Minutes for October 17th, 2005.
Broad Meadows Middle School
Meeting called to order at 7:15pm, with Barbara Isola presiding.
The minutes from September 12th were accepted.
There was no report from School Committee.
Introductions were made all around and Barbara reminded everyone that the Officers seats will be vacant next year and suggested that people start considering if they would be interested in holding an office.
Dr. DeCristofaro was the guest speaker and presented us with a lengthy report on all that his office is doing or planning for this year, and reminded everyone that he and his staff are always available to us if we need him.
| On the budget, Dr. DeCristofaro said that QPS got an increase this year. In budget spending, the students come first. |
| There are almost 900 classroom teachers in Quincy and our salaries are competitive with area schools. |
| Tuitions are fully funded. |
| There has been an increase in textbook funding. |
| There has been a decrease in enrollment at the Elementary level so some teachers have been moved to the High Schools. |
| There has been an increase in academic programs, especially for students at risk of quitting school. |
| There is a program at the Middle School level, called “Jump Start”. It is a motivational program for students at risk of quitting school. |
| There is a language development class at the Elementary Schools and at Point Middle School, for special needs students. It keeps them in the class with their peers. |
| For academic support, there are literacy programs at the schools. |
| The pay for substitute teachers has increased. |
| There has been increased funding for extra programs at the High School. |
| Information/Security phones (School Messenger) are up and running at the High Schools. It is used for notifications of all types. They want to see how it works at the High School level before adding it to the other schools. There is no timetable as to when that might happen. Roseann Russell pointed out that it takes several days for the schools to contact all parents. Dave McCarthy said that in the event of an emergency calls can be made faster (at an extra cost to the School System). There is a fixed monthly charge for the Messenger. |
| There are three new security guards at the High Schools, and they will be there next year also. We also have two school resource officers at the High Schools now. |
| Barbara Isola asked about some phones not having caller ID and asked if the weak links are being fixed. Dr. DeCristofaro said he would look into it. |
| Hank Brawley asked about sending out information via e-mail. Dr. DeCristofaro said he would be willing to meet with a small group to discuss it. |
| Dr. DeCristofaro gave a breakdown of the QPS enrollment for this year. There are 8921 students enrolled in QPS. Class sizes are as follows: |
Kindergarten through Grade 3 - 85% of classes under 20, and 15% between 20 and 24.
Grade 4 to 5 – 56% under 20, and 44% between 20 and 24.
Grade 6 to 8 – 35% under 20, 49% between 20 and 24, and 16% between 25 and 27.
Grade 9 to 12 – 59.5% under 20, 33.3% between 20 and 25, 6.9% between 26 and 30, and 3 classes over 30.
| There was a lot of maintenance done over the summer in the schools – painting, replacing doors and roofs, repairs, etc. |
| Central and Sterling Middle Schools converting to gas from oil. |
| Linda Kelly said that Atlantic Middle School still doesn’t have a wheelchair ramp and Dr. DeCristofaro said that he would look into it. |
| Sue Sheridan asked if individual schools set thermostats and Dr. DeCristofaro said that they are. |
| There were 17 retirements last year and 19 resignations. The resignations were due to relocations, returning to school or similar reasons and apparently not due to salaries. |
| The Board of Education is doing an audit of QPS from March 6th through March 10th. They will be looking at things like school achievement, are we extending the school day, is there improvement in MCAS, is there a District Improvement Plan, is there a School Improvement Plan and what are our Team Goals. |
| Every school should have a literacy block and a math block each day. Teachers are working as teams. The School Committee wants to support teachers in teaching the kids. |
| One parent said that her child’s school is not having the parents meet with the Math Focus teachers. Dr. DeCristofaro said that they should. |
| Roseann Russell noted that literacy help is up and asked if there is anything special to help in math. Dr. DeCristofaro said the resource room is available. |
| Starting next year each grade from the 3rd on will have MCAS in reading and math. Hank Brawley commented on the strong focus on math and science and said he feels like other subjects, like Social Studies are being neglected. The Social Studies books at the Elementary level are 12 years old. |
| At the Middle School level, there are 300 minutes of math per week. |
| They have revised the math, science and health curricula in the Middle Schools. |
| They have new social studies text books in the Middle Schools. |
| At the High Schools, they have reduced class size for the standard classes. |
| They are offering math tutoring at the High Schools. |
| They have new foreign language curriculum materials at the High Schools. |
| There are many extended programs and tutorials available through the QPS. 1500 children attend summer programs. Barbara Isola asked about the criteria for summer school as she had heard about one child who had been refused entry because they had not failed. Dr. DeCristofaro said he would look into it. |
| Dr. DeCristofaro said that talks about full day Kindergarten have not begun with the Mayor yet. Capacity would be a question at some schools. He will let us know when the talks start. |
| Barbara Isola asked about Guidance Counselors’ caseloads and if anything could be done about them being overwhelmed at some schools. Dr. DeCristofaro said that it could be looked at. |
| QPS has over 75 business partners. |
| Upcoming events: Trick or Treat Trot is on 10/29/05; Motown and More is coming on 4/7//06; Evening at Pops coming on 5/11/06; Quincy Historical Walk coming on 5/20/06 and a Golf Tournament coming on 6/21/06. |
| A parent asked if QHS has a trainer yet but Dr. DeCristofaro said we haven’t been able to find one. |
| A parent asked if phone calls about attendance should be made by a certain time as sometimes the calls come very late in the day. Dr. DeCristofaro said that School Messenger should help get calls out early. |
| Dr. DeCristofaro said that student searches are not being conducted as he is checking into the legality of it. |
| A parent questioned why the MCAS results took so long to come home. Dr. DeCristofaro said that mail goes out via City Hall and they don’t always send out fast. He also commented that the cost of mailings is very high. |
| Roseann Russell asked about the possible flu concerns. Dr. DeCristofaro said that they are keeping an eye on it. |
| A parent asked if there are a higher number of students transferring out of district to NQHS this year. Dr. DeCristofaro said that there was no drastic change that he was aware of and would have Carmen update us at our next meeting. |
| A parent asked why there are ˝ day Tuesdays. Dr. DeCristofaro said that they are necessary for teacher preparation and professional development. It could change under pressure from parents and the School Committee but would be very costly as teachers are contractually allowed preparation time. Middle and High school are different as they have longer days and have time built into the schedule to prepare. |
| Teacher contract negotiations are starting in January. |
Barbara thanked Dr. DeCristofaro for coming and giving such great information.
The Candidates Night was discussed. All six candidates have agreed to attend. Sandy Arabian will moderate. Sandy, Marybeth Dooling and Linda Kelly will coordinate the questions. Questions may be e-mailed to Sandy at sarabian@tufts-nemc.org. Marsha will give notices to the Media. Carlos will be the timekeeper. Roseann Russell will bring water and Hank Brawley will pick up the microphones. Fiona will coordinate with Broad Meadows on setting up the cafeteria.
Dr. Mariano will attend the November meeting and will discuss the Gifted and Talented program. He will also discuss Primary Source programs in Asian history and culture.
The meeting adjourned at 9:25pm.