FINAL School Committee Minutes November 16 2021.pdf

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Showcase Day was held on Wednesday,November 10th with 378 visitors from four communities—Acton, Arlington, Concord, and Lexington. The Nashoba towns (Stow, Bolton, and Lancaster) Needham and Dover continue to restrict fieldtrips and unfortunately students are not allowed to go on fieldtrips, and while we would have loved to have them in attendance,we understand why those restrictions are in place. In addition,we had over 100 Minuteman students who were in the building that day to support their career majors, as well as generally helping with the day. He noted that these student ambassadors had the day off but wanted to come in and support their teachers and really showcase what they do in their programs. He shared that some of the feedback from their teachers was that they could sit back and watch as it was the students running the showcase and their program which is a testament to how amazing our students are. He provided a breakdown by town as follows: Arlington— 180 students Lexington—85 students Acton—70 students Concord—43 students Mr.Chiariello added that the last time Showcase Day was held,it was November of 2019 for the class of 2024. He highlighted the percentage increase from the towns for the class of 2024, with Arlington and Concord well over 50%more students coming to this year's Showcase Day. Feedback cards are provided with one of the questions asked is if they are planning to apply. He will continue to review the data to see what impact Showcase Day had. The Family Information Session was held virtually via Zoom on November 15th. The advantages to having it on Zoom is that families can access it much easier without having to drive to the school and we are able to record the event and post it in on our website for families to view at their leisure. The event was held in the theatre and included a panel of four parents, media, and engineering students, and Mr. O'Connors' class produced the recording. He shared that while it is great to hear from the students. The parents talk about what Minuteman has done for their child,which is phenomenal and equally rewarding. Open House is scheduled for Sunday,November 21St with over 230 families registered. The event will be held from 10:00 a.m.to 1:00 p.m.where people can drop in and visit the CTE and academic programs, guidance, special education, support services, athletics. The career and technical student organizations will be represented and showcase the full Minuteman experience. Mr. Chiariello then reviewed the applications received as of November 16th and highlighted the change in numbers from last year to this year which reflects an increase in applications from where we were this time last year. He noted that while we are still early in the process, it is always informative to see where we currently are. He did some data analysis,and the percentage of students who end up coming to school here,and if they applied in October or November,the percentage is very high that end up enrolling. The more students we see earlier,the higher likelihood that they will ultimately come to school here. 5