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School Committee - 10/08/13

Professional Status Staff Recognized
The Superintendent recognized teachers who received professional status after completing a “rigorous course of training”. They were each presented with a token to commemorate the districts desire to “keep you in Belmont”
Rebecca Carle – School Nurse CMS
Meaghan Clow – Grade 3 Wellington
Lindsey DoBello – Kindergarten Wellington
Lisa Dobey – School Psychologist - Wellington
Kimberly Elson – School Psychologist – Winn Brook
Alyssa Green – Reading Specialist Butler
Bhuvana Kaushik – Math CMS
Julia McClelland – Math BHS
Alison Murray – Grade 2 Butler
Danielle Pandolfo – Grade 3 Winn Brook
Alicia Safier – English BHS

Citizens concerns
Matt Sullivan - class size - Is it time to redistrict? Wellington is full to capacity. What is happening with other schools? Superintendent will talk later about enrollment.
Salaries - department heads & H.R. part time, buildings and grounds received large raises - Superintend responded that salaries are competitive to other towns.
Chris Doyle
1. 5th grades are much too large at CMS and hope 27 is not the district's baseline start for level service
2. Drop foreign language in 5th grade, how time would be filled in 6 day cycle dare, 4 days homeroom time, no language program and there should be teaching during that time
3. Elementary redistricting needs - there needs to be more equity of class size

Chairman's Report
Congratulate professional status staff
Welcome Lisa Fiore sworn in last week and SC is full with 6 members
10 Members Superintendent Screening group announced will interview & recommend by Thanksgiving
Screening Committee members include:
• Laurie Graham, parent and School Committee Chair;
• Anne Lougée, parent and School Committee Secretary;
• Lisa Fiore, parent, School Committee member;
• Ralph Jones, Vice Chair, Board of Selectman, former Belmont School Committee Chair
• Michael Libenson, parent and Warrant Committee Chair;
• John Sullivan, President of the Belmont Education Association, Belmont High School teacher;
• Janet Carey, Principal, Winn Brook Elementary School;
• Jamie Shea, parent and president Foundation for Belmont Education;
• Jane Feinberg-Kaplan, parent, founding member of Belmont After School Enrichment Collaborative; and
• Mary Jo Peterman, parent and co-chair Belmont Special Education Advisory Council.

Cancer Fundraising - Car wash, 20 student walk Making Strides 4 Belmont student recognized for raising $13,000 in activities last year
Walk to school day & College Fair Wednesday
Broadway Night 10/25

Superintendents report
Modeling groups
8 advisory teams identity critical trends and long term projection
Compensation, Sp.Ed, Enrollment, Operations, Instructional Modeling & Innovation, Supplemental Revenue Sources, Instructional Technology, Student Life, small group goal to come up with long term recommendation no deadline but hope to complete by begin of year hope to go along with town groups

Enrollment advisory group- identify why long term protections have been off, this year net gain 151 which biggest group - BHS 63 CMS 28 elementary 56 for a total of 149. Critical issue more sophisticated than redistricting and is alone not solution. All schools are full and will manage this year but there is implications long term. 4292 students arrive under 4,000 student when started, what is trend and how will we adjust to in scheduling. Wellington 5 students appear and within day students are reallocated accordingly. The district is generally topping guidelines or exceeding and breaking primary guidelines. Hitting space limitation will manage this year but problem cost to handling population. $12,500 per pupil expenditure an average single property tax does not offset the cost. Belmont only gets 4k back from the state. Possibility of 2/3 3/4 grade classroom combination need and will need to have planning and staff development in place
Belmont is a Tier One district which makes us a magnet district and we will continue to draw families infested in the learning
NEASC - relevance of working with group and action with lifting performance measures. Engagement with NEASE has been productive and they have responded to concerns about consistency and overlay compliance. Reading suspended self study for NEASC
Business & Finance Report
Accountant closing FY 2013 $1600 positive balance

Superintendents evaluation
Process educator appraisal system each member evaluates on 4 instructional standards and evaluate 3 goals. Each assigned a value and average derived proficient rating average of 3 Low moral on staff. Kevin exemplary in areas of not directing by knowing how to intervene and when not to what is your legacy leadership cultivation and not have to leave system. Exemplary management and breadth of knowledge need to work on community members feeling valued and heard


MASC vote representative at conference on Friday to vote on resolutions-
Subcommittee appointments - interest based bargaining with to association
Finance - Anne - Laurie - Kevin
Curriculum & Instruction - Lisa - Laurie
Policy Procedure - Cathy Miller- Elizabeth Gibson -Debra Mello - Laurie stay on naming rights
Student Representative
Max Dividowitiz
Smooth transition on the performing fall play Kings Stag Nov. 7,8,9
Matching band doing well grown 30 more - pep band last year unorganized and this improvements with new advisor
More positive school atmosphere - less stress with new library arrangement arteotk calming
School spirit high
Fine performing arts going well
International club
More and more creative Multi disciplinary interactive teaching methods
Transition smooth for students
Depression has not seen anything about and stress and school noting put forward publication, no speakers. Need to speak out about depression
S.C. question off handed said technology used inconsistently? Technology tends to be distracting variation - talk technology in November

September 24th minutes approved

Diane Ravitch @ Harvard - Oct. 24

Citizens for Public Schools is proud to present Diane Ravitch, speaking on her new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. Reign of Error picks up where Diane left off with her ground-breaking book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

When: Thursday, October 24, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Memorial Church,
Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Tickets: $12 (To register online today, click here.)

Come join us and learn how corporate reforms threaten public education as a cornerstone of democracy. Stay to hear Diane’s proposals for reasonable and achievable solutions to the challenges our public schools face. As Jonathan Kozol, our speaker from last fall, wrote in The New York Times, “Those…who have grown increasingly alarmed at seeing public education bartered off piece by piece, and seeing schools and teachers thrown into a state of siege, will be grateful for this cri de coeur — a fearless book, a manifesto and a call to battle.”

To become a sponsor of this event and/or register and pay online, click here.

Cecile Moskowitz and Rhonda Cherry ROC to support student learning.
For the past several years, our bulletin board was used to display photos of our students actively engaged in fun learning experiences that were taking place in our learning center. The students’ loved being reminded of the connections they were making by being able to see themselves with each other, with us, and equally as important, engaged with the material they were learning.

This year’s bulletin board was inspired the REACH OUT AND CONNECT (ROC) slogan. ROC seemed a perfect fit for our board this year and so with some regret we finally took down all of the pictures from the past 2 years, and decided to start anew. Not only do the students love seeing themselves surrounded by their teachers and peers but they are reminded each day of how much we value the human connections that we are all making with each other. There will always be a place to display student work but we feel that this ROC board displays something equally important, the power of human connections and the need for all of us to be part of a group.

Massachusetts Secretary of Education,Matthew Malone wants to hear from us!

Tuesday, October 29th

4:00 – 6:00 pm

Arlington High School

869 Mass Ave.

Arlington, MA

What would your question or comment be for Secretary Malone? What areas of education are most important to you? For example, are you concerned about teacher evaluations, student evaluations, core curriculum, mandates, funding, or even supporting a bill to put active teachers on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE)?
Please send us your question or comment for Secretary Malone? We will not get to all of them on the 29th but they will all be sent to the Secretary and shared with other participants.

To view this flyer and submit questions and comments on the web


MTA Grassroots Coordinators Mary Cummings, Barbara Arena, Peter Lahey

School Committee 9-24-13

School Committee 9-24-13
Consent Agenda
Exhibit E – surplus property dispose of at lowest cost discard English paperback books due to condition

Chairs Report
BPL Book Sale October 19/20 Open afternoon 9/18 for teachers and librarians Friday
Broadway night
Foundation for Belmont Education Spelling Bee - November 13
Dan Scharfman Walk/Run November 17 9:30
Meeting to fill S.C. vacancy – Lisa-Elizabeth meet again next Monday, September 30th
Superintendents evaluation next meeting direct information/input to L. Graham by October 1st
Superintendent Search committee ready to announce members by Thursday

Superintendents Report
2013 MCAS Memo – All schools in district are now rated level 1 status with is the highest level in state system. This is based on PPI formula for meeting improvement targets Math and Science Extra Credit 25% or 90 districts level 1- “Thank you to educators who made this possible”

Field PARCCPartnership Assessment for Readiness for Mastery of the national Common Core standards vote will determine if MA move from MCAS to PARK as soon as next year. Final states field testing, MA performance based assessment (open response) and end of year assessment (may/june machine scores) designed to be taken on line. Belmontfield test Butler (4 ELA) performance based online version, March/April Grade 7 mathematics & May/June multiple choice also Grade 8 ELA performance Grade 9 ELA BHS end of year and online assessment will not receive any date purely test option to exempt out of MCAS grade 4/8 ELA

Parent Survey with DESE – parent involvement how well does Belmont do – some participation 405/9.3% parents 355 general education and 50/12.6% parents of students with disabilities – compared to 96 other districts - responses were positive 80% or above for most of question and 60% satisfaction with parents of students with disabilities connecting with other parents.

Finance Director
Close out FY 2013 working to confirm balances end of year DESE report
Superintendent modeling on compensation group identify short term action will be reporting out other data later

PLT – RTI Jaynene Delitt-Young Response To Intervention (RTI)

ELL in Belmont 2013
30% Chinese has become the predominate language and never grouped but considering for next year. There has been 50% increase in last year or 182 new ELL students. The typical high point is in February. Students are coming with less English than before, with a spike in level 1 (newcomer beginner English). There is almost a 1-1 correlation with new enrollments and instructional changes – increase transitional English and new comer English. Grades 6-12 there has been larger instructional group. K-12 there has been the most elementary 60 students. BPS is attempting to figure out how to see all the student not every day, 30 minutes with groups 6/7
SIE endorsement - 12 session 2 ½ -3 ½ hour training with significant homework, the target this year is on 6-12 (32). 35 teachers volunteered all but 1 enrolled in Belmont or other course begin next Wednesday. Looking forward to a significant impact on all students regardless of language barrier. Retell website – www.doe.mass.edu/retell/

Student Representatives to School Committee
Student concerned about attendance policy and additional “pressure to be in class caused stress’
October breast cancer month raised $13k for Making Strides last year
iPad for freshman + AP French not utilize and integrated into French 5 & 5H course. Teachers have been more tolerant of technology and finding new ways to utilize in class and allowing students to use technology.

NHS peer tutoring program - Risa Carp working with students to design space in library so students receive support every period up and running sometime in October. Online programs to aid peers present at faculty meeting tomorrow

6 national Merit Scholars’ finalists

Out of state trips
Ferry Beach and Washington DC

Belmont Media Center - Appoint Scott Stafford

Information technology Committee Appoint James Barrett

Approval of Minutes

School Committee 9-10-13

Chair's Report
Pascha Griffiths Resignation to be filled at joint meeting of School Committee-Selectman September 23, 2013

Joey's park build Belmont- Monday October 14th

Belmont Serves - major food drive

Dan Scharfman Run November 17th

Superintendent's Report
CMS Security will be complete next week

New Director of Consolidated Facilities -John Boyle

New BPS Food Services Director - Dustin O’Brien

Expanding Enrollment - There has been expanding enrollment and attempting to keep evenly distribute. There were 127 new students which is a 3% growth rate with the highest number (70) at BHS. Over the next 4 months the BPS will working with advisory groups to look at trends and resources at recommended caps. Currently there is one fourth grade Burbank and a kindergarten at the butler over the recommended class size

Meeting October 1st with the Board of Selectman to develop a multi year plan through the creation of 12 person committee.

Superintendent Search - Posting sent- page need to develop a screening committee 9-11 people start October 16 Deadline 15. Mary review to provide all document screening committee (Anne Lougee and Laurie Graham SC rep)review and move forward 3-4 candidates then move into public November 20th public December 2-13 district visit December decide

Dan Downey IT Funds - Officially receive funds Dan Downey IT Funds to commemorate the work Dan has done advertise existing staff member to run a help desk deliver service to students need.

Sept 21 or October 8 – will assign School Committee Liaisons to committees

Teachers' summer break secret

Teachers' summer break secret

Forget the rhetoric about teachers’ cushy schedules. For many, the new school year starts in early August.

Alas, the summer is fast drawing to a close. The days are getting shorter. There’s a nip in the air come evening and (I’ve noticed) the less hearty trees are already throwing in the towel and dropping leaves in anticipation of winter. But if you’ve been driving around town anytime in the past month and happened to pass one of Belmont’s public schools, you may have noticed something strange: cars in the parking lots --quite a few of them.

If you’re like me, you may have wondered what those cars were all about. Well, I’m here to tell you: those cars belong – almost without exception - to our teachers and administrators. For them, thinking about the new school year doesn’t start in mid August, but sometime in early July. By early August, many of them are making regular trips to work to start preparing their classroom and their lessons for the new school year.
How much does this cost Belmont? Nothing, actually. The work that teachers do over the summer is almost all unpaid – a product of their initiative and professionalism, rather than the bargaining power of their union.
Why am I making a point of noting all the free work our teachers and administrators do over the summer? Because sometime in the next school year, Belmont will find itself in negotiations with its teachers’ union over a new contract, and an important part of that negotiation will hinge on salary – how much we pay teachers for the work they do. If this year is like other years, we’re likely to see the same old saws trotted out by those in town that think being a public school teacher (as opposed to, say, a hedge fund manager) is the biggest scam going. They’ll argue that public school teachers make middle class salaries (horror!) but only work until 3 p.m. each day --and that for only nine months a year.
Not by a long shot. The day-to-day reality of public school teachers includes extra (and unpaid) hours before and after school and over the summer break. Just one personal anecdote (and the inspiration for this column): one of my daughter’s teachers will be teaching a new grade this fall. Despite being a seasoned educator with more than seven years’ experience, she’s been driving in to school for weeks now to prepare her new classroom, lay out lesson plans and talk with other teachers at her new grade level about what works and doesn’t work for them. When the school bell rings on September 4, she’ll be ready to go. (This fun infographic sums up some of the data on teachers’ work hours: http://visual.ly/teachers-dont-work-hard-enough-think-again)

Mind you: none of this extra work is written in to the school calendar or the teacher’s union contract. In fact, as a former Belmont School Committee member I can tell you that one of the most potent negotiating tools the union has is to hold out the prospect of "work to rule:" teachers doing only what is explicitly spelled out in their contract. No before or after hours work, no student recommendations or consultations, no volunteering for work supervising and directing extra curricular activities, and so on.
Of course, we know this intuitively. Don’t we hear our kids talk about meeting teachers before class starts in the morning or after hours in the late afternoon?
What we often don’t consider is that those hours are, technically, unpaid. Teachers aren’t required to be there. But they’re there because they’re professionals and being available to students during off hours (including at home in the evening) is part of what it takes to achieve success in the classroom.
Sure: teachers take vacations during the summer, too. And not all public school teachers stick around until 5:00pm or devote a month of their summer break to preparing for the start of classes. It’s also true that many of us work for salaries that don’t stipulate a "start" and "finish" to the workday – and we don’t complain. Many of us work much longer than eight-hour days and even come in to the office on a weekend now and again when a big deadline looms.
And, actually, that’s my point: the work that teachers do isn’t all that different than the work any of us do. Like us: they work hard. Like us: they’re professionals who take personal pride in the work they do. Like us, most of them aren’t heading for the exit door when the workday (or week) is done. And, like us, our teachers like to have their hard work recognized and rewarded come payday. Let’s try to keep that in mind as the year progresses!

Paul is a Town Meeting member from Precinct 8 and edits the blog Bloggingbelmont.com.

Read more: http://www.wickedlocal.com/belmont/newsnow/x1843580859/Teachers-summer-break-secret#ixzz2eA3j6REq
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Team training approach draws praise
By Laura Barrett

 

     Before he retired as the Belmont Education Association president at the end of last school year, Bob Antonellis said that establishing Professional Learning Teams in his district has been “a lot of work, but it’s worth it.”

He added, “It’s one of the things I did as president that I’m most proud of.”

    A growing number of districts in Massachusetts and across the country are joining the movement by organizing PLT’s, sometimes referred to as professional learning communities, in lieu of traditional “stand-and-deliver” professional development offerings.

     In Belmont, teachers join a PLT organized by grade level, subject matter or common interest each year. The school schedule includes dedicated time for teams to work on initiatives to improve teaching and learning in areas of their own choosing.

In May of each year, PLT members present their projects and findings to their colleagues at a conference that resembles a student science fair. The high school field house is set up with tables and poster-board displays around the perimeter of the room, allowing participants to check out each other’s work. Break-out sessions are offered, during which a small number of teams present their projects in greater depth.

     Teachers approached during last year’s conference on May 22 were generally enthusiastic about the approach. Janice Darias, assistant superintendent in charge of Belmont’s PLT program, said that in a survey she administers each year after the conference, a high percentage express support for this form of PD.

     “The research shows that bringing in somebody for a one-day PD activity is not effective,” Darias said. Under the old model, the speaker “may or may not address a particular need of a particular teacher,” she said.

     “PLTs give our professionals time and space and support to work on problems in practice that they have identified,” she continued. “For example, if your students are struggling with organizing their writing, a team can come together to work on that for the year and test out new ways of instruction to make that better. It’s our R&D opportunity to tap into the expertise of our professionals.”

     Antonellis agreed. “This is what teachers should be doing,” he said. “They’re the experts. They know what the problems are. They know what needs to be done.”

     The initiative began in the 2010-2011 school year under a former superintendent. At first, said Antonellis, teachers were required to use some of their contractual PD time by working together in teams once a month for an hour after school. That first year, the schedule didn’t work well because teachers were tired after a long day in the classroom, he said.

     The next year, the district and BEA negotiated a schedule change. The school day is extended by about 15 minutes four days of the week, but students are dismissed an hour early every Wednesday.  That extra hour has proven invaluable for giving teachers time during the workday for PLTs, department meetings, curriculum development and other district priorities.

     Darias said that the new schedule is symbolically important. “It says that the work we do together as colleagues is important work and should be part of the school day, not an extra,” she said.

     The teachers presenting their projects last May were eager to share their findings with others.

     “After all three PLTs I’ve been a part of, I’ve come away with something useful,” said Beth Manca, a middle school Latin teacher. “I’ve added something to my teaching every year.”

     A team of second-grade teachers at the Burbank Elementary School were also positive about their project. Their team was one of 17 in the district to focus on writing. Their display included a book written and illustrated by second graders that was a takeoff on the classic, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Their theme was, “If You Give a Second-Grader a Dollar.”

     A team of second-grade teachers at the Butler Elementary School gave a PowerPoint presentation on how they incorporated newly donated iPads into their classrooms.

     “My overall impression of the use of iPads is that it’s a huge success,” said team member Jennifer Mathews.

     That said, members of her PLT warned that their efforts required much more than was allotted in the official PLT schedule. They often worked on their own time, learning new apps and figuring out how to incorporate the iPads into their curriculum to improve reading and math instruction. They also said teachers need ongoing IT support and PD if iPads are to be used effectively.

     Marnie Wolfe, a member of the Butler team, said that while there are many benefits to the PLT model, it’s a trade-off.

     “Under the old model, we used to work as a whole school more often,” Wolf said. “I think that brought us together as a school. Still, everything we’ve done as part of the PLT has been useful. It’s just that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do both.”