Farmington River Regional School District
Otis/Sandisfield
555 Main Road, Otis MA 01253
School Committee Meeting #417
Monday, June 6, 2022, 7:00PM
Farmington River Library
Members Present: Carol Lombardo, Carl Nett, Deb Fogel, Arlene Tolopko, Jess Drenga, Roger Kohler, Amanda Leavenworth, Tom Nadolny, and Eric Jesner.
The meeting was call to order at 7:00 PM by Carol Lombardo. At that time, she passed the meeting on to Tom Nadolny for reorganization of the School Committee Members. Tom Nadolny asked for a motion to vote on a member to be Chair of the School Committee. Deb Fogel nominated Carol Lombardo. Arlene Tolopko seconded the motion. The School Committee unanimously approved the vote. Tom asked for a motion to vote on a member to be Vice Chair. Roger Kohler motioned to nominate Deb Fogel as Vice Chair. Carl Nett seconded the motion. Carol Lombardo motioned to nominate Jess Drenga. Deb Fogel seconded the nomination. The School Committee voted 4-3 in favor of Jess Drenga as Vice Chair of the School Committee.
Community participation. Paul Adams was present to ask the School Committee if they could think about continuing remote access to the meetings. Paul also asked if Principal Nadolny would think about going back to a rotation process for the fourth -6th graders. Tom responded by stating he is in the works of possibly rotating Math and ELA. Due to COVID, rotations were discontinued.
Linda Curtis was in to speak about the possibility of bringing back the mask policy for the rest of the school year. This topic is on the agenda and will be discussed at that point in the meeting.
- Principal/Superintendent updates. Tom Nadoly updated the Committee on the past month. Test and stay program is still in process. If a student or staff member has symptoms, they are tested and either sent home if positive or stay if negative. There were eight cases of COVID. All are back and doing fine. After school programs end on June 16th. The musical/play is June 10th. The concert is June 15th. Field Day is Saturday June 11th but may need to switch to Friday June 10th. If switched, Saturday will be a traditional half day of school. Graduation is on June 17th at 1 PM. Last day of school is June 21st. This day is a half day. There are staff members who have retired. Jeff Gray, Head of Maintenance, Denise Zuidema, School Nurse, and Kendra Rybacki, Director of Food Services. Candy Chaffee has resigned as Food Director Assistant. There are many resumes for the Food Director already. There are a few that are fully qualified, and credentialed. One applicant for the nursing position has been interviewed and is interested but will get back in touch with Tom. Tom wanted the School Committee to be aware of pay increases for the two positions discussed, as well as the Head of Custodian. Summer cleaning services will be contracted out since Mr. Gray is retired. Tom introduced one of the new Co-Presidents of the Teacher’s Association, Sarah Tracy. Rebecca Hamill is the other Co-President.
- Discuss and vote on reinstating the Mask Policy. Arlene Tolopko motioned to reinstate the Mask Policy. Deb Fogel seconded the motion. A vote was taken. Reinstating the Mask Policy was denied five members to two members. Arlene Tolopko and Deb Fogel were the no votes.
- Discuss and vote on the Business Manager’s contract. A motion was made by Deb Fogel to approve the Business Manager’s contract as discussed in Executive Session. Jess Drenga seconded the motion. A question was raised concerning the period in which the Business Manager needs to provide before leaving the position. Tom explained the period given is for departing at the end of the school’s year. The vote was unanimously approved in favor of the Business Manager’s contract.
- Financial updates. Eric passed around the FY22 budget for everyone to review, and he answered any questions by the Committee.
- Vote on line item adjustments. Eric needs approval from the School Committee to adjust line items to cover some accounts. This does not change or interfere with the overall budget. There was a motion by Carl Nett to approve the line-item adjustments. Deb Fogel seconded the motion. The vote was unanimously in favor of approving the line-item adjustments.
- Discuss and vote on not holding a July School Committee meeting. Arlene Tolopko motioned to not have a July School Committee meeting. Deb Fogel seconded the motion. The vote was unanimously in favor of not having a School Committee meeting in July.
- Carol added the vote to approve May’s minutes to the agenda. Arlene motioned to add May’s minutes to the agenda as amended. Jess seconded the motion. Carol added the minutes because the minutes were not listed on the agenda for approval. The correction is to add the adjournment to May’s minutes. The vote was unanimously in favor of approving May’s minutes as amended.
- A motion to adjourn the meeting was given by Deb Fogel and seconded by Arlene Tolopko. The vote was unanimous to adjourn the meeting. 7:44 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Teresa Dellagiusitna, Secretary to the School Committee
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