DRAFT

Quincy Citywide Parents Council

March 9, 2009

Broadmeadows Middle School

Meeting called to order at 7:12 pm

February’s minutes were distributed and approved.

“The Curse of Cursive” article from Newsweek, February 23, 2009 was distributed.  The gist of the article was that the art of penmanship is dying due to technology and that schools ought to consider dropping teaching it.

At a 3 day recent APPLE (Advanced Parent Proffered Leadership) conference, each member performed a “What Color Am I?” exercise which helps individuals identify their own “true color” and facilitates discussion about group dynamics.  Each member of the Citywide Parents Council then performed his/her own true color exercise under the guidance of APPLE.  The group paired off to practice active listening, then read letters from Newbies to Veterans and Veterans to Newbies to gain a perspective about how seasoned and new members of any organization may feel.

After the exercise, members from Bernazzani expressed concern that MCAS results are falling and asked if principals share “best practices” with each other on a regular basis. 

Merrymount has Study Island, on-line software for students in grades 3, 4 and 5 that can be accessed at home.  A similar software fro Grades 1 and 2 is called Brain Pop.  Sterling has an on-line math program which may be rolled out across the district based on MCAS results.

A suggestion was made for Citywide to identify three or four MCAS improvement initiatives (software programs, primarily) and ask the district to negotiate better rates to all schools can afford to access them.

Another suggestion was made for Citywide to ask all Principals to report on what their best ideas are to improve MCAS scores.

A suggestion was made to invite Colleen Roberts to April’s meeting to discuss vertical teams and their effectiveness.  Vertical teams incorporate administrators, principals, teachers, etc.  A comment was made that the process breaks down at the individual teacher level.  An example is that the High Schools implemented a foreign language requirement that gets prepped for in Middle School.  The Middle School preparation is not consistent across the schools because of budget cuts, etc.  Perhaps she can share with Citywide what resources each school has available.

Tracey commented that regardless of the software, etc. available at one school or another, it is the parents job to hold their schools (principals, teachers, administrators) accountable for educating their child(ren). 

MCAS discussions are taking place at many schools across the district as in 2014, the “needs improvement” category will be eliminated.

The comment was made that Citywide notes need to be updated and put online.  Deirdre Small, the secretary said she would follow up.

The meeting adjourned at 9:35