Regular Meeting of the Regional School Committee

Tuesday, November 6, 2007   7:00 p.m.

High School Library

 

Present:            Elaine Brighty, Chair                                         Jere Hochman, Superintendent

                        Kathleen Anderson                                           Rob Detweiler                                     

                        Andy Churchill                                      Kathryn Mazur                                    

                        Maureen Ecclestone (arrived 8:20)                    Wendy Kohler

                        Michael Hussin (arrived 7:15)               Public

                        Marianne Jorgensen                                          Press

                        Michael Katz    (arrived 7:30)              

                        Chrystel Romero  (arrived 7:10)

                        Gabriella Booth, student member                                 

                                                           

Absent: Sonia Correa Pope

 

1. Welcome                                                                                                     ____________

A. & B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review---- Ms. Brighty called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. without quorum.  She then welcomed everyone to the meeting and reviewed the agenda.

C.  Minutes----After quorum was reached, Mr. Churchill made a motion to approve the minutes of October 23, 2007.  Mr. Katz seconded, and the motion passed with 6 votes and 1 abstention.

 

2. Announcements and Public Comment                                                       ______None

 

3. Superintendent’s Update                                                                                                  

Dr. Hochman informed the committee that the Federal reauthorization of No Child Left Behind has stalled, so there will be no change in the law until Congress works on it again, perhaps next year.  The Superintendent explained that the School District’s Legislative Action Committee will function differently this year, and three meetings of the committee have been scheduled.

 

4. Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                                                      

Mr. Katz will attend the joint annual meeting of the MA Assoc of School Committees and MA Assoc of School Superintendents on Nov 14, 2007.  The Committee agreed that Mr. Katz will vote as their representative on the four resolutions before the MASC.

 

5. New Business                                                                                                                    

A. Instructional Policies----Ms. Kohler summarized each of the first four policies being brought to the Regional Committee for their first reading.   Policy 600.01 has been re-titled as Goals of Instructional Program and now provides a statement of goals to begin the series of instructional policies.  Policy 600.02 Instructional Materials Selection was revised to be consistent with other policies.  The librarians in the district reviewed policy 600.03 Library Materials Selection and Adoption, and they requested small changes. Policy 600.04 Curriculum Development and Instructional Program Evaluation combines and replaces current policies 600.01, 600.04, 600.05, and 600.06.  Combining the policies reduced the redundancy in the separate policies and emphasized the cyclical process of curriculum development, review, and evaluation.

 

Ms. Jorgensen asked the Superintendent if there was a current mission statement for the district. The state auditors for EQA (Educational Quality and Accountability) had asked School Committee members about it the previous week.  Dr. Hochman said the schools have mission statements, but the district has not formally revisited its mission statement.  The phrase “every child, every day” and statements about importance of academic engagement, sense of belonging, and acquisition of high status knowledge are recognized in the district as the mission, he said. The mission should be the umbrella statement driving everything else from decisions about policies to annual goals to facilities, etc. The mission is captured somewhat in the first statement in policy 600.01; however, eventually there should be a policy with the district mission.  Ms. Jorgensen said developing the mission statement policy needs to be a high priority.

 

Ms. Anderson wanted an explicit statement on anti-bias or social justice commitment included in the first goal in policy 600.01.  Ms. Romero requested that the goal statements be more comprehensive, rather than the short bullet points.  Mr. Churchill wanted our district goal of eliminating race as a predictor of achievement to be included in this instructional goals policy, and he wanted #1 to be made clearer that “all students” really meant “all”.  Dr. Hochman suggested that goal #2 also prioritize a comprehensive, well-rounded curriculum.  Mr. Hussin pointed out that “district instructional priorities” need to be written down specifically somewhere.  Ms. Kohler suggested inserting in each policy about goals a statement referring to consistency with the Mission Statement, which would be the first policy.

 

Mr. Churchill requested an updated index of all of our existing School Committee policies to provide an overview when we are working on policy revisions.  Ms. Brighty will include that in the next Regional agenda packet.  Additional wording will be added to policy 600.02 about selecting textbooks which are not biased etc.  Mr. Churchill suggested that the importance of alignment of curricula be made more explicit in policy 600.04.

 

Dr. Hochman introduced the draft of a new policy on Safety and Well-being.  The Responsiveness Committee had identified the need for policies in this area.  He pointed out language tied to the Responsiveness which is more specific and closer to guidelines than is usual in our policies.  Currently, training and protocols for staff are being worked, and then training will occur for students.  

 

 

7. Subcommittee Reports                                                                                          None  

 

8. School Committee Planning                                                                                   None  

 

9. Call for Executive Session________________________________________________

At 8:05 p.m. Ms. Brighty called for an Executive Session to discuss contract negotiations and announced that the committee would not be returning to Open Session.  After a roll call vote, the School Committee moved into Executive Session.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Brighty