Classical Magnet Parent Senate Meeting Minutes

Classical Magnet Parent Senate Meeting Minutes September 14, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m.

 Update from Librarian – Denise Kennedy:  Integrated Electives Highlights (See attachment)  Principal’s Update  Intro for new school year – Mr. Sullivan explained he will be at each meeting, give update on school, answer questions, then leaves so that parents can feel free to talk.  Smooth start to school year, lost approx 9 kids, low number; nobody off wait list though because over-enrolled on purpose  Staff Changes: . Lost Ms. Brasi 12th grade teacher to Camp Anytown. She had opportunity to become Resident Principal. . Gained Dr. Orenstein, long-time educator, teacher at Bulkeley. Was not vetted by Curriculum Assessment Committee. Mr. Sullivan made executive decision, within his right, and takes full responsibility for his success here. . Bethany Sullivan, 7th grade history teacher, also Mr. Sullivan’s sister. Due to nepotism policy thought best for her to move on, even though an outsider evaluated her performance. She has taken advantage of great opportunity in school administration. . John Palazzo replaced Bethany Sullivan. . 51 certified teachers and 31 cert staff, and only 2 gone, staff in good shape  Transportation: Buses not going well – EH, Manchester very late, 8:30 arrival; CREC took over Logisticare contract w/buses; First Student is the national company CREC uses. They have out-of-state drivers. Parents are encouraged to complain if having problems.  Schedule change due to teacher union contract requirements: Individual instructional period 7:45 -8:10 a.m.  Classical is not meeting racial quota. . There are couple different ways to calculate non-Hispanic whites vs. Hispanic whites. We are at 25.2% by equal fraction calculation where a student counts as 50% if bi-racial . Lawyers going to battle it. . We have funding for next 2 yrs to get up to 25% white; difficult because number of whites less than when requirements implemented (more bi-racial students now), and more magnet school choices. . Ms. Mullaney will handle recruiting this year.  Letitia Jones – Resident Principal shadowing Mr. Sullivan, has been teacher in Hartford . Will lead faculty meetings, will do parent senate meetings, will do morning announcements, and other Principal duties.  Grading policy pilot – instead of lumping all together, pulling apart certain skills, rebuilding grade book. For example, reading comprehension grade used to be

of 3 0cb6db61ccfd2253e28b6825bd468846.doc quizzes and exams, along with any assignment related to reading comprehension. Now, writing grade is separated from reading comprehension grade. This will better help distinguish where students need work. Now quality of work being separated from just getting it done. . Biggest change = life skills aka compliance included in final grade: being on time, effort, respectful, complete tasks, follow directions; to prepare kids for life, for college for work; example – signing of progress report by parent now changing to life skills grade since before it impacted grade more than it should. The curriculum assessment committee will have as a main objective to see if this works. . Each student has been told in each class how this is working. . This is in pilot stage. Teachers have authority to change in first qtr if not working.  Suggestion of getting a children internet safety 101 class; parent will look into it. . Suggestion to keep kids away from technology certain times of day, go to library, no technology during homework time. . No relationships allowed between middle school and high school students even if same age. . Be careful with technology, make sure kids have private profiles on social media.  Self-governance verdict – we still have autonomy, future unsure; Classical will fight battles think need to fight. For example, we went along with having to include more than one uniform vendor – not a big deal.  Mayor going to appt five new members to Board; Superintendent takes direction from Board.  AP classes at Classical – will not have them for now. We do not want to create AP classes heterogeneously, was not unanimous. Don’t want to segregate kids. Grades speak for themselves. In the meantime, we have created opportunities for students to take the AP exam w/out taking the class. If student wants to pursue they will get support from teachers. If your child hungry to take college classes many opps outside here. School pays for the AP exam for students who want and prepare for it. Need to talk to individual teacher. AP prep teachers go to Tufts for training.  CMT and CAPT, No Child Left Behind – 70% kids had to be proficient in 1st year, then 74%, 78 %, then up to 93% have to be proficient. Classical did not meet Average Yearly Progress. All students here are eligible to go to another school that has met AYP.  Kaplan SAT prep classes – $5,000 approved for these, take place each Saturday; Last year of those that took Kaplan SAT review 1/3 of the scores went up, 1/3 stayed same, 1/3 went down. Will monitor this year’s stats. . Our SAT scores good enough to get into some top schools in county.  Ms. McGlammery will be college advisor this yr; will have course on how to pick schools your peers aren’t choosing for better chances.

of 3 0cb6db61ccfd2253e28b6825bd468846.doc  Officer Appointment  The President is the main point of contact for Mr. Sullivan; acts as a sounding board, as well.  Parent Senate had a newly-elected President for this year but the student went to another school.  The by-laws state that the VP automatically assumes role. Marisa LaPane was VP last year and will now assume the President role.  We now need to advertise the open VP position and will vote next month for VP role.  3 committee seats (Curriculum, Governance, Student Life) for election, 1 for each committee, and all officers (President, VP, Secretary, Volunteer Coordinator)  Term is one year, May 2011 – May 2012, with max of two years.  Will take floor nominations next month.  New Business  Getting minutes posted on website – working on it.  How get new parents put on distribution – Mark will look into.  Introduction of parents done.

Meeting adjourned at 7:55p.m.

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