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Home My WebLink About2014-03-17-LHS-min Lexington High School Lexington, Massachusetts 02421 251 Waltham Street Laura J. Lasa 781- 861-2320, ext. 1002 Principal email: lasa@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us fax: 781-861-2440 To: The Lexington High School Council From: Laura J Lasa Re: March 17, 2014 Minutes LHS School Site Council Meeting met on March 17, 2014, from 6:15-7:45 PM in the LHS Guidance Conference Room, 154. Attendance: Laura Lasa, Nancy Shepard, Suzanne Lau, Dave Wininger, Bob Ruxin, Jessica Zhu, Kristin Tissera, Paul Breitenfield, Walter Richardson, Anne Redmon, Katherine Murphy, Eileen Jay, Liz Moughty. Absent: Jill Smilow, Elizabeth Curtin, Nanying Bian I.February 10 minutes approved. 6:15 Announcements II. - from Council Members 1.Official last day of school is Tuesday, June 24, as of now. That is subject to change pending snow days or other delays. In April, the Central Office will finalize the actual last day. 2.Final exam dates will be determined once the district has finalized the last day of school. The order of final exams will be: 1st day: Math (am), World Language (pm) 2nd day: Science (am), Drop-In Review (pm) 3rd day: English (am), Social Studies (pm) th 4 day: Make-Up Exams *Early exams, check with dean 3.The weekly parent group is going well. Once-a-month meetings at LHS led by Adam Goldberg have growing attendance, nearly 30 people at last meeting. Off-site weekly meetings take place at Eagle Bank with 15-18 in attendance; plus a junior parent spinoff group was created. 4.Jessica Zhu, a senior, and member of LHS School Council, is to be honored at the Town Meeting awards. 12 seniors were selected for the honor. Old Business: III.Removal of X Block A.X Block will be removed starting next year to comply with the stateÈs DESE Coordinated Program Review report LHS was short on the required 990 instructional hours for juniors and seniors X Block is not instructional time because students are not required to be on campus Removal of X Block was a response to the identified area to be corrected Next year, the Wednesday schedule will be redistributed by expanding length of the blocks; the order of blocks might be rearranged (dependent on science blocks) Study halls - To qualify as directed study, there must be guided instruction B.Future of X Block Ã next steps Next year is a transition year. We have a year to evaluate and plan for the future; LHS will set up a working committee to evaluate and consider what to do in the future. Committee may explore possible options for a structured block to benefit students that will qualify as instructional time. Ideas to consider: How to capture the best of what X block was used for? Independent study, structured activities. Could there be an X Block type period in the middle of the day? Flex block. Chelmsford does this. Extended homeroom could be considered as instruction time if used for organized activity, not just for attendance, etc. On Thursday elementary half-day, could we swap middle school and high school return buses to add voluntary time for academic help at LHS? On Professional Development days, could PD be in the morning and student class time in the afternoon? Problem: on district-wide days, high school staff would be out of sync and some staff works in multiple buildings. Student activities Student/Faculty Senate has to find an after school meeting time for next year. METCO, Senate, peer leaders all met during X Block. Could we somehow schedule a Leadership block as a for-credit block (future)? Freshman Achievers Club that gives support for homework. Can that be scheduled in for credit? Schedule time in school for club work, e.g. model UN, debate, clubs? III.New Business A.Substitute Teachers 1.Question: Are there ineffective class hours being spent if substitute teachers are unable to use time productively? 2.Status of Substitutes Standards for subs are higher than five years ago - training program, must have college degree, try to pair content knowledge with teacher capability. Subs may need to cover classes for different subjects in a day. Subs sign up online for a particular assignment. 3.Substitute Teaching and Use of Class Time Carrying out of the lesson plan is coordinated with Department Head Sub has to give feedback to the teacher/school on how the classes went. Make clearer to faculty what to do if lesson plans are not being taught adequately by subs. Concern regarding when classes are canceled due to teacher absence. Let students know that a lot of effort is made to not cancel classes. Are subs allowed to use computer carts? School has cut back on that because there was a lot of missing equipment and disrupted material. Use of library/computer labs. Best for teachers to coordinate with library in advance to tell them those students will be using library for projects, etc. B.Start Time at LHS - Brainstorm 1.Start time is a decision that is made at higher, district level (School Committee, LPS?) not by LHS. Laura will find out who makes start time decisions. 2.Potential benefits to later start time improvement of health issues and mental capabilities, research on effects of teens' lack of sleep supports this significant decrease in car accidents when kids get more sleep decrease in tardiness 3.Minnesota schools changed start time, and found less hang out time, lower delinquency economic advantages equivalent to reducing class size their experiences could offer guidance on implementing delayed start time 4.Athletics Minnesota had problem with athletics, some kids leaving early for sports. Wifi on the bus to sports to let students use bus time? LHS 600 students signed up for after school sports LHS has the latest end time of the league 5.Consequences Need commitment to not just extend to other end of the day School function will be the same regardless of start time Will kids just stay up later? 6.Homework, overloading Goes back to concern about homework, meaningful homework, so kids arenÈt staying up late doing homework. LHS is looking at homework, puzzling on it. Maybe a faculty discussion theme for next year? Overloading with extracurricular activities. Students must learn how to balance activities, make choices Ã you can't have it all. Also about coping strategies, how youÈre managing 7. Starting Time for High School Community interest in a later start time (council members) IV. Adjournment 7:45