HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-03-01-Hastings-min
Site Council Minutes 3/1/2010
In attendance:
Louise Lipsitz, Principal
Nancy Campbell, Assistant Principal/Team Chair (note taker)
Katie Boudreau, PE Teacher
Shioka Kudo, Special Education Teacher
Susan LaMarca, Parent
Ilene Benghiat, Parent
Next Meeting 5/3/2010
School Improvement Plan (SIP): to be reviewed at next meeting along with the Excellence and Equity Report
Survey planning for next meeting: Susan will send last year’s survey around for review.
Katie Boudreau, Ilene Benghiat and Susan LaMarca reviewed and discussed the meeting on Saturday 2/27/2010
regarding “Effective School Council Meetings”
They found it helpful, informative in how it clarified roles and gave great examples of some effective site councils’
work.
Hastings Site Council needs to post the minutes and meeting dates publicly through Town Hall (Nancy Campbell
will email Donna the minutes, and Ilene will email her the dates for meetings. archives@ci.lexington.ma.us is her
email address.
With regard to the specific take-aways from that Saturday information session, it was made clear that that site
council’s role in the budget process is advisory. The council discussed that it’d be helpful to know the district goals
well beforehand so that they could have a more effective role in helping to review, understand and collaborate on the
school improvement plan’s goals, as they are directly linked to the district goals.
MCAS:
Administered since 1998
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Proved some helpful information to teachers (item analysis) and copy of the 4 grade essay. Item analysis is
available to parents as well on the DESE website.
Aligned with state’s frameworks
Teaching to prepare for the test is a good thing, in that we are teaching how to respond to a writing prompt, how to
use context to answer comprehension questions, strategies for test taking
Scheduling:
Assess in the beginning of the day
Specialist classes are reorganized so that classes who are testing can go to their specialist
Accommodations: for students with identified special needs (ex. Small group, 1:1, use of technology) all impact the
schedule on those calendar days when we are testing
Classroom environment may change. What was group seating may become rows of student desks for the testing
environment. That is one example of how the schedule and environment may feel different to students and teachers.
Always trying to teach students to be independent thinkers so that MCAS is something they can do on their own.
Dates:
March
Eileen: “How do teachers feel about MCAS”?
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Dana: Many students ask for help, so building independence is key. PLC group for 4 grade has been looking at
MCAS and helping to drive instruction and support to students. Stressful~ for sure.
PE is a great release for them. PE classes are less discussion, and more activity.
Eileen: How we balance MCAS and district performance; MCAS is one point.