HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-10-21-Bridge-minBridge School Site Based Council
October 21, 2011
Members Present: Meg Colella, Naomi Priver, Susan Orenstein, Lucia Gates,
Lisa Diamant, Jenny Lisle, Nimisha Asthaquiri, Erin Maguire, Michele Welch,
Jill O'Reilly, Sean Osborne, Rebecca Moore
Agenda:
1. Bridge Renovation Update
2. School Improvement Plan Update
3, Financial Literacy Curriculum
1. Renovation:
Meg said that the renovation committee has been looking at samples and colors
for tiles that will be used in the hallways and bathrooms. She passed around
some of the colors and pattern choices. The faculty has been told that they will
have some input into the colors used. At a faculty meeting, Meg asked staff to
think about colors of wings and classroom colors. The classrooms will be
painted, too.
Lockers are not included in the renovation, but more lockers are needed because
we do not have enough for all students and some have to share.
Rebecca Moore (PTA President) has been working with an override committee of
about 15 members. They need a spokesperson. The committee has met four
times and the PTA Presidents are hoping to write letters to the Minuteman and to
Town Meeting members to advocate for the renovations. The public will be given
information about the renovations and educated as to the need to pass the
override. Letters will be sent out to all citizens of Lexington. Funds need to be
raised to pay for the communication. One possibility is to take pictures of the
boiler room for public information (You Tube).
The canopy in front of the building has been taken out of the equation. Also, the
windows' cost has been taken out to save money and it may be possible to add
this as an alternate project. Some of the bidders may want to include windows in
their bids to be more competitive.
Site Council members are encouraged to tell others that the project is important
and is the best solution for Bridge.
Meg will be writing a one page handout about the importance of the renovations
and the School Committee must approve it before it can be sent out.
Susan asked if the windows are a safety consideration, but was told they are not.
November 14, 2011 will be a special Town Meeting to vote to put this on a
Special Warrant and the vote for the override (debt exclusion) will be held some
time in January 2012. Meg will talk to Pat Goddard about the possibility of a tour
for the Town Meeting Members.
2. School Improvement Plan Update
At a staff meeting on Oct. 20, 2011, teachers and our math specialist (Jean Kelly)
and Department Head (Karen Tripoli) started to organize a Math Intervention
block. All children were given pre - assessements after teacher defined skills for
the priority standards for math. The intervention block will have grade level
teams dividing the classes up between teachers to work on skills. The groups
will be extension groups, practice groups and instructional groups. Intervention
blocks will take place one time per week for a 45 minute period.
3. Financial Literacy
Sean researched programs for schools that promote and teach financial literacy.
By the time the students get to high school, it is too late and elementary students
will benefit from this instruction. There are resources from the federal
government as well as potential private businesses, such as banks. TD Bank
sponsored programs in Vermont by getting books about finances into the
classrooms. He printed out some articles for the Site Council members to read.
Naomi had all present fill out information for the Town of Lexington /Annual
Notification /School Council Membership.
Next Meeting:
An e-mail will be sent.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Diamant