Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-10-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, May 10, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:46 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 David Coelho, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Michael Cronin, Public Facilities Director The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. The School Committee convened in-person in the LPS Central Office and 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. SCHOOL COMMITTEE REORGANIZATION Ms. Jay nominated Ms. Cuthbertson to be the new Chair, Ms. Cuthberson replied that she is happy to be the new Chair. Ms. Jay moved that Sara Cuthbertson be elected to be the School Committee Chair; Ms. Sawhney seconded. Passed 5-0. Ms. Lenihan nominated Ms. Sawhney to be the new Vice -Chair, and Ms. Sawhney agreed to the position. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Ms. Lenihan moved that Deepika Sawhney be elected to be the School Committee Vice -Chair. Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed 5-0. Ms. Jay nominated Ms. Lenihan to be the Clerk, Ms. Lenihan explained that the clerk answers all emails sent to the School Committee and that she is happy to have this position again. Ms. Jay moved that Kathleen Lenihan be elected to be the School Committee Clerk. Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed 5-0. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS • Ms. Sawhney went to Bridge Elementary School's Joy In Learning Celebration. • Mr. Freeman announced that the Human Rights Committee meets Thursday at 8:30 AM. • Ms. Jay thanked all of the building administrators and all of the staff for the Joy In Learning Celebrations. She also added that May is Mental Health Month as well as AAPI Heritage Month. • Ms. Lenihan was also at Bridge's Joy In Learning Celebration; she had wonderful conversations with the students about hobbies and interests. • Ms. Cuthbertson went to the LCP Joy In Learning Celebration. She missed the one at Bridge but was grateful that Ms. Sawhney sent her a video from the event. Ms. Cuthbertson and Ms. Jay attended the screening of the documentary Far East, Deep South which was one of the AAPI Heritage Month events. • Sara Mei announced that LHS Senate invited Dr. Stephens to give a presentation on the proposed schedule for next year. They also talked about the School Innovation Plan and the updated graduation requirements. COMMUNITY SPEAK Sofia Gulleth, 5th Grader at Bowman Elementary School: She wants her and her Muslim religion to be acknowledged. She spoke about the holiday Eid al-Fitr and how she is petitioning to get this day off from school. She ended up with 152 signatures from kids and adults who live and work in the Lexington School District. Sofia asked the School Committee and Dr. Hackett to give a school break for this holiday. The School Committee took turns giving thanks to Ms. Lennihan for her work as Chair. NEW BUSINESS A. Monitoring Air Quality in Schools Ms. Lenihan spoke about the audit of air quality that happened in our building to identify our needs. This report is to show everyone what a great job we are doing. She mentioned that JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Boston Public Schools has a website that allows you to see what the carbon dioxide levels are in individual classrooms. Mr. Cronin spoke about carbon dioxide levels in our schools. 173 items were repaired after the audit, we use MERV 13 filtration and 100% outside air. At the direction of Dr. Hackett, we reduced our pressure hold from 1000 ppm to 800 and this identified a new threshold. Mr. Cronin also explained the software that buildings have that monitor air quality. We do not have a Dashboard like Boston Public Schools, but we have all of the data, also all that the BPS Dashboard system does is broadcast information. It will be costly for Lexington to get a Dashboard set up and there would also need to be maintained on the system if implemented. School Committee Questions/Comments: Sara Mei stated that she has seen custodians with what looks like a temperature gauge come into classrooms to record what the device is reading. Mr. Cronin replied that every Wednesday for the past two years, a facilities staff member goes into every educational space in the entire building and gets the CO2 reading. This information gets entered into a database that is published, this is the first step to having a Dashboard. Ms. Sawhney asked if this happens in every building, Mr. Cronin replied that this happens in every public building in Lexington. They also discussed costs and different level amounts. Mr. Freeman mentioned that while looking at Boston's website, he noticed that the levels decreased at night, Mr. Cronin responded that he is unsure of how they operate their system at night. Ms. Jay asked Mr. Cronin to explain how our system has more control than the Dashboard system which just provides information. Mr. Cronin replied that our system can be controlled by a remote computer at any time and that the Dashboard just reports out information and has no controls. Ms. Jay asked if this system is applicable to older buildings, Mr. Cronin bought the same CO2 sensors for all of the buildings and they all work the same. Ms. Jay asked if the remote controls work with the older buildings, Mr. Cronin responded yes and explained the difference between mechanical vs. control set. Hastings and LCP for example have a control system that displays any issues and can be manipulated. Ms. Cuthbertson asked if the readings get cross-checked, Mr. Cronin replied only if they are high. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Mr. Freeman asked if there is a way for an analysis to be done between readings, Mr. Cronin replied "potentially." He explained that if there was a spike in the numbers in a classroom and then students test positive, we could go back and trend that room as well as the connecting rooms. Mr. Cronin will discuss this further with Karen Rufo, Director of School Health Services. Dr. Hackett added that she thinks that we already do what Mr. Freeman is suggesting. We had incidents where we had higher rates that warranted an investigation. The system we have in place gives us the ability to manipulate the system in real time. We have also discovered that when the Rec Department uses school spaces, the parts per million go up. Dr. Hackett reiterated that Lexington was the first school system to get its air quality reports done. She also added that a reasonable part per million would be 1,000 for school systems; as Mr. Cronin stated, we have dialed it back to 800. Dr. Hackett spoke about how the Dashboard implementation is more than a conversation about money, there needs to be staff allowed for lots of public questions. Since our current system works well, she does not think that getting a Dashboard system is a priority. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT • Congratulations and Celebrations o At the Patriot's Day Celebration Madelyn Lucente and Skylar Spencer received the Outstanding Youth Awards. Arya De Francesco, Tasneem Ghadiali, and Nina Abroff were recognized for their artwork for the new 250th anniversary seal. o Our Robotics Team competed in the World Championship and came in second place. Congratulations to Gabe Arguirre (Lexington), Corina Arnet (Winchester), Roxi Arnet (Winchester), John Fullerton (Lexington), Aditi Kalia (Lexington 2021 Grad), Ronan Mullan (Medford), Andy Nguyen (Lexington), Cruz Ortiz (Lexington), and Toby Ting (Lexington). o On May 3, 2022, Jared Cassedy, our K-12 Performing Arts Director, received some more great news! The Country Music Association named Jared one of the top 30 music teachers in the nation. He directs the LHS Wind Ensemble, is an extraordinary teacher and leader, and we are so proud that he will be awarded the Music Teacher of Excellence for 2022 in Nashville! Dr. Hackett will be going to Nashville too! o Dr. Hackett also did library visits as well as health and PE visits. • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion o Dr. Hackett explained that for the past three years we participated in the Teacher Diversification Professional Learning Community, which is the States PLC. For the April meeting, Lexington was asked to present our work to more than 100 local districts across the state. This session focused on helping the other educators and participants learn key strategies around pipeline recruitment and selection of JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT educators of color. We were able to review our current recruitment and selection practices in terms of getting a more diverse workforce and set priorities for short-term modifications to our processes, along with exploring strategies for gathering data. The team received lots of positive feedback, Dr. Hackett is proud that Lexington is leading the way in this discussion. o We have a new exchange, the Swiss Exchange! This year's Francophone exchange was with a town in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Fifteen of our students were matched with fifteen students from Switzerland in an effort to understand how more people in the world live life. Students spent 10 days with host families. They presented in schools, visited tourist attractions, and participated in a project. The students met with Swiss government officials and Massachusetts senators to ask questions about LGBTQ+ rights. They visited museums to hear about feminism and got to question locals about their experiences. They worked bilingually to prepare presentations for our administrators on how we can be better at inclusion. On Friday, May 6, 2022, our Swiss counterparts ended their visit to Lexington by sharing their projects with us. This further impacted how our students approach bringing greater equity to our increasingly diverse community. One of the Swiss administrators gave Dr. Hackett, a beautiful photo book of Neuchatel. She hopes to be able to join this trip one year. Dr. Hackett gave Beckie Rankin on our World Language faculty a shout for doing a great job. o Dr. Hackett explained that we have been working to align Equity Teams. She gave a shout -out to Remy Coombs, Celeste Freeman, and Krystal Velazquez for their work on a summer proposal. They built a working vision statement for building -based equity teams. The current step is ensuring that the building -based equity teams are up and running. And then, for them to have the proper training to be able to lead the work. Dr. Hackett also thanked Johnny Cole for all of his work. • LPS COVID-19 Update o Dr. Hackett referenced the link in her report that goes to our data. She also mentioned sending out a recommendation to wear a mask during this current spike. The CDC is recommending mask wearing in public spaces. Since we have high vaccination rates and since we are in a different phase, a mandate was not implemented. Dr. Hackett pointed out that people are getting the virus more than once. This creates challenges such as high absentee rates. Dr. Hackett along with other Central Office Administrators went to Clarke Middle School yesterday to help cover some classes, nineteen staff were out (not all COVID-related). Dr. Hackett mentioned that the kids got to go outside for some fresh air. She also JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT thanked the Central Office team who helped out and Mr. Despres for his cupcakes! o There is a vaccine clinic on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the LPS Central Office. To qualify for the second booster you have to be 50 years old or immunocompromised. It is open to anybody in the Lexington Community and this is the link to sign up. • Last Day of School o Dr. Hackett announced that the last day of school will be on Friday, June 24th, 2022, and it is a half day. She explained that the target date was June 21st, but was moved due to three snow days. Dr. Hackett reminded the community that you can look on the district calendar website at any time for the latest date. • Kidsborough Update o Kidsborough, Inc. was recently awarded the upcoming contract for the afterschool program offered in LPS elementary schools. o Registration was opened on Tuesday, May 3rd for students in Kindergarten through Grade 5. o The support offered at Kidsborough includes: homework support, enrichment activities, fun and engaging clubs, and outside play. The owner, Christeen Rohwer, sent out a detailed letter, along with the registration link and a description of "A -Day -in -the -Life at Kidsborough." Ms. Rohwer will attend the June 10th School Committee meeting. o Mr. Coelho explained enrollment is still open and as of this day, they have received 73 more requests than the current program in place. The number of registered students is 577, with a capacity in the 680 range (each school has a different licensing number). Eight Lextended Day staff have been hired by Kidsborough and they are currently interviewing another six. They are also looking to hire a behavioral technician to be at each program site. Kidsborough is currently working through registrations for 21 students with disabilities to see what supports and specific needs would be needed. They are currently at 85% capacity. • LPS Core Values Celebration Postponed o Dr. Hackett announced that the Core Values Celebration has been postponed to October. She hopes to have one every October and one every April going forward. A link to nominate will be sent out in the fall. • Literacy Leaders Convening in Lexington o On May 2nd, approximately 80 literacy and school leaders came to talk about the State's Early Literacy agenda and attempt to decide on the curriculum for districts. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT o Literacy leaders from across the Commonwealth gave powerful presentations on their concerns about the narrow and singular focus of the State's new literacy agenda. o Dr. Hackett was most compelled by Dr. Rachael Gabriel's testimonial. Dr. Gabriel, who is a Professor of Literacy Education at the UCONN NEAG School of Education, was invited to talk about her assessment of what is happening in terms of State policy. Dr. Gabriel provided powerful insights into the danger of a one -size -fits -all solution to something as complex as literacy instruction. Dr. Hackett encourages everyone to watch Dr. Gabriel's video. o Unfortunately, in the education profession, we are experiencing an overreach by those who lack expertise in a discipline, leading to an unhealthy encroachment on teaching and learning. Dr. Hackett wants to be clear when saying that in education, we teach our students to question and challenge, so we should also question and challenge. We remain open to discussion and debate about our current practices, always. Experts are undervalued, they know more than the general public. Dr. Hackett and her colleagues appreciate and value the expertise and knowledge of our literacy educators; they all spent time together at Estabrook recently. Dr. Hackett also expressed sincere thanks to Kathy McCarthy and the talented Literacy educators at LPS. She also explained the importance of speaking up against the State. You can view the full Superintendent's report here. School Committee Member Questions/Comments: • Ms. Sawhney asked Dr. Hackett if the vaccine being administered at the next vaccine clinic is Pfizer or Moderna. Dr. Hackett responded that she does not know the answer to that at this time. Ms. Sawhney states that she has been on the DESE website, she also made a comment about the percentage decrease from the start of school. Ms. Sawhney asked how many English Language Learners (ELL) students we have enrolled. Dr. Hackett does not know the percentage at this time, she also agrees with the percentages being more in the beginning because of the way the model is designed. Ms. Sawhney asked Dr. Hackett how many Dyslexia students we have, Dr. Hackett replied that she will report back with the answer. Dr. Hackett and Ms. Sawheny spoke about literacy instruction and the many factors involved in a child's ability to read. This backs up the statement that not one size fits all. • Mr. Freeman asked if all of the Literacy staff agree. He would like to make sure that all voices and perspectives are heard. Dr. Hackett stated that you should worry if 100% of people agreed, there should always be a debate, discourse, and dialog. That means that JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT no, not everyone agrees but the vast majority fall into the same category as Dr. Gabriel. Dr. Hackett explained that skills such as phonics were not previously prioritized. Dr. Hackett stated that we are going to try and do very brief presentations for both math and literacy. PRESENTATION: K-5 MATH PILOTS OVERVIEW Presenters: Linda Menkis, K-5 Mathematics Department Head; Caitlin Ahern, Director of Elementary Education; Jean Kelly, a district -wide Math Specialist; and Michele Carter, a second-grade teacher. • Linda Menkis, the K-5 Mathematics Department Head, introduced the slideshow of the K-5 math curriculum review and program selection process. She was joined by Caitlin Ahern, the Director of Elementary Education, Jean Kelly, a district -wide Math Specialist, and Michele Carter who is a second-grade teacher, member of the curriculum review committee, and pilot teacher. • Ms. Menkis explained that the presentation will include a history of the K-12 curriculum review process as well as an update on the work that has been going on in the K-5 grade band. • A photo of the K-5 Mathematics Department was displayed, and Ms. Menkis gave them a special acknowledgment. • Curriculum reviews occur to make sure that the best practices and most updated curricula are being taught. The last curriculum review for math was in 2006 and the State has changed its frameworks significantly since then. We have used many different resources in order to keep in alignment with the State, this is challenging to maintain, support and tech. • Ms. Menkis explains that Lexington's Vision Plan and Core Values were kept in mind during the selection process. • A timeline of the curriculum review process was displayed. In 2018, the K-12 curriculum review process started. The content being taught was audited and it was found that our "homegrown" program was time-consuming and difficult for math specialists to maintain and support or for teachers to implement it. The current program also doesn't support our DEI goals. In K-5, programs that will be selected to pilot would support the full range of learners. • An "Audit Year Word Cloud" was displayed: access, alignment, and equity were the most frequent words chosen. • Ms. Carter explained more of the process that started in the 2019-2020 school year as well as how, who, and the focus of the group that was established. A rubric was formed JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT to evaluate the potential programs. Sections to show alignment with the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework and our non-negotiables were included in the rubric. Ms. Carter went over the importance of coherency in a math program. Ten math programs were evaluated and two were identified as meeting our criteria. • Ms. Kelly explained the curriculum review process was put on hold in the 2020-2021 school year because of the pandemic. The process resumed at the beginning of this school year. An additional program was added to the pilot list. Illustrative Mathematics, Reveal Math, and San Francisco Unified School District Mathematics were the programs chosen. Ms. Kelly also reviewed the logistics of the math pilots as well as data on the teachers involved. She explained that for high school students we asked for their input, and produced a slideshow of quotes with some feedback. Ms. Kelly listed other research and collaboration steps of the pilot process. A slide displayed one parent's response to what they hope for in their child's math learning. • Ms. Menkis stated that there is no such thing as a perfect math program; our selection needs to be the best fit for Lexington. She then explained that Reveal Math was eliminated because it is not appropriate for our Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 learners. Ms. Menkis went over the strengths and challenges of the Illustrative Mathematics and San Francisco Unified programs as well as her role in the selection process. Ms. Menkis gave thanks to everyone involved in this process. The Implementation Plan for 2022-2024 was displayed. In the 2022-23 school year, grades 3-5 will be implemented and Kindergarten through grade 2 will be the following year. Ms. Menkis will be submitting a recommendation to Dr. Hackett by mid-May. School Committee Questions/Comments: Sara Mei said that she spoke with some of the students involved in the math focus group and they really appreciated the diversity in the selected students. Mr. Freeman asked why Grades 3-5 are being implemented first, Ms. Menkis replied that 3-5 needs it the most. Mr. Freeman also asked if any of the pilot teachers reported back any data on how the students who typically struggle in math doing better with the new program. Ms. Menkis replied that only single units were piloted but teachers reported back that any of the programs piloted would support kids better than what we are currently using. All of the new programs being considered are structured with a "low floor, high ceiling" design along with check -ins to make sure students are getting what they need. Teachers have found these structured programs effective. Ms. Jay thanked the Math team for their work, she mentioned that it is important for students to know how to apply concepts to new situations and problems. She would like to know how JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT good each of the piloted programs is at achieving that modality, as well as how good each of them is at differentiation. Ms. Jay would like to know if there is enough feedback to see if a child has mastered a concept. Ms. Menkis replied that the San Francisco program has a series of tasks that are designed to monitor student development and understanding of the content, these are called entry tasks and they get a baseline of where kids are. After a few lessons, they have an apprentice task, then an expert task, and then a final assessment called a milestone task. Teachers receive data from the check -ins that occur every couple of lessons. In the Illustrative Math program, check -ins happen daily and are called Cool Downs. If students show in the cool -downs that they did not get what they needed, the teacher will meet with them before moving forward. Teachers have reported that having frequent check -ins is extremely helpful. Ms. Jay wanted to know if there is flexibility, and that students have access to new problems and challenges if needed. Ms. Menkis replied that there are opportunities for this, although Illustrative Math is a bit more rigid in its structure. Ms. Sawhney asked if our current curriculum is homegrown, Ms. Menkis replied that in 2011 when Massachusetts changed the framework standards an internal analysis was done on the Everyday Math program. Everyday Math was not at all in alignment with the State Frameworks Standards. So the math team took what they could use from Everyday Math and additional materials were brought in where there were misalignments in order to meet the standards. Ms. Menkis also states that up until recently, there were no programs that were in true alignment. Ms. Sawhney asked about the first year of implementation for the new program and if it will be "all or nothing". Ms. Menkis replied that in the first year, we will expect implementation of the new program, it isn't "half and half" or an option. Everyone in third, fourth, and fifth grade will be teaching whatever new program we adopt. Ms. Sawhney assumes that we have funds in the budget regardless of what program is chosen, Ms. Menkis answered yes. She also explained that both of the potential programs are open source which means that the curriculum themselves doesn't really have a cost. In-house production by the Print Center will be needed with both programs but more so with the SFU one. Illustrative Math has a publishing company which books can be purchased through. Ms. Menkis also described IM as having a digital component that is being explored, it may be useful to have for data collection and student monitoring. Ms. Lenihan asked about the digital nature of the programs, and she made a comment on the importance of pencils and paperwork. She asked if we'd still have the ability to not be digital and Ms. Menkis replied absolutely, and that the digital platform would mainly be to help the teacher. There are Exit Tickets that students can do on their devices but they don't have to, we do not want kids learning on a device. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Ms. Cuthbertson questioned the lack of flexibility in Illustrative Math, Ms. Menkis confirmed that Illustrative Math (IM) does have a very tight lesson plan. Teachers gave feedback that it felt restrictive, modifications were made to some of the lesson structure to ease up on the timing and that seemed to help. Ms. Menkis acknowledges that the rigidity of IM is a challenge, coming up with a solution that does not compromise the math will be needed if it is the chosen program. PRESENTATION: K-5 PHONICS PILOTS OVERVIEW Presenters: Kathy McCarthy, K-5 Literacy Department Head; Caitlin Ahern (Director of Elementary Education • Kathy McCarthy (K-5 Literacy Department Head) introduced herself and stated that she will be talking about how the district is aligning with the Massachusetts Dyslexia Guidelines and where we stand with our phonics program. Caitlin Ahern (Director of Elementary Education, Lexington Public Schools) was also present. Ms. McCarthy went over the slideshow. • Ms. McCarthy explained that the MA Dyslexia Guidelines is a document that was released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in January 2021. It is a long document, 80+ pages that are compiled into chapters. The K-5 Literacy team, along with the Special Education Department and the Director of Education for Elementary Education have been working together on the alignment. • Ms. McCarthy explained that the purpose of the guidelines was to provide schools with some support and to put systems in place. • The definition of dyslexia was displayed. Ms. McCarthy stated that this definition is from the law, and is therefore in the guidelines. She explained that neuroscientists have discovered ways in which a dyslexic brain differs from a non -dyslexic brain, one of these ways is learning how to read. • A Lexington Literacy Timeline (2009-2022) was presented. Ms. McCarthy talked about the adoption of the Aimsweb Plus program that was approved by the State. She also explained that some adjustments were made recently in anticipation of the laws being passed. • Ms. McCarthy reviewed the Dyslexia Task Force Objectives, they were redone to be able to identify our students appropriately. Additional screening assessments and interventions were put in place. Professional development on dyslexia and the Guidelines were held in all of the elementary schools. Ms. McCarthy explained that a website with information is almost complete. • Universal Screening is what the Guidelines start with. Ms. McCarthy reviewed the slide that lists the types of assessments used to determine an early literacy plan for students. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Students are assessed three to five times a year on AIMSweb Plus. A long list of assessments was displayed. A list of the Massachusetts Guidelines vs. Lexington's screening is shown, Lexingtons is twice as long as the MA Guidelines. A fictitious sample of Aimsweb data is displayed. This helps to identify a student's needs. • Ms. McCarthy explained a Multi -Tiered System of Support (MTSS) in the program, the students, and the curriculum. Three different tiers were described. She also stated that reading, writing, and word study are three separate, yet interrelated, processes that each require their own curriculum and it takes up a significant amount of the school day. • Lexington purchased the program Phonemic Awareness by Heggerty this year. Ms. McCarthy pointed out the effects that COVID had on phonemic learning, however, creative solutions such as videos were also used to aid learning. • A pie chart is used to explain the Workshop Framework, it is designed to reach all of our learners. Ms. McCarthy stated that this requires a lot of materials, support, and professional development, therefore it is challenging to implement. She also made a comment about an option going around on social media. Photos of the Units of Study for Teaching Reading & Writing were shown, then a photo of actual classroom libraries was shown, ED Reports don't count all of the other books. Ms. McCarthy announced that we have robust, diverse, inclusive, engaging classroom libraries, children have the opportunity to read what they want to read and they see themselves reflected. • The department has suggested that data team meetings be held several times throughout the year. • An example of Progress Monitoring was shown, this is how we track a child's progress against their goal line. • Ms. McCarthy then switched to the topic of the Phonics Pilots in Kindergarten. Ms. McCarthy explained that when we adopted the Workshop model back in 2010-2011, the reading and writing workshop was a heavy lift for teachers. This year we have teachers working across three programs; Fundations, Units of Study for Kindergarten Phonics, and Lively Letters. Ms. McCarthy stated that all of these programs are fun and engaging. She added that before selecting a program, early literacy data will be evaluated, as well as teacher surveys. A decision will be made in May and Kindergarten and First Grade will be able to implement the chosen program next school year. Professional Development will be done prior. • A slide of Tiered Transition 2022 Kindergarten was displayed, it demonstrates students' improvement from the Fall to the Winter to the Spring. Another visual was shown comparing Lexington's improvements. • Ms. McCarthy finished her presentation by giving a shout -out to the Literacy Department. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT School Committee Questions/Comments: Sara Mei asked how many special education and ELL students are in Tiers 1 and 2. Ms. McCarthy responded that sharing such information would be in violation of those students' confidentiality. She also explained that students move in and out of the tiers over time. Ms. Ahern agreed that the tiers are "fluid." Ms. Sawhney asked if we have a phonics program for Pre -K. Ms. McCarthy explained the ceiling effect of assessing students at Kindergarten orientation (not all students had a preschool experience so it was disproportionate). Ms. Sawhney made a comment about the two big implementations happening next year, and that we are asking a lot from teachers. Dr. Hackett stated that it is important to understand the pressures we place upon the classroom teacher. She explained that we try to pace things out, and there is also collaboration amongst the department heads (literacy, math, science & social studies). Ms. Ahern added that elementary teachers teach more than one subject and that it was planned out to split up the grades in terms of which ones got a new phonics program versus which ones got a new math program. Ms. Lenihan mentioned seeing the Heggerty program in classrooms during the Joy in Learning celebrations, it seemed to her that the phonics program wasn't as exciting and different from much of the other activities. Is this just the "nature of the beast"? Ms. Lenihan also loved seeing all of the classroom libraries. Ms. McCarthy stated that the Lexington Education Foundation (LEF) has been incredibly supportive over decades of building classroom libraries that reflect our students. Also, last year the LEF gave emergency money so enough books could be sent home to students doing hybrid and remote learning, and she thanked them. Ms. McCarthy also explained that Heggerty was much more engaging before they had videos, but the videos were needed to show students how to use their mouths when making sounds. The videos have pretty much gone away. Ms. Jay asked if the new program will replace the Heggerty program. Ms. McCarthy said that the phonics and phonemic awareness curriculum are separate and both will need to continue. Ms. Jay noticed that on the assessments (AIMSweb), in K and 1st grade, students are assessed in phoneme awareness and sound, letter and word fluency; then in 2nd grade, assessment switches to vocabulary and comprehension. She wondered if it's possible for students to fall through the cracks if difficulties with fundamental skills aren't caught in early assessment. She gave the example of how her son can play the piano but he can not read music. Ms. McCarthy stated that this is such a complicated subject and that there are so many different types of learners and readers and that there are definitely instances where children have gotten past the safety systems we have in place but so much time and energy is spent to make sure it doesn't JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT happen. Dr. Hackett added that during visits she saw teachers working directly with students on the different areas of assessment. Mr. Freeman feels as though this is not getting the time and attention it deserves. He also understands from the Literacy Assessment Overview (2021-2022) that students are tested at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. Ms. McCarthy explained that there are two different types of assessments: literacy assessment on Aimsweb is the "temperature taking", and Rapid Automatic Naming is a tool that might identify dyslexia. She and her team realized after testing students for this in September that it didn't make a lot of sense; going forward that particular assessment will be done in January and in May (which is what the state recommends we do). Mr. Freeman mentioned the assessment Words Their Way, and he asked how we know if we are hitting milestones and going in the right direction if students aren't tested again until May. Ms. McCarthy responded that we do assess all of our students in September, January, and May, and in between their progress is monitored with other types of tools. She also added that it is always a balance between time spent assessing children in the classroom and time spent teaching children in a classroom. Ms. McCarthy asked Mr. Freeman if they could have a conversation at another time so she can take him through the whole process. Mr. Freeman looks forward to their conversation. Ms. Cuthbertson got the email about the website, she thinks this will be great to have for the community. She also understands that this is challenging. It's not students without disabilities versus students with dyslexia; there are a lot of disabilities that impact reading. She gave an example of a student who may not have any issue decoding but may have issues with apprehension; kids are so different. Ms. Cuthbertson invited Ms. McCarthy back to give a brief update at a future meeting. Dr. Hackett thanked the literacy team for all of their efforts. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Vote to Approve Unit A MOA on Half Days Dr. Hackett explained that we have been in negotiations with the LEA, and many hours have gone into this process. This Memorandum of Agreement outlines what next year is going to look like. For the past two years, the half-day was on Fridays, prior to that they were on Thursdays. After impact bargaining, Fridays were chosen to be the half day for the next school year. Dr. Hackett noted that the MOA schedule identifies some half days for Middle and High School educators, also the number of professional learning days increased from four to five days. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Ms. Jay asked if another vote will be needed to approve the changes to the calendar (the move to Friday half days for elementary, and the additional half days at the secondary level), Dr. Hackett confirmed that this should be on another agenda. Ms. Lenihan moved to approve the Unit A MOA on Half Days. Mr. Freeman seconded. Vote passes 5-0. B. Vote to Approve School Innovation Plans; Bowman le entary Sc ool,ride Ele entary School, Fiske ElernenjgLy School, arrin ton le entary School. Ms. Sawhney made a comment about the difference between the School Innovation Plans. Dr. Hackett explained that the plans were co -constructed with our literacy and math specialists, and they made sure to include a sampling of what is being taught. She also mentioned that the Joy In Learning Celebrations are for the School Committee to see the plans brought to life, and each school is unique. Ms. Lennihan moved to approve the School Innovation Plans for Bowman, Bridge, Fiske, and Harrington School Innovation Plans. Ms. Sawhney seconded. Vote passes 5-0. COMMUNITY SPEAK Monica Davis, 26 Hayes Ln: She is happy that Ms. McCarthy had the chance to present how Lexington is responding to the Dyslexia Guideline. She applauded Lexington for running the phonics pilots this year. Ms. Davis strongly believes that the more openness and dialogue we have within the community about literacy—how Lexington teaches new readers and struggling readers, and what resources are available to students, teachers and parents—the better educated we will all be. The Dyslexia website and the professional development opportunities offered to staff around dyslexia are fantastic steps towards this. She also made a comment about the more open we are about Lexington's student population, the better. Parents on the Dyslexia Task Force have been asking for the information to be shared about how many students are diagnosed with dyslexia. She believes that this information can be compiled in a way that still protects students' anonymity. She has been confused by the coherency of the math program over the past years and is thrilled to hear about the openness to change and is looking forward to the new curriculum next year. She hopes that the same openness will be applied to the Literacy Curriculum Review. Ms. Davis made a comment about Dr. Hackett's comment at the beginning of the meeting, "we are experiencing an overreach by those who JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT lack expertise in a discipline leading to an unhealthy encroachment on teaching and learning seems to shut down dialog." Nicole Locher, 42 Grove St: appreciates the efforts and attention to bringing structure phonics to the Early Elementary classroom. She explained that decades of research have shown how the brain learns to read phonetically and by decoding. Also, the literacy experts at DESE and educators throughout the State came together to write and publish the Massachusetts Dyslexia Guidelines. A key takeaway from these Guidelines is that evidence -based, structured phonics gives all children the essential reading skills they need to be proficient readers. She explained that her own children would often feel left out of Readers Workshop because they had not been taught how to decode the words on the page. It can be devastating for children who can't read to be around peers who can. Systematic phonics based on the science of reading was a game changer for her own children. She made a comment about how it's hurtful to hear the School District dismiss how valuable systematic phonics and the science of reading is. Mona Roy, Bertwell Rd: Thanked LPS for their efforts on Literacy. One topic that wasn't touched on today is the long-term impact on older students. She hopes that during the follow-up meeting this will be addressed. She knows that the School Committee and our teachers are committed to making sure our children can read and decode. She requests a look at the long-term impacts on students who struggle to read. CONSENT AGENDA Ms. Sawhney moved to approve • Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval o May 6, 2022 - Payroll in the amount of $4,069,509.98 o March 13, 2022 -AP Warrant in the amount of $969,282.32 Mr. Freeman moved to approve • Field Trips o Lexington High School International Field Trip to Rome, Italy over April Break-in 2023 ■ Field Trip Request Form ■ Student Protection Plan ■ COVID-19 Safety Measures Ms. Jay made a motion to approve the entire consent agenda. Ms. Lenihan seconded. Vote passes 5-0. ADJOURNMENT JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT Ms. Jay made a motion to adjourn at 10:25 PM. Ms. Lenihan seconded. Vote passes 5-0. JK 05/10/22 - DRAFT