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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-04-04-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, April 04, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 5:30 P.M. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson Eileen Jay, Vice -Chair Larry Freeman Deepika Sawhney Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Sara Mei SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. The School Committee convened remotely via Zoom. Members of the public can view and participate in the meeting webinar from their computer or tablet by clicking on the link provided with the meeting agenda. Please note that this meeting is being recorded, and that attendees are participating by video conference. This evening's meeting is being broadcast live and also taped by LexMedia for future on -demand viewing. All supporting materials that have been provided to members of this body are available on the Town's website unless otherwise noted. EXECUTIVE SESSION Exemption 3 - For the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation, as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body. Ms. Lenihan made a motion to enter Executive Session at 5:32 P.M., Ms. Jay seconded. Roll call vote (Approved 5-0). RETURN TO PUBLIC SESSION The School Committee adjourned Executive Session and entered the open session at 6:18 pm. COMMUNITY SPEAK JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT Mona Roy, Bertwell Rd: Thanked LPS and the School Committee for starting the conversation on the issue of LHS graduation requirements. She is speaking on behalf of herself this evening but her roles as a current SEPAC liaison to LHS and chair of the Indian Americans of Lexington Education Sub -Committee inform her remarks. She has reviewed the packet and she has some concerns about the process itself. From what she understood from the presentation, there are two parts: the first part is about changes to graduation requirements (reducing the science requirements from 4 years to 3 years and for social studies from 4 years to 3 years). There is already an opt -out option for any one class so this will give another opt -out option. Her biggest concern is that if the graduation requirements are reduced, in her mind, the group that will suffer is the special education students and perhaps the ELL students. Mona states, "when we reduce academic demands on Special Education students, it will always be a tempting option because with less demands, less supports are needed." She is concerned that the answer is always to reduce requirements. She is worried about what groups were consulted and what groups were not consulted. On slide 6, ELL and SPED students are identified as having acute needs but on the list on slide 10, she does not see SEPAC or ELLPAC. She did notice the inclusion of African American Latino Scholars (ALL), but is wondering if there's a specific document for graduation for any demographic. She would like this clarified for the public. She is also concerned that she did not see support blocks and orphan blocks being addressed. She believes that we need to think a little more broadly and not just cutting requirements. Mona stated that she looked at the Innovation Plan comments, and she is concerned about the possibility of limiting access to AP and Honors classes. Joshua Apgar, 31 Barberry Rd: He is speaking on behalf of Lexington SEPAC/SEPTA. He applauded the School Committee for taking the important initiative to review the high school graduation requirements. He hopes that this will address a long standing issue where lack of flexibility and high school graduation requirements can unintentionally impact some groups of students. As noted in the presentation, Special Education students in particular could struggle to meet graduation requirements simply because of scheduling conflicts between required courses and support blocks. For those not going on to college or post secondary education, a lack of a high school degree can significantly impact their ability to work and be independent. Obviously this is not just the special education population that will benefit from this initiative. We very much appreciate the inclusive approach that is discussed in the presentations including soliciting from a broad cross section of stakeholders, and we very much look forward to participating in this process going forward and supporting it in any way we can. PRESENTATION Lexir�gorti ih c ool Graduation squire eats JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT Ms. Lenihan stated that our graduation requirements have been unchanged since some point in the early 1990s, so it is time to update them. Ms. Sawhney received the report late at night and spent hours looking through it. She also looked through DESE data. She sent questions to Jennifer Gaudet, and Ms. Gaudet kindly got back to her with answers. Ms. Sawheny is going to forward her answers to the School Committee. She also looked at AP results from Lexington and surrounding towns, she is going to send this data to the School Committee as well. Dr. Hackett made a disclaimer that powerpoints are not the whole story and that they are a base for discussion. Ms. Lenihan introduced Andrew Stephens, High School Principal and Jennifer Gaudet, Director of Secondary Education. Ms. Gaudet introduced herself and Dr. Stephens, Dr. Stephens started off the presentation. Dr. Stephens stated that he and Ms. Gaudet are here to offer perspective and some proposals in the spirit of equity and innovation. The pandemic has been very tough on everyone and from it has come an examination of our practice and structure. Then the question is: Do we want to do exactly what we did before the pandemic? What lessons and different thinking have come out of this experience that we can learn from? That mindset and a robust strategic plan that pushes each school in the district to examine current structures, practices, traditions with an equity lense, examine how we define success and bring more student agency into their choices about education really underpin the spirit of this presentation. Slide 1 - LHS Presentation 4/4/22: Graduation Requirements, Redefining Success & Exploring Flexible Pathways Slide 2 - Dr. Stephens and Ms. Gaudet are presenting a few goals and proposals; to adjust the current graduation requirements to better match those recommended by Mass Core, to assert the need to explore and develop more flexible pathways for students and to propose a community-based discussion that examines and possibly redefines success. All around this is around the core question: "How can we create such flexibility and redefine success while also maintaining the rigor that our program offers all of our students?" We view this as an entry point for discussion. We will welcome feedback and discussions. JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT Slide 3 - Ms. Gaudet reviewed this slide, she noted the strategic plan. This presentation focuses on three goals from the strategic plan: Address and Narrow Equity Gaps, Redefine Success, and Cultivate Student Agency. We want to make sure that all of our students have access to the full range of educational opportunities that we provide at Lexington Public Schools. Because we are having that conversation about making some changes, we believe we have an opportunity to engage the community and talk about redefining success and ensuring that we can cultivate student agency. Ms. Gaudent applauds the School Committee for putting these goals into the Strategic Plan and she states that we will hear more about each of these three areas as we move forward. The specific policy change we are looking for in the reduction of the classroom requirements in science and social studies are really meant to address the systemic barriers for our Special Education, English Language Learner students, and other students who may have had challenging time accessing the curriculum at the High School. The two purposes for this are so they will be able to graduate successfully and so that we can remove the structural barriers inside the schedule. Slide 4 - Graduation Requirements & Mass Core Slide 5 - Ms. Gaudet reiterated that the last time graduation requirements were reviewed was in the 90s. The chart on this slide shows the current graduation requirements. The left column shows that Lexington currently requires four years of English, math, science and social studies, two years of world language, four years of physical education/health, and two years of performing/visual arts. We also have a 40 -hour service requirement and students round out their 104 credits with fourteen elective credits. The right column shows the MassCore requirements (they use "units" instead of years or credits), DESE uses this as a recommendation for districts. We are aligned with MassCore in many areas. We are aligned in history/social studies, Lexington requires an additional year. Also we have an additional year for performing/visual arts. Slide 6 - Dr. Stephens mentions that graduation requirements were discussed at the first School Committee meeting that he attended five years ago and that was the impetus for us to do a deep dive comparison of how our requirements align with MassCore and about 10 or 12 other school districts in our area. We currently exceed MassCore in Science and Social Studies and Visual/Performing Arts, PE/Health. We have found that specifically the science and social studies requirements are an impediment for some of our special education students who often have constraints due to supported blocks and/or different service blocks. These constraints make scheduling classes difficult and it has kids highly scheduled. We have students who JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT struggle for various reasons to meet current graduation requirements. The number of students may be small but it adds up over time, this is a population that isn't properly served. There is the ability for students to opt out of a fourth year, the problem with this is that it requires student agency (not everyone will go to their counselors to advocate for themselves) and the other disincentive is that the students' transcripts will show that they have fulfilled their requirements. There is a discrepancy between our school profile and what kids have to do. Also, the four year requirement in Science and Social Studies limits the ability of students to personalize their course of study such as electives or interest -based subjects they may want to to ke. Slide 7 - Shows the proposed graduation requirements for the class of 2027. We want to allow time to develop sequence requirements that we may want to adopt, specifically around science and identify elective opportunities that don't currently exist. Slide 8 - Ms. Gaudet mentioned that in this proposal, we are not looking to reduce the overall number of academic credits, just looking for more flexibility. This change will also provide space for conversations that the community has been having for years. This slide shows that if we allow flexibility students can have the ability to personalize their course of study; for example, providing a student who wants to go into a STEM field with the ability to double down on sciences through electives. Dual enrollment will provide college credit. Dr. Stephens added that if students would like to take 4 years of science and/or social sciences that are absolutely able to do so. Slide 9 - Redefine Success Slide 10 - Dr. Stephens has had numerous discussions with stakeholder groups; LHS Site Council, LHS Leadership Team, Student -Faculty Senate (30-40 students), LHS Parent Group (meets once a month), LHS African American & Latino/Latina Scholars, LHS Principal's Advisory Council (PAC) (this is teachers who represent each content area in the school, meet monthly). They completed a protocol. Dr. Stephens added a disclaimer that this does not necessarily represent all of the facets in the LHS community or every stakeholding group. Slide 11- These are some excerpts from what these groups responded to Dr. Stephen's question, "From your perspective, how is success currently defined at LHS?" The following bullet points were highlighted: • Quantity vs. Quality JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT • Success is defined largely by the report card and transcript (grades, GPA, credits earned, Academic Rigor); and/or excellence in an extra curricular area (athletics, arts, clubs); college acceptances • Students already come in with a notion of success • Seen as the absence of failure -not really allowed to make mistakes • Very competitive and comparative culture. Slide - 12 Asks "What should success should be?" The following bullet points were reviewed by Dr. Stephens: • More on a personal level - reflection, student goal setting • Seeing good grades as a success because you see yourself improving rather than you see that your grades please other people (teachers, parents) • Finding joy in learning, inside and outside of class • A genuine sense of self confidence with respect to academic and emotional competence • Process focus rather than results focus • Allowing students to be themselves, focus on their interests • Pursue a challenge course because it interests you • Student access to the complete LHS experience (clubs & activities, sports, music, trips) Slide 13 - Discussions with LHS stakeholder groups indicate that there are many different definitions/perceptions of success that are acting on students in and out of school. Slide 14 - What is the end goal for our students? Ms. Gaudet explained that "what does success mean" and how do we achieve it is an ongoing narrative. She thinks that regardless of our definition of success, we can probably all agree that we want our students to live healthy, productive and fulfilling lives. Our conversation within the community needs to be: "What does the Lexington Public Schools system and the Lexington High School system need to do in order to make sure that we are setting students up in order to meet that goal?" Slide 15 - Ms. Gaudet stated that we would like to continue the community conversation and to form a Community Input Team (CIT). The purpose of this would be to unpack what the definition of success is and to what it needs to be for our students to be successful in college and their careers. And ultimately looking at what has changed in education. Slide 16 - Ms. Gaudet states that this would be our proposal for a multi -phased CIT, each phase would take about a year. Slide 17 - Explore Flexible Pathways JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT Slide 18 - One of the things that a change of graduation requirements allows us to do is that we can consider creating some flexible pathways. Ms. Gaudet states that Lexington should be proactive rather than reactive to changes in labor markets and college admissions. One way is to allow our students to become competitive in the fields that they would like to go into. Over the last five years, under Governor Charlie Baker, Massachusetts formed a Workforce Skills Cabinet, designed explicitly to make sure that the labor market supply challenges in particular industries were able to be propped up by educational programming, work training, workforce development, and so on. This Cabinet is tasking each region in the State to identify jobs or areas to focus on, we want to be responsive to these trends. Flexible Pathways takes our current programming that we have in all of our disciplines and aligns them in career areas. Ms. Gaudet also spoke about how allowing students to choose what they take forms intrinsic motivation and it makes their transcripts stand out. Also, for students who may not know what career they would like to pursue, they have options to explore. Slide 19 - Dr. Stephens said that in 1996 (when the graduation requirements were made that we currently have) science courses were 6 credits or three years. And thus through the change to schedules over the years, that requirement has become four years. The default sequence has become; Environmental Earth Science (9th Grade), Biology (10th Grade), Chemistry (11th Grade) and Physics (12th Grade). This four year sequence also has an effect on the electives such as astronomy. Slide 20 - Ms. Gaudet explained what could potentially be a Pathway in Biomedical Industries; the top of the slide lists our current course offerings (Biology, AP Biology, Chemistry, AP, Chemistry, Science of Water, Science Research Methods, Statistics, Introduction to Athletic Training, Foundations of Strength & Fitness, CPR & First Aid). It is pointed out that these courses don't just live and exist under the Science department, there are interdisciplinary connections that we want to make for students such as math and physical education, we understand that careers don't exist under one discipline. Some potential elective offerings are also listed (Anatomy & Physiology (Science/PE), Close Observations of the Natural World (Art), Forensics, Biotechnology, EMT Basic Certification). Our priority in creating these Pathways is to recommend that they are aligned in some way to the regional blueprint, this will allow us to apply for grant funding opportunities. We also want to make sure that we provide multiple entry points to careers within a pathway. The other component of creating these pathways is looking at industry -recognized credentials such as CPR certifications. Slide 21- Ms. Gaudet explains that another essential component that we want to integrate into these flexible pathways is that they have some form of career experience. This will also allow for JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT career exploration. This slide shows a list of potential job shadowing/internships we could offer; Doctor & Dentist Office, Physical Therapy, Veterinary Science, Life Science Companies, Lexington Fire & Police, Athletic Training with LPS (we will be working with the town of Lexington Economic Development & Lexington Education Foundation to identify and develop these partnerships). Slide 22 - Dr. Stephens went over the things we would like to work on: • Articulate and operationalize our Profile of the Graduate based on the LPS mission, vision and core values • Explore and articulate more proactive pathways (vs. reactive) for students based on student interest & labor market analysis • Examine and expand elective offerings aligned with Pathways • Expand concurrent enrollment offerings to other departments (Sci & English will have offerings in 22-23) • Explore and articulate partnership with higher education institution for expanded Concurrent/Dual enrollment opportunities & identify related LHS courses • Explore other opportunities to increase student agency, such as Internship programs, Work Study, Senior project with area business & organizations - (budget dependent) • Examine schedule options that increase Time on Learning and flexibility. Dr. Stephen believes that these pathways will appeal to many different students in many different ways and that this is not an overnight process in any shape or form. This is an area that we can develop together and be really thoughtful about. Slide 23 - This slide shows the different stages of the four stages, Ms. Gaudet mentioned that if the CIT is formed they would be involved in these phases. The recommendation is to reduce the number of required years of science and social studies to three years for each subject as well as to form a Community Input Team. Slide 24 - Questions? (this concluded the slideshow) School Committee Questions/Comments on the LHS Graduation Requirements Presentation Ms. Lenihan mentioned that this is just a first look, she suggests that everyone make one comment and ask one question. Sara Mei chose to do the student opt out of social studies this year because she knew that she had a passion for the sciences, so she decided to take biology and physics this year and she JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT simply did not have enough room in her schedule to take social studies. She didn't know that the student choice was an option until Semester Two. She thinks that offering Flexible Pathways is really helpful for students who have a clear vision of what they want to do. She also thinks that some students will still choose to do four years of science and social studies. Sara asked, "Does this have anything to do with the seven block schedule that we were looking to create?" Dr. Stephens responded that this is independent of that and that we will be looking at flexibility in schedules. Ms. Gaudet also added that this will allow for an open dialogue on schedules. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that she is going to hold her questions for the next meeting. She commented that she was excited about the interdisciplinary offerings mentioned in the slideshow. She also added that some people may see this as a reduction to opportunities but that it is actually expanding opportunities. She thinks it's great for students to have options! Mr. Freeman said that he is processing and, like Ms. Cuthbertson, he plans to save the bulk of his questions for the next session. He did not see the Special Education community listed as being consulted; he would like to know why that community wasn't included for input. Dr. Stephens replied that conversations that were had around redefining success and such were centered around strategic objectives and those were the school-based groups that we had. He added that this is the "first pass" for this Innovation Plan development, and "I'll own that I definitely have not necessarily hit every stakeholder group that you can and should hit and that's on me" He absolutely would like to have the representation of that group at the table for the conversation. Mr. Freeman added that during his campaign he listened to the Special Education community speak at forums, and it seems that students who received services or any Special Education plan struggle the most with graduation requirements. Mr. Freeman asked, "As we create the CIT, could the access to AP and honors classes for African American and Latino students be included as one of the objectives?" Dr. Stephens replied that next year in social studies and math (statistics), we were able to remove prerequisites and requirements for students to be able to take AP classes. This is a big piece of it, for all students. We will look at what we are doing to prepare students and what barriers we have. Ms. Sawhey stated that she has already sent in her questions so she will not ask any questions, but she does have a concern. Her concern is not directed towards Dr. Stephens and Ms. Gaudet but to the School Committee process. She remembers that School Committee meetings before Town Meetings are usually reserved for topics that may come up in Town Meeting and that they tend to be smaller meetings and deadline -bound. This is a very important topic, and having this topic presented during a meeting that has a deadline is not the way to get our or the community's input. Ms. Sawhney stated that she did not have enough time to read through the whole packet and come up with coherent questions. She requests that we try to find a time to JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT do a Town Hall where people can come and talk to us freely. She would like to hear from staff and students. She requests that some of her questions with Ms. Gaudet be included in the minutes. Ms. Sawhney applauded Dr. Stephens and Ms. Gaudet for all of their work; her concern,again, is about us and our process and how we can improve it. Ms. Lenihan explained that the alternative to showing the presentation now was to postpone it. This is literally the first opportunity to talk about it, and given that we don't meet over the summer, we can only postpone things so long before we run out time. Ms. Lenihan added that we will of course take it up at longer School Committee meetings. She personally did not want to postpone it until after Town Meeting. Ms. Jay said that she was on the School Committee when this topic was first brought up. It was originally brought to the School Committee's attention because there were students that were at risk of not graduating. We really wanted to understand what some of those barriers were so we could find a way to help those students. Ms. Jay added that there were many different reasons why a student could have a hard time meeting graduation requirements. She wanted to hear more about what were the underlying difficulties so we could really understand what options we could give. Her thinking on this is evolving. Lexington has a reputation for excellence and having high standards; to Ms. Jay, excellence involves challenging every student. She would like to hear more from the Special Education community. She does not want anyone to think that we are lowering standards to be able to fit other things into students' schedules. This issue is very complex because everyone's definition of excellence and success is different. She emphasized the importance of having community input and conversations to have some sort of shared understanding. Ms. Lenihan reiterated that this is just the first step. She stated that the biggest thing we will do is build the High School and this is the biggest thing we do that does not involve construction. Her comment is: the idea of really talking about the scope and sequence part of the science curriculum is very exciting, there have not been changes to this since prior to 1996. Ms. Lenihan added that the current way students choose classes puts a lot of pressure on them. She asked if it's possible to divide our year-long classes into semester credits. Ms. Gaudet responded that we can have dialogue about this and clarified that when we are talking about a community conversation, we are talking about having Pre -K to Grade 12 community conversation. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that this is one of our two-year goals and we are already behind. While she was looking back at the suggested timeline and steps of this goal, having a community wide forum was already included. JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT Dr. Hackett appreciates Dr. Stephens and Ms. Gaudets efforts and she thinks that there are many exciting possibilities here! Mr. Freeman asked for more details on what the student profile is. Ms. Lenihan made a motion to join Town Meeting at 7.24 AM, adjournment will happen after Town Meeting. JK 04/04/22 - DRAFT