HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-13-CLARKE-minPUBLIC MEETING NOTICE
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Jonas Clarke Middle School
School Site Council Meeting
June 13,2023
7:00-8:00 AM
Main Office Conference Room,Jonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road Lexington,MA 02421
Agenda
Members present:
I.Call to Order,Welcome,&Public Comment
a.Review and Approve Our Last Meeting’s Minutes
i.Formal approval of last meeting’s minutes,seconded,approved.
b.Public Comment
i.none
c.Thank you to Xia,Yu,Elizabeth,Jill,and Meghan for serving on our
Site Council these last two years!
II.Parent/Caregiver,Staff,and Admin Check-Ins
a.Parent/Caregiver Report:
i.Has anyone talked about the process of payment in using
School Bucks?(There is a $13.00 processing fee).This is the
cost for one child and one transaction.However,if you bring a
check to the central office,there is no fee.
ii.What is problematic about School Bucks is that you have
multiple students coming home with field trip forms and fees and
you have to pay them all separately.
iii.Mr.Despres will look into see if our own school can collect
checks to avoid the fee for parents.
iv.Check in on the 8th grade graduation ceremony.This will be
online during the school day.
v.Principal reported that last night’s PTO picnic for the 8th grade
was a very successful event.Next year,we will revisit the
graduation and see if logistically we are able to pull off a
parent/caregiver attended event.
b.Staff Report:
i.Inquired about the PTO 8th grade picnic.Was very well
attended -approximately 150 students and families attended
c.Admin Report:
i.The Quebec trip was very successful.Students did well and
enjoyed the time immersed in French culture.
III.Reviewing Clarke’s Progress on the ‘22-’24 Innovation Plan
a.Feedback to Revise Clarke’s Innovation Plan for ‘23-24
i.Principal -would like to focus on the “red”sections of the
innovation plan and see if we should pursue these sections next
year.
b.Link to Innovation Plan “Tracker”version
i.Goal #1 -DEI curriculum for students.There was a district-wide committee that
developed lessons for the district.The committee got through a draft of the lessons,
but they were not able to finalize them in time for this school year.More than likely
these lessons will be finalized this summer and will be rolled out next.
-Parent question:Was this for just middle school or the entire district?
-Principal:This was for the entire district.While the elementary schools already
have some sort of curriculum that addresses this,they do focus on this more than
we do currently.However,the understanding is that this will be completed this
summer and rolled out to all levels next year.
-Staff -advocated that they are in favor of Equity Team members to receive a
stipend for their work on the team.Especially if this is the body training the staff on
the DEI lessons.
Parent -also affirmed that they think members of the Equity Team also receive a
stipend for their work.
Parent -What if this district goal does not happen again next year?What then -will
Clarke do something on their one?
Principal -Looking at district-wide data,especially disciplinary data,we have
prepared pro-active lessons to troubleshoot where we see a number of incidents.
With the development of anti-harassment (sexual and gender based)and
anti-bullying lessons we have seen a decrease in the amount of disciplinary referrals
for these incidents.
Staff members -Be sure to include all new staff in the knowledge of the lessons as
well as the language that we use within the building with students.
Principal -Another red area that we need to work on here at Clarke is to address the
level of bais from the staff level.We need to look at practices and systems that we
have in place.Currently only new staff (non-PTS)and administrators are required to
take the anti-bias training (IDEAS course).
Principal-Additional red area is the individualized goal setting for students.We as a
school had questions about how to platform this and manage this.Questions that
came up in our discussion this year:What software/location would we use to
accomplish this.Would this be an additional duty on staff?
Parent -Would this goal be placed in a report card?
Principal -Clarify that this was something that was originally thought to go into a
report card.
Staff -Also a question of which teacher is taking the lead in this?Who is going to
manage this?
Staff -I believe we talked about using the goals we already have.This was partly
because “progressing”is such a large scale.This would be possible under an
advisory model,but not under the current schedule or confines of Clarke Middle
School.
Staff -Shared that one of the science teachers has had a year long project (Mars
project)and by the end of the year,they were able to see how much they have
grown in their knowledge of chemistry,physics,etc.
Parent -Clarification question -are these goals just academic or could they be skills
goals as well?
Parent -I wonder if this is something that you could almost set up for
parents/caregivers to work on?Maybe kids could sit down with their parents and
come up with five goals -and then they come in with a trusted adult and decide on
the one.
Parent -Could there be a buddy system,for example students help others to set and
accomplish goals.
Principal -These are lofty goals.What would be an achievable goal,would be to
pilot a small program with this.It would be with a very small group of
parents/caregivers,students and staff in order to better understand how much
structure a program of this level would need.
Staff -How much could we as teachers be encouraged to incorporate this into what
we do anyway?This is a natural part of PBL -and when a teacher has a project
based learning unit that is longer (6-10 weeks)-this becomes a natural part for
students and staff to monitor their own progress and growth.
Staff -this could even be a shared Google Doc with parents/caregivers,staff and
students.
Parent -Advocate this is not part of a student’s permanent record that would be
shared with private schools.
Principal -This is red because it is a “huge”idea that we are working with.So is
goal 3.6 about students identifying a trusted adult.Perhaps combining these two
goals.
Staff -this could also be couched within the transition from 8th grade to high school.
Parent -this could also happen from 5th to 6th grade.
Parent -Do all students in the school have a trusted adult and does the school have
a record?
Principal -that is what goal 6.3 referred to.We were aiming to have a database of
who the trusted adult would be in case they were in need of one at any given time.
Principal -Goal 4 is one of the largest and most abstract goals.It is about
sustainable change at Clarke.
Parent -Clarification in this goal.
Principal -How do we also chart a course that we can maintain?
Parent -My suggestion is to put sustainability back into the individual goals above.
That way sustainability pertains directly to that goal and we know what exactly that
looks like.To keep it separate as a 4th goal -makes it too abstract and not clearly
defined as what it means to each goal.
Staff -Makes me think that during every staff meeting -we should be reviewing the
big four goals of the innovation plan and reminding staff what each initiative (e.g.
DEI lesson plans)relate back to with respect to Clarke’s innovation plan.
Principal -To sustain we need to consider a number of factors (e.g.Do we have the
time for training?Do we have the bandwidth for staff to take on another initiative?)
Parent -Is there a way to “tweak”or shift what is already occurring,rather than
making up a new goal?
IV.Adjournment