Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-09-27-CLARKE-min1 Jonas Clarke Middle School 17 Stedman Road • Lexington, Massachusetts 02421 Anna W. Monaco, Principal Mary B. Barry -Ng, Assistant Principal Jonathan R. Wettstone, Assistant Principal Jonas Clarke Middle School School Site Council Meeting September 27, 2016 / 7:OOAM Main Office Conference Room Office: (781) 861 -2450 Fax: (781) 674 -2043 In Attendance: Anna Monaco, Principal; Mary Barry, Assistant Principal; Jonathan Wettstone, Assistant Principal, Rachel Bird, Teacher; Sarah Fattal, Teacher; Elizabeth Murphy, Social Worker; Christina Cohen, Parent; Angela Chang, Parent; Naomi Priver, Parent; Cathy Swan, Parent; Jennifer Roney, Parent Agenda I. Welcome • Principal welcomed new site council members and reviewed goals of council. • Members introduced themselves and their role II. Reviewed and approved minutes from May 2016 - Minutes Approved • Brief discussion around WIN survey results - today is the first scheduling block for WIN. Principal mentioned that the schedule was kept the same as last year - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Also acknowledged how busy these days can be for teachers with very few breaks during the day. • Parent asked question about length of classes and potential increase in homework. o Principal responded acknowledging the concern but could not confirm, stating that additional homework would work in the opposite direction from the WIN philosophy. Goal was to reduce stress and give students a break. o Social worker discussed student observations and working with students on being ok with not completing all the work, shutting things down after 20 -30 minutes on an assignment. o Parent mentioned putting that comment /statement into the PTO newsletter - reminding parents that students can stop doing homework after the recommended time. It's ok to not complete the assignment if the students has been trying and working hard. III. School Improvement Plan 2016 -2017 • Principal provided an overview of the 2016 -2017 SIP o Quick overview of the main goals o Discussed new format and how progress is documented. • Goal1 o Tier 1 instructional practices - strategies that a general ed teacher will use in the classroom to help any /all students. How do you teach your lesson to meet a wide spectrum of needs in the general education setting? o Identify high leverage instructional practices and share those among the staff. o Student Response Team - a diverse group of staff that meet weekly to talk about students of interest. They will ask questions and probe deeper to identify how we can help students achieve. o Parent asked - is that a team based meeting? • Principal - no, this is a school -wide team. The teams bring individual students to this team for extra help. • Parent: referred to Bowman and how they used other students in class to use leverage and promote positive interactions and learning experience. • Teacher referenced the math curriculum and how it requires teams of students to work together and solve problems in groups /buddies (not leaving someone behind • Principal - in Middle School, need to be strategic, as students are very aware of the social interactions and pairing - our teachers are very good at this o Parent: Question - what is the average class size? o Principal - depends on what class it is, 7th grade math extended class, very large, explained influx of students this summer who took placement test and scored so high needed to go to extended. 0 IV iPads: now in 7th grade • Parents share their seventh grade stories - they are charging every night, and using it well. o Parent: one student takes mandarin, and he is able to practice writing the characters on the screen O Parent - Question: Will this go to 6th grade next year? O Principal - no plan as of right now, but each 6th grade team has an iPad cart that they are able to use. O Principal - staff working very hard to make the learning experience more engaging and using the iPads to really increase learning and collaboration - this is why Professional Learning is vital to the continued process V Professional Learning • "Un- conferences" - empowering teachers to make decisions on what they need to learn and want to learn. Staff organize themselves into learning communities and dig deeper into really learning new instructional strategies VI - Social Emotional Program and Learning • Key point of our School Improvement Plan - Middle School, social - emotional development is at the heart of all we do. Social workers and counselors are involved in all we do. They provide all staff with feedback and consult on a variety of issues daily. • Clarke's Challenges (no longer Rachel's Challenge - as it really is not relevant anymore to the students today). This year, assemblies and focus on Clarke's Challenges inspire students to "pay it forward" and to be a positive contributor to the community. • Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) will also occur this year. o Principal: Really try to dig into how much stress the students are feeling, and to find out how students are dealing with the stress. o Principal - WIN emerged from this survey and we hope to get other information out of it this year. Most questions will be same, but some may be altered to try and get clearer information out of it. VII - Construction Update • Next steps and next summer (moveable walls will be replaced with permanent walls) • Main focus of this goal is to ensure that communication with the Clarke community is timely and effective. VIII. Other / Questions • Parent: Last year, not all homework was posted online - could you reinforce the need for this? • Parent: Could the students do an American Ninja Warrior like thing in the gym for them to get out there energy? • Principal: During the winter the P.E. staff does a unit on Project Adventure which is similar. • Parent: Beyond Measure / town -wide discussion on book and film. Have teachers had a discussion. Might be a good un- conference topic • Principal - There is a way to work into the faculty meeting discussions. In particular, the chapter on homework is very pertinent. • Teacher: Even a book group would be helpful - perhaps like the mindset book? Teachers get credit, and are motivated to read and participate IX - Time of Future Meetings: • Morning or Afternoons • Groups felt the mornings were easier • 3rd or 4th Tuesday of every month • Principal will send out a list of dates this week, all will check the calendar and get back to group with any major conflicts.