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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-06 School Council - Wood End Elementary Minutes Town of Reading !' i : Meeting Minutes iZECEIVEU C1 o ION CLERK ThhDING. MASS. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: L i5 APR 13 A II: 35 School Council -Wood End Elementary Date: 2015-04-06 Time: 3:15 Building: School - Wood End Location: Conference Room Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane Purpose: Monthly Meeting for March 2014-2015 School Year Attendees: Members - Present: Joanne King,Debbie Hattery, Fred VanMagness, Keri DiNapoli, Lynda Michel Members - Not Present: All members present Others Present: None Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Lynda Michel Topics of Discussion: The sixth monthly meeting of the Wood End Elementary School was held in the conference room of the Wood End Elementary School on April 6, 2015. Call to order: A quorum of members being present and the meeting having been convened at Wood End School by the Wood End Co-Chair, Joanne King, had called the meeting to order at 3:15 and proceeded with business. Public comment: Meetings for the Wood End School Council are open to members of the public and are • posted in accordance with the requirements of the state Open Meeting Law. Mrs. King regularly advises parents in the Wood End community of upcoming School Council meetings in her regular weekly newsletter, which is posted on EdLine. Review and Acceptance of Minutes: Members reviewed draft minutes from the last meeting, which was held on March 2, 2015. There being no discussion, Mrs. King moved that the minutes be accepted as written. Fred VanMagness and Debbie Hattery seconded the motion. The members then voted unanimously to approve the minutes. Vote: Minutes Accepted 5-0-0 Page I 1 Old Business: The Spring Open House will be held on Tuesday April 28th. The night will have parents and students visit classrooms from 6:00-6:45 and then the "information expo"will run from 6:45 to 7:30. Mrs. King informed us that student art work will be spread throughout the school:outside of the classrooms, on bulletin boards as well as in the main lobby(Wildcat Way). The information booths/tables will be spread throughout the main lobby and in the gymnasium. The two main goals of the information booths will be to inform parents of all the positive happenings at Wood End and recruit parents to be a part of the school environment. Tables that will be set up at the information sessions will include: • Leadership Team—will focus on the new Core Values and will be located on Wildcat Way(main lobby). Lisa Norcross,Amanda Lockerbie and Keri DiNapoli will be representing that table. • Student Council--will also be represented along with the Leadership Team. Student Council members will focus on the importance of the Voice-o-meter,all-school meetings, and round of a- paws. • School Council-will focus on the mission of the School Council and recruiting new members. The School Council is looking for three new teachers and three new parents. This group will be represented by parents Fred VanMagness, Debbie Hattery, • Be Healthy and Fit-will be represented by Lisa Suglia,school nurse, and Chris Bauer, PE teacher in the gymnasium. The focus will be on heart health and physical fitness. • BOKS-This will be represented by BOKS members/teacher leaders in the gym. They will have a sampling of some activities. • American Cancer Society-will be represented by ACS and the focus will be on skin care and the importance of sunscreen. • American Heart Association-will be represented by Astrid Bigham. The focus will be Heart Health and the upcoming Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. • Bike Safety-will be represented by Officer David Savio in the gym. The focus will be bike safety in the community and around the school. • PTO-will be represented by PTO members. The focus will be on PTO sponsored events and new open positions. • Summer Programming—will be represented by Extended Day staff.The focus will be on summer school and enrichment programs, as well as Extended Day before/after school care. • Performances-Mel Steiger-will have ensembles present-3-4 minute performances staggered throughout the night. After Mrs. King reviewed each session Debbie Hattery shared that she liked the thought of the fair and the voice-o-meter being presented, but doesn't want to lose the opportunity for parents to learn about teachers' perspectives on the implementation of core values and the true reason behind the implementation of a positive behavioral support system for all students . Mrs. King then shared her experience at the 12th International Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS)conference in Boston. She stated that it was amazing.There were people from several different countries all talking about MISS,core values etc. Mrs. King shared the impact of schools that use the core values is significant compared to those that don't. She stated that an increased number of schools are looking at how the core value system is working, and strategies for providing the most effective tiered supports for our students. Lastly,the School Council talked about developing"take aways"for the different information sessions/booths.Amanda Lockerbie (Leadership Team)will create a "big picture"of MTSS as the take- away brochure. Page 12 1 School Council will create a binder with sample minutes,the school improvement plan,etc. Fred VanMagness shared a brochure that he created as a take away from the school council table. Mrs. King will send him the Core Values graphic for the brochure. Lynda Michel asked about the Core Values at the Middle School level. Mrs. King and Debbie Hattery shared that the middle school also has begun to follow school wide core values. Budget FY 2016: Mrs. King reminded the committee that a town meeting is coming up and that the pricing on modular classrooms is up for rebidding. The school department is mindful of the expenses involved and the funding that needs to be provided. Kelly Colon, Director of Facilities, has been very involved in this process. As far as staffing is concerned, most of the cuts will affect the general education paraprofessionals. Mrs. King explained that at WE 85 hours bi-weekly will be cut from the general ed paraprofessionals. Debbie Hattery questioned how the cuts are determined and Mrs. King explained that it is all based on seniority. However,within the district, a senior para-educator can bump in any school. What cannot happen is that SPED paras cannot bump General Ed paras and vice versa. She needs to reduce hours and it will affect coverage in the building. Mrs. King also shared that ideally,she would like to have three adults in café for lunch coverage, but with cuts we may only have two adults. Fred VanMagness shared that there are people in the town, usually the elderly people,who"work" in lieu of a paycheck and instead receive abatement on their taxes. Mrs. King did share that we will continue to have our three regular education tutors but we will not have para support to make teacher copies or provide additional library support. New Business: 1. Blue Ribbon,April 17-18: Mrs. King informed the committee that Blue Ribbon will be a little different this year. There will be more professional development for para educators and more outside speakers/presenters. Blue Ribbon is also at the same time as the National Math Conference in Boston and many of the district's math teachers will be attending. 2. Kindergarten Screening,April 29-30 • 43 incoming students—classes will have 21-22 students in each classroom. Both classes will be integrated with half-day and full-day students. • 17 half day students although there is an option to pay for full day half-way through the year if families decide that works for them. • At 11:30 dismissal,the classroom numbers will be 12-13 students • Many current and some new families 3. Camp Bournedale The trip received positive feedback from a large majority of the parents,students, and the teachers so we will continue the trip next year. Debbie Hattery asked why we wouldn't just always continue the trip. Mrs. King explained that there were some people opposed to the overnight trip, but overall it has been very successful the past two years. Mrs. King stated that the kids gave good feedback, but the things that they complained about were things that were out of our control (i.e. cabins were old). Camp Page 3 Bournedale staff takes our feedback into consideration and is always looking to improve. We will not take as many parents on the trip next year as we had plenty of supervision. The time frame we are aiming for will be October and the date will be announced as soon as we know. The parent information session will be in May. The students will see the presentation and the parents will see it that same evening. 4. Other: • Mrs. King will send out a flyer as a reminder of spring open house and new format • Plastic name tags:ask me about core values will be made for the night of the Spring Open House for Leadership Team members,Student Council Members, PTO,and School Council Members. Adjournment There being no further business,the School Council adjourned at 4:22 with plans to meet again on Monday May 4, 2015. Respectfully Submitted, Lynda Michel Recording Secretary • Page 14