School Family Council Meeting #5
3/16/15 at 3:30pm
Attendees
Justin Holbrook – SFC Chair/Teacher, Curtisha Wilson – Social Worker,
Catherine Gearhart – IST, Margo Candelaria – Parent, Debbie Claiborne – ParaEducator, Darlene Furno – Para-Educator, Dan Hellerbach – Assistant Principal,
Trish Garcia Pilla – PTA President, Natalia Goldenberg – Teacher/Parent, Susan
Henley – Parent, Melanie Carter – Assistant Principal, Ariana Bock – Teacher,
Amanda Kowalik-IST, Allisun Baumgartner-Teacher, Debbie Driscoll-Parent,
Karimah Williams-Parent, Rachel Brash-Parent, Caudia Easton-Parent, P.
Maureen Hild-Teacher, Kristen McGinness-Teacher, James Lindsey-Parent,
Pam Hamm-Parent, Ann Quinn-Parent, Martha Ruffin-Parent, Libby LonginoParent, Anisa Kupiec-Parent, Stephanie Safran-Parent, Elizabeth Saylor-Parent,
Julie Marx-Parent, Jennifer Jenkins-Parent, Elizabeth Reichelt-Parent
Committee Check - Ins
Attendance
Melanie Carter
 March 96.2%
 Looking at students with chronic absences or latenesses
Climate
Margo Candelaria
 Rescheduled
 Parent surveys still a little low. Met our target on staff surveys
PTA Update
Trish Garcia Pilla
 None
Special Education
Madeline Egan
 First ADHD Meeting went well changing times for meetings. Trying to
use a faculty meeting to help refresh teachers on what to look for and
specific needs for students. Next meeting April 23, 2015.
Family and Community Engagement
Francesco Legaluppi
 Met with Senator Gladden who represents the school district Roland
Park. In depth conversation to let her know how Roland Park parents
and the city felt about the Budget Cuts. Asking for her support for
Baltimore City Public Schools.
Interim Assessment Discussion
Mr. Croson
PARCC Test is taking place. Quarterly testing takes place throughout the year.
This is where we teach the materials/test/reteach-Data Collection.
The conflict is we have to finish PARCC then Quarterly Assessment then 2nd
Round of PARCC. The main discussion is the cycle of this test. We are missing
the teaching aspect. We requested that we be relieved of the Quarterly
Assessments. Answer was NO. Currently Mr. D is meeting with Linda Chen to
talk about the Merit of Roland Park being able to skip these Quarterly
Assessments. We need the time to teach, and we have other ways to get data.
We are hoping to be excused.
Questions
PARCC window, have we had the opportunity to teach for the Quarterly
Assessments, (how is the systems using these interims for evaluations), MSA 5th
and 8th grades end of April?
Schools have to show how they use these assessments.
How does the school want to respond to the answer either way, whether she
grants us the waiver or if she wants to deny the request to not have Interim
Assessments?
A hand delivered a letter to Ms. Chen by parents to meet with Mr. D and that
is how we were able to get a 3:30 PM meeting today, March 16, 2015. Letter
was about the testing that is taking place. Mrs. Hild told how she sees how the
students are doing from the interims with a red bar for the students not doing
well on that assessment. The support from parents is very important. Ms.
Jenkins told how her son felt that it is not worth the time. Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins
have sent a letter to Dr. Thornton. Problems with internet need to be
corrected. Teacher facilitated Agile Minds quizzes are on line and can be taken
at home. Middle School curriculum is being jeopardized having computers out
of the Math teacher rooms. Testing could be done a few times a year. Middle
School Social Studies has an Honors BOY, MOY and EOY assessments. Teaching
times get shortened during testing time. Students who have anxiety it is
stressful. Eventually 15% of the PARCC Test is tied to teacher’s evaluation.
Opting out- COMAR does not provide for parents to opt out of testing. Parents
can tell the school and then the Central Office will contact you, and the
students cannot be in the school building.
Next Step
Mrs. Hild sent email to Dr. Thornton. She suggested that the 17th of April be a
make-up date for the snow days instead of the end of the year. Mrs. Reichelt
said we need some immediate Next Steps. The possible answers- Yes, thank
Ms. Chen at a School Board Meeting; No, invite her to our school to tell us why
she made that decision; Tell us more. We need to follow the guidance from
Mr. D as too what the answer. It was suggested that maybe we build with the
greater school community. Mr. Hellerbach likes Mrs. Hild’s idea of trying to get
the teaching time back. Having a big showing always works.
Next SFC meeting – April 20, 2015