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Home My WebLink About2022-10-25 School Council - Wood End Elementary Minutes - DraftWM Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: T Date: 2022-10-25 Time: 3:15-4:15pm Building: School - Wood End ., Location: Virtual (Zoom) Address: 85 Sunset Rock Lane Session: Open Session Purpose: Regular Meeting for 2022-2023 Version: Draft Attendees: Members - Present: Lindsay Baker, Mla Gaska, Maureen Habeeb, Caitlin Koehler, Nicole Schwartz Kevin Sexton, Christine St. Hilaire, and Undsey Talnsh Members - Not Present: Others Present: Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Lindsay Baker Topics of Discussion: The first meeting of the Wood End Elementary School Council for 2022-23 school year was held via Zoom on October 25, 2022. Call to Order: A quorum of members being present, and the meeting having been duly convened for Wood End Elementary School by Principal, Nicole Schwartz called the meeting to order at 3:18 p.m. and proceeded with business. Public Comment: Recess Needs Inouirv: Kevin Sexton conveyed a question from the community about the amount of time the students get to spend on the playground on a typical school day with a secondary question of whether this is enough for children of this age group. Principal Schwartz shared that the district wide recess standard Is 20 minutes per grade level. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requires that Massachusetts students receive 900 hours of instruction per school year. Reading Public Schools (RPS) currently delivers 902 hours of instruction. Teacher comment addressed the recent temporary addition of outdoor mask breaks during the height of the pandemic. As schools are now mask -optional, this is no longer a regular practice. Teachers present also noted that all grade levels do regular movement breaks and each grade receives Physical Education twice a week. It was also shared that any inquiry about amending the current district policy of 20 minutes recess per day (K-5) would need to be addressed at the district level. Page 1 1 � c • Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Lindsay Baker recalled that pre -pandemic, a Wood End parent team was leading BOKS as a morning extracurricular and that this morning workout seemed to help a lot of children focus better during morning instruction. There was support among the council to look Into what it would take to bring this program back to Wood End. Caltlin Koelher volunteered to contact Kelly Mahoney, one of the parents who previously ran the BOKS program at Wood End, to learn more. BOKS (Build Our Kids' Success) is a free program developed and sponsored by the Reebok company. Kevin Sexton will reach out to the person who runs SNL (Saturday Night Lights) to find out if they can deliver a similar program. Driveway Safety Inquiry: Lindsay Baker reintroduced the topic of Wood End driveway safety. There are several issues Including vehicles queuing very early for placard pick-up and causing a clog in the driveway that makes it difficult for RISE guardians to access parking spots for 2:30 RISE preschool dismissal pick-up, guardians passing the queued placard line at speed to park, and RISE families and caregivers crossing in the middle of the driveway (not at the marked crosswalk). The council brainstormed some potential solutions to ameliorate these safety Issues including: strategic placement of cones; return driveway safety notes to the Principal's newsletter; potential appointment of student safety officers; inquiring whether the crossing guard assigned to the bottom of Sunset Rock Lane can arrive earlier and direct pedestrian traffic at the sidewalk at RISE dismissal; asking for our School Resource Officer (SRO), Matt Vatcher, to observe the issues at pickup and suggest Improvements; asking RISE to Include notes about dismissal safety in their newsletter or asking for them to forward a note from Principal Schwartz; asking K-5 parents not to arrive for dismissal or placard until 2:35 (after RISE has vacated pick-up areas); holding the placard line near the recycling receptacle mid -driveway until RISE completes dismissal and departure; and asking the staff to only park In the designated staff lot to leave additional lower lot parking and reduce placard line passing. Principal Schwartz and Ms. Norcross will work on next steps. Review and Acceptance of Minutes: Members reviewed draft minutes from the May 23, 2022 meeting. There were no corrections or additlons. Vote: Minutes Accepted 8-0-0 Review of some Committee Responsibilities: The committee will contribute to and participate In goal setting for the school through the school improvement plan and will review educational needs of the building. * There will be a new school specific handbook as the district portion will now be a separate document and updated content will be added to the Wood End Handbook. New Business: Instructional Leadership Team and the School Improvement Plan: The district is shifting to building Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs) in each school building. There are seven members on the team and they meet every other Thursday. Their purpose is to help facilitate moving the school forward, look at data, and help carry out the school's goals as outlined In the School Improvement Plan. They filter their work to the grade level teams. Principals are working with mentors from Salem State University on how to facilitate their ILT work. Page 1 2 7 � Y Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Other notes to the council: All -School Assembly Plan: There are a series of scheduled all -school assemblies that occur about once a month throughout the year. Some of these assemblies are already assigned to specific topics. The remainder will be focused on a sense of belonging. The programming is in process. Professional Development: All K-2 classroom teachers are attending professional development workshops this fall to learn a new math curriculum, Illustrative Math. Ms. Habeeb shared that this has been a positive experience, and noted especially the help from seasoned instructors and the Wood End teaching community. Additionally, the 3 - 5 classroom teachers are also receiving professional development via "Math Labs" for the Illustrative Math curriculum those grades began to implement last year. Mrs. Tainsh noted that the math lab format is helpful, allowing teachers to observe an expert and then have the opportunity to deliver the curriculum with peer and expert feedback. Third through fifth grade classroom teachers are attending ARC Core curriculum training workshops for professional development this fall as well. ARC Core is the new ELA curriculum implemented in grades 3-5. Wood End is also assigned a building -based coach for implementation of the ARC Core curriculum. The coach meets with Wood End staff about once a month to support the implementation process. Leader Learning workshops also allows the principal to develop familiarity with the curriculum w that the building administration can support the teaching staff in integrating the new program into their class curricula. MCAS Results Update: Principal Schwartz will be sending a sideshow to student families via email at the end of this week to explain Wood End's 2022 MCAS data. The district -wide data was presented at the October 6th, 2022 School Committee meeting. There are currently no plans for a live presentation, but Principal Schwartz will be glad to answer any questions parents and guardians have about the results. Adjournment There being no further business, the School Council adjourned at 4:00 p.m. The next meeting will be held at 3:15 on January 17, 2023. Respectfully Submitted, Lindsay Baker, Recording Secretary Page 1 3