LSAT Meeting Minutes
Tues. Sept. 26, 2017, 5:30pm
Meeting attendees: Alicia Garfinkel, Lauren Miller, Lauren Reed, Vicki Otten, Sophie Schwadron, Emily Kallaur, Maurice Werner, Chris Cebrzyinski, Richard Nugent, Megan Lavin and Jen Stark (and Adam Riggs via phone)
- Administrative
- Welcome and introductions
- Role of the LSAT
- Bringing a group of parents, teachers, staff and the community together to get different perspectives to help support high levels of academic achievement and support the mission at Murch. LSAT exists at every DCPS school. LSAT also works with the budget in the winter/spring.
- Alicia Garfinkel will serve as LSAT secretary again this year.
- Basecamp
- Platform where we store documents and communicate with the whole group.
- Review meeting minutes from May 2017
- Motion made by Alicia, seconded by Vicki and approved by all.
- Meeting schedule for the year
- Meetings the same night as HSA to help with the collaboration between the two groups.
- Meetings will be the first Tuesday of every month at 5:30 PM (starting Nov. 7th – skipping October meeting).
- November 7th
- December 5th
- January 9th
- February 6th (and potentially another meeting for budget)
- March 6th
- May 1st
- June 5th (?)
2. Items for Discussion
- Principal’s Update
- Comprehensive School Plan (CSP)
- Reviewed and edited by different groups
- 3 focus areas: Literacy – focus on guided reading and literature circles to lessen the gap; focus on special ed students and other small groups. Social emotional and academic development/learning –increase the level of satisfaction and experience that Murch students have. Specifically in recognizing student achievements, implementing CARES, students can cite authentic examples of joy and learning activities throughout the day. Learning by doing. Writing across the curriculum- Writing in different content areas, audiences and genres. Helping students become effective in their written communication. Also focusing on grammar. Goals based on different assessments/data collected; have indicators to use along the way to check on progress.
- A copy of the CSP will be posted to the website.
- Comprehensive School Plan (CSP)
- LSAT’s work on I/E last year
- The I/E block was brand new and implemented in 2nd-5th grade, 30 min/day.
- LSAT reviewed teacher survey to find out what was going well and what could be improved upon. Then, we met with many teachers individually to discuss their experiences and get more information on the program.
- LSAT made recommendations for change based on the teacher interviews – and a number of them have been built into this year’s program.
- This year, some groups are: building a city, reading groups, building a solar system, writing group, etc. Also, this year it is 3rd-5th grade students.
- Defining our substantive focus for this year
- Continue with I/E focus?
- Get student input on the I/E block?
- Other ideas?
- Comprehensive School Plan – helping with collecting data/checking indicators of success; how to support the initiatives; checking in with parents, etc.
- Focus on writing portion of the plan
- C has data available that can help start this (will send by Nov 1st); he will send some old PARCC data sooner
- Writing initiatives underway: PD for 3rd-5th grade ELA teachers on promoting proficient writing; adding other content areas, and then will add other grades (by end of October).
- Focus on writing portion of the plan
- Planning for next year/new building?
- Comprehensive School Plan – helping with collecting data/checking indicators of success; how to support the initiatives; checking in with parents, etc.
- Next steps
- At November meeting, review some data and decide on our focus.
- Chancellor will be reaching out to LSATs in Fall about the budget process
- Continue with I/E focus?
- Budget issues and process
- Start discussions for budget process in November
- Mr. C will send the LSAT budget information prior to the Nov. 7 meeting (by Nov 1st) so we can be prepared for the discussion
3. Other
- DCPS-wide issues
- Overcrowding Community Working Group – will give recommendations to the city in November
- Wilson feeder education network – coordinates schools that feed into Wilson (also active in overcrowding group)
Minutes respectfully submitted by Alicia Garfinkel