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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-20 School Committee Minutes OWN Of pfd' Town of Reading " - - Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: School Committee 3111 NOV —7 PM 1' 05 Date: 2018-09-20 Time: 7:00 PM Building: School - Memorial High Location: School Library Address: 62 Oakland Road Session: Open Session Purpose: Open Session Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Chuck Robinson, Linda Snow Dockser, Elaine Webb, Nick Boivin, Sherri Vanden Akker, and Jeanne Borawski Members - Not Present: Others Present: Superintendent John Doherty, Director of Finance Gail Dowd, Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson, Assistant Superintendent Christine Kelley, Student Representative Maura Drummey, Eaton principal LisaMarie Ippolito, Parker principal Rick! Shankland, Assistant Director of Student Services Allison Wright, Team Chairs and Parker Bridge Program staff, Al Sylvia - Reading Chronicle Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Linda Engelson on behalf of the Chair Topics of Discussion: I. Call to Order Chair Webb reviewed the agenda and called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. A. Public Input There was no public input. B. Consent Aeenda Mrs. Webb asked if the committee wanted any items removed from the consent agenda. Mrs. Webb asked that the August 8, 2018 minutes be removed. Approval of the Parker Quebec Field Trip Approval of the Coolidge Quebec Field Trip Accept a Donation to RMHS Cheering Accept a Donation to Parker Middle School Approval of Minutes (August 8 & 30, 2018) Page 1 1 - - Mrs. Webb asked the two pictures included in her report as well as the dialogue referring to the pictures be removed from the August 8, 2018 minutes. The motion to remove the pictures and dialogue was made by Mr. Boivin and seconded by Mr. Robinson. The motion carried 6-0. Dr. Snow Dockser moved,seconded by Mrs. Borawski,to approve the consent agenda as amended. The motion carried 6-0. C. Reports Student Ms. Drummey reported on the recent RMHS flex block. She said students participated in summer reading book groups. The groups comprised of students that read the same book over the summer. She also reported that PSAT testing will take place during the school day on October 1011 for sophomores and juniors. There was an ALICE drill at the high school today, Senior Parent's Guidance Night is occurring tonight, and football takes on Lexington Friday night. Director of Student Services Mrs. Wilson reported on that the USDOE visit that occurred this week. USDOE Assistant Secretary Johnny Collett and Assistant Deputy Secretary Kim Richy along with Russell Johnston, Associate Commissioner and Lauren Viviani, Program Director for Early Childhood from the MADESE visited special education classrooms at RISE, Birch Meadow and the high school. They commented on the continuity of supports from preschool to high school. They visited co-taught kindergarten and grade 4 classrooms at Birch Meadow, at the high school they visited the new life skills kitchen where the students were making muffins. The students shared how they shopped for the ingredients. The group also visited a small group science class and a co-taught history class. At the RISE Preschool they were able to observe changes made as a result of PBIS work done last year. Mr. Johnston was impressed how one of our newest preschool teachers has incorporated UDL practices into the lesson they observed, allowing multiple forms of output and input from each student. Mrs. Wilson also added as Director of Student services for the last four years she is proud of what was observed. The resources, supports and structures we have put in place have resulted in continued improvement for our students with disabilities. She thanked principals Julia Hendrix and Kate Boynton and Preschool Director Kelley Bostwick and all the staff who opened their classroom to the group. Mr. Robinson asked what the take-aways were from this visit. Dr. Doherty said that Reading was recommended by the DESE and it was a back to school listening tour. The group gathered information on how we imagine special education. Assistant Superintendent Mrs. Kelley reported the upcoming release of the 2018 MCAS results. The principals have been reviewing the new accountability measures. Mrs. Kelley reported that she and the curriculum coaches have been working to update the K— 5 ELA and math curriculum guides and hopes to send a draft to the community for feedback. She thanked Curriculum Coaches Heather Leonard and Allison Page 1 2 Straker for their work on this project. She has been working on the professional development calendar as well. Chief Financial Officer Mrs. Dowd reported that the first Financial Forum will be held on October 10ih in the RMHS library. The Town manager has balanced the FY20 capital plan for the next two years. There is $4M in the capital plan for school and town building safety and a request at the April Town Meeting to allocate funding out of the FY20/21 capital plan for the Turf 2 replacement. This turf has reached the end of its useful life. Superintendent Superintendent Doherty introduced Interim Director of Student Service Sharon Stewart. She will be working 3 days/week on-site. Some of the non-special education duties have been moved to other administrators and he feels there is a strong plan in place to continue to move forward. On September 25"the Select Board will hold a stakeholder's meeting to discuss the recent hate crimes. The hope is to look forward as a community to educate, discuss and solve this concern. Chair Webb added that the Select Board would like this to be a community dialogue. She added that at the October 2"d Select Board meeting our state legislators will be attending. Dr. Doherty continued his report sharing that the high school held an ALICE drill this morning. He thanked the high school administration and the School Resource Officers for coordinating the drill. It went very well and that he, Mrs. Dowd and Mr. Huggins attended an active shooter symposium at Stonehill College. He felt good about the plans we have in place in Reading. Liaison Dr. Snow Dockser reported on the following: "Annual Meeting: Next Thursday, Sept 27th from 7-8:30 in RMHS PAC: Erica McNamara,former Director will share annual highlights including recent award that Dr. Sherri vandenAkker accepted in Washington, DC. Dr. YandenAkker will be the featured speaker on: "What I Wish 1 Knew: When Someone You Love Suffers from a Substance Use Disorder. " Hidden in Plain Sight is a drop in program for parents only—will be held on Monday Sept. 24th from 6 to 8 pm, Tuesday Sept. 25th from 8-11 am and 3-5pm, and Wednesday Sept. 26th from 8am-11 am. The event is free of charge, and is sponsored by: Burbank YMCA, Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse and Reading Police Department. RCASA worked with the schools this summer— page 13 Julianne DeAngelis, RCASA Outreach Coordinator worked with Michelle Hopkinson, Health Educator to improve their Chemical Health Education Class that is hosted monthly at RMHS. Director McNamara worked with Dr. Doherty and school staff to ensure that the Pride Survey was completed and worked with SRO Lewis and Lauren Sabella, Behavioral Health Coach to run their first Youth Mental Health First Aid class which certified 27 new Reading Public Schools staff. The Outreach Coordinator, Director of Nurses, and RCASA Director also worked on the plan to implement SBIRT(Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) at RMHSfor 2018-19. Students will be screened in grades 9 and 11. Screening forms,parent info and student handouts were updated RCASA thanked RMHS for their collaboration on this project including Tom 2aya, Asst Principal at RMHSfor sharing his office space throughout the year jar RCASA staff. " Mrs. Borawski reported the SEPAC will hold their first meeting on September 11 th and on September 18th there will be a presentation on the Parker Program review. Also, on September 18th there will be a Special Education Meet& Greet. The SEPAC will also be updating their website and all this information can be found there. Mrs. Borawski updated the community on the 375th Anniversary Celebration. They will hold the 3rd trivia night(Nov. 9th) at RCTV. The celebration will occur during the first two weeks of June. The Reading Public Library will be celebrating their 150" anniversary and there will be complementary celebrations. She next reported on the SEPAC meeting that occurred last Thursday and the next meeting will be held on October 9`^ in the RPD Community Room. D. Old Business FY2018 Update Mrs. Dowd updated the committee on the final FYI budget. We ended the fiscal year with an unencumbered balance of$229,563 which represents approximately 0.5%of the total FY2018 budget. The numbers reflected are in line with the previous presentations. E. New Business Parker Bridge Program Review Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson presented the results of the Parker Middle School Bridge Program Review. She reviewed the timeline and reviewed the credentials of Dr. Melissa Orkin who performed the program review. The program evaluation consisted of classroom observations, teacher and administrator interviews, on-line survey of parents of students in the program,a survey of program teachers and administrators, an inventory of assessments and curricula and a review of the professional development. Page 14 Mrs. Wilson reviewed what has been done since we received the report which included meetings with the stakeholders and planning and review of an action plan. Mr. Boivin asked how the Walker Report relates to this report. Mrs. Wilson said that the Walker Report was very broad whereas;this report is very specific. Mr. Robinson referred to the parent feedback and need for a comprehensive plan for program evaluations of all special education programs. He said this was mentioned during the budget process and would like it on a future agenda for discussion. The report finds that the program contains the structure and essential foundational elements of a language-based program. Recommendations to increase the efficacy of the program, and deepen the commitment to language-based instruction, Orkin recommended a 3-year plan that prioritizes the ongoing assessment of students' ELA skills, integrating comprehensive ELA intervention curriculum, and increased use of instructional strategies that facilitate greater student independence particularly in the areas of ELA and general executive functioning. Mrs. Wilson then reviewed the feedback received from educators and parents. Some of the educator's feedback regarding strengths includes that there me cohesive grade level teams,realistic student goals and the previous professional development(specifically Landmark School), in helping to identify cross-content strategies for building executive function skills among students. Areas of on- going support includes the development of an instructional plan that aligns across grade levels, benchmark assessments, grade level planning time,on-going professional development and consultation and strategic use of assistive technology to foster independence. Positive feedback from parents included they have witnessed significant improvements in their child as a result of attending the middle school Bridge program,parents we satisfied with the progress their child is making in content area instruction and perceive the classes are engaging and appropriate for their child and the communication from the teachers ranges between excellent and good. The parents had concerns in the areas of study skills and academic support, accommodations and modifications, faculty expertise, students' school refusal, content area performance, grades and mathematical ability. The parent feedback also highlighted that they feel we are not closing the achievement gap and concerns that staff are not trained in structural writing programs. Mrs. Wilson reviewed the instructional observations in the areas of specialized reading and ELA, math, content and academic support. It was observed that specialized instruction in reading and ELA is delivered with a high degree of fidelity,by knowledgeable practitioners,there are inclusion opportunities and the pacing of instruction matched the needs of the students. It is being recommended to identify a remedial literacy program that is more integrative,to use assistive technology, content use of graphic organizers for comprehension and written expression instruction. In the area of math; strengths include that the instruction was explicit, systematic and employed multi-sensory techniques, instruction was delivered with a high degree of fidelity, by knowledgeable practitioners, there Page 1 5 were clearly stated routines,abstract concepts were muted in real-world applications and there were comprehension checks. Recommendations in math include the use of a warm up and closure routines, fostering self-regulated teaming and independent application of strategies, use of manipulatives and considering a classroom management curriculum that foster self-regulation. Strengths found in the area of instructional content include the use of daily and weekly agendas,opportunities to work in small groups and accommodations and modifications provided during instruction. Recommendations include the use of visual aides and multi-sensory elements frequently, offer opportunities for analysis and debate and the use of note-taking scaffolds to support skill development. In the area of academic support strengths include peer mediated teaming,consistent use of a table of contents helps for keeping track of notes,the students advocate for their needs and the rapport between teachers and students is strengthened during this time. Recommendations include providing support around key executive function skills: time management, goal setting and planning and checking and to develop strategies for exam prep. Assessment inventory strengths include a wide variety of diagnostic measures for literacy related skills and trained practitioners. It is recommended that the addition of diagnostic measures on naming speed and that benchmark assessments be administered 3 times per year. In the area of curricula, it has been recommended to provide a wide variety of specialized.programs that address the various linguistic language-based weaknesses common among students in the program and support certificate level training opportunities in specialized writing. The work done with the Landmark School was cited as a highlight for professional development and the report recommended that the district consider having a council of teachers to help guide PD decisions. Mr. Boivin asked about the availability of teacher's credentials. Mrs. Wilson said we do not have a comprehensive database,but parents can request the credentials of their child's teachers. Mrs. Wilson reviewed the action plan moving forward. In the area of assessment, the Parker team will identify progress monitoring tools and implement at least one tool and will also review diagnostic tools and identify tools and order any additional tools. The team will also explore and potentially trial integrated specialized remediation in ELA (Language Live). In the area of instructional strategies,the Parker team will increase the use of instructional strategies that facilitate greater student independence particularly in the area of ELA and general executive functioning. It will also be a goal to provide parents with more information on the program and what their child is able to do based on data and other work samples. We will continue to support the qualified staff in the program by providing time for planning and vertical alignment, on-going professional development opportunities and will seek feedback when making decisions. PRIDE Survev Dr. Doherty provided an overview of the PRIDE survey that was administered to PreK-12 staff&parents and grade 6-8 and 10-12 students. This was an anonymous,reliable and valid survey. It was chosen based on previous use of the Page 1 6 survey by RCASA and connection to school climate goals and student alignment with YRBS. The Superintendent reviewed the category results which are based on a scale of 1 -4. Any score above 2.5 is considered a desirable result as defined by PRIDE. The categories used for the student and teacher surveys were school climate, student-teacher relationships at school, students and learning and teacher involvement. Dr. Doherty said that the survey is a snapshot in time, it is a perception survey. The parent survey topics were school engagement, academic achievement,general school life and student safety. The principals will review the results with the staff and identify areas of strength and areas to strengthen and the administrative team will have conversations that will inform School/District Improvement Plan initiatives and other activities. II. Routine Matters a. Bills and Payroll (A) Warrant S1910 9.6.18 $164,247.81 Warrant S1911 9.13.18 $203,260.38 Warrant PI9038.10.18 $1,127,052.82 Warrant PI 904 8.24.18 $1,143,486.74 Warrant PI905 9.7.18 $1,469,107.43 b. Calendar III. Information/Correspondence Mrs. Webb mentioned the Challenge Day invitation that the committee received. IV.Future Business V. Adjournment Adioum Dr. Snow Dockser 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 and not to return to open session. The roll call vote carried 6-0. Mrs. Borawski,Dr. Snow Dockser, Mr.Robinson,Mr. Boivin, Dr. Vanden Akker and Mrs. Webb. The meeting adjourned at 9:26 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://wvnv.voutube.com/watch?r-264uavEmK21 Page 1 7 John F. Doherty,U. D. Page 18