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Harrington School Council Meeting Minutes
October 19, 2010
HSSCMO19,2010
ARRINGTON CHOOL ITE OUNCIL EETING OF CTOBER
IA
: Amy Chamberlain, Suzanne Cherenson, Judy Crocker, Michelle Dardeno,
N TTENDANCE
Susie Lee-Snell, Elaine Mead, Genevieve Ng, Susan Rosie, Liz Sherriff, Grant Smith
E
: none
XCUSED
H
:
ANDOUT
1.Article from Boston.com “The empathy deficit.”
I./
REVIEW OF AGENDASECRETARY
Meeting started at 7:30am with review of agenda items. Michelle offered to take minutes.
II.R
EVIEW OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
The minutes from last month (September 28, 2010) were reviewed and approved with
amendments.
III.S-
CHOOL COUNCIL COCHAIR
Mrs. Mead explained the role and function of the School Council Co-Chair which included
liaison with the Harrington PTA. It was preferable that the co-chair not be a staff member but
rather either a parent or community member. Suzanne Cherenson (parent of a Harrington
Kindergartener) expressed an interest and members unanimously agreed.
IV.P-
ROSOCIAL GOAL
The issue of how to promote pro-social behavior during after-hours events was initiated.
Discussion ensued with various members expressing their observations during many of the
events which included unsupervised students and destruction of school property. Successful
events were noted to include Harrington Hurrah and African Map night.
The group noted a difference between better structured/organized events versus those less so.
Members stressed that balance was key and parents may not have a clear understanding of after-
hours event expectations. Suggestions for successful after-school events included:
a.Develop expectations for after school events
b.Outreach by parents to parents to help set event expectations
c.School-wide communication with general information/expectations including
announcements/flyers
d.Review of event expectations by teachers to students prior to the event
e.Inclusion of student-centered activities during events
f.Clearly delineated areas of school/classroom accessibility during events (e.g.
students not “roaming” the school)
Morning arrival and dismissal are additional areas of concern. Harrington community members
have been noted to speed on the school grounds, ignore parking rules, etc. The suggestion of
speed bumps was mentioned but noted to be against current Fire Department regulations.
Additionally, visitors to the pre-school wing as well as pre-school families may be unaware of
Harrington School grounds / parking lot expectations.
V. LEFR,KG
EPRESENTATIVE IM OLDINGER
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Harrington School Council Meeting Minutes
October 19, 2010
Kim provided an overview of the Lexington Education Foundation (LEF) and its partnership
with the Lexington Publics Schools for over 20 years. She shared that LEF distributed $310,000
to Lexington Schools in 2009-2010 academic year alone. Mechanisms of support include: a)
School Community grants of up to $2500 per elementary school; b) Summer fellowships with
deadline of January 31; c) Program grants (e.g. smart boards, clickers) with concept deadline of
January 31 and applications due March 24. Limitations of the grants include that the grants
cannot be used for staff and other “regular” school budget items.
A request was made to LEF representative to provide list of grants from years’ past to help
stimulate ideas. Kim shared that the majority of grants in recent years have been to support
Open Circle but has included other support such as snowshoes for the Fiske School. Discussion
ensued. Ideas included planning parent educational components including combining with other
schools for wide-reaching projects via School Community Grants.
The communication (getting the word out) regarding LEF was next discussed. For faculty,
suggestions included to invite a LEF representative to a faculty meeting, to bring ideas to the
grant committee prior to formal request and to ask for grant-writing help. For parents, the idea
of an article for the Harrington Herald highlighting LEF-supported programs at Harrington over
the years (e.g. Big Backyard, Mural, Math night, trivia bee, clickers, etc) was discussed.
VI A
DDITIONAL
Elaine Mead and Amy Chamberlain shared a faculty discussion with the Council members
regarding Harrington’s initial work to define pro-social expectations. The work continues with
updates to follow.
Currently, expectations that have been named include: 1. Friendly, 2. Responsible, 3. Resilient,
4. Empathetic, 5. Problem-solvers. We are trying to promote self-awareness, self management,
social awareness, relationships and decision making.
VII C
LOSING
Mrs. Mead distributed an article from Boston.com “The empathy deficit” to be read and
discussed for next meeting/ continued discussions regarding pro-social goals were also noted as
necessary. The meeting adjourned at 8:30am.
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