School Council Minutes
Ipswich Public Schools
Winthrop School
65 Central Street
Ipswich, MA 01938
(978)356-2976
SCHOOL COUNCIL MINUTES
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Art Room 6:15pm – 8:15pm
2. Review and Assign Roles and Responsibilities 6:15 – 6:20pm
Note Taker: Sheila
Gatekeeper: Margaret
Timekeeper: Michele
Refreshments:
3. Approval of December minutes 6:20-6:25pm
Karen moved to approve; Andrea seconded-minutes accepted
4. Parent and Staff Feedback and Questions 6:25-6:40pm
IEF report by Heather Pillis: Styrofoam event the week of Jan. 24. Doyon is going to collect their trays-a parent would clean them-and then take a picture indicating how much Styrofoam could be reduced from the landfill/not burned in a week. The purpose of the week is to test to see if it would be worthwhile for the town to offer this service. Would Winthrop like to participate or do something that week? Judy Sedgewick is also available to come in to do a“training” for staff about what can be recycled. Deb Trevarrow shared that Judy had been in to do a training for our Student Leadership Council members and it was very helpful.
An update on where things stood regarding the Feoffees and the intervention motion was given. School Committee voted in executive session whether or not they would block the motion. Board of Selectman voted to not allow taxpayer monies to be used to block the motion. The intention of the intervention is to make sure that it was a town decision as opposed to an “under pressure” School Committee decision. Questions arose: Can the trust be broken? Is the sale going to keep the asset into perpetuity? What would the fair market value be?
5. Diversity Project 6:40-7:00pm
Deb Trevarrow joined us to share the work of the Respect and Responsibility in addressing this year’s School Improvement Plan goal. The Respect and Responsibility Committee, teachers’ classrooms, music programs, etc. all proactively have been working on “acceptance discussions.” These are happening all of the time in many different settings. R&R Committee designed a project that would show evidence of learning around “acceptance of differences.” Teachers created a lesson as a guide for staff which included a game in which students notice that there are commonalities among all of us. Each class in its own way will go through this process and then provide the R&R Committee one of the brainstormed options provided by the Committee. The Committee will look for commonalities and/or key words and then create something visual-mural, graffiti wall made by children-still brainstorming ideas. While this is particular activity is driven by the Respect and Responsibility Committee, it is not the only way that the topic of diversity and acceptance is being explored.
Heather shared that she saw a story in which high school kids went through a very similar process.
Andrea will act as the School Council project liaison. Amy suggested gathering video to splice together showing the process and the discussion of children around this important topic.
5. Winthrop School Financial Appeal Update 7:00-7:15pm
At this time there has been $27,000 raised since the letter went out. What now? We talked about participation. Should we celebrate this match? This is a tough time of year so should we back off a bit and encourage participation at meetings, etc. Should we send out a reminder? Reminders…Can we say again how people are participating? Can we give a “hard number” example of what something costs? Do we have a list of “what we need?”
As we look at the challenges of next year’s enrollment, space and financial capability, Andrea has investigated the space at Town Hall for use as a pre-school space. This idea was being pursued last year by the Superintendent but no location was determined appropriate. Andrea shared that the Town Hall space that was once occupied by the Rec. Department ay be a possibility for space.
6. Enrollment Update 7:15-7:25pm
Sheila shared the latest numbers in all classrooms. There has been a recent influx of students, particularly from Cornerstones, a residential program located in town. Students with high needs are being accepted into our schools due to the closing of the school at Cornerstones. Initial numbers of kindergarteners from the census look to be low, but a call to one of the local preschools resulted in identifying 6 incoming students as opposed to the one that we had identified through the census. Kindergarten round-up materials are scheduled to go out this month.
7. Data Analysis/Co-Teaching Model 7:25-7:35pm
The School Committee has requested a presentation on Jan. 19 of Winthrop’s Co-Teaching model. Sheila shared the number of interventions that we have been able to deliver. We are currently collecting data on the first round of interventions delivered in the kindergarten. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
7. Budget Update 7:35-8:00pm
Sheila passed out five options for grade level configurations for next year. The scenarios were based on maintaining existing staff, adding a staff member to achieve low class sizes in all grades, reductions in staff-1 and 2 teachers, and minimizing class sizes in the areas of greatest student needs. Until decisions from the School Committee are made, it is challenging to finalized configurations and true budget numbers. The School Committee Budget Workshop will occur on Jan 24. We discussed the need for attendance and rapid communication among the Committee to finalize decisions based on the outcome of this meeting.
Budget Presentations: Feb 1-Elementary, Feb 2-MS/HS
8. Other 8:00-8:15pm
Amy shared the first edition of the Winthrop Voice! This has been Amy’s focus over the last month or so as she’s tried to translate the design to MailChimp. We will await some feedback, but the process should be smoother now that the first issue is out. We discussed the idea of different members contributing to the writing each month. Suggested survey items included thoughts about the satellite location for busing and kindergarten fees. Also suggested was to include a “wish list box” so that people can stay up to date on our student needs/potential donations.
Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm
