HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-09-15-Diamond-min
Diamond School Site Council Meeting
Date:
9/15/10
Members Present:
Anne Carothers
Rick Comeau
Diane Corbett
Margaret Counts-Klebe
Ann Redmon
Judi Robinson
Deborah Rourke
Amit Roy (joined meeting in progress)
Phyllis Sachar
Matt Schnall
Kelly Tzannes
Minutes:
The meeting began with council members introducing themselves and their children or roles.
Each member also shared something about their own experience in middle school / junior high
school.
Ms. Carothers then shared about the general purpose of the council. She highlighted the
possibilities for this council to be a wonderful “think tank” for Diamond, a place where multiple
constituencies come together to think through issues and find new ideas and common ground.
This committee serves as an advisory body for the principal, to help Diamond improve student
achievement. The council is tasked to understand the budget pieces that are relevant to this
mission, to approve the School Improvement Plan, and to work on issues of school safety. Ms.
Carothers passed out an excerpt from the law, a copy of the Lexington School Committee Policy
on School Councils, and the Diamond School Council By-Laws.
Ms. Carothers led a discussion of group norms. Members thought about their own hopes and
concerns for the council’s work this year. These were shared and listed, and then the group
looked for ways to articulate norms that would ensure that hopes were achieved, and concerns
avoided. The group agreed upon the following norms:
use positive, open-minded, honest, and respectful communication within the council
work towards consensus
set attainable and relevant goals, and accomplish them in a timely manner
create effective communication links between the council and its various constituencies (into
the council and out of the council)
be mindful of time: “air time”, time-keeping around agenda items, start and end times…
be flexible (about agendas and ideas)
keep our mission in mind
The council then chose Matt Schnall as this year’s co-chair, and agreed that meeting dates for the
rest of the year would be scheduled on a rotating basis, with meetings held on in a 7:00-8:45 pm
time block on Mondays and in 5:00-6:45 pm and 6:00-7:45 pm time blocks on Wednesdays. Mr.
Schnall and Ms. Carothers agreed to circulate a schedule of meetings to the group by e-mail.
Finally, Ms. Carothers passed out a draft of this year’s School Improvement Plan (SIP). She
spoke briefly about some of the context that forms the backdrop to the plan. In response to
initiative fatigue, Lexington created a committee to explore all initiatives and chart them. (See
attached) Schools then thought about site-based goals; when these goals were compared across
the district, there was considerable overlap, and so the administration team decided to create two
goals with the same language that all schools would use in creating their individual plans. The
goals would be the same; the implementation steps would be up to each school to develop. Ms.
Corbett, who served on the Town-wide committee, provided additional background on the
committee’s work.
Ms. Carothers explained that a team of Diamond teachers and administrators had gone to a
conference in Vail, Colorado in June. There they learned more about ways to use data to
improve student achievement. This will be shared with faculty on October 8, and will form the
focus for the faculty’s collaborative work this year; teams of teachers will work on developing
teaching strategies to best match the needs of students in front of them now (on both ends of the
success spectrum). As measured by 2009-10 MCAS results, Diamond did not make AYP
(Adequate Yearly Progress) this year for the sub-group of students with special education
supports; this means that as measured by the MCAS, this group of students did not make enough
progress toward the 2014 goal of proficiency for all. Diamond staff will be using their content
level teams to work on additional ways to support these students (and every other student not yet
“proficient”). Ms. Carothers noted, however, that the specific references in the plan to efforts
that will be made on behalf of underperforming students do not detract from Diamond’s
continuing objective to challenge learners at all levels including proficient and advanced
learners.
Finally, Ms. Carothers mentioned the new Anti-Bullying Law, which requires that the district
develop a plan, which schools then implement. This plan has not yet been created, but our SIP
anticipates its creation.
All of this information forms the backdrop for the plan. The plan draft was written this summer
by Ms. Carothers, after extensive conversations with faculty, parents, and district level
administration. Department Chairs and Team Leaders have seen it and given their feedback, as
have teachers who went to the conference in Vail. The council is now tasked to do the same,
looking for clarity, for effective implementation steps, and for the possibility of an additional
goal or goals specific to Diamond.
Mr. Schnall agreed to produce a list of updates to the School Council webpage to reflect the
council’s new membership and email addresses. Mr. Schnall agreed prior to the meeting next
Tuesday to circulate pdf versions of the minutes that have not yet been approved from the 2009-
2010 school year.
Agenda for next meeting:
approval of minutes from 2009-2010 meetings
review and revision of Diamond’s School Improvement Plan