HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-11-05-CLARKE-min.pdfPUBLIC MEETING NOTICE
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Jonas Clarke Middle School
School Site Council Meeting
November 5, 2025
7:00-7:45 AM
Main Office Conference Room, Jonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road, Lexington, MA 02421
Agenda
Members present: Dane Despres, Tiffany Zides, Jamie Welsh, Natalia Paquette, (Dane -
parent/caregiver names)
I. Call to Order, Welcome, Council Business & Public Comment
● April & May meeting timing (MCAS issues)
i. Move the April 1st date to April 8th (due to ELA MCAS)
ii. Move May 6th to May 7th (due to Math MCAS)
● October 1 Meeting Notes Approval
i. Motion to approve
ii. Vote to move in favor
● Public Comment
II. Parent/Caregiver, Staff, and Admin Check-Ins: Thoughts About the Beginning
of the School Year
● Parents:
i. Progress Reports - Were parents/caregivers able to view the progress
reports online? Yes.
ii. Teams and teachers did it differently - but all were able to check in and
see how they were doing.
iii. Parent shared both her children were able to login and check how they
were doing. Happy to see their children doing this frequently.
iv. Parent asked - why is this not universal practice by all from the
school?
v. Teacher shared that the grading is so different from one teacher to the
other (regarding revision).
vi. Teacher shared that they put a good deal of effort into keeping grades
up to date with Teacher Ease and others like the old way of printing a
report and ensuring that parents/caregivers are able to see their child’s
progress.
vii. Parent shared that it is difficult that this comes in many different
forms. Consistency in this would help tremendously.
viii. Conferences - parents commented about signing up early for a
conference. However, 10 minutes is not a lot of time.
ix. Parent shared that for the first time, she did not sign up for a
conference for her son. He shared he is doing well and does not need
his parent/caregiver to talk with his teachers.
x. The principal shared that this is a balance. 8th grade teams are larger
than other levels. We value relationships, and even if a student is doing
objectively fine, it feels good when parents/caregivers can connect
with teachers and touch base with teachers to discuss their child.
xi. Teacher shared the idea of conferences being one for each trimester to
ensure that throughout the year, we can touch base with all of our
students’ parents.
xii. Parent asked - why is it that some parents could not get a conference?
xiii. The principal answered, sharing that we only have so much time,
contractually. Due to this, there are a limited number of conferences.
Thus, we have asked teachers to reach out to families of students who
they need to speak with due to concerns.
xiv. Teacher suggested that if a parent/caregiver did not get a conference -
please write an email to the teacher/team and see how your child is
doing.
● Staff:
● Admin:
III. SIP Updates for ‘25-’26
● Principal- today we are going to begin our work on the school innovation
plan.
● In the SIP there are four goals, dictated by the four goals of LPS. Take a look
at the board - I’d like to focus on goal one: Addressing Equity Gaps.
● We have data from multiple sources identifying that two groups (Special
Education students as well as African-American students) that are
consistently identified.
● Review of Tier I, II, and III. What they mean at the middle school level as
well as how the school is currently working/developing at each level.
i. SST
ii. STAR screener
iii. Team Meetings
iv. Parent/Caregiver communication
v. DATA teams
vi. High leverage instructional strategies (coming out of work the district
has done with Dr. Dionne V. McLaughlin
vii. Social Justice Standards
viii. Student-led Tutoring during WIN
ix. Student Equity Team
Review of the Protocol - Keep Lose Dream Innovate
IV. SIP ‘26-’28 Initial Work: Keep, Lose, Dream, Innovate Protocol
V. Adjournment