Meeting Minutes of November 6, 2007

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