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Home My WebLink About2020-12-22-LHS-min ' 0*, LEXINGTON I G S C N,,,,,10 ::;;;; Andrew Stephens, Ed.D. (781) 861-2320, ext. 69103 Principal astephens@lexingtonma.org December 22, 2020 LHS Site Council Minutes Via zoom Present: Andrew Stephens, Cathy Swan, Nancy Shepard, Karen Griffiths, Angela Chang, Suzanne Lau, Sam Offsey, Liz Curtin, Lyn Yang, Katie Riley, Jen Roney, Walter Richardson, Khoi Le, Erin Barrett Absent : Katie Cutler Approved November Minutes Good News *Yearbook Award -LHS yearbook was awarded the gold medal from Columbia Scholastic Newsletter -this is so impressive because most yearbooks are a class and LHS yearbook is done entirely outside of school hours *History Class Presentations -Ms. Barrett's class did all their presentations remotely -they used one slide deck so Ms. Barrett could move it along and students started their presentation when one student finished and it was their turn -tech win! NEASC Accreditation *LHS had collaborative visit 2 years ago *LHS did a report 3 years ago *Every 10 years they do a deep dive -postponed until April 2021 due to Covid -usually a 4 day visit of 10 people -will be 100% remote this year -it will be less work -it will be cheaper since we don't have to host visitors in a hotel -will not be too disruptive -will visit classes via zoom Youth Risk Behavior Survey *Based on CDC national survey *will go online Feb. 4, 2021 *Lexington committee tailors survey to LPS needs and issues -Covid -drug and alcohol use -bullying -sexual activity -driving -stress MCAS It has been a ton of work to get ready but we are ready -was supposed to be in January -must be in school -5 days of asynchronous learning -cohorts A and B in separate buildings *State postponed MCAS for juniors until the spring -both groups (10 and 11 grade) will be in the spring -will have its own logistical issues PSAT *Juniors -only available to juniors this year because of Covid -there were too many kids to accommodate with 10th and 11 th grades -National Merit awarded only to juniors -College Board made a test available in January but only during school hours -PSAT 10 test will run as practice for sophomores -late March on a Friday afternoon LHS 1 Wireless Account *Conducted a full audit of LPS platform and cyber security -getting rid of LHS 1 *Never supposed to be for students' use -students have used it on their personal devices to access internet -sucks a lot of bandwidth -lots of Netflix, youtube -not secure *There will be a new LHS wireless -only for school devices -will not need a password -guest wifi piece -what about kids who need to dial out -life threatening allergies? *LHS 1 was supposed to go away on Jan. 4 -felt this was too abrupt -will be a huge cultural shift for students -will be a 2 month process -can fix any issues -kids will have to use school device *Students will have access to internet on own platform if they are using a non school device *Will not be able to host a zoom meeting through school email -can use google hangout *Workarounds will have to be put in place If students are at home they can use whatever device they choose Updates *Budget (FY 2022) -between now and end of year, budget will be razor thin -have no idea what next year's budget will look like -we are in a holding pattern *Tech Update -ordered Sabra 510 for every large class in building -backordered -hopefully will arrive soon *Covid Update -travel expectations for Winter Break -don't travel -if you do you will need to quarantine for 14 days before you can return to school -if you want to take a PCR test you must wait 8 days -the day you return is day 0 -if it is negative you can return to school -more testing? -some school districts are doing it -we may join pool testing -teachers have been asking for it since August -this could limit number of people who get it -not sure if this is realistic -we have a lot of students -very expensive -where does the money come from? -budget? -private donation? -if we pick up more asynchronous cases we would have to shut down for a week or 2 -this could also limit number of people who get it -hopefully cases would abate over time *Winter Sports Update -there will be some winter sports -no swimming -no wrestling -any student participating in a winter sport must go remote for season -at-risk students who participate in a sport but are not a good educational fit for remote may continue hybrid and participate -need to identify those kids -in process now -Governor cut many arenas from 40% to 25% occupancy -will need to see what happens over the month of January -cases are ramping up *2nd Semester -what we are doing currently is what we will be doing for the foreseeable future -can't go back to pre-pandemic way before end of year -only possible change is if we switch cohorts around -both cohorts would come in in the same week but fewer days and not on the same day *RLA (Remote Learning Academy) -number of remote kids is higher that it was in the fall -hybrid system makes it easy to go between -right now there are 940 remote students -this includes kids who started year as remote and then added a bunch -big increase after Thanksgiving -there is not a specific number of cases that would push us to fully remote -Dr. Hackett would decide -there are still 1300 kids coming to school spread out over 2 cohorts -teachers bear the brunt of synchronous/hybrid system -one teacher only sees 5 students in school -some days the teacher is the only one in classroom -surreal experience -may see this swing the other way in the spring as vaccine comes online *Staff and Parent Survey -LPS: 2710 responses -overall response rate of 39.2% -LHS: 944 responses -roughly even over all the grades -Special Ed: 124/944 -200/944 receiving special services -takeaways -made improvements from June to November -parents feel staff is supporting instruction -phased in learning was very difficult -some classes met far fewer times -cross section of opinions -want more ways for kids to interact with each other and teachers -will do the survey again in the spring -communication seems well received *Program of Studies -will come out late Jan. or early Feb. with more info -no new classes for next year -we are in a holding pattern *Seniors -this year's seniors have had zero time together -what can we do about this? -graduation -need to know if we are using Tsongas Center by March -right now can't gather more than 20 people *How's It Going? -not many high school students in other towns and schools are getting the synchronous learning schedule -is there a virtual rock room? -can kids interact for social/emotional needs? -can we utilize students' free periods to help them connect? -how and who will supervise? -number of kids who are turning off camera is on the rise -ironic that parents want more face time with teachers -teachers and students agree that class goes better when cameras are on -if everyone has camera off, then you feel weird to have your camera on -if 50% of class has the on, then most people feel comfortable putting them on -kids who really need to keep them off, keep them off -would really help teachers if kids had camera on -need to be engaged -can we create something similar to I Block? -will come at a price of something else -many teachers feel they are missing kids who need help because they have no time to meet with them on a weekly basis Meeting adjourned