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Home My WebLink About2021-01-11-LHS-min ' 0*, LEXINGTON I G S C N,,,,,10 ::;;;; Andrew Stephens, Ed.D. (781) 861-2320, ext. 69103 Principal astephens@lexingtonma.org Meeting: Jan. 11, 2021 Via Zoom Present:Andrew Stephens, Cathy Swan, Ling Yang, Karen Griffiths, Liz Curtin, Erin Barrett, Walter Richardson, Nancy Shepard, Angela Chang, Kate Riley, Sam Offsey, Jen Roney, Sam Simon, Khoi Li, Suzanne Lau, Welcome: Sam Simon, new class rep for Class of 2023 Goodbye: Katie Cutler, community member - thank you for your years of service! Current Events *Events in Washington last week at Capitol -what occurred had an impact on our school community and nation -administration sent letter to staff, parents and students to give community the opportunity to discuss -Friday's newsletter stated reflections -provided some guidelines for teachers to talk about it with students -Counseling Department was available -this week we will have groups to discuss further if students want -google Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech -spoke about his own experience growing up in Austria -captures essence and offers perspective -some teachers didn't know what was happening at the Capitol until after -taught last 2 blocks on Wed. not knowing -if we had all been in school, we all would have known at the same time -could have talked about it while it was happening -US history teacher in class with juniors screen shared live news and they watched it together until 3:10. -stayed online for anyone who wanted to see it -didn't see those kids again until Monday -one of the weird things about Hybrid -talked about it again today -powerful but emotionally exhausting -student perspective - teachers did a good job debriefing and discussing -Thursday B block- teacher didn't say anything about it but on Monday apologized and said they need to talk about it -another teacher didn't know anything about it until 6 pm -teaching remote so was isolated -hyper-focused on kids so feels we lose context and unaware of what is going on in the world -underscores weird bubble we are in -parent perspective- thought kids had great discussions in their classes -how does counseling work? -can't drop in anymore -have to email counselor to ask to talk -different kids need different things -normalcy and routine are good -don't want to get into grief mode -teachers had a phone number they could call if they saw a student who needed immediate help -some kids need to process it longer and aren't ready to talk right away -can talk to parent or teacher, not just counselor -students felt there was definitely a space carved out to talk and recap events -some felt it was hard to talk in those situations because they didn't know what to say but all agreed it was good that it was acknowledged and the gesture was there -impacting different people in different ways -remote situation added a whole other set of issues -all of these issues are the reason we are moving towards an advisory model -teachers team up and the whole school can have the conversation across the board at the same time -will stop different kids having different discussions at different times which can be overwhelming for some -some teachers would rather have discussion with their students not advisory group because they know them better -not necessarily mutually exclusive -we are not ready for that yet Updates *January 29th is end of 2nd quarter *We will be back in school in hybrid mode unless we hear something different *PTO Forums -Life after LHS -Zoom format allowed kids to participate who already went back to college *Surveillance Testing Review-PCR test based on saliva sample -6-8 week testing period -not sure how that will work with Gov. Baker's plan for surveillance testing -this has been in the works for a long time -beginning Jan. 12 of staff -12-4 come to school to pick up test -register test and consent via google form -complete test at home -return test on Wed -each cohort will have different days to pick up and return tests -tests are conducted in pools -if a positive test occurs within pool, they will test further to determine which pair -will notify participant and start contact tracing -not for RLA students -each test is $13 -would we switch to total remote schedule? -has I Block -but if only for 2 weeks it would be difficult -this week we are working on messaging for next week so students know what to do -kids really need to read the letters coming from Dr. Hackett and newsletter -website: lexsgetscreened -video of how to do it *Budget Update (FY 22) -Different scenarios possbile -worst case scenario- we have to cut things -we are not there -best case- the things Dr. Stephens asked for are granted because of increasing enrollment and Special Ed -asked for FTE increase with general teachers and administrative (dean team) and counseling -not getting this -modest, if any, increase of FTE for next year -need to be mindful of allocation -base this on need -we received a 5.4 FTE bump 2 years ago -this is a cushion because the student increase was not as great as predicted -we are looking at 50-80 new students next year -student increase in numbers has been going down since 2017 -still going up but not at the same rate -Budget constraints have been the trend and we are in a pandemic so it will be a tight year -Lexington is in a unique place to weather this storm -Will have more updates next meeting after Dr. Hackett presents to the School Committee *Statement of interest for new LHS -any idea what is going on? -no -don't know what pandemic is doing to the entire process Curriculum discussion pushed to next meeting Meeting adjourned