2019-10-18-BRIDGE-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

BRIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCHOOL-BASED SITE COUNCIL 55 Middleby Road, Lexington, MA 02421 781-861-2510 OCTOBER 18, 2019 MEETING MINUTES APPROVED NOVEMBER 15, 2019 Attendance: Margaret Colella, Kristen Gray, Kimberly Hensle Lowrance, Zeba McGibbon, Deirdre Schadler, Brienne Thibodeau, Maria Totniou, and Betty Yee. The Bridge Elementary School School-Based Site Council held its monthly meeting on Friday, October 18,beginning at 8 AM in room 19 of Bridge Elementary School. The topic of this meeting was the redistricting of the elementary and middle schools,to be implemented for the 2020-2021 school year (For more information, go to https://lexsuper.home.blog/2019/02/08/redistricting-updates/and https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/lXywGPM6kgwUoPrArGNq,16LaWFtD7ZrniWklg 6tV7H7Q/edit). We're currently in the public comment period.The School Committee will vote on the proposed plan on November 4 (note: this was later pushed to December 3). Meg Colella, as principal, has attended the public hearings and reported back on what she has learned/observed. In the current plan, Bridge will decrease from 530 to 500 students,with 114 children moving out (to Bowman, Harrington, or Hastings) and about 80 children moving into Bridge. Avalon,which is a big chunk of our students,will move out. The assignment of Avalon to Bridge has always been unusual, as we're not the closest school to that complex. Those students have been at Bridge for more then a decade. Since they have to be bused, it's been easy to move them around,which has resulted in some kids being moved a few times. The hope with the new plan is to stabilize the assignments of kids to schools. Meg said that overcrowding has been a conversation since before she became principal 10 years ago,which is why LPS is working with GeoApp on this plan. The goal is a long-term, district-wide strategy, not something that's piecemeal and hard to understand. Redistricting will impact staff as well. LPS will address implications after the School Committee vote. Bridge's cafeteria and gym are overcapacity, so sometimes gym class is held in cafeteria. The building as a whole was not built for as many students as we have. Redistricting will address the challenges of scheduling. On the other hand,the new Hastings Elementary