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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-24-HASTINGS-min JS MORN, pp�p G O in 'A � _ . PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE APRIL 19TH Meeting School Based Site Council — Maria Hastings Elementary Date Monday, 9-24-2018 Time 7:45 am—8:30 am Location Library, Maria Hastings Elementary, 7 Crosby Road, Lexington MA Members Present Kim Ryan, Deb Krasnow, Louise Lipsitz, Lisa Contre, Grace Lee, Beverly Montgomery, Stacey Beuttell, Brenda Rich 1. Role of the Site Council & Welcome new members a. The state funds a per pupil expenditure and requires every public school has a site council to ensure communication between parents, staff, and community. Members must be equal between staff and parents. b. Site council meets approximately every month with occasional breaks in schedule. c. We are an advisory group where Louise will bring information to share. Members are welcome to bring topics to discuss as well. 2. Building Project Update a. The tiles on the sidewalk outfront crumble when extracted from the ground. Since we can't salvage them, we are going to instead photograph them. b. We plan to move in February of 2020. We will not change a student's school placement mid-year. c. The following school year(2020-2021) we will welcome students from other Lexington elementary schools, as well as staff members from other schools in the district. 3. Member Input a. The Hastings community has questions around recess. Now that we're blacktop only, parents are curious to how it is working and what does it look like?Are injuries increasing? i. More injuries than normal have not been reported. We are using a grass area next to the black top, we have added an additional recess teacher, and we will be painting more activities/games onto the blacktop. ii. Facilities is going to purchase a shed funded by the PTO for us to store recess materials. This allows us to purchase soccer nets and other materials to keep outside. iii. Parent volunteers will soon be coming to help assist with games. These volunteers will be trained first so they know our policies and recess expectations iv. We cannot change the amount of space. We are using what we have and are thinking creatively about the best way to use the space. v. PTO is willing to fund anything we need to assist with recess. b. How is dismissal going? Seems to be very organized! i. The amount of faculty members involved have increased.This is allowing for dismissal to be done in approximately 10 minutes. ii. While kids are waiting to be picked up, there are craft activities and movement opportunities so kids are sedentary. iii. Have the amount of students taking a car as transportation increased or decreased? We haven't counted cars but it doesn't seem like it has changed much. 4. SIP Plan 2018-2019— Update a. Budget- i. We have a new acting Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Peter Rowe. Louise will meet with him in November for a general budget to get a per pupil allocation. ii. Louise will also discuss staffing for next year. The goal is to maintain 21 classrooms next year, which we currently have. iii. Next year, Louise is planning on advocating for three third grade classrooms turning into four fourth grade classrooms. iv. Louise will meet with Ellen Sugita to discuss/anticipate special education needs and staffing requirements to make sure this is built into the budget. v. Dr. Hackett will present these needs to the school committee which will then be voted on. vi. Louise will then write a supplemental request if what we've advocated for doesn't match the needs that school year. vii. When planning for the budget, we can't plan for anticipated move-ins. Principals in the district meet monthly to discuss classroom sizes. All elementary schools have class sizes of mid-20's or higher at some grade levels. viii. In past years, the budget has included unallocated teacher positions which can be used to relieve enrollment issues. b. Race and Disparity c. Staffing/Administrative Updates 5. 8:35: Motion to adjourn made by Beverly Montgomery, seconded by Stacey Beuttell. Approved unanimously.