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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-11-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 Site Council - 6/11/14 Meeting Minutes Office: (781) 861 -2450 Fax : (781)674 -2043 In Attendance: Anna Monaco, Principal; Polly Kienle, Parent; Sandra Mayo, Parent; Jonathan Schechner, Teacher; Andrea Foley, Teacher; Krystal Leclerc, Teacher; Jonathan Wettstone, Assistant Principal. Approval of minutes from May (5/7/14) • Minutes approved from 5/7/14 II. Update on 2013 - 2014 Final Report III. Update on 2014 - 2015 Draft • Draft was presented to School Committee last week in coordination with Diamond. • 3rd Goal was not included in the draft, as it felt more like something we were going to do regardless, not something we were trying to progressively improve upon. • Reviewed meeting minutes from last session, where we went through each of the goals and implementation steps. IV. Next Steps - focus for next year? • Monaco addressed parents, asking for themes or issues that should be focused on next year. • Parent - the physical changes such as parking lot, traffic and classroom space is always going to be a hot topic. • Parent - discussed traffic adjustments at the elementary level which was not communicated well. • Note to communicate traffic changes over the summer as a part of the Town movement. • Monaco discussed recent meeting with architects, laying out options to increase parking and re- working the current roads with potential expansions, including student patio. • Add another Site Council coffee in the Fall to open dialogue. o Parent suggested having one site council member attend each of the PTO meetings to increase dialogue between the two groups. Next year - monthly training meetings for school council members, to educate members and to create connections between school and with the community. o Monaco - might be interesting to hold a school based session as well. The goal would be to share information learned within context of the school. Parent recommended continuing with the Youth Risk Behavior survey. The conversation needs to go out to the parent community, as we analyze the data gained. o Teacher reminded the group of the drama production this morning or the 6th grade students. o Monaco discussed how the drama teacher was working with LexMedia to develop films /media as a documentary on bullying. o Dr. Englander will be coming back in the Fall, meeting with the staff and parents. A representative from MARC will also be back in the Fall to talk to the students about Internet safety. o Parent asked about student stress and anxiety being discussed in the community, specifically around the Asian population and high expectations set by the culture. o Monaco discussed concerns about mental health, stress and anxiety seen at Clarke this year. She went on to identify additional Social Work staffing at Clarke next year and the subsequent plan to support students and staff. Group continued the discussion around homework, the importance, and how much is healthy for students. The jump from elementary to middle school is a concern - look into the philosophical change. Monaco - will look at next year into different ways to schedule as a school. What do other schools do and what is best for students. What does research say about length of class, length of day, how to include intervention. V. Questions / Concerns