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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-10-20 Birch Meadow School Council MinutesBirch Meadow School Council First Meeting - 3:00 pm Wednesday October 20, 1993 Council Members Richard Davidson Irene Bourne Jo Anne Garelick Sue Berger Denise Gallagher Anthony Fisher James Keigley 1. Introductions Principal & Co-Chair Teacher Grade 2 Teacher Grade 4 Parent `Parent Parent Community Member Minutes: Introductions were quickly made and Richard Davidson brought the meeting to order by handing out an agenda. 2. Appointment of Co-Chair It was agreed that the Co-Chair should be chosen from the parent side to provide a balanced leadership (Mr. Davidson as principal is automatically the other Co-Chair). Denise Gallagher (absent) was nominated and will hopefully agree to serve. Sue Berger volunteered that she would be Co-Chair only if Denise declined. 3. Recorder of Meeting Minutes Tony Fisher volunteered to take the notes and assumed the task immediately. 4. Discussion of School Council Role & Responsibilities Richard Davidson shared his vision of the council's purpose, saying he saw the "team" in an advisor's role, assisting in developing a needs assessment that goes beyond the kind of staff and building assessments that he and the professional staff normally develop. The assessment would serve as a foundation for our immediate goal of creating a long term improvement plan and budget for Birch Meadow which will be submitted to the School Committee by March 1st. Tony Fisher noted that it was implied in the Department of Education publication, which we had all reviewed, that a large part of our charge was to plan outreach activities in order to gain a greater community involvement. - There was generally, however, an uncertainty as to what a final plan would entail or how the council as an entity would move from start up to a fully developed plan. Birch Meadow School Council First Meeting - Wednesday October 20, 1993 Minutes page 2 5. Discussion of "training" for council members A handout showing the distribution of Professional Development Funds for the Reading schools showed that Birch Meadow had $4,903 available for training and for the hiring of substitutes (so that staff can attend trainings). Jim Keigley suggested, and most agreed, that before we look at training issues for staff and council members, we should first develop a mission statement so that we knew better which trainings might be more appropriate. Sue Berger concurred but suggested that there was a clear call from the Reform Act for the school councils to work to improve the quality of the educational experience. It was mentioned that the Killiam School has had a council since about 1989 and that we might benefit from meeting with a representative from that group, talking about what has or hasn't worked in their experience. 6. Discussion of decision-making procedures of council Richard Davidson suggested that per the Department of Education's publication, we should attempt to make our decisions by building a consensus even though it might take a little longer in some instances. All were agreed. Later in the meeting, Tony Fisher requested a clarification on how the council would come to closure on specific issues that are up for decision. The group agreed to place this question on the agenda for the next meeting. 7. Information sharing on professional development monies It was hoped that a meeting with a member of the Killiam council would begin to clarify issues such as this. Sharing information as well as limited resources and perhaps publishing jointly the activities of Reading's school council's was discussed. 8. Setting of future agenda items It was agreed that we should spend time at the end of each meeting to create an agenda for the following meeting. As for the next meeting, development of tools for the needs assessment should be the priority. Flr Birch Meadow School Council First Meeting - Wednesday October 20, 1993 Minutes page 3 9. Setting of future meeting dates With the need to get off to a good start, the group agreed to meet every other week with the following dates to be posted and published: Wednesday, November 3rd 7:30 - 8:30 am Wednesday, November 17th 7:30 - 8:30 am Wednesday, December 1st 3:00 - 4:00 pm Friday, December 17th 3:00 - 4:00 pm 10. Other Items discussed Jim Keigley our only member who, up to this point, has had no experience of Birch Meadow, asked for a description of what the school was all about. Mr. Davidson said he and his staff tried to make Birch Meadow a place where the children come first and foremost, where programs are developed to fit the kids as opposed to trying to fit the kids to a specific program. He noted that this was a school with a wonderful record of parental involvement. Sue Berger, who has been very active in the PTO added that the parents involvement is greatly encouraged and that this in turn creates an atmosphere of caring and openness. We have a great place from which to start our journey! Next Meeting: Wednesday November 3rd, 1993 Time: 7:30 - 8:30 am at Birch Meadow Tentative Agenda: 1. Introductions 2. Representative from Killiam (if possible) 3. School assessment tools 4. Decision making procedures ,r