HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-24-FISKE-minFiske School Site Council - 3.24.22 Meeting Notes
Members
Brian Baker, Principal Present
Sara Fenzel, Fiske Staff Absent
Michele Carter, Fiske Staff Absent
Catherine Murphy, ELL Present
Lana Panasyuk, Parent Present
Rebecca Bell, Parent Present
Sarina Sherwin, Parent Present
Opening Items
●Overview of the Site-Based Council’s Purpose and Mandate:Brian Baker
read through and thanked the council for their help and thoughtfulness
●Parent Co-Chair Volunteer and Secretary:Lana Panasyuk volunteered to
remain Parent Co-Chair Volunteer and Sarina Sherwin volunteered to serve as
Secretary
Updates from the Principal Baker
●New Assistant Principal Katie O’Hare Gibson: Doing a great job getting into her
role, making connections and establishing relationships with staff and students.
Each school has its own culture (she came from Hastings), but has background
as an administrator and is adapting quickly. Both of her boys came through Fiske
and she had a sense of the culture.
●We are at 19 sections. K through G4 have 3 sections each, G5 has 4 sections.
This will probably be the last year we have 4 sections, and hopefully never fewer
than 3. Fiske has a smaller population than other LPS schools.
●5 ILP classrooms at Fiske, 2 at Estabrook. Next year, he foresees Fiske likely
staying at 5, and Estabrook going to 3 to keep classroom sizes at manageable
level. Right now one Fiske ILP classroom at 8, rest at 6 or 7, which is good for
now. It’s working well.
Early Start of School News
●Early Start Time for 22/23
●Letter from Dr. Hackett
●No conversation at this meeting as this topic has been paused.
●Brian Baker shared that they received lots of feedback from staff and parents
across the district. At Fiske, similar to the district, the majority of staff was in favor
of starting early. 7:40 start time came as a surprise though. By contract teachers
need to be here 15 mins before the start of school. One parent pointed out ‘At
some point your kids will be the early ones to go’. Lots of great feedback and
considerations that were shared by both staff and families.
Staff Supervision and Evaluation
●Focus on “Teaching All Students” and “Professional Culture”
●Brian Baker cited that this gets the principals into classrooms. In the past, the
process consisted of the principal going into classrooms for 30 mins then
submitting a write-up, which was a bit time-consuming. This year, the District
made some changes: for professional teaching status (Fiske 3+ yrs), there will be
2 evaluations consisting of 10 to 20-minute observations with short write-ups,
and follow-up conversations which are more meaningful, deeper in topic, and
provide an exchange opportunity between the principal and staff. For
non-professional status, it’s the same process with 4 observations. All in all, the
new process is less time-consuming. They are a little behind schedule, but
Started with teachers and it's going well. They started with teachers and are a
little behind schedule but it’s going well. Fiske has a great culture of
professionalism and collaboration. This is to gather evidence to ensure we are
doing right by the kids.
Share Student Learning/Prof. Learning Goal
●Brian Baker said that similar to last year, and now that we have Katie O’Hare
Gibson here, he is focused on Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions in the classroom.
Making sure teachers have everything they need to give the added dose of
intervention for kids. It’s the responsibility of teachers to give students added
support. Rather than just relying on literacy and math specialists. We are
coaching teachers, giving them what is needed for them to give what is best to
the students. “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
Updates from - Student Success Team / Data Teams / School Leadership Team
●SST (formerly CST) Student Success Team:A platform to bring students of
concern to a group of educators (Brian Baker, Katie O’Hare Gibson, Literacy
Specialist, Math Specialist, OT/PT) to help brainstorm.
●Data Teams:
○Former process: Look at student data and figure out what interventions
they may need. They would do 3 grade levels one day, and 3 the next day.
They found that teachers were just giving a list of kids and concerns then
time would run out. No time to problem solve.
○New process: They have a pre-data team meeting, where they really hone
in on data. We need a name for this meeting! Matthew Small suggested
an “Intervention Summit” as they are taking what we know and putting it
into the interventions.
○Good PLC (Professional Learning Community): 45 mins with Math, 45
mins with Lit, 45 mins with Counseling to dig deeper and explore what we
are able to do for students.
●School Leadership Team:Met last Friday for the first time. 1 teacher each
grade, 1 rep from everywhere else. Went really well.
●Equity Team: Also had its first meeting two Fridays ago. Christina Bencivenni is
the new chair, Catherine Murphy was the former chair. Successful meeting to get
recalibrated after the summer, to discuss what goals do we want, where do we
go with this. There is a district-wide equity team, which they never had before,
which allows all schools to align together. Katie O’Hare Gibson will help with the
DEI curriculum, so Fiske may get a preview. Catherine mentioned that there may
also be a DEI guidebook for families and staff available. Brian Baker to share the
link in the weekly update if available. Lana asked a question on how parents can
get involved. Brian to learn more and follow up.
Fiske Cafeteria Update
●Green Team is up and running. Kids do a great job.And it is well staffed.
●Allergies: Parents are to help kids memorize PIN numbers.Pre-covid PIN
numbers would pop up at the register and the cashier would be alerted of any
allergies. With the pandemic, this changed and they moved away from PINs.
There was an incident last week that resulted in a wake-up call, and adjustments
have been made so PINs are back. A meeting yesterday with Katie, Karen, Kevin
Silvia and other women from Whitsons resulted in immediate changes including
lunches served on trays, not clamshells, so the register person can see what’s in
the clamshell. Also, in front of the food servers, there is a placard with a menu for
the day, where allergens are noted so the child is aware. The adult at the register
is also made aware.
Fiske Playground Update
●Initially the new playground was supposed to come in Summer 2023.
●Brian got a call two Fridays ago to prepare for a Nov 1 arrival.
●Basketball hoops had been taken down but were put back in a couple of weeks
ago. The 5th graders politely created a petition to get back and presented it well.
●Installation will take 3 to 4 weeks. They will remove all but the red spider web
climber and the shade structure. Everything else will be replaced. Playground
equipment has a 10- to 15-year shelf life. Broken pieces cannot be replaced so
all new pieces are coming. It’s going to have some similar items / structures as
now. One addition is a type of merry go round that can be used for someone in a
wheelchair.
●Nurse Karlee as well as PT Juliet Moir were part of the playground committee.
Juliet has been on a few playground committees in her town so her feedback and
input was very helpful.
●Downside of the new playground is that we won’t be able to use the playground
during the installation, so we will be using fields during that time. If it’s wet out,
will have more indoor recess
●Students received this update at the all-school meeting last Friday.
●Come Summer 2023, the PIP (poured in place) rubber goes in to replace the
wood chips. This new spongy bottom will be installed by the start of 2023-2024
school year. Lana asked about where money comes from, and Brian replied with
it’s budgeted from the town.
●Thurs 10/27 Brian has 60-min virtual meeting about installation logistics
Fiske Joy In Learning -Thurs. Nov. 10 - 1:30-3:00
●Agenda more or less set from previous two attempts. This will be a time for the
people of the community (site council, central office, etc.) to hear about what’s
going on and what’s working. Stay tuned for the invitation.
Other Discussion Topics
●Bike Racks (Lana):Noticing more bike racks near the Star. Brian shared that
there are new bike racks near the playground, so students are to use those.
Chances of getting new racks may be slim because of this recent addition. Brian
to encourage kids to park their bikes on the racks near the playground or on the
Colony Rd side.
●Aspen Dismissal (Rebecca):Son rides a bike and takes the bus sometimes.
Can Aspen be designed so that exceptions aren’t wiped out every week? The
input process can be stressful for parents. Can we have it just save last week’s
exceptions? Is there a better way that creates less stress for parents and
teachers? Are there other systems that are more user friendly?
○Sarina added that teachers ask for the email heads up when exceptions
are submitted. Brian mentioned that at 3:05pm, all teachers receive an
email that lists all exceptions made. There should not be a need for
additional notes from parents, as this is an extra step.
○Catherine mentioned that, as a parent and as someone who does bus
duty, she really likes the attendance sheet addition. In years past, they
didn’t take formal attendance for bus duty dismissal, so this is really
helpful.
●Green Team Custodian and SST support (Sarina):Gave recognition to the
custodial staff and SST for their help implementing the new lunch waste process,
finding ways to optimize with the Green Team?
●Trash in Yard (Sarina):As BBY Coordinator, she and other parents have
noticed a lot of trash all along the edge and on the field. Brian mentioned that in
years past, the PTO would organize a beautification Sunday. Lana and Rebecca
asked if there’s a way students could help, perhaps as a community service
project? 5th graders could even give to the community as they are leaving. Give
them plastic gloves to help.
●Mo’s Ice Cream Truck (Sarina):Asked about rules of an ice cream truck on
campus. Haven’t seen him in a while and likely won’t until the Spring. Parent
brought to Brian’s attention that there's a law that is being broken but he wasn’t
sure whose jurisdiction it was. After some more investigation, there is a law that
prohibits food being sold on the school premises within 30 minutes of dismissal
as well as one about food sold from an outside vendor on school property.
Next Fiske School Site Council Meeting: November 16, 2022 at 3:45pm