Skip to main content

Getting the Job Done Well

Monday, May 2nd - School Committee Meeting 

 Find all of the materials here

There was a theme that ran through 3 aspects of our meeting last night... (and maybe all over our meetings) 

How do we get the job done well? 

In the Facilities presentation, we learned that we are severely under staffed in custodial and maintenance based on industry standards. Mr. Spratt, our facilities director, advised that we take a long term approach to the remedy:

First operationalize efficiencies, then add staff once the systems are improved.


The additional staff will eventually come out of the Natick Town budget in Shared Expenses by the Schools and the Town. As one member noted last night, the need for staff begins to demonstrate the need to increase the our Town Budgets in the coming years. As you know, as a whole, our Town and School budgets are running a deficit every year. We can't go into the red by state law so we continue paying bills with savings and other one time funds like free cash.  We can't have both an structural deficit AND a need for more staff without eventually realizing an Operational Override... 

That said, I have to highlight the facilities department's commitment to change some of the operational aspects in order to FIRST create efficiencies and THEN request the staff needed.  I appreciate this as a tax payer and as someone who first got involved in town politics because of a budget crisis.  

The Strategic Plan 

was also discussed last night.  Our current plan is ending at the end of the next school year.  

In this Memo to the Committee, Dr. Nolin advised the committee we need to tackle this effort as an internal effort or with an outside consultant. 

The committee discussed several pro's and con's to both paths with most of the members indicating that they are leaning towards keeping this as an internal process. 

I'll be honest, I am frustrated by one reason I have heard to use an internal approach:  that we don't have enough time or money to work with consultant. Overall, I am not entirely against an internal approach (with a well defined design plan) but that reasoning falls short on me. 

In fact, I believe the opposite (not that we have unlimited funds) but this critical piece of our leadership is one of the MOST IMPORTANT places to invest both time and resources so that we have the MOST robust picture of our district and the MOST realistic and innovative plan to influence how we go to through the next 5 years. 

So, over the next days, I will be speaking to constituents about this and reaching out to other districts to understand how and why they chose the process they did (internal or external). Also, what type of design worked well and role the School Committee played in the district plan's creation.

Our committee also has an outstanding question:  If we created a Strategic Plan Subcommittee (sub committees as an agenda item for our May 23rd Committee Retreat Meeting), how many members can be on it and what will their role be? Additionally, it was asked if other members of the community and school staff could serve on the committee.  

The School Committee will vote on doing the Strategic plan internally or with an external consultant on May 16th.

Teaching and Learning 

Finally, the Director of Teaching and Learning, Ms. Sue Balboni, presented her Entry Plan - The School Committee has no action on this plan, but listened to understand the perspective Ms. Balboni will take into her work in the coming years.  

After offering interviews to anyone in the community, and completing these interviews:

Ms. Balboni shared these observations on the work ahead:  





 Thanks always for reading.  



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...

Let’s Have a Vision for Elementary Schools.

Faced with some monumental school facility and space decisions, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the quote that Dr. Nolin has below the signature line in her email:       The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on                building the new.     The emphasis in the quote is on what can come next. It is not about holding on tightly to what was, nor looking at an issue through only a technical, logistical lens but on moving forward with vision .  The administration, under advisement of the School Committee, is charged with setting that vision. The School Committee is charged with protecting that vision using the three roles within our domain - budget, policy and supervision of the Superintendent. All of us are working for the kids that are here today and those who will be here in the future.   Thankfully this time, as our School Committee grapp...

Vaccines

  The School Committee agenda for Monday, September 20th can be seen here .  (separate blog coming about the rest of the agenda...)  Mandates for student vaccinations for students participating in extracurricular activities, school and club sponsored events and athletics will be discussed and possibly voted on.   I have asked that the documents be linked asap so you can read it yourself but until then... The Quick Summary:  The draft policy is a mandate for students who are age-eligible through FDA approved vaccinations. In the case of a student who age eligible and is not vaccinated, a weekly PCR test is required. How many of our students are vaccinated? Department of Health (DPH) -   Vaccine tracker    - click on weekly municipal report to see chart below and compare. columns are: county, town, age range, # of people in that group, % that is that age, # of age group partially vaxed, proportion of full town partially vaxed, fully ...