Minutes
Quincy School Committee
Professional Development - April 3, 2019
A Professional Development meeting was held on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 6:30 pm in the
Coddington Building. Present were Mr. Anthony Andronico, Mr. James DeAmicis, Mr. Doug Gutro,
Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Mrs. Emily Lebo, and Mayor Koch, Chair. Also attending were Superintendent
Richard DeCristofaro, Deputy Superintendent Kevin Mulvey; Citywide Parent Council Co-President
Courtney Perdios, Massachusetts Association of School Committees Field Service Director James
Hardy, and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.
Mrs. Lebo called the Professional Development meeting to order at 6:30 pm and turned the meeting
over to Mr. Hardy for his presentation.
Mr. Hardy reviewed that the most important responsibility of School Committee is student
achievement, which School Committee must define what that standard means. It could be
graduation, which demonstrates proficiency in the locally-defined standards. School Committee
practices are related to student achievement and the School Committee and Superintendent are a
governance team in this mission. Effective leadership to support student achievement requires a
good working relationship – a model for all others in the school system. School Committee practices
impact student achievement; positive attributes include shared vision of high expectation; fostering
strong relationships; focus on accountability; using data to monitor progress (and identify what you
want to be measured); lead as a united team; collaboration builds trust and trust builds respect.
Strong School Committee and Superintendent collaboration is important, differences can be
presented in a respectful manner. Effective School Committee~Superintendent Teams understand
and respect for different, yet complimentary roles; agree on how to operate and communicate; focus
on policy, district goals; willingness to devote time needed to do the job well; efficient, business-like
meetings; frequent informal conversations (i.e., workshops); presence of trust and mutual respect.
School Committee is governance and Superintendent is management. School Committee is mission &
vision, goals, policy, budget, authorize, and monitor. (What, Why, How Much) Superintendent is
strategies, action plans, regulations, and procedures. (How, Who, When, Where)
Operating Protocols are a set of ground rules created, maintained, and periodically revised by School
Committee members and the Superintendent. They are a set of common preconditions that enable
groups of people to work together civilly and productively. The protocols can be used for School
Committee self-evaluation. All members have to buy in for these to work and they will have to be
revisited when there is an election and new members or an administrative change. Protocols are
voluntary, but can be formalized as a Policy, which makes it harder to update. Operating protocols
are not meant to stifle dissent or control information. Protocols can articulate and preserve what is
going well and identify what needs improvement. They can increase the efficiency of committee
meetings and allow the Committee to focus its energy and effort and work as a team. Protocols
typically cover who the School Committee represents, how it will do business, how it will
communicate, how it will improve, what are the limits of power, and what happens when things go
wrong. Effective protocols are publicly posted and announce that the School Committee is seeking to
be more effective and raise student achievement.
Mayor Koch left the meeting at 7:30 pm.
Mr. Hardy said it will take several meetings to develop these protocols, brainstorm, draft, revise, edit,
and adopt.
Mrs. Lebo said the goal of protocols would be to help clearly define what School Committee is asking
for from the Superintendent.
Mr. Hardy suggested that School Committees approach a topic from the areas they can impact: is
more funding needed to address or make something more effective. There should be one mission for
the district, school and program missions are derivative from this.
Mrs. Lebo said that there is a very strategic process with the District Improvement Plan, the School
Committee needs to feel more ownership of the process.
Mr. Hardy suggested that prior to the next meeting, School Committee look at the sample protocols
presented and review the Policy and see if what is in there is formal enough. Start thinking about
meetings and how they would like to see them structured. There are no sacred cows, everything is
up for discussion. Ultimately, School Committee may decide to retain a lot of what they have.
Mrs. Lebo made a motion to adjourn the Professional Development at 8:00 pm.