HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-04-CLARKE-minPUBLIC MEETING NOTICE
________________________________________________________________________
Jonas Clarke Middle School
School Site Council Meeting
May 4,2023
7:00-8:00 AM
Main Office Conference Room,Jonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road Lexington,MA 02421
Agenda
Members present:
MCAS Results/DESE report card review
I.Call to Order,Welcome,&Public Comment
a.Review and Approve Last Meeting’s Minutes`
i.Motion to approve meeting minutes and approved.
b.Public Comment
i.no public comment
II.Parent,Staff,and Admin Check-Ins
a.Parents:
i.8th grade graduation -parents/caregivers wondering what is
happening this year.
ii.2 approaches -1)prior to pandemic,evening at LHS.2)during
the school day,LexMedia live broadcast of the event.Both
events have drawbacks.Staff giving of their time outside of the
school day,there is less time for that.So that would hinder the
evening event.Obviously during the day,families can’t attend.
We have reserved the night at LHS in case the evening event
occurs.
iii.Parent -Does Diamond have to be in line with what we are
doing?Principal -I would like to be in line with the Diamond
event,but I know they are not entertaining the evening event.
iv.Staff member -also more about what the kids want.I think the
students matter to the teachers.This is why so many staff
members attended the social.
v.Parent -could we do a poll for students and staff to find out what
they want?
vi.Staff -I think the one last year was nice.The students enjoyed
the entire day.They appreciated the time together and the flow
of the entire day worked.
vii.Parent -I hope all the students could celebrate together.As a
parent I do want to attend some ceremony.
viii.Parent -My only experience with 8th grade graduation was
2020 when we drove through.
ix.Principal -also note that the budget we have had at the end of
the past to years is not available for the field day.That money is
going to the Washington D.C.field trip.
x.Parent -as long as it is all about the kids -that is what we want.
xi.Staff -this class has such good energy,I agree with others.Lets
find out what the students want.
xii.Principal -we will run a survey to find out what the students
want and use that information moving forward.
xiii.Principal -transition to the social (semi-formal)last Friday.This
was an amazing event.The PTO and the SGA worked together
to make this a wonderful evening for all.
xiv.Parent -this was a great night.Traffic was the only bad part -
the pick-up and drop off was very long.Also the email message
out to parents was helpful.
xv.Principal -credit should go to the 7th graders on the SGA that
really proposed and wrote that.Those 7th graders did a great
job from the beginning to the end.
xvi.Principal -if the semi-formal is the event we want to continue to
run -then we need to think about how we increase the
inclusivity.As a community,we come together to do things that
are worthwhile.
xvii.Parent -could we do a semi-formal at the end of the year?
xviii.Principal -that event,the semi-formal,took months of planning.
We could think of an event with light refreshments.
b.Staff:
i.Parent -How is the mood around MCAS?
ii.Staff -There is a little bit of anxiety around the science test.This
is due to the 6th grade year.There is some WIN block review
being offered by the 8th grade teachers.
iii.Staff -ELA MCAS seems to be the same.A few students are
anxious about the test.
iv.Staff -from a special education perspective,what are we doing
with students who have so many services that they don’t have
the Engineering &Design course that would prepare them to
take the test?
v.Staff -there are additional WIN blocks that are being offered by
8th grade science teachers to cover the material in each of the
grades as well as Engineering and Design.Any students are
welcome to join those WIN blocks and review the content and
materials.
c.Admin:
III.Reviewing Clarke’s Progress on the ‘22-’24 Innovation Plan
a.Comments/Discussion regarding the innovation plan.
i.Principal -Diversity Day will be occurring in mid-May and some anti-racist
training will occur during this time.
ii.Survey for current middle-school parents going out on SBG.Dr.
Kavanaugh has helped create the survey and that will be going out in early
May.Additionally,there will be focus groups for current 9th graders and 9th
grade families to better understand how SBG has affected their academic
performance/understanding.
iii.Parent -the current 9th graders had one year of grading so they have
experienced both.
iv.Principal -yes,they had ⅔of a year with traditional grading and ⅓of a
year (once we were remote with the pandemic)with SBG.
v.Principal -we also have a new grading platform called Teacher Ease that
will make it easier for all stakeholders to better understand the standards
based grading system and where students are at in their learning.
vi.Staff -Teacher Ease should be a game changer for everyone in better
understanding SBG for all.
vii.Principal -Yes,Jon Roy sat on the committee that reviewed all of the
possible platforms and was part of the decision to go with Teacher Ease.
viii.Staff -Currently,there are too many steps with using a variety of
platforms (e.g.Google Classroom,Aspen,Teacher Ease -free edition
currently)and it takes quite a bit of time to input grades in various places.
ix.Parent -So will grades not necessarily go into Aspen?
x.Principal -grades will either be emailed directly to you as a
parent/caregiver or they will be published in Aspen as it currently exists.
xi.Parent -I just worry about the amount of places my student has to check -
Google Classroom,email,Aspen,and now Teacher Ease.It is very
frustrating for parents to even use Aspen.Why are there no videos or
tutorials or direct teaching for parents/caregivers?
xii.Principal -there is a need,from what I am hearing,to provide more
guidance/training for parents/caregivers and students.We have the resources
to do this,and I would like these resources to be available for all next fall.
xiii.Parent -is Teacher Ease more similar to Aspen or Google Classroom?
What is it more likely to replace?
ivx.Staff -it would be Teacher Ease.There is connectivity between Teacher
Ease and Google Classroom
b.Link to Innovation Plan “Tracker”version
c.Site Council Members select items from the Innovation Plan for
review and discussion.
IV.Adjournment