School Committee Meeting – December 17, 2014
Video of the December 17, 2014 School Committee is available in its entirety here.
Following is an outline of some of the topics discussed and when they were discussed during the meeting.
The meeting opened with some “Recognitions:”
- SC Member Jim Dever gave a Shout Out to Sandwich Soul, who entertained families at Heritage Museum and Gardens.
- SC Member Nancy Crossman gave a Shout Out to all the school department employees who reached a milestone in years served and were acknowledged at the Employee Recognition Ceremony. Mrs. Crossman also talked about the STEM Stroll which she had enjoyed on both nights it was presented. There is a great Stroll video on the STEM Academy website http://sandwichstem.weebly.com/
- Dr. Canfield announced that two grants had been awarded to help support important district initiatives. Ginger Lavelle was awarded a grant from the Cape Cod Regional STEM Network to continue her very popular After-School Robotics Club. Also, DESE has awarded the district the Transition to Full Day Kindergarten Grant to be used this school year as we prepare for additional Full Day Kindergarten Classrooms next year. A significant benefit of this grant is that we will be eligible (in 2015-2016) for continued financial support for Full Day Kindergarten programs through the Quality Full Day K Grant.
@ 4:48 – Katherine Dunham presented the Student Representative’s Report to the School Committee, which included news and information from HT Wing, Forestale, Oak Ridge, STEM Academy and SHS.
@10:10 – Dr. Canfield opened the Superintendent’s Report with an overview of the Budget timeline and an announcement that the Budget Workshops would be held every Wednesday through January (1/7/15; 1/14/15;/1/21/15;1/28/15 – with Snow Dates scheduled for the each of the Thursdays). Dr. Canfield announced that both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee members would be invited to each of the Budget Workshop meetings and that the larger group would require a change of venue. All the Budget Workshop meetings will be held in the SHS Library, and would be taped for rebroadcast on the Sandwich Community Television site. It is not possible for SCT to broadcast live from the library.
Dr. Canfield explained that the Workshops would include discussion of both the Operating Budget (day-to-day expenses of the district and its educational work) and the Capital Budget (“one time” expenses). He also distributed an overview of the budget to the committee, which can be found here.
@33:17 – Trish Hill, principal of Oak Ridge School, reported out on the progress of the Gr 3-6 RPT (Reorganization Planning Team) The RPT is structured as subcommittees of parents, staff and administrators who are preparing the schools and the community for the transition to new schools next year. About five minutes into Ms. Hill’s presentation, there was a discussion of playground needs and the desire for the Oak Ridge 3-6 and the Forestdale PreK-2 Teams to work together.
@42:00 – Dr. Canfield spoke about his desire for a work group to help Alan Hall and Dr. Canfield create a Facilities Capital Plan focused on maintainin, managing and improving the district’s buildings and grounds.
@44:35 – Presentation to update the Committee and the community regarding the new Standards Based Report Cards, which were launched this month for grades K-2. A Powerpoint of the Presentation can be viewed and downloaded here: School Committee Presentation Dec 2014
@ 83:00 – 89:05 Nancy Crossman shared her experience observing a Reading Recovery Lesson at the Wing School last week.
@98:00 Meeting Adjourned
Sandwich Community Television posts all School and Town Public Meetings on its website.
Typically, the meeting is posted within 24 hours and a many meetings are also televised live. The School Committee has “Business Meetings” every other week (calendar here) and those meetings are shown live. As noted above, the January Budget Workshop meetings will be taped and will be available in approximately 48 hours following each meeting.