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3. Meeting.Student Needs—Remediation <br /> One suggestion to help us meet the remediation needs of our students is to have parent volunteers cover the <br /> 30-minute library classes currently covered by special subject teachers. The special subject teachers could then use <br /> their skills and freed-uptime to provide remediation to small groups of identified students. <br /> 4. Budget—Planning for FYI <br /> We briefly discussed the contents of the handout related to the budget that was included in each council member's <br /> packet. Mrs. Bradshaw will be speaking with school staffs, PTOs, and School Councils in February-and March. At this <br /> stage in the process, the school department has developed a maintenance budget for FYI 1. This maintenance budget <br /> keeps the budget that same as it was in FYI with the exception of increases of certain basic items,such as teacher <br /> steps and longevity payments, transportation,out-of-district student placements,copiers. The town manager has <br /> asked the school department to developa FYI budget that is 2%below the FY10 budget. Recently an additional cut <br /> of$300,000 was added to this 2%. This has resulted in a$1.9 million gap between the proposed maintenance school <br /> budget for FYI and the FYI school budget that the town is willing to support. We are at the preliminarystages of <br /> the process. The Association is currently negotiating a new three-year contract which presents a very significant <br /> variable in the budget process. The proposed maintenance budget for FYI does not include any cost of living salary, <br /> increase_forAssociation members. <br /> 5. Somerville Schools—Wellness—partnership with Tufts <br /> ■ Each Council member's packet included some information on the Somerville Schools and their wellness <br /> partnership with Tufts University. There were some good ideas to help students become healthier. I liked that <br /> ice cream was only offered to students once per week. I also liked that they limited sugary-cereals offered for <br /> breakfast. Their HEAT in-school and after-school curriculum seems very_worthwhile. <br /> ■ I shared that Bob Scott,the Mashpee Food Services Director, is retiring in February, 2010. <br /> ■ Our school lunches are improving. Fresh fruit and vegetables are regularly included. <br /> • I would like to see our food services department make the following_improvements: <br /> ■ Serve less processed foods <br /> ■ Watch the sodium content of the foods served_ <br /> ■ Offer homemade cookies (snack)once per week instead of everyday <br /> ■ Offer ice cream(snack)once per week instead of everyday <br /> ■ Don't serve foods that contain artificial dyes <br /> ■ Don't serve sugary cereals for breakfast <br /> 6. Other <br /> ■ School year 10-11 Lunch on half days—Members of the Council supported offering bag lunches to all <br /> students—to be taken with them. We would eliminate scheduled lunch periods on half days. <br /> ■ Richard Bailey would like to hear from Council members <br /> • Feedback on how the School Committee is doing and suggestions for improvements <br /> • Ideas related to the budget for FYI <br /> OUR NEXT MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 11,2010,AT 3:15 PM. <br />