MDT Meeting Minutes for December 10, 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, J. Gamble.  Tracy Stannard joined to brief on the Blue Ribbon School agenda item.

Personnel:  Principal Lewis updated the MDT on the custodial staffing shortfall.  One of the two custodians on extended sick leave will return to work this week.  The other custodian will not be back until January, at the earliest.  DCPS Facilities has been providing emergency substitutes in the absence of the two custodians.  On a separate front, Principal Lewis will interview candidates this week for the HSA-funded floating aide position.

Equalization Process and Budget: DCPS has not given schools an equalization number and Principal Lewis expects schools may not receive a number at all this year.  Murch would be disadvantaged as the school budget was based on a projected student count of 484.  The actual student count is 506.  One member noted the decision to increase intake, particularly at the 3rd grade level, occurred prior to Principal Lewis’ arrival. 

Members asked if parents should advocate on behalf of Murch for appropriate equalization funding.  Some members expressed concern such advocacy may affect a separate, but related, personnel issue.  DCPS is processing Murch’s request for a full-time equivalent teacher position, to be used for a math and reading specialist.  Murch’s rationale to DCPS for the position request is to fund/fill an existing vacancy.  Some members feared advocacy may delay central office action.  Principal Lewis suggested we review the situation in January, when the status of the vacancy processing could be clearer.

Diversity:  Vicki Otten and Brenda Smith reported on a meeting of the informal committee established at the last MDT meeting to discuss ways to advance the dialogue on diversity within the Murch community.  Both characterized the meeting as productive.  Counselor Lauren Miller and Karin Perkins participated in that meeting.  The group agreed creating readiness to talk about tough issues was an important objective, and it viewed Responsive Classroom as a good vehicle to begin the process.  The group had three concrete recommendations:

1. Inform the community: There is much rumor/misinformation in the community about No Child Left Behind, in- /out-of-boundary composition of the student body and other issues related to the racial, ethnic and geographic particulars of the school.  Principal Lewis supported the idea of getting info on these and other student body statistical information out to families through an upcoming Family Newsletter.
2. New Parent Buddy System: Members welcomed the proposal to formalize a buddy system matching new entry families (both in- and out-of-boundary) with veteran families to help new families (at all grade levels) to learn about the Murch culture and expectations.  All agreed this should be a parent-run initiative; Karen Beiley proposed to identify a volunteer(s) to lead.  Members welcomed a separate idea to organize parent potlucks for out-of-boundary families, perhaps organizing gatherings according to zip code.
3. Parent survey: To begin a dialogue, the community would need a clearer understanding of families’ general expectations of and from Murch (e.g., What do you value?  How are things working? What do you like?  What would you like to see improved?).  The results would inform the diversity committee about priorities, help begin a discussion about core values at Murch and suggest ways to communicate those values to all Murch families.  An MDT member agreed to work with the group to develop a questionnaire, which the group hoped to bring back to the MDT at the February meeting.  The survey could be handled as a homework assignment involving students and parents. 

Advocacy Committee:  Pam Joos and Karen Beiley briefed on the discussion at the November HSA meeting.  Some parents were exploring the possibility of forming a Murch-based committee to advocate on various issues to DCPS.  The HSA discussed questions of its substantive mandate, the committee’s relationship to the HSA and/or the MDT, its relations to similar bodies at other neighborhood schools (e.g., Janney, Lafayette).  Karen reported there were differing views within the HSA on the appropriate role of such a body. A member suggested that if such a committee were established, its focus should be on issues relevant to the district as a whole, and that Murch-specific issues should remain within the purview of the MDT, and that in any event there should continue to be reporting of any Advocacy Committee discussion at MDT meetings to keep the MDT informed.

Blue Ribbon School Award:  Tracy Stannard, the lead on the issue, briefed the MDT on preliminary plans to celebrate Murch’s recognition as a Blue Ribbon school.  She is working with Ms. Robinson and Ms. Bogan.  The plan is to target January for activities, including a school-wide party, to which city leaders and the media would be invited.  Each class would decorate its own large canvas, to be hung along the fence facing Reno Road.  Blue ribbon decorations would also be affixed to the fence.

Other issues:

Parent-Teacher conference timing: A parent emailed a request that the school consider shifting timing to accommodate parents with work schedules that conflict with the current 8:30-3:30 schedule.  Principal Lewis agreed to take the issue up with teachers.

Student body size: A parent emailed asking about building capacity and safety issues.  On the safety front, Principal Lewis noted Murch is not exceeding its safety capacity.  The school’s official capacity of 460 is for the main building and does not include the Kaufman wing.  Principal Lewis informed the MDT she would like to hold off on offering slots to out-of-boundary applicants until just prior to the school year, to assure better control of student body size.  Principal Lewis proposed a more detailed discussion of the out-of-boundary intake process at the January MDT meeting.

Other items for January MDT meeting: Members agreed to take up a number of curriculum issues, including several raised in parent emails to the MDT, at the January meeting.  The Murch Instructional Support Team, comprised of a number of teachers, will meet before the January MDT meeting to assess these and other curriculum issues and provide recommendations. 

Principal Search Process: Principal Lewis departed for this part of the meeting.  Amanda Broun and Vicki Otten briefed the MDT on their contacts with the Office of the Chancellor (OOC) regarding its plans for principal hiring at schools with interim principals (29 total).  Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson emailed Amanda to inform her that OOC would get back to MDTs/LSRTs prior to the winter break on its search/hiring plans, but provided no specifics, including on “paneling” (i.e., search/interview process) or timing of any paneling.  The MDT agreed to post the email message from Henderson on the Murch website and the Forum.

Murch will be competing with 28 other schools, many of which will be under-performing schools.  Some in the community have asked about the process at Wilson.  Wilson has begun its paneling process, but its situation differs from Murch’s.  Wilson did not go through a principal search last year.  Instead, the school opted to have the assistant principal become the "acting principal," so Wilson could conduct a search this year.

A member pointed out Principal Lewis underwent a standard search/interview process last summer, a majority on the school interview committee strongly recommended her, and DCPS was to have hired her as Murch’s principal on a permanent basis.  Principal Lewis would be the permanent principal, if then-Chancellor-designate Rhee had not subsequently mandated that all new principal hires be made interim, and that DCPS would conduct an aggressive principal recruitment effort early in 2008 and have all interim principals re-panel.

A teacher representative spoke strongly in support of Principal Lewis and said there is strong support among teachers and staff for her to become the permanent principal.  Other teacher representatives validated the latter point, and cited a number of academic and management reasons for their support.  A teacher representative pointed out Murch has had three principals in four years, and contended that a fourth principal in five years would create too much disruption to the school.  A parent noted that it would be even worse if the uncertainty of the principal situation were to cause some teachers to leave Murch.

Another member pointed out the absence of a DCPS plan for interim principals and that any delays in the search process would put DCPS far behind other districts, which typically conduct their searches in February/March.  In addition to the likely poor candidate pool, Murch might have to consider excessed principals from the several DCPS schools to be closed.  Principal Lewis might look at the timing and uncertainty of the DCPS hiring process and decide to leave Murch. 

Several parent and teacher members noted that while there may be differing views within the parent community about Principal Lewis, the fact that the teachers and staff who work in the building every day are so supportive should be overriding.

There was consensus in the room in support of Principal Lewis’ leadership at Murch.  A member proposed that, even though DCPS has said all schools with interim principals are expected to panel for principals, the MDT send a letter to the OOC stating our support for Principal Lewis’ leadership, noting the process by which she was hired last summer, citing the strong support of the teachers and staff, and stating the MDT’s request that Murch be exempted from the paneling process and that the OOC convert Principal Lewis to permanent status.  The MDT agreed to await information from the OOC on its planned process.

The MDT meeting adjourned at 6:50.

Next meeting: Monday, January 14, at 5:30.

Alan Yu
December 10, 2007