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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-20 School Committee Minutes f.4� Q Town of Reading rb, Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee Date: 2014-10-20 Time: 7:00 PM Building: School - Memorial High Location: Superintendent Conference Room Address: 82 Oakland Road Purpose: Open Session Session: General Session Attendees: Members - Present: Linda Snow Dockser John Doherty, Superintendent Jeanne Borawski Martha Sybert, Director of Finance Chuck Robinson Craig Martin, Assistant Superintendent Gary Nihan Carolyn Wilson, Director of Student Services Chris Caruso Elaine Webb Members - Not Present: Others Present: Andrea Nastri, Student Representative Carl Gillies, Student Representative Al Sylvia, Reading Chronicle Carla Pennacchio, ELL Teacher Karen Feeney, Joshua Eaton Principal Joanne Senders, Reading Advocate Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: John F. Doherty, Ed.D. Superintendent Topics of Discussion: I. Call to Order Chair Caruso called the School Committee to order at 7:02 p.m. He reviewed the agenda and welcomed guests. II. Recommended Procedure A. Public Input (I) Chair Caruso called for public input. Marianne Downing, Eaton parent, commented on her concerns regarding the action plan to address the MCAS test scores at Joshua Eaton. She asked if there was a correlation between the MCAS scores and the new standards based report card. She also expressed concerns regarding overcrowding at the Joshua Eaton and asked if large class sizes are a contributing factor to the decline in MCAS scores. Page I 1 Eileen Manning, Eaton parent, also expressed concerns regarding the action plan. She feels there should be measurable steps, communication with parents and the process should be as transparent as possible. Dr. Doherty assured the parents that the administration is addressing the MCAS concerns and have started by adding Title 1 funds to Joshua Eaton to provide for tutoring for any student that needs help in math and ELA. He also indicated that there is much going on in preparation for the next steps. Ms. Feeney shared that she has been working diligently with her staff to complete a state assessment tool to evaluate the needs. She will be working with the School Advisory Council to gather input from parents and using a blog, twitter and Facebook to reach out to parents. Addressing these concerns needs to be a collaborative effort between parents,teachers and the community. Dr. Doherty pointed out that the use of assessment tools goes beyond MCAS. We will be looking at the entire school to determine what is working and what is not. The solutions need to be sustainable, it is not meant to be a quick fix. Sheri VanderAkker, Eaton parent, asked if the self-assessment results would be accessible. Dr. Doherty said that information will be available after it has been completed. Ms. VanderAkker felt that perhaps changes be made to the make-up of the School Council. Gina Martin, Eaton parent asked that Ms. Feeney's blog be tied to Edline. B. Reports Students Student Representative Gillies reported that the top 6 RMHS golfers competed in the state tournament,the football team will be playing for the Middlesex League title this week and the Infant HIV Awareness Project will be holding a fundraiser. Student Representative Nastri reported that the Rocket Bell has returned from being repaired. The annual Drama Club's Shocktoberfest event is this Friday in the Performing Arts Center and a group from the Chorus attended the 2014 Terezin Music Foundation Gala at Symphony Hall. Sub-Committee Mrs. Borawski reported on the recent Recreation Committee meeting. She shared that the Recreation Department held several programs on the recent in-service daffy and will be hosting the first annual Downtown trick or treat event on October 29' . Dr. Snow Dockser followed up on Ms. Nastri's report regarding the Terezin Gala. She said it was a powerful, thought provoking experience and was glad she was able to accompany the Chorus members on the trip. Dr. Snow Dockser also attended the Parker MCAS presentation and thanked Mr. Lyons for providing a thorough understanding of the MCAS data. Page 12 Mrs. Webb reminded the community of the upcoming World Café event on Thursday night in the field house. The event will be an open dialogue with members from several communities on opioid abuse. She also reminded the community of the Financial Forum on October 29th C. New Business (out of order) Joshua Eaton School Presentation Principal Karen Feeney began by saying that work was done over the summer to review the school's vision. The vision was changed to "Jaguars make all things PAWS-sible"by practicing compassion, acting responsible, working towards success and showing respect. Once the vision was revised, implementation of the Multi-Tiered System of Student Support (MTSS) for behavior at Joshua Eaton was begun. The MTSS process includes supporting each student's social, emotional and academic needs through the analysis of data and grade level team collaboration to identify the supports that may be needed for each student. MTSS is part of the districtwide vision and there is a need for consistency for behaviors, expectations, and interventions. This consistency is important for the students as well as the adults in the building. The vision was used to develop a Behavior Matrix that would show what the core values would look like in different school environments. Students that do not exhibit appropriate behaviors will be given a "PAWS and Think" sheet. The student will meet one on one with the teacher to review the behavior and ways to choose a different option. This sheet is sent home to the parents for their review and to reinforce positive behavior. Students can also earn"SPOTS" for demonstrating positive behaviors in school. Ms. Feeney went onto explain that a SPOT Hall of Fame has been created and is a great motivator for the students. Principal Feeney continued the presentation explaining that the Student Support Teams (SST) meet every six weeks as grade level teams to look at and analyze data. Using this data they create plans to provide interventions to support learners. The SST is made up of the reading specialist, school psychologist, special education staff, speech& language pathologists and teachers. They will also meet on an as needed basis. Ms. Feeney reviewed the data sources that are referenced by the SSTs which include MCAS and Dibels assessments. The use of this data allows the teams to provide the needed services and supports for all students using the three tiers of the MTSS model. Tier Two supports provide short term interventions for students whose behavioral patterns (data) indicate they haven't mastered the skills they need to consistently practice behaviors that represent school wide values. Tier Three supports provide intensive longer term interventions to behavioral patterns (data) indicate they haven't mastered the skills they need to consistently practice behaviors that represent school wide values. This does not always mean special education. By addressing the student's social emotional behavior teachers are able to spend more time on instruction, students are identified and provided supports; teachers are able to share best practices to support each other and the students and parents receive accurate information about their child's progress. Ms. Feeney reviewed the next steps at Joshua Eaton to support student progress which include added math support to the school as well as math tutoring for Page 13 students that are low performing in math. These tutors will be funded out of the Title 1 grant. Teachers will collaborate at the district and building levels as part of the PLC work. Seven Joshua Eaton teachers recently visited neighboring districts that have been using the Math in Focus curriculum for a longer period of time. The teachers were able to observe and talk to the teachers at these schools as to what works and doesn't work when teaching. Chair Caruso thanked Ms. Feeney for sharing at tonight's meeting. Full Day Kindergarten Discussion The student representatives left the meeting at 8:09 p.m. Dr. Doherty provided an overview of full day kindergarten in Reading. Full day kindergarten was introduced during the 2005-06 school year. Each school had 1 full day classroom. At the time the demand for full day kindergarten was not as great. Over the years the demand has increased to a point where this year 71% of our kindergarten students attend full day. As demand has increased the need for classroom space has become a concern. When Wood End was built the goal was to provided dedicated music and art spaces. These spaces are now being used to accommodate the increased number of full day kindergarten students. Dr. Doherty reviewed the memorandum that was included in the packet. The School Committee asked clarifying questions on the classroom breakdown by program and current and future space needs at each school. The Superintendent went on to review the three options to address the space needs for the incoming kindergarten class. Option one was to limit the number of full day classrooms to one per building. In some cases a lottery may be needed. Option two was to limit the number of kindergarten classes to three per building and option three would be to eliminate full day kindergarten. Mr. Caruso indicated he would not entertain option three. Members of the School Committee agreed that eliminating full day kindergarten would be taking a step backwards in the best practices to meet the educational needs of our students. Dr. Doherty referred to the elementary enrollment chart and pointed out that we have been successful in balancing class sizes across the district and acknowledges that there are a couple of areas for concern. Mrs. Borawski pointed out that the Superintendent is looking for direction from the Committee for next year. Members of the audience asked questions regarding full day kindergarten and the space concerns in our elementary schools. They asked if the use of modular classrooms had been discussed as well as redistricting the elementary schools. Dr. Doherty pointed out that redistricting is not an option except for during the kindergarten registration process when we determine if there are cohorts of children that could possibly be placed in a school other than their traditional home school. We have not begun that process to determine if we will have to redistrict any students. He also pointed out that the first meeting of the Early Childhood Space Needs Working Group would be held on October 22nd and is a public meeting. Page 14 Mr. Caruso revised the agenda for the evening by postponing the second readings of the policies. Mr. Caruso called a brief recess at 9:47 p.m. The meeting was called back to order at 9:54 p.m. Coordinated Program Review Discussion Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson provided an update on Special Education and the recent Coordinated Program Review. She shared the work she has done as part of her entry plan since she began in July. She has reviewed student records and procedures, met with parents, teachers and administrators and conducted observations in the buildings. She hopes to review and identify trends and priorities, create action steps and share plans with stakeholders with the information she has gathered. Mrs. Wilson went onto describe what Special Education is, reviewed the special education beliefs and laws and regulations that drive the services provided to our students. She explained the referral and evaluation process. Any adult can refer a student for services and can be made at any time. The evaluation would address the area of suspected disability. An educational assessment is required and all evaluations are done in the schools. The evaluation process takes between 2 to 8 hours with the child and additional time to complete the report. The district has 30 days to complete the evaluation once the consent form is received and 15 days after the evaluation is done to provide the results. Student eligibility is based on the law and the questions that need to be asked include: Is the child making progress? If not is the lack of progress a result of the disability; and does the child require specially designed instruction or related service to access the curriculum. Mrs. Wilson then reviewed the six basic principles of Special Education Laws and Regulations. Parent/Student participation: Parents have to provide written consent for their child to participate in any aspect of special education, be notified of team meetings and may revoke consent at any time. Free and Appropriate Public Education(FAPE): Students with disabilities are entitled to access to free and appropriate public education and it must be "a program that is reasonably calculated to ensure meaningful benefit". Appropriate Evaluation: A student's evaluation must consider all areas of suspected disability and comprehensive enough to answer the "referral" questions and to determine if a child has one or more educational disabilities present. IEP: The IEP must be individualized to address the student's disability related weakness, must include explicit accommodations, must be reviewed annually and provide written progress reports several times a year. Least Restrictive Environment: students with disabilities are entitled to be educated alongside their peers to the greatest extent possible. Procedural Safeguards: Parent have the first and final say before any action is taken and the district or parents can ask for mediation or a due process hearing to clarify and settle any disputes. Mrs. Wilson reviewed the supports in place in Reading which include several programs, teachers, therapists and counselors. She then reported on the Coordinated Program Review conducted last spring. These reviews are conducted every three years and focus on compliance. Special Page I5 Education, Civil Rights and other General Education Requirements and ELL were the areas of focus. Interviews were conducted with administrative,teaching and support staff as well as a parent from the PAC and an ELL parent. The group reviewed student records and they surveyed parents of student with disabilities, ELL students and conducted classroom observations. We have submitted a corrective action plan for areas that were not in full compliance. Mrs. Borawski asked what we were looking for in the data. Mrs. Wilson said we will ensure that we are finding quality programming for students that require services and to continue to place students in appropriate programming. Approval of Coolidge 8th Grade Field Trip to Quebec Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to approve the Coolidge 8th grade field trip to Quebec in the spring of 2015. Dr. Doherty shared that he had met with Principal Marchant and teacher Janet Klein to review the trip. The motion carried 6-0. Approval of Coolidge 7th Grade Field Trip to Nature's Classroom Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to approve the Coolidge 7th grade field trip to Nature's Classroom in April of 2015. The motion carried 6-0. D. Continued Business III. Routine Matters a. Bills and Payroll (A) The following warrants were circulated and signed. Warrant S1516 10.9.14 $175,292.34 Warrant S1517 10.16.14 $262,419.01 Warrant P1508 10.10.14 $1,425,091.76 b. Minutes (A) Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Webb,to approve the Financial Forum minutes dated September 10, 2014. The motion carried 6-0. Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski,to approve the open session minutes dated October 6,2014. The motion carried 5-0-1. Mrs. Webb abstained. c. Bids and Donations (A ) Page 16 Donations Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to accept the donation in the amount of$1,000 from the RMHS PTO to be used to support the purchase of materials for the RMHS Library. The motion carried 6-0. d. Calendar Mr. Caruso said the School Committee will do the second readings of the policies at a future meeting. He also reminded the School Committee of the Financial Forum on October 29th IV.Information V. Future Business VI.Adjournment Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Dr. Snow Dockser, to adjourn. The motion carried 6-0. The meeting adjourned at 10:29 p.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. 1.11 i ALA F. Doherty) Ed.D. Page 17 John F. Doherty,Ed. D. Craig Martin Superintendent of Schools Assistant Superintendent for Learning and Teaching 82 Oakland Road Reading,MA 01867 Phone:781-944-5800 Martha J. Sybert Fax:781-942-9149 Director of Finance and Operations Reading Public Schools Instilling a joy of learning and inspiring the innovative leaders of tomorrow To: Reading School Committee From: John F. Doherty, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools Date: October 20, 2014 Re: Full Day Kindergarten Options for 2014-15 School Year Last year,the School Committee requested that we have discussions this fall about Full Day Kindergarten capacity given our current space restrictions in each elementary school. Table 1 shows the Full Day Kindergarten enrollment since its inception during the 2005-06 school year. Table 1-Full Day Kindergarten Enrollment 2005-present School Year FDK Total %iAttending-FOX Enrollment 2005-06 92 287 32% 2006-07 106 325 33% 2007-08 123 324 38% 2008-09 120 324 37% 2009-10 123 280 44% 2010-11 145 348 42% 2011-12 166 319 52% 2012-13 ,.177 3.02 59% 2013-14 195 287 68% 2014-15 228 322 71% As you can see from the chart,Full Day Kindergarten enrollment has increased at annual rate of approximately 4%each year. During this current school year,we have had the largest kindergarten class since 2010-11 resulting in larger kindergarten classes in most schools. Based on the latest Town of Reading Census report,there are 325, 5 year old children who live in Reading. Historically,we have found that the census is not an accurate predictor of the number of children who will sign up for kindergarten. Usually,there are fewer students that register for kindergarten than the Town Census number. Using historical patterns between census numbers and kindergarten registrations,we anticipate that we will have approximately 300 children register for kindergarten for the 2015-16 school year. Table 2 gives a breakdown, by school of how classroom space is used. Table 3 below shows the current space allocations at each elementary school for Full Day and Half Day Kindergarten. As you can see by the charts,each school is addressing their space needs differently based upon current kindergarten requests and additional space needs in special education and art/music. The Reading Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race,color,sex,gender identity,religion,national origin,sexual orientation,age or disability. Table 2-Classroom Breakdown by Program and School Program/Type Barrows Eaton Birch Wood Killam RISE Meadow End Total General 17 20 18 18 22 4 Classrooms Classrooms 18 21 18 18 22 7(2 from WE) Used Art 1 1 1 1/2 size 1 0 Music 0 0 1 1/2 size < 0 0 Special 1 2 2 2 1 1 (Learning Education (Learning (Learning (Learning (Learning (Learning Center) Center) Center; Center; Center; Center) LLD) DLC2) ILP) Other Spaces: 1 .. 1 -: 0: 0,. 2 :1' Used as General Classrooms In the table below,the assumption is made that all classrooms would revert back to their original purposes if additional space were added. Table 3-Current and Future Space Needs at Each School Program/Type Barrows Eaton Birch Wood End Killam Meadow Existing FDK Classrooms 2 3 3 2 2 Existing HDK Classrooms 1 (Music 0 0 1 1 Room) (Integrated) (Integrated) Existing SpeciaVEduication 1 (Leatr mg (Lear ng 2(Learning 2 1 (Lead ing Classrooms Center)', Cenler, Center. (Learning Center) L DLG2); Center,. ... ILP) Existing Overflow Classroom Spaces 0 0 0 0 0 for population increases ,N k Total-FDKClassroorns Needed if 3 FDK was fully implemented Addt�nnal FDK Classrooms Needed 1, 2 0 • 0 2 Abpv`etxisting Classrooms if FDK Fully Implemented Additional Special Education 1` 2 2 2 2 Classrooms Needed to have a K-2 and3=5•Learning Center and a K-2 and 3-5 special education program space Additional Art/Music:Classrooms 0 0 0 Needed if FDK Classrooms are added _........._... Total Additional Classrooms Needed 2 4 2 2 4 for Space Needs and FDK In addition to space needs,there are budgetary implications to consider as well. Currently,the budget receives an offset of$825,000 from the Full Day Kindergarten Tuition Revolving Account. If the number of Full Day Kindergarten slots were significantly reduced,there would be an impact to the offset in the FY16 budget,resulting in teacher and paraeducator reductions. The Reading Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race,color,sex,gender identity,religion,national origin,sexual orientation,age or disability. There are essentially three options that could be considered for the 2015-16 school year: 1. Limit the number of Full Day Kindergarten Classrooms to 1 per school-In this option,each school would only have one FDK classroom,and the rest of the students would be assigned to half day. This will most likely result in a lottery for FDK in each school. The maximum number of students that would be in full day kindergarten would be 110 students(22 per school),resulting in a 50%reduction of Full Day Kindergarten students and a reduction in staffing. 2. Limit the total number of kindergarten classrooms to three per school-In this option,each school would only be allocated three classrooms for kindergarten and the ratio of full day/half day classrooms would be determined by the number of students who wanted full day kindergarten. For example, if 44 students out of 73 students registered for full day kindergarten,the school would have 2 FDK classrooms of 22 students each,and 2 HDK sessions of 15 and 14 students. This option may result in a lottery,depending on numbers,but will provide flexibility based on registrations for a particular school district. In this option,the cross district line option(a.k.a. Superintendent's Option for Assignment)and integrated classroom options would continue to be used. 3. Eliminate Full Day Kindergarten-In this option,we would not offer Full Day Kindergarten and only offer half day kindergarten. This would eliminate the need for a lottery and provide additional classroom space. In this option,we would no longer be able to charge an offset to our budget for full day kindergarten and there would be staffing reductions as a result of this change. This option would not be feasible for special education students that require a full day kindergarten program and we would need to identify options for those students. If we have a lottery for Full Day Kindergarten for the 2015-16 school year,we would set a registration deadline for any student that would want to be included in the lottery. The lottery would occur once we have a solid account of the total registration numbers. From the lottery,a number of students would be selected and there would be a waiting list developed for those students who did not make the lottery,but would be interested in FDK. If you have any questions,please do not hesitate to contact me. The Reading Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race,color,sex,gender identity,religion,national origin,sexual orientation,age or disability.