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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-06-04 School Committee Minutes N F11 Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Q39+INCOR4� Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee Date: 2018-06-04 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, Sherri Vanden Akker, Linda Snow Dockser, Nick Boivin, Elaine Webb and Jeanne Borawski Members - Not Present: Student Representative Catie Coumounduros Others Present: Superintendent John Doherty, Director of Finance Gail Dowd, Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson, Joshua Eaton principal Lisa Ippolito, Members of the Joshua Eaton staff and School Council, Al Sylvia - Reading Chronicle Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Linda Engelson on behalf of the Chair Topics of Discussion: I. Call to Order Chair Robinson reviewed the agenda and called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Recommended Procedure A. Public Comment Rebecca Liberman referenced School Committee Policy BBA—School Committee Powers and Duties specifically speaking to the Public Relations (responsible for providing adequate and direct means of keeping the local citizenry informed) and Educational Planning and Evaluation(responsible for establishing educational goals and policies that will guide the Committee and staff for the administration and continuing improvement of educational programs) bullets and asked once again for the math update. B. Consent A eg nda Mr. Robinson asked if the committee wanted any items removed from the consent agenda. There were none. Accept an Anonymous Donation to the Food Service Department Accept a Donation from the Reading Rotary Club Page 1 1 I Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to approve the consent agenda. The motion carried 6-0. C. Reports Liaison Mr. Robinson reported on graduation saying it was a great day and wished the Class of 2018 well. Mrs. Webb thanked all who contributed to another successful graduation celebration. Dr. Snow Dockser said she attended the recent SEPAC meeting and the next meeting is scheduled for June 11th. She encouraged families to fill-out the IEP surveys. She also mentioned that the SEPAC and Reading Embraces Diversity will have tables at the Friends and Family Day. Lastly, Dr. Snow Dockser mentioned she will be attending the Intelligent Lives presentation on Thursday night. Mrs. Borawski reported on the upcoming 375 Committee trivia night fundraiser on Friday night in the RCTV Studios. Director of Student Services Mrs. Wilson reported on the recent SEPAC meeting. There was discussion on how to more effectively use the report card,the program review at Parker, staffing and the agenda for the June 11th meeting. Mrs. Wilson also reported that she has received the Parker Program Review from Melissa Orkin and will meet with Principal Shankland and Team Chair Allison Wright to review. She will then roll it out to the staff and parents and finally to the public. Superintendent Superintendent Doherty reported on the status of the Barrows Principal Search. He thanked the search committee and has met with the prefinalists that were moved forward by the search committee. He will announce the finalists on Tuesday. The open microphone session for the community will be held on Wednesday night and the site visit and staff open microphone session will be on June 12th. The Superintendent hopes to announce the Barrows Principal by June 20th. Dr. Doherty congratulated the Class of 2018. He thanked everyone involved in pulling graduation and all of the senior activities together. He also attended the Baccalaureate Service that is always a nice event. The Superintendent also reported on the recent Security Summit held by town and school staff which was attended by many community members. The town, Page 1 2 school, police, fire and facilities staffs continue to work collaboratively to ensure the safety of the community. Mrs. Webb asked about the Unity Project. The UNITY Project is set up on the lawn of RMHS near the Main Entrance. 33 PVC pipes, each with an identifier on them, are set up in a circle. As you approach the instillation, participants will be given a ball of yarn and invited to wrap the yarn around each pole with which they identify. As more and more people participate, the interconnected yarn forms a canopy, demonstrating how everyone is unique, and yet also connected with others. Identifiers range from"I am athletic"to "I am a cat person"to "I have siblings" and many more. The 32nd post will be blank and will have a chalkboard for people to write important identifiers on, so significant aspects of a person's identity can be included. D. Old Business Joshua Eaton Update Principal Ippolito thanked the teachers and School Council members that were in attendance. She began her presentation by reviewing the Literacy goal for Joshua Eaton which is to continue to improve student performance in English Language Arts as we move towards full adoption of the Readers and Writers Workshop model. Action steps taken to meet this goal include professional development opportunities, staff collaboration to calibrate instructional practices, data meetings with grade level teams and a school-wide Read-a-thon. She went on to review the Early Reading Inventory for kindergarten and grade 1 tracking progress from the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2018. Joshua Eaton teachers have worked hard with the Title 1 Coordinator and the reading teachers on intervention strategies. The Fountas &Pinnell assessments were reviewed by grade level. Students on or above grade level increased in all grades except grade 3. The level of academic rigor changes over the course of the year. Reading to learn—learning to read usually happens at grade 3 when students are learning to employ critical thinking skills. The next goal was the communication goal. Action steps to address this goal include the weekly Jaguar Tracks newsletter, PTO bulletin board, social media, diversity lessons during Open Circle led by METCO Director Jason Cross, parent cafe and coffees with English Learner families, classroom teacher newsletters and portal usage, Classroom Dojo and Smore staff weekly newsletters. The next goal was improving daily student attendance which has seen a 10% decrease in the number of students absent for more than 10 days in a school year and to increase all student's days in school. The Joshua Eaton staff has attended professional development sessions at the Massachusetts Department of Youth services, are working with SRO Lewis, the weekly attendance percentage is posted in the weekly Jaguar Tracks, the use of the Interface Referral System, developing deeper relationships with students, principal phone calls after 3 consecutive absences and letters home after 5 absences as ways the Eaton community is addressing this goal. Page 1 3 Professional development activities in the area of special education include 7 staff members and the principal taking a Landmark online course, LIPS training, consultation with Landmark of Eaton Bridge program for both general education and special education staff, school based responsive discipline work group (PBIS model refining), school based coteach book group (models discussed), Project Read concept training, collaborative planning time for general and special education to develop intervention modifications that can be used in the classroom, and Bridge Program support for individual student needs. Mrs. Ippolito shared some of the other happenings at Joshua Eaton including the recent Read-A-Thon that was an inclusive schoolwide activity. This event allowed the students to share their enthusiasm for reading. Field trips and enrichment activities have provided the students with tremendous opportunities to experience all different activities and the open house night allowed families to share in their child's work. Mrs. Ippolito thanked her PTO for all of their contributions to the Joshua Eaton community. Looking ahead the school will continue to fine tune their Literacy Guided Reading & Writing block, dive more deeply into the 2017 Massachusetts Mathematics Standards and alignment to current curriculum materials, evaluate processes used for consultation time among various staff groups, introduce project-based activities on Fun Fridays that incorporate habit of mind skills, schedule SST and data team meetings on more regular intervals and continue to strive for better attendance. Mr. Boivin thanked Mrs. Ippolito and asked what has been learned in the efforts made to benefit kids. Mrs. Ippolito said that on the academic side the Tier 2 interventions are not as consistent as they would like. Mr. Boivin followed up by asking what the focus was this year. The focus has been literacy. Joshua Eaton is also addressing social emotional learning. The staff is being proactive using responsive discipline. Mr. Robinson is happy to see the that project based activities and collaboration amongst schools is in the mix. Mrs. Webb feels that the opportunities to work with the curriculum coordinators will be a plus and would like the continued engagement of the community and opportunities for parents to contribute. Mrs. Borawski likes that the whole child is being looked at with a balance between data and the work being done. Dr. Snow Dockser also likes the whole child approach. Dr. Vanden Akker asked what the other areas of focus were. Mrs. Ippolito said the school improvement goals include math, classroom management, Tier 2 interventions, literacy interventions, expanding data points and many other areas. Mr. Boivin would like to see longitudinal data—cohorts moving through grades. He is concerned about a drop in the grade 5 MCAS scores. Kindergarten Update Page 1 4 Dr. Doherty began by recapping what will be happening in the 2018-19 school year. We will once again be offering full and half day programs, with full day classrooms in all 5 buildings. Due to low half day enrollment, these programs will be offered at Wood End, Killam and Joshua Eaton. We have been able to offer full day spots to those half day students with siblings in their home school. The half day programs at Killam and Joshua Eaton will begin at 8:15 a.m. to allow families that have children at multiple schools the ability to transport their children. In addition, before school programming will be offered at no cost for the Birch Meadow and Killam half day students who will be attending school out of their neighborhood school. Dr. Doherty next reviewed the enrollment numbers by school and shared the information on enrollment based on the census. He said the census is not an accurate predictor. He next shared the benefits of full day kindergarten and the types and communities that offer tuition based and free programs. Reading is one of 31 communities with tuition that ranges between$3,500—4,570 per year. For Reading to implement free full day kindergarten we would need $1 M in the budget. Reading Public Schools have offered tuition-based full day kindergarten since the 2005-06 school year and since that time there has been a steady increase in the number of families that are requesting full day. Because of budget and space limitations in each school, we have had to sometimes create integrated kindergarten classrooms. Next year we have approximately 42 half day kindergarten students. Families that qualify for free and reduced lunch have the ability to access full day kindergarten for no tuition or reduced tuition. Priorities for kindergarten includes access to full day kindergarten for families that want it, maintaining recommended class sizes, keeping full and half day programs separate, keeping siblings in the same school and maintaining neighborhood schools. Mr. Robinson ask for a presentation at a future meeting on the integrated model and to establish enrollment guidance for kindergarten. Limitations our community faces include the fact that we have five elementary schools, which is a large number for a community our size. This limits economy of scale when combining classes, low number of half day students in some schools and in some years, we have had to use an integrated model. This model restricts a teacher's ability to teach curriculum effectively. Space limitations is also a concern. In addition,the increase in full day numbers, an addition of a preschool classroom, and the addition of special education programs in district over the last several years,there has been competing demands for educational space. During the 2015-16 school year, six portable classrooms were added at elementary schools to partially address space needs. This space issue will need to be addressed in the next 3 —5 years. Marianne Downing asked how many RISE classrooms we have in the district. The answer was 9. We are required to have space available of any child that turns three and requires services. Dr. Doherty reviewed the percentage of full day kindergarten by student group (ELL, economically disadvantages,high needs and students with disabilities). Dr. Page 1 5 Doherty pointed out that only 66.7% of families that are economically disadvantaged are accessing free full day kindergarten. The question is why. The Superintendent reviewed the options for the future based on space and enrollment. Each year may be different based on classroom space availability and enrollment. The options include: 1) offer full day kindergarten and half day kindergarten separately in each school, 2) offer full day kindergarten in each school and half day kindergarten in schools where space is available and enrollment is optimal, 3) offer integrated kindergarten in schools where feasible and full day and half day kindergarten where feasible. If we do not continue to offer full day kindergarten without limitations (i.e. no lottery), families who do not get chosen may opt for private kindergarten. These students would return in first grade creating space and staffing problems and they would not have access to the kindergarten curriculum we offer. The financial impact to the budget would be less full day students will result in less tuition and less offset and a reduction in teaching and paraeducator staff. Currently the district takes a$980,000 offset to the budget from full day kindergarten. E. New Business Liaison Appointments Mrs. Webb moved, seconded by Mr. Boivin, to propose the following changes to the liaison responsibilities: Audit Nick Boivin Finance Committee Liaison Sherri Vanden Akker Recreation Chuck Robinson Select Board Liaison Sherri Vanden Akker Chuck Robinson RCASA Linda Snow Dockser Celebration Committee Everett Blodgett Human Relations Advisory Elaine Webb RCTV Board of Directors Nick Boivin SEPAC Jeanne Borawski Permanent Building Committee Chuck Robinson 375 Celebration Jeanne Borawski The motion carried 6-0. II. Routine Matters a. Bills and Payroll (A) Warrant S 1847 5.24.18 $128,879.79 Warrant S1848 5.31.18 $564,939.38 b. Calendar III. Information/Correspondence Page 6 IV.Future Business V. Adjournment Adjourn Mrs. Webb stated to protect the bargaining position of the board and moved, seconded by Mrs. Borawski, to enter executive session to discuss strategies with respect to collective bargaining, non-represented personnel and the approval of minutes and not to return to open session. The roll call vote carried 6-0. Mrs. Borawski, Dr. Vanden Akker, Dr. Snow Dockser,Mr. Robinson, Mr. Boivin and Mrs. Webb. The meeting adjourned at 9:03 p.m. NOTE: The minutes reflect the order as stated in the posted meeting agenda not the order they occurred during the meeting. Link to meeting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zALuJx_4hM o F. Doher , Ed.D. Page 1 7