HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-20-LHS-min LEXINGTON
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Andrew Stephens,Ed.D. (781) 861-2320,ext. 69103
Principal astephens*lexingtonma.org
Twitter: (a),LexinetonHSMa
Minutes for the LHS School Site Council remote meeting on September 20, 2021 from 6:00-7:30 PM.
Present: Andrew Stephens, Alix Fox, Karen Griffiths, Jen Roney, Lyn Ling Yang, KC Zheng, Sam
Offsey, Samuel Simon,Aurora Wang, Suzanne Lau, Liz Curtin, Katelyn Riley
1. Welcomed new members: Alix Fox, Kuncheng Zheng, Aurora Wang (Class of 2024 student rep)
2. Nominations/vote for SC Co-chair for 2021-2022
* Karen Griffiths was elected as co-chair
3. Approval of the June, 2021 draft meeting minutes
4. Discussion of meeting dates/times; in-person or remote
• Teachers said they preferred Mondays
• Will plan on being remote for the next couple of meetings, then revisit. Meeting time will stay at
bpm for remote meetings.
• Will tentatively start with first Monday of the month
o Next meeting: Monday, October 4, bpm, remote
5. Announcements Updates, Feedback& Discussion:
• Back to School Night- remote
o Proposed MOA for teacher's union: BTS night and parent conferences will be remote.
Currently being voted on by the union.
• Start of school year questions, updates & feedback
• Common question: are we going to cover full curriculum this year?
m Won't get through every speck of the curriculum. Kids coming from all different
situations/experiences last year. Remember that last year was not a"lost year":
teaching and learning absolutely occurred. Teachers need to gauge as they go
through where they are, maybe need for stop and reteaching.
• 9th grade parents are wondering why the science curriculum is in the order it is.
• This has been discussed for a long time; very complex issue logistically,
curricularly, financially, and pedagogically.
• They feel that the current order maps with what students should be able to do
skill-wise at each age level. E.g., if they moved Chemistry before Bio, students
wouldn't be ready to take AP Chem in 10th grade.
• One possibility is to rearrange things so kids can take the AP not as their first year
of that science (e.g,. Bio in 10th grade, AP Bio in 12th grade).
Lexington High School 1251 Waltham Street I Lexington,MA 102421
■ Agreement that this is not an issue that can be addressed in the Site Council; it's a
Central Office/Superintendent level decision.
■ Also mention of desire for more electives in science
• Advisory
o lots of complaining about it from students last year, but putting kids back into original
homeroom groups was very well received - had much student feedback last year
requesting that.
• School bus discussion: buses seem to get home super late. 36 buses going to the high school.
Anything to be done to expedite it? Seems later than prior years.
o Worthen road shut down completely to parent traffic. Afternoons are the issue. Buses not
lined up when kids get there, not in a pattern, so kids need to find which bus. Andy and
Andrew are keeping track of what buses are where, but takes at least 10 mins for kids to
find buses. Getting first buses out in 10 mins, then other buses come in a little later,
which then causes problems for elementary schools etc.
o Parents need to be more flexible about letting teachers out of the Worthen road parking
lot. Andrew's going to try to look over there and get people to be more reasonable.
• SC vaccine policy for extracurricular activities
o The admin is working on what"rostered" vs "unrostered" is. Most clubs are unrostered,
whoever wants to wander in can come in. Some clubs, like competition clubs or NHS are
rostered: it's a set group of people. They figured they have about 14-16 rostered clubs; if
they're only meeting remotely, need guidance on what that means. Working on issues
about operationalizing a policy that affects entire district. Are getting rosters from club
advisors of rostered clubs and from athletic department, nurses are checking. Only about
250 kids don't have at least one shot.
o Andrew working with Dean Caniff about identifying the specific rostered clubs.
o Unrostered clubs that meet outside the school day do still need to follow the masking
rules: Masked inside, minimum 3 feet of distance, 6 feet if they're eating.
o Some difficulty with teachers who can't be advisors to clubs because of later leaving
time; working on solutions.
• Question: if kids can dial in if they're out sick, how do they know how to do that? Teachers are
asked to put a google meet link on their google classroom page. Only students marked as present
are the ones identified by nurses (for quarantine), but that's not publicized for privacy.
6. School Innovation Plans --Introduction to process & timeline
• New SIP process: as a system, working on linking strategic plan to what's going on in the
schools, and having schools work specifically towards the goals in the strategic plan.
• Format is changing: going to be called a School Innovation plan, directly connected to 4 main
areas and goals of strategic plan:
o Address and narrow equity gaps
o redefine success
o cultivate student agency
o innovate for sustainable change
■ the idea is that these are ones that get reviewed every year, but they're on a two
year cycle.
o Strategic plan is designed to be flexible and adaptive, so should the building-based ones
be.
o Basic timeline:
■ Site Councils start in the fall to develop school innovation plan for next year.
■ Jan/Feb preliminary innovation plan for next year; Andrew presents it to CO and
superintendent for feedback
■ Iterative process until May, when plans for following year are submitted.
■ In March and April (the Monday after April vacation for LHS) each of Site
Councils have a moment to present"Joy in Learning" celebrations, to
memorialize some of the things we want to do that are moving us forward
more detail to come.
■ Sept of next year is the beginning of implementation of the plan.
o Andrew's started a template of things we know we want to do and what we want to start
thinking about. He's pulled some possible strategies for each of the goals from the district
strategic plan. We have some things already that are directly congruent with things that
are in the strategic plan.
o Goal is to land on something meaningful, can move us forward, achievable, big enough
to carry us over multiple years. The timeline and process formalizes the fact that we
acknowledge that any new endeavor won't get done in one year, so continues from one to
the next until it's done or decided to be changed.
Meeting adjourned 7:36