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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
School Council -Walter S Parker Middle
Date: 2021-12-08 Time: 5:30 PM
Building: School - Parker Location:
Address: 45 Temple Street Session:
Purpose: Monthly Meeting Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
RECEIVED
TOWW CLERK
READING, MA.
2022 JAN 19 PM 1:39
Richele Shankland, Tim Rogers, Amy Koehler, Grace Therriault, Kim Moreau,
Andrea Hall, Michelle Kane, Kim Bernazzani, Miguel Borrero
Members - Not Present:
Erin Gaffen, Christine Lusk, Audra Cashin, Tiffany Williams, Ann Ozanian,
Bryan Fernandez,
Others Present:
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Richele Shankland
Topics of Discussion:
Review and vote on minutes from November 10, 2021, meeting.
a. Michelle Kane made a motion to approve minutes
b. Motion was seconded by Tim Rogers
c. November 10, 2021 minutes approved
School Improvement Plan: Final
a. Team leaders met about minutes and changes made
b. Second half of year will be devoted culturally proficient teaching practices
c. Ricki went to conference and found a great speaker, Dr. Holly that gave her useful
teaching practices that could he implemented in the class; lessons and resources received;
money will be used to purchase resources for the teachers; system for rating novels
diversity level, will allow to do the work to rate books to bring into classes.
d. Bringing in diverse in literature in attempt to increase representation of all students in
literature
e. Amy commented on the changes to Advisory and the concept of Power and who has
power; Peer to Peer Power, Adults vs. Kids, Able-bodied vs. Disabled Bodied; Ricki
responded saying there are tons of entry points in The Power Book; poses questions not
lessons; Advisory board creating lessons have created it in such a way that makes it easy
for teachers and students to access
3. Budget
a. Must be approved by 12/15
b. Per Pupil Budget: Ricki has changed the way the budget is dispersed to help make sure
the money is allocated where it is needed rather than having every department gets
money they might not need:
c. budget shows the name and number line item separately, but the bold number represents
the actual budget amount:
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d. All SmartBoards being replaced except 2 Special Ed classrooms which should be
replaced next year:
e. used put a lot of money into Tech, but now that one-to-one so budget can be reduced to
just account for repairs or some replacements: district helps replace equipment tw this
year Finance Director paid for some of the current Technology Subscriptions, so Ricki
has accounted for that in the new budget:
I. IXL is expensive. so Ricki. Sarah. and Heather Leonard are explorin other ther programs to
cover math and reading: Michelle used Renaissance STAR Assessment in her district
which is being explored by district: Ricki asked Amy if her district used any
benchmarking, but she did not have a program recommendation
g. expanding the PD budget t to pay teachers for work that is being done; Ricki would also
use some of the money to bring people in to work with the teachers on PD and Eauiry
work: Ricki is hoping to bring Dr. Holly in if possible:
h. question brought up about postage as documents moved to electronic, and Ricki said
money can be shifted to:
4. Start Handbook Discussion
a. Equity Audit continued from last year
b. Handbook language was considered very negative
c. Took out additional information and tried to make more positive
d. Changed language like parents to families or caregivers to be more inclusive
e. Language changed to he more like Parker Community handbook not student handbook
f. Assumptions made by old handbook, so those ideas removed to try to focus on family
and making clearer
g. Tried to streamline and make it easier to find information
h. Tried to change tone from negative tone to more positive and inclusive tone
i. Review of Handbook Equity Rubric/ Handbook Draft (still work in progress — missing
academic section)
i. Broken down into different parts and rated sections of handbook on level of
equity
ii. Part of handbook with be district definition of equity (shared vision)
iii. Rubric helped to show that handbook was more consequence based which the
move to restorative has allowed for less consequences and more about learning
and developing communication
iv. Students still being punished for behaviors, but more about the conversations and
problem -solving
v. Although it takes longer, it has created a difference in the actual school
vi. Family and Community Involvement
vii. Reviewed Parker Expectations and Daily Routines
1. Questions on best practices for approaching reviewing the Parker
Expectations and comparing to rubric
2. Suggested to break up into teams to review sections of the handbook to
review the language
3. If we break up sections now, and spend the next meeting with the smaller
groups to review
viii. Hoping to work with the We the Change group to develop an equity statement to
bring to the whole school for input
is. Would love to have School Council, We the Change attend staff meeting to
discuss with staff; Andrea suggested bringing the idea up at the We the Change
meeting tomorrow
x. Council members are to familiarize selves with rubric and the language of the
handbook for next meeting
xi. Ricki would really like input from the students on the handbook language
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5. Other
Meeting Adjourned by Ricki Shankland at 6:10 PM
Respectfully submitted by Michele Kane
This meeting was held in Microsoft Teams
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