WARE SCHOOL COMMITTEE NOTEBOOK

By Melissa Fales

Ware River News Reporter

Winslow asks about district-wide disaster planning

In light of the devastation that happened recently when a tornado touched down in Oklahoma, Ware School Committee member Brian Winslow brought up the topic of disaster planning at the May 22 School Committee meeting. Winslow asked Beach whether the district had any plans in place as to what to do in the event of a tornado touching down near the Ware Public Schools campus.

Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Beach, Superintendent, said that the district does have a number of emergency procedures in place and that it follows emergency preparedness directions from the town. However, she agreed with Winslow and said she thought it was a good idea for the district to consider specifically what to do in the case of a tornado. “We may want to put it on the roster as a conversation,” said Beach. “We’ll ratchet it up.”

 

SMK carpet replacement job sent out to bid again

School Committee Chairman Christopher Desjardins said that the job of removing the carpet in the classrooms and hallways of one grade-level of Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School and replacing it with tile has been sent out to bid again. He explained that the initial bid of $20,000 was not at prevailing wage, which is required. Desjardins said Andrew Paquette of the The Management Solution is anticipating that the prevailing wage bids will come in near the upper $20,000s. 

 

Bullying complaint form, anti-bullying policy in the works

Policy Subcommittee member Danielle Souza said that the Ware Junior Senior High School administration has provided valuable input on developing a new anti-bullying procedure for the school.

Souza said the subcommittee is working to create an initial complaint form that will capture all of the data needed to identify bullying behavior and begin the investigation process.

Policy Subcommittee member Aaron Sawabi said the idea is to make the form a valuable tool that will help fully document any incidents.

Sawabi said the subcommittee is also working on an anti-bullying policy. “We’re making good progress,” he said. “We want to strengthen the form we use and the process we use.” He added that another component of the policy involves developing effective lines of communication for those students and parents who are involved. “We want to make sure all parties are kept in the loop as we address those issues,” he said.  

 

School Committee to discuss goals for 2013-2014

Desjardins asked each School Committee member to bring ideas to the next meeting to help develop the list of School Committee goals for the 2013-2014 school year. He noted that one goal for the committee will be to update the policy handbook, a process that is already underway.

 

School Committee meetings set for June

The School Committee has set future meeting dates of June 5 and June 19. Both meetings will be at 6:30 p.m. in the WJSHS library. 

 

Last day of school will be June 24

Beach reminded families that the last day of school will be Monday, June 24. It will be a half-day, with no lunch served.

WARE SCHOOL COMMITTEE NOTEBOOK

School Committee approves budget for fiscal year 2014

In preparation for the May 13 Annual Town Meeting, the Ware School Committee reviewed and approved the district’s budget for the 2014 fiscal year at their May 8 meeting. The total budget for Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School is $2,640,014, for Ware Middle School, $2,099,433 and for Ware Junior Senior High School, $3,379,202. 

The budget for Special Education/Personnel Services is $1,166,176, for English Language Education, $116,820, and for Curriculum and Accountability, $51,000. For District-wide Technology the budget is $191,461, for the Central Office, $1,101,473, and for Maintenance, $1,349,396. The grand total of the school budget is $12,094,975.

 

New Use of Facilities fee for for-profit organizations

The committee approved a new Use of Facilities Fee for for-profit organizations that will better reflect the district’s actual costs to allow the usage. Previously, for-profits paid a per-event flat fee to use the facilities regardless of the number of hours or days involved.  The new fee accounts for events with multiple sessions held on multiple days.

The new fee for Ware based for-profit groups is $125 for the first eight hours of the same day, $15 for each additional hour and $25 for each additional day. Non Ware-based for-profit groups will pay $150 for the first eight hours in the same day, $25 for each additional hour and $50 for each additional day. “It’s not going to affect the non-profits,” said Policy Subcommittee member Danielle Souza.

 

Committee to review policy allowing 18 year-olds to sign out

Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Beach, Superintendent, told the committee she was concerned about the increased number of 18 year-old students who are signing themselves out of school before the end of the school day. If a student is in school until 11:15 a.m., it counts as a day of school and not an absence. However, Beach said these students are missing valuable class time.

Although the students are 18 years old, Beach said the school can still require them to remain in school for their classes, much like parents can establish rules for 18 year-olds living at home. “Our house, our rules,” she said.

Beach said she would ask her intern, Sherri Killins, to research how other schools in the region handle the issue. She also said she would ask Dr. Marlene DiLeo, WJSHS Principal, to attend the committee’s next meeting to discuss her thoughts on the matter.

 

Request to hold fireworks on school grounds debated

The Committee discussed a request from Fire Chief Thomas W. Coulombe to hold the town’s Fourth of July fireworks show on school grounds this year.

Beach said concerns about a lack of enough open space at Grenville Park, the traditional fireworks venue, have led to a search for another suitable area in town. The upper field behind SMK is being looked at as a possible location.

The committee raised concerns about a number of issues including parking, clean- up, the potential for damage to athletic fields, crowd control, the proximity to the woods, concessions, and how to enforce smoking and alcoholic beverage regulations. Committee member Aaron Sawabi said that these same concerns must have been addressed when the fireworks were held at the park. He said he would like to see a proposal outlining how all of these issues would be handled.

Beach acknowledged that whether or not to hold the fireworks on school grounds was the school committee’s decision to make. However, she voiced her views on the idea. “I need to go on record as being absolutely opposed to this,” she said. She noted that last year there was an issue with unexploded fireworks shells found in the park days after the event and expressed concern that somehow, an unexploded shell could find its way onto the SMK playground and into the hands of an unsuspecting child. “I can’t get past that,” she said.

The committee agreed to table discussion on the issue until they could address their concerns with Coulombe.

 

Committee approves contract renewal for Birks

At the recommendation of Beach, the Committee voted to renew the contract of Special Education Director Mary Birks. Her contract is up for renewal every three years.