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Home My WebLink About2021-12-21-CLARKE-min RECEIVED OVS MORNI/V ?� O 2022 25 Feb, 9:02 a xwQm PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE TOWN 19T. IU W u l CL E I�I@ L1 XIN c,10 LEXINGTON Jonas Clarke Middle School School Site Council Meeting December 21, 2021 3:00 PM Virtual Meeting, Jonas Clarke Middle School 17 Stedman Road Lexington, MA 02421 Google Meet link: htt� :AArrr��t._ gle.com/bg�n- x h-qfz Or dial: (US) +1 337-359-2865 PIN: 406 535 450# Members present: Dane Despres, Jonathan Wettstone, Mary Barry-Ng, Jillian Clark, Meghan Olsson, Dana Silverberg, Stephanie Kozak, Melanie Alexander, Emily Sayre Agenda 1. Call to Order, Welcome, & Public Comment a. Meghan Olsson motion to accept minutes, Jillian Clark seconds. All approve. 2. Review &Approve Last Meeting's Minutes a. November 30 2021 minutes 3. Parent, Staff, and Admin Reports: 15-minute limit a. Parent check-in: Melanie Alexander as a follow up to the last meeting, did send an email to Dane regarding the Metco Friends and Family programming at the middle school level. Melanie thought a survey for families/parents would be helpful to gather information and interest in growing this program at the middle school level. b. Mr. Despres suggested reaching out to Habiba Davis, social worker at both the middle schools, and Barbara Hamilton, Metco director. Mr. Despres will reach out to both and get back in touch with Melanie after he speaks with them. c. Emily Sayre: Ask a question about social media use and how prevalent this is? d. Ms. Barry-Ng & Mr. Wettstone: we deal with this a great deal. Usually at the beginning of the year, we have a great uptake of issues that carry over from the summer. Usually after we address this, the issue will subside. e. Staff check-in: Meghan Olsson not much new to report on, staff doing well, just tired. Dana Silverberg has heard some concern over the number of increased cases. Additionally some staff are concerned that the in-school collection of saliva samples is soon ending. f. Mr. Despres: confirmed that this week we are seeing a rise in cases. We have seven this week. Total number of cases this year so far has been 15, so to have seven in one week, that is an up-tick. g. Meghan Olsson also shared concern over a number of 8th graders that need the constant reminder to mask up. Also expressed concern over immediate family members who have been close contact and not knowing exactly how to deal with this (come to work, stay home). h. Mr. Despres: Reminder that policy is created at the district level. We are required to follow district policy. Tomorrow at the administrative council, this should be a discussion topic and we will receive updated information. i. Administrative Share: Report card roll-out went very well. 90% of report cards have been viewed. Reminder that the next two trimesters will be in Aspen, not Otus. 4. Discussing Clarke's School Improvement Plan 2021-2022: "Innovation Plan" (See notes/slideshow) a. Continued Focus on Goal 1: Addressing Equity Gaps, Redefining Success, Cultivating Student Agency, Innovating for Sustainable Change) i. Review & reopen discussion on notes for Goal 1, topics 3 & 4 b. Discussion about Goal 2: Redefining Success. (Mr. Despres reviews this portion of the strategic plan). c. Share what we have done so far at Clarke: i. Move to standards based grading at Clarke. ii. Use of process standards this year. This helps not to confuse these standards from the academic standards. Equally, it shows that the process standards are important to us as well and have their own means of measurement. iii. Clearly there is a rise in students' social and emotional needs this year. d. J. Clark: In general we need to do a better job comparing students to themselves rather than the norm. Need to focus on individual growth and progress. e. D. Despres: So what I am hearing is a focus on growth for the students and school. f. J. Clark: Yes, but not only growth, also a focus on reflection and the ability to stop and think about the growth over time. This is not done enough as a regular practice in our school. g. E.Sayre: I appreciate hearing this. It is a key part to giving and receiving feedback. Need to reflect on what we hear and how we can use that information to grow. h. M. Olsson: Some of this is already happening, at least in the world language classrooms. i. S. Kozak: Agree that it is important for students to see their own growth. Fostering the idea of a learning community and we learn at our own pace. And that we celebrate the growth that everyone has, no matter how great or small. j. J. Clark: Agreed with Steph Kozak and expressed the idea that many students who receive "meeting" think they are done learning about that skill/content - as they believe they have already met it. k. D. Silverberg: I would like to see a place where adaptability, or flexibility are a focus. Additionally a willingness to try again or persevere through difficult times and learning. 1. M. Olsson: So there are two pieces really. 1 - the reflection piece, and truly believe this is important. 2 - a goal tracker: where a student keeps track of how close they are to meeting the goal they have set out for themselves. m. D. Despres: To do reflection well and ensure it has an effective practice - it has to be embedded in the teaching practice itself. This requires time and training. Just yesterday Science, ELA, and Social Studies had professional learning with Geoffrey Benson who just wrote a book on implementing SEL into classroom practices. n. D.Despres: Also this makes me think about student-led conferences and moving in this direction. To implement this requires an advisory program where adults support students in moving through this process. o. J. Clark: That is one of the challenges that we have in middle school - that the only adult that truly knows you and follows you through all three years of middle school is your counselor. That poses a problem - we need to have other adults that do this. At LHS the special education teacher follows students through all four years. p. S. Kozak: All teachers need to realize that SEL needs have changed as well as student skills. Students need to have a model of how to participate in a group, how to disagree respectfully, and much more. q. M. Olsson: Without SEL - there will be no academic growth. Students need to feel safe and part of a community before they can take risks in learning. r. D. Silverberg: Wonder if parallel to the standards based grading could students set a goal in which they monitor themselves throughout the year. Then students could reflect on their actions and how they were able to achieve or not achieve their goal. s. J. Clark: We became teachers because we know how to care about kids. We need to remind ourselves of that. t. M. Alexander: As a mom of a child with a disability, not worried about her skills in math at 23 years of age, but I am concerned about how she handles herself and deals with issues in her life. u. E. Sayre: Sportscasting - speaking about what you see and what you need to do. This sort of narrating (even as a parent) is a reminder of what needs to be done in specific situations. v. S. Kozak: I think that is where we look as educators to embed these skills into our lessons at the moment - it helps all students. w. D. Despres: Being proactive and positive are also additional tweaks that can make a huge difference. 5. Selecting Next Meeting Time &Adjournment a. January 25, 2022 (Tuesday afternoon at 3pm)