HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-05-19-LHS-minAndrew Baker
Principal
LEXINGTON
(781) 861-2320, ext. 69102
abakeralexingtonma.org
LHS Site Council
Monday, May 19th • 6:00 — 7:30 pm
Location: Room 505 D, Lexington High School
1. In attendance: Andrew Baker, Allison Bryant Mantha, Rohan Boonapalli, Sophia Du,
Stephanie Wan, Aaminah Shams, Bryce Spalding, Janet West, Elizabeth Curtin, Karen
Griffiths, Monique Harris Schramme
2. minutes of 4/14/25 approved
3. New Site Council caregiver members for 2025-26 will be Rebecca Fagan Gorospe, Jun
Yin
4. Website Feedback: Andrew notes that all editing for the website needs to be done by CO,
which can have its complications.
a. time -related things go on Parent Square; they have been moving away from
linking to a Google site. The principal's admin used to be able to edit those, but
now can't, which makes it not a very active document.
b. Janet: curriculum night was mobbed by parents trying to get information about
things like skip tests, general progression, etc. She ended up scrolling and
scrolling on her phone; the information is not front and center or easy to find
(much of it is at the bottom of the page).
c. Feedback link from the website is broken.
d. The top banner is way too big; at the top of the page you can't see anything
besides that. .
e. A student wrote a blog pos about the new LPS website being functionally and
aesthetically worse.
i. broken navbar for mobile screen
ii. broken bookmarks
iii. old url doesn't redirect to new one
f. It's a problem that departmental information is no longer on the department site.
People now have to go through the Program of Studies to find it.
g. when on the LHS site, menu on the top is for the district, not LHS. Have to scroll
down to LHS specific information.
Lexington High School 1 251 Waltham Street I Lexington, MA 102421
h. comment that the first page of the Program of Studies should have a summary of
changes.
i. People would like to see more information about student activities, successes:
how did the sports team do? How was the play? When's the next concert?
j. There should be a link to the LHS musket on the website without having to go to
the club page and scrolling down
k. To get a transcript for the RMV, someone had to print a paper form, take a picture,
send it to the registrar, then got an email back asking them to fill out a Google
form. The old website had links to the Google forms for various things (through
the counseling dept); currently not now.
1. The search function does not work.
5. Building Updates
a. April 28 meeting presentation is the slides from the exterior and interior design
focus group; this is the group which is discussing what the school will look like,
classrooms, etc.
i. There have been 2 or 3 iterations since that meeting, but the slides are a
good visual of some of the things they're thinking about
ii. 4 different schemas for exterior design. Most of the school will probably
be built in brick; another question is what else will the exterior be
comprised of.
1. Glass and glazing; all models have same amount, but spaced in
different ways
2. what else? Metal flashing? Porcelain or different textures of brick?
3. note that if you don't do something a little different on the first
floor it starts to look really huge
b. Two concepts for interior design:
i. layers
ii. pathways: supposedly inspired by the area we live in
c. One major subgroup coming up in the future will be to meet with the architect to
talk about experiential graphic design (XGD)
i. this is about the aesthetics that make the school special, let you know
where you are, also express who we are, values of the school.
ii. how to connect individuals to the space.
iii. ex: Waltham high school walls have a lot of tile work, which are reflecting
weaving patterns and textiles from around the world, because Waltham
was a center for textiles.
iv. Question about what to do with the student art/murals that are in the
current building
d. Reminder that once the schematic design is finished and the building is costed,
that's the number that goes out to the community, and it won't go up from that.
It's really important to remember that while we have to definitely think about
value of school, it's also a place where thousands of students will learn each year.
6. Update on Attendance - Faculty input
a. meeting on May 5 Friday PD day about attendance policy and procedures.
Andrew is feeling that there is a strong impatience from LHS policy and staff
around some of the habits and tendencies that have developed around attendance.
i. frustration around the fact that tardiness doesn't factor into attendance
ii. in the past, students who had attendance issues would have to go in front
of a committee; this is currently very electronic and pro forma
iii. frustration that if you look at data, there are some students who are
strategically absent in blocks where there are tests, but present in other
blocks
iv. frustration about overall amount of absences at the school
V. feeling of importance about being together; there's only so much you can
make up if you're not there. Value on time together.
b. Faculty group came up with resources
i. Student -friendly strategies to try to affect tardiness and attendance. They
were tried in the fall; Andrew isn't sure if there was consistent effort to try
them.
c. recap of some problems
i. tardies have no consequences
ii. inequity in executing the policy
iii. attendance isn't consistently recorded in aspen
iv. inequity of fixing past absences
V. infinite excused absences
vi. too many absences are excused
vii. excessive absences don't always lead to natural consequences
1. can lead to credit loss
viii. no consequences for skipping I blocks and study halls
ix. inconsistent procedures around using green passes
X. students use excused absences to avoid an assessment
d. field trips: maybe too many, some difficulties [this is a separate, though related
issue from attendance]
i. some students are out on a lot of field trips, then come back to class and
expect teachers to teach it to them.
e. PE dept doesn't use N policy; they have a model where students have to make up
the time. Discussion of expanding that, but is very labor intensive for teachers,
also not necessarily ability to make up all that time.
f. What values could guide a solution to the problem?
i. policies and consequences that are fair, equitable, and consistent
ii. transparency and shared responsibility in addressing issues
iii. student ownership and valuing educational experience
iv. retaining a culture of cultivating and sustaining classroom community
V. prioritizing teacher -student relationship
vi. valuing restorative approach over punitive approach
vii. valuing consistent collection of data
g. some value -informed solutions, with the votes of 40ish teachers
attendance record published on transcript 33
ii. grades should be progressively impacted after exceeding a threshold of
tardies and absences (pe/health model) 22
1. Andrew liked this one, fewer teachers did
iii. cap required for college visits 35
iv. auto -generated absence notices also notify of a detention unless cleared 36
V. changing the course title after exceeding a threshold of absences 15
vi. establish a number of tardies that translates into absences 34
vii. not distinguishing between excused and unexcused absences 32
viii. submit hard copy documentation for excused absences (eliminate Google
form) 32
ix. limit to number of field trips 13
X. include an attendance appeal committee to reconsider absence -based
consequence 37
h. definitely want to start in the fall with a more solid attendance policy to address
the issues, so there will be discussions over the summer of which elements of
those things are most useful, feasible.
7. meeting adjourned 7:40pm