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Home My WebLink About2021-05-04-CLARKE-min ,3S MOR141 PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE APRIL NTH INGI Jonas Clarke Middle School School Site Council Meeting May 4, 202| 3:00 PM Zoom Meeting, ]ouuo Clarke Middle School |7Stedman Road Lexington, M&02421 Meeting Zoom link: 0.2. Agenda Attendance: Dane Dcoprea, Principal; Doun8i}vcrberg, P*ycbnlogiat; 8urabFuttuLTeocbcr; Stephanie Svvimzcz, Teacher; Nu|oliyoPaquette, Teacher; Emily Sayre, Parent; Melanie, Tuuiouom, Parent; Kim Lowrance, Parent; }}ongmciZhang, Parent; Barry-Ng,Assistant Principal; JouuthmnWettxtonc;Assistant Principal. l. Call to Order, Welcome, & Public Comment @. oril 13 2021 meeti U. Principal's Notes a. Full return, lunches have been ochallenge (doubled inthe amount pnoduoed). Outside during lunch trying toremind students about the distance of6'vvithouta mask. Most students are doing well with this. b. Traffic - much more traffic with the full return. Additionally the construction did delay the drop off and pick upand there have been some long wait times for parents/guardians in their cars. c. Students have overall adjusted well totheir new schedules. Sometimes vvahave had torevise mask break times, but overall going well. d. Therapy dog - we got permission from the CO that we could have regular therapy dog visits. Harrington had one visit today. Principal Despres is looking into scheduling this for Clarke. e. 8th grade ceremonies and end of the year celebration. We are starting to have those conversations and planning for 8th grade, as well as the other grades. f. 5th to 6th grade transition is also something we are in the midst of right now. We have sent out information to the elementary schools and to parents/guardians. g. Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month - daily highlights being announced, roll out a contest, having kids write them out. Weave into curriculum and make part and parcel of what we learn. h. For the students back in school - all benefiting from a more typical daily schedule. Hopefully this will help reset expectations for next school year and make the transition more manageable. III. Staff Notes a. Teacher- Sarah F. students emailed her to let them know in school is so much better!! i. Clearly much better to be with friends during the day. ii. Classes definitely go by quickly, the days and classes are flying by. iii. Stephanie S. also agreed the class time did lead to the need to adjust lessons a bit. iv. Dana S. - some of the kids are feeling a little shell-shocked by this. Some not fully comprehending the whole picture. v. Michelle W. - health office seeing the same amount of students as prior to Covid19. Additionally, today we did the testing kits, not many came in. Hopefully participation will be better in the future weeks. vi. Dane D. acknowledged the 41 minutes for class length as a challenge. IV. Parent/Guardian Notes a. Parent- is the traffic the same or different than previously? i. Traffic is much worse -fewer students on buses, but have a high number of bike riders. ii. Wondering why kids are not riding the bus - families worried about the buses? iii. This year- having a friend pick them up on the way, instead of walking. You have to choose your battles. iv. Safe Routes to School has worked hard to implement plans. Might be able to tap into Safe Routes to send out a similar message. v. Hopefully, better weather = more walkers and bikers. vi. Diamond? They have two ways of egress- front and back roads. Their traffic is still tough but not as severe. b. Parent- children have migrated back to Clarke (from RLA). It appears to have gone really well. Tours given were helpful. Decision to not have HW helped a lot- so many changes. Kids are excited to be back. There is not great enthusiasm for MCAS testing. c. Parent- very thankful for all the hard work. The one week on/off became comfortable - missed that. Social benefit was huge. d. Parent- first week was tough due to a change in homeroom. Still gets to eat lunch with those kids. No HW has been great. Only 6 weeks left-we can do this mentality. e. Parent- hesitant at first, but enjoying time with friends. So important. f. Parent- is there a plan to have the 5th grade visit to Clarke? i. Social norms were forgotten during the pandemic- kids coming from RLA simply not employing strategies for months. V. Discussing Clarke's New School Improvement Plan a. Principals have not received direction from Dr. Hackett or the LSC with respect to timeline and direction for SIP this year. b. Dane has a list of topics he would like to include in the SIP. He would like to discuss these topics with the group and get their feedback. (Ex: discipline. Discipline could reflect resetting social expectations.) Important to think outside of the box when discussing these topics. Prioritize what we want to prioritize. c. We will take notes on the discussion today, Dane will review and organize the information and send out a draft to you that we can discuss at the next meeting. d. Topic: Parental Involvement & Community Connection i. Parent- surprised at how bare-bones the PTO was this year. How can we help improve? ii. Parent- what type of involvement would be helpful? iii. Admin - partner with parents around expectations, how we manage student workload, and how we get to those essential conversations. Change to have a conversation about intentions - meaningful partnerships. Have a purpose or objective in mind. iv. Admin - conversations around device use with the families. v. Teacher- open the affinity groups to parents (with staff). vi. Parent- future planning with the kids. At younger ages - have parents come in to give presentations. Perhaps we tap into the parent community, asking them to come in for career conversations. 1. WIN blocks might be a great opportunity for this. 2. Backward design recommends that we work on that path - career planning and identifying the curriculum to get there. vii. Admin - SBRC and needing to bring parents into that conversation. Revising and getting feedback, as well as getting student voice. viii. Parent- I used to volunteer in the library and know that book readers drop off in 7th and 8th grades. Parents could help run a book club or discuss writing in general - WIN opportunities. e. Learning Needs of Students (Tier 1 - Classroom /Tier 2 - Interventions) i. Parent- the town has such an academic focus, so we focus on the social at home. What is in place to support students socially? 1. No set SEL curriculum -we have pockets of curriculum throughout, but could still weave into each class and curriculum. 2. Teacher- so many ways to weave them into the regular class day. As a team - hosting "team days," to address social and emotional learning. In some cases - not sure what's going on after school, fearing that students head off to Russian Math or another academic class. 3. From a WL perspective - seeing more gaps and very distinct levels in language acquisition. a. Parent-feeling the same - are we missing things, are we falling behind? Pronunciation? ii. Parent- emphasize making it happen during the school day. Perhaps motivate the 8th graders, asking them to mentor and serve as tutors. 1. This is why we initiated WIN - make it happen during the day, negating the issues when you can't come before or after school. 2. Teacher- Can we get the 9th graders on board to help in the same line? Mentoring, tutoring? Happy to help organize and help. f. Inclusive & Equitable School i. Parent- % staff of color? 1. Admin - it does not mirror the current population. We're working HR to explore, expand and hire more diverse population. ii. Teacher- would like to allocate more time to training/learning. The apprehension around the correct way to approach topics of equity and diversity. iii. Teacher- whole school meetings or whole school reads? `19-20 SIP: htt�as://docs. ooc�leocom/document/df1kRFmKaCXK2f9ZC rtf8CHN0FgLw15XSiWZ-AMsfod �/edit?usp=sharino