HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-06-07 School Council - Killam Elementary Minutes o,NF OFR[g0' I
Town of Reading RECF.1,UEC
?e� a Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK
�. READING, MA.
Board - Committee - commission - Council: 2021 JUN 14 AM 11: 55
School Council -J Warren Killam Elementary
Date: 2021-06-07 Time: 3:00 PM
Building: School - Killam Location: Conference Room
Address: 333 Charles Street Session: Open Session
Purpose: Quarterly Version: Draft
Attendees: Members - Present:
Sarah Leveque, Kim Adamo, Tonia McGuire, Christine Strack, Bryn Panee
Burkhart
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Bryn Panee Burkhart
Topics of Discussion:
The fourth quarterly meeting of the J.W. Killam Elementary School Council was conducted
virtually via Zoom on Monday, June 7, 2021 from 3 - 4 p.m.
Call to Order: Once a quorum of members were present, Sarah called the meeting to order
shortly after 3 p.m.
Review and Acceptance of Minutes: Members had the opportunity to review the draft
minutes from the April 2021 meeting and voted unanimously to approve them, 5 - 0.
Updates:
We first reviewed the responsibilities of the Committee with the following discussion:
School Improvement Plan: Sarah mentioned she wanted to get input and brainstorm
later in the meeting about what has worked well this year that we want to maintain, as well
as what has been missed this year, from a community perspective or parent perspective, as
we are thinking about what our kids are needing next year.
She further stated that they are hoping to take the positives learned from hybrid learning
and use those to move forward. From a structural perspective, there have been
improvements. For example, recess has actually worked better this year because classes
have been split up and spread out.
One downside has been the ability to meet those with social-emotional needs - they
couldn't get groups up and running, and have not been able to be as Flexible as they could
in previous years b/c of staffing constraints.
Sarah is expecting the announcement of a general education summer program (4 hours
long) to be offered this summer to help students engaged in learning, this program will be
Page I 1
free due to a grant. Is an opportunity to help students avoid a summer slide. Still ironing
out the details and hope to hear from district soon.
Regarding next year's class placement- a letter went out today saying that placements will
be announced later in the summer - perhaps late July or August. This is because there's a
lot of movement in the summer from families and teachers whose plans change. Another
area of discussion is the 51% general education/49% special education is the requirement
for class placement, and they anticipated too many moving parts to be able to fairly finalize
classrooms before school ends in certain locations.
The Killam parent handbook needs to be revised. Also, these documents need to be
translated for multilingual families. Over the summer, district lawyers will review
handbooks and update to ensure the regulatory pieces are correct.
Sarah stated she plans to continue the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion next year,
perhaps engaging with the PTO for support.
Budget: Sarah is still working on building the budget. She said they were excited to receive
more additional funding, and she is putting together a proposal that will enable her to
rebuild some of the classroom libraries. Also, she plans to replace furniture (bookshelves,
etc). Sarah noted that distancing guidelines have limited what can be in each classroom, so
the school feels disorganized if you walk around. She is also trying to build the budget
around what teachers need in each classroom.
WASH Committee: Sarah said she is still hoping to update the guidelines at some point,
but COVID required us to focus on the mitigation factors. Plan is to get to it next year.
New Business
The committee then discussed ideas around the return to school next year, as Sarah was
seeking feedback about the entry plan, specifically September and October.
Christine Strack said she believes that parents are more anxious about their kids falling
behind academically than their children are. It was noted that everyone is in the same boat,
and fortunately the Killam teachers know the children well. Everyone is doing their best.
We then discussed how to ease the transition back to school for anxious kids. We discussed
if there was a way for all grades to come to a meet and greet and see their classroom, meet
their teacher, have a glimpse of the classroom (similar to Meet N Greets done for incoming
Kindergarteners). Perhaps the PTO could be engaged to help facilitate.
Technology wise, Bryn Burkhart stated that she thought use of Google Classroom worked
well. Platform was easy to manage and run from a parent/student perspective.
Kim Adamo mentioned she thought that having a Virtual Open House might be easier on
parents - could we re-imagine it for next year? For example, maybe the curriculum
overview and Principal welcome could be online; then parents could come In and see the
classroom another day? Or, teachers could do a video of the classroom to give parents a
sense of what their child's day is like. Bryn Burkhart mentioned that as a parent, she really
liked being physically inside the class and meeting the teacher in person.
It was unanimously agreed that the option of doing parent-teacher conferences via Zoom or
In person should be continued for ease and efficiency.
While staggered dismissals worked OK, Sarah stated they may not have control over that
next year. It was also mentioned that staggered dismissals are sometimes problematic if
siblings have to wait for other siblings.
Page 1 2
We also discussed drop off in the a.m. - can we keep the plan of waiting outside the door
rather than going into the cafeteria and gym on bad weather days? Teachers thought this
was much smoother.
It was acknowledged that the fatigue of the past year is real, and everyone is tired. Plus,
there have been lots of changes with the leadership in Reading Public Schools
administration. Sarah stated how grateful she was for her team and community, and she is
hoping every family can have downtime and normalcy.
This will be Christine Strack's last meeting as her third (and last) child is graduating from
Killam. She has been a phenomenal parent volunteer for several years!
Bryn and Christine expressed their gratitude for the teaching staff at Killam, and all teachers
in the district, for navigating through an extremely difficult and unprecedented year.
Adjournment: The School council adjourned at 4:00 p.m. with plans to reconvene in the
fall.
Page 13