At last week’s School
Committee meeting, we shifted our focus from the budget to Educational Programs
and Personnel, along with review of a policy related to student educational
services. Highlights below are mine alone (along with any errors/edits!).
Field Trip
An MHS student trip to
Poland is a new proposal and relates to the history associated with WWII, the
fall of Communism, etc. 20-30 students are predicted to attend. MHS history
teacher Mr. Pennacchio will come before the Committee at the next meeting to
speak to the details of his request.
Coordinated Program
Review
Dr. Adams and Ms.
White-Lambright presented. This DESE review occurs once every six years and involves
significant time, effort, many stakeholder groups, and a self-assessment
period. It encompasses special education, English Language Learning, and civil
rights. DESE staff visits for several days and focuses on 60 standard. It’s a thoughtful
process. Melrose was found to be 100% compliant for special education; a very
small number of school districts receive this rating. All credit to staff for
this work and outcome. One form and one translation item will be changed. For
ELL there are 22 elements and the district was found compliant for program and
record-keeping, being cited for translation (report cards) in Haitian creole
and Portuguese. Melrose also needs access to translation regarding extra-curricular
activities. Aspen may be able to play a role in this area. As of April 7th,
the district has 20 days to begin implementation with a year to comply. Title I
was also reviewed and the district is in full compliance.
FY18 Professional Development
Plan
Next year’s summer program
seeks to continue the work done on social emotional learning and PBIS. The
district has been working in Tier II and Tier III to embody core values (extra
support). This year, they did training-the-trainers and need to build from Tier
I to support these efforts at every school level. There has also been a
successful implementation of technology, and they are now looking at
integration within the curriculum. The most precious commodity is time and the
district is looking at creative ways to capture more time for teachers, like
book studies and engaging in an on-line platform (read and reflect and embed in
classroom practice, with a product at the end to show how it’s employed in
classroom, e.g. reading Anxiety and
Depression in Young Children. 45 teachers participated last summer.) Microcredentialing
is another method of PD: do a task/do
your own learning. Perform a task that’s job-embedded and implement it and earn
an electronic badge as well as Professional Development Points [required for
re-licensure] for it. The DESE document on inclusive practices is the basis of
this theme in PD and aligns with the Supt’s budget priorities.
Secondary Code of
Conduct
There are changes around
absences (appeals, etc.). There is a focus on unreported absences (unexcused). Violation
of parking code results in possible suspension (but only after multiple conversations
with offenders).
Reinstating MHS
Valedictorian
MHS Principal Merrill was
approached by students who sought reinstatement of the Valedictorian. He polled
students and staff who strongly supported the move. The Committee deliberated
the impact of stress on students, other social/emotional concerns and
mitigations that have been implemented, the history of the vote taken in 2014
around this issue, etc. The Committee voted to reinstate the Valedictorian
effective immediately.
Elementary Staffing
The district will proceed
with two extra K classrooms as budgeted. With respect to itinerant positions,
Supt. Taymore is currently planning to incorporate an additional. .5 art, .5
music. and 1.0 digital literacy teacher. There is work not yet completed around
re-thinking the elementary wellness model. (All PE teachers are dual certified
in PE and Health/Wellness.) The new digital literacy teacher will have
collaborated with classroom teachers to embed digital literacy in classroom
work. By adding these teachers, the overcrowding of itinerant classes is being
addressed.
Policy
Melrose has some students
who are elite athletes and performers in the fine arts. It’s difficult to keep
them at MHS due to graduation requirements and the district is losing students
to the online high school in Greenfield. The Supt. began to think about how to
keep students here. With certain students, the district could provide a vendor,
courses would align with our standards, and we could then issue an MHS diploma.
If students participate in Greenfield’s program, they can’t participate in
Melrose activities and this policy would allow that. There is a cost but it is
less than what it would cost to choice a student out ($3500 vs. $5000). It requires
check-ins with teachers but that’s the only cost. The program would also
support 5th year students who don’t want to be in Melrose High.
Other districts are doing what we’re doing now, but this option is more
planful; others are piecing together with face-to-face and on-line combo. This
program is starting small and students must have extenuating circumstances that
would apply to its purpose; it’s about students who need to earn a degree and
need a program that accommodates them. Melrose currently doesn’t have control
of curriculum for students at other schools and this program allows that. The
policy will come up for a first vote at the next meeting.
Legislative Themes
Following our joint
legislative meeting with Wakefield on April 5th, we agreed to draft
some common themes from which a joint advocacy letter could be proposed and
signed by both communities. The themes discussed were: 1. full funding of the
Foundation Budget Review Commission recommendations; 2. charter school
reimbursement funding at 100%; 3. full funding of Circuit Breaker [special
education reimbursements]; and 4. funding of other budget line items that
impact student learning (like poverty, food insecurity, an unstable home
environment, and homelessness).
Next meeting is Tuesday, May 9th at 7:00
in the Aldermanic Chamber!
