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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-11-12-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 School Site Council Meeting Minutes November 12, 2015 / 7:00AM Main Office / Jonas Clarke Middle School 17 Stedman Road Lexington, MA 02421 Office: (781) 861 -2450 Fax: (781) 674 -2043 In attendance: Mrs. Monaco, Principal; Mr. Wettstone, Assistant Principal; Liz Murphy, Teacher; Sarah Fattal, Teacher; John Chamberlain, Teacher; Andrew Boni, Parent; Naomi Priver, Parent; Amy Selinger; Parent; Jennifer Roney, Parent. Agenda I. Welcome II. Approval of October 2015 Minutes • Principal had emailed minutes via email prior to the meeting and distributed a hard copy before approval. Minutes approved. 15 -16 SIP / WIN Updates • Principal: 4th week of WIN. Logistics going well with small adjustments on the run. Students are in classrooms and doing the work. • Principal: discussed evaluation of WIN project with staff at recent faculty meeting. Do students have less homework at night, can they focus better in class with a break, can teachers manage the additional meeting time? • Principal opened up the conversation, inviting feedback from parents and teachers. • Parent: heard it was a first come, first serve. My son missed his first two classes, because the classes were filled up at that time. • Principal: yes, we are experimenting with how students sign up for classes with the staff, rotating students through and giving staff the ability to schedule everyone. • Parent: the multi -week classes? Are students scheduled already? • Principal: Yes, students are booked in advance for the multi -week classes. • Parent: Kids love WIN, but some kids were locked out if their homeroom didn't schedule early enough. Wish we could rotate the priority. • Teacher: we have been aware of that - scheduling certain students in advance, compensating for their bus arriving late. • Principal: we plan to meet again with staff to review the offerings. Coloring, walking and simple tasks have been the most popular. • Parent: WIN scheduling takes place in homeroom. She felt bad for a student that was held back in class, not allowing to move to WIN. Can a teacher trump enrichment? • Principal: Yes, a teacher can trump an enrichment course. We hope it takes place during the scheduling portion, where the teacher communicates with the enrichment teacher to discuss. • Teacher: I've had the best nature walks, getting to know the kids better. I've really gotten to enjoy getting to know the kids. I am however finding less time to have 1:1 time to meet with kids. • Parent: Can you get someone to cover the walk so you can meet with a student? • Principal: Can you create 1:1 situations during the Guided Study period? • Teacher: yes, but I still have the other kids in the room. • Parent: Do kids have the opportunity to meet with a different teacher to ask a math question? • Principal: Yes - you can sign up to see any teacher. She then went on to discuss different models around the school, where math teachers share their resources, as well as where kids go back to see former teachers due to the relationship. • Principal: One of the tough aspects - having all staff giving the same message in all 38 homerooms. • Parent: my daughter has been using WIN for the drama group, which has been an awesome break for her. She's also used the scheduling block to get additional work done. This is definitely something to hold onto. • Principal: More staff are willing to take a risk and give it a try. We took away duties, gave back faculty meeting time and attempted to compensate for their additional efforts. Factors - is this sustainable, is this worth fighting for? • Teacher: I'm seeing students show up in groups because they get to see friends they typically do not see daily. This is another social, emotional support for students. • Teacher: concerned about assemblies getting in the way of WIN They come up often and understandably WIN is a natural time to meet with a grade level. • Teacher: software has been powerful and very helpful • Teacher: would like to see it meet more than 3x a week - sees the need for one day to have long blocks. We need more time during the day! • Teacher: In previous district had a check in time before the "WIN" block to ensure catching up with kids on the team and making sure everyone knows where they are going. Could we have longer homerooms to do this every day? • It would be great to see data on how kids are monitoring their time. The software can do this and we plan to try to collect that data as the year goes on. Asking kids how they think they have used their time will be important as well. This info could also be given to team teachers to review on a quarterly basis. IV. School Building Project updates • Principal discussed the plans as they have been presented to SC and Board of Selectman but plans are changing and no one plan has been recommended for Town Meeting on Dec 2. • Budget Summit #2 planned for this evening (Nov 12th) • What can parents do to support this project? V. Questions, Comments, Concerns • Parent asked about posted meeting minutes. Website needs to be updated with minutes from May and October (now that minutes have been approved) • Next meeting date is Dec 9th. Will have more info from Special Town meeting re: building projects.