HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-03-13-Clarke-minJonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road • Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
Anna W. Monaco, Principal
Jennifer E. Turner, Assistant Principal
Jonathan R. Wettstone, Assistant Principal
Office: (781) 861 -2450
Fax : (781)674 -2043
Jonas Clarke Middle School
March 13, 2014
Site Council Meeting: 3:15PM
Minutes
In attendance: Anna Monaco, Principal, Jonathan Schechner, teacher, Polly Kienle, parent
I. Approve Meeting minutes:
i. January Minutes approved
II. Questions / Concerns from Members
• Parent brought up the high school registration process and how students are still having
difficulty choosing to be moderately challenged instead of taking 2 or 3 honors classes.
• We discussed the parent coffee about the high school transition process and how
helpful the parent panel was in discussing issues. This coffee was very well attended by
parents and very much appreciated.
III. PPC / CAAL evening for PTA and Site Councils
• Mrs. Monaco spoke at the PPC / CAAL event two weeks ago in order to encourage
more Chinese families to join school based site councils and school PTA's / PTO's.
This was a very well attended event and the overall feeling was positive. Mrs. Monaco
reported that one of the CAAL members at the meeting was at the Clarke PTA meeting
today. We discussed how to continue to encourage Chinese parents to join school -
based councils. A parent also brought up the fact that this was a starting point for other
organized groups such as Korean, Indian and Japanese families living in Lexington.
IV. Traffic / Safe Routes To School
• Clarke now has a parent and teacher representative for Safe Routes to School — Tracy
Herbert, Clarke teacher and Michelle Ciccolo, Clarke parent have volunteered. They
met this week and we will get an update when possible.
• Coffee on April 8 will have an update from the Traffic study and Mary Ellen Dunn will
be there as well as Judy Crocker, Lexington School Committee member and Safe
Routes to School representative to discuss issues and hear what is being studied
currently to improve traffic conditions.
V. YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey)
• Mrs. Monaco shared a DRAFT of the YRBS that we are proposing for middle school.
• After meeting with Jen Wolfrum, Asst. Director for Health and Wellness and the
researchers at Northeastern a draft survey was developed to be administered to 7th and
8th graders next year (April 2015).
• It was originally intended for this year, but the researchers were unable to work on the
draft due to workload last year.
• A middle school parent forum will be in the fall for parents to discuss and ask
questions about the survey
• This is an optional survey and parents / students can opt out
• There are many communities surveying their students with this tool and this will give
Lexington valuable information about student risk taking and when it begins.
• This is done by the same researchers that administer the LHS survey every other year.
• This data will give us a lot of information about students in Lexington that we can use
to develop programs and curriculum.
VI. Next meeting — April 2014
• Next meeting will be in April. At that time we will have an update from the coffee
about the traffic study. We will also begin to discuss goals for next year. Draft of SIP
for 2014 -2015 will be due in May.