2004-06-14 School Committee Minutes

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Regular Session -2- June 14, 2004 Associate Superintendent Richards gave an update on the middle school parent survey, which is on line at www.surveymonkey.com/readin . He went on to say that the Readingdashboard. com is up and running since June I&. Superintendent Schettini stated that June 17th is the last day of school. Chair McFadden stated that on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 the Barrow's faculty would tour the new school. Superintendent Schettini stated that he and Mr. McFadden met with Killam parents. Superintendent Schettini gave a presentation overview. He presented a chart with the enrollment as of June 14, 2004. He pointed out six problem enrollment areas. He stated that he has to watch all six areas carefully especially the second grade at Joshua Eaton. He reviewed the remedies presented by parents and their impact. The first recommendation is to move the Special Education Resource Room (Room 24) to the Hi- D open area and hire an additional teacher. There is no privacy in that area and there would be confidentiality issues. It is not handicap accessible. There is also the cost of adding a teacher. The second recommendation would be to bus two half-day kindergarten sections (35 students) from Killam to Barrows (at the new school) and hire an additional .5 teacher. The cost of the bus would be $45,000, the cost of the .5 teacher $27,000 and classroom materials of $5,000 for a total of $77,000. The third remedy would place a cap on the Killam fourth grade enrollment. Number four would reduce Birch Meadow grade four by one teacher, add a grade four teacher to Killam and bus two sections of half-day kindergarten from Killam to Birch Meadow. Number five would allow students who move voluntarily from Killam grade four to Birch Meadow grade four to remain at Birch Meadow for their fifth grade year. Number six involves the reallocation of educational assistants to address high enrollment grades. Superintendent Schettini gave a presentation of the third grade Spring MCAS reading test results. Killam third grade has the highest percentage of proficiency in Reading. He stated that the third graders are indeed learning. Scores across the district are good. He went on to give the 2003 Fall Grade 3 Gates-MacGinitie Test Results which shared similar district wide results.