Elementor #15162

     School Leadership Team–November 13, 2024–3:15pm 

Present: 

Elizabeth Philips, Allison Yarrow, Melissa DePinto, Stephanie Sellers, Kay Davis, Simone Fraser, Amber Torres, Ziaeme Catoe, Jackie Hughes, Diane Zelenka, Tara Gallagher, Melissa Hermon, Rachel Dougherty, Greta Rosenblum, Melanie McIver

Minutes: Tara Gallagher 

1.      Minutes

·   Minutes for previous meeting approved. 

·   Minutes for current meeting assigned to Tara Gallagher. 

2.      Follow up on Community Building

·   Family Friday in Lower School and Coffee Afterwards. Worked well, lots of people came to the parent coffee and shopped at the school store.

·   Halloween Parade – very nice for everyone

·   Plans from Staff Sunshine Committee. Gratitude Parade to walk in opposite direction (Upper School to Lower School)

·   Several parents described successful smaller events. (Diane: Brewer’s Row. Alison: class park meet-ups).

3.                         CEP–Progress Monitoring

·   Attendees read through selected parts of the CEP.

·   Where we are in progress measures and targets:

o   did better in Acadience than last fall; More than met the 75% goal

o   MAP data also very good – above 80% in all grades 

·   Priorities and SMART goals were explained and discussed:

 1st priority – literacy

o Teachers discussed report card rubrics, identification of skills and strategies for teaching new curriculum, and the role of the Intervention Team. 

o Simone explicated skills and strategies: skill = what is the main idea of the nonfiction test. Strategy = how.

o Principal Phillips reported that having literacy leaders has been great.

o Principal Philips reported that a staff developer from Teacher’s College is coming to do prof development on decodables – these correspond with the phonics skills the kids have already been taught. 

o Teachers discussed Jump Rope Readers. Simone has two sets in her office. 

o Principal Philips affirmed that we are well on the way towards doing what we said we’d do. 

·         2nd priority – all students are supported and safe

o Neurodiversity. Meeting on neurodiversity is being planned for early December. Goal is to help parents of Gen Ed and IEP students understand neurodiversity. Liz McCormick will lead the meeting. 

o Equity committee is a little late getting off the ground this year but will be meeting in December.

o Affinity Groups

§  Rainbow Club is a 5th Grade group now but will open up to 4th grade as well. 

§  Groups for children of color from first grade up.

§  Jewish student group.

§  Affinity groups are dependent on getting teachers to facilitate. Teachers miss their lunch break.

§  Affinity groups have been time bound. If there were parents interested in leading them, they could take place after school. 

o    Gender

§  Parents were curious how gender identity is being discussed in classrooms. Teachers explained that the topic is addressed in 4th and 5th grade in accordance with district requirements. In lower grades, the discussion is up to the teachers and it varies by classroom. 

§  Parents shared experiences of gender identity being discussed with and among children. 

§  Principal Phillips suggested that Rachel Lotus’ meeting in the spring could have more of a focus on gender.

§  It was also suggested that there could be some professional development for teachers in talking about gender with families. 

§  ABAR curriculum also includes gender

§  This is also a topic for the Equity Committee 

  3rd priority – Math 

o The test score gap is greater between Gen Ed students and students with IEPs than it is between Black and Latino students and non-Black, non-Latino students. 

o Teachers discussed discerning whether students with low test scores are really struggling in school or whether they are just having a hard time taking a test. 

o Principal Philips affirmed that, as a district, literacy is the focus, and that PS321 students are doing better in math across the board.

o Question about how we push the kids who are doing really well in math. 

o Principal Phillips suggested that this could be a question for Kara Imm (math teaching consultant): how do we challenge our top math students?

o Teachers agreed that, overall, Eureka is a challenging math program. 

·    4th priority: College Preparedness 

o Principal Phillips: not a necessary focus for our school community. 

    5th priority: having more NYC families choose NYC public school 

o Helping families stay in public middle schools

4.                         Wit & Wisdom Update

·         AP Fraser explained backwards planning from the curriculum: looked at end of module task, went through each lesson and tried to distill what it was that was actually trying to be taught, named that as a skill or strategy. Kids are super engaged. Teachers are liking teaching it and still have time for independent reading and small groups and some authentic writing.

·         Principal Phillips affirmed that 321 doesn’t have as much pressure to do this with total fidelity (“We don’t have to throw out everything.”), adding that other schools are dealing with a lot of negative feedback from parents and students. Part of the issue with this curriculum is repeated readings of the same book for five days. Rachel Dougherty added that the paring down has made it better, but kids are ready to move on. 

5.                         Principal Performance Observation

·         Area of celebration: fosters a collaborative community

·         Area of focus: monitor and address student progress based on data.

6.                         Budget 

·         Principal Phillips reported that 321 must repay approx $70-80,000 of funding due to not meeting some register projections. Explained to new members of SLT that school is funded per capita–a formula that does not take into account the expenses of a given school. Average teacher salaries at PS321 are relatively high, because of teacher retention and hiring experienced teachers. Money owed can be rolled over into next year but that’s not the goal for us. PTA money can’t cover it directly but can cover other things that would usually come out of the budget.  

·         Discussed ways in which families could be educated about the budget and funding formula, in order to increase contributions to Fund321. 

7.        Reduced Class Size Funding Opportunity

·         Principal Phillips and UFT chapter chair Melanie McIver  reported possible grant for reducing class sizes, which would be funded at the average teacher salary. 

·         This seems very promising and we will get more information on the details.  SLT is in favor of moving forward with this. 

8.        PTA Events and Updates

·         Fund321 is behind target

·         Upcoming events: Holiday Shop, Family Arts Night, Family Friday at Upper School