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PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE a
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APRIL 19T.
LEXIN G'�0
Jonas Clarke Middle School
School Site Council Meeting
February 5, 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 Riseborough, Parent; Jennifer Velis, Parent;
Hongmei Zhang, Parent;Rucha Londhe, Parent
I. Welcome
a. Review& Approve Minutes from January 8, 2020
i. Parent question -Have the new policies been implemented? Is this
data from when the new homework policy has been implemented?
ii. Principal acknowledges yes. Implemented late November.
b. Determine March Meeting Date
i. Date of next meeting March 4, 2020
II. Public Comment
a. Parent question: Is the amount of fighting coming home is typical? Also
the amount of racist comments that are being stated?
b. Principal: We have discovered that there was a rumor about the use of the
N word with a recent fight
c. Parents: dinner discussions with the N word being used in multiple ways
and much more often.
d. Principal: We have created a committee to work with pro-active
curriculum to deal with the N word and other derogatory language. Next
meeting is the 28th of February.
e. Parent question: Do you think these things were said? Or, do you think it
is just a rumor?
f. Principal: Interview students independently. The specific statement has
not come up with any of the students.
g. Parent: shared that this came up during the incident two Fridays ago,
waiting for the bus.
h. Parent: the bar has been lowered across the board about what is acceptable
i. Principal: we are trying to work at this through the lense of peer leadership
as well. Sources of Strength program. Ms. Barry-Ng just yesterday
conducted the first Celtics Playbook Initiative with a group of 7th grade
student leaders and the idea is to spread this work.
j. Parent: Could you do an all school assembly with a cool, hip person that
could convey the message?
k. Parent: Even my own child with his skin has questions about what he can
say or others can say or do.
1. Assistant Principal: explanation of Celtics Playbook Initiative
m. Teacher: LEA run program called, "Locals facing racism" - two-teachers
talked about microaggressions throughout their lives. This was a very
powerful program, people were tearing.
n. Parent: Even small groups of four with smaller microaggressions -just
providing students with the tools on how to combat that. Students don't
know how to manage when they are not enjoying working with someone.
o. Principal - Chromebooks for 6th grade. We have a charging cart in the
front office for any student not wanting to take home their Chromebook.
Just want to make sure an email was sent to all students and parents to
communicate that there with this option, hope parents will know we
support them if they choose for their children not to bring home their
device.
III. Other Issues/Comments for Discussion
a. Coronavirus
i. Parent: Lexington's Chinese community has many family members in
China and they know much more than the news is sharing. Right now
30 cities have been locked down. They are short on medical supplies,
short on hospital space. Also, we know about the transmission via
air-born droplets. Some Chinese families have family members that
have recently come back from China. Just two weeks ago there was
Lunar New Year, many of these families had traveled back to China at
this time. Because of this, some students want to self-quarantine
themselves to stay out of school and keep from spreading the virus in
case they are infected. What can the school do to help with the
absences and missed days of education.
ii. Nurse: We did have a conference call with the Mass dept. health. We
don't always know when a student is absent, why they were absent-
unless they tell us they were traveling to China.
iii. Principal: Administrative Council meets today and we will discuss
how we as a district can support the self-quarantine.
iv. Parent: Just spoke with a parent who has children at LHS and
Diamond. He works for a company that has frequent travel to China.
He wrote an extensive letter and sent the superintendent his company's
policy and how they handled it. If companies are losing money and
putting human health first, the school should do the same.
v. Parent: Also concerned about the bullying of Chinese students wearing
masks. This was on the news.
vi. Parent: Concerned that 8th graders are very obsessive about this.
Teachers need to know that this is a concern among the students.
vii. Parent: Disagree with the letter from the superintendent. It states that
the risk of coronavirus is less than the risk of contracting the flu. This
is much worse than the flu and much bigger than what is being
reported.
viii. Principal: reiterated that he will bring this concern to Administrative
Council today.
ix. Principal: Will also send a message to staff about discussion of this
topic and an awareness of students who are extremely concerned about
his and worry about the coronavirus.
IV. Preliminary Discussion of 2020-2021 SIP
a. Principal: Would like to engage in a conversation around how we work
through this year's SIP and how to develop next year's SIP.
b. Parent: Can you give a big picture about how this is organized?
c. Principal: Major topics: Academic Performance, Social-Emotional, and
Safety. Those are set by the district. However, how each school sets the
actions and implementation steps are placed in our hands.
d. Parent: In the past,just discussion of the goals has been helpful.
e. Principal: We could approach this goal by goal - or the entire document.
f. Parent: Goal by goal sounds logical
g. Teacher: That sounds like a good idea. Never done it that way before.
h. Principal: Discussion over goals and where to start
i. Assistant-Principal: Explanation of District-Safety Committee and the
work done.
j. Principal: Suggests starting with Goal #2 First: Social-Emotional. We will
review this SIP Goal #2 and focus on this in our March 4, 2020 meeting.
V. Adj ourn