School Committee Talks on School Lunches and Possible Town Budget Negotiations

8:44 p.m. to 9:14 p.m. (104:05 to 134:30)

School Committee member Evelyn Thoren discussed a recent public input session regarding school lunches with parents. She said it mainly rotated around food.

School Committee member Barbara Skaar said she had heard 70 percent of school meals were thrown out.

School Committee member Al Thomas made a comment on how meals were not presented well and students were not allowed to exchange meals that were burnt or appeared unappealing for a properly made meal.

DiSilvio talked about corrections of misinformation on profits from the food service program, saying there were actually significant losses and those profits came from vending machines that are no longer at the schools, also talking about operational costs in the program.

Thoren also added that food variety is difficult due nutritional requirements mandated upon the schools.

Several members said additional communication was needed, particularly around restrictions the district faces.

Tiano noted that the meals made in Chelmsford elementary schools came from the same sources as other nearby towns and urged the committee to make school lunches a higher priority, but understood it had been pushed off due to other crisis needs.

The point that more lunches were being purchased was also made.

Discussion on a date for another workshop and whether that workshop would impact the district’s food department budget ensued.

It was agreed that the next workshop presentation would be in January due to parents being busy during the holidays although no set date was made.

Other topics discussed during the first workshop such as class size were recapped.

 9:14 p.m. to 9:16 p.m. (134:30 to 136:48)

Thoren gave an update on the MASC/MASS Conference and said many of the delegates there did not know what they were doing.

She also talked about various resolutions discussed there.

9:16 p.m. to 9:24 p.m. (136:48 to 144:46)

Tiano gave an update on upcoming PARCC testing, particularly on how MCAS will relate to PARCC.

On Dec. 6, a decision will need to be made on whether Chelmsford students will participate at the PARCC in addition to MCAS testing.

Additional information was forthcoming on how many rounds of the PARCC test would be given as well as other factors.

One of the major issues on the decision revolved around data relating to the testing.

9:24 p.m. to 9:37 p.m. (144:46 to 157:37)

DeSilvio provided an update on capital requests.

Last year, the town got approximately $3 million for capital expenditures, and it would be likely that the schools would get approximately the same amount, but as of right now with all of the items requested the upcoming capital amount would be $4.4 million.

The most likely cut would be a specialized $1.2 million fire truck, and at $1.6 million for the schools, there would be almost nothing for other departments.

DeSilvio said that the purchase of the truck couldn’t be split into two years and that upgrades of bathrooms at Chelmsford School being split in half would raise costs by 35 percent and said the district may have to look at some proposed technology items.

He then said that if a sacrifice was made this year, next year schools may get a larger allotment and said that while he would advocate on behalf of the committee, he believed the town had been fair in its dealings and that the current fire truck that needs to be replaced has been out of service for three months.

Committee members indicated that if cuts needed to be made to requests, the bathroom project should be delayed instead of technology issues such as new camera surveillance.

9:37 p.m. to 9:43 p.m. (157:37 to  163:01)

Rigney went over action items including relating to food service policies, the field naming proposals and other topics.

Molly Loughman of the Chelmsford Independent asked a question relating to the workshop mentioned earlier in the evening.