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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-09 School Council - Wood End Elementary Minutesor V. Town of Reading Meeting Minutes s�9, 1320140PP Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Council -Wood End Elementary Date: 2017-01-09 Time: 3:15 PM Building: School - Wood End Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane RECEIVE© 0 WN CLERK 1011 JAN II P 2: 51 1 Location: Conference Room Purpose: Monthly Meeting for January 2016-2017 School Year Attendees: Members - Present: Andrea Freeman, Caitlin Koehler, Melissa Murphy, Elena Raffa Members - Not Present: Joanne King and Lynda Michel Others Present: Lisa Suglia, School Nurse Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Melissa Murphy Topics of Discussion: The fourth monthly meeting of the Wood End Elementary School Committee was held in the conference room of the Wood End Elementary School on January 9, 2017. Call to order: A quorum of members being present and the meeting having been duly convened at Wood End School by Wood End teacher, Elena Raffa, the meeting was called to order at 3:15 p.m. and proceeded with business. Public Comment: None. Review and Acceptance of Minutes: Members reviewed draft minutes from the December 5, 2016 meeting. There being no discussion, Ms. Raffa moved that the minutes from the December meeting be accepted as drafted. Mrs. Koehler seconded the motion. The members then voted unanimously to approve the minutes. Vote: Minutes Accepted 4-0-0 New Business: WASH (Wellness Allergies Safety & Health): Lisa Suglia attended today's meeting to talk about the RPS Allergy guidelines and to discuss options for cafeteria seating. Currently, Wood End has students sit by classroom in the cafeteria. All the classrooms are peanut/tree nut free. Currently, if there is one child in a Page 1 1 classroom with peanut/tree nut allergies then the classroom is peanut/tree nut free. Council can consider other options: Offer seating for children who want to bring in a lunch that contains peanuts/tree nuts. They would be allowed to have other students sit with them at the table as long as there were no allergies. Students who have allergies would stay at their classroom table, which would continue to be allergen -free. Students who bring in any peanut/tree nut products would be required to use the hand washing station after eating, and before leaving the cafe. Each elementary school in town handles cafeteria seating differently. Barrows utilizes the same protocol as Wood End; Killam has one table for students who bring in a peanut/tree nut lunch; Joshua Eaton has long tables and one end is allergen -free while the other end is for students who bring in products with peanuts/tree nuts; Birch Meadow has one table that is allergen -free and one table for students who bring in peanut/tree nut lunches. After some discussion, Council members suggest rolling out a new protocol for the last term of this year to allow a sample population of the school to bring in peanut/tree nut products. This initial "pilot" program will start with the 41h and 5th graders as they are more aware and responsible. Information will need to be sent home to families before this begins. The information would need to be provided to all families since mixed grade levels share the cafe for lunches (i.e. Grade 1 eats lunch with Grade 2, and Grade 4 eats lunch with Kindergarten). Currently, 5th grade students receive training at the end of the year on how to administer an EPI pen, reminders to always have their EPI pen with them, and how to monitor any cross contamination. Once the students reach middle school they are allowed to sit wherever they choose. There is an allergen -free table available, but most students do not choose to sit at the designated table. At the end of this year, Mrs. Suglia will meet with the parents of students with allergies to get their feedback on Wood End changing the allergy policy for food in the cafe. School Building Budget Update: Dr. Doherty was presenting the FY18 budget to the School Committee tonight (January 9th) Homework Policy: We will discuss further at the next meeting. Misc: Mrs. Koehler inquired about Wood End's policy on weather and outdoor recess. Ms. Raffa and Mrs. Suglia didn't think there was a hard rule on temperature - they guessed it was 25 degrees with no wind chill. The decision is really weather -dependent; the 51h graders go outside every day. Adjournment There being no further business, the School Council adjourned at 4:15 with plans to reconvene on Monday, February 6, 2017 at 3:15 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Melissa Murphy, Recording Secretary Page 1 2