is February 28th 2025 the time is 5:06 pm. calling this meeting of the Westport school committee to order we can stand for the pledge to the flag the United States of America to for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and
justice for all thank you everyone under man Jal Law chapter 38 section 20th this meeting is being recorded first we will take comments and statements from the public if there are any just someone
asked great we appreciate you being here great good to meet you both thank you okay the next item on our agenda we're going into our informational agenda uh item a discussion of school committee process for large expenditures Mr Thrasher this was an item that you
had requested it it originally I had yes Mr chair I had requested this item uh just to review some of the processes and procedures regarding uh expenditures that were uh that were outside of of curriculum expenditures and maintenance
expenditures um in in the the days the I guess week and a half since uh my request uh we received guidance from uh count from our uh our Council as well as uh from the The Mask General guidance on on this and so at this time I'm actually
uh uh going to ask to uh that that really the discussion uh it it seems what I thought might have been necessary is not necessary so at this time I'll leave it at that just for the just for the uh edification of the committee so that uh what he's referencing with with
council's thought on this um basically just went through the process of of how expenditures are done the way the way that that process works so this committee every year approves a budget that we recommend that budget then goes through town meeting um after the finance committee's recommendation the total
appropriation that is received the school committee um decides basically how that's spent within different light items so that so if and the individual invoices that come in for expenses throughout the year are reflected in the bill warrants so those are all reviewed by committee
members those that'ss for every expense within every line item um and I review those um I'm sure members of this committee do too and I ask questions uh occasionally of our business office if I have a question and they're always happy to answer it um the what does require
school committee approval um both for our policy and and just process-wise the way that it's done is items that are outside of the appropriation that this committee gives so if there's a line uh a line item and there's a there's an unexpected expense and the the the
administration or the district wants to spend more on that line item and and transfer some for from somewhere else in the budget that has to go to this committee for line item transfer approval so that's that's we typically only see that you know at the end of the fiscal year um from my experience on the
committee we've not had that come up uh mid year it hasn't happened yet but that that would be the process um if that were to happen outside of the the budgeted items that this committee sets um every year in the appropriation so and Mr chair I will just say that uh the main the chief concern I actually had
was related to poten transfers and so once once got the clarification on on the policy that that is uh that is in uh already in in enforced uh I think we're I'm certainly satisfied for for my inquiries so thank you anything from the
committee I did have one thing um that I thought may fall under this when I originally saw it on the um on the um agenda um in terms of obviously you know end of year here and um
Staffing um and whether it be um new hires moving into next year or whatever it may be um in terms of what I've um seen in terms of a couple of um of Staff members and I don't know if
that would fall obviously it falls in budget um but I think my question more or less is in terms of um um when these new people are coming in or um being shifted around is that within
our scope of things so my understanding is if it's a position and there's a hire for a position um for example say it's a say it's a teacher position and that say a teacher left mid year or whatever the situation may be and someone else applied for that position and someone
was hired that would still be under the same budget line item so that outside of that person's Sal being increased as long as it fell within that the the the decision itself would be obviously delegated to the to the administration that's my understanding um this committee does have obviously hiring
authority over a few positions that are with obviously we we budget every year as part of our nonunion salaries that are contract positions superintendent being one of them um I believe there are only four of those that exists under the that the committee is approving but
obviously the main one is a superintendent but there are I I to my knowledge only two of those are up at the end of this fiscal year okay the ones that would fall directly under the purview of the committee in um for a lack of better terms just
because I don't know what the term um is um how about a substitute for an administrator at this point would are they paid and is that taken care of through like a regular substitute line item um obviously I know we have substitute teachers when it becomes an
administrator position um I can inquire with the business office on that yeah on how that's yeah because I I know Mr thr when you had a question on that that there was an existing line for a couple of the items that you had that you were wondering there was there were exting that may be the instance for this and I
I can I can definitely check on that and and follow up with you by May sure um so I think you know the the budget when we look at it and it's approved at the beginning of the year that's for you know all the
different line items so if there's some let's say someone leaves mid year or whatever that might be their maybe salary remaining from that line that could be utilized for substitutes um if it's in a specific School you could be
looking at the salary line for for that school typically where you'll see it is it'll be drawn from you know salary to salary versus other expenses and then at the end of the year as um I think it's either I'm not sure who mentioned it uh there's those budget moves that um occur
with the business office um the one thing that I'll say is when I first started on the school committee many years ago um I met many times with um the business office and they would always go over the expenses you know I would you know send them an email and say you know these are
the questions I have then I'd go and meet and actually look at the purchase orders just because I wanted to know more about it and have a better understanding um and just from my experience with them um I see the professionalism that they have and the care that goes into it
having a position you know in an accounting in a business office you have to have a high level of integrity and professionalism and the individuals in in the Westport uh Community School business office have that um they're very trustworthy and they know they know
what they're doing which I think is important that being said I also think it's important for the committee when they look at expenses if there's things that you know you're not sure about to just ask um so that you can also gain that level of confidence and then even if you have that confidence of something
else comes up so just just a thought along just adding to that uh Miss Pico so the uh I know I've I've asked a number of times even when I vied the bill warrant because I look at the invoices as well in the in the binder um
and you know especially for the I can inquire specifically about the staff line because that's a you know legitimate question and I know what has happened in the past with some of those positions is it it obviously will fall under the same line because it would have to go to the committee if it didn't but if a position was say reduced or a
person coming in at a lower step that fills a position that may be reflected in savings if there's another expense somewhere else in that within that line so I I think that's what's happened in the past so it's kind of I know some positions have shifted some have you know been made school year positions as
a poos the year round some have you know if a person leaves and a less experienced person may come in that may be a different step so it's kind of that's what I've seen but I can definitely you know speak about the uh to the U specific mechanism for the St
yeah absolutely anything further all right hearing none we'll move on to Item B discussion of superintendent job description so uh our posting on Tuesday did not include this on the agenda so we could not add it in before for the uh posting deadline so
that's why we're meeting tonight to discuss this item um I want to thank first our Human Resources Director Chris mcdo for putting this together for us and doing her due diligence with research and uh looking at other
districts to compile this um so the committee was sent this I believe a couple weeks ago when we were first going to um discuss this item I know if the committee had feedback on this on any particular parts of the job
description how many people are going to do this job I'm just kidding I know yes yes so there are uh Kristen do you just want to speak to some of the um I know you you get you provided us with two different documents here could you just speak to to that U yeah the reason I
provideed you with two different documents is we could post it either way we can post the full description which as you can see is rather lengthy or we could post a reduce job description just to advertise so you know when I look out
um for postings for superintendents I see them both ways okay is there any one way that you see more than the other or is it kind of just yeah yeah yeah it's about split may maybe a little heavier on the reduced okay yeah do you ever see
a a reduced one that references a a more comprehensive job description or is it no I would say if we do the reduced one then when we start the interview process we want to make sure they see the full job description before the interview right yeah Al okay sorry I was so this
is the one that will kind of be advertised but then this is the actual it could go either way could be either so she's saying that the this one is a reduced version of the other but she's she has seen it both ways with the posting is it for us to make a decision
on which one or I think so at least for the at least for posting purposes we we would want to I think regardless the the applicants would be provided with the the lengthier one either way um obviously prior to interviewing but the last time we posted
for this position it was a reduced okay one Mr chair I I actually I may be a minority here but I would say I would actually prefer if the uh the the full description be posted um I do see just a couple of nuances here that I think are are really important to include for
example under uh qualifications and requirements um um there is a uh the second bullet point on the reduced or the condensed version says a valid superintendent certification license whereas uh on the extended document says uh you know superintendent assistant
superintendent license or eligibility for such a license and I think that's really important to make sure that we're not um we're not potentially limiting uh the field of applicants to uh you know if they're if they're those who are out of state but would be eligible for such a license immediately so um that's just
one thing that jumped out but just as the general rule I think I would I would rather the extended description be posted is there a cost difference in regards to posting no um so I post on school spring um and then indeed picks
that up and then there are four other organizations that I will reach out to I have not reached out to them I'm not sure if there is a fee I don't think so mask masks uh there's another one New England School Development Council um um
and mass Municipal Association I don't believe they charged okay and those the the aggregate one that you mentioned School spring that post to the others that's part of our pre-existing account that we have with them right so this will be posted as if it were any other any other position
right Y and you know someone in education would know to look on school spr sure right and then indeed trolls and they pick up the posting right okay another question so um uh attorney Thrasher had mentioned something that I
think's important I just want to maybe have a little discussion about where it talks about the mass superintendent assistant superintendent license or eligibility for such license if someone does not have that license then that means they have not
been a superintendent before is that correct I think she's referring to the Massachusetts part of it right so that be my specific points Massachusetts part not not necess not the not the lure itself not the lure I I'm basically
don't want to limit it to just individuals who have had superintendent experience only in Massachusetts I understand what you're saying okay all right so I just wanted absolutely I I really want to have someone who has had experience as a
superintendent before so um they could be eligible for a Mass license they could be a Rhode Island um superintendent that doesn't have a as license so that would be the eligibility so so can we can versus so then versus eligibility for such license can we say
something of Massachusetts or other state superintendent license eligibility for massachus get rid of well if we get rid of the yes so I just don't know how to maybe say it where they can say you can say that
they've superintendent lure in another state with eligibility for m Massachusetts lure um because for me one of the qualif minimum qualification should be a superintendent somewhere that's just me I mean let's have a discussion if someone feels different i' you know be
happy to hear but I think that coming into this District um with the limited resources that we have here we have to have someone who has that experience so your suggestion be to modify this language to say eligibility for Massachusetts Super's license at the
end at the end of it um well somehow s somehow say that but so it says Massachusetts superintendent assistant superintendent license or um other state
superintendent SL assistant superintendent license with eligibility for Massachusetts license or something like that I did well licensure from another state with eligib eligibility for Mass license that's that's good for me I don't know
how everybody else feels though that's yeah I um I will say that I ideally our our I I I think our our ideal candidate is is certainly going to have extensive superintendent experience
um I I for one am kind of curious to see what would come through uh if there if there's you know you never know when when someone who maybe they've been an interim or something you know maybe not a full-time superintendent before but I I just I I I take your point that um you
know our like I said our ultimate choice is probably going to have experience but I would be very curious just to see I my goal in in this is to be able to make a decision based on a very large pool of applicant that's that's the one thing I want I'm hoping that we're going to get uh so so if I you I'm not necessarily
disagreeing with you but no no um so I think you know when we look at our school district it's a it's a relatively small District we we might have some individuals who are assistant superintendents in larger districts where they are taking care of um a subset of students that is equal to our
district so you know an assistant superintendent versus a superintendent I can see that um but it's still somehow um a superintendent whether it's assistant or or the actual superintendent um the one thing about
our our district is um are the salary right so I think you know we have to recognize one what we're able to provide um and then what um you know what those individuals are going to
come to us with e experience and we want them to be successful so we don't want to give someone too much who's not ready for that next step either so I agree with you I hope we have a large pull because we have an a um really great District
here and um yeah so just a quick question um superintendent assistant superintendent separate licenses or same are they they're slash right
yeah thank and just to a curiosity do we have any any uh data of uh what exactly would be orally competitive compensation at this point Y do
you yes so um M McDaniel looked at uh communities of similar size to our district and found the average at 186 um and that includes so that that
data is includes uh both Westport Somerset uh Swansea dartman Bourne Carver wam Acushnet and Fair Haven so that's what those are included there and that's the average obviously the there's a a range there the the lower end is at
uh 158 is the lower end of that and that's which I believe is K through a okay and in your um from what you've seen looking into these do you typically see that posted on the posting or is that I don't believe I do okay I'll I'll
double check it before I post it but I don't believe I so you know all of the salaries I believe are are posted somewhere online if it's not within our budget it must be somewhere online because it's a town so I would imagine that oh because you found those so I would imagine as a
superintendent if I was a superintendent I'd do my due diligence and look so that I know what I'm you know if I'm expecting 250,000 you know dollars for this year it's probably not the place you want to apply um but yeah yeah
so right the other thing I that I had asked Miss MCD to look into was the average length of the posting that how long are how long are applications accepted for and the average that she found was roughly two and a half weeks to a month time frame so just for the just so the
committee's aware that's that's typically the and um Mr chair you I'll ask this is U should we approve this tonight which I'm sure we should take action on on the posting yes yes and and and once we once that is the case um so we can expect
this to be up Monday at the at the the latest at this point okay yeah so do we Mr chair do we want to go ahead and include a deadline for submissions on those posting with that or
until that's that's what what is the pleasure of the committee on that what are the thoughts my thought is to include a deadline but add that additional langage I I would say like you know a preferred I always you know we always committee you know choice or
whatever that way if you need to be a month or if you find it something in three weeks whatever this way you don't have to hold yourself if you say okay this is a perfect person now you you have to hope open it until that other day so um if I may so we're just
approving theob description and a job description you usually don't have a date of um you know of when an application's due so I would say suggest that that was more for the posting purpose approve the job description and then in regards to the posting you didn't you do the the whole timeline that indicated everything yes for the
for the search committee process yes not that didn't include necessarily the the acceptance period for the applications um I mean the committee could act on a posting deadline as well I mean that's that's I guess the let that we can I mean be fine Kristen could
take it take that on yeah I could take the timeline work off that the one concern about putting a deadline is if someone submits after the deadline that we really want to or that you all want to interview it's after the deadline versus you know open until filled so
I'll leave that as you know being the HR expert what you put in there so this way we don't rule anybody out you know I Mr chair I would say I would say I definitely would like to see um some language that says get them in as quickly as possible but but I agree it
should not be a a hard and fast deadline because again the the goal is not to limit the pool that we have so to come up with something with the chair you chair well that's of the committee but I mean I will certainly
defer to your expertise on that to see what what you think would work the best my again my goal is to be able to to hold the process to the original timeline that was set up and I know we're kind of a couple weeks beyond what we originally thinking just because you know life happens things happen with
everyone so we had to change the the meeting days just just ever so slightly so um but did you see any uh were there any clear uh differences between the 2018 version and what you would
recommend we use today no when I looked at 2018 version actually I was kind of happy that it was 2018 not 1918 absolutely so no it it it looked pretty accurate to me Mr chair at this time I I believe I
would uh move to approve the job description uh the uh we'll call it the full version of job description as the as the posting if that's if that's in order at this time um now does your motion is that including the as amended
by uh M Pico's recommendation or it under the qualification section or about 99.9% sure is Miss Dr would I ask you to just repeat that repeat that exactly what that langage it was just um so a mass superintendent assistant
superintendent lure or other state super assistant superintendent lure with eligibility for Massachusetts ler that works so would that be included in your that would that would be
including my motion yes indeed I'll second that motion okay motion made and seconded to approve the job description posting as amended is there any further discussion hearing none all in favor oppos that's
unanimous okay action agenda we took care of that action item routine matters correspondences and notices I have none topics chair could not reason anticipate 48 hours in advance of the meeting there are none there that being said I will entertain a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn second motion remain
second is there any discussion hearing none all in favor Mee adjourn