2023-06-08 School Committee Minutes

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A question was asked about additional course work or programming the team believes could be useful to develop some of the prerequisite skills to compete at a higher level. The team believes shop or metal working classes would be helpful for students to come in with more of an understanding about what they will be doing when working on a robot. AP Computer Science classes are great for getting people into robotics from the start. The pathway courses offered by the high school are beneficial, and it would be great to add some higher-level courses. The committee took a break at 8:35pm. Mr. Brandt called the regular session back to order at 8:45pm. Ms. Nazzaro motioned to move section E3 out of order. All in favor; vote passed 6-0. E. New Business 3. RMHS Instructional Leadership Team Update Dr. Milaschewski shared that across the district a focus area this year was to implement instructional leadership teams (ILTs) in each school. This work has been implemented by Mr. Kevin Tracey and Ms. Jessica Callanan at RMHS. Ms. Callanan presented a brief opening discussing accomplishments and progress over the year. The team was able to provide consistent feedback aligned with the district strategic objectives. As for program development this year, there have been several programming initiatives created as well as an expanding of senior internships and introduction to pathways. Ms. Callanan and several department heads reported updates to the following departments: English, Fine and Performing Arts, Health and Wellness, History—Social Studies, Math & Business, Science, Special Education, School Counseling, and World Languages. As for looking ahead to the 2023-2024 school year, the team will be working on the following areas: holding an instructional leadership retreat in which they will discuss planned objectives, further implementation of grants, curriculum review, creation of a school wide professional development plan, program expansion such as ICP and dual enrollment, NEASC alignment with current work, and the school culture. A question was asked regarding dual enrollment and the expectation that there would be multiple offerings of classes, but now there is only one. It was explained that dual enrollment classes are included in the program of studies, but there is an asterisk denoting the classes that will be offered in 2024-2025. There was a hope for one or two more offerings in the upcoming year, but Middlesex Community College is scaling back a bit. UMASS Lowell is more the direction we are leaning to with partnership as they are expanding their dual enrollment. There are cases where we might have a Page 1 2