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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-10-16 School Committee MinutesUFRfi�i Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Tovlm Js39 1HCORQ� I \ t A Q-{ N ri ,. 1- i f s, S S'. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee l81.1.�?��� -1 . P 5='0'S � Date: 2017-10-16 Time: 7:00 PM Building: School - Memorial High Location: Superintendent Conference Room Address: 82 Oakland Road Session: Open Session Purpose: Open Session Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Chuck Robinson, Nick Boivin, Gary Nihan, Jeanne Borawski, and Elaine Webb Members - Not Present: Linda Snow Dockser Others Present: Superintendent John Doherty, Director of Finance Gail Dowd, Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin, Student Representative Mario Cutone, Chronicle Reporter Al Sylvia 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 7:00 p.m. and reviewed the agenda. II. Recommended Procedure A. Public Comment There was none. B. Consent A eg_nda Mrs. Webb asked if anyone would like to remove any item from the consent agenda. There were no items removed. Consent A_eg nda - Accept a Donation to RMHS - Accept a Donation from the Friends of Reading Football - Accept a Donation to Community Education - Accept a Donation from the Friends of Reading Field Hockey - Approval of Minutes (September 25, 2017) Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to approve the consent agenda. The motion carried 5-0. C. Reports Page 1 1 Student Representative Mr. Cutone reported on the upcoming fall musical Pippen and that seniors have started the college application process. Liaison's Report Mrs. Webb updated the committee on the recent RCASA Annual Meeting. She shared that both speakers, DA Marian Ryan and Dr. Potee emphasized the need to educate our kids regarding substance abuse. Mrs. Webb feels that it is vital to spread the message and educate our kids on the effects of substance use and abuse. Dr. Snow Dockser Liaison Report: "The SEPAC met on Oct 4th. There were discussions of the new sped software and records management; the last SC meeting's discussion of the CRV and the rationale for a group within the SEPAC to work with Carolyn to research and improve the implementation of IEPs and programs for Special Ed. Special requests were voiced to ensure that this work focused not only in one school, but across the district. Mrs. Wilson gave an update on staffing and difficulties with hiring qualified teachers and the changes in FTEs being made to improve successful hiring. We discussed upcoming PD, speakers, parent university, and Alan Blume work with teachers on IEP writing. Parents encouraged Mrs. Wilson to follow up with parents who have left the program to learn about personal stories. There was a discussion on space challenges and the election of a new board was held. Thank you to Sarah Scaffidi, Teresa Teixeira, Sarah McLaughlin, and Julie Wall for stepping up to lead the SEPAC and to the outgoing board members who have done so much to revive the SEPAC. Also discussed were ways to increase survey responses and the tools already implemented to encourage response such as the link to the team chair and Mrs. Wilson's signature. SEPAC also unveiled their contact cards and decided to distribute'them to key parenting places around town as well as in all of the schools. " Director of Student Services Mrs. Wilson reported on the recent SEPAC meeting at which a new board was elected and the Open Meeting Laws were reviewed. Student Representative Cutone left the meeting at 7:03 p.m. The SEPAC met earlier this evening to review the roles of the board members. Mrs. Wilson updated the committee on the current vacancies including the search for a speech & language pathologist at the high school. The job has been posted four times and is now being advertised as a 1.0 FTE. The position was offered to two candidates, both of which declined. She is currently reaching out to staffing agencies and her professional organizations for recommendations of candidates. Currently we are using private speech & language pathologists in this position. All of the families affected have been notified of this vacancy. Page 1 2 Mr. Robinson said that he has a report from Dr. Snow Dockser on the SEPAC meeting that will be included in the minutes. Mrs. Wilson shared that the district has received another OCR report and pointed out at this point it is only an allegation. Dr. Nihan asked what level and the subject of the allegation for this complaint. Mrs. Wilson would like to provide the information to the OCR before sharing. Mrs. Borawski asked what factors were contributing to the difficulty in filling the speech and language position. Mrs. Wilson said the timing of the vacancy and the fact that there is not a deep pool of candidates are contributing. Dr. Nihan asked if we were meeting the requirements of the IEPs. Mrs. Wilson said we are not meeting the needs because of the difficulty in filling this position. We are tracking the missed services and families will be offered opportunities to receive these services later. Mr. Boivin asked if there was any feedback from the candidates that declined the position. Mrs. Wilson indicated that she would ask our Human Resources Administrator to determine if there has been any feedback. She added that the staffing agencies have not been able to find staffing for this position. Mr. Robinson asked if there was a time requirement for staff when giving notice. Dr. Doherty said that during the school year it is 30 school days and there is no requirement at the end of the school year. D. New Business Data Presentation Mr. Martin started the presentation off pointing out that this will provide general information and will not be looking at specific data. The focus will be how we are building capacity to ensure continuous student progress. Although data is an invaluable and persuasive source of information we cannot let it completely overrule our human instinct and experience. Being data -informed is about striking a balance in our expertise and understanding of the information. Building capacity is dependent on effective collaboration. Mrs. Wilson reviewed the objectives for measuring progress: 1) Why this work is important; 2) How it is different from an accountability system; 3) Why is monitoring student growth essential; 4) How are we doing this work in our district; 5) How does the process benefit both students and staff. She shared that we are using the MTSS model as the framework. The district is having collaborative discussions at all levels using data. The data is being viewed from many different prospectives. through different lenses. The teachers are using guiding questions when looking at student data. Questions include 1) what do we want each student to learn; 2) How will we know when each student has learned it; 3) How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning; 4) How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered essential knowledge and skill. To effectively us data there needs to be a shift in the school culture. Data Coach Courtney Fogarty began her portion of the presentation looking at the "how". Ms. Fogarty reviewed the resources and tools she has used to build decision systems. She reviewed the ABCs that the data teams use. Attendance, Behavior and Course Performance. Some of the data used when looking at attendance is a student's attendance Page 1 3 rate, absences, tardies, dismissals and chronic absence rate. Under behavior, major and minor office referrals, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, nurse screenings and social emotional screening data is looked at and course performance delves into semester grades, report card grades, formative and summative assessment. The data team will also look at post -secondary plans as of senior year, college acceptances and college persistence. The data teams will use at least one item per category as they begin their data review. She went on to discuss the levels of analysis and the need to drill down from reviewing aggregate information, disaggregate level, strand, item and finally to look at the student work/staff voice. The last level is more observational and qualitative. When looking at the aggregate level the teams review the overall outcomes. At the disaggregate level they draw critical comparisons between areas/groups. Drilling down to the strand level allows the data team to collaboratively explore implications of those critical comparisons — "what area contributed to the outcome the most?" At the item level the determination of which parts of the area contributed most and what is the action plan"; "What's in our control? Where can we make the biggest impact?" Lastly, we need to focus on student work and staff voice. "What does actual student progress/success/struggle look like? What does that mean for our action plan? And how do we know if we are getting the outcome we want? . When beginning to analyze the data the administrators and district staff take an overall view to understand what it means before the building leadership teams of teacher leaders, administrators and specialists begin collaborative inquiry to determine the approach to attack the data and finally the grade level teams work collaboratively looking at student work to determine what is in the best interest of the students to improve student performance. Ms. Fogarty went through the process using data from the District Capacity Assessment (DCA) to demonstrate how the process works. The DCA was taken by teacher leaders and staff in the spring. At the aggregate stage, the data is looked at in broad terms and the determination of how to implement an initiative like MTSS. The information at the disaggregate level is viewed in terms of successes and areas that need improvement. In this case the information was broken into three categories: Leadership, Competency and Organization. As the data team drills down to the strand level they question asked is "What skill(s) contributed to the problem/success?" Drilling down to the item strand the team will look at the following — which skills are connected, which have the most weight and which can be addressed. Lastly, looking at student work, the team looks at what the particular initiative means in day-to-day life and what do teachers/administrators want to work on. Mr. Boivin asked about the respondents. Ms. Fogarty said that the respondents change year to year. Mr. Robinson asked the length of the survey. Dr. Doherty said it takes 1- 2 hours and is taken the last week of school. The assessment is administered by a third party. Dr. Nihan asked how many took this assessment. Ms. Fogarty will get the information. Dr. Doherty added that the DCA is part of the School Transformation grant and added that 10-15 staff members participate in the assessment. The participants are part of the District MTSS Leadership team and are building based. Participants are selected by the building principals. Mr. Boivin asked if there is anything in place for training of building based data coaches. Ms. Fogarty indicated that there is a data analyst in each building as part of the building MTSS team. Dr. Doherty added that the work is done after school and they are stipended positions. Page 14 Dr. Doherty said that last year was the first-time staff was exposed to this process and they are starting to see the benefits. Ms. Fogarty has worked with each department at the high school. There is a lot of interest on how to move math and science forward. Dr. Nihan asked about outcomes. Dr. Doherty stated that each school has scheduled intervention blocks that last 6 — 8 weeks at which time support is provided to students on targeted skills based on the data analysis. Chair Robinson thanked Ms. Fogarty for presenting this evening. E. Old Business Special Education Update Mrs. Wilson followed up from the September 251 meeting, outlining the steps that have been taken to ensure that all students with disabilities continue to receive the services outlined in their IEPs and that reading services and the structure of the Bridge program are designed to ensure that students with specific learning disabilities in the area of reading are able to make progress toward their IEP goal. She went on to outline the specific work that has been done across the district for the 2014-2015 school year including the completion of the Walker Report, professional development opportunities during the summer of 2015 including Educational Evaluations, On Cloud Nine, Landmark, Project Read (applied writing and report form), the LLD Classroom for Middle School at Landmark and language based learning disabilities on-line course through Landmark. During the 2015-16 school year we began PLC work with Learning Center and Bridge program teachers to discuss entrance and exit criteria and instructional practices, began consultation with the landmark Outreach Program, and brought Allan Blume in to train staff on writing IEPs. In 2016-17 work continues in the PLC groups, a district wide data team will review data trends and will meet 4 times during the school year and 1 day over the summer, we have continued to work with Allan Blume with building based time to provide coaching and support around IEP development, continued to work with the Landmark School Outreach, and offered a wide range of professional development opportunities. During this school year the district has joined the International Dyslexia Association with resources for parents and teachers, several teachers have attended The Dyslexia Foundation training titled "Differences within Differences", the District -Wide Data Team and the Landmark School Outreach will continue as long as grant funding is approved. We are committed to ensuring not only compliance but also ensuring that the quality of the services for students with disabilities will result in improved student outcome. The District will also focus closely on the Bridge program and the reading services provided for students with disabilities to address concerns outlined at the September 251h meeting. This work and focus is closely aligned with the District's goal of closing the achievement gap. Our work utilizing the MTSS framework is a guide to how this focus area can be more closely examined. With the end goal being improved student outcomes, a review of the data, systems and practices will be the areas examined. This review will be done through the systems that are in place which are the PLC structures for teachers and the SEPAC for parents. Mrs. Borawski encouraged the use of the SEPAC as a resource in the ability to relay information. She then asked about space concerns at Coolidge and was concerned that we may be open to a similar OCR complaint. Mrs. Wilson said that we do have shared spaces. At Coolidge, accordion doors are used but at the middle school level all students leave the classroom at the same time with the exception of 1 day, 1 class during the 6 -day cycle. Page 1 5 Mr. Robinson asked about the grant funded programs (Landmark Outreach & District Data Team). Dr. Doherty indicated that nothing is in place until we receive the funding. The federal government has been. slow in notifying the -public about grants. He reassured the community that we will report back when we have received information on the funding. Mr. Boivin feels there should be proactive leadership by the committee. FY2017 Budget End of Year Report Mrs. Dowd reviewed the end of year budget report closing out Fiscal Year 2017. We ended the fiscal year with an unencumbered balance of $451,073 in the School Department Budget which represents approximately 1.1 % of the Revised FY 17 Budget. The Final Revised FY' 17 Budget reflects $40,000 appropriated for the custodial cleaning contract approved during the November 2016 Town Meeting, $150,000 appropriated for year two of the science curriculum approved during the April 2017 Town Meeting and $25,000 appropriated for the custodial longevity buyout approved by the Finance Committee in June 2017. Mrs. Borawski thanked Mrs. Dowd for a very detailed memorandum. Mrs. Dowd indicated that we will be providing much more detailed memorandum as we move forward through the budget season. 2017-18 School Year Calendar Mr. Robinson opened the discussion on the Veterans' Day holiday pointing out that it falls on Saturday this year. There is school on Friday November 10' and the holiday is celebrated on November 1 It' Mrs. Borawski was concerned that a change in the calendar would create a childcare issue for working families with just 3 weeks' notice. Dr. Nihan shared that the majority of districts in the state are off on Friday November 101 in observance of the holiday. Dr. Doherty shared that North Andover, Weston and Newburyport were in session and Brookline and Norwood will hold professional development days. Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to change November 10th to a holiday in observance of Veterans' Day and move the last day of school from June 20, 2017 to June 21, 2018 if all 5 snow days are used. The motion failed 1— 4. Dr. Nihan voting in favor. III. Routine Matters a. Bills and Payroll (A) Warrant S 1813 9.28.17 $94,094.12 Warrant S 1814 10.05.17 $262,123.72 Warrant S 1815 10.12.17 $136,764.14 b. Calendar IV. Information/Correspondence V. Future Business Page 1 6 VI. Adjournment Adjourn Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to adiourn. The motion carried 5 — 0. The meeting adjourned at 9.20 p.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. Jo,U- Doherty, EMD. Page 1 7