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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-09-19-ESTABROOK-minEstabrook School School Site Council MINUTES September 19, 2016 1 3 :30 -4 :3o p.m. In Attendance: Jeffrey LaBroad, Principal Katie O'Hare Gibson, Assistant Principal Lori Verity, Grade 2 Teacher Katrina Roscoe, Grade 3 Teacher Martha Lamb, TLP Assistant Pauline Benninga, Parent Hema Gandhi, Parent Gretchen Reisig, Parent Pam Hoffman, Community Member 1. Introduction of Site Council Members 2016 - 2017: Jeffrey LaBroad Katie O'Hare Gibson Lori Verity Katrina Roscoe Martha Lamb Pauline Benninga Hema Gandhi Gretchen Reisig Pam Hoffman • Committee has grown to include support staff and a community member. Allows us to have a discussion with a wider range of perspective. 2. Annual Notification /Update of School Council Membership • All members to put s- staff, p- parent, c- community member to complete membership form 3. Overview of Purpose and Charge • Purpose: 20 years at different schools. Diverse reps to come together to work as an advisory board to principal. Charge is to make decisions for the school that are informed. 4 main ideas: adopting ed goals, identifying ed needs of students, review budget, formulation of school improvement plan. End of the year Jeff will report our success to the school committee. Ongoing conversation. Legacy of Estabrook to work hard at identifying students needs and meeting them. 4. Election of Co -Chair • Pauline Benninga nominated, unanimously voted in as 2016 -2017 co -chair 5. Mission /Vision • Mission history: one statement redeveloped by the leadership team as the new mission and vision statement: Estabrook School inspires curiosity, fosters perseverance and instills a love of lifelong learning and academic achievement, while cultivating social - emotional development. We embrace individuality while fostering a collaborative approach geared toward developing the whole child in a safe and nurturing learning environment. We work hard to help students realize and reach their full potential. 6. School Improvement Plan • Highlights: goals and actions throughout the year that will be completed, some that will remain on the list next year, and others that will not be touched this year. We leave ourselves room to discuss current events. • Academic - o Focus on literacy (Lucy Calkins) - learning progressions that link common themes year -to -year. One element that we plan to use further this year are the learning progressions so that teachers can build upon last year's learning. o Focus on math- working on math practice standards. Math club question - looking to expand potentially to other grade levels. o STEAM focus- plan to pilot a MakerSpace to help students around robotics and coding /a true open space for students to engage in the engineering process. Team of teachers along with PTA are working to make this space. Suggestion from community member to not mention the maker space because it may lead to questions around extra space at Estabrook. Talk about how Makerspace are not based on a specific space. o Focus on homework- push for students to read at home without the use of a log or written work. This decision came from parent input. Policy currently says teacher assign homework as they see fit. Community member very happy because research has been available for years that supports homework is not doing what we thought. Bold move, a long time coming - will support in any way possible. Estabrook School is not banning homework or getting rid of homework, that would go against policy. Teachers will recommend reading to parents with struggling readers and help families that need support developing a reading structure at home. Teachers can work with parents to create specific, targeted practice at home on case -by -case basis. Best use of time outside school day is spent reading. We also want to students to be able to breathe at the of end of the day and participate in activities not directly tied to the school day. But since this is a pilot we need to see how this will work this year- what do you do with unstructured time? We will work to provide support around what unstructured time looks like. Plan to work with PTO around communicating with community and what we can do to support unstructured time. Climate survey showed that students are stressed and we need to help- allow our kids to feel good about themselves. We know the end goal, with some good ideas on how to get there, but we will work to get there. Question- where did the research for the decision come from? Answer: we have to be mindful of what other schools are doing- so we can only speak for what Estabrook has decided to do. Gretchen- positive feeling from parents that she hopes will circulate. We are also considering what to do to prepare students for middle school and we are working with fifth grade teachers around potentially assigning something to prepare students for middle school. • Social emotional - o Increase in mindfulness (led by Katie) o Parent round tables on Sundays. Two more to occur this year. o Added a social competency block (class meeting) to our schedule. 30 -40 minute block to instruct students on social - emotional well being. Taught by teachers and school counselors. Social thinking curriculum, Open Circle, tackle bullying issues, talk about tricky situations, etc. o PBIS committee to support students, including publishing what our prosocial skills look like. Working on a website and newsletter. o Cultural proficiency team will be doubled down on. We want to unify our approach and make sure it is an ongoing theme. We have a diversity curriculum as well. Gretchen- request. Recess is a difficult time and is hoping if we can talk about recess time support (keeping it unstructured) to transfer social learning at recess time. Martha will provide her insights as she is outside often. • Safety - o The way we do things is synonymous with safety. o Will practice ALICE protocol this year with staff and will train /retrain staff for universal training o Live drop off /pick up school. This year we will hold firm that the lot will not be used during the arrival or dismissal time. Jeff- arrival /dismissal is going faster and smoother and safer than in the past. Feedback- seems safer, the lot seems more open, glad the rule has been made for no more parking. There was confusion at the beginning of the year, but it has been cleared up as to when families can and cannot park. Information is all on the website. • Questions /comments: o What are the priorities? Next meeting we will look to determine priorities and check -in to see what we really want to work on. 7. Other Business • Adjust meeting time to 3 :45 -5 :00 p.m. • Add to upcoming agenda a discussion around how to transfer social learning to unstructured recess time.