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BRIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCHOOL-BASED SITE COUNCIL 55 Middleby Road, Lexington, MA 02421 781-861-2510 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2018 MEETING MINUTES APPROVED DECEMBER 21, 2018 Attendance: Lynnette Allen, Lucia Brower, Erin Cerat, Meg Colella,Jon Cunha,Amy Kvaal, Kimberly Hensle Lowrance, Ruth Litchfield, Zeba McGibbon,Anita Patel, Sejal Patel, Deirdre Schadler, and Shawn Wood. Absent: Amelia Brower, Megan Brown, Kristen Gray, Huan Liu, Beth Murnaghan, Kira Sevene, Debbie Side, Melanie Tanionos, and Maria Totniou. The Bridge Elementary School School-Based Site Council held its monthly meeting on Friday, November 30 at 8:00 AM at the Bridge School Library. The first order of business was a follow-up from the September meeting's discussion on the Homework Policy. In response to questions from parents, Kristen Gray sent a survey to Bridge's teachers about their homework strategies. (See Appendix A for a summary of the results of this survey. Meg will include write-up of this survey in her next newsletter to the Bridge community.) Meg explained that LPS does not have a "no homework" policy; rather,we have a "use your judgment when assigning homework so it's meaningful" policy. Homework, she explained, should help students practice a skill or reinforce content. A parent asked: How will students manage their time if they don't have long-term projects? Meg explained that the guidance to staff is to make projects thoughtful and meaningful, with steps broken down so students learn the various aspects to managing a project. Ms. Gray also reached out to Mary Barry-Ng, one of the assistant principals at Clarke,to ask about the preparedness level of Bridge students when they come to Clarke. Ms. Barry-Ng said that there's a normal adjustment period for all students, and most of them adjust very quickly. She noted that some students get overwhelmed with the volume of homework so the administration is trying to coordinate efforts so projects are assigned sequentially, not simultaneously. Based upon this conversation,there is no recommended change to the homework practice at Bridge. Ms. Gray also asked Bridge's special educators and specialists for their input on homework, and some of them assign specific homework for students when needed,but most don't assign homework. Meg noted that research consistently indicates that assigning homework at the elementary school level doesn't help students achieve better,thought it does have a small benefit on time management skills (if the project is structured to focus on these skills). John Hattie 1