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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-20-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 School Site Council Meeting November 20, 2014 Site Council Meeting: 3:15PM Main Office Jonas Clarke Middle School 17 Stedman Road, Lexington, MA 02421 Agenda Present at the meeting: Mrs. Monaco, Principal; Mr. Wettstone, Assistant Principal; Mr. Lawrence, Teacher; Amy Selinger, Parent; Andrew Boni, Parent. Welcome and approval of October 2014 Minutes — minutes approved 11. Questions, Comments, Concerns • Principal asked if any members attended the site council roundtable discussion yesterday where members of the Ad Hoc Committee for Youth at Risk talked about the report that they presented at the SC meeting on 11/18/14. None attended. • Principal discussed how standards -based grading is permeating into the middle schools, but students are still seeking letter grades. • Principal discussed visit to NH school, where they observed a daily intervention system, a system where students can get work done, receive help, and extend as needed. Focus is on practice, not homework. The system decreased the need for students to come before and after school, as time is allotted during the day. 111. Stress in Lexington • Executive Summary / Recommendations for Reducing Stress, Building Resiliency and Improving Services for Our Youth • Principal provided attendees with executive summary, allowing time for personal read and reaction. • Teacher acknowledged conversations with high school students and their reports of stress in preparation for college (upper level courses). • Principal acknowledged the strain to achieve in a town like Lexington. She identified the need to identify students who hyper focus on doing homework to perfection. • Parent cited experience with college preparations and need to educate parents to better manage the situation. • Principal commended summary - not all about the schools. This is a community issues, which involves the town, the parents, the school, etc. There are a lot of great recommendations. B. Youth Risk Behavior Survey - preview • Principal: This will be administered later this year and I'd like your feedback. We will be working with researchers at Northeastern to develop before giving it to 7th & 8th grade students. All students would have had health prior to the survey. Both kids and parents can opt out of the survey if desired. • Parent: Do health classes cover suicide and depression? • Teacher: identified how tough it would be to fill out with your peers all around you - very private information. • Principal informed researchers of the need to include bullying. • Parent identified "gender fluid" as needing further clarification. Conversation continued, highlighting the anonymous nature of the survey and focus on how they identify themselves. • Principal mentioned the importance of the data and how it can inform decisions as we move forward. Parents will have the ability to review the survey before implementation. C. Goal 2 on the School Improvement Plan • How can we incorporate recommendations from the committee's report into our SIP? • What do our social / emotional supports look like at Clarke that focus on stress and anxiety? • It's happening earlier and earlier in kids lives and this a major part of the discussion / solution. Homework • Discussion about what the school / district "policy" is around homework. • Principal hand out articles and asked the council (if they would like) to read the articles in preparation for the next meeting in anticipation of furthering the conversation. • The goal would be to discuss views, look at policies and discuss whether we want to include this as a goal or implementation step in the 15 -16 SIP for Clarke. • We discussed a variety of possibilities that teachers could try such as scheduling assessments by week or having a "trump" day for a certain subject meaning if multiple assessments are scheduled then that particular subject would "trump" all others. IV. Next Meeting — January 2015