2014-05-19 School Committee Minutes

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hearing,hereby withdraws from its obligation to enroll non-resident students in Reading Public Schools during the 2014-2015 school year for the following reason: General District Enrollment. Dr. Doherty indicated that each year the School Committee must vote to participate or not participate in the School Choice program. This program allows districts to enroll students from other towns. If the District chooses to participate it may determine the grade levels that will be accepted in the program. The Superintendent's recommendation is to not participate due to district enrollment concerns. Ms. Restuccia,parent, asked for clarification regarding School Choice as a result of the Reading Patch article. The motion carried 6-0. Mr. Croft called a brief recess to move up to Main Street for the RMHS Robockets Team demonstration. The meeting recessed at 7:14 p.m. The Robockets Team demonstrated the functions of the robot they had built for their competitions this year. Mr. Croft called the meeting back to order at 7:25 p.m. New Business(out of order) RMHS Robotics Team Presentation Caitlin Mahoney explained what First Robotics is. She described it as a varsity sport for the mind. For many the first introduction was as participants as part of the First Lego League introduced in Reading in 2007. Students that participate on the Robotics team are mentored by professional engineers. The team is required to build and compete with a robot of their own design. There is a criterion on which the robot is required to meet. The task requires the team to use more than math and science skills. All aspects of learning are incorporated. Tim Fitzgerald continued describing the make-up of the team. Last year's team consisted of 18 students and 5 mentors and this year the numbers have grown to include 30 members and 8 mentors. They are hoping to expand on those numbers for next year. Chirag Patel shared how it all started. As previously stated,many of the team members were introduced to this activity through the First Lego League that was started in the elementary schools in 2007. In the summer of 2012,this group of students entered RMHS and started the team as a continuation of the First Lego League. Last year the group did more tinkering than planning and organizing to compete in competitions. The team had a very good first year ranking 12th at the Boston Regional Competition and competing in the World Championship in St. Louis. This year the team changed their image becoming more organized to include more designing and planning. The developed specialized teams including design, mechanical, pneumatics,programming and electrical to more effectively construct Page 12