HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-10-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Meeting Minutes
AGENDA:
CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:13 PM
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
Sara Cuthbertson, Chairperson
Deepika Sawhney, Vice-chair
Kathleen Lenihan, Clerk
Eileen Jay
Larry Freeman
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT
Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent
The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary.
The School Committee convened at the School Committee Meeting Room at Central Office and
remotely. Members of the public can view and participate in person or in the meeting webinar
from their computer or tablet by clicking on the link provided with the meeting agenda. Please
note that this meeting is being recorded, and that attendees are participating by video
conference. This evening's meeting is being broadcast live and also taped by LexMedia for
future on-demand viewing. All supporting materials that have been provided to members of
this body are available on the Town's website unless otherwise noted.
Ms. Cuthbertson asked for everyone to take a moment of silence for Peter Rowe, former LPS
Interim Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, who passed away a few days ago.
CONSENT AGENDA
Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items:
• Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval
a. September 22, 2023 - BMO Warrant in the amount of$48,763.24
b. September 22, 2023 -AP Warrant in the amount of$1,216,501.75
c. September 22, 2023 - Payroll in the amount of$4,780,395.32
d. October 6, 2023 -AP Warrant in the amount of$1,599,160.97
e. October 6, 2023 - Payroll in the amount of$4,805,781.44
Mr. Freeman read the following consent agenda items:
• Donations
a. A $1,500 donation to the Performing Arts Department from Lexington Bicentennial Band
to purchase a new rack and music stands for LHS
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b. An anonymous donation of$2,000 for the LHS Wind Ensemble Washington DC Musical
Festival Trip
Ms. Lenihan made a motion to approve the entire consent agenda, Mr. Freeman
seconded. Passed, 5-0.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS
Mr. Freeman announced that Navratri/Bollywood Night will be on October 21st at Harrington
Elementary School, 5:00 PM - 9:30 PM. He also mentioned the event "Breaking Down Stigmas
about Mental Health, Neurodiversity& Less Visible Disabilities" will be on November 1st at the
LHS Science Hall, and Indian Americans of Lexington are having a Diwali celebration on October
29th from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM at LHS.
Ms. Lenihan gave a liaison report from the Recreation Committee. They met last week and
discussed the FY 25 renovation request for Bowman.
Ms. Jay gave reminders of the Human Rights Committee meeting tomorrow, October 11th, and
the full board meeting of Cary Library on October 18th.
Ms. Sawhney announced that the Finance Subcommittee met on September 28th, she will be
sharing the memo/minutes from that meeting with the School Committee. She also mentioned
the Ad Hoc Transportation Committee presentation that will be discussed later in the meeting.
Ms. Cuthbertson attended the Back to School Night at LHS and the Finance Subcommittee
meeting.
COMMUNITY SPEAK
Jennifer Elverum - 3 Penny Ln (in person): She is speaking tonight as a concerned parent of
three Lexington elementary school students. She has a fourth child that is dyslexic who attends
the Carroll School so she knows how the brain learns to read, what the science shows about
learning to read and what the data tells us. She spoke about other districts implementing
high-quality literacy programs. "Lexington continues to use Units of Study as the reading and
writing curriculum throughout elementary and middle school. This curriculum has been found
to be ineffective, at times harmful, rated inadequate by Ed reports and deemed low quality by
the State of Massachusetts. It teaches children ineffective reading skills like guessing the word
based on the first letter, or looking at the picture. This doesn't provide children with any skills to
read unfamiliar words, leaving them with no strategies when they get to fourth and fifth grade
and are reading books without pictures. The lack of phonics and the connection between letters
and sounds leads to poor readers but also poor spellers. And this stays with them well beyond
graduating from Lexington schools. I'm now seeing the negative consequences of the Units of
Study curriculum in two of my children. My fifth grader is not a fluent reader, and a very poor
speller because she was never given any phonics. My second grader is a year behind in reading.)
thought he was one of the lucky ones because he got phonics last; however,just yesterday his
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teacher sent me a graphic on how to read tricky words. It recommended looking at the picture
using context, and when all else fails, guessing at the word." She went on to further explain how
Units of Study is confusing for students and how families are having to pay for extra support
outside of school for their children. She encouraged the school administration to quickly
implement an evidence-based, structured literacy curriculum and urged the district to provide
additional instruction to existing students in K-12.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Dr. Hackett reviewed her Su2edntendenfs Report with the School Committee. The highlights
from her report include:
1. Congratulations and Celebrations
o Citizen University Youth Collaborative Program
o National Custodial Workers Recognition Day!
o Kalea Foo Advocates to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom
o Another LHS Graduate Wins a Nobel Prize
o Tedtalk
o Clarke Drama Program
o New England Chinese Language Teachers Association Conference
o LHS Jazz Combo
2. We All Belong
o Community Religious & Community Observances
o National Hispanic Heritage Month
3. School Building Committee Update
4. Review of AP & Honors Enrollment for Student with Disabilities by Course
5. School Committee Monthly Reporting Calendar
6. October 1 Enrollment Update
7. MCAS Results
School Committee Questions/Comments:
Ms. Lenihan stated that she should have mentioned in the member announcements that she
and Mr. Freeman had a meeting to discuss a calendar working group. A notification will be going
out to everyone announcing who was selected to participate, the group will be made up of
twelve people. Ms. Lenihan was thankful for the follow up on the School Committee action
item, Summary of AP & Honors course enrollment by student IEP status. She is wondering if
there is a similar breakdown by ethnicity or other demographics. Dr. Hackett replied that this
could be included in the reporting outline.
Mr. Freeman asked where our Latino and African American students are landing with MCAS
results and if we have a goal that we are trying to reach with the percentage of students with
ISPs. Dr. Hackett explained that this is complex and it may be too soon to have this data. Dr.
Kavanaugh added that in the way that this data is set up, you would want the proportion to
mirror what they are in the whole population. She gave the example that if special education
enrollment is roughly 12-14%, we would want to see the statistics to line up for each course and
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department to be around that same percentage.
Ms. Sawhney spoke about percentages.
Ms. Lenihan reiterated Dr. Hackett's comment about not being able to close gaps overnight.
Ms. Cuthbertson requested that when we have the Systemic Barriers report, could we talk
about what is working well in these courses where we continuously see students with
disabilities hit those targets, and what kind of accommodations are we looking at, are we
adding things to IEPs? She also spoke about having enough staffing to support students. Ms.
Cuthbertson also asked about Honors for All; she would like to know if there is an increase in
enrollment in the classes that have honors as an option. Ms. Cuthbertson also looked at
enrollment and noticed second and fifth grade, she asked if this is something that was lower last
year and then grew unexpectedly or if these sections are reasonable sizes? Dr. Kavanaugh
responded that we do have two large cohorts progressing through the system. Dr. Hackett
added that we have been keeping track of this and looking at Estabrook in particular. Ms.
Cuthbertson and Dr. Kavanaugh also discussed the number of sections and over-max aides, Dr.
Kavanaugh explained that if enrollment increases, a section could be added which would lower
the number of students in a class. Dr. Hackett added that there were discussions last year about
Middle School class sizes, and we are planning on team sizes going down.
PRESENTATION: WAS RESULTS
Dr. Kavanaugh, Director of Data and Strategy, presented the 2023-10 Annual SC MCAS
Accountability Report.
School Committee Questions/Comments:
Mr. Freeman asked about the data on the spreadsheet: "Are those students also counted in
another category? Like what if I am Black and I'm economically disadvantaged, am I in both
places?" Dr. Kavanaugh replied "you are in both" She explained that the State does include a
statistic for students who fall into multiple high needs categories. Mr. Freeman wanted to make
sure that he understands that only 24% of Black/African American students are meeting or
exceeding expectations, Dr. Kavanaugh confirmed.
Ms. Sawhney asked about the 24%that Mr. Freeman was referring to and asked about what
grades take the MCAS.
Mr. Freeman pointed out the drop in the percentage between middle and high school under the
Special Education section. Dr. Hackett mentioned Ron Ferguson's work with achievement gaps
especially in middle schools.
Ms. Sawhney and Dr. Kavanaugh discussed COVID's impact.
Mr. Freeman is sad to see that only 19% of 6-8 graders are meeting/exceeding expectations.
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Ms. Lenihan asked about the bullet point, "LIPS math results for African American/Black
students were lower compared to other like-communities in grades 3-8..." She asked if anyone
has looked into why this is happening. Dr. Kavanaugh replied that having this data helps us see
where we need to focus our attention and resources. She also pointed out that there has been
some improvement in this category from previous years.
Mr. Freeman added that we are failing our 6-8 grade African American students.
Ms. Cuthbertson mentioned the presentations that were given last year about the new math
and literacy curriculums. Some of the things that came up during those conversations was
looking at gaps, she thinks it will be interesting to see numbers after a year of implementation
of those programs. The Illustrative Math curriculum is much more inclusive. She would like to
hear from teachers to see if they notice any changes in the elementary level.
Ms. Jay took a look at the ELA slide to see if the same thing is happening, and it pretty much is.
As with math, ELA scores for Black students in Grades 3-8 are lower than scores for all students
in those grades.
Ms. Sawhney asked, "How does the high school staff support the students who are on different
levels?" Dr. Hackett stated that more of an effort for inclusion could be one explanation. Leaders
have also been encouraged to drill down to the student level to figure out what is happening.
Ms. Sawhney also spoke about our different assessment tools.
Ms. Cuthbertson explained that in the new math program, Illustrative Math (IM), there is clear
communication with parents on how students are doing.
Ms. Lenihan stated that we are very lucky to have Dr. Kavanaugh, not every district is fortunate
enough to have a position like hers.
Ms. Jay mentioned the angst and concern at the height of the pandemic about learning loss,
and now we have three years of post-pandemic MCAS data. She added that overall, it doesn't
look like there is a huge reduction in score, but she would like to know how we compare to the
State. Dr. Kavanaugh and Dr. Hackett responded by saying that we had a drop in scores in 2021
but we are rebounding very well overall, other districts that are behind don't have the resources
that we have in Lexington.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Confirmation of Voting and Alternate Delegate for Joint MASS/MASC Annual Business
Meeting
No vote was taken. The School Committee is still unsure of who will be attending this meeting.
Will be taken up at a future meeting.
B. MASC Resolutions- Discussion and Vote
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No vote was taken. Will be taken up at a future meeting.
C. Discussion of Recommendations oft e A oc Transportation Co i ee
Ms. Sawhney reviewed the recommendations and Dr. Hackett explained more about the
bus/transportation issues.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Vote the LPS Wellness Policy
Vote to be taken at a future meeting.
Vote FY 25 Budget Guidelines
Mr. Coelho presented the FY 25 Budet Guidelines.
The School Committee and Dr. Hackett discussed changing the ordering of the guidelines as well
as some wording.
Ms. Lenihan made a motion to approve the FY 25 Budget Guidelines as
amended, Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed 5-0.
B. SC-Supt Collaborative Goals, 2023-2024- Discussion and Vote
Dr. Hackettt reviewed the goals:
o Short version
o Medium version
The School Committee discussed and no vote was taken.
POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS
Tabled due to the time.
COMMUNITY SPEAK
Mona Roy, Bertwell Rd (on Zoom): Ms. Roy has listened to the various data points, seen the
MCAS results, and heard about the Boston Globe article about reading curriculum. She gently
suggested reaching out to some demographic groups (special education parents or parents of
African American children) and really just talk to them about what they see as barriers and to
hear about their experiences.
Vinnie Alessi, Waltham St (on Zoom: He disagrees fundamentally with a lot of what the School
Committee is doing. He made a comment that the meetings need to be tightened up and that
the Community Speak times should be earlier. He commented on the quality of the audio and
video of the meetings. His last statement was about the lack of discussion on the attacks that
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are going on in Israel.
ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Lenihan made a motion to adjourn at 9:44 p.m., Mr. Freeman seconded. Passed
5-0.
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