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Home My WebLink About2022-12-08 School Council - RMHS Minutes� OFp qO Town of Reading ft F G E I V E® a Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK i,. s, , R"- rj!NG, !A A. �Jf:INCONOOP� Board - committee - commission - Council: 215.3 SEP -5 AN 11: 09 School Council -Reading Memorial High Date: 2022-12-08 Time: 4:00 PM Building: School -Memorial High Location: School Library Address: 62 Oakland Road Session: Open Session Purpose: School Council Meeting Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Eileen Manning, Michelle Greenwalt, Marianne Downing (via zoom,) Sherilla Lestrade, Kadi Buckley, Christine Lusk, Kelly Bedingfield, Kevin Tracey, Antonio DiSerio, Cole Grant Members - Not Present: Eli Brown, Jen Hillery, Daija Forero, Bridget Patterson, Haden Davis, Jessica Ayer, Dante Deserio, Pooja Mandon Parsons, Jennifer Baskin Others Present: Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Michelle Greenwalt and Marianne Downing Topics of Discussion: Meeting was called to order by Ms. Buckley at 4:05 PM. The meeting began with attendance, and a vote to approve the minutes of 11/17/2022 with minor edits. Motion: Approve minutes of 11/17/22. Motion approved. Review of the School Improvement Plan • Mr. Tracey discussed the overview of the school's goals for the year o Health and successful learning communities within which all have a sense of belonging o Challenging and engaging learning environments to promote high levels of academic rigor o Efficient operational systems in place to support staff and students • Faculty is working on discussion of culturally appropriate teaching and hope to develop guidance on rigor by the end of the year • Discussion was held on individual pillars of the SIP • Multiple assessments will be done to measure the students'sense of belonging • Giving students a voice in school government and activities - students are stepping up in many areas o Disabled Student Union will be presenting at the March curriculum day • The schedule development process includes the goal of providing staff more opportunities to collaborate and plan Page i 1 • Scheduling group has tripled in size and we have a large representative group of staff working on new scheduling. Due to time constraints new scheduling probably will not happen till 2024-25 school year. Recommended to add a specific year goal into SIP. o Possible Ideas, look at PE and Wellness and see if we can combine those Into a semester, look at integrating dual enrollment classes and innovation pathways. • Emphasis was made on the desire of having measurable goals and target dates • Credit Recovery - Ms. Buckley discussed the importance of being proactive instead of reactive in working with students with chronic absences together with their families. We have a progressive plan In place for students with chronic absences to achieve credit recovery. • Discussion was held on the importance of common pacing across departments of teachers teaching like classes • Mr. Tracey expressed the need for a formal process on assessment use and data collection. • Outcomes have been edited to include more specific details and deadlines Discussion was held on where we are currently on assessing advanced coursework participation rates. • Mr. Tracey noted that the final bullet of 5 co-observations/waikthroughs within the 1st quarter is probably optimistic • Motion: Approve the School Improvement Plan with changes as presented. Motion Approved. Old Business • We are having 2 major issues with the website - the calendar is not pulling events across all areas and some are blank. Mr. Stroud is working on fixing. Some of the old areas of the website were carried over and need to be updated/removed. Academic Support Center o PTA is paying for the academic support center to be open longer hours, specifically after school - A parent asked, what is the most common referral to the Academic Support Center, and principal answered that it was for math support. o Discussion was held on utilizing peer tutors for support, possibly reaching out to Reading Public Library for support - A parent asked, can honors students and/or National Honor Society students be used for support in the center? Mr. Tracey replied maybe, do the kids need to be trained. Some additional parents noted that such RMHS students may not have room in their schedules for support. o Topic was tabled for further discussion at our next meeting • We have received our first grant for the Innovation Pathways. Jess Callahan is working on further grant applications. The topic of Academic schedules came up, and Mr. Tracey noted that the consultant used was not as effective as would be desired. He explained the following points: - RMHS has formed a big scheduling review group, and they are looking at topics such as, can RMHS Integrate PE/Wellness together, such as in same semester, to free up schedule room. Page 1 2 - RMHS is not yet prepared for a massive overhaul of the schedule for next year, and one complication in this is being able to ensure that RMHS can provide required special education services and comply with all collective bargaining agreements, such as providing required planning times. - One parent suggested that it might be useful to consider incremental changes to the schedules Mr. Tracey brought up the topic of replacing the current SIS (Student Information Systems) and discussed shortcomings with the present SIS system. He Indicated they are looking at two alternate providers, Aspen and Powerschool. Mr. Tracey provided some updates on RMHS Innovation Pathways, and they are looking to focus on two pathways and not sure if they are pursuing digital media pathway. - A parent asked, are the innovation pathways changing graduation requirements, and Mr. Tracey said no. - A parent asked, will students have the space to fit all of the innovation pathways classes in their schedule, along with the other kids taking those classes? Mr. Tracey replied that there may be a goal of 10-11 kids per pathway, per grade, to start, because the pathway may restrict what courses students can take. He also explained that kids who are not in the pathways, will still be able to take innovation pathways classes. Mr. Tracey mentioned possible changes to the current dual enrollment classes, with a goal of trying to make such classes more like a college class Instead of like an Advanced Placement (AP) class. He indicated that UMass-Lowell is not ready for dual enrollment, but Middlesex Community College is more ready, and is now training RMHS staff. The group went over aspects of the student improvement plan. - Certain school council members stated there needs to be consistency in curriculum across a grade, and teachers on the council noted that this can be hard when there is no time for all teachers in a grade to be meeting. Mr. Tracey agreed about consistency and also stated that there should be more vertical integration. He also added that there should be specific goals and assessment use and measuring student data. - Mr. Tracey said he would make the outcomes section more quantitative. He then went over outcomes o For the outcome "Advanced Coursework Participation", it was classified that "advanced coursework" could include honors, AP, and/or dual -enrollment. o A parent asked do we do our own tracking of who takes advanced coursework, or do we rely on DESE data. No answer was known at the time of the meeting. • Mr. Tracey expressed his Interest in having all seniors complete a Capstone project their senior year, even if not in an Innovation Pathway. • Mr. Tracey outlined the plan that was put in place for MCAS Academies - Mr. Tracey explained that RMHS would try to Identify students who aren't meeting standards and create individualized action plans for each such student, to provide 8- 10 weeks of remediation during flex block. - MCAS Academies would be classified as a type of Tier 2 intervention. Discussion also took place on additional sections of the SIP, Including whether having 5 co - observations is realistic. • Discussion was held the possibility in the future of the district paying for all students to take the PSAT. - Staff mentioned Khan academy can be tied to PSATs for custom plans Page 13 A parent member moved to approve the SIP with the notes given during the meeting, and the group present unanimously approved. The school council adjourned at 5:17 pm. Page 1 4