HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-25 School Council - Joshua Eaton Elementary Minutes Town of Reading
Meeting Minutes ; '1-i
Board - Committee- Commission - Council: 2191 OCT -9 PM 6: 39
School Council -Joshua Eaton Elementary
Date: 2017-09-25 Time: 3:05 PM
Building: School - Joshua Eaton Location: Conference Room
Address: 365 Summer Avenue Session: Open Session
Purpose: School Council Meeting Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Ippolito, LisaMarie, Lusk, Christine, Emery, Sandy, Libby, Susie, Quinn,
Jaime, Ross, Julie, Gaffen, Erin, O'Neal, Laura
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Marianne Downing, Alison Albert
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By:
Topics of Discussion:
1) Call to order
*Introductions
All Members in attendance, including Marianne Downing,Alison Albert, and Laura O'Neil
2)Old business
a. Minutes accepted
b. New business a. Elect Co-chair - Christine Lusk was unanimously elected
c. Elect WASH liaison-Julie Ross was unanimously elected
d. Discuss student attendance
a. We want to keep this group informed of the attendance issue at JE
b. This group will be informed of the attendance trends throughout the year
Focus of Our New School Goal
First Week of School-
2 Absences, 2 Dismissals 0 Tardies
Second Week
21 Absences, 5 Dismissals 16 Tardies
Third Week
27 Absences, 6 Dismissals 17 Tardies
Fourth Week
39 Absences, 7 Dismissals 6 Tardies
The attendance issue is not unique to Reading but Joshua Eaton's number were alarming
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• Students with over ten absences o K- (14 children)
0 1- (21 children)
0 2- (22 children)
0 3- (18 children)
0 4- (21 children)
0 5- (26 children)
• Brainstorms
o Looking at the population
o Looking at family trends
o Contacting families after three days in a row
o Looking at the dismissal and tardy trends
o Trying to find ways to increase MCAS attendance
o For every 5 absences,the student will receive a letter
o We still should keep children out if they had a fever within 24 hours. This will help us
to prevent further spreading of germs.
o Some incentive that will motivate students and families without making sick kids come
to school
o Posting info in the Jaguar Tracks
o School wide or grade wide targets
o School Thermometer
o Extra recess
o Encouraging parents not to plan trips during school
o Reach out to parents about the importance of missing out on learning
o Washing hands before they eat
o Sending letter for chronic colds
o Water bottles,home every week or few days
o Asking for more wipes
o Washing hands after cleaning
o Educating parents about the law of truancy and possible retention
o See if we can get parent support for families that have car trouble
o Reach out to safety officer to help with the traffic in the morning
o Getting the crossing guard to hold kids at the comer, so they can stop traffic in small
groups
o Right turn only coming from OAK onto Summer
A. Review and approve communications policy
a) • Teachers will be sending home weekly newsletters
b) • Teachers are using the portal
c) • Parents are asked to email questions to teachers or principal for issues pertaining to the
school before posting on social media
d) Questions should not be posted in the comment sections of Facebook
e) Facebook is a one-way communication
f) Please like and give positive comments on the Facebook page to increase the likely hood
that people will see it in their feed
g) Possibly put the link to the principal's email address
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B. Draft School Improvement Plan
a) We reviewed the previous school improvement plan
b) Used the district goals
c) Looked at school perspectives with school initiatives, MTSS systems, Historical
perspectives, Teacher leaderships, Data, Special Education info,
d) School Concerns/Needs Assessments
e) • We examined the Fountas and Pinnell assessments
I) •New Assessment is looking for a depth of knowledge when comprehension standards
g) •Newness of the assessment
h) • Teacher implementation
i) • What are we doing to address the concerns?
j) •Test being administered three times a year
k) •Can we develop the do more interventions in our community at the pre-school level?
1) • Bring back the K day when they meet with incoming parents
m) • Advertising of books that can help parents with educational strategies or good literature
for children
n) • Teach parents that a real book is better for a child's literacy development than ABC
mouse
o) •Weekly newsletters from teacher may contain book suggestions
p) • Get some Library Outreach
t) • District Parent university
r) •After school access for students in the JE library
s) • Parents donation of time in the library
t) •Funding for book bags
u) • Little Free Library
v) • Reach out to Recycle That
D. Attendance Goal
a) If we can increase the attendance by 3%
b) Attendance must change to move the MCAS scores,time on learning.
E. Items for next meeting
a. Bridge discussion
F. Adjourn
hr
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