The Plympton School Committee met on Monday, March 27. Dennett Elementary School Principal Peter Veneto provided an update. He said that current enrollment stands at 241 students. Veneto said that the School Psychologist Mrs. Jenkins had a baby boy in March. He also said that on March 16 the Dennett students performed at the All-Band District Concert. “This is something that did not even exist seven, eight months ago… they did a great job.” Veneto also said that they recently held their school talent show. He thanked Mrs. Hemple, Mrs. Hickey, Mrs. Sheehan, Mrs. Prario, and Mrs. Murphy for their work on the talent show. Veneto noted that there were a lot of school events upcoming with spring on the horizon. Those include Field Day, Future Laker Day, Ride Your Bike to School Day, and potentially a blood drive in June.
Veneto said, “The Fire Department came down to do lessons with all our students from kindergarten to Grade 6. They did a great job, and the kids really got a lot out of it: I witnessed some kids playing jeopardy games; I saw fifth and sixth grade kids actually putting on helmets and jackets and putting out a live fire.” He thanked Captain John Sjostedt.
Regarding contract negotiations, the Committee voted to approve the contract with the teachers for a three percent increase over the next three years. They also voted to approve the aides’ contract at a three percent increase over the next two years.
Committee member Jason Fraser spoke on behalf of two updated policies. “These are the policies that we spoke about a meeting or two ago… one on surveys being given to our students here at the Dennett and some of the polices and protocols we would like to see in place to ensure that parents have all due notice, both the fact that they are coming, the content of the questions, access to the questions, and contact people for opting-out and also the guidance office reaching out,” Fraser said. “The security policy has to do with who has access to our security cameras and under what situations,” he explained regarding the second policy. The Committee voted unanimously to accept the policies.
Fraser also touched on SEL (social and emotional learning). “The SEL working group is actually a mixture of School Committee, parents, administrators, and teachers working together to try and bring programming that is consistent within the school building to have consistent expectations within the building, consistent language from classroom-to-classroom K-6,” Fraser explained. “I appreciate being part of the group… I appreciate the teachers who volunteered to help with the early work, but this is really something that we’re going to have to wrap our arms around and really join as a community to make sure we are supporting our kids here,” Fraser said.
The Legislative report was given by Fraser who said that remote participation will be extended until March of 2025. “Extra dollars to make sure that the free school meals for all we hope to go through June 30,” Fraser explained. He continued, “Other than that, the House Ways and Means Committee has had some testimony delivered to them for some of the other items that we would like to see included in this year’s budget, but nothing has been reported out.” May 4 will be MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees) Day on the Hill. He said that people will be invited to hold meetings with their State representatives and State Senators.
Superintendent Jill Proulx told the Committee that Silver Lake Youth Cheer wished to have registration flyers sent home with students advertising the program. Proulx made it clear that despite their name, they are not affiliated with the school. Similarly, Silver Lake Hoops, which is a private program not affiliated with the schools either, also wished to have their flyers distributed in the schools. Proulx noted that the program has been running in the district for at least as long as she has been there. The Committee voted to approve.
Committee Chair Jon Wilhelmsen told the Committee that the school would have a warrant article at the upcoming town meeting for $30,000 to complete work on the three classroom floors that were requested. There will also be an article at the special town meeting to move $60,000 from out-of-district vocational and then another still undetermined amount to be transferred from regular day as there was some surplus there. They will also need another transfer from some other town source. “Just to clarify all of the transfers are for this year to supplement our special education line due to some changes in tuition and education that were not anticipated in last year’s budget,” Wilhelmsen explained.
Regarding the additional surfacing that needs to be laid on the playground. Director of Business Services Christine Healy said that they can use the Mass Higher Education Consortium to lay the surfacing. This would allow for it to be done as quickly as possible, ideally as soon as school wraps for the year.
Regarding solar panels, Wilhelmsen told the Committee that they likely noticed some paneling already on the building. “They’re moving fast with that; they’re moving forward in April,” he said. He noted that the town would be paying to have five or six different boxes that will be added to the building. They won’t all be able to be placed at ground level so siding will be removed from a section to put in a proper backer board. This would allow for siding to be replaced in the future without disrupting the board.
Wilhelmsen told the Committee that they had some equipment in the Dennett kitchen to be declared surplus. Nutrition Director Megan Ahrenholz asked that the Committee vote to approve declaring both the steamer and steam kettle as surplus as she has a grant to purchase updated equipment. “It’s important to note that… some of the equipment we are getting rid of has been here for 50 years so it’s definitely time for an upgrade and I’m sure it will have a significant impact on our electricity bill,” Wilhelmsen said.
Proulx said that the next meeting would be the school choice hearing which is held annually. The meeting will be on Monday, April 24.