HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-12-13 School Committee MinutesTown of Reading
Meeting Minutes
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
School Committee
Date: 2016-12-13
Building: School - Memorial High
Address: 82 Oakland Road
Purpose:
Attendees: Members - Present:
RECEIVED
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Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Superintendent Conference Room
Session: Open Session
Version: Final
Jeanne Borawski (arrived at 7:10 p.m.), Chuck Robinson, Elaine Webb,
Linda Snow Dockser, Gary Nihan, Nick Boivin
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Superintendent John Doherty, Director of Finance Gail Dowd, Director of
Student Services Carolyn Wilson, RTA President Eric Goldstein, Coolidge
Interim Assistant Principal Christian Huizenga, RMHS Wellness teachers
Paula Graham & Katie Fiorello, Sara Burd, Courtney Fogarty, Director of
Nurses Lynn Dunn, Coolidge Wellness teacher Jen White, RMHS teacher Bob
Mooney, residents Erin Calvo Bacci, Rebecca Liberman & Anne Schwartz
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Linda Engelson on behalf of the Chair
Topics of Discussion:
I. Call to Order
Vice Chair Robinson called the School Committee to order at 7:04 p.m.
II. Recommended Procedure
A. Public Comment
There was none.
B. Consent A eg nda
Mr. Robinson asked the Committee if there were any consent agenda items that
they would like removed. Mr. Boivin asked that the December 8th minutes be
removed. Mr. Robinson asked what Mr. Boivin's concern was regarding the
minutes. Mr. Boivin would like the vote changed to reflect 6-0 rather than 5-0.
Dr. Dockser moved, seconded by Mrs. Webb, to approve the consent agenda
as amended. The motion carried 5-0.
- Minutes December 5 & 8, 2016
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- Donations to Coolidge — Science Olympiad
- Reapproval of Coolidge Field Trip — Quebec
- Approval of RMHS Field Trips - Wrestling
C. Reports
Liaison's Report
Dr. Snow Dockser reported on the recent SEPAC presentation by Dr. Olivardia on
ADHD and Dyslexia. She said it was very well attended. The attendees were
engaged and asked great questions. SEPAC is hosting another workshop on Basic
Rights this evening. The HRAC has been working on the Martin Luther King
event scheduled for January l0h.
Mrs. Webb reported on the November 30'' RCASA showing of the film
"Breaking Points" in the Endslow PAC. There was a panel discussion at the
conclusion of the film. Although there was a small group, the discussion and
questions were outstanding.
Mrs. Borawski arrived at 7:10 p.m.
Mrs. Webb said it is important for us to encourage the community to attend these
events. She believes RCTV taped the presentation and also encouraged the public
to view it if they had a chance.
Mr. Robinson also attended the event and said it made him stop and think.
Dr. Nihan is frustrated by the small numbers in attendance at these events and
feels we need to brainstorm to increase attendance at these events.
Superintendent's Report
Dr. Doherty reported that this is the third week he has held office hours and he
has had a few people take advantage of the opportunity. He said the discussion
topics have included special education, budget and technology. He has been
getting the word out as much as possible via his newsletter, blog and local papers.
He has scheduled two times a week, one being in a school and the other in the
Central Office.
Dr. Doherty next reported on the Youth Opioid Summit held in Lowell last week.
Members of the Interact Club and the Child Development class were able to
attend. The event was sponsored by the Wahlberg Foundations featuring the
viewing of the film "If Only" after which a number of speakers shared their
experiences. There were approximately 4000 students from area high and middle
schools in attendance.
Lastly, the Superintendent reported on the Rotary Reader Project. This initiative
has replaced the thesaurus distribution done in the past. Members of the Rotary
Club visit kindergarten classrooms and read to the students. The students are also
given a backpack with two books inside. The goal is to encourage literacy in
school and at home.
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Sub -Committee
Mrs. Borawski announced that Mr. Boivin will take Mrs. Joyce's place as the
School Committee liaison to the Board of Selectmen.
D. New Business
Social Emotional LearninglSchool Transformation Grant Health Education &
SBIRT/Interface Update
Dr. Doherty said that tonight's presentation will provide an update on several
areas related to MTSS.
Sara Burd began the presentation reviewing the topics to be covered. She began
the presentation with the steps taken to "Our Journey to Improve Student
Success". The journey began with several community discussions on the social
emotional health of our students. The discussions led to the formation of the
Behavioral Health Task Force that worked to develop an action plan, which was
presented to many groups to get feedback. The task force used a behavioral
health self-assessment tool, created a positon called District Leader of Social &
Emotional Learning, created a plan to address gaps in self-assessment and applied
for and received the School Transformation and Project Aware Grants.
Ms. Burd continued by saying that studies support our work referencing the CDC -
Kaiser ACEs study that found that childhood experiences, both positive and
negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and
perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. There is a strong association
between adverse childhood experiences and other health conditions. Well
designed and well implemented social emotional learning programs will result in
positive outcomes. Performance improves by creating healthy students with
social emotional learning programs in our spaces.
We are using a process called the Multi -Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) to
create structures that address academic and social emotional needs of our
students. Our outcomes are driven by systems, data and practices. Systems are in
place to support the implementation of practices, efficient use of data, and
achievement outcomes. Our data collection supports our decision making and
practices are interventions and strategies that are evidence -based in achieving
indicated outcomes. Our outcomes are academic or behavioral targets or
indicators that are specified, endorsed, emphasized, and monitored because of
their social and education significance. The outcomes are measurable pieces in
the District Improvement Plan.
Ms. Burd reviewed what MTSS is. It is a system of supports working with all
students enhancing the implementation and adoption of evidence -based
interventions to achieve academically and behaviorally important outcomes.
She went on to provide an overview of the Grant saying that Reading is one of
three districts in Massachusetts and of 78 in the country to receive this grant. The
district developed five goals as part of the grant process.
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Goal 1: Build capacity for supporting the sustained and broad -scale
implementation of a multi -tiered behavioral framework in each school
across the district through the successful creation of district, building
leadership and collaborative teams.
Goal 2: Enhance sustainability of continued data -driven decision making
and communication through the successful alignment and implementation
of a school wide information system, Baseline Edge, in every school
district -wide.
Goal 3: Enhance each school's ability to offer comprehensive behavioral
health supports through the creation of a high-quality, full service multi -
tiered system of supports, consisting of extensive offerings of supports and
interventions at every level and school.
Goal 4: Build continued capacity of school-based staff through the
successful integration of an aggressive professional development and
coaching program focused on building teachers' skills and competencies
in the use of a multi -tiered system of supports and behavioral health
topics.
Goal 5: Evaluate the effectiveness of project activities at the school and
district level in meeting the needs of students and in improving outcomes
for students using quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods.
Performance indicators include: The number and percentage of schools that
report an annual decrease in office disciplinary referrals, annual improvements in
the attendance rate, annual decrease in suspensions and expulsions, including
those related to possession or use of drugs or alcohol and that they are
implementing the multi -tiered behavioral framework with fidelity.
Elements of the grant funding include the Director and Data Coach's positions,
MTSS district facilitators and coach stipends, building leadership team stipends,
summer hourly meeting time compensation, training (Open Circle, Restorative
Justice, conferences), external coaching (Wediko, May Institute and UCONN)
and Baseline Edge and SWIS. The grant also affords access to DESE MTSS
Academies at no cost.
Ms. Burd said we have been able to work in tandem with the Youth Mental
Health First Aid grant through which we have trained 630 people.
Mrs. Borawski asked about the consistency of Open Circle from building to
building. Ms. Burd said that every student receives 30 minutes of Open Circle per
week which is scheduled into the class day as part of the SEL Action Plan. This
is working well and it is a change in practice.
Ms. Burd reviewed the SEL curriculum by level. At the high school the health
curriculum has social emotional units, there are guidance workshops and facing
history and ourselves elective. The middle schools participate in Challenge Day
and Choices and we are piloting Facing History in 2017, the elementary levels use
Open Circle and the preschool level uses Yoga 4 Classrooms and Second Step.
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Dr. Doherty stated that at the recent grants conference in Chicago, Reading was
highlighted for the work we have done building capacity of this grant. He also
said that through the Youth Mental Health First Aid grant we have trained ten
people to ensure we are able to provide professional development opportunities.
We also continue to train staff in different components focusing on the
framework.
The Superintendent described how the outcomes are aligned with the District
Improvement Plan and reflect were we would like to be in 3 years. He reviewed
the outcomes the district plans to achieve:
■ Closing the Achievement Gap (Action Plan A)
- A decrease in the achievement gap on state and local assessments
between high needs subgroup (special education, English Language
learners, and high poverty) and the general population of students.
- An increase in the accountability rating by schools and district as
defined by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
- An increase in the Accuracy of Student Support Team referrals for
Special Education.
- An alignment between report card grades and state assessment scores.
■ Literacy (Action Plan B)
- An improvement in state and local assessments including MCAS and
Next Generation MCAS state assessments, Fountas and Pinnell
Benchmarks for Guided Reading, DIBELS, math assessments, science
assessments, semester exams, SAT scores, AP Scores and
participation, and college acceptances.
■ Mathematics Practices (Action Plan C)
- An improvement in state and local assessments including MCAS and
Next Generation MCAS state assessments, Fountas and Pinnell
Benchmarks for Guided Reading, DIBELS, math assessments, science
assessments, semester exams, SAT scores, AP Scores and
participation, and college acceptances.
- An increase in the number of students ready to take Grade 8 Algebra 1.
■ Social Emotional Learning (Action Plan D)
- A decrease in discipline referrals, including suspensions for all
students, especial students in the high needs group and students of
color.
- A decrease in student anxiety by gender, race, and general population
as evidenced by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) results and
other student data.
- A decrease in the use of drugs, alcohol, and other substances by
gender, race, and general population as evidenced by the Youth Risk
Behavior Survey results and other student data.
- An increase in students indicating that they have an adult that they can
connect with as evidenced by the YRBS and other student data.
- Increased Tiered Fidelity Instrument Scores for Tier 1, 2, and 3 at all
schools.
- A decrease in the number of students who have 10 or more absences.
- Increased District Capacity Assessment results.
Dr. Doherty went on to discuss the systems in place referencing the District
Improvement Plan once again. A fifth focus area, as part of the district
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improvement plan is communication with the outcome of improving
communication across the district, with families and the Reading community. He
went onto review the MTSS Systems Implementation Logic. There is a district
leadership team that coordinates several aspects of the work including policy,
political support, visibility and funding as well as the training, coaching,
evaluation and behavioral expertise. Each school has a MTSS team. The
building principals are part of the Leadership Team. One of the most important
aspects of the implementation is coaching. The ability to train coaches is vital to
continue the work once the grant funding ends.
Dr. Nihan asked how the Leadership Team was formed. Ms. Burd responded by
saying that positions were posted and the teachers on the team are paid stipends.
Data Collection Specialist Courtney Fogarty shared information on the effective
use of data. She began by saying that data informs decisions and enlightens the
decision making process. The data we are collecting comes from several areas
including:
School processes such as student health, attendance and behavior
Student learning which includes student outcome/academic measurement
and student outcomes — behavior measurements
Demographics including grade enrollment details, class enrollment and
EWIS risk scores
Perceptions of behavior and district systems
These areas apply effectively with the School Improvement Plans. She went on to
describe the Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS) which is a universal screening
tool used three times per year to identify students with antisocial behavior
patterns. There are 7 items used to evaluate the antisocial behavior patterns. The
benefits for collecting and using the SRSS/SIBS include; it is free; the tool
provides schools with an additional measure of student outcomes in behavior
beyond SWIS. SWIS is intended to be used as a progress monitoring tool, it is
efficient, done 3 times per year and the research is validated for grades K — 12.
Ms. Fogarty reviewed the academic and behavior assessment progression. There
are screeners that through brief assessments identify students that may need extra
support in addition to Tier 1 instruction and structure. These benchmarks are used
to establish the baseline for student performance and evidence -based assessments
that map student progress towards reaching their next goal which is determined by
the earlier benchmark results/support needs.
She next reviewed how we measure tiered progress. The total fidelity index is
measured three times per year and it keeps track of where our district is and how
well it's doing on establishing school -wide positive behavioral interventions and
supports at each tier. An implementation rate of 70% achievement is desired and
indicates a school can be considered as fully implementing Tier 1 supports.
Ms. Fogarty shared data on the Fall 2016 Total Fidelity Index and Office
Discipline Referrals. In addition to these two samples, we are able to drill down
into our data and identify students in several different categories including items
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such as time of day, offenses and student make-up. The information shared today
is a 30,000 -foot view.
Ms. Fogarty said she has been working with staff in the buildings to ensure they
are able to collect and effectively analyze the data. She indicated that she recently
had a workshop at Coolidge and shared that the teachers were excited to be able
to collect and use data to effectively address their student's needs. Coolidge
Interim Assistant Principal Mr. Huizenga concurred saying the staff was a little
skeptical at first but have seen the value in using this data as a tool. She then
reviewed SRSS/SIBS screening results which are external and internal methods of
gathering information. They provide a snapshot of needs and helps specialists to
identify where to put resources.
Ms. Burd reviewed MTSS at each level. The supports change to meet the
students' needs and are driven by the data.
Director of Nurses Lynn Dunn presented information of the SBIRT pilot project.
SBIRT stands for Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment and it is
an evidence -based practice used to identify, reduce, and prevent problematic use,
abuse, dependence on alcohol & illicit drugs. This screening was done as part of
the annual vision, hearing and postural screenings for the high school freshman.
Parents were notified of the screening and could opt out if they wanted to. The
screenings were conducted in the Nurse's Office and took 5 —10 minutes per
student. The staff was notified and the Main Office called the students down.
The process went very smoothly. Mrs. Dunn thanked high school nurse Mary
Ellen Kirwan and RCASA Outreach Coordinator Julianne D'Angelis for assisting.
They were able to see all 304 freshmen. Mrs. Dunn described how the process
would work to each student. She asked each student a few questions and ensured
that all responses would be confidential.
Post screening procedures include confidential documentation entered (with
ability to pull non -identifying info for state), the scheduling of follow-up meetings
with students as needed and/or determine if a parent phone call is needed and
ongoing follow-up.
Mr. Robinson asked if we would be adding grades.
Mrs. McNamara said that we will be meeting with other districts that have piloted
this year to determine how effective it was. She also shared that she will be
working with the guidance staff to train them in what the screening looks like.
She thanked Mrs. Dunn and her staff for the seamless administration of this
screening.
Mr. Huizenga updated the committee on the Health curriculum. He said a lot of
work has been done in the PLC meetings to align vertically and transition among
levels. He reviewed the topics covered by level.
Ms. McNamara said there has been a schedule change across the elementary
schools. Ten 30 -minute blocks have been added at the elementary level, the
blocks have been aligned at the middle levels as not to take time out of physical
education.
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Dr. Doherty added that this is not where we want to be with a comprehensive
program. We need to look at ways to get more Health Education at the middle
levels.
Ms. McNamara reviewed new resources and upcoming projects for RCASA. The
Interface Referral Service was rolled out in November. This helpline is staffed by
licensed clinicians that can help members of the community become connected
with mental health care. Clinicians are available Monday — Friday 9 -5. They get
provider matches that meet the specific needs, accepts your insurance and has
available appointments. Funding for this service is coming from the Mental
Health First Aid Grant and the Town's Hospital Fund. There has been an
amazing response.
Ms. McNamara reviewed the programs that RCASA has held or will be holding
for parents and adults. She also said we were in the process of preparing for the
2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that will occur in January.
Dr. Doherty shared some final thoughts on tonight's presentation. He said that
communication has been an area in which we have fallen short. We will soon be
working with a communication partner, funded by the School Transformation
grant, to refine the message of what MTSS is and how it serves our students.
We will continue to focus at DLT on the integrated MTSS framework, align the
school goals with data that is being collected, limit the number of goals and
common measures to add more focus, continue to differentiate the PD that we
provide and continue to grow leaders at each level and building. Dr. Doherty said
that we have a terrific team of people investing time and energy doing what is
right for kids.
Chair Borawski thanked the group for sharing tonight.
ADDroval of the 2017-18 School Calendar
Dr. Doherty reviewed the proposed school year calendar that once again has a
start date prior to Labor Day. There are five in-service days built into the
calendar and school will be in session on Veterans Day due to the fact it falls on a
Saturday. School will also be in session on Good Friday, Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur. He pointed out that we need better communication regarding the
religious accommodation policy.
Mrs Borawski moved, seconded by Dr. Nihan, to approve the 2017-18 school
year calendar.
Anne Schwartz, high school parent, expressed concerns regarding the
implementation of the religious accommodation plan and feels communication
needs to be improved.
Rebecca Liberman, high school parent, asked that the religious holidays be
reinstated on the calendar.
Dr. Doherty pointed out that academic consistency is a big driver in the
elimination of the holidays.
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Erin Calvo Bacci, pointed out that students should not be made to choose whether
they go to school or not. It causes stress and recommends further review.
Eric Goldstein, RTA president, pointed out that teachers are concerned that they
have to take a personal day for the religious holidays.
Mr. Boivin would like to have a discussion on the policy and its implementation.
Dr. Dockser understands both sides and knows it is difficult on everyone.
Dr. Doherty pointed out that we have the same issues when we don't have school.
The motion carried 5-1. Dr. Dockser voting against.
E. Old Business
III. Routine Matters
a. Bills and Payroll (A)
Warrant 51722
11.23.16
$64,106.28
Warrant S 1723
12.01.16
$209,929.51
Warrant S1724
12.08.16
$289,056.65
b. Calendar
IV. Information
Mrs. Borawski and Dr. Dockser announced they will be seeking reelection to the
board.
V. Future Business
VI. Adjournment
Adjourn
Mrs Webb moved, seconded by Dr. Nihan, to adiourn. The motion carried
6-0.
The meeting adjourned at 10:50 p.m.
NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not
the order they occurred during the meeting.
Jo F *Doherty,D.
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