SECEC meeting minutes

School Enrollment and Capacity Exploration Committee (SECE)

Date: Friday, June 15, 2018                                      Time: 8:00 a.m.

Location: School Dept., Central Office, 525 Salem Street

In Attendance:                                    John Scenna (JS)

Tim Doyle, School Committee (TD)

Robert Dolan, Town Administrator (RD)

Jane Tremblay, Superintendent of Schools (JT)

Robert Priestley, Finance Committee (RP)

Chris Barrett, Board of Selectmen (CB)

Kathyrn Price (KP)

Gary Romano (GR)

Arthur Swanson (AS)

Not present:                                        John Tomasz

Public Participation: School Committee Chair Jamie Hayman spoke to his belief of schools being full v. overcrowded. However, he wants to make sure that the school district maintains the physical plant/resources required within the buildings and grounds to adequately support education at a high level and allow it to continue to grow. There were no other members of the public present.

Meeting Topics

1.    Committee voted unanimously 7-0 to appoint John Scenna Chairman

2.    Superintendent Jane Tremblay presented to the committee a history of the Lynnfield School Department enrollment and also led a discussion regarding how they go about estimating enrollment (slides are attached). JT also spoke at a high level to special education and the impact it has on education and space (i.e. pull out space for one on one teaching, tutoring; class size requirements integrated classes trigger; classroom size requirements from grade to grade)

3.    Selectman Chris Barrett explained the mission of the committee to review existing enrollment and determine if schools have adequate space for our current children and in the years to come. He states that there is a belief amongst the community that our schools are full and do not have adequate classroom space to support the current academic model and that there could be additional issues in the future especially with proposed development in town.

4.    JT and School Committee Member Tim Doyle spoke to current enrollment and classes per grade (see spreadsheet attached). TD also made note and it was reinforced by JT that the middle school has room to add additional classrooms in common areas that can be split into additional classrooms if needed. This has already been done in one area of the school and could be done in others to add up to an additional 4-6 classrooms

5.    Chairman Scenna and Town Administrator Rob Dolan then addressed next steps.

a.     Committee voted unanimously to hire a firm to conduct a demographics study that would review existing conditions and forecast out enrollment based on proposed development. Consultant would also meet with town managers, planners and real estate to understand current market trends in house sales and the extent of proposed new development. The study would be conducted by NESDEC on recommendation from JT and school business manager (final executed proposal is attached). The study would be complete after Labor Day and the proposal includes a presentation from the firm to our committee.

b.    Committee also voted to recommend that RD, Public Works and Engineering staff conduct a review of the Huckleberry Hill and Summer Street School sites for possible expansion. This would include a site plan identifying areas where additional classrooms could be added. It would also include a review of the existing septic system and whether there is capacity to add fixtures to said system.

6.    Committee also requested that RD review Census reports with City Clerk to determine what is done with that information and whether any information could be gathered from said reports that could be used within this study

7.      GR offered the use of his company resources at no charge

a.     to conduct a survey of early pre-school aged children to determine numbers at that age. He will work with JT in creating a survey, identifying pre-school locations within town and in collecting data to share with the Committee and our demographics consultant at an upcoming meeting.

b.    to poll the committee members in order to create dates most convenient for upcoming meetings. Said poll will be circulated shortly to all committee members. We are looking to see if a meeting could be held in late August to review the findings of the study mentioned in note 9 above and a second will be held after Labor Day to discuss the demographic study and formalize next steps

8. Scheduling … the overall goal is to have this report completed and ready to present to the Board of Selectman by the end of September.

John Scenna

Chairman, SECE