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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-10-07 School Council - Wood End Elementary Minutes611� Town of Reading Meeting Minutes liECllVf OWN CLfRN Board - Committee - Commission - Council: ADING. MATS, School Council -Wood End Elementary 1813 OCT 21 P lk%$, Date: 2013 -10 -07 Time: 3:10 PM Building: School -Wood End Location: Conference Room Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane Purpose: First Organizational Meeting of the 2013 -2014 School Year Attendees: Members - Present: Joanne King, Maureen Fennessy, Poo)a Parsons, Debbie Hattery, Frederick Van Magness, Jr. and Keri DiNapoll Members - Not Present: Mia Gaska and Stephanie Malone Others Present: None Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Frederick Van Magness, Jr. Topics of Discussion: A meeting of the Wood End School Council was held on Monday, October 7, 2013 from 3:10 p.m. until 4:25 p.m. in the conference room of the Wood End Elementary School, 85 Sunset Rock Lane, Reading, Massachusetts. Call to Order Principal Joanne King called the meeting to order at 3:10 PM. A quorum of Council Members was present, and the meeting having been duly convened, members were ready to proceed with business. Organizational Business This was the first meeting of the Wood End School Council during the 2013 -2014 school year. As such, the School Council proceeded immediately to the business of organizing itself. Mrs. King welcomed new members and asked everyone to introduce themselves to one another. She then asked for volunteers to serve as officers. Parent member Maureen Fennessy was elected to serve as Co- chair. Parent member Frederick Van Magness, Jr. was elected to serve as Recording Secretary and he proceeded to the business of recording minutes of the meeting using formatting standards suggested by Reading Town Clerk. Other members expressed their desire to assist the work of the School Council as well. Mrs. King presented members with informational materials regarding the responsibilities of the School Council under state law. She explained that those responsibilities generally include adopting educational goals for the school, identifying educational needs of students, reviewing the annual school budget, developing the school improvement plan, and reviewing the student handbook. Council members left further specific discussion of those responsibilities to the business session of the meeting (below). Page I 1 Mrs. King additionally presented Council members with documentation regarding the state Open Meeting Law and Conflict of Interest Law for Municipal Employees. She explained that the School Council is required to observe the Open Meeting Law for all of its deliberations, and that Council members are required to familiarize themselves with Its requirements. She also explained the applicability of the Conflict of Interest Law and the need for members to be aware of its requirements. Council members certified their receipt of Open Meeting Law documentation as required by the Town Clerk in writing. Approval of Minutes Minutes from the last meeting of the School Council for the 2012 -2013 were reviewed and approved by past members. Therefore, there were no new minutes needing review and approval at this meeting. Old Business This being the first meeting of the School Council for the current school year, there was no Old Business to discuss. Overview of Committee Responsibilities Mrs. King led members in a discussion of several specific responsibilities of the School Council and explained some of the issues the School Council likely will consider at its upcoming meetings. Mrs. King explained that one of the first responsibilities of School Council members will be to revise and adopt a new School Improvement Plan. Wood End's plan will be aligned with the Improvement plan promulgated by the district and needs to be submitted in November. The district's plan has three main goals /Initiatives: learning and teaching, performance management, and Investment and development. For learning and teaching, Mrs. King informed members she has identified a need for increasing student reading comprehension and writing over the next two years according to recognized benchmarks and assessments. Under the direction of Mrs. King, Wood End Is partnering with schools in North Andover to conduct an On Demand Writing Prompt Workshop for K -8 teacher enrichment to assist with this goal. There is an additional need to close the achievement gap between the high -needs subgroup for math and literacy. For performance management, Mrs. King is working on implementing Improvement in communication with staff, students and families, which she discussed while also fielding several questions from members. The consistent use of Edline Is being Implemented across the school. A new Leadership Team is improving communication between all the various stakeholders at the school, and will focus on the social, emotional, behavioral and academic success of students. Mrs. Norcross is assisting with the development of a new Student Council, which will be chosen through an essay contest and will focus on developing leadership skills. The Student Council also will assume command of community service projects, starting with a Veterans project in November. Additional parental volunteer opportunities will be developed. Finally, a program of grade -level team meetings has been established such that student progress is monitored and discussed by staff on a regular basis. These models have had success In recent implementation of new school schedules, which seem to be working well for teachers this school year. Members were given a copy of the current School Improvement Plan to review and the plan will be discussed in detail at the next meeting, preparing for its presentation to Superintendent Doherty as soon as possible. The results of family surveys also will be considered and integrated Into the plan as appropriate. Page 12 Mrs. King then discussed the process for consideration of the annual school budget, which is approximately $54,000. Last year, Wood End was able to fund professional development for staff consistent with the School Improvement Plan. Professional development remains an important priority this year. Technology is another important Initiative, including the maintenance and replacement of Smart Boards. Mrs. King also explained that the Extended Day Program, which was tested as a pilot initiative at Wood End Last year, has been extremely successful. Wood End received an additional $10,000 in retained revenue from the program last year because of its success, which allowed the school to purchase 20 new !Pad tablet computers. No specific budget items for this year were discussed at this meeting and will be discussed at future meetings. Finally, Mrs. King explained that the school handbook has undergone some recent revisions to reflect changes in state anti - discrlmination laws, new school lunch guidelines, and the new kindergarten schedule. New Business Discussion of an update regarding the Integrated Kindergarten Program was deferred until the next meeting of the School Council. Mrs. King did state, however, that despite some initial concerns from parents regarding Implementation of the new program, she has not received any negative feedback from parents about the program since Its implementation this school year, and the kindergarten teachers have given very positive feedback. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m. The School Council will resume at their next meeting on November 4, 2013. Respectfully submitted, Frederick Van Magness, Jr. Recording Secretary October 8, 2013 Page 1 3