Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-10-08 Coolidge School Council MinutesA. W. C001JDEiE SCHOOL COUNCIL Minutes October 8, 1996 The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM. in the Arthur W. Coolidge Middle School Media Center by John Carpenter. Attending: John Carpenter, Larry Chomsky, Marge Pacino, Marie Pink, Renee Sbaschnig, Roy Welsch, and John Doherty. Minutes by: Larry Chomsky Previous Minutes: Minutes of September 10, 1996 were approved as submitted Documents Distributed: • "What to Look for in a Classroom", Alfie Kohn. Types of activities in learning centered vs. traditional classroom. • "Balancing Act: Student-Centered and Subject-Centered Instruction", Sandra Schurr • "Where's Your Focus?", Leslie S. Kaplan • "Window with a View", Samuel Totten and Dennis Snider. Definitions. • ED370178 May 94 Systemic Education Reform (ERIC Digest, Number 90), Thompson, James. (Handed out by John Carpenter). • Partial list of workshops attended or planned for this school year. DISCUSSION ITEMS: Principal's Report: Several items had been sent by John Doherty to Council members prior to this meeting. These included: An article from the Boston Globe Northwest Weekly on hours compared to other middle schools. We are in the top 3 since we are using High School requirements (990 vs. 900 hrs). Additionally we are adding 3 hours for no lunch on early release days = total 1026.5 hrs. An article from USA Weekend (Sept. 13-15, 1996) on "Is your child's school sick?", regarding air contamination, was distributed at the request of Superintendent Harutunian. The ceiling the project is progressing on schedule. Budget update. Today was deadline for departments in Coolidge. Budget is due Nov. 1 to Harry. John Doherty would like another School Council meeting date for budgets before Nov. 1. (Oct. 29 planned.) District Staffing- 3 needs: High School needs staffing for Time & Learning. Middle Schools: Parker is in year 2 of redistricting, Middle level needs additional teachers for language. This need is expected to be filled mostly at Parker since Coolidge does not have room. Elementary level needs to divide - up classes due to sizes. Curriculum coordinators will be perhaps included in Curriculum "Council". Initially K-5 and maybe 6- 12. Point made by Roy that coordinators should be classroom teachers. John Doherty indicated that this may be a rotating assignment for 2-3 years by classroom teachers. 100-200K for new programs and textbooks is allocated in Central Office budget. Math & Science needs are up next. Money will not be taken from school budgets for these new initiatives. We will get $165/pupil x 460 students = 75,900, not including special ed. John Doherty already has received Team, Dept., and Individual teacher budgets. Roy reiterated a traditional Council request for a "Wish List" from Coolidge teachers. We would like to see the School Council review wishes so we can advocate for needs. John will supply list for next meeting. John Doherty discussed the EBO breakdown list sent prior to this meeting. He noted that the Math teachers are concentrating on technology, which is a major goal for many teachers. Professional and Curriculum development were also areas that will see a large amount of effort by the teachers. Workshops (list). We are not in the Northeast Alliance this year. We are however in NELMS (New England League of Middle Schools). Also, NEATE (New England Association of Teachers of English). These are funded by the school. John Carpenter suggested that perhaps teachers could write a short item for the Coolidge PTO newsletter on workshops activities to both share ideas and enthusiasm. Restructuring Committee. This is a joint Middle School group, that started last March. This is a goal for the School Improvement Plan. The committed met in May, the summer, and this fall. A report was made to the Coolidge staff last month. The goals used are from the "Common Core". Various items were discussed, such as "What does successful learning look like?" and Flexible Block Scheduling. An intent is to "declutter" the schedule. Certain differences are manifesting themselves between the schools. Due to size, Parker can have more teams, and having more space, allows Parker to have more flexibility. There may be other philosophical differences noted between the facilities. It was noted that there may be more parental input on this side of town. Much committee discussion evidently revolved around scheduling problems and difficulty in planning. We discussed areas of need and/or concern such as heterogeneous math, and other areas. Inclusion Plan: The School Council went through each section of the Inclusion Plan. Some areas of discussion were: Staff AttitudesBuildingAtmosphere. At this time, only the stage is not handicapped accessible. It was suggested that this be put in the building plan. Inclusion Inservice. John reported that all training will be complete by Nov. 5th. Physical Factors. Handicapped access is complete (except for stage). Curriculum. All teachers do not meet for a core. Consideration may be given to change the goal to teachers meet "as appropriate". Access to all courses to all students. Marie Pink noted that students are pulled out from certain classes for resource room activities and support. However, students then miss music, art, gym, etc., which is in conflict with Time & Learning. She suggested a "directed learning" class that would allow A.W. Coolidge School Council October 8, 1996 Page 2 students to be given either individual instruction or participation in advanced classes, etc., as appropriate. Flexibility in scheduling is not now generally available. Resource Needs. 1) A pre-referral team is in place. 2) Also, appropriate specialists are in place in most areas (i.e., Science/Soc.), however, not Special Ed yet. This will be looked at again in November meeting. 3) Student awareness of differences. Core values is an offshoot. This year we are concentrating on the 6th grade. 4) Help for home/life issues - Resources appear available. Superintendent Harutunian would like the School Council to work on revising the School Profile, by January 15. (Roy suggested the inclusion of teacher profiles.) Superintendent Harutunian will be going to the Fall Town Meeting to ask to take surplus dollars from ceiling tiles, etc., ($25K) to request a feasibility study for Coolidge. All committees are behind this. Target study for late winter/spring. Next Meeting: The next meeting date is to be Tuesday, October 29, 1996 at 7:30 PM. The agenda will focus on the budget. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM. A.W. Coolidge School Council October 8, 1996 Page 3