Quincy Citywide Parent’s Council

Minutes from March 13^th, 2006

Broad Meadows Middle School

Meeting was called to order at 7:05pm, with Sue Sheridan presiding.

The minutes from the January 9^th were accepted.

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

We are no longer paying for a Webmaster as Grace Buscher is doing it free of charge. A motion was passed to purchase a gift certificate for $100 to thank Grace for giving so generously of her time.

Dr. DeCristofaro was the guest speaker and spoke at length about the full-day kindergarten program. They developed the program using the following parameters: There will be 15-20 students per class, with one full-time teacher and one full time paraprofessional per class. Children are entitled to full-day kindergarten, at their home school if possible. If that is not possible, transportation will be provided if the child is more than ¾ miles from the school. There will be at least two full-day kindergartens at each school. If requested, a child can go to half-day kindergarten. The open enrollment policy will continue. No more than two special needs classes would be moved from schools due to space issues. No 5^th grade currently housed in an elementary school will be moved to a middle school. There have been two registration days already. Screening should be in early May. Some examples of registration numbers are Parker-59, Montclair–72, Merrymount- 48, Atherton Hough– 38. The goal is to have neighborhood schooling. The School Administration is now looking at space allocation, and will be working hard on staffing. They will be starting on the budget in the next few weeks. In response to a question about residency checks, Dr. DeCristofaro said that principals are asked to flag certain applications to be checked further. In response to a question about a transition period, Dr. DeCristofaro said that it is up to the parent how long to transition their child. No child has to do full-day kindergarten. Dr. DeCristofaro said that full-day kindergarten came about for the benefit of the children. The curriculum is much tougher now and children need more learning time.

Dr. DeCristofaro reported that there was a meeting of the Building Needs sub-committee today. They discussed the three building options and are close to making a final choice. Hopefully they will be able to vote on a site in the near future. They also discussed programs that might be cut based on the various site locations. On March 22^nd, there will be a public meeting at the library for neighbors to voice their opinions.

There were several reports from school committee. A full report of the minutes from the School Committee meetings can be viewed on the QPS website at http://www.quincypublicschools.com/main_frame_pages/district.htm.

The 1/11 meeting was discussion of the proposal for full-day kindergarten. At open forum Barbara Isola spoke to the homework policy and Sandy Arabian brought up returning the health classes to the schools. Sandy will be presenting a health program in QPS through a grant she received.

At the 1/25 meeting, it was reported that Dr. DeCristofaro met with the Special Education Parent Advisory Group. The school committee approved a proposal to back the Superintendent in his efforts to start full day kindergarten.

At the 2/8 meeting, Dan Quirk was recognized for his business partnership with the QPS. The Atlantic Middle School Boys and the Broad Meadows Middle School Girls volleyball teams were recognized for winning their leagues. Booklets were handed out on the new full day kindergarten program that would be sent home with elementary students and distributed to daycares and pre-schools to answer parent’s questions.  Mr. Walsh (director of personnel) reported that there would be approximately 50 retirements this year.  A presentation on how the school department recruits and retains teachers was made there were many questions on how and where are teachers are being recruited so as to recruit the best. Once the teachers are recruited they are partnered with a mentor a presentation was done on the success of this program.

At the 3/1 meeting, the EQA surveys were discussed. There were many questions on the high school that night. There are concerns that the state believes that Central and Sterling don’t meet their guidelines for renovation. There may be another program that QPS can apply to for the repairs.

Under Old Business, Roseann Russell had a ‘thank you’ card from Joanne Bragg.

Roseann Russell wanted parents to know that they don’t need to stress about their child getting in to certain classes in freshman year. Fiona Canavan said that the NQHS principal eased parent’s minds about that at the recent PAC meeting.

Sandy Arabian gave a QPAC update. QPAC is the parallel of Citywide PTO, except that it is for special needs. Special needs encompass reading disabilities, learning disabilities, speech disabilities and many more. Now that students are being tested earlier, special needs are coming to light. When a child has to go on an individual education plan, it becomes a battle with the administration. There is a new board, which is going to be a strong presence. Parents can turn to them for questions and concerns. The next QPAC meeting is on 3/28 at 7pm.

The Citywide executive board’s terms are up and cannot be renewed, if anyone is interested in any of the positions.

The Exxon gas station on Quincy Shore Drive will donate 1¢ from every gallon of gas sold during the month of April to the two Quincy High Schools Senior Stay Out Nights. The owners do this on a regular basis and average $250 donation per school.

There will be an Internet Safety Program for all Quincy adults at QHS on Thursday, March 30^th at 7:00pm. Great information on how to protect your children on the Internet.

Roseann Russell would like to discuss at a future meeting the amount of money teachers spend throughout the year on school supplies.

There are a couple of openings for people to attend the School Committee meetings on behalf of Citywide PTO if anyone is interested.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50pm.