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LAW School Council Meeting Minutes 11-5-2018
Lawrence School Council Meeting
Monday, November 5, 2018
Minutes
Meeting began at 5:00
Members in attendance
- Thomas Bushy, Principal and Chairperson
- Sean Sullivan, parent rep
- Grace Simpkins, parent rep
- Cheryl Giardi, parent rep
- Brian Connolly, teacher rep
- Charlene Johnson, teacher rep
Principal’s Comments
- School committee feedback on SSP Goals
- The SSP goals were well received. The principal shared the SSP goals.
- There was discussion of the student warrant committee and school government and possible changes.
- Attendance Incentives
- Viera gives out treats to students for perfect attendance. She hands out pencils, etc. at lunch.
- Grade 6 Information Night @LAW on November 19th.
- There will be a 6th grade connect ed call to 6th grade parents from the principal of Morse Pond. An e-mail went home about it.
Superintendent arrived around 5:30 - Discussion about LAW and District
- Strengths about LAW/District
- There is good support for vulnerable students
- Staff and parent communication is good
- Dress code at Lawrence is a real positive and we would like to see it at the high school
- Small community feel across the district
- Communication from staff within the department, across grades and the schools is good
- The team approach leads to problem solving which is a positive
- Co-Teaching has really helped
- Challenges
- A lot of kids starting to show problems with mental health – there is a rise in anxiety and stress
- The transition from MP to Law is hard and powerschool is stressful.
- Class sizes are large. Especially 8th grade foreign languages classes.
- The response was to talk about scheduling complications
- Discussion about adding recess or formalized time for movement.
- The fields and turf in general are in bad shape
- Lockdown scenarios are a concern. There was appreciation for ALICE training but more information needs to go out to parents. Also, a unified district message on whether the students are told it is a drill or not.
- All the locks at LAW are being replaced so they can be locked and unlocked from inside the classroom
- Scheduling across the district can cause conflicts as Morse Pond and Lawrence share Mondays as their night.
- The district needs to support gifted and talented students.
Meeting ended at 6:00
The next School Council Meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 3, 2018
Pride, Respect, Responsibility, Compassion