Mohawk Trail Regional School System Mohawk Trail Regional School District MTRSD School Committee Meeting – February 11, 2015 – 7:00 p.m. Michael A. Buoniconti, Superintendent of Schools Michael A. Kociela, Business Administrator Leann Z. Loomis, Director of Pupil Personnel Services

24 Ashfield Road Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts 01370 Phone: (413) 625-0192 Fax: (413) 625-0196

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT IX. Report of the Superintendent A. FY16 Budget Proposal. Please find enclosed the latest draft of the Mohawk FY16 budget proposal. Last month’s iteration was a level services budget of 2.4% and a town assessment of 3.4%. Following presentation of the Long Range Planning Committee’s (LRPC) report, I have added free pre-school to the budget proposal. Based on discussion during Budget Subcommittee’s meeting on February 4th, I increased the town assessment by the added preschool expense. As a result, the current proposal is now an above level services budget of 3.64% and a town assessment of 5.7%, which clearly merits discussion. As a reminder, I will deliver my formal budget proposal presentation to School Committee on the 11th and I will do the same for the public on the 18th. Superintendent performance standards:  Standard I: Instructional Leadership.  Standard II: Management and Operations  Standard III: Family and Community Engagement  Standard IV: Professional Culture

B. Mohawk Trail Regional School District Regional Agreement. Based on discussions during February 4th’s Budget Subcommittee meeting and February 5th’s meeting with town selectboards and finance committees, please expect to discuss six recommended changes to the MTRSD Regional Agreement. These recommendations are detailed below. I had hoped that Attorney Dupere would be able to attend the February 11th School Committee meeting to facilitate this discussion, but he had prior commitments. I have asked Attorney Dupere to draft warrant articles for your consideration, which will be handed-out in committee. Our deadline to submit warrant articles to the towns is March 3rd, so time is of the essence. LRPC recommendations moved forward for discussion: 1. Section XIV – Amendments: Make agreement more flexible to either a weighted vote or one town, one vote with majority with two exceptions – no school can be closed without the consent of the town that is impacted and students can’t be sent to another school without the consent of the town that is impacted. 2. Section IIIB – Pupils Entitled to Attend the Regional Elementary Schools: Change to allow towns to work together to develop creative ideas for sustainability. This could include a town choosing to send some of their students to a different school or to enter into other agreements for sharing students, teachers, administrators, and other resources.

3. Section IIIE – Vocational and Trade School Pupils: John Sears spoke about the transportation for non-member voc-tech schools. The vocational transportation committee with David Newell came up with a cost savings agreement with Travel Kuz. The Vocational Education Advisory Committee (VEAC) is in a vacuum as the Regional Agreement isn’t adequate to cover this. The LRPC recommends adding a paragraph to the Regional Agreement to clarify this area with the VEAC drafting the language. 4. Section II – Type of Regional District – Pre-K District-Wide Uniformity – Ron Coler noted that problems are district-wide and didn’t want to pit school against school. Mr. Coler spoke about providing free Preschool. Children generally stay in a school where they attend preschool and are socially more ready for school. Mr. Coler presented information on the six preschools in the district—five public and one private. The LRPC recommends offering free preschool and that an amendment be prepared to the Regional Agreement that specifies that all schools in the district establish a free preschool and make it available to all district students at no cost to the family.

MTRSD recommendations moving forward for discussion: 1. Section I – The Regional District School Committee: School Committee recommends adding the Town of Rowe as a voting member of the MTRSD.

Kevin Fox recommendations moving forward for discussion: 1. Section VI – Budget: Buckland selectboard member, Kevin Fox, recommends separating the budget approval process into an elementary portion and a secondary portion so that the 7-12 member towns do not impact approval of the elementary budget. Currently, Charlemont and Hawley have a voice in the overall budget approval process, which impacts the elementary budget. The addition of Rowe as a member town at the 7-12 level would exacerbate this concern. Superintendent performance standards:  Standard I: Instructional Leadership.  Standard II: Management and Operations  Standard III: Family and Community Engagement  Standard IV: Professional Culture

C. Colrain Lease Agreement. I am hopeful that we have reached agreement with the Town of Colrain on a new building lease. Attorney Dupere reviewed some final details with Budget Subcommittee and Central Office, and the document appears to be ready for vote. Superintendent performance standards:  Standard II: Management and Operations  Standard III: Family and Community Engagement

D. School Choice Seats. Please see attached recommended FY16 school choice enrollment guidelines. These guidelines have remained the same for the past five years and have worked very well operationally. I need to emphasize that these guidelines would be used specifically to determine school choice seats only; the guidelines are not classroom enrollment caps. Superintendent performance standards:  Standard I: Instructional Leadership.  Standard II: Management and Operations

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