HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-04-25-CLARKE-minPUBLIC
MEETING NOTICE
________________________________________________________________________
Jonas Clarke Middle School
School Site Council Meeting
April 25, 2022
3:05 PM
Virtual Meeting, Jonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road Lexington, MA 02421
Google Meet link:
meet.google.com/onm-cxnq-wrf
Agenda
Present at Meeting:Dane Despres, Mary Barry-Ng, Meghan Olsson, Jillian Clark, Melanie
Alexander, Yu Wei, Dana Silverberg
1. Call to Order, Welcome, & Public Comment
2. Review & Approve Last Meeting’s Minutes
February 28, 2022 minutes
March 22, 2022 minutes
Motion to approve, seconded. Approved by all.
3.Parent, Staff, and Admin Reports: 15-minute limit
○Parent check-in
1.Parent shared that many parents are still concerned about the new grading
system.
a.Mr. Despres noted that a good piece of the innovation plan will have a
focus on the SBG system. We will also be collecting questions via a
survey for parents. Then, using this information (from the survey) to plan
Q&A, presentation for parents/guardians at the start of next school year.
2.Parent asked to clarify what site council positions are at the end of their term this
year and what other ones continue on.
a.Mr. Despres clarified that two of the positions will end this year. Mr.
Freeman’s position will have a one year term (to finish his term as
scheduled). The other positions have yet another year on their terms.
○Staff check-in
○Administrative check-in
1.Mr. Despres - mentioned the end of the year and all the events that will be
occurring.
2.Mr. Despres - need to adjust MCAS testing for next week due to the Eid Holiday.
New dates will be Wednesday 5/4 and Thursday 5/5. Need to make note of the
specific practices that various religions have as we plan on dates next year. Mr.
Despres also made mention that we need to be informing DESE that their dates
for ELA coincided with Ramadan this year and did not leave us much room.
3.Mr. Despres - there was a small uptick in Covid19 cases prior to April vacation
and we are currently waiting to see if this will indicate a new trend or rise in
cases. As always the district will keep all informed. Good news is we are outdoors
for lunch, the weather is warmer and students like to get outside.
4.Mr. Despres - every school in the district has been asked to share a “Joy in
Learning” celebration. As you know, one of our core values is joy in learning.
What we will be doing in this celebration is to highlight things that have brought
joy to our school community. We are asking for volunteers to share what they
have done to bring joy in learning this year. The date is . TheMay 23, 2022
celebration runs from 12:30pm to 2:00pm. Those that are invited are the Site
Council, the School Committee, and members of the Central Office. Mr. Despres
will be sending Site Council an invitation later this week with a formal agenda.
5.Mrs. Olsson - inquired about what type of format this would be? Could a few of
my 6th graders stand up and speak about our Pen Pal Project, or would you
prefer to have me record that?
6.Mr. Despres - there will be an overall introduction period for all to hear about what
the celebration entails and why it is important. Then there will be a general
rotation schedule. The larger group of attendees will be divided into smaller
groups that could visit the classrooms and areas of the school.
7.Going forward the idea would be to have our celebration directly tied to our
innovation plan so that we could show specifically how parts of our innovation
plan exist in our school and how these pieces are represented in our school.
4.Revising Clarke’s School Improvement Plan 2022-2024:“Innovation Plan” (See
notes/slideshow)
○ Current Draft:Draft #3
1.Mr. Despres took feedback from our last meeting as well as Dr. Hackett
and looked at Draft #2. Specifically, I took feedback on structure and
content. As we anticipated, it is a very large document and it contains a
lot of information.
2.Two areas I would like to highlight with the group. Let me speak as to why
I want to cut them and get your input.
3.Specifically, I left the comments up to keep in mind what your feedback
was. In typing up this draft, I noticed redundancies and rather than try to
eliminate those redundancies, I decided to keep them to see how
specifically some of our initiatives fit into multiple areas of the innovation
plan.
4.Proposed cut #1:1.2 Additionally, to support “tier 1” classroom
accommodation strategies, provide professional development relative to
Universal Design for Learning to ensure intentional planning to support
all learners in every classroom.Reason for cutting this is that it is
improving tier 1 classroom accommodation strategies that exist in multiple
places throughout this document. Right now the district will not be offering
professional development for UDL.
a.J. Clark - just think there is a difference between UDL and the
DCAP. Still think there is a need for UDL.
b.M. Olsson - If we allow UDL to be in this document without
following through on it and many educators not knowing about it, it
would not be feasible. We do need to focus on the DCAP moving
forward.
c.D. Despres - putting UDL out after our MTSS survey makes sense
from the grander view and will create a better ground for starting
true professional learning for staff. MTSS and UDL represent a
true paradigm shift.
5.Proposed cut #2:3.6 Support the development of positive student-staff
relationships. Develop an advocacy model for students by providing
students with an adult staff member as their advocate. This model will be
used during restorative justice, disciplinary, and other matters.Reason for
cutting this is that I believe there is a need for more understanding of
restorative justice circles, training in these circles. We don’t have that yet.
Thus, I feel putting the work into restorative justice training and
understanding, then the advocacy groups would naturally follow that.
a.M. Olsson- I agree with removing it, but for other reasons. I do
agree it involves training for faculty members. By teaming up a
staff member with a number of students as an advocacy role - we
need teachers/staff to really understand what that role involves.
b.J. Clark - I also agree with the initiative overload. I believe Sources
has been doing this in our building this year. Perhaps using that
language in order to shift thinking around the school more.
c.D. Despres - do you think a Google form at the beginning of the
year, who are your trusted adults? J. Clark - however the problem
would be in 8th grade you would have few and with sixth grade
you would have many more.
d.J. Clark - this could be in the form of a quarterly check in. (e.g.
Has your trusted adult changed?)
e.Parent question: Is this something all students need or would
have to have?
i.D.Despres (response) - this is something we would want
every child to have. We want students to be able to go to
an adult when they need help or are having a difficult time.
f.D. Silverberg - Could the first student goal be student self
advocacy? That is a healthy adult skill that we should be fostering.
Maybe self-advocacy is the consistent goal for all students.
g.J. Clark- I also think that finding kids who can’t identify a trusted
adult, that it poses good data for us as well.
h.M. Olsson - Is this something that the administration would survey
the students at a particular point in the first trimester?
i.D. Silverberg - Sources is currently focused on a trusted adult.
Students have been sharing that unless it is a teacher. It does not
need to be a teacher, it could be administrators, counselors, etc.
j.D. Despres - thinking about not deleting the entire goal, rather
revising it to focus on a “trusted adult” as well as being able to self
advocate to this trusted adult when needed.
k.Parent - As a parent, I think it would be a good idea for parents to
know who their “trusted” adult is in their school.
l.M. Olsson - so maybe we would just share with parents that their
children don’t have a trusted adult. As well as what steps the
school will take to identify a trusted adult for them.
6.Reminder to all - as you look through the Innovation Plan Draft, please let
Dane know if there is anything you have concerns about.
5. Selecting Next Meeting Time & Adjournment
Thursday,3:05pm to 4:05pmMay 19, 2022