] in that direction.

[29:26] And as we did several years ago, with the bargaining units, the NEA and the ESP, I certainly

[29:35] would extend an invitation to them to join us in the discussion of merit pay based on

[29:43] performance.

[29:44] The committee and the administration has taken a lot of criticism over the years for

[29:48] pay increases, whether it be merit pay, performance, bonus, whatever you want to

[29:53] but pay increases or lack of pay increases based on performance.

[30:00] Comments and not just because is the direction that we've gone in and I'd like to see us expand

[30:06] that as well. So it's certainly the door is open to entertain those discussions during

[30:12] contract negotiations with the bargaining units as well, as it has been for the last several

[30:18] times we've had these discussions. Thank you.

[30:21] Mr. Best-Garden.

[30:22] Thank you, Mr. Page. I would like to thank Dr. Oje for a really comprehensive plan. This

[30:32] wasn't just slapped together to appease the school committee. There was a lot of thought

[30:36] and effort put into this, and I commend you. I think it's a great first step. It's a

[30:43] super way to show that we are willing to reward people for performance, and it's

[30:52] It's not just lip service, and as Mr. Sarisi said, it's a great example going forward to

[31:01] open up the doors for, to expand this whole program into other areas.

[31:06] Thanks again.

[31:07] I'm a big proponent of this, and I can tell you that when we talked about it today, it

[31:12] was probably the best news I had all day, and it was the best news again when we talked

[31:15] about it a few minutes ago.

[31:17] So excellent.

[31:17] Thank you.

[31:21] It's two compliments in one meeting, Mr. Picott, for Scott, and I don't know if I get any

[31:25] analyst.

[31:25] Don't worry, I'm done.

[31:26] I'm all done.

[31:28] You've reached your quota on that.

[31:30] This is not a dutto.

[31:31] Well, I would also like to say thank you, and I agree completely with the comments

[31:35] that were just made.

[31:37] And we asked for specific criteria and for a real in-depth merit evaluation of employees,

[31:44] and that's what we got.

[31:45] And you developed actual criteria for us that you were using, we were able to see that.

[31:51] And it's very appreciated the work that was put into it.

[31:54] I know, you know, the State a couple of years ago when Deborah Gist first got here,

[31:59] she was headed in this direction with teacher pay.

[32:02] And, you know, we sort of charged into the breach in North Kingstown

[32:05] and immediately wanted to do that with administrators to set that,

[32:08] because we thought the State was going,

[32:10] but we turned around and no one was behind us, so the State was gone.

[32:13] So they've kind of fallen off the wagon with it, but it may come to pass.

[32:17] But I think it's definitely the right direction, and we can at least do this.

[32:22] So I think it's a good thing.

[32:24] Our administrators have taken zero pay increases for multiple years running.

[32:31] And I just want to make sure we get that on the record, because that needs to be remembered.

[32:35] They have made that sacrifice.

[32:37] We also increased their copay at the same time.

[32:39] so they went backwards at least for a year or two for most of them, so I just wanted

[32:45] to say that.

[32:46] And this also maintains flexibility for the school committee in tough economic times.

[32:50] It's always an option for us to say, look, no one can go anywhere because the economy

[32:55] is going so far backwards, but we're hoping that won't be the case.

[32:57] But that's just a good thing to have the flexibility.

[33:00] So thank you.

[33:03] Mrs. Clark, I have to agree with everyone's comments here.

[33:09] I've mentioned in the past that I've always been a proponent of performance-based pay

[33:14] increases, and I think this proposal, it was very thorough, and it's the right direction

[33:20] for the district to move into, and it satisfies, you know, all the concerns that we've had

[33:25] when we've gone around and around this issue.

[33:26] So thank you very much, Dr. Oje, for putting it together.

[33:31] Mr. Jones.

[33:33] Thank you, Ms. Page.

[33:35] I'm not sure. I just wanted to real quickly, because I didn't get a chance to let folks

[33:41] know. I wanted to thank Principal Logan for showing us around the school, and I apologize

[33:47] for being a few minutes late. But I just think it was useful and valuable, especially

[33:52] if you don't have children at this school to do this. And I commend the administration

[33:57] and the chair for taking the suggestion to do these and starting to make it a reality.

[34:04] I won't continue because I feel the same way as a lot of the comments that have been made.

[34:09] I just think it's important for the community to know that we're in the past.

[34:14] It might be a blanket, whether it was zero or one for everybody,

[34:18] that I think it's useful that, like in the private sector,

[34:22] we start to distinguish with our administrators and reward and compensate

[34:27] Those who are high performers appropriately and keep in mind that incentive, I think incentivizing that to a degree is useful in the public sector.

[34:41] And so I, again, also thank Dr. Jafer and his staff for the time they've put into this.

[34:46] And I also agree, I think we're headed in the right direction in this sense.

[34:49] And I would agree with Mr. Sarisi.

[34:52] I think it sets an example of where the administrators will go that maybe the other employees might

[35:01] want to go there, too.

[35:04] Thank you.

[35:05] Mr. Maid.

[35:08] I agree with most everything that's been backward here.

[35:11] Although I do have some comments or concerns about the merit to pay itself and some

[35:19] of the criteria, but those are things that can be worked out.

[35:22] Nonetheless, I'm going to vote no for this, not against for these folks at all, but in

[35:28] general, I'm not going to support any pay increases for the teachers or anybody else in this year

[35:34] given the economy and everything else that's happened over the last several years. And

[35:39] because of the economic issues, we have faced over the years. So that's it.

[35:46] Thank you, Mr. Mudge. We have a motion on the table and a second. So, Lorraine, if we

[35:52] could take a roll call vote, please. Linda Alvinzano, yes. Don Biscartin, yes. Larry

[35:58] Sareece, yes. Cheryl Clarkham, yes. Robert Jones, yes. William Munch, no. Kimberly Page,

[36:05] yes. Thank you. Motion passes, 6-1. Thank you. All right. That leads us into the

[36:11] policy discussion.

[36:14] We have two policies that are being amended here today.

[36:18] I'll start with the first one, policy A.C.E.

[36:21] This was written by Katie, that's good to say McAllister,

[36:26] but she was Duncan's son after she got married.

[36:30] And she wrote these a couple of months ago

[36:33] after a long wait in that these were policies

[36:37] we had asked to have amended about five years ago.

[36:40] And we were waiting on the Human Rights Commission to come down with their ruling.

[36:45] And we have had more than one special education director who said,

[36:49] is it ready yet?

[36:50] And our attorney had told us no.

[36:54] So the only thing I would say is that on policy A-C-E, I noticed,

[37:00] I did not notice, I can't take any credit.

[37:03] In our policy meeting, Karen Nattini noticed that there were three typos.

[37:07] And so I would ask that we approve the policy with the typos corrected.

[37:14] The first one is on the first page, first paragraph, in that district has the quotation marks on the wrong side of the parentheses.

[37:21] On the second page, there is a top paragraph.

[37:27] After safeguards, there's a period. There should be no period.

[37:30] And also in that first paragraph, it says IDEIA, and it should only say IDEA.

[37:40] So I should have gotten the changes out to everyone, but I realized this afternoon that I hadn't done that.

[37:47] So I sent them to Lorraine, and I said that I would just make them here on the stage.

[37:53] So are there any questions about this policy?

[37:58] All right.

[37:58] So all those in favor say aye.

[38:00] Thank you.

[38:01] All those opposed?

[38:03] Great.

[38:04] The next one is an affirmative action policy, and again, Katie Duncanston wrote this, too,

[38:10] and so I'm going to – and this was fine.

[38:13] There was no amendments that needed to be made after we've discussed it twice in the

[38:17] policy committee.

[38:18] So I would make a motion that, again, we approve policy AC for affirmative action.

[38:25] Second.

[38:27] Is there any discussion?

[38:30] All right.

[38:31] All those in favor say aye.

[38:32] All those opposed.

[38:35] And then as we've adopted these two new policies,

[38:38] we need to get rid of some old charts that we had in there

[38:41] that are, one of the charts has nobody who is listed names

[38:47] of people who, none of them work in the district anymore

[38:50] and they've been updated through the policy.

[38:52] So I would ask that we delete the old A-C-E-R

[38:59] It should be an ACE chart.

[39:01] Some more.

[39:02] Second.

[39:04] All those in favor say aye.

[39:06] Aye.

[39:07] All those in the past?

[39:09] Motion passes.

[39:12] Great.

[39:13] That brings us to new business.

[39:16] Mr. Maid, you had asked this to be on the agenda for a discussion of receiving a paper packet, and I will say that while this won't be for a vote tonight,

[39:29] anything that comes out of the discussion we will just start doing so it's not

[39:34] necessarily a voting matter but if the committee comes to kind of a consensus

[39:37] that we want to move in this direction we can do that if the committee says no

[39:42] we're going to continue as we've been doing that's fine. Mr. Mudge, why don't

[39:46] you go ahead and speak for this issue? Yes, thank you. I would like to have the

[39:51] packets delivered by mail if nothing else like we had before especially when

[39:57] And they're very thick in this lot of information in there.

[40:00] I one seems to do better with hard copies and making notes and so forth and so on.

[40:08] And I can keep them for posterity sake and reference and so forth and so on.

[40:12] But what this really goes back to goes back to a policy issue that took place two years ago.

[40:20] So the flow of this was, I believe, violated the school policy we previously had in effect.

[40:33] And that goes back to the fact that when this committee was seated two years ago, again,

[40:42] Then we received the hard copies of the meetings, like has been traditional for the last hundred

[40:51] years, I guess, whenever, how long this thing's been going on.

[40:54] So we continued to have that.

[40:58] The second meeting or the third meeting I recall in December, all of a sudden we found

[41:03] out that iPads had come along, and we were going to use now iPads and go electronics.

[41:10] Well, then we found out, after we looked at the iPads, that the superintendent at the

[41:15] time, Thornton, had awarded $18,000 worth of iPads without school community approval.

[41:21] And that somebody made a decision that we would go to all electronic communications

[41:28] and deliver these packets.

[41:31] And that was inconsistent with the school department policy then, and I believe it

[41:36] still is.

[41:36] It was something that was allowed to go on.

[41:42] In fact, Joe Thompson also felt that he didn't want to use the iPad,

[41:49] and he returned his in favor of hard copy.

[41:52] And of course, Mrs. Benson is the same thing.

[41:55] So since then, almost two years ago, until this past couple of months here,

[42:03] Somebody made a decision that we would no longer allow the packets to be delivered hard copies to the school committee members.

[42:14] So with that, I would remind you that there are a lot of other issues that you hate to bring up here that we're speaking of.

[42:25] First of all, as an elected official,

[42:30] I wasn't required to own an iPad or to have computer

[42:34] service.

[42:36] And what you're saying that, you know, by delivering these documents the way you do, is that I'm

[42:43] required to have internet service.

[42:47] I'm required to have a computer, and you're making that mandatory.

[42:53] and or if I want a copy, then I have to print it out, you know, at my expense.

[42:59] But those are secondary issues.

[43:02] In fact, the matter is I like to continue to get the hard copies like we have in the past

[43:08] and which was traditional for at least the last 50 years, at least the last 10 years.

[43:14] So that's my request.

[43:18] So, let me do a little bit of explaining as to how we got to this part.

[43:24] As Mr. Mudge said, at the end of the November of 2010 election, Dr. Thornton did purchase

[43:30] iPads for not only the school committee members, but I believe the other administrators within

[43:35] the district.

[43:37] And at that time, how we had been doing our school committee packets was that everything

[43:43] The thing was printed out and it was delivered to our doorstep by the little minibus that

[43:48] went around.

[43:50] And so the cost was not in the paper.

[43:52] The cost was in the time that it took the clerk, which was not Lorraine at the time,

[43:58] took the clerk to assemble the packets, and the costs came in paying the minibus drivers.

[44:04] And so after he had done an assessment, and I'm not really going to address the

[44:09] whole issue of how he purchases.

[44:10] But that was, it was viewed as the amount of time that it took per year to pay for that

[44:17] delivery of the packets in the time of the clerk was more expensive than the iPads.

[44:23] Who was he?

[44:24] Dr. Thornton.

[44:25] Okay, so this all happened before the school committee was seated?

[44:28] Correct.

[44:29] Mm-hmm.

[44:29] So when we became seated, it was the sort of thing we were all given iPads.

[44:34] And I do know that I'm aware that Mrs. Benson had some issues with the iPad

[44:39] and did not use it.

[44:41] I believe Mr. Mudge turned his back in

[44:43] as I remember very clearly the day

[44:44] that Mr. Thompson turned his back in.

[44:47] And at that time, since Mrs,

[44:50] the iPads do require you to have Wi-Fi,

[44:53] and since Mrs. Benson didn't have that,

[44:55] we had to make the decision

[44:56] as to what we were going to do

[44:58] about the packets for Mrs. Benson.

[45:00] And so Dr. Thornton wanted to go very strongly on the computer route, and that was at the same

[45:07] time, the same point that the Rhode Island Association of School Committees was urging

[45:11] everyone to go on a paperless office, too, and that their meetings they would advertise

[45:16] and the different components that were available for school committees.

[45:21] So let me finish and then if you want to ask this.

[45:27] And so we were with the IQM2 program, and while Dr. Thuram was pushing for an all-computerized

[45:35] system, Mr. Welch and I agreed that we thought that Mrs. Benchin should continue to receive

[45:40] her paper packet.

[45:46] His first preference was that Mr. Welch and I stated that we thought it would be better

[45:50] for Mrs. Benchin to receive the paper packet rather than the electronic.

[45:53] And since the paper pack was being done for Mrs. Benson,

[45:57] we said, well, then one could be given for Mr. Welch,

[46:01] I mean for Mr., I'm sorry, Mr. Mudge

[46:03] and also Mr. Thompson.

[46:05] We did amend the school policy, BE,

[46:10] on January 25th, 2011.

[46:13] And in there, we said in BE section six,

[46:17] we said to ensure proper notice

[46:22] to the community and its citizens to each agenda shall be appropriately posted in compliance with the Meetings Act.

[46:30] And it says in there also that a copy shall be caused to be delivered to each committee member no later than four days preceding the meeting which was prepared.

[46:39] Now that has been read to mean that the copy you receive is the link that Lorraine sent out to us before each meeting.

[46:48] And that's your delivery of the packet.

[46:51] And that's how I read it.

[46:53] And so when this is Benson went off the committee, it was my effort in looking at all the places

[46:58] that we were looking to cut.

[46:59] It was that surely a means of saving time and money of asking, since we didn't have

[47:07] a non-computer person, and we know everybody who is on here has a computer and uses

[47:12] that we would then go to having a cheaper system

[47:16] in which Lorraine could then provide a link

[47:20] and everybody could look at it this way.

[47:22] Obviously when we have very lengthy items

[47:25] such as the budget, we are given in a paper,

[47:30] with a recent audit, we were given that in paper.

[47:33] I believe when we had the transportation audit

[47:35] that was given in paper.

[47:36] So there are times where we all agree

[47:38] that it is really very long

[47:40] and it has been given a paper.

[47:42] I have no preference if this committee wants to go down a paper packet.

[47:47] I guess I would say, you know, I'm not going to fight this, but at the same time I did

[47:52] it as a part of an expediency.

[47:54] If the committee perceives that we should go back and wants to give Mr. Mudge his paper,

[48:00] that is fine.

[48:01] But you need to know it will take Lorraine's time, and that's what you're paying for.

[48:06] It's not the paper that is the cost.

[48:08] It is the time.

[48:11] So that's what I have to say.

[48:15] And I believe it isn't keeping with the policy.

[48:18] Okay, respond to you please.

[48:19] So why don't we just go right down

[48:22] and everybody can have their stay.

[48:25] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[48:26] I really don't want to waste any more

[48:27] of the committee's time on this

[48:28] or any more of the public's time on this

[48:30] to be quite honest with you.

[48:31] We have much more important business

[48:33] before the committee and before the school district, that's hopefully it's more important

[48:40] to the taxpayers and to the students in North Kingstown.

[48:44] I certainly have no objection if any member of this committee wants a paper package.

[48:48] If they want a paper package, give them a paper package.

[48:51] I just want to make it clear that there was no malicious intent or conspiracy theory

[48:56] intent when members were not receiving paper packages.

[49:00] As Mrs. Page stated, it was just clearly a matter of trying to become more efficient

[49:04] with the use of our labor, our employees, and more efficient with our materials.

[49:10] And save a few bucks in areas wherever we could. That's all that was behind it.

[49:15] And I'm hoping that this committee really doesn't need to belabor this point tonight.

[49:19] The bottom line is this, I don't have any objection and I really think my colleagues would agree with me.

[49:26] If somebody needs a paper package for whatever the reason may be, let them have the paper

[49:31] package.

[49:31] I just want to be clear on what the committee's intent was going into this.

[49:37] So thank you.

[49:39] Mr. Busker, did you have anything to say?

[49:41] Yes.

[49:42] I'll try to be brief, but I have no problem with the, I agree with Mr. Sreese.

[49:48] However, what I don't agree with is Mr. Mudge, we all get a stipend.

[49:53] If a cost is a problem to you, you have a stipend that will offset the cost of paper

[49:56] and ink to print anything that is emailed to you.

[49:59] I do it.

[49:59] Everybody else does it.

[50:02] The second thing, if you want to pack it fine, I don't think that we should have to

[50:04] mail it to you.

[50:05] I think you should have to come and pick it up, because I suspect that if it gets

[50:09] mailed and something happens in the mail, you will then complain you didn't get everything

[50:12] on time.

[50:14] So those are two things I'd like to bring up.

[50:16] Get a stipend to cover any cost of printing that's emailed to you, and you should

[50:19] have to pick it up.

[50:23] I do not have a problem with any member who prefers to get a paper packet.

[50:28] I think it should be tried to be avoided because it's a cost to the taxpayers, but I think

[50:32] if someone really prefers it, I don't have a problem with it.

[50:35] But I want to say I think the changes that were made by the committee and by the chair

[50:39] were appropriate and were made trying to save funds.

[50:44] There were demands made that we keep delivering by bus.

[50:47] We can't do that.

[50:49] That was a complete misuse, actually.

[50:50] we finally woke up to that had been happening for 30 years, that we changed in an appropriate

[50:55] way I think.

[50:56] So I don't have a problem, I just, I think we need to not discuss this, if this is a

[51:01] ridiculous waste of the committee's time to be honest with you, but I mean, I can understand

[51:05] a member asking for an issue to be on the agenda, but to discuss this for everyone's

[51:09] time for a half an hour is just beyond what it should be.

[51:13] Thank you.

[51:16] I agree.

[51:17] The only thing I would say is that if any member would want a paper packet,

[51:22] it's their responsibility to go and pick it up,

[51:24] because we shouldn't be paying for any type of delivery charge.

[51:28] Mr. Jones.

[51:30] I have no comments.

[51:32] Mr. Mudge, do you have anything more to say?

[51:34] Well, see, the issue about this is certainly,

[51:37] I work better with the packets, okay?

[51:41] But just like the town council gets the packets delivered to them,

[51:43] that was never a problem.

[51:44] In fact, the police dropped them off and the minibus drivers came.

[51:48] But the issue was the school committee until tonight has never discussed this.

[51:53] Never discussed this.

[51:56] You made a unilateral decision back in December to use the iPads.

[52:04] The school committee didn't make a decision.

[52:07] And then we say we're going to deliver this in June 11th, January 11th.

[52:13] That was never voted on to say that we're not going to deliver.

[52:19] The policy didn't change then.

[52:21] The policy was the very same that was the previous year.

[52:24] It had not changed.

[52:26] The policy didn't change until the following May.

[52:30] May I finish, Mr. Serese?

[52:32] Point of order.

[52:33] Point of order.

[52:33] And I appreciate it.

[52:35] Mr. Serese says...

[52:36] How about let me finish, please?

[52:38] Let Mr. Serese stay here.

[52:40] Mr. Serese, may I please finish?

[52:41] Here's his point of order.

[52:42] Madam Chair, Madam Chair, we're getting way off topic here and obviously there's some

[52:50] underlying personal issue that I really don't think this is the appropriate forum for it.

[52:55] I think Mr. Mudge has requested a paper package.

[52:58] I think what we've heard from the consensus of the committee here tonight is nobody's

[53:01] opposed to that, just so the district doesn't incur any additional costs that anyone requesting

[53:07] a paper package be required to pick it up.

[53:10] I think we've heard loud and clear from the committee.

[53:12] I think the issue has been resolved.

[53:13] I think any further discussion is believer in the point and really a waste of everyone's

[53:18] time and it's personal in nature and if there's a personal conversation to be had, the members

[53:23] that are involved in that personal conversation can certainly have it on their own time and

[53:27] not on the committee's time or the public's time.

[53:30] It sounds like the committee has said that you'll be able to pick up a paper packet

[53:37] at the administrative office.

[53:39] So if that is what you would prefer, you may pick up your packet that way.

[53:45] All I'm trying to say is that what unilateral decisions made without the committee making any decisions at all,

[53:52] any decisions at all, several times.

[53:57] And that's the issue we weren't...

[53:59] I think those are ministerial in nature that are in the Chair's purview of some of those decisions.

[54:03] No, it was in our policy, and we weren't following our policy,

[54:07] and certain people didn't want to follow the policy, so they just shut down the process.

[54:12] Okay? So it's not whether I get it or not or something else. It's why wouldn't we follow the policy?

[54:19] Thank you, Mr. Mudge. All right, so we have that has been now discussed.

[54:28] We have our financial reports on here, and unfortunately Mrs. King is ill tonight.

[54:33] So, that brings us to the end of our meeting, but we have executive session next, and so

[54:42] I'm looking for a motion to adjourn to executive session.

[54:45] So move.

[54:46] Second.

[54:48] All those in favor say aye.

[54:50] Aye.

[54:51] Aye.

[54:51] Thank you.

[54:51] All those opposed?

[54:53] Motion carries.

[54:54] We will be in executive session.

[55:22] I was offered, I was offered when I said get the money to the district, I had my own, do you know what I'm saying?

North Kingstown School Committee Work Session

Agenda

Transcript