The Reading School Committee (SC) of Reading Public Schools (RPS) is meeting at 7pm on Thursday April 4, 2024. This meeting is the annual meeting in Boston, at the METCO Headquarters at 11 Roxbury Street, Boston MA 02119. This means that there will not be a live RCTV broadcast of the meeting, although there will be zoom access (link at the end of this article), and RCTV will record the meeting.
Links to the agenda and packet are posted below. As of this writing, the 71-page long packet does not include the math pathways update information, but most of the other information alluded to above is included.
Focus on Excellence
The “focus on excellence” for this meeting will be the achievements of Reading’s Boston students (METCO students). As of this writing, the packet does not include details on what will be recognized.
METCO Update
RMHS (packet p. 22-35)
This topic includes presentations and discussion from Reading’s METCO Coordinator (Kurtis Martin) as well as the Reading Friends of METCO program.
The Reading friends of METCO will open with a 20-minute conversation with SC members and the community relating to the following:
Thinking about our Reading METCO program overall:
1. What are you proud of?
2. What are your hopes for the program in future?
3. What do you see as your role in making these hopes a reality?
The Reading METCO presentation includes information about the METCO coordinator role and the supports provided to METCO students, information about 2023-2024 cultural events that the METCO coordinator helped facilitate, cultural professional development for staff, METCO enrollment, the METCO tour of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), and more.
Scheduling Pilot Update
RMHS (packet p. 36-57)
RMHS principal Jessica Callanan will present results of surveys of staff, students, and parents/guardians, conducted after the RMHS schedule pilot, which took place from late January to just before February vacation (approximately 1 month). Based on a quick review of the responses, it appears that most students and staff generally liked the schedule, but about a third of students showed a strong preference for the “days 1-5 only” part of the new schedule and did not like other aspects, whereas about 42% liked the whole schedule. Most staff (89.2%) and students (68.5%)liked that, in the pilot, all classes started and ended at the same time on days 1-5. In addition, roughly analogous percentages of staff (48%) and students (55.3%) liked having flex as a class period.
However, when it got to certain other detailed questions, as shown on packet p. 46-47, staff and students differed about the pilot schedule idea of dropping 1 period some days and 2 periods another day. For example, 53% of students responded that doing this was “great,” but only 38% of staff agreed. As to whether the dropping of 1 period some days and 2 periods other days made it “easier to stay on track,” 61% of staff agreed, but only 29.8% of students agreed. 48.2% of students thought this pattern of dropping classes made the day seem to go by quicker, but only 24% of staff did.
As a bottom-line question of “do you want to adopt the pilot schedule” (p. 49 of packet, 15.7% of staff and 19.3% of students said no. The rest of staff and students said yes, but it is noted that a significant majority of staff (64.7%) and students (62.4%) said “yes, with some modifications” and not simply “yes.”
The block schedule aspect of the pilot schedule appears to have gotten a less enthusiastic response, as packet p. 50-52 show. 45.5% of staff and 45.1% of students answered that they “do not like” the block schedule.
The packet indicates that a decision on the RMHS schedule for next year is to be finalized before April vacation.
2024-2025 Enrollment
KINDERGARTEN (p. 59-60)
The memo and other information on these pages indicates that, as of today, there are only 227 registrations for kindergarten for next year (in comparison, this year the K enrollment is 282 students). The 227 students are broken down as follows:
· Barrows – 50 kids (15 students fewer than this year)
· Birch Meadow: 36 students (9 students fewer than this year)
· Joshua Eaton: 62 students (3 students fewer than this year, and there are 2 requests for half day K).
· Killam: 45 students (11 students fewer than this year, with 1 request for half day K)
· Wood End: 34 students (3 fewer students than this year).
The kindergarten memo also indicates that, because of the drop in K enrollment at Killam, they do not need the current 4 sections of kindergarten and are reallocating a K teacher to grade 5, to handle an enrollment bubble there. Note that Barrows, which has an even larger enrollment drop, does not have to do this because they only had 3 sections of K classes. Instead, what this means is that average class size in K at Barrows will be around 17 students as compared to 22 students this year. Most K classes in the coming year will be 17 students or fewer except at Joshua Eaton, which has the largest K enrollment – next year will have average class size of 21 students.
Last Day of School
(p. 61)
At tonight’s meeting, the SC is scheduled to approve June 14, 2024 as the last day of school, to account for one snow day this year.
Fee Increases
ATHLETICS, DRAMA, AND BAND FEE INCREASES ( p. 64) and FACILITIES RENTAL INCREASES (p. 65-66).
Memos on these pages show a proposal from Derek Pinto, the RPS Director of Finance and Operations, to increase these fees. The proposed amounts are listed on these packet pages.
Band/Drama/Athletics fees are proposed to go up by 5-7%, with family caps to go up by 1-2%. The memo states that fees have not changed since 2018, but there have been increases in other costs that these fees go toward, including but not limited to cost increases in facility rental fees, transportation, equipment, costumes, officials, and membership association fees.
Similarly, facilities rental fees to rent RPS facilities are increasing by 2.5%, to cover cost increases on labor rates, utilities, floor refinishing, wear and tear on facilities, custodial supplies, and the like.
How to Watch
In addition, you can join the meeting (or watch) via the Zoom link here:
Join Zoom Meeting https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/81650539075
Meeting ID: 816 5053 9075
