Skip to main content

Rules of the Road

 



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. 

  • 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 committee (in this case with 3 members of the School Committee and senior staff of Administration) to advise her on something having to do with her job.  
  • I will be making a motion that we add a Finance Subcommittee of the School Committee to the list of work to be done. 

List of Natick Public School's Committee Assignments 

 Items listed below in orange are new to this year's document - added on 4/9/2021

Entity

Permanent Appointments



Collective Bargaining Committees

Cafeteria

Director of HR



EAN ABC

Director of HR, Superintendent, Chair & two other SC Members



Secretaries

Director of HR



Paraprofessionals

Director of HR



Title 1

Director of HR



School Committee Subcommittees

Policy Review

Superintendent 



Kennedy Middle School Building Committee

Anna Nolin

Kirk Downing

Peter Gray

Andy Zitoli

Town Administrator 

Facilities Director

Other Appointees:

Bruce Evans

Jonathan Freedman 

Thomas Iskra

Stephen Meyler, Chair

Julian Munnich

John T KB racy

Elizabeth Heffler – for safety meetings (non-voting member)



Liaisons and Advisory Groups ( previous description: School Committee Appointments to Non- SC Committees)

Audit Committee




Community Senior Center Liaison




Facilities Oversight Committee

Superintendent, Director of Finance



Financial Planning Committee

Chair, Superintendent, Director of Finance



Natick 180




NEF




PCC Liaison




SEPAC




SPARK Kindness Liaison




TEC B.O.D.

Open to all SC members, Superintendent



Town Safety Committee

Director of Finance, Transportation Coordinator



Statewide Advocacy Efforts and Updates




ELPAC

one representative



*Equity Task Force

one student representative




*Racial Equity Municipal Action Plan (REMAP)

one representative



*Finance Advisory Group

three representatives



*Teen Sleep Group

three representatives



METCO

one representative                                                                    



Popular posts from this blog

Statement on Recusal

Here are the remarks I gave last night when letting my committee know my decision to recuse:  After the School Committee meeting on October 15th, several individuals wrote into the SpeakUp Natick portal requesting that I recuse myself from voting on the possible closure of Johnson.  The substance of these messages, sent to the full committee, carried a familiar refrain. The messages - often using the same language – said some version of the following:  Catherine Brunell should recuse herself from deliberating and voting on the closure of Johnson because she lacks objectivity, as her children go to school there and she is from that neighborhood. I asked myself the question if there was any merit to the request for me to recuse myself and started to do some research about why people recuse  From what I can tell from the minutes, in Natick, It’s never happened before - not with the Kennedy, Wilson or the High School - not even for members whose children were to attend t...

Evaluation Time

The School Committees of every community are charged with oversight for the budget, the policies and the evaluation of the superintendent for the districts they serve. Tonight, in Natick, we begin the Superintendent evaluation process.  Virtual Meeting Link - 6:00 p.m.    Background:  Page 2 of DESE Model system guide for Superintendent Evaluation These videos  and this PDF explain the 5 step Superintendent Evaluation Process that Natick is piloting with other communities. It was developed in partnership with Superintendents, School Committees and the Dept. of Ed.   While Natick has adjusted some of the evaluation to be in-line with the process outlined in the above resources, we are continuing to develop the full pilot program.  Also, for a point of reference and a reminder that every superintendent goes through a similar process,   here is a slide deck from one of the initial meetings for the City of Boston's Superintendent evaluatio...

Quick Summary of Key things for the Natick School Committee this week

  Quick Links for current items: Natick School Committee begins Coffee Hours - Take a moment to speak to one of your elected officials about the district’s strategic plan in the coming months!   Policy Questions?  Click here to see the Natick School Committee Policy Manual .  Every year it is accepted by the Natick School Committee as our guiding principles for our work. It sets expectations for communication, procedures and processes for most everything related to our schools.  While specific policies are updated every year, the last major revision/ reconsideration of policies was in the early 2000’s.   One goal of the current policy subcommittee is to begin to look at each section of our policy manual once a year for a more sustainable updating of these key policies.   Policy Subcommittee’s next meeting is Thursday, Feb 17th from 1- 3 p.m. on the 3rd floor of the Natick Town Hall.   Budget Season! Not a financial person? Rea...