HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-26 School Council - Wood End Minutes rP. 4�
Town of Reading RECENEU
Meeting Minutes TOW N CLER K,� i
Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2121 GC �5 PH 2 52
School Council -Wood End Elementary
Date: 2020-10-26 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: School - Wood End Location:
Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane Session: Open Session
Purpose: Regular Meeting for 2020-21 Version: Draft
Attendees: Members - Present:
Lori Abelson, Lindsay Baker, Nicole Cella, Mia Gaska, Jessica Hester, Joanne
King, Kevin Sexton, Christine St. Hilaire.
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Joanne King
Topics of Discussion:
The first monthly meeting of the Wood End Elementary School Council was held via Zoom
on October 26, 2020.
Call to order:
A quorum of members being present, and the meeting having been duly convened for Wood
End Elementary School by the Principal, Joanne King called the meeting to order at 7:00
p.m. and proceeded with business.
Public Comment:
No public comments were shared.
Review and Acceptance of Minutes:
No meeting minutes were reviewed.
Old Business: None at this time.
New Business:
Election of Co-Chair/Secretary: After welcome introductions and a brief discussion Kevin
Sexton volunteered to serve as co-chair of this committee and Mia Gaska volunteered to
serve as secretary. Both were elected to those positions for the 2020-21 school year.
School Improvement Plans: Dr. King shared an initial draft of the goals for the School
Improvement Plan for the 2020-21 school year. The plan will focus on three specific goals
for Wood End - Equity and Anti-Bias Education, Hybrid Teaching & Learning, and
Attendance. The plan also included the school's mission and vision statements, core values,
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and strategic objectives. The specific initiatives to achieve each goal are currently being
developed and will be shared with this group for review and feedback.
Wood End
Plan Ove
Mission of Read,
Instilling a joy of learning and inspirin
Vis
Wood End Elementary School seeks to create a safe and suppi
through the implementation of a tiered support system that pin
accountabilities based on our core values, communication and i
decision making purposes, and an efficient and effective respor
to be successful. We will foster an environment that focuses on
care 1
Wood End Wildcats are responsible,
A discussion about each area included:
Chronic absenteeism: Attendance is still an area of concern at Wood End with the overall
attendance rate currently at 96.62%. This is fairly signifcant for a district like Reading. The
data for August 2010 through March 13, 2020 shows 72 students had 10+ absences, which
is considered chronic. Attendance for the full school year could not be calculated due to
COVID closure, though absences were consistent across all grade levels, K-5. Dr. King will
continue to reach out to individual families to create plans to improve student attendance
and encourage parents/guardians to keep students in school.
Hybrid Teaching & Learning: Teachers and staff spent the first 10 days of the school year
learning new technology including our new Learning Management System (LMS) Google
Classroom. Training for other digital tools included Seesaw, Pear Deck, Zoom, and Microsoft
Teams. Staff had opportunities to learn and practice tools, equip the satellite classrooms,
and set up virtual meetings prior to students beginning school. Teachers are currently using
a variety of small group/individual conferences and assessments and breakout rooms to
assess student learning. Students are "digital natives" have become very familiar with this
new technology. Families continue to need support and some coaching on all the new
technologies, though the gradual well-paced introductions to tools have been helpful.
Teachers are sensitive to the students' needs and increased screen time, giving breaks
when possible, sharing screens in breakout rooms to trouble shoot problems, and offering
1:1 help sessions when needed.
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Equity: Supporting administrators, teachers, students, and families in achieving racial and
educational equity in our school and community is an area of focus for Wood End. This will
include teaching about equity and anti-bias as well as providing more diverse resources for
teachers, students and families to raise awareness and shift practices to promote a safe
learning community for all. Our library media specialist has been sharing book
recommendations to families via Instagram, and they have been well received. A wide range
of literature has been purchased for our school library. Suggestions for sharing information
and resources included book talks, TED-Talks, parent book group, dedicating time during
school year for topics (monthly meetings focused on a specific topic), guide of resources,
speaker sessions, and professional development. Committee members were asked to begin
researching topics of interest to share with one another so we can begin planning next
steps.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the School Council adjourned at 8:25 p.m. with plans to
reconvene on January 25, 2021
Respectfully Submitted,
Joanne King,
Recording Secretary
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