Board of Education Finance Committee Meeting Minutes

July 16, 2009

BOARD OF EDUCATION

FINANCE COMMITTEE

JULY 16, 2009

ATTENDANCE: Jody Bishop Pullan, Chair; Jack Chiaramonte, Glenn Iannaccone

STAFF: Dr. Dan Cook, Finance Director, George Giannitti, Norwalk Public Schools

OTHERS: Rosa Murray, Board Chair; Greg Burnett, Board Member.

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Bishop-Pullan called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 11, 2009

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED THE MINUTES OF JUNE 11, 2009

** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JUNE 11, 2009 AS SUBMITTED.

REVIEW MINUTES OF THE BOE MEETING OF JUNE 18TH AND FINAL RECONCILIATION DOCUMENT (SEE ATTACHED #3 AND #4)

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that the Board had decided to table the minutes from the Special Meeting where the final budget reconciliation was completed, so that the Finance Committee could review them. The Committee then reviewed the minutes from the Finance Committee and checked the figures listed in the minutes against the figures from the budget. Dr. Cook will review the figures from the meeting to insure than all the figures in the minutes are accurate. Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she matched all the figures listed in the budget to the figures in the minutes.

REVIEW OF THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM – UPDATE ON LUNCH COLLECTIONS, RECOMMENDATION OF HS AND MS PROTOCOL FOR SEPTEMBER 2009( SEE ATTACHMENT) AND REVIEW OF AUTOMATED PAYMENT AND ACCOUNT PAYMENT AND ACCOUNT BALANCE SYSTEM (SECOND REVIEW.)

Dr. Cook distributed a copy of the latest draft (#5) to the Committee members and gave them a brief overview of the plan. An additional section addressing the Elementary School has been added to the plan to address accounts that are in arrears. Dr. Cook said that the steps that the District had taken this past year, the debt had been greatly reduced. He said that he felt that there would be further reductions in the outstanding debt during the coming year.

Ms. Murray asked who the cafeteria managers were. Mr. Giannitti said that it was a different person at each location. He said that the managers know the children and are concerned about the children. A discussion followed regarding handling the very young students in first and second grade. Dr. Cook said that it would be important to watch the comfort level of the staff and the student responses. Dr. Cook said that there had been some incidents where calls were made to the parents and he and Mr. Giannitti sensed there was a deeper issue to be address. At that point they turned the issue over to the school administration and social workers.

Dr. Cook said that because a step had been added by having the parent contacted by the Cafeteria Manager, the automated phone call that had been used previously was deleted.

Dr. Cook pointed out that from now on, outstanding balances would be carried forward to the next year. He was then asked what would happen with the seniors. Mr. Giannitti said that the seniors must settle up their outstanding financial charges just as they do with lost books and library fines so they can attend graduation.

Mr. Giannitti said that one parent arrived the day before the school ended to sign their child up for Free and Reduced lunch only because that child would then qualify for a reduced fee for the swimming lessons offered by Recreation and Parks. Dr. Cook explained that there were over 700 new students who were signed up for the Free/Reduced Lunch program now since October 1, 2008.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked how this new program would be implemented. Dr. Cook said that the Food Service Procedures would be sent home, automated phone calls, and that there were other means of reaching out.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that Dr. Moore said that she some remarks. She said that debt collection was a major portion of the work that the administration does. This includes lost textbooks, damaged equipment and many other things. She said that when she came to the school in the 90’s the percentage of students in the Free/Reduced program was 20% range. Now it is in the 30% range. She said that when she first arrived at West Rocks, the students who did not pay for two lunches were given cheese sandwiches. The principals called the parents and the parents knew the principals. When the food service became centralized, the calls were made from someone they don’t know. She also cautioned Mr. Giannitti about embarrassing the younger children in line.

Dr. Moore said that now was the time to start working on the Free/Reduced lunch program. The processes have not been in place and now they need to be created. Giving the child something to take home in the backpack was not necessarily reliable. Dr. Moore asked if Marilyn had been asked for feedback on this since she was a former elementary school teacher. Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she had concerns about the cafeteria staff handling this. Dr. Cook said that was why it was important to have the principal and the staff involved.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked who would be writing the letter. After a brief discussion, it was decided that the letter would come from the principals. Ms. Bishop Pullan asked if it could be presented as a report on August 4th for discussion. Dr. Moore offered Dr. Cook a copy of her Free/Reduce Lunch program letter.

Mr. Mellion said that on the draft for the Elementary School, there was no total debt and he wished to know if there was a cap for this. Mr. Giannitti said that there was no cap for elementary. With the middle and high schools there are other issues.

Mr. Burnett asked how the clock would work on the implementation of the debt. Dr. Cook said that after some discussion on this, it was decided that there would be a cash level before the cut off.

Dr. Moore said that she had some concerns about the State requirement that Special K with milk, fruit, and a slice of bread because the student might be bullied by others for having a different lunch since cereal is not normally served for lunch. She also pointed out that Naramake and Nathan Hale have a lower percentage of Free/Reduced Lunch rates. Because of this, other schools have to work harder at collections simply because of the economic situations.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked why Special K was being served. Mr. Giannitti said that apparently having the alternative cheese sandwiches was not a problem for the students. The cereal was chosen because it covers the State requirements and is definitely different.

Ms. Murray asked if the processes were working. Dr. Cook said that the processes were now standardized and was working out well. This coming year, the parent will be able to deposit funds via credit card. Cash vouchers are also available to the cashiers for additional accountability.

UPDATE ON MAIL ROOM CONSOLIDATION WITH THE CITY. TO BE REVIEWED WITH THE FULL BOE ON JULY 21ST AND VOTED ON AT THE AUGUST 4TH MEETING.

Dr. Cook said that he and Mr. Giannitti had met with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Foley about the various tasks that both the City and the District are doing in regards to mail room services. Savings could be had simply by dividing Norwalk in half and having one driver start on the southern most point and heading north, picking up mail from the various locations as he or she travels.

There were also major expenses in terms of the automatic postage meters leasing. By consolidating the mail in one central location, presorted and bundled. Dr. Cook said that the last report card mailed out were gathered up, sorted by the mail room service and mailed. The District saved .05¢ on each piece, which resulted in $600 savings by doing this and the parents received the report cards the next day. Mr. Foley is working on creating an RFP for mail services.

Mr. Iannaccone asked if there were any savings regarding employees. Dr. Cook said that the program would be starting off slowly, but the group was also considering bringing the print shop and the large copier back to Central Office in the future.

Ms. Murray asked how many staff were employed in the mail room operations. Dr. Cook said that there was one full time employee and a part time employee. The City has a one full time person that is employed by a service. By combining the service, that would be 2 full time employees and a part time employee.

The discussion then moved to the bulk mailing permits and whether this would be cost effective.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Mr. Mellion said that he was in Washington D.C. and the conference was about A.R.R.A. He then handed each of the Board members a packet of information, including a A.R.R.A. Funding Chart. He added that he had picked up a number of information packets and would bring more to the next full Board meeting. Mr. Mellion said that some of the money had already been distributed to the State and the question was whether or not Connecticut got its share. He said that many people were frustrated.

Mr. Iannaccone said that he was at a CABE conference recently and it was stated that the State of Connecticut had some problems acquiring these funds.

Mr. Mellion said that Hartford was being very slow in releasing information and moving forward with these funds.

Ms. Murray said that it would be important to be united and stay on the same page.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO ADJOURN.

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes

Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Committee Minutes