Chair Cynthia Listewnik opened the March 3, 2022, meeting of the School Committee at 7:01 PM.  Student representative Roma Patel highlighted recent Holliston High School activities.  The Freshman/Sophomore Semi-formal was scheduled for Friday, March 4, the Senior Showcase for March 9, and Patel announced that National Honor Society students are making birthday baskets for the Holliston Food Pantry to distribute. 

Due to the minimal number of Covid cases during the last two weeks, Superintendent Dr. Susan Kustka reported that the wearing of face marks would be optional beginning on Monday, March 7. Additionally, mask wearing on school buses and vans will be optional.  Masks will be provided to drivers and staff, and the Superintendent will continue to monitor the situation. Dr. Kustka said she hoped that the school community wouldn’t judge one another in this new situation. “An empathetic environment is important,” she said.

Stacey Raffi, Chair of the Superintendent’s Evaluation sub-committee shared the goals included on the rubric developed to evaluate Dr. Kustka. Goals included specific actions to address each of these areas:  Student Learning, District Improvement, and Professional Practice.  All of these goals are aligned with the District Improvement Plan.  Raffi reported that during March, Dr. Kustka will be working on gathering evidence of the goals to present to the subcommittee.  During the May 5 School Committee meeting, members will conduct a vote based upon the evaluation.

Dr. Kustka presented feedback from a recent online survey entitled “Families Formative Implementation Survey,” that gathered parents’ and guardians’ responses concerning the sleep habits of Holliston school children following the changing start times implemented in the Fall of 2020.  The Google survey did not report any comments but created graphs of the information for further conversation and study.  These graphs were projected. “In its present form, it doesn’t tell much of a story,” reported Dr. Kustka. Dr. Kustka said information would be put together, separated by schools and examined for common themes.  Information gathered will be shared with parents. 

The last item provided by Dr. Kustka was a change to the HPS FY23 Budget that had been presented to the SC on February 17, 2022.  (See slide below.)

New costs of $109,035 represent an unexpected rise in the number of applicants to the Norfolk County Agricultural School (NCAS) to 9, where the out-of-district tuition is approximately $24,000 per student. This increases the FY23 School Budget to $39,004,314, an increase of 5.14% (previous budget recommendation was 4.85%).  Assistant Superintendent Keith Buday (photo below) explained that HPS has never had 9 applicants to NCAS. The SC will be briefed if any further changes to the FYBudget arise. 

Chair Listewnik reported warrants signed on behalf of the SC:  School Bills of $280,197.06 and $130,301.61, Cafeteria revolving account of $10,685.76, and funding for a money market account of $6,742.04.

The meeting adjourned at 8:07 PM.  The next meeting of the SC will be on Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 7PM.  Agenda items will include a presentation by Jariel Vergne, Director of Social and Emotional Learning and Equity, as well as a vote on the FY23 School Budget and an update on FY22 Budget.  The FY23 School Budget is scheduled to be presented to Holliston’s Finance Committee on March 22, 2022.