HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-05-16-DIAMOND-min Marlon L. Davis,M.Ed. (781) 861-246o
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Fax: (781) 274-0174
Diamond School Council Agenda
May 16, 2024 - 7:00am
Attendees: Marlon Davis, Christy Bell Prasad, Remy Coombs, Katina Lawdis, Joyce Dvorak, Amelia Bower
Liz Sharp (non-voting member- note taker)
A. Welcome
B. Approval of Minutes: April 11 , 2024
C. Updates/Discussion
a. Secondary Principal's meeting discussed investigating using half-days for
school-wide cultural events during the school day - looks just like our SASSSY
Community Days (Safe and supportive school supports, yay) days we have
been doing. Has been well-received by our staff and students. We might not
be able to run all three half-days next year. Perhaps Clarke could send
representatives to us to see how it goes.
i. Important to give our students a sense of community and safety.
Leaning in to this philosophy is having these theme days.
ii. There would be a group at Clarke that would want to run with this.
iii. LHS is investigating doing something like this.
b. Working on aligning our school innovation plans with Clarke. May need
another meeting to review anything big that needs changing, but minor
changes will be through email.
c. Renaissance STAR data will be used to help give more information to LHS and
include strategies and suggestions to LHS to help these students start off more
successfully.
i. Data has not been used as intentionally in the past but we are working
towards systemizing our use of data. Using more than just MCAS and
grades.
ii. STAR data for literacy is uncovering a lot of needs for instruction and
helping students with gaps. We need to explore next steps using this
data. General education supports will be examined and may adjust how
we use our current staff.
1 . May explore the need for additional staff after further analysis.
iii. Plans to share the data with current staff?
iv. Parents will be kept informed.
v. At this point, about 90 students at Diamond were identified as concerns
after using STAR data, MCAS, grades, etc. These students were then
categorized. Some already have services, some reassessed.
1 . How do we track the data? How do we move these students
forward? What data will we be sharing with staff?
2. Exploring parent communication for how we plan to address these
identified needs.
3. Summer reading push will be introduced.
a. Parents prefer a required reading assignment for over the
summer.
4. Exploring other ways to introduce more school wide reading
times, like Drop Everything and Read. Including reading in all
areas of the curriculum.
5. Handwriting is another area that has been discussed. Why are we
concerned with penmanship and spelling if we have the
technology?
6. Basic skills need to be prioritized. What can we do to address
these gaps?
D. Meeting Adjourned: 7:36 AM
E. Next meeting: TBD