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Jonas Clarke Middle School
School Site Council Meeting
January 8, 2020
7:00 AM
Main Office, Jonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road Lexington, MA 02421
Agenda
Attendance: Dane Despres, Principal; , Mary
Barry-Ng, Assistant Principal; Stephanie Swiszcz, Teacher; Nataliya Paquette, Teacher;
Lauren Jigarjian, Teacher, Meghan Kilpatrick, Teacher; Michelle Wright, Nurse; Wendy
; Jennifer Velis, Parent; Hongmei Zhang, Parent; Kimberly Hensle
Lowrance, Parent; Rucha Londhe, Parent
I. Welcome
a. Review& Approve Minutes from December 4, 2019
II. Public Comment
III. Other Concerns & Comments
a. Lunch time change -parent asked why less time for lunch(students
conveyed less time for lunch). Principal shared that there is no change in
the lunch time. Time is still the same)
b. 6th Grade Chromebook 1:1 Take-home starts at end of the semester.
i. Principal shared that there will be a meeting tomorrow night for
parents from both middle schools. District leader of technology as well
as the DLC (digital learning coaches) and principals will be present to
review the decision and make suggestions for healthy technology use..
1. Question - Can parents opt out? Yes that is an option.
2. Affirmed by staff that some students do opt out and leave their
devices here overnight, using their home device to complete
homework.
3. Principal also shared he will make this option available
tomorrow night and also discuss the weight of back-pack with
the device.
c. New Website Questions/Discussion
i. Daily Announcements was a concern -but now see that it is
available.
1. Principal noted that some links are truly missing and some
pages need to be rebuilt.
2. Need to get full editorial privileges for at least one person at
the school- most of this is in the hands of central office right
now.
3. Parents mentioned that the website appears much cleaner.
IV. Review of 2018-2019 Clarke Youth Risk Behavior Survey results; answers to our
questions developed during our Dec. 4 meeting
a. Comparative Data from 2017 YRBS (Middlesex League 2017) as well as
commonwealth and 2019.
i. With respect to suicide: Our numbers in LPS middle schools have
stayed fairly consistent over the past few years. *Note there is no
nation/state wide comparative data for suicide. Only comparison is at
the high school level.
ii. Principal shared our work here at the middle school about the topic of
suicide.
1. SOS training for students
2. Staff-trained every three years. How to identify students at
risk as well as how to manage students at risk.
3. Parent asked what grades participated? 7th and 8th graders are
the only students who participate in this survey.
4. Parent shared that at LHS demands go up, hormones, substance
abuse and other factors lead to the increase in suicidal tendency
at the high school level.
5. Parent shared that her child (8th grader) conveyed her feelings
about being the youngest again next year(in 9th grade) at the
high school
6. Parent(of high schooler) shared that LHS does a nice job
gradually preparing the Freshmen class in during the first
quarter.
7. LHS is moving toward an advisory period where homeroom
becomes a more regular community building time.
8. Principal shared that that is a vision for the middle schools as
well over the next 3-5 years.
b. Stress (Middlesex)
i. School demands as most stressful: 36.2%
ii. Family issues as most stressful: 9%
1. Parent shared that sometimes school demands come from the
home (e.g. parent expectations)put demands on students of
taking the hardest classes (AP) and participate in clubs, etc.
2. Parent also shared that it becomes a common pressure for all
students as the students see others taking harder classes and
doing more. It is a part of the culture of LHS and the town.
3. Principal referred to the LPS Strategic Plan as well as the idea
of how we define success. Noted that there are many factors to
the college admissions process. It would be interesting to see
how the stress data is dispersed between the 9th, 10th, 11th,
and 12th grades.
4. Parent shared that has many friends with children in college
and they are very well prepared.
5. Parent question -How does this information inform your work
as a middle school principal?
6. Principal explained that he would like to conduct a survey with
students, staff, and families to obtain more data around how
and why students are feeling this. How much is curricular and
over-preparing students?
7. Parent noted that middle schoolers are going to be stressed and
why shouldn't they be stressed about school at 11, 12, and 13
years of age. Not going eliminate stress, but can alleviate it.
8. Parent noted that how the question is written would get more to
the points. Can't be a rank order question.
9. Principal mentioned that we as adults need to be careful about
how we talk about stress - so as not to add to the feeling for
students.
c. Tobacco and Electronic Vaping
i. Ever Used ENDD (Electronic Nicotine Device): 4.3%, 1.83%, 8.9%
ii. Currently Using ENDD: 1.8%, .5 8%, 5.4%
1. Cigarette use did not follow this trend.
2. We have seen a pronounced jump in vaping in both the
Middlesex League as well as at our high school.
3. Middlesex League numbers were on par with the
Commonwealth
4. Parent asked nurse what she sees here at the middle school
a. Nurse shared very difficult to detect
b. The open reporting that we do receive is not reflecting
the data we see here
c. Parent question: What happens if you catch a student at
Clarke?
d. Principal: This is a help response. We have a protocol
with the school nurse, SRO, Julie Fenn at the high
school.
d. Alcohol & Illicit Drug Use
1. Also seeing a jump in "ever tried Marijuana" at the middle
school level.
V. Continued Review 2019-2020 SIP progress
VI. Adj ourn
Next Meeting -February 5th