Quincy Citywide Parent’s Council

Minutes from September 11, 2006

Broad Meadows Middle School

 

Meeting was called to order at 7:05pm, with Sandy Arabian presiding.

 

Sandy opened the meeting by thanking the outgoing Co-Presidents, Barbara Isola and Sue Sheridan. Her appreciation was echoed by the others in attendance.  Sandy also thanked everyone else for participating.

 

Introductions of all attending then followed.

 

The minutes from the May 8th meeting were accepted, with a minor correction. The correction is as follows: Christine Barrett is the Assistant Principal of Sterling Middle School.

 

Sandy announced that dues are $25 per school for the year and that reps should request payment from their PTO and send it to: Marybeth Dooling, Citywide Parents’ Council Treasurer, 122 President’s Lane, Quincy MA  02169.

 

Citywide representation at School Committee Meetings:

Sandy asked for volunteers to cover school committee meetings, noting how important it is for this group to have a strong presence.  Henry Brawley asked why we do not have a regular delegate to represent us at the meetings.  Barbara Isola said that in the past this has been the case, but recently a rotating schedule of volunteers was instituted since no one person had volunteered to serve as delegate.  Henry said he thought Citywide would have a stronger voice if one person served as delegate.  Fiona asked him if he would volunteer and he agreed, with the stipulation that alternates might be needed on occasion.  Motion/Second/Approved: Henry Brawley as Citywide rep to the School Committee.  Sandy/Fiona will write a letter to School Committee Vice-Chair, Elaine Dwyer and Tefta Borelli notifying the School Committee of this appointment.

 

Old Business:

bullet Homework Policy-Sandy reported that the School Committee approved a new homework policy at their June meeting.  Students are to be allowed adequate time to finish homework before it is due and group projects are not supposed to be assigned during vacations.  This was requested by Citywide last year—the issue was presented by Barbara Isola to the School Committee at their January meeting.  There was discussion of how the policy has been carefully worded to allow “wiggle room”, but the general consensus was appreciation that the School Committee had acted in response to a request by Citywide.  It was agreed that individual PTOs and Citywide should monitor the situation in the future.
bullet Health and Safety-Sandy reported that she met with Jane Kisilieus and Janet Powell to discuss the lack of health and safety education, an issue that was also brought to the School Committee last year.  Health Teams have now been formed at each school consisting of the school nurse and others.  The Quincy Teen Mothers Program has approached Sandy about this issue.
bullet Traffic Issues at High Schools—This was an issue discussed at more than one meeting last year.  Sandy asked if there were any updates.  Roxanne Renken reported that the intersection of Hancock and W. Squantum continues to be a problem.  She pointed out that many younger children need to cross here to get to Montclair and to Atlantic, so it is not just older students.  Although traffic around Quincy High is still a problem, there have been some improvements.  There was some discussion of the ongoing traffic problems around North Quincy High School and various options such as making a curb cut from the parking lot directly to Hancock Street and/or making Hunt Street a one-way going the opposite way that it goes now, in order to channel traffic more efficiently.  Marcia Garber reported that the city has said there is no traffic engineer to study these options.  Roseann Russell suggested that Hank Brawley mention at the School Committee that Citywide has been discussing the traffic issue and is concerned.  It was agreed that this was a good idea.
bulletSandy noted that the Quincy Parent Advisory Council (QPAC) is a parallel group to Citywide and focuses on students with special needs of all kinds.  The QPAC meeting is the 2nd Tuesday of every month.
bullet Use of Electronic Devices in School—There was discussion of the issues of misuse of electronic devices (especially cell phones) by both students and teachers.  Each school seems to have its own policy.  Fiona suggested that representatives mention this issue at their PTO meetings and note that there have been problems with both students and teachers using these devices inappropriately during the school day.
bullet Buses and Special Needs Buses—Last year there were several parents who complained about buses seen speeding.  Several of them were special needs buses.  Sandy suggested that a speaker be brought in about this issue sometime in the future and that the representatives from QPAC should be made aware of the issue.
bullet Security at Central Middle School—A new computer system was installed to allow for communication between classrooms and general announcements.  It seems to be working well.  The front door (lack of ability to secure it) was still a problem at last check.  It was noted that at the Citywide meeting last April, it was reported that the door would be fixed “soon”.  Citywide will continue to monitor this situation which seems to have been an issue for years.  Sandy pointed out that many other schools have similar issues and that representatives should ask about their school’s security status.  Roxanne Renken said she will check on the fire extinguishers at Atlantic which were inadequate (and not up to code) last year.

 

New Business:

bullet Superintendent DeCristofaro—Sandy noted that it is tradition to have Dr. DeCristofaro as our first speaker of the year.  He has accepted the invitation to speak at the October meeting.  She asked what issues he should be asked to comment on. The following issues were suggested:
bulletThe Elementary Lab Center (ELC) has been moved from Wollaston to Central.  How has this affected the space issue at Central?  How has the ELC program been affected and how do ELC parents feel about it?
bulletSecurity Issues-front door at Central, fire extinguishers at Atlantic.
bullet Website—It was noted that the website has been redesigned, but much of the content is outdated, especially personnel listings. It was decided that this issue should be raised with Rich O’Brien instead of bringing it to Dr. DeCristofaro.
bullet Implementation of Full Day Kindergarten—while much has been accomplished, what has been the impact on the elementary schools?
bulletForeign Language Instruction and Specialist Programs (see below).
bullet Suggestions for Other Speakers—Sandy asked who else might be invited to speak? The following people were suggested:
bulletRichard O’Brien, Director of Information and Technology, to address the issue of the new website and its content.  Henry Brawley agreed to contact him and check into the update process.
bulletJim Rendle, Athletic Director, to discuss the policy of student/athletes who miss practices during vacations and whether they can/should be prohibited from playing in games.  It was agreed that he will be invited to the November meeting.
bulletEd Grogan of the Human Rights Commission has asked to speak to Citywide about the issue of how Native Americans are depicted during rallies, especially at North Quincy High School.  Several present felt that this was an important issue, but that it was more appropriately addressed by the North Quincy High School PAC.  Fiona will suggest that he ask the President to speak at one of their meetings.
bulletImpact Quincy—Henry Brawley said he sits on the Impact Quincy advisory board.  This is an initiative of Bay State Social Services and seeks to address underage drinking in Quincy.  It was agreed that this would be a good topic for a meeting and that Ken McPhee, QPS Director of Security and Lt. Dan Minton of the Quincy Police Department also be invited to speak along with a rep from Impact Quincy.  They will be asked to speak at the December meeting.
bulletBarbara Isola suggested that speakers be given a time limit to allow for group discussion or possibly another speaker.  She also suggested that no more than 3 speakers be scheduled to allow for future meetings to focus on urgent issues if necessary.
bullet Language Programs—Fiona said that some of the foreign language teachers had approached her over the summer and wanted Citywide to know that language programs were being cutback at the middle schools.  There was much discussion of exactly how much they had been cutback and how this would affect students when they apply for college.  Many parents present voiced strong support of the foreign language programs.  Barbara Isola said that Citywide had fought in the past for an increase in foreign language instruction.  It was agreed that Dr. DeCristofaro will be asked to address this issue.
bullet School Nurses—Roseann Russell reported that there have been many personnel changes in the nursing staff, but that this was due to a “domino effect” (one vacancy and one shift from the middle school to the elementary level that caused other shifts).  There are still full-time nurses at each school and two full-time nurses at each high school.
bullet U.S.S. Salem Haunted Ship Fundraiser Opportunity—PTOs can participate in a fundraiser with the U.S.S. Salem for Halloween and receive 20% of the tickets they sell. Contact Margaret LaForest at 617-471-1806 and mlaforest@uss-salem.org.
bulletThank you notes from North Quincy and Quincy High School Stay Out committees were passed around.
bulletHenry Brawley suggested that we discuss whether Citywide should appoint representatives to other groups in the city.  It was agreed that this would be discussed in the future.
bulletSue Bill noted that cutbacks and the space needs of full-day K are affecting all of the specialist programs (art, music, etc.).  It was agreed that Dr. DeCristofaro will be asked to address this issue.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.