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Home My WebLink About2021-04-13-CLARKE-min ,)S MOR141 PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE APRIL NTH INGI Jonas Clarke Middle School School Site Council Meeting April |3, 202| 3:00 PM Zoom Meeting, ]ouuo Clarke Middle School |7Stedman Road Lexington, M&02421 Meeting Zoom link: 0.2. Agenda Attendance: Dane Dompreo, Principal; DuuuSi1vcrbo[g, PaychVlogioi; Sarah FaUa1, Teacher; Emily Sayre, Parent; l}ongnooiZhong, Parent; Melanie, Tunionoo, Parent; Kim Lowrance, Parent 8auy-Ng,Assistant Principal; JouathanWettatone; Assistant Principal. l. Call to Order, Welcome, & Public Comment @. U. Principal's Notes: a' Middle School Full Return i. April 2M. 2O21 begins. Does not mean every student back inthe building. We are aU|| maintaining an RL/VPBLAnnode|. But we will have double the students back inthe school. ii. Two cohorts now becoming one. Spend agood deal ofthe first week building community and relationships. iii. FlLA& Full Return schedules will be the aanna - aanna blocks/times. Changes inAspen will take place over April Break - visible onthe 28th. We expect tocontinue scheduling even after vveget back from break- addinQintervendonaondaupporta. iv. 4/26 and 4/27 - last time students from old cohorts will enter the building under the current schedule. v. If concerns grow if numbers increase with COVID19 cases, the CIT is putting together a contingency plan if we need to go remote. vi. We'll be communicating with students/families if a change in team or homeroom is needed - in order to access their world language, correct math level, or even just to balance out the numbers to ensure adequate space in each room. vii. Challenges - social concerns (new groupings), new norms, emotional challenges (stamina needed), trauma from the current pandemic. Executive functioning - also a concern as student patterns change. viii. No homework the first week- allowing for an ease to the transition. ix. We did not restructure teams at Clarke - were able to distribute students across the current sections, not needing to bring more staff back into the building. b. MCAS i. Despres- not a great deal of information, as the message changes weekly. Currently- required to complete by June 11th. It's not designed specifically for this year- it's just shorter. There is a bill being put forth at the state house - working to cancel MCAS for this year. There is now a remote option for our RLA students. ii. Silberberg - it's a stressor and not a positive element for this year. iii. Despres- you can say "it doesn't count," "just do your best," they still take it seriously which creates stress. iv. Fattal - MCAS is done well at Clarke - breaks, movement, coaching mentality, etc. III. Staff Notes a. Fattal - anxiety visible from the students. Highly encourage conversations between students-teachers-parents to discuss and deliver information. b. Silverberg - in-person students are talking about it and processing. The same opportunity to talk might not be present in RLA. c. Silverberg - students continuing to stay in RLA because returning is not comfortable. We need to think about supporting staff and students in the transition for next school year. d. Silverberg - we've identified rooms that are less than ideal - how do we address that for next year? e. Fattal - school culture has been great this year, with the students being highly involved and connected. It would be interesting to track that data. IV. Parent/Guardian Notes a. Parent- questions from RLA families - since they have not been in the building, they have concerns about the lunch logistics. i. Despres- encourage students/families to use the Choosi app, giving the kitchen staff the needed information. Will plan on sending a direct message to students and families - download the app - order in advance. b. Parent- excited about the return and recognizing the amount of work. Students expressing dismay over having to change teams, homerooms and teachers - loss. c. Parent- 3/4 through the school year- socially it's important. They now have time to socialize and grow emotionally as well. This can be considered a prep period for summer. i. Despres- counseling staff ran a student survey last week (-250 responded). Students reporting - excited for the return. 30% of the students are not excited or are dreading it. Forming new relationships, getting too much homework, losing control of free time were at the top of the concerns. d. Parent- how many students are moving from RLA to In-Person? i. Barry-Ng - roughly 20 at 6th, 40 at 7th, 20 at 8th. e. Parent- opportunities for peer mentoring? Partner in-person with an RLA student coming in? Maybe they can connect before the return date. i. Despres- perhaps speak with HR teachers and having them identify student leaders to make those connections happen. ii. Despres- RLA staff are working with the counseling staff to generate an introduction to the building again. f. Parent- child excited to have more kids coming back into school, and loving the no homework for two weeks. g. Parent-Asian Hate (stop) event a few weeks ago. There appears to be more events of hate in our country. Will the school or teachers be talking about it? i. Despres- other than messages sent out by the district, we have not returned to that specific question. On a curriculum level -we need to add more Asian history. This will be done over the summer in curriculum planning. This has allowed for a WIN block activity on Friday afternoons - discussing these timely topics. The challenge - the range of maturity/experience is so great. We need to keep looking at this question. ii. Parent- despite being in the country for 20 years, I feel like I'm still new here. The challenge - how to talk to teenagers about this topic. If I talk too much - maybe they feel the difference. Many families face this challenge - how much to discuss within the family. iii. Parent- a whole grade meeting would be great for this. Wonder if community groups could be involved? CAL? iv. Teacher- DEI committee formed within the district. If you gave a survey after each unit of learning - you get immediate feedback. v. Despres- tackling identity- make it routine- develop comfort around being able to discuss and grow. This is where an advisory block would be ideal. This takes training and experience. vi. May is API History Month - how can we combat racism? Daily Announcements, Clarke Connect? V. Discussing Priorities for a New School Improvement Plan a. Fattal - SEL listed for students - should also be listed for staff as a goal. b. Adjourn Examine SIP in May and June meetings - continue work from the past year+ `19-20 SIP: htt�s://docs° oogleocom/document/d/1 kIFmKaCXIC2f9ZG2 rtf£t( HNOFgLw15XSiWZ-AMsfod s/edit?us =sharing Next Meeting: • Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 3PM