MDT Meeting Minutes for November 5, 2007

Attending: T. Welsh, P. Joos, B. Smith, K. Beiley, B. Lewis, V. Otten, A. Yu, E. Marcus, N. Rabiah, N. Martell-Stevenson, A. Broun, L. Singer

MDT Meeting

Pre-K Admission Priorities:  

Murch accepts 40 Pre-K students/year, with priority given in the following order: 1) siblings of current Murch students (both in- and out-of boundary); 2) in-boundary children with no current Murch siblings; 3) out-of-boundary children with no current Murch siblings.  For the 07-08 school year, not all children in the second category made it into Pre-K.  Some families challenged the priority for out-of-boundary siblings over in-boundary children with no siblings.  Principal Lewis estimated about six of this year’s 40 Pre-K students were out-of-boundary siblings.  

Members recognized the perspectives/ merits of both sides and recommended Murch retain the current priority ranking, and endorsed Principal Lewis’ plan to introduce greater transparency to the process, by keeping all parents (current and new) informed and setting clear timelines.  Principal Lewis will also get an earlier read on projected Pre-K siblings by asking current families, as soon as next week, about plans for next year (both for current rising students as well as for potential new Pre-K siblings).

Equalization Process and Budget:

Principal Lewis had no update on the equalization process.  The delay in release of Murch’s budget number is due to delays at the system-wide level.  Principal Lewis has heard informally from DCPS officials that Murch will likely get approved funding for the equivalent of one full-time teacher.  Principal Lewis reiterated her desire to use such funding to hire one reading and one math specialist. 

She first presented the idea at the October 22 MDT meeting.  MDT members reaffirmed their support for hiring the two specialists.  These specialists would work with teachers in classes, work with smaller groups of students both at advanced and lower levels, help teachers with planning, etc.  Their work would differ from the HSA-funded reading specialist, whose brief is to focus on approximately 24 students to raise their individual performance level.  (See further discussion below in the Community Meeting).

Personnel: 

Principal Lewis briefed the MDT on the staffing shortfall on the custodial staff.  Two of the three custodians have been on sick leave.  Principal Lewis is working with DCPS Facilities to bring in emergency substitutes to supplement the work performed by Mr. El Hadid.  It is unclear how long Murch will need to continue to rely on emergency substitutes.  Some Members asked if parents could help.  Principal Lewis assured that the school was doing all it could with DCPS Facilities.  She also raised concerns about liability.

Diversity: 

Principal Lewis informed the MDT of a recent incident between two unidentified Murch parents, prompting a discussion about race, in-/out-of-boundary, No Child Left Behind, etc.  All agreed the issues, where they existed, were at the parent and not the student level.  Several MDT members and an observing parent agreed to meet soon to brainstorm about how to examine and take on this challenge in a way that leads to constructive outcomes.

Instructional Support Team:

MDT members raised a number of academic issues raised by parents, including a request for instruction to students on research project skills, keyboarding and cursive writing.  Principal Lewis informed the MDT that she has called on a group of teachers to form a Murch Instructional Support Team to assess these and other curriculum issues and provide recommendations.  She has already asked the group to look also at ways to supplement the Everyday Mathematics curriculum to introduce more mathematics drills.

Next meeting:

Monday, December 10, at 5:00.   The MDT meeting adjourned at 6:40.

Community Meeting

Three parents attended the Community Meeting.

Murch Test Scores:  

Principal Lewis began by reviewing aggregated results of Murch’s performance in the Spring 2007 DC-CAS (DCPS’ standardized reading and math test for all 3rd – 6th graders).  The presentation was similar to one she made at the October 22 MDT meeting (see October 22 MDT minutes for details).  Participants also spoke about standardized testing.  Members recognized the need to close the performance gap, and to bring up student performance on the math assessment in general.  At the same time, the reading/math performance gap was consistent with that in the area and nationally.   

Equalization Process and Budget:

Principal Lewis provided a similar update to the community as she did in the earlier MDT meeting.  Discussion continued about the performance gap between Murch’s white and black students and what the school could do about it.  The community members supported the proposal to hire reading and math specialists, both to address the performance gap and to help the children at higher levels continue to progress. 

MDT members and the community agreed another important role of the specialists would be to assist teachers, whom all recognize were being called on to take on increasing responsibilities.

A community member raised a question about enrollment policy and whether the school had purposefully sought to increase enrollment to secure more resources.  Principal Lewis agreed the student numbers were over capacity and she wished to bring the numbers back down to the 480-490 range (from the current 500+).   The decision on increased enrollment occurred prior to Principal Lewis’ arrival.
 

The community meeting adjourned at 7:20.
Alan Yu
November 5, 2007