Absent: none
1. Routine Business
a. Review of Agenda
b. Citizen’s Comments
i. In the spirit of open communication, “the School Committee will hear public comment not related to an agenda item at the beginning of each regular School Committee Meeting. The Committee will listen to, but not respond to any comment made. A Committee member may add an agenda item to a future meeting as a result of a citizen comment” – from Policy BEDH2. FHS Student Representative Comments
spirit week completed, Seniors one
Sophomores won the powder puff game
Neon dance
winter sports tryouts this week
Santa Foundation, fund raising 3,000 towards a goal of 10,000
3. Superintendent’s Report
earlier this week, via Dr Edwards received word that teacher Colleen Donahue had been published in a journal
two exciting sportsmanship awards by MIAA
- Unified Basketball Team for Central Section
- FHS 16-17 Hockomock Sportsmans award
potential mold at Horace Mann Middle School
testing and inspection done on Nov 9, there is no evidence of mold in the building
tests returned were 'normal' no further action was required
FEF fundraiser, Harlem Wizards game
3rd quarter was competitive, lots of stunts and tricks by the Wizards players
Community Forum, Nov 30th in the Training Room
faculty forums and students forums underway as well
4. Guests / Presentations
a. Concession Stand Proposal – Mr. Michael SocciWayne Simmarian, Rec Advisory Board
Ryan Jette
Bob Dellorco
Mike Socci
proposal has been reviewed by various parties around the Town and schools
connection of facility with utilities, security background checks for the workers
assuming approval, early 2018, with target of completion in Sep 2018
anticipating cost of $270,000
work to be accomplished via volunteers and fund raising
drawing done by architect, reviewed with Town
could you include a single use bathroom?
If the concession stand was part of the MSBA program, it likely would have cost closer to $1M and therefore was not included.
ongoing maintenance would be incremental
could also review the facilities fees for future adjustment if necessary
this saves us about $800,000
to come back at a future meeting with the formal proposal for a vote
b. MCAS Presentation – Dr. Joyce Edwards
testing has been in MA for over 20 years, now finally moving to computer based
Franklin chose PARCC to explore that form in advance of MCAS 2.0
3 years of three different tests have there been conducted here
computer based tests, last two years
elementary and middle schools are being held 'harmless' with no accountability levels assigned due to the change in testing
no comparisons available between the tests
this year will be a 'baseline' year, growth and comparisons for future years to this year but nothing more than that
student growth report was not provided to the parents, it can be used in some cases by the schools
FHS took the legacy MCAS tests and was graded at a "2" down from a "1" previously
failure to meet gap narrowing goals for high needs students which resulted in the lower rating
(slides to be added later - hopefully, if not - then I do have some photos of the slides to share)
a lot of the work is around teaching the teachers to teach the students at the higher level that is expected of them, if they teach to the standard, and do that well, the tests will take care of themselves
the "all students" category did exceed state results, the "High needs" did not exceed the state results
some comparison charts for other local communities were added
current 8th grade class could be the first to take the new MCAS 2.0 as 10th graders
Feeley - "I am happy to hear that we teach to the curriculum and not to the test"
Bergen - "Do we get feedback from the students on how they are experiencing the test and results?"
Kids grade 3-8 get other feedback so they are not phased by that; in high school, the threshold is easier to pass and our students usually do pass on the first time, there are also retest options; I think if students are stressed it is from other factors and not MCAS tests.
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