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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-03-28 School Committee MinutesReading Public Schools Reading, Massachusetts Regular Meeting of the School Committee Open Session 1011 MAY -4 P 1: 22 Date: March 28, 2011 Time: 7:00 p.m. (Open Session) Place: Joshua Eaton Cafeteria School Committee Members Present Chuck Robinson Karen Janowski Chris Caruso Lisa Gibbs David Michaud Hal Croft TOWN CLERK READING. MASS. Staff Members Present John Doherty, Superintendent Patty deGaravilla, Assistant Superintendent Kim Oliveira, Director of Pupil Services Visitors: Karen Feeney, Eaton Principal Karen Callan, Barrows Principal Richard Davidson, Wood End Principal Anne Manna, Eaton Teacher ®Alicia McKenny, Eaton Teacher Katherine Clark, State Senator Brad Jones, State Representative I. Call to Order Jared Beaulieu, Student Representative Matt Conway, Student Representative Matt Casey, Reading Patch Charlie Arthur, SC Candidate Ellen Doucette, Brackett & Lucas Gary Brackett, Brackett & Lucas Chairperson Caruso called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. II. Recommended Procedure A. Public Input (1) Carl McFadden shared with the committee an incident involving his son who sustained a concussion during a hockey game. Mr. McFadden wanted to thank Mr. Vaccaro for recognizing the symptoms two weeks after the incident. He asked the School Committee to post information on concussion awareness on the website. Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Gibbs, to enter into Executive Session to discuss strateev with respect to litieation versus TLT Construction, et at, approval of minutes and to reconvene to open session at approximately 7:35 p.m. The roll call vote was 6-0. Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Janowski, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Croft, Mr. Caruso and Mr. Michaud. CdThe meeting was called back to order at 7:45 p.m. The Chair reviewed the agenda and welcomed guests. March 28, 2011 ®Reports I 1. Student Mr. Conway said that senior events were beginning including the 30 day countdown. He also shared that Mr. RMHS was held over the weekend and was hugely successful. Mr. Beaulieu shared that spring sports have started and the student council has received approval from the high school administration to hold a lift — up spirit event 2. Liaison Mr. Caruso stated that RCTV live election coverage would begin at 7 pm next Tuesday and invited committee members to watch at the studio. Superintendent's Report Dr. Doherty said that our Bullying Prevention Plan had been approved by the DESE. He also shared information on the MA State College math requirement. MA State Colleges require 4 years of math. 83% of RMHS students take 4 years of math. ® The Superintendent shared information posted on his blog this week that included: Coolidge and High School Science Team success Reading students performing in the Jr. & Sr. Districts RMHS Jazz Band success at the state competition The upcoming "A Night in New Orleans" The State Winter Color Guard Finals are being held in Reading this weekend He also reminded everyone that the Finance Committee will be voting on the School Department budget on Wednesday night. 4. Director of Pupil Service Mrs. Oliveira shared information on a new program being started at the high school. The "Transitions Program" will address the students with social/emotional issues. It will offer an alternative program with later starts in a therapeutic educational setting. Students will have to enter a goal setting contract and the length of their enrollment in this program can vary. Mrs. Oliveira is hoping this program will lessen the need to send students out of district a short term placements. The program will be coordinated by Sara ® Fernandes, Behavioral Specialist. 5. Assistant Superintendent B. Continued Business March 28, 2011 C. New Business Joshua Eaton School Presentation (out of order) Chair Caruso thanked Ms. Feeney for hosting the meeting. Ms. Feeney welcomed the School Committee to Joshua Eaton and provided a brief overview of tonight's presentation. She introduced Anne Manna and Alicia McKenny. Mrs. Manna described how the Student Council at Joshua Eaton was started. In 2005 Joshua Eaton began its quest to become a Blue Ribbon School and felt it was important to have the students be apart of this journey. Mrs. Manna and other members of the Eaton staff visited the Barrows School to see an established student council in action. The Eaton team developed and implemented a model that met the needs of Joshua Eaton. The Student Council is made up of homeroom representatives from grades 3-5. Each potential Student Council member is required to write an essay indicating why they want to serve on the student council. Each homeroom has two representatives who report back to not only their homeroom but they are also assigned a grade K-2 class to act as the liaison. The Student Council meets one time per month, each classroom has a suggestion box where students can place ideas that the homeroom reps share. The students can only serve one year to allow for others to serve. • Activities that have come from suggestion boxes include the organization of school -wide activities such as— pajama day, cafeteria kamoke, dress like a staff member day and sport spirit days. The Student Council also is active in Red Ribbon Week; they sponsor the Festival of trees entry every year, the school -wide kickball tournament and the Veterans Penny Collection. The Eaton Student Council is responsible for the Got Books bin at the school. The Got Books bin is a source of funding for the Student Council. The Joshua Eaton community also gives back with many of the ideas coming from the suggestion boxes including supporting the troops, Mission of Deeds, local schools in need, and the Reading Food Pantry. The Student Council contributed $1,000 to the PTO to be used for the new playground. They also participated in Hearts for Haiti — Unicef to be sure the donations would benefit the children of Haiti. Mrs. Manna turned the meeting over to the students. The students introduced themselves and shared why they wanted to be a Student Council member. The students ranged from third to fifth grade and included: The Chair thanked the students for sharing with the Committee. State Representatives The Chair welcomed Senator Katherine Clark and State Representative Brad Jones to the 10 meeting and thanked them for taking time from their busy schedules to be here. Senator Clark gave a brief overview of her experience. She shared that she was a School Committee member for 6 years in Melrose and understands the concerns of the School March 28, 2011 ® Committee. She feels that school funding is important in moving the economy forward. She understands that the circuit breaker funding is vitally important to districts and will work hard to keep Reading's reimbursement rate at 65%. Representative Jones spoke of the Local Aid resolution. He does not think the numbers are forthcoming. He stated that the House is comfortable supporting the Governor's number and the House budget should come out in about two weeks and debate scheduled for the last week in April. The senate budget debate will be approximately four weeks after that. The School Committee was concerned that the local aid number would not be available in time for Town Meeting. They are concerned because of the $103,000 reduction in the budget that the Town Manager made in the submitted budget. The Senator and Representative empathized with the School Committee position. Mrs. Gibbs asked about circuit breaker funding and the importance of maintaining at least the current rate and the DESE/DDS programs. The Senator and Representative both feel that it is important to keep the students in their communities and at home. Senator Clark said Reading has done a great job bringing students back for out of district ® placements and the wise use of the EduJobs funding. Both of these items help the fiscal picture. Mrs. Janowski asked about reverse circuit breaker and underfunded mandates. Representative Jones said there may be a committee formed to look into these mandates. Mr. Caruso thanked Senator Clark and Representative Jones for the information they provided tonight and the open door policy they have for constituents. Chair Caruso call a brief recess at 8:40 p.m. The meeting was reconvened at 8:47 p.m. Elementary Report Card Presentation Mrs. de Garavilla provided an overview of the Report Card Committee. The committee was formed two years ago to develop a standards based report card. The current elementary report card has been in place for 26 years and uses an average number that converts to a letter grade. This method does not allow the teacher, parent or student to know what they have learned and how they have progressed. Mrs. de Garavilla said the report card should match instruction and also align with the common core standards. She turned the presentation over to Mr. Davidson and Mrs. Callan. ® Mr. Davidson and Mrs. Callan thanked their committee for all the work they have done to develop the new report card. There were teachers for all of the elementary grades on the committee. March 28, 2011 ® First steps were to gather standards based report cards for surrounding communities to use as a guide in the development of the Reading report card. The next steps were to develop a reporting system that provides consistency between parent s and teachers, a reporting system that aligns with state standards, provides clear information to parents on students' progress over time, a system that reports growth in a meaningful, fair, timely, and objective manner, a system that provides student awareness of their own learning and strengths and weaknesses and to utilize current available technology to support the reporting system. Once developed the draft report card was presented to all elementary teachers at an elementary staff meeting. The elementary teachers were very receptive to the new report card. The teachers broke down by grade level with the committee member for the grade to review the standards based report card. The teachers were asked to provide feedback to the committee. The feedback has been very positive. The draft report card has been shared with the School Councils who are also very supportive. The elementary parents will have an opportunity to attend an overview and presentation. Five evenings have been scheduled for these meetings. Mr. Davidson went on to review the next steps in the implementation includes gathering feedback and suggestions of both the learning rubrics and report cards, drafts of the report card will be created by the technology staff incorporating the input and suggestions and development of a timeline for professional development and training starting later this year. The new standards based report card will be implemented for the first marking period. The report card committee will continue to meet during the 2011-12 school year and revisions will be made to ® include the Common Core Standards and Technology standards by 2013. This report card will be web based similar to the high and middle school report cards. It can be easily updated and changed as needed. The School Committee asked clarifying questions. Chair Caruso thanked Mr. Davidson and Mrs. Callan for this very informative presentation. Approval of Field Trips Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mr. Michaud, to aoorove the RMHS Baseball field trio to Cooperstown. NY in May of 2011 as outlined in the Superintendent's memorandum dated March 24, 2011. The motion carried 6-0. Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Gibbs, to approve the RMHS Spanish Club field trio to New York City in October 2011 as outlined in the Superintendent's memorandum dated March 24. 2011. The motion carried 6-0. Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mr. Michaud, to approve the RMHS Spanish Club field trio to Puerto Rico in February 2012 m outlined in the Superintendent's memorandum dated March 24. 2011. The motion carried 6-0. 0111, Routine Matters • Bills and Payroll (A) • Approval of Minutes Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Gibbs, to approve the open session minutes dated February 7.2011. The motion carried 6-0. March 28, 2011 Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mr. Michaud, to approve the open session ® minutes dated March 14.2011. The motion carried 6-0. • Bids and Donations Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Janowski, to accept donation from the RMHS Basketball Supoort Team to be used to pay the girls basketball coaching assistant stipend as outlined in the Superintendent's memorandum dated March 24.2011 The motion carried 6- 0. Mr. Robinson moved seconded by Mrs Gibbs to accent donation from the Reading Technologv and Education Fund as part of their ergot Program to be used to as outlined in the Superintendent's memorandum dated March 24.2011. The motion carried 6-0 Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Janowski to accent donation of a piano to the RMHS Music Department as outlined in the Superintendent's memorandum dated March 24 2011 The motion carried 6-0. Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Gibbs, to accept donation from the RMHS Track Calendar W. Information Mr. Caruso reminded the committee that Election Day is Tuesday and the next School Committee meeting is April 11 a. V. Adioumment Mr. Robinson moved, seconded by Mrs. Gibbs, to enter into Executive Session to discuss strateev with respect to collective bargaining with the Reading Teachers Union, and approval of minutes and not to reconvene to open session. The roll call vote was 5-0-1. Mr. Caruso, Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Janowski, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Michaud. Mr. Croft abstained. VI. Future Business CMeeting adjourned at 9:36 p.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. �, Ed.Df Schools lJ lJ