The recent meeting of the School Committee took up but was not limited to the following issues
Citizens Speak – several parents appeared before the committee to express concerns about a variety of issues. Adrienne Sullivan raised the issue of the school assignment policy and the associated budget. She felt “urgent action’ was required the lack of transparency in the process and believed that the school could be on a collision with Morgan v Henningan. She argued that the schools should develop a “forward-looking assignment plan.” She stated that it was difficult for parents to make a decision for children at age 6 and that once made “it could be thrown out the window.”
The committee also heard from Conway Amar and Chris Navin from the Citizens for a Diverse Milton. They spoke about the need to ensure that the recruitment for a new principal at the high school aggressively sought out candidates of color. Amar noted that progress had been made in the faculty but progress needed to continue. Mr. Navin noted that recruitment practices needed to support the diversity policy and if they did not then they needed to be changed.
Justin Renz addressed the committee regarding his concerns about a false perception in the community that the French program was better than the English track. Consequently, the majority of incoming students were opting for French. This in turn impacts the budget. Mr. Renz cited two of the tenets of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten; share everything and play fair. Renz feels that there is a “cloak of secrecy about the data” relating to these two programs. The schools “should be great” and we should not accept “anything less.”
Student achievement – the committee viewed art work from Pierce Students that had won Scholastic Art Awards from the Boston Globe. Ms. Stephanie Sherman presented the work and the students spoke briefly about their work. Eileen Lovett and her student assistant, Latrice Coleman, from the MHS Family/Consumer Studies program discussed Nutrition Month. They recently worked with the Milton Food Pantry on a cookbook the pantry is planning to put out. The class researched all recipes and documented the nutritional information. And then there were the All State final participants from the Music Program. Andrew Moe was among them. Andrew is going to the Nationals. In the past 30 years only 4 Milton students have been selected.GO MOE! The committee also heard a song from the Afterschool singers which was probably the most fun anyone’s had at a school committee meeting in some time.
MHS Site Council – The MHS Site Council presented to the Committee their school improvement plan. Parents Steve Shapiro and David Taugher gave the presentation the focus of which was student achievement. Everything works toward that. Specifically the presentation cited communication with constituents, curriculum scope and development, student support and the overall MHS experience,. programs and instructional rigor and at the center, teacher performance and evaluation. They referenced the strong evaluation models that are in place for both students and teachers. Taugher noted that there are fine teacher, good teachers, and teachers that need improvement. The challenge (and this issue was raised at the previous session regarding how to address NEASC feedback) is finding time for teachers to work together. Professional development hours have been cut. “The missing piece is time” and how to get it back “so it isn’t a budget buster.” You can find their presentation here.