Governing Board MeetingThursday, October
25th, 2018
Facilitators: Dr. Copeland/ Ms. Triplett
Time: 4:00-5:30
Note Taker: Kimmy Lee
Time Keeper: Dr. Copeland
In
attendance:
Tracey
Triplett, Christine Copeland, Ezinwa Nwankwo, Martha Jones, Kimmy Lee, Sachian Mahon,
Patrick Donovan, Caitlin Nelson, Angel Nunez, Sean Greenhalgh, Morgan Hayward,
Pilar Castro, Akua-Nia Francillon
Time | Minutes | Activity |
4:00-4:10 | 10 | Introduction |
4:10-4:20 | 10 | School Update Setting Meeting Dates for SY 18-19 |
4:20-4:25 | 5 | Review of By-laws Ms Triplett |
4:25-4:35 | 10 | Role of the Governing Board Decision Making Process Ms. Perakis |
4:35-4:40 | 5 | Developing Working Committees |
4:40-5:00 | 20 | Closing and Next Steps |
1st Governing Board Meeting
Thursday, 10/25/18 – 4:00PM – 5:00PM
In attendance:
Tracey Triplett, Christine Copeland, Ezinwa Nwankwo, Martha Jones, Kimmy Lee, Sachian Mahon, Patrick Donovan, Caitlin Nelson, Angel Nunez, Sean Greenhalgh, Morgan Hayward, Pilar Castro, Akua-Nia Francillon
- Announcements:
- Ms. Triplett – running late & Ms. Perakis – not attending – knee/ankle
- Introduction:
- Dr. Copeland, Ms. Triplett, Ms. Ezy, Ms. Jones, Ms. Kimmy, Ms. Sach, Mr. Donovan, Ms. Nelson, Mr. Nunez, Mr. Greenhalgh (Clara’s Dad – Room 101), Ms. Hayward(Frances and Chandler’s mom), Ms. Castro, Ms. Francillon
- School Updates:
- New
members of the JFK community
- 0.5 ESL specialist – Ms. Toledano (part time)
- Ms. Littlehale – 3rd grade SEI (Sheltered English Immersion) Teacher
- Ms. Simmons – 4th grade Gen Ed Teacher
- Ms. Bellamy – Covering secretary
(temporary as of right now – position has been posted again – couldn’t find a
right fit for the school last time)
- Ideal candidate is someone who speaks Spanish
- City
Year Team
- 6 first year AmeriCorps members this year
- Smaller team than last year – due to a national recruitment challenge. Boston corps size was targeted to be 300 corps members currently 220.
- Art Teacher from JP Kids Art for the Kindergarten classes.
- Still have Playworks (Coach Jonah) this year – money to fund comes from the operating budget. Using chocolate sales to offset the costs as well.
- Mr. Coburn – in the system as a sub but has a background with supporting behavior management.
- Enrollment
– ~380
- School’s full capacity – 425
- Grade 2-3 LD classroom (3 students) only classroom in 2 & 3 that is under enrolled
- Activities/Field
Trips
- Kindergarten – Apple picking
- 1st grade – Pumpkin Patch
- 5th grade – Plimoth Plantation
- 2nd grade – Post office
- 3rd grade – library
- New
members of the JFK community
- This
year the JFK is in the UVA (University of Virginia) cohort (District
restructured school grouping/cohorts)
- Combines focus from education school with the business school. ~15 years’ experience – has been proven to work
- Last year – 1 instructional superintendent supporting 27 schools
- This year – 1 instructional
superintendent supporting 6 schools
- Dr. Copeland applied for this and went through interview process
- UVA cohort – provides more support
for Dr. Copeland and the school
- Ms. Landry (instructional super) visits the school once a week. Is able to see the supports that the JFK needs
- Special Ed Coordinator (Ms. Considine) comes in bi-weekly
- With this partnership – school has
to change the ELA curriculum to EL
- Still looking for options in grades 1 and 2
- UVA cohort walk through (5 other
principals) yesterday (10/24)
- Positive reviews!!
- Feedback was that they saw students engage in productive struggle
- Math – saw students doing the heavy lifting, showing their strategies and thinking
- 1 principal wanted to film 2nd grade teacher!
- Coaching
support
- Coach from central office – supposed to be at the JFK 1 day a week but has been here for about 3 days a week
- Focus on math support
- UVA looking for a literary coach
- 1 person comes in once a week to support/plan with Ms. Ezy/Mrs. Moody
- Parent
Council Update
- 1 meeting already to elect
- Another meeting tomorrow (Friday, 10/26)
- Game Night – 11/15
- Applying for permits for a bake
sale
- Usually sells at Forest Hills
- Potentially sell at JFK – voting place
- Attendance
- District and school are focusing on attendance this year
- This year – if a student has more than 4 absences – a note will be sent home
- More than 18 absences – places on a
watch list (chronically absence
- If there is a doctor’s note – the absence is excused (primarily for Grades 1 -5, not kindergarten)
- Arrival/Drop
Off/Dismissal
- Safer and better this year due to the tapper system
- Teachers are not on duty until 8:20AM
- During the cold months – the auditorium will be open for students
- Last year – students were getting dropped off very early (earliest was 6:50AM) – they were in the foyer with no adult supervision
- YMCA Morning Program – still have spots available. The Y will hire additional people if there is need
- Dismissal – Dr. Copeland and office
staff encourage parents to pick up students by 2:30PM at the latest.
- Last year ~25 families in the office during dismissal
- Dr. Copeland sent Krista info so she can put in the parent newsletter
- Meeting
Dates for this year:
- Thursday, November 29th 2018
- Thursday, December 20th, 2018
- Thursday, January 17th, 2019
- Thursday, February 28th, 2019
- Thursday, March 21st, 2019
- Thursday, April 25th 2019
- Thursday, May 30th 2019
- Thursday, June 13th 2019 (tentatively scheduled just in case there are snow days in March)
- Governing
Board Bylaws (Ms. Triplett)
- Sent to new parent members
- How we act as governing board
- Will have to make new bylaws if the school is no longer innovation status
- Talks about the mission, history, and commitment of board members (members must attend meeting regularly).
- Able to set up sub committees
- Guides for meetings – open meeting times, agenda and notes via google docs – available to the public
- Decision making process (Ms. Perakis will talk about this in the next meeting)
- Boards needs at least 3 teachers and 3 parents to vote
- Committees
- 2 last year (Grant Writing/Website Development)
- Ms. Jones – received a grant last year and was able to buy ipads for her classroom (from the law firm Brown Rudnick) & surveyed the teachers about what they would like funded with a grant
- Ms. Nelson made a bit.ly for the
school’s website
- Bit.ly/JFKschoolBPS
- Email Central Office about putting the link on the BPS website
- Ideally 2 committees this year as
well (Grant Writing/Fundraising)
- Fundraising – annual performance would be great – last year Peter and the Wolf – 3500
- Ms. Darling – Rodriguez- candy sales
- Ask staff in the building about ideas they have as well.
- Next
Steps:
- Decide who will be on the committee and have work time to brainstorm
- Grant Writing – look over the survey sent to teachers last year
- Fundraising – brainstorm event ideas/date and time
- Next meeting – Decision making process, developing norms (how we will work together as a group), and committee work time.