HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-04-15-HARRINGTON-min HARRINGTON Harrington Elementary School
- ELEMENTARY
Site Council — Meeting Agenda
2020-2021 Academic Year
Meeting Date/Time: Location:
Thursday, April 15th,2021 Members will join from their respective locations
7:30-8:30am Remote Meeting- Please use the following link to join:
Time: April 15, 2021 07:30 AM Eastern Time
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Recorder-Ryan Mack
Members in attendance via Zoom in BOLD
Jackie Dale Principal Co-Chair Ran
Daley, p y Mack, Family Rep.
Larry Freeman, Family Rep. Co- Chair Melissa Lee, Family Rep.
Michelle Dardeno, Community Rep. Julie Scafidi, Faculty Rep.
Karen Roses, Family Rep. Liz Class, Faculty Rep.
Julie Harrington, Faculty Rep Emily Sayre, Family Rep.
Agenda Notes
1. Welcome Movie night was awesome, put on by PTA with school
support. Harry the Hawk was dancing around. Even some RLA
families joined 1
2.Approval of March minutes found HERE Motion to approve by Melissa Lee, seconded by Michelle
Dardeno, all approved.
3. Update from Jackie Daley-
Full Return
Full Time Return to School Update Jackie: 8 parents 6 staff at Let's Chat last night.Slide show
showing inside building how full return is handled in the
New Playground presentation-with Shawn cafeteria and classrooms. Classrooms from 6ft spacing to
Newell 3-4ft. 330 students in building, 113 in RLA. Opened additional
kindergarten, closed 1st and 4th grade RLA classes. Returned
Librarian form 4th grade class to Library. Presentations from
teachers and from school nurse Pam Vaughn. Lunches served
increased to 250 lunches up from 100. Added an additional
kitchen staff member to support. Additional custodial staff to
support. Will be trying to move outside more as well. Pizza
day is particularly challenging. Tried using trays and it worked
well. Stadium seat cushions also work as trays! First day
dismissal was 25 minutes. Got to 12 minutes on second day.
Best so far is 9 minutes!
Julie S:Transition was great, 5 new students. Very few
bumps.Jumped right into curriculum. RLA/Hybrid differences
were immaterial. Snack outside isn't as social as students
would like. Hybrid kids do miss small cohorts a bit.
Karen: Son is much more joyful. Gets to talk to his friends at
recess and after school.
Liz: Most kids are excited to be back and see more people
around them. A few students are struggling with the change
and loss of small groups and individual attentions. RLA
transitions are doing very well. Still think it's going to take
some time to get used to transition.
Julie H: Kids are getting used to not being able to have
conversations all the time. Kids have a lot of patience for
getting used to new procedures and unexpected changes.
RLA is settling in. One hiccup is finding space to do additional
supportive learning.
Michelle: How are parents of RLA students doing?
Jackie: Decision to come back because more comfortable
with reduced risk. Excited to return, students were anxious.
Connected to councilors and provided opportunities for visits
to help smooth integration. Fortunately that elementary
school Covid cases have been very low.
Julie H and S: Only feedback has been positive.
Jackie: Questions are typical new school bus/lunch logistics.
Playground Update
Shawn: Assistant director for the department of public
facilities. Maintains school and town buildings including
school playgrounds. Lex resident from 2006. Worked on
all school playgrounds except Hastings and LCP. CPA
projects were short, had money but didn't have a lot of
projects and jumped into a break between town
playground projects.
Had enough budget to renovate and add additional
playground structures. Redo the whole playground.
Abbreviated design cycle due to unexpected available
funds. Working with vendor to make playground more
inclusive for all students. Started planning in February,
including OT, PT, and school nurse feedback.
Engineered fiber surface has been clogging drains and
kids dig into it which reduces safety. Replacing with
poured-in-place surfacing (galvanized rubber) makes it
easier to navigate in a wheelchair. Will share more
broadly soon. Safety needs are determined based on
age range and fall distance.
Michelle: Do we consider injury rates when designing
playgrounds?
Jackie: Most common issues are blisters from monkey
bars. Some injuries from tire swings. Injuries more
determined by activities (tag) than equipment.
Melissa: How do we deal with different needs by kids
K-2 versus 3-5?
Shawn: We could but generally don't expect kids to
obey that. Try to handle K-5 for the whole structure and
rely on supervision. We could add stuff later but it's a bit
tricky with the PIP surface. We are looking at musical
equipment down the road. Some constraints due to
underground things like geothermal wells.
Karen: is the PIP material the stuff from recycled tires
that releases VOCs when it's hot?
Shawn: It offgasses while it's curing but not after that.
Kids don't chew on this but they do chew on wood fiber.
This is generally safer and more maintainable. I'll look
into it more and get back to you. Play structure surfaces
can get up to 100 degrees when it's 75 degrees out.
Repairing bare metal with light colored paint helps.
Larry: Does PIP get too soft for wheelchair access on
hot days?
Shawn: I haven't heard that come up in the discussions
I've been to. I'll ask around. Shared some images of
equipment: Spinners, lilly pads, climbing structures,
"boogie board," slides, climbing board with rope, chain
climbing structures, wiggle wall.
Jackie: Can you tell us more about musical
instruments?
Shawn: Can add something in the future. Need to
ensure it's not going to bother neighborhoods on
weekends. These are expensive $24k for a xylophone
which may not get a lot of use.
Jackie: If there's interest we can do a fundraiser for a
future project. Right now we're heavily focused on
inclusivity of the playground.
Emily: Does playground manufacturers provide usage
data or do schools track this.
Shawn: They may have usage data but I'm not sure
how much I believe it, may be more of a sales pitch.
Motion to adjourn. Seconded. Good day all.
SIP 2020-21 HERE
New business:
Next meeting May 20th 2021