MDT Meeting Minutes for April 21, 2008

Attending: B. Lewis, K. Beiley, N. Rabiah, N. Martell-Stevenson, J. Gamble, V. Otten, A. Broun, L. Singer, P. Joos, A. Yu. 

2008-09 Budget: DCPS has not yet given Murch next year’s budget.  DCPS central office will inform Principal Lewis in the near future, but no meeting time has been set.  Beginning in the 08-09 budget, DCPS will no longer use the per-student formula, but will go to a comprehensive staff budget for each school (i.e., determining each school’s budget allocation based on a number of factors, including student count and school needs).  A parent member suggested Murch inform DCPS of specific wants/needs before we receive our budget number, when it may be too late to appeal the number.  Principal Lewis will work with the staff to develop a wish list.  Karen Beiley said the HSA, which normally completes its next year budget in April, will consider and approve its budget in May, with the hope there will be further information on the DCPS Murch budget then.

Parent requests for teachers: Principal Lewis informed the MDT she will send a letter home on 4/25 to inform parents of procedures for placement requests for the upcoming year.  Principal Lewis welcomes letters from parents by May 2.  Parents should inform the principal of the most important substantive issue the school should be aware of as it considers student placements.  The school will not consider requests for specific teachers.  Current-year teachers play the most important role in recommendations for rising year placements, considering a number of factors including gender balance, learning styles, diversity, etc.  Principal Lewis will receive letters and then share with the current year teachers.  Principal Lewis will have the final say on placements.  Children of families who do not write letters will not be disadvantaged. 

Student recognition:  Principal Lewis reported to the MDT that the school will take short- and long-term approaches to the student awards issue.  In the short-term, the school will inform the parents more clearly of the overall picture of the school-wide awards and the awards ceremony.  Over the longer-term, the Principal plans to work with teachers to find a more consistent approach across the school on student awards.  Now, different teachers have different practices on student awards, both across grades and, in some cases, among teachers in the same grade.  Principal Lewis plans to take up this issue with the Responsive Classroom consulting team when it comes to Murch next fall.  

Diversity Committee:  All MDT members agreed the next step should be creation of a survey to seek input from teachers, parents, and children on priority community values for Murch.  Principal Lewis and others will look for existing examples of surveys and surveys under the Responsive Classroom program.  Vicki Otten asked MDT members to email her with ideas on desired community values.  She will prepare a draft in time for the May meeting. 

There was also discussion of a possible community meeting in June to discuss our shared community values for the schools. At her last school, Principal Lewis would do a state of the school speech near the end of the year, to tee up issues for the coming school year.  She suggested she could use this speech to begin the discussion on community values.  All members welcomed the idea.  Principal Lewis will look for a date in late May.

There was a brief discussion on students’ views on diversity.  A teacher member said students paid no attention to the in-boundary/out-of-boundary issue.  Students were aware of others who would leave class to go to special education, and older students were aware of who kids play with and who they do not, but students were generally comfortable in diverse groups because of their constant exposure to others from an early age at Murch. 

MDT parent members’ meeting with Chancellor Rhee: Amanda Broun briefed on the Chancellor’s 4/9 meeting with Amanda and Alan Yu (Linda Singer and Pam Joos were unable to attend).  The parents covered two issues during the 15-minute meeting: parent communications to the central office (see next item) and the delay in the Murch principal selection process.  On communications, the Chancellor informed the MDT parent members that she immediately refers all inquiries, problems, etc. from parents to the Chancellor’s “critical response team (CRT).”  The CRT then contacts the principal to understand the situation before the Chancellor or the central office responds to the parent. 

The Chancellor affirmed that this was the most efficient way to address problems and said she would remind the CRT staff to ask parents if they have first discussed the issue with the teacher and/or principal.  The CRT staff will also investigate issues first with the relevant school before providing any substantive response.
On the principal selection process, parent members told the Chancellor of some of the difficulties Murch was encountering because of the delay in our selection process.  The Chancellor agreed to the parent members’ request not to hold Murch’s process in abeyance with the other 18 schools, and allow Murch to proceed.  She agreed to allow Murch and two other schools to go first, with announcements on the Chancellor’s decision on the other 15 schools to take place on a rolling basis.  

Parent-staff communication policy:  The MDT affirmed the updated draft document on Murch policy on parent-teacher communication regarding parent concerns about teacher or classroom problems.  The appropriate process for [parents to raise] concerns and complaints is:

1. To bring the matter to the attention of the staff member involved
2. If the matter remains unresolved, bring it to the attention of the principal
3. If the matter still remains unresolved, bring it to the office of the instructional superintendent, Francisco Millett
4. If the matter still remains unresolved, bring it to the attention of the Chancellor’s office

The MDT agreed to send an explanatory letter to all parents/guardians – via backpacks, the website, and the Forum – on April 25.  The Murch handbook will also be revised in time for the 2008-09 school year, to reflect the updated policy.

Principal selection: MDT members were aware of the principal selection situation, including the Chancellor’s announcement earlier in the day affirming Principal Lewis’ eligibility to be considered Murch’s permanent principal, and her confidence in Principal Lewis’ ability to fulfill that role.  The MDT briefly discussed procedures for the 4/22 community meeting.  Francisco Millet, Cluster III Instructional Superintendent, would moderate the meeting.  The MDT agreed to suggest that speakers sign up to speak, statements be limited to two minutes, and speakers be urged to present in a respectful manner.  Principal selection panel members would be expected not to speak.

Personnel: Principal Lewis reported that Murch had found no acceptable candidates for the math and reading specialist positions.  She would ensure that Murch’s 08-09 budget request include funding for these positions.  A parent member suggested contacting Peggy Flynn, the recently retired children’s librarian at the Chevy Chase library.

Enrichment: Norah Rabiah briefed the MDT on her findings on enrichment programs.   The literature on enrichment identifies three main types:
-- School-wide enrichment: events involving the entire school, such as Young Authors, Math Fair, etc.  An enrichment specialist (i.e., the math/reading specialist) would be an ideal individual to institute such programs and to come to classrooms for whole class enrichment activities.

-- Talent Groups: Students who are identified based on a demonstrated talent in a particular area.  Examples are Ms. D’Amico’s literary magazine project and Ms. Martell’s geography club.

-- Newsroom: An environment that facilitates self-directed learning projects for identified students.  Studio: An inquiry-based environment that facilitates research through experiments for identified students.

There ensued a lively discussion about the pros and cons of each type.  Several teachers spoke enthusiastically about the model of the first type, which they observed at a school in McLean.  The program involves the entire class in the same general activity, and sets different challenge levels for different students.  The main difficulty is the heavy resource requirements for such a program. 

All teacher members agreed such a program would require a dedicated teacher to spend an entire year preparing a program whose earliest launch would be the 2009-10 school year.  The teacher members recommended that all Murch teachers should go to observe the work at the school in McLean.

The teacher members also cited positives of the second model.  There was some discussion about the strong work in the geography club and the hands on science program, but a teacher member pointed out that these are after-school programs.  Ideally programs like these would move from extracurricular to enrichment programs conducted during the school day. 

All members agreed that this is a multifaceted curricular decision that takes long-term planning.  Murch will need to take a critical look at our student body and decide what models/programs would work best in our school. At the meeting, the teachers agreed to meet to discuss this further and report back at the next MDT meeting.

Safe Routes to Schools Application: Karen Beiley briefed the MDT on a parent-led effort to win a DDOT-sponsored grant to improve safety measures that would encourage more children to walk or bicycle to school.  DDOT will award a grant to one school in each of the eight wards.  Principal Lewis is working with the parent to get backing from Mary Cheh and the local ANC.  

Other business: Amanda reminded the MDT that Brenda Smith would not be returning next year as community rep, so members should think about other possibilities.  On the “Teacher’s choice” auction item to paint and decorate the Murch hallways, Karen Beiley announced the HSA board approved a $6K plus up, if necessary, to match the $9K garnered at the auction. 

A parent member asked about DC-BAS scores that were returned to certain, but not all students last week.  There was no corresponding explanatory guide for those families who received score sheets.  Principal Lewis acknowledged the problem and would improve procedures for next time.
The MDT meeting adjourned at 6:55.

Next meeting: Monday, May12, at 5:30.

May Agenda Items:

Budget
Diversity committee
Community meeting