NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING – FEBRUARY 25, 2002

EDUCATION CENTER, FRAZIER ROOM, 7:30 P.M.

PRESENT: Vice-Chairperson Susan Albright, Gail Glick, Patricia Kellogg, Marc Laredo, Nancy Levine, Leslie Schneider, Dori Zaleznik, Lindsay Dahlben, student representative - Newton North High School, Zoe Schwab, student representative - Newton South High School

ABSENT: Chairperson Anne Larner, Mayor David Cohen

OPEN SESSION

At 7:00 p.m., it was announced that the Committee will entertain a motion to convene in executive session.

MOTION: It was moved, by roll call vote, to convene in executive

session for the purpose of discussing issues related

to collective bargaining. If passed, the Committee will reconvene in open session at 7:30 p.m.

(Levine - Albright)

8 - 0 - 1

Present for executive session only: Larner

Absent for meeting: Mayor Cohen

ROLL CALL VOTE BY WARD:

Ward I, "yes" (Glick); Ward II, "yes" (Albright); Ward III, "yes" (Larner); Ward IV, "yes" (Levine); Ward V, "yes" (Kellogg); Ward VI, "yes" (Schneider); Ward VII, "yes" (Laredo); Ward VIII, "yes" (Zaleznik); Mayor Cohen, absent for meeting

CALL TO ORDER

Vice-Chairperson Susan Albright called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. She mentioned that Anne Larner and Superintendent Jeff Young had to attend the Board of Aldermen's Finance Committee meeting this evening.

RECOGNITION OF HIGH SCHOOL INCLUSION STUDENTS

Susan Rosenzweig, Special Education Director at Newton North High School, introduced Megan Rasbold-Gabbard and Tasha Chemel, who will share their experiences with the Committee. She then thanked four members of the staff present this evening -- Tammy Reisman, vision specialist, Maura McLoughlin and Lisa Goldwaithe, inclusion facilitators, and David Ticchi, outreach specialist, for their hard work and dedication to these and all students.

Megan Rasbold-Gabbard addressed the Committee through the use of a computer. She thanked the Newton Public Schools for making it possible for her to show what she knows through the use of this tool. She came from another high school where she was not mainstreamed and the staff did not believe she could learn. Out of pity they would do things for her that she could have done herself if she had the right support. The teachers in Newton have taken the time and care to determine how she can best learn and demonstrate her skills.

Susan Albright asked about the computer, which Megan uses to communicate.

Megan suggested Ms. Rosenzweig explain the technicalities.

Susan Rosenzweig talked about how Megan dictates her ideas to a staff person, who then types that into the computer. The program then reads back the work and she can make any appropriate revisions. She is then able to manipulate the mouse, with the use of a special device, which allows her to control the commands for listening, editing, printing, etc. Textbooks and other materials are also imported into the program, so that she can use it for reading as well.

David Ticchi provided some personal history about inclusion. In 1969, he was the first blind person to be certified as a public school teacher in the State of Massachusetts. Finding employment was not easy. Newton finally hired him in 1971 to teach English. Two years later the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) came into being and the laws changed for those who were disabled/ handicapped. Children with disabilities were required to be included in public schools. At that time, they were also beginning the Education Collaborative (EdCo) program for deaf and hearing-impaired students. They have made great strides since then and have seen all of the positive results of inclusion. There is reciprocity in learning between regular and special education students and teachers.

Tasha Chemel talked about her project, which she developed in her child development class last year, when the students were asked to write a children's book. She decided the book should be in a foreign language and so she chose French. With the help of various teachers, she was able to write the book and also have it illustrated. Mr. Ticchi assisted in developing it into a twin vision book, so that both sighted and blind people, like herself, could share the reading.

Nancy Levine commented on the monumental piece of work that Tasha developed and how she should be extremely proud.

James Marini, Associate Superintendent for Secondary Education, thanked both Megan and Tasha for demonstrating their accomplishments and success in the Newton Public Schools. He thanked Carol Daynard, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, and all her staff, for their dedication and support for the programs and services that provide students access to such an incredible education.

Susan Albright echoed her thanks to both the teachers and students, who have made everyone this evening extremely proud to be associated with the Newton Public Schools.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Joan Dangel and Richard Madden, 109 Hammond Pond Parkway, are members of Very Special Arts (VSA), a group that assists people with disabilities in appreciating and learning the arts, as well as raising the issue of accessibility. The law that supports funding for a variety of excellent programs, such as Understanding our Differences, nevertheless is flawed and discriminatory because it only provides assistance to people with specific disabilities. He provided written material to the Committee that further details their concerns and will be happy to discuss this with them at another time.

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES' DISCUSSION

Zoe Schwab commented on the fact that the library at Newton South is only opened twice a week after school, for no more than a total of 45 minutes maximum. She wondered if student volunteers could be utilized, in order to keep it open longer.

Susan Albright also suggested the possibility of staggering staff's time, in order to increase the number of hours.

Jim Marini stated that they are looking into this situation.

RECOGNITIONS

The following students have been selected as National Merit Scholarship finalists:

Newton North Newton South

David Berney Needleman Juliet Alla

Henry Brennan Matthew Gens

Nicholas Carter Valerie Hattis

Rebecca Herskovitz Gregory Igusa

XinXin Du Julia Kastner

Sarah Kraft-Cohen Aleksandra Khmelnik

Benjamin Feit Anthony Lee

Ilya Lozovsky Emily Leonard

Andrew Gerst Rebecca Levy

Samuel Stolper Ricky Liu

Benjamin Green Rusik Mundhe

Timothy Suzman Jessica Reif

Raphael Griswold Gregory Schmidt

Katherine Han Christopher Schneider

APPROVAL OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

MOTION: It was moved to approve the School Committee

meeting minutes of 1/16/02.

(Levine - Schneider)

7 - 0 - 2

Absent: Larner, Mayor Cohen

REPORTS

ELEMENTARY PILOT PROGRAMS ASSESSMENT UPDATE

Roseli Weiss, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, updated the Committee on the four pilot programs that have been in place for the past year-and-a-half. These programs grew out of the recommendations of the Elementary Task Force, which reviewed the total elementary program and the daily schedule several years ago. Each of the pilot programs was chosen to enhance some aspect of academics, mostly by focusing on literacy through better utilization of staffing. The programs were also developed to enhance the leadership capabilities of the principals and to provide intense professional development opportunities for staff. The focus is on a balanced literacy approach, which is designed to meet the differentiated needs of all students. The model they are looking to replicate is that of having a full-time literacy specialist at each elementary school. Of the four schools, three used this approach and one used an integrated model program. While this program was also successful, given the budgetary climate they are facing, it would be difficult to replicate that across all schools. An independent evaluation by the MRC Research Corporation in New Hampshire, as part of the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program grant, indicated that the presence of a literacy specialist, with strong professional development support, has a positive impact on classroom instruction and student learning. This is further backed up in other research as well. She thanked the four principals for their efforts and would like each to come forward and talk about their individual programs.

Cabot Elementary School

Marilynne Quarcoo, Principal of Cabot, stated that the pilot programs affirm the power of site-based management. For five years, their school has reviewed various models of restructuring that would aid student achievement. They decided that programs which utilize trained staff working with children is the best model. Therefore, they traded some of their special education assistants in order to create a full-time certified special education teacher, who co-teaches with a regular classroom teacher in the first grade. They also revamped the staffing so that they could have a full-time school psychologist in the building, who can work with staff, children, and their families. Through these restructuring efforts, they have been able to engage the entire faculty in decision-making and expand on the collaborative culture that permeates their school. Ultimately, this results in their ability to differentiate instruction, in order to better support the range of learning needs among children.

Marc Laredo asked how this model differs from Angier's.

Marilyn Quarcoo replied that this is a school-based model, while Angier houses the citywide integrated program. However, the co-teaching concept is similar.

Nancy Levine asked about the ratio of regular to special education students in the classroom.

Marilynne Quarcoo stated that at the beginning of the year they had identified two children with specific learning issues; another six students were identified throughout the year.

Susan Albright asked how they are able to trade in teaching assistants, who may be part of a student's Individual Educational Plan (IEP).

Carol Daynard explained that it had to be a comprehensive effort within the school agreed upon by parents and teachers and one that required equivalent staffing.

Marc Laredo commented that this sounds like a very successful program. He would like to see some associated costs, so that they can determine if it is something that could be replicated systemwide.

Patty Kellogg asked what is different about the classroom experience aside from having two teachers.

Marilynne Quarcoo responded that there are more ongoing assessments of students' learning and more adjustments in the strategies being used in the classroom. They were also able to fine-tune and further extend the curriculum.

Williams Elementary School

Cynthia Marchand, Principal of Williams, spoke about the pilot program at her school. They decided that they wanted to be more proactive at an early age and build a strong literacy foundation rather than remediating in later grades. By adding a .5 literacy specialist, they were able to provide a full-time position with two people. They immediately saw an increase in student achievement in reading and also watched the excitement and enthusiasm of the staff build around the program. The teachers and the literacy specialist meet once a week and talk about the children and their learning and plan and co-teach units. Students identified as having difficulty reading are now reading with two teachers and are able to work more frequently in small groups. Having this person on board enhances the staff's ability to collaborate and address the individual needs of students through differentiating and more assessment.

Marc Laredo asked about the standards that will be used to measure the effectiveness of the program.

Roseli Weiss replied that they have been working on assessment models as part of the full-day kindergarten grant and they plan to continue those efforts and utilize similar models in the latter grades. They currently utilize a combination of tools, including the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment), portfolios, and progress reports.

Marc Laredo would like to see specific benchmarks in place, in order to measure progress.

Nancy Levine commented that universities have not been training teachers around the various strategies for teaching children to read. These pilot programs are addressing this gap.

Cindy Marchand agreed and added that there is a lot of new research available that many veteran teachers need to acquire through professional development opportunities and they are very excited about the programs.

Countryside Elementary School

John Jordan, Principal of Countryside, talked about the increase from .5 to .8 in the English specialist's position, so that the person could be in the building five days a week, in order to ensure continuity. With this additional time, they have been able to increase the number of grade levels they can target in their work, moving from K-1 to grades two and three this year and with the expectation that this work will move up to fourth and fifth grade as well. They have created a leveled book room, which is in addition to the books in the classroom and the library. Materials for teachers are also available in this room and the focus is on a balanced literacy program.

Patty Kellogg asked about students selecting the appropriate level book.

Roseli Weiss mentioned that the staff teach the children how to choose the right book for a specific purpose, i.e., whether it were for pleasure reading vs. something related to a research topic. In certain cases, students are working in small groups and the teacher will select the material for their work.

Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School

Vivian Swoboda, Principal of Lincoln-Eliot, stated that all of the pilot programs are focusing mainly on the same topic and that is to take current research about literacy and learning and make it effective in their buildings. Everyone is feeling good about the success of these programs because when children are reading well and enjoying what they are doing, they are more motivated and enthusiastic about their schoolwork. She thanked the School Committee for supporting these efforts. She depicted a before and after scenario, in order to give a sense of what this program has done for their school. Two years ago every 4^th and 5^th grade class was reading the same book simultaneously. This did not work well for their population, which consists of students who speak 21 different languages; some not even literate in their first language. In addition, due to the number of rental units in their community, it is a very transient neighborhood. There are also many children with special needs and learning disabilities. While the staff was dedicated to being sure all children were challenged, working with one textbook was not the right solution. They have developed many of the same strategies previously described by the other principals, such as the leveled book room. Here students choose not only books that are readable at their level, but also those that are challenging and which they wish to strive to read and understand. Students are working on measuring their own strengths and weaknesses and making progress toward their success. Through the support of grant funding, they also have been working with Tufts University in the "Learning to Read by Reading" program and have been fortunate enough to be able to include not only teachers, but all the neighborhood inclusion assistants in the professional development. The strength of this program is that the consultants train the teachers, who are then able to train other staff and become the role models in the building. English as a Second Language (ESL) students are now taught in the classroom rather than having to be pulled out for specific parts of the day. While the change is palpable if one visits the school, they are in the process of collecting hard data so that they will have material with which to assess the program. Currently, all K-2 students are being assessed through DRA and grades 3-5 through Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI), which are national benchmarks. Literacy is the most important thing in an elementary school and students will be successful in all

other areas if they are given a strong foundation in reading, writing, and communicating skills.

Dori Zaleznik stated that while the anecdotal information sounds wonderful, the assessment piece will be key to these programs. They will need to have concrete benchmarks with which to measure progress.

Leslie Schneider asked how they are using the grant funding.

Viv Swoboda stated that half of the money pays for the Tufts' consultants, who conduct both workshops and in-classroom modeling. The other half paid for the additional .5 literacy specialist and books and materials.

Gail Glick, having been a Lincoln-Eliot parent, is thrilled at the results of this pilot program. She wondered what made them choose this particular model to replicate.

Vivian Swoboda stated that the combination of a full-time literacy person and the Tufts consultant is what makes this program so unique.

Roseli Weiss noted that Countryside has a similar model, although their literacy specialist is not full-time. The plan is to have fewer large group professional development workshops and spend the funds on additional training with the Tufts consultants working directly in the buildings.

Gail Glick asked about the safety net program for at risk children in the first grade.

Viv Swoboda explained that research emphasizes the importance of children being able to read on grade level by the end of the first grade. Therefore, the focus to develop a strong foundation is their primary goal. They were able to reconfigure their Title 1 staff to be used for this purpose, as well as to tap into the services of the Primary Intervention Reading Program (PIRP) teachers and their building aide, to provide one-on-one reading instruction for students who were having difficulty. Their goal is to lower the number of referrals for special education services and provide a strong foundation for all children. The one challenge they face in this work is in the amount of training of staff that is necessary. Given the turnover in aides, this can be a large investment of funds in training people that may not necessarily come back the following year.

Gail Glick asked how they plan to duplicate the program in schools that do not have Title 1 funding.

Roseli Weiss explained that there are certain practices and assessment tools that must be consistent in all schools, but each building will also have its own unique

staffing arrangements and services that will be tailored to the needs of the particular school.

OPERATIONS STATUS REPORT

Susan Albright continued to express a desire for more information on custodial overtime vs. hiring additional staff.

Jim Marini explained that they constantly end up cutting in this area because of budget constraints, and are forced to rely on overtime coverage. They have attempted to utilize these services in a variety of ways but ultimately what has happened is that buildings have not been properly cleaned and the custodial staff is stretched beyond capacity.

Susan Albright would like an analysis conducted and presented to the Committee on this issue.

HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT UPDATE

Heidi Black, Administrator for High School Construction & Strategic Planning, provided an update on the high school building project. The early site work at Newton South for Phase 1A is complete and the new classroom wing for Phase 1B is currently being built. The foundation and steel installation is nearly done, as are the underground utilities. They continue to progress along an aggressive schedule and remain on target for a September completion date for the first wing of the new building and November for the second wing. They are currently working on the phasing plan as they move into renovated areas. The purchasing process for furniture and equipment is about to begin this week. Phase 2, which is basically comprised of all other aspects of the construction, is scheduled to begin in late summer or early fall. Final bids for the work will be due in May and a contract should be awarded in early June.

At Newton North, they are awaiting the architect's study on swing space and phasing will be determined by that information. Options are being explored both inside and outside of the building. It is expected that this report will be completed by June.

Dori Zaleznik asked if they have run into any problems that might alter the plans.

Nicholas Parnell, Building Commissioner, stated that there is always some technical issues with a project of this magnitude, but there are no concerns about the programmatic piece.

Patty Kellogg asked about staff input with regard to the color scheme of the building and if security measures have been readdressed with the architect in light of September 11^th.

Heidi Black replied that in terms of the color scheme, they have tried to integrate with the existing building. For new spaces and places of renovation, a presentation will be made to staff before any final decisions are made. In terms of security, this is something that has been in the forefront since September 11^th and a number of meetings have been held to discuss communication, alarm and paging systems, access, etc. While she will not divulge the specific content of the discussions publicly, she does feel confident that they have satisfied any concerns in this regard.

REPORT ON MCAS RESULTS

Carolyn Wyatt, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction, thanked all of the staff who work so diligently on translating and analyzing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) data, which is then used to inform the system about the performance of students. Tonight's packet includes some highlights of that data. In all cases, Newton outperformed students of like grade level in all subjects areas across the state.

Gail Glick asked why science and technology testing is no longer conducted in grade 4.

Carolyn Wyatt replied that the Department of Education (DOE) is currently revising the Frameworks and the test.

Carol Palmer, Research Assistant, added that the DOE has also elected to move the science exam to grade 5, so as not to cluster all the testing at the same level.

Carolyn Wyatt continued with the highlights of the report, noting that many of their students achieve at the "proficiency" level on the exams and there was a great improvement on the 10^th grade math scores.

Susan Albright commented that even though they averaged better in the math exam, there are still high numbers in the "warning" and "needs improvement" categories compared to those in the language arts area. She wondered if they are planning any initiatives for mathematics, similar to what they have done with the literacy pilot programs.

Carolyn Wyatt stated that they will be continuing their curriculum reviews and providing updates to the Committee as these occur. While she does not have a specific date for when the mathematics discussion will be held, she will work with the Superintendent to schedule that for a future agenda. Feedback from

discussions with School Committee this evening will help as they work on the reviews.

Marc Laredo wondered how they compare to other communities in the Education Collaborative (EdCo).

Carol Palmer stated that they have done some analysis in this regard and she will be happy to forward the results to the Committee.

Susan Albright commented on the difficulty of making comparisons and interpreting data when everything is in constant change.

Carolyn Wyatt agreed that it is difficult to make comparisons because of this moving target. However, she is hopeful that they will get to the point where they will have a consistent battery of tests over a period of time that will assess the progress of students in each subject area. While up to 90% of Newton students are scoring in the "advanced," "proficient," and "needs improvement" categories, there are still students who require intervention and these tests help them identify those students.

Susan Albright asked if fewer girls continue on in the math and science track.

Carolyn Wyatt replied that this is what the data indicates in general and she would like to review it more in-depth to see if that it is true in Newton as well. These are the types of questions that the MCAS exam can answer.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

VOTE TO ACCEPT DONATIONS

MOTION: It was moved to accept the donations of 90 books for the reading initiative at Bigelow Middle School, $650 for Day Middle School's sixth grade musical, and $250.00 to Burr Elementary School, as outlined in Attachment E.

(Zaleznik - Laredo)

7 - 0- 2

Absent: Larner, Mayor Cohen

VOTE TO ACCEPT GRANT

MOTION: It was moved to accept the $800 2002 Youth Garden

Grant for Burr Elementary School, as outlined in

Attachment F.

(Zeleznik - Laredo)

7 - 0 - 2

Absent: Larner, Mayor Cohen

PUBLIC COMMENT

There were no members of the public who wished to address the Committee at this time.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 p.m.