HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-21-BRIDGE-min BRIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCHOOL-BASED SITE COUNCIL
55 Middleby Road, Lexington, MA 02421
781-861-2510
SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 MEETING MINUTES
APPROVED DECEMBER 21, 2018
PRESENT: Lynnette Allen,Amelia Brower, Erin Cerat,Jon Cunha, Kristen Gray, Kimberly
Hensle Lowrance, Ruth Litchfield, Zeba McGibbon, Deirdre Schadler, Kira Sevene, Maria
Totniou, and Shawn Wood.
ABSENT: Lucia Brower, Megan Brown, Meg Colella,Allison Gullingsrud,Amy Kvaal, Huan
Liu, Beth Murnaghan, Sejal Petal, Debbie Side, and Melanie Tanionos.
The Bridge Elementary School School-Based Site Council (SBC) met on Friday, September
21, 2018 in the Bridge School Library. The meeting began at 8:00 AM, and was led by
Kristen Gray, assistant principal, stepping in for SBC chair and Bridge principal Meg Colella.
Kimberly Hensle Lowrance, SBC Co-chair, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.
Meeting attendees next introduced themselves to one another.
Kristen explained the purpose and scope of SBC. This is a state-mandated group for every
public school in the Commonwealth.At Bridge, school leadership uses the SBC "as needed,"
which means that the topics addressed during SBC meeting are timely and necessary for
the school community.Additionally, each year,the SBC reviews Bridge's School
Improvement Plan and offers feedback. SBC is an open meeting, and anyone in the Bridge
community can come at any time,though the council does need equal parts staff and
parents.
The June Meeting Minutes were approved by the SBC.
An outstanding issue from last year was an update on the parking lot/drop-off process.
There had been reports of people driving unsafely during drop-off and pick-up (e.g., driving
too fast, not stopping for kids in the crosswalk, etc.) Kristen reported that Bill, our crossing
guard, keeps her apprised of how things are going, and so far,this year, it's going well. She
added that, at dismissal, it helps that there's only one bus to going to afterschool programs
at Hayden and Empow. Not having separate buses for off-site afterschool programs helps
decrease the traffic at the school.
She added that staff members do have to remind parents coming for car pick-up that you
cannot enter grounds until 3 PM, and that you cannot park in the lot and then cut into the
live car pickup line. Parents are also not supposed to park on Middleby Road to wait until 3
PM. This is unsafe, especially for people using the bike path. It was noted that some of the
cars parked on Middleby Road belong to high school students participating in Ultimate
Frisbee,which practices at Bridge. Kristen will follow up with high school leadership to see
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if there's a way to encourage the students to part elsewhere, such as at Lincoln Field or in
the Old Reservoir lot.
The SBC next discussed topics for this group to address this school year. Highlights from
this conversation included:
• Process for safely crossing through school grounds, including during winter and
during 3:10-3:30 PM when there's a lot of traffic- Kristen will make sure Meg
includes this in her next newsletter.
• Q&A with the New Superintendent- Kristen mentioned that the PTA is working on
getting her to attend a PTA coffee; Kimberly will follow up with Crystal to see if the
SBC can help promote that event.
• Cultural competency- This is a professional goal for Bridge this year. Deirdre and
ELL teachers worked on this topic over the summer and will be presenting at
Lexington Learns on November 6. They will share at a subsequent SBC meeting.
• Lexington Learns - This year's Lexington Learns (a professional development day
for LPS teachers) will focus on social emotional learning and project-based learning.
• Homework Policy- LPS rolled out a new homework policy last year, and some
parents are still uncertain about it. Reading is the new priority for elementary
school students. Parents at the SBC meeting pointed out that a lack of homework
often means that they don't know how their child is doing in the classroom and/or
where they stand academically.Additionally, for parents with children in fifth grade,
the lack of homework leads to concerns about preparation—or lack thereof—for
middle school. Kristen explained that the changes in the LPS homework policy had
its origins in the demanding and often stressful homework expectations of high
schoolers in town. She added that the middle schools know that they're receiving
students from elementary schools who have had different homework
responsibilities, and have adjusted their expectations accordingly,though she said
she'd reach out to Clarke leadership to get feedback from them. It was pointed out
that social/emotional health is the core of why the policy was changed, as was the
need to prioritize reading fluency.
A summary of the topics for the SBC this year include: homework policy for next meeting
(how do 1 know how my student is doing, preparing kids for middle school, accountability
for reading at home, etc.), recess, cultural competency (and how to get the larger
community engaged on this topic), hate speech training, discipline process, and process for
safely crossing through school grounds during winter.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Contact Meg Colella, Principal and Co-Chair (mcolella(@Iexingtonma.org), or Kimberly
Hensle Lowrance, Parent Representative and Co-Chair
(khensle@gmail.com); or visit https://Ips.lexingtonma.org/domain/481
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