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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - SC - 12/07/2016 a \ T CQ%ASSET� Cohasset School Committee Meeting School Committee Minutes Wednesday, December 7, 2016 Cohasset Middle-High School Community Use Room 143 Pond Street Cohasset, MA In Attendance: Jeanne Astino, Chairman Katie Dugan Ellen Maher Amanda Zani Absent Barbara Stefan Also in Attendance: Louise Demas, Interim Superintendent John Tuffy, Interim Business Manager Susan Skeiber, Interim Assistant Superintendent Call to order and Roll Call-Chairman Astino called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Present,Jeanne Astino-Present, Ellen Maher-Present,Amanda Zani-Present. Pledge of Allegiance-Recited. Invitation to Speak-None Approval of Warrant-Motion by Mrs. Dugan to approve Warrant 17-11S,seconded by Mrs. Zani. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. Ellen Maher abstained from the vote. Superintendents Report-Abigail Adams Scholars-Mrs. Demas read aloud the list of 24 Abigail Adams recipients. She congratulated all of the students. Canobie Lake Park Trip-Ms. Marybeth Reardon was present and advised the Committee they are looking for approval to take approximately 100 Physics students to Canobie Lake Park on June 8, 2017. The cost of the trip is $32 and there are parent and teacher chaperones. It is a great trip that is fun and involves a lot of Physics. Motion by Mrs. Maher to approve the trip to Canobie Lake Park on June 8, 2017, seconded by Mrs. Dugan and the vote was unanimous (4-0). 2017-18 French Exchange— Mr.Jeff Kotter was present and gave an overview of a proposed France Exchange program. The French will visit Cohasset October 18-29, 2017 and Cohasset will visit France April 4-19, 2017(one of the weeks is over school vacation). This is a working trip for credits. Students are responsible for keeping up with their other classes and being proactive. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to approve the France Exchange trip April 4-19, 2017,seconded by Mrs. Maher and the vote was unanimous (4-0). Professional Development-Mr. Kotter stated a group of teachers recently attended a 2 day conference hosted by the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages. He gave an overview of the program. Mrs. Demas thanked everyone that attended as the teachers gave up a Saturday to attend. 1 Technology Try it-Mr. Kotter showed the Committee examples of how he is using Google Docs in his classroom. He explained how he uses videos,textbook exercises and how he uploads vocabulary. The audio has the capability to slowdown to better understand the pronunciation. They are currently learning how to use the audio documents which allow the teacher the ability to give back audio comments. There is a lot of self-paced learning. Quebec Trip-Ms. Kathy Sanges was present and gave an overview of the Quebec trip. It is a 3 day trip (one school day)from April 28-30, 2017. The students experience the culture and get to immerse in the language. There are academic expectations before, during and after the trip. This is the 111h year of the trip. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to approve the trip to Quebec from April 28-30, 2017,seconded by Mrs. Maher and the vote was unanimous(4-0). Harvard Model UN Trip-Mike Welch and Chris Luvisi were present asking for approval for the Harvard Model UN Trip for Grades 9-12. There are 24 students going on the trip January 26-29, 2017. They will leave after lunch on Thursday and will be out of school on Friday. The cost of the trip is $380. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to approve the Harvard Model UN trip January 26-29, 2017, seconded by Mrs. Zani and the vote was unanimous(4-0). 2017-18 Enrollment Process/Timeline-Principal of Osgood Lisa Farrell was present and discussed the process for Kindergarten enrollment. She looked into surrounding districts to get information. Kindergarten registration will be on January 12, 2017 from 9:30 a.m.—2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.—8:00 p.m. There will be a Kindergarten informational meeting in the library on December 14, 2016. They will put info on the website under a new Kindergarten tab, Blackboard Connect and post flyers in the schools. Kindergarten screening will take place from April 10-14, 2017. On May 3, 2017 there will be Kindergarten Orientation. There will be two meet and greets with parents and teachers in August with an informal play for the students. Mrs. Dugan asked if they can reach out to the preschool directors in the area to make them aware. Ms. Farrell responded that she would. Universal Design for Learning- Mrs. Demas stated she visited the Deer Hill School and was impressed with the many things that are currently going on in the classrooms. Principal of Deer Hill Jennifer deChiara was present. She gave an explanation of what UDL is, how they are using UDL to promote Executive Function Skills for all students, how they use UDL to accommodate all students' needs for movement, sensory feedback and self-regulation and how they are using UDL to promote literacy. She stated the teachers have been great in devising ways to help all students. She discussed Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom by Lynn Metzer. She spoke about giving students alternative seating choices. They have implemented gas stations around the school to give students a controlled time and option to take a break. Mrs. Demas added that there are some innovative ways of learning at the Deer Hill School. MCAS-Sue Skeiber explained how the MCAS results are analyzed by grade, class and proficiency level by subgroups. Dr. diChiara gave Grade 3 examples of a fraction question that the kids did great on and another question that they didn't do so great on. She stated this is what they look at and what they focus on to develop better ways of teaching. Middle/High School principal Carolyn Connolly stated she gets information from the MCAS results and meets with the department heads over the summer and they collectively start to review. They then share with the faculty and further discuss. There is ongoing conversation of strategies that are working throughout the year with department heads. Ms. Connolly showed an example of a question that Grade 7 math students did not do well at. She felt the way the question was asked was why the students didn't score well. She discussed how to teach them different ways to interpret questions and ways they can focus on to improve. Enrollment Update-Mrs. Demas discussed the enrollment as of December. The total number of students in the district is 1592. She discussed the average class sizes of each grade level. Gifts-Mrs. Demas advised the Committee the PSO has donated a check for$660 for two teacher's grants. One check for$220 is for Brain Pop Video Subscription and one check for$440.00 is for 2 Math Games and Manipulatives. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to accept the gift of$660.00 from the PSO, seconded by Mrs.Zani. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. Mrs. Demas advised the Committee that the PSO has also donated a check for$218.37 for Osgood Library Book Grants. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to accept the gift of$218.37 from the PSO, seconded by Mrs.Zani. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. Middle-High School Special Education Program Evaluation-Director of Student Services Mary Buchanan was present to review the evaluation by Jim Shillinglaw. Mr. Shillinglaw was in Cohasset for 2 full days. He proposed 6 recommendations for the Cohasset Public Schools as follows; 1. Individual learning block and learning center needs to be restructured to improve efficacy of sped services and promoting student accountability and independence. 2. Reorganization of current special education professional and paraprofessional resources in order to develop a co-teaching model of instruction at both the middle and high school levels. 3. Should the district move to a more effective co-teaching model, an operating manual that addresses all aspects and elements of the co-teaching model would need to be developed. 4. Should the district move toward developing more co-teaching models across secondary level, there will be a need to maintain a balanced enrollment in co-teaching classes. 5. In order to ensure that the co-teaching model is effective, close consideration should be given to the individual skills and effectiveness of the special education staff. 6. A clear and explicit understanding of each teacher's role and responsibilities in a co-teacher model. The Committee had a short discussion about how long it would take to evolve to co-teaching, the roll out of it and if other districts are doing it. Mrs. Buchanan will share the current evaluation info with SEPAC. She stated the full report is being edited by Mrs. Shillinglaw and should have the completed report by the beginning of January. Ten teachers will be attending a co-teacher conference on January t 24" and 26tn School Committee Comments and Communications-Chairman Astino stated that AEC will meet next Wednesday and they have a new student representative. The AEC has a lot of great things going on right now. Mrs. Dugan stated the budget and finance sub-committee met on Monday and talked about where they are with the budget timeline. They discussed fees and are doing some benchmarking. They will bring info back to the SC for further discussion. Long Range Planning Group met and discussed 5 year forecast model and FY18. The next meeting is 12/15/16. Mrs. Dugan stated Safe Harbor Coalition will be opening a Ground Level Coffee House soon. There will be a kickoff night on Friday from 4-7 p.m. and they will have it open twice a month. SEPAC President Jenni Milanoski-171 South Main Street stated that SEPAC hosted the Social Thinking event last night which was well attended. Next month they will hold a daytime meeting on January 10t"from 10 a.m.—noon. Minutes-Motion by Mrs. Maher to approve the minutes of 11/16/16 as amended, seconded by Mrs. Zani and the vote was unanimous(4-0). Mrs. Demas stated she will be hosting a superintendent coffee on Monday at 9:30 a.m. She put her bio on Blackboard Connect. She also stated she attended the Middle/High School Teacher Appreciation luncheon today. It was a great event. Chairman Astino asked for a motion to go into executive session for Exemption#3 Strategy related to collective bargaining with union personnel; bus drivers. The Committee will return to open session for the purpose of adjourning. Motion moved by Mrs. Maher, seconded by Mrs. Zani. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. The Committee went into executive session at 9:40 p.m. 3 Motion by Mrs. Maher to come out of executive session, seconded by Katie Dugan. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. The committee came out of executive session at 10:23 p.m. Motion by Mrs. Dugan to adjourn, seconded by Mrs.Zani. Roll Call Vote; Katie Dugan-Aye,Jeanne Astino-Aye, Ellen Maher-Aye,Amanda Zani-Aye. The meeting adjourned at 10:25 p.m. Documents used at the Meeting Abigail Adams Scholars F-1 Canobie Lake Park Trip F-2 2017-18 French Exchange F-3 Quebec Trip F-4 Harvard UN Model F-5 Kindergarten Enrollment F-6 Universal Design for Learning F-7 Enrollment Update F-8 Gifts F-9 Middle/High School SPED Eval. F-10 4