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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-02 School Committee MinutesTown of Reading I,t Meeting Minutes sag' ►ktORY' Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee Date: 2016 -04 -02 Building: School - Memorial High Address: 82 Oakland Road Purpose: Retreat Attendees: Members - Present: Time: 8:00 AM �. RFCEIVFO t. E R K -1 P12 :I, 43 Location: Superintendent Conference Roo Session: Open Session Version: Final Chuck Robinson, Jeanne Borawski, Linda Snow Dockser, Gary Nihan, Jul Joyce, Elaine Webb Members - Not Present: Others Present: Superintendent John Doherty, Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin, Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson, Director of Finance Martha Sybert Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Linda Engelson on behalf of the Chair Topics of Discussion: I. Call to Order Chair Robinson called the School Committee to order at 8:04 a.m. Mrs. Borawski moved, seconded by Mrs. Jovice, to enter into executive ses,4 discuss strategy with regard to collective bargaining and to return to open session at approximately 9:00 a.m. The roll call vote carried 6 — 0. Mrs. Borawski. Mrs. Jovice. Mrs. Webb. Dr. Snow - Dockser. Dr. Nihan and Mr. Robinson. Chair Robinson called the open session back to order at 8:55 a. m. II. Recommended Procedure A. New Business FYI Budget Discussion Dr. Doherty started the presentation by saying his objective is to provide a 30,00 foot view of where we want the district to be in 2020. The information used to support the direction includes the community and staff forums held in the spring n and fall of 2015, the communication audit, district and school improvement plans, state assessments, administrator common measures and collaborative visioning exercise with the District Leadership Team. Page i 1 The goal in 2020 is to have the multi- tiered system of supports fully implemented in Tier 1, 2 & 3, vertically align math, literacy and science standards -based curriculum, to have PLCs that focus on analyzing student data to identify laggi�g skills and student growth models, a five full day elementary schedule, common, planning time for grade level teachers, revised middle school schedule with later start time and longer instructional blocks, a high school schedule with a later start time, intervention times in daily schedules and new graduation requirements. the district will also update the student information data management system, address the long -term space needs including a renovation plan for Killam, special education programs that will allow for more flexibility to best support the individual needs of students in inclusionary settings, have an adequately staffed administration to lead and support our schools and district and have a greater ability to retain and attract staff. Dr. Doherty reviewed the components by level beginning with elementary. A !i five full day model allows for an additional 120 minutes of time on teaching per week. Students would receive extra minutes of instruction in specialties such as art, music, physical education and Library/Technology as well as recess. Teachers would gain planning time while the students are in these classes. Beginning next year a 10 week health unit will be introduced in grades 3 — 5 which will be taught by the physical education teacher outside of physical education time. Each building will have a full time art, music and physical education teacher and the current regular education paraeducator hours will be increased by 2.5 per week to provide adequate supervision for lunch and recess. The key outcome from these changes is allowing for common planning time which allows for more opportunities for collaboration in grades K — 5 and scheduling will be more student focused with the additional hours of staffing. Dr. Nihan feels it is important that the elementary physical education teachers be taught to address the needs in the health curriculum and a dedicated space, not the gym, be used for the health classes. He also feels it is important to vertically and horizontally align curriculum in all subject areas. Mr. Robinson clarified that the half day Wednesday would be eliminated to allow for a more effective use of planning time for the elementary teachers. Middle School restructuring will include expansion of the health curriculum, review the current schedule and explore options to create dedicated intervention blocks for student, advisory period at both middle schools and additional instructional time for some courses. Additional staffing would include 2.0 FTE Health teachers and increasing the physical education teacher at Parker by .5. This will allow for equal physical education time between middle schools. Mrs. Webb felt it is important to have dedicated enrichment/intervention timed The committee asked about advisory and which building had it. Coolidge is i currently the only middle school to have an advisory period. The Coolidge model is a 20 minute extended homeroom that addresses different topics from core values to bullying curriculum. Each teacher in the building has an advisory group with 12/15 students. The model allows adults to connect with the students providing an adult in the building that kids may be comfortable with to discuss concerns. Page 1 2 Discussion switched to the high school schedule which is still being discussed but could include advisory at all four grades, a school -wide block for interventions' makeups, activities, enrichment, etc. and an improved 9th grade transition. The high school administration is discussing a 9th grade academy model. They are !, also reviewing graduation requirements which will allow for more flexibility far students to pursue interests, expanding the AP course offerings and availability' at earlier grades and possible certificate programs. Expanding and exploring more opportunities for Senior Internships and improved community service opportunities are also being looked at. i The committee asked for clarification on how the certificate programs would work. Dr. Doherty said a student would receive a certificate of completion in a particular discipline along with their diploma. Mrs. Webb feels this could be v ry advantageous for students seeking internships and admission to programs beca�se of the work done in the certificate program. Discussion continued on how these proposed changes would affect the RMHS community. For the students it will allow for more flexibility in course selection, possible reduction in stress and anxiety with new schedule, provides a greater L, selection in community service and internship opportunities and greater transition support in their freshman year. The staff will have more opportunities for interdisciplinary planning opportunities with members of other departments. The presentation moved to the district discussion. Dr. Doherty started with thel additional curriculum and instruction leadership and support that is needed to move the district forward. There is a need for additional instructional and leadership support for administration and teachers, Many districts similar to Reading have district level curriculum directors, level curriculum coordinators an assistant director of student services, director of technology, elementary assistant principals and instructional coached by level and content area. These positions are critical to ensure consistency in K -12 curriculum implementation. He pointed out that these positions are the norm in many districts. The Superintendent reviewed the demand that is put on principals because the number of staff they supervise and evaluate. We have struggling teachers in every building and the principals cannot assist because to other responsibilities. The evaluation proce s becomes a compliance issue rather than a growth activity. The proposed plan to address these concerns includes creating two PreK — 8 curriculum Coordinator, positions; one for STEM and one for Humanities, restructuring of the RMHS Department Head positions to create greater supervision and evaluation responsibilities. Adding evaluation responsibilities to the Department Head roles will alleviates some of the pressure of the principal and assistant principals to evaluate all staff. Dr. Doherty pointed out that the Department Head model doesn't work and is a common problem in many districts. The creation of a .5 Assistant Director of Student Services position to support program coordination and alignment, transportation, and ELL would allow the Director to focus on improving and expanding programs. Mrs. Borawski asked if there is a currently a risk issue because the Director of Student Services sometimes is not able to focus on student and program matters. Dr. Doherty said yes this is a concern. Page 1 3 Evaluation responsibilities would be added to the Administrator for Social and Emotional Learning, Assistant Director of Student services, Team Chairs, PreK — 8 Coordinators and Department Heads. The proposed plan will allow us to keep administrators and principals. The proposed plan will allow students to have a common learning experience across the district with aligned curriculum, instructional practices, and assess] which will ultimately improve student outcomes. We will have support from curriculum coordinators for curriculum and instructional practices across the district and have the ability to attract and retain top teachers and administrator Our administrators will have support for supervision and evaluation, which w allow them to focus on school improvement initiatives. Social - Emotional interventions will be handled with additional Tier 2 supports provide academic, social and emotional interventions for students who demonstrate having lagging skills but do not require intense individualized instruction, tutors and interventionists for academic support and social emotior support. An item that is not related to the FY 18 budget but needs to be addressed is the upgrading and improvement of our integrated student information system and website. The district will convert to another vendor for the 2016 -17 school yeah. The Superintendent next reviewed several FYI override scenarios in comparison to FYI including a list of positions /programs that could be restored if an override was passed. The ability to address full day kindergarten, additional special education staffing, technology funding for replenishment and 1:1 environment and a Director of Technology are not included in the list of positions. I1I. Adjournment Dr. Nihan moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to adiourn. The motion carried 6 -0. The meeting adjourned at 11:12 a.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. J F. Dohert , Ed.D. Page 1 4