Draft: March 17, 2005

Approved: April 13, 2005

School Committee meeting March 16, 2005

Under Report of the Secretary

Executive Session

Members present: Jonathan Radtke-Chairperson, Ellen Alcorn, Stephen Spring, Ben Meiklejohn, Otis Thompson, James DiMillo, Teri McRae

Members not present: Jason Toothaker, Tae Chong

At 6:45 p.m. Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Spring and voted unanimously to move into Executive Session to discuss student disciplinary matters (1 MRSA §405 6B)

At 6:52 p.m. Mr. Spring moved, seconded Mr. Meiklejohn and voted unanimously to come out of Executive Session

Business Meeting

Mr. Radtke called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

Members present: Jonathan Radtke-Chairperson, Jason Toothaker, Ellen Alcorn, Stephen Spring, Ben Meiklejohn, Otis Thompson, Tae Chong, James DiMillo, Teri McRae, Sophia Njaa (arrived at approximately 7:10pm), Michael Imbergamo(arrived at approximately 7:10pm)

Report of the Chair

Mr. Radtke:

• Indicated that members had a calendar survey to be completed and asked that completed surveys be returned at the end of the meeting
• Announced that Longfellow School has been awarded the Creative Ticket School of Excellence Award for 2005 by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education
• Announced that the Deering High School Boys’ Varsity Basketball team will play for the State Championship in Bangor on Saturday, March 19^th

Report of the Superintendent

Superintendent O’Connor:

• Announced that on Tuesday evening, March 15^th, Presumpscot School hosted Heritage Day and held the grand opening of the Parent-Community space at the school
• Announced the resignation of Diane Bauby, Director-Portland Arts and Technology High School, effective June 30, 2005
• Mentioned the YouTHINK celebration, which was held at 4 p.m. today at City Hall. Jason Toothaker was the keynote speaker. YouTHINK presented several awards one of which is a $1,500 Peer-to-Peer Literacy Project that will enable students to work with new immigrants.
• Introduced Bette Manchester and Kelly Arsenault who addressed the Committee on the Middle School Laptop Initiative

Committee members had a few questions regarding the laptop initiative, which Kelly and Bette addressed.

Report of Committees

1. East End Area School Building Committee – Mr. Radtke mentioned that steel is going up for the new building.
2. Policy Committee – Mr. Spring indicated that at the April 6^th , 4 p.m. meeting the Committee would review class rank and AP policy.
3. Finance Committee – Ms. McRae indicated that the Committee has met several times to discuss the FY06 budget with the superintendent and staff. Public input on the budget will be held 6:30pm-7:30pm on March 23^rd and again on March 30^th if needed. School Committee will vote on the budget at their April 6^th meeting.
4. Legislative Affairs Committee – No report.
5. Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound High School – Mr. Allen reported that meetings have been held with 8^th grade students and parents in all three middle schools and that private and parochial schools have been contacted. There are 134 8^th graders who have indicated an interest in attending the ELOB high school. The process now will be to obtain a commitment from the interested students and parents. The Maine Principals’ Association has received a request for a superintendent’s waiver for students attending the high school to participate in interscholastic sports in the district. The MPA has tabled this request until April 27^th. There will be an opt out clause available to students in case the MPA denies the request then students could “opt out” of attending ELOB and attend another high school in the district.

Mr. DiMillo requested a list of the interested 8^th grade students and their grade averages. He would also like to see the process that will be used to select students to attend the ELOB high school.

6. Other Committees and/or member concerns – No reports.

Report of the Secretary

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Ms. Alcorn and voted unanimously to approve the meeting minutes of the March 2, 2005 meeting. (Student representatives voted with the majority)

Consent Items

Superintendent O’Connor reviewed the donations and thanked the contributors.

Old Business - None

New Business

1. Consideration and action to convene a task force to evaluate the high school block schedules and analyze their respective effects on student achievement, program participation, and staff collaboration; and to recommend possible improvements, if any, to the School Committee.

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Toothaker to convene a task force to evaluate the high school block schedules and analyze their respective effects on student achievement, program participation, and staff collaboration; and to recommend possible improvements, if any, to the School Committee.

Mr. Radtke indicated that this work would probably begin during the summer with a report next winter.

Clarifying questions:

Mr. Spring – asked if there had been any studies to date on the effectiveness of block schedules. Concerned about asking more high school folks to participate on another task force.

Ms. McRae – asked in could incorporate theme of barriers to academic achievement to make certain we have what is best for students.

Board discussion:

Mr. Meiklejohn - spoke to the motion and impact that block scheduling has on programs. His intention is not to necessarily look at banning block scheduling, but currently there are two block schedules and he would like to see how this works across the district.

Ms. McRae – indicated that this has been a discussion of the Math Task Force.

Mr. Toothaker – supports motion.

Ms. Alcorn – supports motion.

Mr. Radtke – supports motion. Indicated that block scheduling had been reviewed 3-4 years ago.

Mr. Thompson – not much data was available 4 years ago when block scheduling was discussed. Would like to look at what the program was like before block scheduling and what it looks like now.

Superintendent O’Connor – indicated that the district moved to a block schedule to provide opportunities for deeper learning versus attending a class for 45 minutes and moving on to the next one.

Vote on motion: It was voted unanimously to convene a task force to evaluate the high school block schedules and analyze their respective effects on student achievement, program participation, and staff collaboration; and to recommend possible improvements, if any, to the School Committee. (Student representatives voted with the majority)

Personnel

1. Consideration and action to approve the Personnel items listed below:

Mr. Toothaker moved, seconded Ms. Alcorn to approve Personnel items as listed.

a. Unpaid LOA: Eff. 9/1/05

Susan Ross Grade 1-2/Longfellow .5 of 1.0 Extended Childrearing

b. Change in Degree : Eff. 01/01/2005

Alyssa Robbins Kindergarten/Reiche M-6 +$3,227

MS/USM

c. Consideration and action to renew the contracts of Principals for the 2005-2006

school year who have been employed two years or less, pursuant to M.R.S.A . Title 20-A, Chapter 504, Section §13301, Employment of Principals.

Brian Britting, Assistant Director, Portland Arts and Technology High School

Gail Senese, Co-Director Adult Education

Steve Nolan, Assistant Principal, Lincoln Middle School

Vote on motion: It was voted unanimously to approve Personnel items as listed. (Student representatives voted with the majority)

Committee Focus on Educational Issues

1. Foreign language credit by proficiency

Mr. Allen provided a brief overview of Foreign Language credit by proficiency. High Schools grant credits for activities above and beyond regular high school activities such as student tutoring, office aid, leadership program, and internships. High School principals will engage in conversations to consider granting Foreign Language proficiency credit.

Mr. Spring – asked what languages receive credit by proficiency. He also asked if bilingualism could be honored; creating bilingual students. He indicated that foreign language by proficiency would be the way Portland Public Schools should go.

Mr. Allen indicated at Portland High – Spanish, French, Latin, Greek; Deering High – French, Spanish, Latin, and German. Foreign Language proficiency credit is already embedded in course work.

Mr. Meiklejohn – Inquired about colleges already having been asked about Foreign Language credit by proficiency and he was under the assumption that they would accept such a credit. Mentioned that 13 y.o, 14 y.o, and 15 y.o. are attending college and in order to accomplish this these young students need to take tests/assessments to measure proficiency in many different areas in order to get into college.

Superintendent O’Connor – indicated that a while ago she and Tae Chong had a discussion with the president of USM – Rich Pattenaude about the university accepting Foreign Language proficiency credit granted by high schools for students who are proficient in, for example, their native language and then learn English, etc.

Superintendent O’Connor also posed the following questions– 1) could students test out of a language by proficiency; 2) could ELL students be granted credit for learning English as a second language?

Mr. Thompson – asked if looking at graduation credits based on Foreign Language proficiency? He would like to know what the staff thinks about this.

Ms. Alcorn – concerned that inequity issues are embedded in this. Has consideration been given about offering language courses in languages that students speak? Suggested granting ELL students proficiency in English to recognize/honor bilingualism.

Superintendent O’Connor – indicated that offering language courses in languages that students speak has been considered.

Mr. Toothaker – spoke regarding equity.

Ms. McRae – asked if the purpose is to demonstrate to a college that students are proficient in a language? If so, she is not certain why the school system should spend resources to accomplish this.

Mr. Radtke – Committee could look at this from a policy perspective, which will require research and he would like to discuss with high school staff to look at how this could be achieved. Next steps would be 1) in the fall – obtain staff thinking on this issue; 2) more to policy level.

Public Comment Prior to 11:00 PM – No members of the public addressed the Committee.

Adjournment

Mr. Meiklejohn moved, seconded Mr. Toothaker and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:30pm. (Student representatives voted with majority).

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Jo O’Connor

Superintendent of Schools