Next Up Natick

Serving in this role, I hold a seat that gives me the ability to ask my questions and yours to our administration with the hope that the questions reinforce our strategic goals. I've long relied on the value that, "two heads are better than one."  So here are some of the questions that the School Committee has been asked this week by parents and constituents: Cameron Middle School in Framingham 1) Will outdoor structures be used in the fall to allow for outdoor mask breaks when the weather is poor or lunch in a safer setting?   While this falls into an operational issue at the school and is not typically in the purview of the School Committee, because of COVID we have an  interim COVID policy  (page 120) where it is stated that the school committee establishes an emergency, interim policy to promote public safety and safety of students and faculty.   Perhaps one example of the use of the application of this policy could be seen in the March 15th School Committee meeting  

 On Monday April 26th, the Natick School Committee continues with its regular business meeting.  Agenda here .   We will be hearing about Natick's Open Space and Recreation Plan.   When I read the plan, as a school committee member, my mind goes to enrollment  and what it will  look like for Natick in the future.... The Open Space report  is an amazing amount of work done by our town leaders and citizen volunteers dedicated to maintaining open space. In the summary, the report reads, "Natick, like many eastern Massachusetts communities, is being faced with population growth, which results in demands for increased local recreational services."    Minutes of the 3/23 Space Study Committee Meeting  details a downward trend in elementary enrollment.  We're going to need to reconcile these reports and understand better the enrollment* and therefore budget & space needs for NPS in the coming decade.  Dr. Nolin's Space Study Committee will be presenting in June to th

Approved 4/15/2021 by Town Meeting  -  126 - 1 - 1   Want to know what Town Meeting is and why it matter's to the budgets?  Check out this video. Quick Overview of the current budget process...    School Administration presents a budget to the School Committee at a series of  meetings School Committee considers the budget, ask questions and then votes on the budget  Town Administrator (hired position) also creates a budget for all of the departments in the town, including the schools. All of the budgets go through the Finance Committee - (15 person appointed board) - to be vetted and then voted on in sub committees and the full committee.  Finance Committee Website  - Great resource if you'd like to see all of the budgets.  School Committee and TA can make adjustments throughout the spring based on conversations at the Finance Committee. This year for example, the School Committee voted on the budget 3 separate times to land on this final number for the next school year. Thing

Here's why I think we should have a Budget Subcommittee of the School Committee:  1) It's a common best practice used across districts. 2) A budget subcommittee, when done with regular meetings and with proper reporting back to the full committee, creates transparency for the public. It also allows us to follow through on our budget and priorities for the full year.  3) Subcommittees of all kinds are how the detailed work gets done. By law, they are not the final place decisions are made.  Instead, the divide and conquer mentality allows for more detailed work to be done in several places at a time.  

  I'm reading up on the Rules of Order that the Natick School Committee has typically adopted as its way of proceeding in meetings - Robert's Rules of Order.  Wow - that's a boring thing to do on a Saturday... unless you are like me!  Coming up this week Monday at 6:00 p.m. - Policy Review on our School Committee Re-Organization The gist - We are considering revisions to chair term limits and the number of vice chairs that we have and when our organizational meeting takes place.  Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. - Reorganization of the School Committee The gist - We will volunteer, be appointed and/or be elected to serve on one of several committees of the School Committee and as liaisons to community organizations.  Currently we have a Finance Committee of the Superintendent that is exempt from Open Meeting Law (See Connelly v. School Committee of Hanover, 409 Mass. 232 (1991) referenced on page 6 of this Open Meeting Law document. ) which allows for the Superintendent to form a comm

Next week, you will see us working on the organization of the Natick School Committee! You elected us, now we elect and appoint one another.   We will select a chair and will determine the make up of the rest of the committee using or re-vising our policies. The Natick School Committee Policy Manual can be found here .  (See pages 43-45 for re-organization.)  The policy subcommittee met yesterday to consider revisions of the current policy including eliminating the Vice Chair of Finance position and allowing for an extension of the 2 year limit of the chair. The agenda from that meeting can be found  here .  The last major revision of this policy, discussed in April of 2020 , resulted in adding the Vice Chair of Finance to the committee.  What makes an effective board?   That's a question I've been asking others for months. Obviously there is no one answer, but here's a screen shot from a publication by the National School Board Association. Click here for the full presenta

About a week ago, citizens of Natick voted me into the Natick School Committee with 1897 votes.  Thank you!!!  I've spent far more days as a resident and a parent than I have as an elected official. This blog is an attempt to bridge the two perspectives.  To keep you informed To keep me accountable To keep all of us connected The information I will share are things that I am processing, reading about, or considering at any given moment as a parent, resident and as an elected official. They are not the statement of the committee.