As we take a break from
raking (while hoping the wind blows those leaves away so we can just store the
rake?) we heard about some excellent work being done by Supt. Taymore and our
administrative team. They are drilling down on MCAS data and determining how to
employ high quality professional development and other resources to achieve
improvement for all students. You’ll get extra credit (and a lot of knowledge!)
by taking a look at the presentations to see what they’re doing. (Just an fyi…we’re
hopping on the city bandwagon with respect to agendas and documents. To access
them, click on the School Committee page of the schools’ web site and then
click “IQM2 Meeting Portal”. Find and click on the appropriate meeting, then
click “Agenda Packet”. You will have called up a PDF containing all the
documents discussed at the meeting. Notes below will include the respective page number of the PDF in red.)
Presentation
We recognized and
expressed appreciation to Mr. Burt Buchman for his prior service to the Melrose
School Committee. (He currently serves in Tyngsborough.) He is receiving the
Massachusetts Association of School Committees’ (MASC) Lifetime Achievement
Award next month.
Report of the Student
Representatives
Students Madeleine Frasca
and Amanda Sampson welcomed our Italian exchange students, invited the
community to attend the annual MHS Scholarship Fund Pancake Breakfast on 10/20
sponsored by Johnnie's Foodmaster (link here: http://www.melroseschools.com/mhs/pdfs/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20MHS%20pancake%20breakfast%20flyer%202012.pdf),
and also invited the community to attend a 10/29 workshop entitled “They Don’t Call it Dating Anymore: A Parent’s Guide to Healthy and Unhealthy Teen
Dating Relationships” (link here: http://www.melroseschools.com/mhs/pto.cfm).
Announcements of the
Superintendent
Supt. Taymore indicated
that she had interviewed two candidates for the Winthrop Interim Principalship
and hoped to have a decision prior to week’s end. *
She was delighted to announce that the MA School Building Authority (SBA)
approved Melrose’s request for a $3.1M grant to renovate/rebuild
our science labs. She is hosting a forum on 10/24 to share more information
(logistics and agenda here: http://www.melroseschools.com/mhs/pdfs/Agenda%20for%20Science%20Renovations%20Parent%20Mtg%20Oct%2024.pdf).
* Don’t forget to check out Curriculum Director
Dr. Adams’ blog posts on Melrose Patch!
Announcements of the
School Committee Chair
Ms. Casatelli will
represent the School Committee at the annual MASC conference in November (pp. 3-4). Resolutions under consideration are on pp. 5-7. * As noted
above, Committee document delivery is changing and we voted to go
all-electronic beginning in December. We also voted to post documents for the
community’s review on Monday instead of Tuesday (p. 8).
* Finally, we addressed documents provided to
the Attorney General’s Office regarding an Open Meeting Law complaint filed by
SC member Ms. Kourkoumelis (p. 9).
Consent Agenda
We ultimately approved the
School Committee minutes of 9/27/12 (pp. 10-15),
Monthly Budget Summary (pp. 16-21), Personnel
Report (p. 22), Cafeteria Report (p. 23), and Warrants (pp.
24-69).
Educational Programs
and Personnel
Dr. Margaret Adams
presented the 2012-2013 Professional Development Plan (pp.
70-73). After the introduction, it addresses the focus of professional
development (also known as training for teachers and all staff members), how it
will be implemented, and the “Connections to Melrose Public Schools Strategic
Plan”. In order to determine the effectiveness of professional development,
administrators will use a variety of assessments (surveys, seeing how the
training is put into action in classrooms, etc.) so necessary modifications can
be made to enact a continuous system of improving training opportunities. * Spring, 2012 MCAS results (pp.
74-134 or here: http://www.melroseschools.com/administration/pdfs/MCAS%20Spring%202012%20Results%20October%209th%20Presentation.pdf)
were carefully analyzed by the leadership team and findings by content area and
grade were presented, including strengths and challenges. Action plans were
also presented which will reveal themselves in continuing professional
development choices, future budget recommendations, MVMMS and MHS course
development and sequencing proposals, etc. * Updated,
standards-based Grade 1-5 report cards were presented that clearly describe how
students’ skills will be assessed (pp. 135-144).
Note particularly the purpose of assessing students in this way, how the report
cards will change, and what process was used to inform the changes (pp. 145-146).
Policy and Planning
ECC and Kindergarten enrollments
were presented (p. 147). Supt. Taymore noted
that the number of kindergarten classrooms is appropriate for the number of
students (up from 245 last year to 272 this year). *
In order to set appropriate salary expectations for staff, we added Policy #4122:
Salary Schedules (p. 148), repealed Policy
#4213: Professional Staff Salary Schedules (p. 149)
and #4305: Support Staff Salary Schedules (p. 150),
and amended/renamed Policy #4304: Support Staff Contracts and Compensation
Plans (p. 151).
Well, apparently the
leaves remain and the rake must reappear, so as we all carry on, please know
how much we value the time you take from your busy lives to help a child.
Although the leaves will soon be gone, your impact will last a lifetime………
