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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-27-MMHS-min dff MINUTEMAN Tuesday, March 27, 2012 15 PM Minuteman High School Meeting Minutes for School Council Meeting 1 Ernie Houle, Principal, Present 2 DeAnne Dupont, Parent, Present 3 Monica Foley, Parent, Present 4 Dottie Vacca, Parent, Present 5 Eileen Roddy,Teacher, Present 6 Anthony Wilbur,Teacher, Present 7 Richard Parsons,Alumni, Present 8 Jim Nole, Business Liaison, Present 9 Nick Lee, Student, Present 10. Anthony Senesi, Student,Absent 11 Jill Asser, Recorder, Present 12 Agenda Subject Action/Who/When• By Ernie Houle at 5 05 PM Meeting called to order Dottie Vacca made a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting,Anthony Wilbur Approval of January 10, 2012 seconded the motion Motion passed with an abstention from Eileen Roddy Subject New Business Action/Who/When Ernie reviewed changes that were made to the handbook Review of Student Parent ■ Overall,the dates were updated for the 2012-2013 school year Handbook ► P 4 Update the Student Operated Services—updating times, dates, phone numbers ► P 7 Message from the principal—changed wording slightly ■ P 8 School Directory—updated to reflect staff changes ■ P 9-10 School Calendar has been updated to current draft copy ► P 15 2 7 Safety and Health Policy—added information regarding general dress code and eye protection from Michelle Roche (Each shop also has their own set of safety rules and dress codes. ► P 33 Electronic devices — amended cell phone policy so that it can be used with the express permission of the teacher in the classroom (i e for a calculator, in class voting on polls) a Question on how situations will be handled if the phone is being used for non- educational use Ernie said this will fall under the appropriate use policies Eileen shared how she has seen others use it in Technology site visits — once the poll is over, have students turn off phone and put on edge of desk, where it can be seen by the teacher b Deanne pointed out that"The following exceptions " should be a new bullet ► P 33 Unauthorized hall passes — hall passes in the handbook were questioned, for instance when they are being brought into the bathroom When a student needs to use the bathroom, a traditional pass will be written For classroom to classroom, the handbook should be used, which will help track a student's movements through the day ■ P 59 Concussion and Head Policy — Policy is being looked at by school committee and should be finalized at the next School Committee Meeting. MHS received a grant to be able to baseline where athletes are prior to the start of the season, to be able to determine changes if injuries are occur One of the hospitals in Southern Massachusetts has worked out a color coded timeline that is easy for parents and students to understand of where you are in the various stages of a concussion and recovery ► P 60 School threat response system — trying to help support schools in having video surveillance in the schools Currently, MHS has cameras that record the outside of the school This policy would cover the internal use of cameras There would not be video cameras facing classrooms, locker rooms, bathrooms The new policies would cover the high traffic areas—front entrance, cafeteria, hallways Should a threat happen at MHS, the current program in use is web based so, in the event of an emergency, the cameras could be accessed through an iPad Jim asked the status of the policy Ernie explained that it is in draft form and there were some questions that had to be cleared up, including who is able to access the recordings DeAnne asked whether there is a concern in the building,that there is a need to tape internally Ernie explained that MHS is concerned from a safety aspect, that most towns around MHS have already implemented similar policies There have been incidents where it would be helpful, for instance, when a sports team is out on the field and their belongings are left in the building Monica asked whether the other high schools are seeing more issues resolved because of the tapes Ernie said he will see if he can find that out and that Brian Tildsley is also interested in pursuing this to be able to collect data The thought process is that with signage about recordings happening in the building, there will be heightened awareness and students less likely to do anything Nick said a Lexington High School morning student was commenting in his shop today that LHS has so many cameras and was surprised that MHS does not have them Nick asked whether it would be used as well to track absences and shared that he knows of students who leave campus at various points throughout the day Eileen asked whether there is a thought of getting more security people for the morning and/or lunch times when students are wandering the building Ernie said he met with the Minuteman Faculty Association and is reinstituting walkabout duties in the coming weeks for the Academic teachers who teach less than 5/5 ► This will go to the School Committee in the next packet and the handbook should be approved by May to go to the printer by June 1 (The policy regarding cameras in the building should be approved before May ) The deadline for feedback on the handbook is April 5thby noon DeAnne asked whether the MPA can include their website and Ernie said they can add that and provide updates to p 47 ► Ernie passed out the communication matrix, the matrix identifies how Minuteman shares information Ernie explained that we have now used AlertNow emails for the first time, so that phone calls can be used for standard messages DeAnne questioned that Ernie has said we have email addresses for all but 29 families, which is a very high percentage DeAnne said one thing that would be helpful if the listservs could "talk" to each other so that people are not getting duplicate emails Subject New Business Action/Who/When Review of the 2012/2013 Ernie pointed out that times for events like Back to School Night have now been listed out School Calendar There have also been questions about additional Parent/Teacher conferences, which may not make it onto the calendar as it will have to be negotiated with the Faculty Association. There are three additional delayed openings as the school will be putting out an RFP for an owner's project manager to begin the feasibility process for a new building Three years ago, integrated learning groups met to discuss what a new Minuteman would look like and now the Superintendent would like to do this again to help determine what the new building really will look like There are 50 extra hours built into the calendar beyond the number of required hours of instruction The calendar is generally approved at the April School Committee meeting Monica asked how the calendar is created and how events like Graduation and Homecoming are determined Ernie explained that a number of people, including Leadership Team, meet to form the calendar Student activities are not on here (except for SkilIsUSA because it affects the half day) Ernie will give the Athletics Director a list of dates to stay away from, such as holidays, and will ask for dates for events to have final approval The School Committee will be looking at graduation Historically, graduation was always the first Sunday in June at 2 00 pm DeAnne asked whether there are plans to survey parents on when they would prefer to have the graduation Ernie noted that in the past there were no issue with holding the graduation on a Sunday and the staffing would be fine DeAnne said Mr Laverty had said there was a conflict with Sunday at the current location Ernie would like to have a date on the calendar for graduation before the calendar is approved Some of the dates on the calendars are placeholders, like MCAS dates, but will be finalized Other Grant-a-Wish program — Fund-a-Need —this is online now so people can donate online directly MPA Report I for a specific teacher's request — for example, a database for the library so even if a specific project is not chosen for the Grant-a-Wish program, others can still contribute This is a work in progress and still being worked out There was a question about whether it should be kept up all of the time so that people can donate at any time Comedy Night— Dottie acknowledged what a great night it was and all of the work that was put into it DeAnne said they are still working on the final number, but it should be around $18K They started MPA Bucks, a certificate program that can be used at the school, bakery, store, etc, which will be reimbursed by MPA to help create awareness of the services here and to promote the services The MPA sponsored three students, three faculty, a facilities staff person, and someone from food services to go to the Recycling training According to Mass Recycle, schools save about $7,000 annually if they have recycling programs because they have less waste 3.30 pm buses — A faculty member did not think there would be an issue with the contract if there were 3.30 pm buses on Tuesday/Thursday DeAnne said many teachers stop her to say students are not participating in activities and clubs as they used to because of the lack of buses Ernie also brought up the issue of discipline issues students who are not able to serve detention because of the lack of buses, unless it escalates to the Dean's Office Ernie would like to see a supervised area for students who are here until 6 00 pm There is the possibility of money from an extended learning time grant to help cover this DeAnne brought up the question of not having a 2 30 bus on Tuesday/Thursday so that they had to stay until 3 30, unless they had their own car or took public transportation The question with the union is that if a teacher is taking a class or part of a professional organization, etc, they are allowed to leave at 2 30 pm with permission Monica said if the whole day was examined and the full day was examined, there may be other opportunities through the day for communal time, planning time DeAnne suggested there needs to be a task force to look at this to figure out how to make the 3.30 pm buses work without too much extra cost Eileen also mentioned the question of supervision again and how the students would be supervised during that time Ernie shared that the state was supposed to reimburse 100% of transportation rates for vocational schools, but it was down to 40%last year DeAnne said they received a draft copy of the budget at School Council to review when she was first on the council four years ago When the School Committee received the budget after the meeting began and did not have the opportunity to review it beforehand, and the School Council only received a summary, it feels as though everything is less transparent despite the claim that it is more transparent Ernie said he would check, but that the School Committee should have received the budget in the mail prior to meeting, although it may not have included the summary sheet Came has streamlined much of the information DeAnne voiced that the School Council is getting less information in general Ernie did indicate that the budget book is on the website Ernie met with four seniors who were upset and had expected a response back from School Committee Ernie explained how the public comments portion of the meeting works, as well as how the School Committee is formed and works Some people also have concerns that are not being heard by their class officers so a discussion was had about how the students can be made aware at the beginning of the year of who they can go to with various questions or issues Ernie will be meeting with the seniors next week to discuss graduation, rehearsal,the sign out process, prom On the form for prom, parents are required to have a contact number in case a student leaves prior to the end Adjournment Motion to adjourn by Nick Lee at 6 22 pm Motion seconded by Monica Foley Meeting adjourned at 6 22 pm NEXT SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING Ernie will send date out to the group Name of Recorder Jill Asser, March 27, 2012