On March 2nd the School Committee heard a presentation from the Glover Site Council. Principal Stephanie Nephew was joined by site council members Emilty McElhiney and James Supplesa. This was the most recent in a series of reports given to the school committee on the status of educational achievement and plans for the future by the schools respective site councils.
The Glover was on target for ELA and had no change for math which is actually good. No change is equivalent to meeting all tagets. If Glover scores on target a second year running for ELA then their overall MCAS will also be “No Change.” The administration and faculty will be addressing open response writing in ELA nad Geometry in math. Those are two areas which are currently weak. The school demonstrated strength in vocabulary and number sense. Overall the school will be focusing on student achievement through targeted instruction according to Ms. Nephew. They will focus on writing, and increase access to non-fiction writing. You can find the complete presentation here.
Emily McElhiney, Jess Gilooly, and Rachel Shanor gave on update on the Art Docent program that is in place at the elementary schools. This program enlists the support of parents to assist in the delivery of art education. As they explained it, they are not replacing arts instruction but enhancing it especially in the area of arts history. They displayed some classic art works and the student work it inspired. The program has seen incredible success. Up to 150 volunteers have participated in as many as 45 classes in the elementary schools. As one official commented parents “can find a way to go in my child’s class and be of value.”
The school committee also discussed the installation of solar panels on the roofs of the schools. Denis Keohane expressed concern about the safety to students sitting beneath the roofs. At issue is whether the roofs are structurally sound enough to support the weight of the panels along with snow in amounts we experienced this year. Pavlicek stated that the structural engineering reports should all be readily available. The schools are projecting $150K from the installation of the solar panels. If the panels are installed on open land there is some question about whether that revenue number will be as high. Some of that may hae been for leasing of the roof. The schools would need ~3 acres of open land. Gormley noted it would not have to be in Milton. Pavlicek hope that with structural reports that document load capacity this can be worked out.