HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-03-23-DIAMOND-minDiamond Site Council Meetings 2016 - 2017
March 23, 2017: Meeting Minutes
Members in Attendance: Deepika Sawhney, Jen Turner, Catherine Findlay, Krystal LeClerc,
Sam Bosbach, Johanna Rodrigues, Curt Barrentine, Yi Yang, Dan Strollo
Note -taker: Liz Sharp
Guest Speaker: Howard Wolke
Approval of 2/17 Minutes: Approved
Principal's Report
• ALICE Training Update
o Staff training has been ongoing. Goal is to empower staff (will include students
at some point) so that they know how to respond to an unsafe intruder.
o Simulations run last staff meeting with police here shooting blanks and teachers
responding as if in real time.
o Next step would be to train students, but no plans yet. In the Fall will do a staff
refresh, at least. The district is working to be more consistent in the trainings.
o Parent noted that there is a town resource to train students in self-defense.
• Parent Conferences
o All focus groups have been completed. Ms. Turner will be putting all of the data
together and then put together a committee that will determine if needs for
overhaul are necessary.
o Next year's conferences will probably be very similar to this past year.
• MCAS Update
o New this year is the 8th grade will be on devices. The test is new for all grades.
Timing will be hard to plan for, but we have plans in place.
o Teachers have been trained for the 8th grade administration. Students have
gone through the tutorial and ran through a practice online test.
o All grade level English teachers are preparing students for the types of questions
and expectations.
o We will plan to get feedback from 8th grade students to see what we could do to
make the experience better.
o No fault year.
Staff Report
• GMAIL transition
o All of the district will be moving to gmail July 1. Today will be time to do a needs
assessment to determine what teachers need for training going forward.
o Email addresses will be shorter. Unlimited storage for teachers and students
available. GSuite of applications, so works together with calendar and drive, etc.
Search is much easier.
o Parent asked if students will keep their gmail address even after they graduate.
o Student gmail is not turned on until eighth grade.
o We will still have 1:1 iPads for 7th and 8th grade. As part of the construction
project, goal is to have carts with a variety of devices, including chromebooks for
sixth grade.
o Discussion about further direction of Chromebooks vs. iPads. No decisions have
been made about this, but it is an ongoing discussion
Midyear Report of SIP
• Technology/Howard Wolke
o Currently the district's online environment is still SchoolWires. Discussion of
possible changes has been largely tabled until after the Gsuite transition. Part of
the discussion will be how Google Sites may be incorporated
o There was a teacher question about if we will get a Learning Management
System (LMS--e.g. Blackboard, Moodle, etc). Google Classroom is not an LMS
but can function to collect and return assignments digitally. Its discussion
capability is improving.
o Other goals will be discussed on April 13
Member Input
• Regarding parent conferences, could there be a strong push from the principal to visit
specialists or even make it mandatory?
• Will there be a survey on student/parent experience with iPad project? Howard indicated
that this year's focus on gathering iPad data is on feedback and collaboration. The ITSs
are using a case study model. There are no current plans for a parent survey, but
parents can email Howard directly.
Adjournment
Next Meeting: April 13, 2017