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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-04-07 School Council - Wood End Elementary MinutesOWN OP$p ,639'1NCOFlPOPP Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: t�ECEIVED OWN CLERK E. DING. M ;SS. School Council -Wood End Elementary 014 APR 1 Ll A IQ: 414 Date: 2014 -04 -07 Time: 3:10 PM Building: School - Wood End Location: Conference Room Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane Purpose: Regular Monthly Meeting Attendees: Members - Present: Joanne King, Keri DiNapoli, Debbie Hattery, Frederick Van Magness, Jr. Members - Not Present: Maureen Fennessy, Pooja Parsons Others Present: None Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Frederick Van Magness, Jr. Topics of Discussion: A regular monthly meeting of the Wood End School Council was held in the Conference Room of the Wood End Elementary School on Monday, April 7, 2014. CALL TO ORDER A collection of members being present, and the meeting having been duly convened, Wood End Principal Joanne King called the meeting to order at 3:12pm and proceeded with business. REVIEW AND ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Members reviewed draft minutes from the last meeting, which was held on March 4, 2014. There being no discussion, Mrs. DiNapoli moved that the minutes be accepted as drafted. Mrs. Hattery seconded the motion. The members then voted unanimously to approve the minutes. VOTE: - Minutes Accepted 4 -0 -0 OLD BUSINESS MTSS Discussion The members' review of minutes led to an impromptu further discussion of MTSS implementation, which was discussed at the last meeting. Mrs. King asked members for their recommendations regarding how she should inform parents about the initiative. Members recommended that a presentation be given to Wood End parents in the fall, which would be aimed at communicating to parents how MTSS works and that is well- intentioned. The goal of the program is not to label students but rather to use a team -based approach to assist educators in looking beyond the academic performance of students and to assess their social, emotional and behavioral needs as well. This is a process parents should find reassuring. Mrs. King asked members of the School Council for their participation in the communication process and members expressed their willingness to participate. Page 1 1 NEW BUSINESS The School Council then proceeded to its consideration of new business 2014 -2015 Budget Update Mrs. King gave members an update as to the current status of the 2014 -2015 school budget, which remains under active consideration. The budget presented to the Reading Finance Committee was approximately $485,000 over recommended funding levels. FinComm returned the budget to the Superintendent for his recommendations as to proposed cuts. Superintendent Doherty compiled a list of possible cuts collectively worth approximately $1 million and asked staff for their feedback so as to assign a priority to the different recommendations. Overall, staff voiced concern for funding the implementation of MTSS initiatives throughout the district. They also expressed a desire for professional staff to support social /emotional needs of students, which has been identified as an important priority. According to Mrs. King, current budget recommendations most likely would result in the elimination of several teaching positions district -wide, including possibly two positions at the high school and one position each at the middle school and elementary school levels (district- wide). It is uncertain how these changes would impact Wood End, if at all. In particular, Mrs. King noted that Wood End it already expecting a large population of Kindergarten students in the fall. Two kindergarten classes in addition to two RISE PreK classes is already pushing available capacity at the school, and that would make further changes in that area difficult to address. Mrs. King will continue to keep members posted as to developments with the budget process. Blue Ribbon Site Visit Preparations are nearing completion for Wood End to host a site visit by participants of the Blue Ribbon School conference later in April. The school building is already in good shape and efforts are underway to finish cleanup in preparation for the visit. Mrs. King has scheduled two school cleanup days on April 14 -15. Inside the school, parent volunteers will help washing windows and ledges, cleaning tables and dusting bookshelves and furniture. Outside, parents will help with general cleanup and landscaping. Recently, a parent volunteer helped to fix the Wood End sign in the parking lot, which had been broken over the winter. Street signs also are in the process of being finished, and Mrs. King will be working on some additional painting around the building. Mrs. King told members that she is putting together a schedule for which classrooms site visit participants will observe during their visit. There will most likely be some time at the end of the day for participants to regroup in the library afterwards. Student artwork is already being displayed throughout the building, along with postings by staff to explain how artwork relates to and is aligned with applicable Common Core standards. Camp Bournedale Update Mrs. King updated members on preparations underway for a fifth grade field trip to Camp Bournedale in late 2014. (Camp Bournedale is an environmental camp located in Plymouth, MA that works to bring students together to solve problems collaboratively in a group setting through team - building exercises.) Since the last meeting of the School Council, the School Committee officially approved the trip. On May 6, the Director of the camp will visit Wood End to make a presentation to students and staff and to answer any questions. At 7pm that same evening, the Director will visit Killam for a similar presentation to parents, which will additionally include feedback from parents of students who attended camp last year. It is hoped that student participation will be at 100 %. There will be up to 20 parent chaperones to accompany staff and students, although the camp provides sufficient personnel to administer the program on their own. The trip is estimated to cost $200 per student, with about one - quarter of the cost hopefully paid from school funds. 2014 -2015 School Planning Mrs. King briefed the members on expectations for staffing at Wood End during the next school year. The incoming Kindergarten class is expected to be very large, which will result in two full -day classes and one half -day class. Page 1 2 Kindergarten screening will take place on April 30 and May 1, with a total of five screening sessions consisting of ten to eleven students each. Students at the screening sessions will rotate through a group activity and several one -on -one evaluation stations. Screening is especially important this year as there are expected to be over 30 families who will be new to the Wood End community with students in the incoming Kindergarten class. Mrs. Hattery volunteered to help Mrs. King with the screening registration process. There will also be two preschool class sessions -- one four -day and one five -day session. There will be two first grade classes, two second grade classes (one fewer than this year), and three classes each for third, fourth and fifth grades. This will result in some teachers having to change their grade teaching assignments for next year. Mrs. King has distributed class assignment surveys for parents to complete with their feedback, and so far there have been several surveys received. Members told Mrs. King that they thought questions on the survey were helpful. Surveys are due April 18. Wood End recently recognized Teacher Appreciation Week, and Mrs. King and the members wished to express their appreciation for the efforts of all those who organized the week's activities. Staff were very grateful for their recognition and were very impressed by all of the efforts. Finally, Mrs. King mentioned that she is looking for additional members of the School Council. Ideally, there is supposed to be equal representation between parents and staff on the School Council. Mrs. King asked members for the recommendations of any parents who might be interested in serving next year. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the School Council adjourned at 4:05 pm to meet again at its next regular meeting to be held on May 5, 2014. Respectfully submitted, Frederick Van Magness, Jr. Recording Secretary April 8, 2014 Page 1 3