Tony Cichello, Chairman of the Consolidated Facilities Committee, presented an update the School Committee. He provided a quick history to date, reviewed the proposed structure for the department and outlined his hopes for next steps.

The key next step in Cichello’s mind is presenting Town Meeting with a unified front that endorses two key articles on that will be on the warrant regarding Consolidated Facilities. They are a) approving an article to move forward with the department and b) provide initial funding of $138,000 to get it off the ground.

The two primary stakeholders in this are the Town Administrator and School Superintendent and by extension the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee. The Warrant Committee intends to recommend the articles but without the support of these two key stakeholders passage at Town Meeting is at risk.

The committee was called together by the Selectmen almost two years ago to explore the potential benefits and feasibility of establishing a single facilities department that would oversee maintenance for all town buildings and grounds. Mr. Cichello stated that the Library Trustees, Cemetary Board, and Parks and Rec will all interested in the idea but were somewhat on the fence depending on how the positions of the School Committee and Town Administrator.

Beirne Lovely who had previously voiced concerns about the plan (e.g. “I am not sure what I [as a town meeting member] am voting for.  .   .and the devil is in the details.”) He still has reservations but stated, “I am going to support articles 28 & 29.” The two articles on the warrant related to forming this new department. He felt it was “inevitable.” His support is conditional on the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding that is being worked on between Superintendent Gormley and Mr. Cichello and his team. Progress has been made but it is not finished. Mr. Lovely also raised concerns regarding the reporting relationships. The proposal is that the new director of facilities will have a dual reporting relationship with the Town Administrator and Superintendent. The principal concern is how decisions get made and what process is followed if there is a disagreement among the two of them. What do you do “when there is a tie?” For example, one is displeased and wants to terminate the person and the other wants to keep them on. Bagley Jones also had this concern.

Glenn Pavlicek voiced concerns about the timing of hiring. He thinks it may be a tough sell to town meeting and also raised other potentially thorny issues such as dealing with collective bargaining negotiations. He did not explicitly endorse or oppose the initiative. Mary Kelly did.

Ms. Kelly acknowledged the effort that had been made and voiced appreciation for it but stated that “I am not at a point where I could sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) .  .  . and reluctant to approve funding as well.” She expressed a desire to see clear job descriptions and definition of positions. She asked if the MOA would preclude the Library Board of Trustees. In general she seemed concerned about the buy in from other town departments (ie Library, Parks).

Chris Huban and Lynda Lee Sheridan who both serve on the Consolidated Facilities Committee did not comment.

Other business included but was not limited to:

• Chief Wells, Officer Richmond, and Dr Drottar discussed the lock down that occurred on Monday. You can read more about that here.
• Mr. Phelan presented the option that the School Leadership Council had selected from those presented by the World Language Committee. The option, which was to be presented at last night Grade 1 Information night,  was the Grade 1 Alternate Assignment plan. In this scenario “if there are more students than seats available  a given home school, the district would assign those students based on the revised Elementary Student Assignment Plan.” The concept is that if a program (French or English) at a particular school is oversubscribed. Students would be eligible for an “auxiliary class.” The actual location of that class could change from year to year depending on which building had the space. The decision would be made by the superintendent. The goal is to keep class sizes manageable. This strategy is being driven by the fact that the schools currently have 341 kindergarteners which is one of the largest in recent years. This past year has also seen 59% of incoming first graders enroll in French Immersion. Spanish FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) is going to be reinstated in the 1rst grade. There will be one 30 minute period weekly.

Lastly, and not least important, it was Beirne Lovely’s last school committee meeting. Superintendent Gormley said to Mr, Lovely, “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Mr. Lovely said, “It has been really a great honor.”

Thank you Mr. Lovely.