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`FxI NG_ 17 Stedman Road ❖ Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
Steven H. Flynn, Ed.D., Principal Office: (781) 861 -2450
Anna W. Monaco, Assistant Principal Fax: (781) 674 -2043
Jennifer E. Turner, Assistant Principal
Site Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 2011
In Attendance: Steven Flynn, Principal; Anna Monaco, Assistant Principal; Jennifer Turner,
Assistant Principal; Torrance Lewis, Teacher; Dina Savitz, Parent; Lorelle Yee, Parent; George
Murghnahan, Parent; Suzanne Cherenson, Parent.
I. Approval of June 2, 2011 Meeting Minutes
Minutes reviewed and approved
IL Welcome New Members — Dr. Flynn introduced Torrance Lewis, Clarke's Learning
Center teacher as well as Suzanne Cherenson, a new parent representative for the
2011 -2012. All members introduced themselves. Teacher explained the role of the
Learning Center in the building (a general education support program at Clarke.)
Administration explained the Child Study process (a pre-referral process for special
education) and make up of the Child Study team.
III. Site council Meeting Update — Dr. Flynn reported on the meeting with Dr. Ash and
Site council co- chairs about the site council meeting process. Parent: reported things
to remember regarding the open meeting law: meetings posted, public could come in,
times and places need to be posted, record all members present, general notes, no
names other than the principal. If there is a vote we need to have a quorum. (50% +1).
Parent: also reported that Dr. Ash mentioned there will be a roundtable follow up
meeting.
IV. 2010 -2011 School Improvement Plan
Dr. Flynn passed out the 2010 -2011 School Improvement Plan with final updates.
This is the plan that will be turned into the Central Office.
V. 2011 -2012 School Goals:
Dr. Flynn passed out the draft of the 2011 -2012 school goals. The goals are the same
as last year's goals with different implementation steps. Dr. Flynn mentioned that
even though we only have two goals, they are overarching many things that we do.
This simplifies the process. The way this is formatted, it leaves room for updates etc.
Implementation is what have we done or what are we planning on doing throughout
the year. Monitoring is who or how will we monitor our goals.
a. Clarke Administrators recalled what the Data Summit 2011 was about and what
we discussed. Our upcoming PD days will be focused on the data cycle. Different
content teams are in different places with regards to the data team process. LPS
had over 100 people (K -12) at the data summit this summer.
b. Dr. Flynn reviewed the new Department Head Model at the middle school level
and what that looks like. This will help with consistency district wide. We want
consistency but not lock step. Students should have common experiences whether
you go to Clarke or Diamond. Dept Heads teach one class at Clarke and one class
at Diamond. The other half of their job will be for Dept head responsibilities
(such as supervision and evaluation, dept meetings, curriculum, mentoring etc.)
A lot of our faculty meeting times will be dedicated to this work.
c. Clarke Administration reviewed the idea of giving content groups a rubric so that
they can monitor and have feedback for their meetings and data team process.
d. Dr. Flynn discussed the Math Intervention class that we have had in place for
several years. This th th
year we decided not to offer twice a week Math Intervention
classes in 7 and 8 grades due to idea that offering students Math Intervention
four or more days should be more effective. Parent: asked if math levels are
taken into account for placement in Math Intervention. Dr. Flynn emphasized that
we use MCAS scores to place students in Math Intervention. The Math
Intervention teacher meets weekly with the 7 th and 8 th grade Math teachers in
order to preview the curriculum for students. Only previewing MCAS material
has not proven effective, so we moved to giving them the content. Parent: states
that it must build student confidence for a struggling student to preview the
material prior to the math class. The difficulty is pulling students out of
exploratory courses because we only have 33 blocks a week. Parent: asks about
students moving down a math level and how often that happens. Dr. Flynn
explains that in 6 th grade this does happen sometimes. The 6 th grade teachers
administer assessments at the beginning of the year and may have a discussion
about that with the parents.
e. Dr. Flynn shows the site council the Content Meeting Form that teachers use in
their content meetings and states that we will discuss this next meeting. Parent:
asks what a Content Meeting is ands whether it is a PLC? Dr. Flynn answers that
yes, this is our version of a PLC and that it is teachers of the same content area
meeting together to discuss curriculum etc.
VI. Goal 2:
Parent: explains the Collaborative to Reduce Student Stress, which she and
another parent representative are a part of. This summer the collaborative
reconvened and met with Steve in August to find out about the homework policy /
load which was causing some issues for some students. Also there was concern
about teachers consistently posting homework on Teacher Web. Dr. Flynn states
that we are meeting with team leaders tomorrow. We used to have Team Time
during the day every Thursday. A few years ago we took that away and extended
the learning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last year we put it back in on Thursdays
to allow teams to have Team Time for team building and assemblies. It became
confusing for teachers to figure out when we had it. Teachers have also been
asking for time to intervene with students who are struggling. This year we are
adding back the block every week to be used for Intervention / Enrichment time.
Tomorrow we will be getting input from the team leaders about the I/E block and
we will discuss expectations about homework, tests and posting HW on the web.
6 th grade team teachers this year have no duties and instead have two team
meetings a week. They needed another meeting in order to get through their team
agendas. Parent: brought up the idea of teachers coming up with a syllabus for
the course or what is coming up. Dr. Flynn acknowledges that this would be
helpful but that something that specific would be very difficult and that different
content areas will look differently. Parent: feels that she has a different take and
that it's not just about the content but about the planning process and having
students figure the planning out on their own. It's not about knowing everything
that is coming up but that it is about making sure that is all developmentally
appropriate. Discussion about the meeting this summer and that it was not just
about homework and the homework load. Dr. Flynn also tells the committee that
we also hear from parents that feel that we are not challenging their students
enough.
a. Bess update — Clarke Administration explains what universal screening is and
how it is used to be proactive about students that may be struggling emotionally.
b. Rachel's Challenge update on assemblies — Grade level assemblies in October to
review and renew Rachel's Challenge. For the 6 th grade assembly there will be
more information.
c. Parent: asks if there are other assemblies than Rachel's Challenge — Guidance
counselors will be working to develop programs and getting into classrooms. Dr.
Flynn clarifies that there are no other outside programs coming in this year.
VII. Next Meeting Date
The next meeting will be early November in order to discuss the budget process and
Content Meeting Forms. November 16, 2011.