Quincy Citywide Parent’s Council

Minutes from April 10^th, 2006

Broad Meadows Middle School

Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm, with Barbara Isola presiding.

The minutes from the March 13^th meeting were accepted.

Linda reminded representatives to pay their dues. The only school’s not paid up are Merrymount and Snug harbor.

Ken McPhee was our guest speaker. Ann Mahoney, School Committee-woman, and the chair of the Safety, Security and Transportation committee was also in attendance. Mr. McPhee said that every school has individual safety and security needs and plans. There are ‘lock-down’ procedures for every school. Most of the time, the doors are locked and they carry on with a normal school day. There are routine lock-downs at all the schools during the year. They do bi-monthly physical building checks to see what is, and what is not working.

There is a safety team consisting of the school administrators, the QPD, the DA’s office, State Police, T police, DSS, DYS, and more get together once a month and discuss issues relating to the students. They talk to the kids without being confrontational. There are 3-4 daytime and one evening security staff at each high school.

Both high schools have a notification system called School Messenger and it’s working well. Sterling, Point Webster and Broad Meadows middle schools have the lines in for the Messenger service and hope to be up and running by late Spring. Atlantic and Central middle schools should have the system set up by September. They would do a multimedia blast if there were an emergency. Hank Brawley asked why e-mail notification couldn’t be tied in to the Messenger system. According to Ritchie O’Brien (I.T. Director), input is the issue. Mr. McPhee said that he would discuss the issue with Ritchie O’Brien to see what could be done to speed up the process.

Wollaston’s intercom system is one of the next to be worked on. Central M.S. just had a system put in and it is working well. It is a voice system that works through the computer lines. The new front door for Central is out to bid and will be taken care of soon. Central has a motion sensor door that is very frequently triggered to open the door, which is unacceptable. Broad Meadows and Atlantic M.S.’s have the same system but do not have doors that people walk by all the time, like Central does. Not all schools have the ability to communicate with the classrooms and vice versa. There are plans in place to have all schools have that ability. Mike Ryan is working on those matters consistently.

NQHS PAC donated money last year to purchase a state of the art surveillance system. It is a color laptop system with six cameras. If there is time on the day of a security issue or lockdown, a notice is sent home informing the parents. A parent mentioned that Montclair parents felt that there was not sufficient follow-up after a security issue. Mr. McPhee said that they try to learn from incidents.

The open doors after hours at the high school only allow access to the gym. The other areas are locked. The middle school doors are still locked after hours.

Kavanagh field at Atlantic M.S. is the temporary track field. There will be a security guard on duty at the school during track meets, as people will need access to the bathrooms. There is a regulation track planned for Faxon field, due for completion within 18 months.

There was a discussion about the website ‘myspace.com’. Mr. McPhee said that it is a non-controlled site and a disgusting playground for pedophiles. Computers should be in a central place in the home so that parent’s can see what sites their children are on. One 12-year-old Quincy middle school girl, a bright student, skipped school and met a 23 year old man in Quincy Center that she met on myspace.com. Lisa Linsky, one of the school resource officers, is doing presentations for students of Quincy Public Schools. Pedophiles look for certain vulnerabilities in kids. Steve Burgio, the other school resource officer checks myspace.com every day. If they get ID’s they call parents. There is new software available that can tell parents exactly what chat rooms their children have visited and what was said.

Mr. McPhee didn’t have an answer about the condition of the fire extinguishers at Atlantic M.S. There is a problem with some of the buses running late and it may be because schools share buses. A parent expressed concern that there was an officer present during the girl’s basketball playoffs between Point Webster and Broad Meadows M.S.’s. She felt that it was intimidating, but Mr. McPhee explained that the community police officers are frequently at the schools.

Nominations were accepted for all officers of the executive board. Fiona Canavan and Sandy Arabian were nominated as Co-Presidents, Marybeth Dooling was nominated as Treasurer, and Marsha Garber was nominated as Publicity Chair. There was no nomination at this meeting for the position of Recording Secretary. Further nominations will be taken at the May meeting.

There was an explanation of what the Citywide representative’s duties are at an interview for a school department position. At the interview, you are given a packet with information about the candidates. Usually, the interviewers are the Superintendent (or assistant superintendent), the head of personnel, the head of the QEA union, a representative from the PTO and the principal from the school involved. The representative generally asks a question related to parents/PTO. Roseann Russell has many sample questions she can supply.

The school committee reports were heard. Minutes from the school committee meetings can be viewed on the QPS website, as well as the agenda for their meetings. http://www.quincypublicschools.com/main_frame_pages/district.htm.

Under old business, Dave McCarthy said that the homework policy is on the list to be looked at. A parent voiced concern that at the high school level some children were being benched for the season for not attending sports during vacation periods.

Linda Kelly was congratulated for winning the Unsung Heroine award from the State.

There is free online career guidance help for all middle and high school students at http://masscis.intocareers.org

The meeting adjourned at 8:50pm.