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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-10-16-LHS-min o ` 4 Lexington High School 251 Waltham Street Lexington, Massachusetts 02421 Andrew Stephens 781-861-2320,x69103 Principal astephens@lexingtonma.org Twitter: @LexingtonHSMa FAX: 781-861-2440 October 18,2017 To: The Lexington High School Council From: Andrew Stephens Re: September Meeting LHS School Site Council Meeting met on October 16, 2017 from 6:00-7:30 PM in the Library Media Center. Present: Andrew Stephens, Suzanne Lau,Nancy Shepard,Elise Rowley,Ed Li,Kate Vogelzang,Bryce Spalding, Shiv Chandra, Sharon Kendall,Katie Cutler, Sheera Knecht,Liz Curtin and Leslie Zales. Absent: Dave Wininger,Erin Barrett and Alex McLaughlin L Welcome to Kate Vogelzang,Class of 2020 Student Representative. IL Minutes of the September 18, 2017 meeting were approved with no changes. III. Announcements from Council members a. SHAC •Parent Academy date set for March 24, 2018. •SBIRT—All 9,, graders with have a brief one-on-one health and wellness assessment. •Sources of Strength(SOS) trained 50 additional students (about 100 trained students on campus). •Wellness policy is being updated •750 new students district-wide. b. Stephens Announcements/Updates: •Budget Process (requests due early November) —Capital requests have already been submitted.Will be requesting additional Full Time Employees (FTEs) in the operational budget based on the anticipated increase in enrollment(64 students in 9/2018,estimated as of October 1, 2017). •School Spirit—pep rally organized by the Pep Rally Focus Group. Ran a pep rally for about 150— 200 students in the field house during I-block. Planning a large event in November. •Graduation Requirements— School Committee is looking at the graduation requirements. LHS has the highest graduation requirements when compared to other area high schools and the MA Core recommendations (e.g. LHS requires 4 years of Science and 4 years of Social Studies,compared to 3 years of each by MA Core). •NEASC Standards—LHS will be the second high school reviewed under the new accreditation standards. The first step is to perform a self-reflection and self-rating. Parent survey has been sent to families and at least 25%participation is desired. •Scheduling Committee—A committee of faculty,parents and students,led by Dr. John Murray and Mr. Kevin Kelly will be assessing the current schedule and making recommendations to address concerns. •Visioning Process—A presentation was made to School Committee by Superintendent Mary Czajkowski,Andrew Stephens and consultant Dr. Frank Locker to start the Visioning process for a new high school. Visioning process answers questions like: What are our current practices?Where are we?Where is education going in the future?Where do we want to be? And finally,what does the structure need to be? •Visioning Process—NEASC— Scheduling are related and all tied together. IV. Presentations a. Security Study adopted recommendations •Presentation to Town Meeting approval to request design funds includes the plan approved by the School Committee that was recommended by LHS administration. •Plan will bring LHS security closer to the District standard—including automatic locked doors (38 doors) on a timer,visitor control and reconfigured parking (student parking moved to Worthen Road lot and add visitor parking,faculty parking behind the school). Additional security cameras were installed last summer. •Evacuation drill is scheduled for this week—controlled evacuation to the football field. b. 2017 YRBS Executive Summary—discussion postponed to next meeting. V. Discussion a. Final exam schedule •Five major subjects and one make-up exam for finals. •Changed from 2 finals per day for 3 days,to one final per day for 6 days and classes in the afternoons. •One final per day was good. •Afternoon classes were not very useful if the final had already passed. •Most students attended classes that still had an upcoming final. •Science blocks met more often than other classes. •Resource room and special education classes also had sessions more often. •Expectation for teachers to provide positive learning during afternoon blocks were difficult to meet with reduced student attendance and motivation (class attendance during final exams did not count towards "N" status). •Positive atmosphere in the quad and school but was sometimes noisy and distracting to students still studying for finals. VI. School Improvement Plan review/questions a. Cultural Proficiency - Focus is on increasing the capacity and cultural proficiency of the leadership team. A program called Reimagining Integration (Harvard) has been retained to work with administrators and focus on the faculty. b. Grade Level Assets —distributed grade level asset visual aid to parents when progress reports were released to guide discussions on student progress. c. DCAP—Discussion postponed to next meeting. Andrew will send out the DCAP document that was last reviewed in 2013. This document outlines preferred learning strategies for students who are not in special education programs. VII. Adjournment 7:30 pm