Stonington High School

Tuesday, 18 October 2005

 

Members Present:  S. Agnello, L. Bolduc, L. Conway, K. Donovan, M. Gillick, S. McCarthy, M. McKee, J. McKernan, J. Moore, C. Moore, B. Morrone, S. Mueller, S. Murphy, J. Norcross, L. Raffo, C. Sartor, B. Taylor

 

CIA Students Present:  Ryan Bailey, Amanda Caswell, Alex Gavin, Mike Hartley, Sarah Kinney, Jeffrey Strader

 

Meeting started at 5:04 pm.

 

Three hand-outs distributed:  1) Revised membership list; 2) Bylaws of the Board – Delineation of Responsibilities between Board of Education and School Based Improvement Teams – Policy 9400(a thru c); 3) SBIT Goal Setting

 

I.          Reports

            A.  Minutes (9/20/05) – Minutes accepted with the following adjustment:  In the section ÒMS/HS TransitionÓ, the sentence ÒOn August 26th, the new 9th graders started schoolÓ should be ÒOn August 26th, the new 9th graders came to school for orientation.Ó

 

            B.  Student Report (B. Taylor) – The concert featuring ÒBarefootÓ raised $4500. This and an additional $500 were donated to the Red Cross for hurricane relief.  Great turnout – apx. 500 people attended.  Homecoming is planned for Saturday October 22nd, 8 pm – 11 pm in the gym.  Each class is preparing a banner for Homecoming.  The Football game is before the dance at 6:30 pm.  Senior Dinner (aka ÒVeteransÕ Dinner) is planned for 6 pm on November 10th. 

 

            C.  SBIT Reports/BOE Report/Policies Under Review

 

SBIT Reports  – Cindy Moore (WVSS) unable to get a copy of recent SBIT minutes.  Ken Donovan (DMS and PMS) presented highlights of DMSÕs SBIT meeting minutes which are posted on the DMS website. Their goal is to: ÒTo increase opportunities for parents to learn about curricula, student learning and ways to support their child at DMS and within the Stonington Public School DistrictÓ.  He also presented PMS SBIT info including their goal to Òmeet the needs of each child thru increased parent involvement.  Sharon Mueller (MMS) was unable to get a copy of recent SBIT minutes.  Linda Bolduc (WBSS) was not present at this point in the meeting.  I spoke up and said that in the near future all SPS would have SBIT minutes posted.  It was just a matter of getting the SBIT secretaries to e-mail a copy of those meeting minutes to either myself (pamccarthy@aol.com) for MMS and PMS or Donna OÕConnell (doconnell@stoningtonschools.org) for WVSS and WBSS.  ItÕs a new routine SBIT secretaries are not accustomed to yet.

BOE Report – (Sam Agnello) Sam distributed a 6-page memo with a subject line of ÒOctober 6, 2005 – Board of Education ReportÓ.  It contained several BOE documents (of which copies can be made at the BOE) including a budget calendar, BOE meeting schedule, suggested superintendent goals, and copies of newspapers articles about the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) Formula and its uneven distribution of state funds. 

BOE discussion items include: Agreement between Stonington Youth Football and the SHS Athletic Boosters in regard to the concession stand.  The concession stand is owned and maintained by the town.  With this new agreement, the town, the Boosters and Youth Football, will each now pay 1/3 of the standÕs upkeep.  Also, the BOE has purchased its annual SHS yearbook ad.  Regarding emergency lighting at SHS (certain lights here in the new building including the lighthouse and stairwell #1 remain on 24/7), members of the community have become concerned with the electrical costs associated with leaving the lights on round-the-clock.  The SHS building is now designated as the ÔEmergency ShelterÕ for the town of Stonington and the lights must stay on because of that designation.  The cost of lighting the Lighthouse and stairwell #1 is ~$3000 which currently comes out of the BOE budget.  I asked, ÒIf the SHS building were NOT designated as an emergency building, would the lights still be on?Ó  YES, the lights would still be on.  Regarding Appointed SHS Coaches and Resignations, there have been a couple resignations and several appointments due to the additional assistant and head coaching positions that were created and funded in last springÕs budget.  Regarding K-4 Ed Specs, the Board of Selectman will soon be taking applications for Òk-4 Building CommitteeÓ memberships.  Issues include: expanding WVSS, closing WBSS, expansion of DMS being limited to its current footprint, all-day K and moving the 5th grade back to the elementary schools.  Regarding policies, there were no revised or new policies brought forward.  Regarding the attached documents distributed by Sam, there was some discussion regarding the Ô2006-2007 Budget CalendarÕ and the item ÒAnalyze Staffing with SBITÓ with a window of October 20 – November 4th.  Because there was no discussion of staffing at tonightÕs SBIT and this budget calendar item closes before our next meeting on 11/15, this item will be on our November agenda and the BOE will extend this budget item window to allow for SBIT discussion.  Regarding the superintendentÕs three goals, 1) improving student learning in LA and math; 2) increase capacity of each school principal to improve building climate and community perception of each school; and 3) continue implementing 5-year strategic plan. (of which we are in the second year).  Goals are agreed upon in the fall and one of them is always about Òstudent learningÓ.  Michael McKee added that each SPS teacherÕs goals are tied to this strategic plan.  All SPS goals are related.  Finally, Sam spoke about the ECS (Educational Cost Sharing) Formula.  From the New London Day:  ÒThe figures show that East Lyme will receive $6.5 million or $2158 per student, while Stonington will get $1.9 million or $752 per student.Ó And Òthe median family income in East Lyme was $75,441, about $12,000 more than Stonington.  StoningtonÕs poverty rate of 11.2 percent was more than 2 ½ times that of East LymeÕs percent.Ó  Cathy Cook (she is a member of the GovernorÕs Council for Revising the ECS formula) came to a recent BOE meeting.  There was good attendance by community members. In December/January, the BOE will read the extensive document explaining this very complicated formula.  Very political and Òin the hands of the state.Ó  Michael McKee added that the BOE could spend extensive amounts of time on the ECS issue and it wonÕt amount to anything.  He further explained that in 1999, poverty rates were removed from the ECS formula.  Lynn Conway suggested that Cathy CookÕs next visit in January should be heavily advertised and that a Ôshow of bodiesÕ could be highly effective.  Ed Haberek, who is running for the BOE will be hosting an open house in the coming weeks and will have the ECS chairperson in his home.

Linda Bolduc (who is now at the meeting) reported that there were no WBSS SBIT meeting minutes on the web and so she has nothing to report.

           

            D.  SBIT Goals – Luke Raffo, Clare Sartor, and Steve Murphy met early in October to discuss SBIT Goals.  Two possibilities:  1)  X-block activities are currently all school related except for college visits  A possible SBIT goal is to add additional x-block activities that involve businesses in the community (for example, have a chef visit the school and talk about his/her line of work and maybe demonstrate, hands-on, how to create a dish).  2)  Another SBIT might be to initiate a program where juniors and sophomores might job shadow a community member.  Steve suggested that a sub-committee form and survey the students: ÒWhere would you like to see x-block go from here?Ó  Maureen Gillick offered to spearhead this survey effort.  This subcommittee will be made up of Cindy and Jenna Moore, Maureen Gillick, Britton Taylor, Ken Donovan, Luke Raffo and Clare Sartor.  The group intends to develop a plan before our next meeting on 11/15.

 

            E.  Membership – A revised SBIT membership list was distributed.  It contains members Andrew Walsh, Bryan Morrone and Jerry Murphy.  Andrew WalshÕs e-mail is incorrectly listed and needs to be corrected. 

 

II.        VisitorsÕ Comments – None

 

III.       SBIT Comments – Jenna Moore would like to be able to check her grades at anytime, not just during a 72-hour window (5:00 pm on Friday thru Monday at 7:00 am near mid-quarter).  Recently, students and families were able to check grades during a pilot program online.  Mike McKee said there are no plans to put a 24/7, during-the-school-year, online-grade-checking policy on the BOE agenda.  Check the next Bear Essentials for the next occurrence of the 72-hour grade-checking-pilot program.  Lynn Conway asked ÒIf ÔcapacityÕ is the problem to making this pilot program available 24/7 throughout the school year, what is being done to address capacity?Ó  Clint Kennedy (Technology Director), Fran McSweeney and Steve Murphy will be meeting in the future to address capacity and the pilot program in general. Clare Sartor reported on an e-mail she received regarding students gathering near the tennis courts before school.  Bryan Morrone says he tried to disperse the students.  Officer Marley occasionally sweeps and gives out tickets to those that are under 16, smoking cigarettes and off school property.  There is a fence that separates school property from town property and the students know where that property line is.  When adults/police approach, the students quickly put out their cigarettes and move to the side of the fence where they wonÕt get in trouble. Students under the age of 16, on town property may receive a $75 fine.   The school is addressing the problem.  Clare reminded us of the SHS Open House on 10/22; the Building Committee will be available to answer questions and give tours of the renovated high school.  Cindy Moore asked why the date of graduation isnÕt set each June. Michael McKee offered to speak with Cindy regarding the date of graduation after the conclusion of the meeting.   Jen Norcross asked if homecoming decorations should be put up after the conclusion of the Open House.  Yes, wait till the Open House has concluded.

 

IV.       Action

 

V.         Agenda – The next agenda should include:

 

VI.       Adjournment – Meeting adjourned 6:34 pm.

 

Note:  Informal discussion of X-block Subcommittee after SBIT meeting adjourned.  They agreed to meet on 10/26 during x-block (at 11:45) in Steve MurphyÕs office.

 

Susan McCarthy