HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-04-13-Hastings-minSCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING APRIL, 13, 2005
Present: Lynne Stinson, Reem Yared, Sue Campbell, Jessie Steigerwald, Tammy
Mulligan, Janet Lane, Beth Somers Sutzman.
BULLYING PREVENTION:
Upcoming talk sponsored by PTA. There, is a great deal of interest in
bullying prevention due to issues arising in several grades. Celeste and
Lynne have been meeting with the 5th grade girls using the help of a video
to generate discussion. Most of the bullying has been from home via email.
Children found bullying have had some of the 5th grade year end events
denied them as a consequence for their behavior. Problems have arisen at
other grade levels.
Jessie Steigerwald presented some policy guidelines regarding bullying
behavior from Estabrook and from a High School in England. Several people
present discussed their desire to have some common language between grade
levels, carried throughout the school and taught to parents so that simple
concepts could be understood and reinforced. The Hastings staff were all
trained in the "Responsive Classroom" antibullyi.ng program, but this
information is adapted individualistically and has not been taught to
parents. Currently each classroom teacher works on developing pro- social
behaviors in their own way and language used is different grade to grade
because age and ability levels vary widely. We have no common "slogan" or
touchstone phrase used across all grades. Several people wished for
something posted in the halls that was simple enough for all children.
The Open Circe program will come to Hastings and Estabrook next year. This
will involve staff training, and probably a parent training will be
included. This may the opportunity to invent a common language or adopt a
phrase to focus the school community on postive behavior..
Reem Yared and Celeste Freeman are working on describing Hastings current
practices regarding bully prevention . A written description will be posted
on the Hastings Website when it is done. A first draft has been written.
An Office Report Form is currently used at Hastings when a child is found
to be bullying. The form asks a child to explain why they were sent to the
office, what they did wrong, and what ways their behavior could be changed
or alternate actions they could have taken. This form is signed by a parent
and staff person and is written by or with the child. Lynne said her file
of Office Report Forms is relatively small for a school our size.
LUNCH:
Reem presented a floor plan of the cafeteria serving area with suggestions
on how to make the serving lines flow more efficiently. She and Lynne will
meet with Cathleen Higgins to present these ideas to Chartwell, the company
that manages our lunch program.. Parents should continue to be encouraged
to buy lunch tickets to make serving lines move more quickly.
SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS:
Tammy Mulligan and Janet Lane agreed to work on this. May 9 will be the
deadline for candidates to submit a statement of their skills and interest.
LIST SERVE:
Jessie Steigerwald and Anne Khudari have offered to work on the actual data
entry and on posting the content to the list serve. Tammy Mulligan will
speak with the PTA leadership to make sure we are ready to go forward with
creating a Hastings List serve. Parents will have to submit their names to
show they want to be listed, we will not use emails obtained for other
purposes to create the list serve.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN:
Beginning in the May meeting we will agree on the topics to be covered and
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delegate who is to write each section.