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Home My WebLink About2015-01-12-LHS-min Lexington High School 251 Waltham Street Lexington, Massachusetts 02421 Laura Lasa Principal 781- 861-2320, x 1002 lasa@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us FAX: 781-861-2440 To: The Lexington High School Council From: Laura J Lasa Re: Minutes LHS School Site Council Meeting metonJanuary 12, 2015, from 6:15-7:45PM in the Library Media Center. Attendees: Laura Lasa, Kim Effron, Suzanne Lau, Polly Kienle, Ann Redmon, Eileen Jay, Nancy Shepard, Paul Breitenfield, Elise Santiago, Elizabeth Moughty Curtin and Katherine Manning. Absent: Dave Wininger, Kristin Tissera, Jill Smilow, Walter Richardson, and Nanying Bian. I. The December 22 minutes were approved. 6:15 II. Announcements from Council members 6:25 Report on the recent Site Council Roundtable meeting A. Next meeting on January 21, 2015 8:00 Ã 9:30 am: Questions and conversations centered on curriculum, instruction and data collection, with invited guests Carol Pilarski (Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum) and Maureen Kavanaugh (Director of Planning and Assessment). What is the information that people are looking for around data collection? Would like the Site Roundtable meetings to be a place where people are heard and can bring questions to the table. The purpose of the SBSC Roundtable meetings is to circulate information back and forth with individual school councils. The roundtable enjoys the opportunity to hear from a large number of Central Office and other administrators in the district (informative). B.Other announcements Parent Conferences 2015-2016 conferences are scheduled for after Thanksgiving. With parent and student access to Aspen Gradebook, do the scheduled conferences still need to continue after 2015-2016; the council consensus is yes. What is the purpose of the conferences and who is attending? We can define the purpose of the conferences but is it aligned with the parent/student needs? Many parents and teachers like the face-to-face meetings and prefer the earlier time in the school year. nd This year, conferences were at the start of 2 quarter; this allowed teachers to have an understanding of the student, as well as supporting evidence. th Some concern that 9 grade parents struggled to make appointments during this important transition time for the parent and student. Do parents of freshman need more support? Ideas moving forward: possibly schedule conferences by invitation only schedule conferences over 2 half days instead of the current schedule full day (might be particularly helpful for grade nine) Council members should solicit input from the various stakeholders to bring to the next meeting. III. Youth at Risk Report (follow-up) 6:40 A. Course Selection and Teacher Recommendation Process: Questions for the school to consider: What is the definition of a Åproper placement? How can we make the process more transparent for students and parents? How do we respect the parents desire to be involved in course selection and placement while respecting the school process? How can we create a uniform course recommendation process across all department and grade levels? Is there a rubric that teachers use to make a placement determination? Students can often feel confused by the process and do not understand what the level recommendation is based on. What is it beyond the grade that factors into a placement for a student? Are students practicing self-awareness (skills needed to demonstrate to teacher)? Suggestion: Identify ways to develop consistent and clear recommendation procedures for courses to ensure proper placement of students. Some departments have rewritten their course descriptions this year to align the description with the new course level descriptions Every guidance counselor will be having a 10-minute individual course conversation with grade nine, ten, and eleven students prior to course selection. B. School Culture and Climate Ã tabled until the February meeting Identify ways to reduce competitiveness Identify ways to recognize/foster non-academic accomplishments (report recommendation #5) Increase department collaboration where there is not vertical alignment of classes, e.g. from biology to chemistry. V. Adjournment 7:4 District Improvement Plan 2014-2015 1.Improve Academic Performance for All Students 2.Improve Social and Emotional Program Support for All Students 3.Improve Safety for All Students and Staff 4.Improve the DistrictÈs Capacity to Respond to Enrollment Increases