The meeting was opened remotely and confirmed that all voting members were able to hear the meeting as well as be heard.

Both Mark Logan and Kathleen Crawford thanked the administration and school leaders for all of their hard work over the past few weeks as we adjust to the impact of COVID-19 on our community.  The full board appreciated their patience and dedication to the students.

Nothing to report

The school has ~800 laptops that can be loaned to students & staff.  

The board requested the administration look into the cost of purchasing/leasing additional laptops for student use to support in a virtual learning style in case COVID-19 or a new flu impacts the US next winter. 

FY2021 BUDGET 
We had developed a strong preliminary draft that included all department requests and numerous revenue and expense assumptions. This preliminary draft resulted in over a $1.1M deficit. Throughout the past few weeks, we have revised dozens of accounts (purchasing using current year budgets, identifying lower cost options, and reducing/eliminating several items). We now present a draft budget with a deficit of $167,299.

This budget represents a serious effort of evaluating the current year, the number of new students we enrolled, their diverse needs, and the needs of our staff. The draft FY21 budget reflects programmatic and staffing adjustments to support our teachers and students.
Highlights:

1. Enrollment projection is 1,660.

• Current enrollment is 1,638.

2. Per pupil projection is $14,854.

• DESE projection o Deputy Commissioner indicates this the expected minimum.

3. 4% average salary increase

• This remains a priority to keep starting and existing salaries competitive.
• Each 1% increase is approximately $134,147.29.

4. Health insurance had a decrease in rates yet we report a budget increase due to:

• FRCS is increasing their contribution to 70%.
• Reducing the employee contribution to 30%.
• Budget includes anticipated new hires.

5. We plan to re-focus on food service cost.

• We believe there is a cost savings available my implementing tighter controls on ordering and service.
• We plan on partnering with 3rd part consultants to do a comprehensive review and improvement plan to streamline our food service operations.

6. We plan to focus on exterior improvements campus-wide

• Replace fencing surrounding campus with upgraded product.
• Begin retrofitting main campus drive with granite curbing and new asphalt
• Slightly increase landscape budget to continue to improve aesthetics

7. We plan to focus on cleanliness and modernization in ES & MS:

• Begin replacing all carpet in ES hallways and classrooms with laminate tile
• Repairing ES bathroom plumbing and modernizing bathrooms
• Modernize ES elevator to accommodate for SWD students
• Removing remaining fabric walls in MS and replacing with drywall

8.Continue to modernize physical plant by better managing energy usage for heating, cooling and lighting – yielding cost savings and being more environmentally responsible.

9. As we continue to ensure we have programming, staffing, and a structure to support the evolving needs of our student population.

• Teaching & Learning Increase FTE by 8: Special Education (3.5), English Language Learners (1), High School (2), District (2), Elementary School (.5).
• An additional middle school substantially separate classroom will help us service two very different groups of students, currently in the same classroom. We have students with significant behavior challenges together with students who are lower cognitively, but without behavior challenges. It is challenging to meet the very different needs of these students if they are in one classroom. This will allow us to better meet the needs of all current students and continue to prepare for ES students who will transition to MS over the next few years.
• We currently have approximately 130 ELs enrolled in our district. Trends over the past few years indicate that this number continues to rise. The passing of the LOOK (Language Opportunity for Our Kids) has begun to put more regulations around ELE in schools. In order to remain in compliance with regulations, analyze our programmatic strengths and needs, and provide PD/coaching for our ESL teachers we need a director that with ELE knowledge and expertise on staff.
• Since June of 2019, the SLP caseload has gone from 58 hours of direct service per week to 73 hours of direct service per week according to service delivery times on IEPs. The current caseload is 88 students across the district (this is an increase of 19% since June of 2019). 28 out of 30 students in our substantially separate programs alone have speech services on their IEPs (services occur multiple times a week). Along with direct services, our SLPs also provide RTI services in K, conduct assessments, write reports and IEPs, and attend IEP meetings.
• See below and the attached for a list of positions/justifications.

Location              Position                                             FTE        Type          Annual Salary ($)
DISTRICT           Speech                                               0.5          *                 30,000
DISTRICT           Curriculum Specialist                         1.0          New            75,000
ELEMENTARY    Nurse                                                 0.5          New            35,000
ELE                     Assistant Director                              1.0           New           75,000
DISTRICT           BCBA Assistant                                 1.0          New            45,000
MIDDLE              SPED Teacher                                   1.0          New            60,000
HIGH                  Science Teacher                                 1.0          New            50,000
HIGH                  Spanish Teacher                                 1.0          New            50,000
DISTRICT           Dir. of School Climate & Culture         1.0         New            100,000

*Increase – current position is .5 FTE change to 1.0 FTE
In addition to the above, we need to fill positions that were not filled this year:

• 3 ESL Teachers (2 in ES; 1 in MS)
• 1 SPED Teacher (ES)
• MS Principal

Apart from our proposed additional FTEs, we have increased a few line items in our Teaching & Learning budget. For example, we:

• Increased our HS guidance budget from $2k to $12k in order for our College and Career Readiness Center to provide more services to our students in an effort to prepare them for life beyond high school.
• Increase MS resources. We are working with our MS math consultants, our MS Math Instructional Coach, and our MS STEM teachers to secure rigorous instructional materials aligned with MA standards that will support our push in providing students with real world learning experiences so that they are better able to apply their skills and think critically, as well as problem solve independently.

We are looking into transitioning the Extended Day program from being managed by the school to the Foxborough YMCA.  These discussions have been on-going for a few years now.  They would be able to offer a more robust program including using the YMCA facilities for some of the fitness programs.  Families would contract with the YMCA directly instead of through the school although we would have the majority of the student programs on FRCS grounds.  One staff member at FRCS would be identified as the liaison to the YMCA for this program.

It should be noted that Mark Logan does sit on the Managing Board at the Foxborough YMCA and been working with the state on all the appropriate disclosures. 

Although the YMCA is a non-profit organization we will need to confirm with our bonds that this will not negatively impact them.  

Nothing to report

The school is moving to using BoardOnTrack to help manage / organize the Board of Trustees and various committees.  It is being worked on by Susanna Girard and Kathleen Crawford.  Kathleen shared with the staff that they should consider it as a low priority for them to have any need to utilize it's features at this time.

SAN Equipment
An updated proposal was submitted by Hub Tech on March 13, 2020.   

• The purchase price is $307,414
• Lease to own price is $342,705 (60 months)
• Lease & return price is $332.877 (60 months)

The interest rate on the lease options were both 4.36%.  We also received clarification on the terms of a lease.  There would be no cancellation of the lease mid way through. 

There was discussion on the price of the item and the current purchase price as well as the interest rate being higher that we would have liked to have seen given the world economic issues that are unfolding.  The board recognizes we need this equipment as part of our strategy to protect the school's technology infrastructure and data from future hackers.

Nothing to report

Nothing to report

Nothing to report

1. Discuss the purchase/lease of Additional Laptops for the school
2. Principal's summary of FY2021 budget requests
3. Update on Remote learning
4. Approval of the December 10, 2019 Meeting minutes
5. Vote on transportation costs for FY2021
6. Vote on the average salary increase for FY2021

The motion to adjourn was made by Matthew Yezukevich and seconded by Reem Ozone which passed unanimously by a roll call vote.