In light of the State’s new policy mandating fingerprinting of all school employees, members of “The Joint” must now figure out its own policy regarding how to fingerprint others, such as parent volunteers, who take part in school activities.
“The CORI (Criminal Offender Record Check) is still there,” said Superintendent Doug White. “And CORIs are done on a regular basis.”
CORI checks, however, only report on criminal activity documented within the State of Massachusetts. The new fingerprinting law extends that search nationwide.
During the September 11 meeting, White suggested that anyone who is responsible for taking a student off on their own – that is, any individual tasked with one-on-one supervision of students and/or anyone tasked with supervising a group of students – should be fingerprinted.
Then there are parents volunteering on field trips. The policy could require that parent volunteers pay for their one-time fingerprinting at a cost of $35.
“I want the parents to want to volunteer,” said Rochester School Committee member Jennifer Kulak. “I’m not too sure I’m comfortable with that level.” She said parents who would supervise a group of students overnight should be required to undergo fingerprinting, but classroom volunteers? “I’m not sure we have to set the bar that high.”
Mattapoisett School Committee Chairman James Higgins agreed.
“I don’t think we should charge for volunteering,” said Higgins.
Marion School Committee Chairman Joseph Scott concurred and expressed concern that the move might inhibit volunteerism at the schools. He wondered if the funds from student accounts might cover the cost.
Marion School Committee member Christine Winters, who also sits on the Budget Subcommittee, said it is important the committee brainstorm now and get the first read of the initial draft done, so the subcommittee can revise it and send it back to The Joint for approval as soon as possible.
“We always say they’re living, breathing policies,” said Winters. “But it’s good to have something in place.” She added that the policy could always be revisited further in the coming months.
Also during the meeting, The Joint considered consolidating school committee meetings in order to more efficiently relay information to all school committees while reducing the number of meetings key central administrative staff had to attend.
White, who attends all five times the five school committees meet every month, often gives the same presentation multiple times to all the multiple school committees. He suggested banding together two school committees during one evening to attend White’s presentation and then convene their own individual meetings.
“I would be in favor of minimizing the number of meetings that we have to go to,” said Higgins.
White suggested that certain topics, such as reporting MCAS scores, could be delivered to multiple school committees all at once instead of four times individually, referring to the concept as “an economy of words.” This would eliminate two meetings per month for some admin staff.
“I don’t know if that alleviates the problem,” said Higgins. “I don’t think two meetings goes that far.”
Marion School Committee member Christine Marcolini said she would support admin staff, like the facilities director, food service director, and director of student services attending meetings on an as-needed basis rather than attending every meeting.
“I think that’s appropriate,” said Mattapoisett School Committee member James Muse, adding that a combination of the two ideas might offer a solution.
The committee discussed having back-to-back meetings of two school committees one evening each month, with one convening first, then White addressing both committees, followed by the convening of the second committee.
“I’d love to only do twice instead of four,” said White. He said two is better than four when it comes to school committee meetings.
In other matters, White gave a slide presentation outlining his individual professional evaluation goals for the school year.
Some highlights included supervision and use of the superintendent rubric to score White’s performance.
“Now that I have Patrick (new Business Administrator Patrick Spencer),” said White, “I’d rather be in the schools than in my office communicating through email.”
White called his presentation “a conversation on where we want to be.” Much of the information the committee will use to score White’s performance will be based on self-assessment and White’s own data. Higgins said he found difficulty in this type of set-up, with White reporting to the committee on how he has been performing.
“It’s one source,” said Higgins. “I think it’s hard to ask committee members to give him status, to give him feedback, when the only source is him.” Higgins said the situation calls for more of a “board of directors scenario.”
“If the numbers are good and the progress is good, you give them the thumbs up,” said Higgins. If progress is poor, he continued, then you get further information from other sources.
The next meeting of the Joint School Committees is scheduled for November 13 at 6:30 pm at the Old Rochester Regional Junior High School media room.
By Jean Perry
