Lawrence School Council 

Meeting Minutes 

Monday, January 3, 2022 

6:00 – 7:00 p.m. 

Attendees: 

Thomas Bushy - Principal/Chair 

Carmela Mayeski - Teacher Rep/Secretary 

Lori Duerr, Superintendent 

Patrick Murphy, Director of Finance and Operations 

PTO Attendees, various other individuals 

• The Meeting began at 6:03 pm 
• Superintendent’s Presentation on the Budget (July 2022 to June 2023) 

o How the budget is determined/meeting needs money vs needs 

o ESSER Funding will be disappearing 

▪ 90 personnel were hired for Covid 

▪ 60 were retained for 21-22 SY 

▪ More additional staff will be released next year as well (30-40 layoffs) 

o Continue to Strengthen Community Engagement 

o Enrollment is up again in kindergarten (250, last year was 206): Hard to discern staffing needs with changing numbers 

o Free and Reduced Lunch has decreased from 46% to 37% 

• Budget Discussion with PM 

o Majority of budgetary funds come from the town 

o Chapter 70 contributes 7 million 

o Majority of funds go to staffing 

o Increases in funding have been reliable and consistent 

o School Choice also supplements the budget 

o District is high percentage of higher tier, experienced faculty which leads to higher staffing costs 

o Higher costs for masks, COVID supplies, etc. needs will outlast funding from the State and Federal Government. 

o Entitlement grants, Chapter 70 and Non-salary costs remain stable while out-of-district tuitions continue to fluctuate. 

• 2022-2023 Superintendent’s Budget Specifics FY23 

o $52,950,000 requested from the town which is a 2.8% increase over FY22. 

• Comments and Questions 

o School Choice Numbers? 168-169 

o School Enrollment (current) numbers available online?-No 

o Have had to add 0.5 ELD teacher each year for student needs, one has already been added this year 

o Is there a possibility of redistricting to counter staffing disparities between Elementary schools-Has been tabled due to COVID issues, will be studied (1 year) if things continue to improve with COVID.

o Can we have a discussion about starting earlier? Agreed upon by the union and School Committee. 

o Relationships and Field trips with WHOI have been reinstated, continuing to communicate to reestablish those relationships (2 of WHOI’s buildings are still working from home) o Do we plan for contingencies? Money is built into the budget and funds have been utilized for those purposes. 

o Adding back Portuguese? Were plans before COVID to bring this into younger grades and back to the high school. Will become part of the program in the future. Adding it in as a special in elementary and a course for LAW and FHS as a language. 

o Expanding Bridge Program. at LAW to match HS? Currently have a program in place, with 1 student, still budgeting for this program. Notify pediatricians and family about this program? Perhaps we need to make families aware of this option at LAW. -Increased School Adjustment Counselors to meet the needs of the students. 

o Lack of Bus drivers?-Doing okay, had to change bus routes to reduce bus needs. Will be unlikely to go back to what we did previously as there are just not enough drivers. o Will less buses save us money in the long run: Increase in gasoline and decrease in number of hours, keeps it about the same. 

• Prospective Dates for future School Council Meetings (may be amended if necessary) o Monday, February 7, 2022 

o Monday, March 7, 2022 

o Monday, April 4, 2022 

o Monday, May 2, 2022 

o Monday, June 6, 2022 

Budget Meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.