HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-11-04 School Council - Wood End MinutesN OFR
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Meeting Minutes
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Board -
Committee - Commission - Council:,
School Council -Wood End Elementary
Date: 2017-11-04
Building: School - Wood End
Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane
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Time: 3:15 PM
Location: Conference Room
Purpose: Monthly Meeting for 2017-18 Year Session:, General Session
Attendees: Members - Present:
Ellen Commito, Andrea Freeman, Joanne King, Lynda Michel, Casey Moulton,
Melissa Murphy, Elena Raffia
Members - Not' Present:
N/A
Others Present:
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Casey Moulton
Topics of Discussion:
The third monthly meeting of the Wood End Elementary School Council was held in the
Conference Room of the Wood End Elementary School on December 4, 2017.
Call to order:
A quorum of members being present and the meeting having been duly convened at Wood
End School by Wood End principal, Joanne King called the meeting to order at 3:15 p.m.
and proceeded with business. .
Public Comment:
A question was asked about the tarp; covering the concrete wall at the front entrance of the
school. It is covering the recent repair of the wall from damage caused during the summer
when the new courtyard was poured. It is now repaired and the tarp -is scheduled to be
removed next week.
Review and Acceptance of Minutes:
Members reviewed draft minutes from the November meeting.
There were no corrections or additions. Dr. King moved that the minutes from the
November 6th meeting be accepted. Motion seconded. The members then voted
unanimously to approve the minutes.
New Business:
Vote: Minutes Accepted 7-0-0
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Skylights:
Dr. King noted that the money to replace all the existing skylights in the school was
approved. All the skylights need to be replaced because of the grade.of plexiglass that was
originally installed; the windows are now cracking and the roof is compromised. Although
the skylights are not holding weight, they are structural in nature. The company that
installed the original windows is no longer in business. Contractors are tentatively scheduled
to startworkaround June 15th and the building will be closed for the summer to -all staff and
programming., The opening date for school is August 28th and the work is expected to be
completed in time. Mrs. Murphy asked about recourse for the Town from the original
architect or contractor, and Dr. King indicated that there was none due to the time that has
passed. The statute of limitations has expired.
ALICE Drill
Dr. King explained that the school had completed. an ALICE drill recently, which went well.
All parents were notified at the completion of the drill. She noted that Brian Lewis is the new
School Resource Officer (SRO), and he facilitated in the enhanced lockdown procedures.
The drill was completed during lunch time with approximately 100 students in cafe,
including Kindergarten. There was one tricky situation in that one class was coming into the
school from recess and walked directly into the path of the "intruder." The teacher was at
the end of the line for the class coming in and therefore was not aware of the drill.
Information was reviewed with both staff and students afterward.
School Improvement Plan:
The school improvement plan that was approved by this School Council was submitted to
Dr. Doherty and presented to the School Committee. There have been no comments
received back as of this meeting.
Budget Process:
Dr. Doherty's presentation at the recent PTO meeting on November 9th was discussed. Mrs.
Murphy commented that the message of the presentation was that the schools are in a lot
of trouble if there are no extra funds provided (i.e. override). It was further discussed that
Dr. Doherty will prepare two separate budgets for the Town, one with level funding and one
with override funding, although no specifics in terms of.staff that needs to be cut will be
presented Ms. Commito noted that communicating the message is important, as the Town
is 295 out of 326 Massachusetts towns in student spending. We are one of the lowest
district in the state.
Dr. King noted that Wood End has 3 budget liaisons: Nicole Cella, Brian O'Mara, and Andrea
Quirbach. They will work on budget and provide regularupdates to the Wood End
community in mid-January. The School Committee is expected to vote on budget January
18th. Ms. Commito noted that there are a lot of uncertainties, and she's seen a rise in the
amount of students applying for private schools after elementary school.
Focus Area for Student Council:
Dr. King asked .about thoughts on a focus area for this School Council, and indicated that
some areas for consideration may be parent/teacher communication, especially around the
work done in the past two years to implement a multi -tiered system of support for -students.
The Leadership Team is meeting within a week and trying to think about what is important
for school/home communication. All thoughts, ideas or suggestions are welcome.
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Misc:
Dr. King noted the deadline for the application process to apply for full-day kindergarten is
December 15th. She does not know the specific numbers yet, but it looks like this will be a
very large kindergarten class with more than 300 students enrolling for the 2018-19 school
year.
The lunch room and revised allergy guidelines were briefly discussed. It was indicated that
it's been nice -for the students to have a choice.about their. seating, and what they are
bringing for lunch.
It was noted that the recent Parent University was fairly well attended and well-received by
the community. More than 200 people attended and learned about a wide variety, of topics
including social -emotional needs of students and technology.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the School Council adjourned at 4:00 p.m. with plans to
reconvene on January 8, 2017.
Respectfully Submitted,
Casey Moulton,
Recording Secretary