Meeting Minutes of November 13, 2007

Regular Meeting of
the AMHERST School Committee

Tuesday, November 13, 2007, 7:00 p.m.

Middle School Library

 

Present:            Andy Churchill, Chair                              Jere Hochman,
Superintendent

                        Elaine Brighty                                          Wendy Kohler, Exec. Dir. of Prog. Development

                        Kathleen Anderson                                  Rob Detweiler, Director of Business
& Finance

                        Sonia Correa Pope                                  Paul Wiley, CF Principal

                        Chrystel Romero (arrived @ 7:12)           Stephanie Joyce, WW Teacher

                                                                                       Rachmana
Santorelli, WW Teacher

                                                                                       Press

                                                                                       Debbie
Westmoreland, Recorder

                       

1.  Welcome                                                                                        7:02 p.m. (A & B)/8:27 p.m.

A. &
B.  Call to Order/Agenda Review—Mr. Churchill
called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. He then reviewed the agenda and
welcomed everyone to the meeting.

C.   Minutes—Ms. Brighty made a motion to
approve the minutes of October 16, 2007.  Ms. Anderson seconded and the motion passed
with one abstaining.

 

2.  Announcements and Public Comments                                        7:04
p.m.

There were no announcements or public comments.

 

3.  Superintendent’s Update                                                              8:29 p.m.

Dr. Hochman noted that a curriculum day is coming up on
November 30. It is a full day of curriculum work for the elementary
schools.  The focus of the day’s work
will be the social justice commitment. 
Dr. Hochman noted that he will start the day with the teachers as a
group, outlining the three major thrusts of the social justice commitment.  Those include 1.) the
personal and professional work of the adults, 2.) the
focus on student achievement, and 3.)  the intentional work on social justice learning for
children.  The morning will continue with
Principal Paul Wiley discussing why the social justice commitment is important,
Principal Vernon-Jones working with the full-group on social justice pedagogy,
and the group working together to dig deeper into the concept and how it
connects to instruction at each grade level. 
Work on the topic will then continue at the building level in the
afternoon.

 

Dr. Hochman then stated that he sent notes from the last
Amherst Budget Coordinating Group (BCG) to each member of the School
Committee.  The notes outline the
presentation made to BCG by an expert in utilizing community input in
long-range budget planning.

 

Dr. Hochman then distributed and reviewed MCAS and AYP data
for the Amherst School
District and each of the Amherst
elementary schools.  Since Mr. Wiley was
in attendance at the meeting, Dr. Hochman asked if he wanted to comment on
MCAS/AYP at Crocker Farm.  Mr. Wiley
reported briefly on the topic, noting that Crocker Farm made AYP this year
based on extensive efforts to concentrate on curriculum alignment to the
standards not by “teaching to the test.” 
He reported that the goal is to move all of the children up, especially
moving those who are still in the needs improvement category into the
proficient or advanced category.  Dr.
Hochman then briefly reviewed an abstract of district and school improvement
plan expectations for MCAS and AYP.  Mr.
Churchill expressed appreciation for the balance of an Amherst-style education
with knowledge that our students are obtaining the skills tested on MCAS. 

 

4.  Unfinished/Continuing Business                                                 
8:05 p.m.

A.  Accept Wildwood Roof Project—Mr.
Detweiler reviewed the need for the School Committee to accept the Wildwood
Roof Project that was completed in 2002. 
In order to seek state funding, the School Committee must officially
vote to accept the project, which was not done in 2002. Ms. Brighty moved that
the Amherst School Committee accept the Wildwood School Roof project as
completed for school purposes.  Mr.
Churchill seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

B.  FY07 and FY08 Budget Updates—Mr.
Detweiler distributed and reviewed a final report on the Fiscal Year 2006-2007
budget.  He noted that the Amherst School
Department was able to return $122,727.00 to the Town of Amherst’s general fund.  Mr. Detweiler then distributed and reviewed
an update of the current status of the FY08 budget.  Mr. Churchill asked if there is anything of
concern at this point.  Mr. Detweiler
noted that the current control lines show a deficit of $80,391.00, which is
nothing to worry about at this time.  It
does indicate that the budget is running very lean, however, so there is
nothing extra at this point.  Mr.
Churchill thanked Mr. Detweiler for the report, noting that it is very helpful
to have this information in October and he looks forward to regular updates
throughout the year.

 

5.  New Business                                                                               
 9:10 p.m.

A.  Principal Search—Dr. Hochman reported
that the posting process has begun for the Crocker Farm and Fort River
principal positions for next year.  He
briefly reviewed the full interview and selection process, noting that the goal
is to have the principals named by late February or early March.

 

B.  Accept Gifts—Ms. Brighty made a motion to
accept the following gifts:  $100 and $25
donations from Sarah Wolff and Joel Ouellette to purchase teddy bears for
Crocker Farm Preschool Program; $1,914.25 donation from the Marks Meadow
Parent/Guardian Group to purchase library books for the Marks Meadow library;
$180.14 donation from the Fort River Parent Council for the purchase of yearbook
software; and $230.11 donation for Target for Fort River.  Ms. Romero seconded and the motion passed
unanimously.

 

6.  Reports                                                                                          7:04 p.m.

A.  Language Arts Overview—Dr. Hochman stated
that work has been done simultaneously on several areas of the K-12 curriculum,
including evaluation of the mathematics program, completion of the new Language
Arts Curriculum Guide, and work on the Science and Social Studies curriculum
guides.  He introduced Wendy Kohler, Wildwood
first grade teacher Stephanie Joyce, and Wildwood language arts teacher
Rachmana Santorelli, who made a presentation regarding the newly revised K-12
Language Arts Curriculum Guide.  Dr.
Kohler pointed out that all of the revised curriculum guides have been posted
on the district website so they are available not only to all faculty members,
but also to the public.  Ms. Santorelli
presented the English/Language Arts section of the curriculum guide and Ms.
Joyce presented the writing/composition section.  Mr. Churchill commented that the depth and breadth
of the research and scholarship being conducted by our teachers is impressive
and reflects well on the district. Ms. Correa-Pope asked about the structure
beginning at kindergarten. Ms. Santorelli stated that a great deal of thought
was put into how kindergarten students would be expected to proceed. She
reported that at Wildwood they are seeing students go much more deeply into the
language arts curriculum beginning in kindergarten.  Ms. Joyce pointed out that teachers are doing
this kind of teaching around a writing workshop model beginning in
kindergarten.  Ms. Romero asked if student
progress is being monitored at the other schools.  Ms. Santorelli stated that the language arts
teachers in each building are helping to present the curriculum and are
assisting teachers in developing lesson plans utilizing the revised
curriculum.  Ms. Anderson asked Ms.
Santorelli her thoughts on the impact of housing all students at a particular
grade level in one building.  Ms.
Santorelli said that there are advantages to both systems (grade-level schools
and neighborhood schools) and she would want to have time to think about the
issue.  She stated that as a language
arts resource teacher she finds great joy in being able to work with students
across a span of grades so that she can get to know them well.  Mr. Churchill asked if a new teacher coming
into the district has what he or she needs to begin teaching with only the new
Language Arts curriculum guide.  Ms.
Joyce said that was a question that was kept in mind constantly as the guide
was being developed to ensure it would enable new teachers to come in and
immediately know what to teach in the curriculum.  She stated that a new teacher would still
need support through colleagues and professional development.  Ms. Santorelli stated that even long-time
teachers will still have questions when they look at the curriculum, which is
why having a language arts teacher in the building to work with classroom
teachers is essential.  Dr. Kohler
distributed a list of language arts professional development opportunities
currently being offered to district faculty. 
Dr. Hochman stated that the curriculum guides were developed with a
commitment to respect the uniqueness of teachers, uniqueness of grade levels,
uniqueness of schools and the developmental stages of kids.  As a result, the guide needs a lot of
“figuring out” so all teachers need support from other teachers as they
implement the curriculum.  He stated that
the guide provides the “what to teach.”

 

7.  School Committee Planning                                                          9:14
p.m.

A.  Calendar Review—Ms. Romero and Ms.
Correa-Pope extended an invitation for everyone to attend the Puerto
Rico potluck dinner at 6:00 p.m. in the Middle School cafeteria on
Thursday.

 

B.  Items for Upcoming Meetings

 

C.  Sub-Committee Reports—Mr. Churchill
reported that Amherst Town Meeting voted to approve the JCPC appropriation for
portable buildings at Marks Meadow.

 

8.  Adjournment                                                                                  9:15 p.m.

Ms. Brighty made a motion to adjourn at 9:15 p.m.  Ms. Romero seconded and the motion passed
unanimously.

 

                                                                        Respectfully
submitted,

                                                                        Debbie
Westmoreland