PAC NOV 2008

							                PAC Notes for meeting of November 18. 2008

Our first Parent Advisory Council Meeting was held in the library at Maple Street
School hosted by Maple Street Principal Michael Bessette and Harold Martin
School Principal Bill Carozza. There were two major components to the agenda:
the school district calendar and parent conferences.

We began with a review of the calendar process given by Michael who chairs our
district calendar committee. The comments posted below were from parents
unless otherwise noted:

DISTRICT CALENDAR
    November was difficult due to the half days. Tuesdays were used because
     that is the normal staff meeting day when we meet with teachers until 4
     PM.
    Michael: The High School talked about a separate calendar from
     elementary-great idea but has many issues.
         o Bussing is a difficult piece between the two buildings when there is
             a separate time frame. Having kids in all three schools is tough
             especially if the older child babysits.
    Michael mentioned incentive programs to have year-round schools-the
     NHDOE is considering.
    Start day-many want to start after Labor Day.
    One reason why we don’t have school during the Hopkinton Fair is that
     there are safety issues with the Fair going on while kids are in school.
    Why two weeks in Christmas? Some like it because of split families.
     Others do not because of the time it takes from June.
    Question about the 180-traditional number of days that school is in
     session per year. The State is now looking at hours instead of days. Our
     teacher’s contract is certainly based on 180 plus four extra workdays.
    Discussion about the extra half hour that we put in last year in the last few
     months to make up five school days. HMS teachers liked the extra
     instructional time but the high school found that discipline problems went
     up with the longer day.
    Michael mentioned about providing professional development for teachers
     some mornings and having kids not losing core curriculum time. One
     parent mentioned that she would rather keep her child at home in this
     case. Another comment mentioned daycare and that vacation days are
     often taken up by daycare because of ER days. Another parent mentioned
     that as long as the hour was taken up by important teacher work, that was
     OK.
    One teacher mentioned that early release days are very important
     workdays and crucial.
         o We did try a back-to-back day for ER days and it was split 50/50 in
             the district.
      Perhaps the Calendar Committee will have a survey sent out to parents
       this year.
      Please send ideas or comments to Michael and/or Bill.

PARENT CONFERENCES
   One parent mentioned that they liked to have report cards before teacher
    conferences others thought the opposite, that they liked having the
    conference first.
   Parent conferences are too late-if kids are having troubles it is too late;
    though, teachers should have called ahead of time.
   Michael talked about how short the conferences are and how that is
    inadequate.
   How do people feel about 11-7? Babysitting for kids?
       o Thoughts on this were split.


Next Meeting:

January 20, 5-6 PM at Maple Street School.