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Home My WebLink About2020-03-04-CLARKE-min JS MORtV,N e`° Ilia o 0 PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE 4 $ C' p 3 an APRIL 19T. L�xING10 Jonas Clarke Middle School School Site Council Meeting March 4, 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; Jonathan Wettstone, Assistant Principal; Stephanie Swiszcz, Teacher; Nataliya Paquette, Teacher; Lauren Jigarjian, Teacher, Meghan Kilpatrick, Teacher; Michelle Wright, Nurse; Jennifer Velis, Parent;Rucha Londhe, Parent; Kimberly Hensle-Lowrence. L Welcome a. Review & Approve Minutes from February 5, 2020 i. Principal asked attendees to scan minutes and provide feedback ii. Motion to approve b. Determine April Meeting Date i. April 8, 2020 at 7AM 11. Public Comment a. No public comments. III. Other Issues/Comments for Discussion a. Principal - as we head into the Spring, PTO wanted an accurate count on site council seats (Velis, Londhe). b. Principal - any questions in regards to Coronavirus response by district. i. Parent- students concerned around the hysteria around soap, sanitizer and masks being scooped up. ii. Principal - district emergency team met and discussed strategies to better sanitize the school. Additionally, discussed with staff jokes associated with the virus - not appropriate. IV. Discussion of 2020-2021 SIP a. Goal 2 - Social & Emotional i. Action I - Build relationships with students. 1. Student Advisory - hear student voice in different ways to improve relationships. 2. Clarke Climate Committee -looking to implement a survey to gather more feedback 3. Peer Leader opportunities, such as Celtics Playbook and LHS peer leader programming. 4. Authentic -teacher and students led fundraiser for Australia ii. Action 2 - Diversity Equity & Inclusion 1. promote understanding and acceptance, including professional learning opportunities. 2. District wide PD in March -I'm not a racist, am I? is a film all staff with watch and process. 3. PLC work- curriculum connections. Are we inclusive and where does it show up in the curriculum. 4. Math placement- earlier identification from 5th-6th for students needing more help. 5. Examining conduct logs -looking for trends in the data and if we're still seeing the same demographics. We examine to see why students are being sent to the office - commonalities? Possible school committee presentation in the near future. 6. PBIS -BARK -looking to increase inclusion, acceptance, etc iii. Principal opened the floor for questions and comments regarding the two actions steps. 1. Parent-looking at this year, has anything come up that would encourage you to change things going forward? a. While relationships is/are a great action step, we are looking for institutional change. We're looking for professional development and policy change. 2. Parent-what's the percentage of students and staff of color? How does that affect their ability to connect? a. District has instituted policies in place to change practices and increase diversity. 3. Teacher- have seen major step forward in terms of relationship building. Looking now to see individual efforts turn into a whole school movement. a. Principal confirmed - looking for a whole school movement- needing more to get involved. 4. Teacher- what do students get sent to the office for on a daily basis? a. Parent-is this a safety concern or a relationship thing? b. AP - consistent relationship theme. Either student-student or student-staff. c. Principal -looking at"restorative circle" training. Discussing relationships and managing relationships. d. Teacher- we have a number of staff in a collaborative problem solving class, where we are discussing this very issue. Instead of escalating the situation - asking more questions and seeking for the root of the issue. e. Parent-looks like that's not always possible in the larger classes, but in small settings, it gives you the ability to host these sessions. f. Parent-if you work on the kid/personal stuff, it increases the relationship and can be applied to other classrooms. I would also suggest-this is another opportunity for student leadership. Discussed LHS student panel, gaining perspective and easing tension. g. Parent- sharing behavior log, professional development, and options to continue the conversations around the school. h. Principal -these conversations take place at the team meetings. We start with relationships and now need to move to strategies and policy to make things consistent. This is all feedback- need to continue working on this goal moving forward (major focus in faculty meetings). iv. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion - principal reviewed the action step. 1. Parent-while we have teacher/school voice, we don't seem to have a student voice. 2. Principal - as a teacher, if you don't have the training and baseline knowledge, you can't lead that conversation in the classroom. 3. Parent- how does this work into the curriculum, such as literature read in the classrooms? a. Principal - discussed traditional novels and how they have been used in the past. Now looking to keep the focus on"theme," but to move away from novels that don't match the population. Now giving more choice with 4 different books to choose from -book groups. b. Parent- son is in AP history and is the only white student in the classroom. It's a flipped classroom and white history is not so great, so it generates great conversations. c. Principal -best time to host the conversations takes place during curriculum review. There are literal guidelines, policies and lenses in place. i. Parent- how does this work in math? ii. Teacher- tracking placement, supports and levels and how it affects different groups. How can we adjust to better meet student needs. 4. Parent-is there an action step for students to be involved? a. Parent-focus on gathering feedback on the curriculum and how it connects (or not)to their culture. b. Principal - currently gathering reactive feedback, which informs decisions and creates a better product and process. This also creates some tension within the classroom - more tentative when it comes to addressing topics in the classroom. V. Action steps -How do we increase student voice in this goal? VI. Adjourn -Motion to adj ourn was approved.