School Committee

Salem Public Schools Salem School Committee CURRICULUM SUBCOMMITTEE Meeting Minutes September 8, 2021 On September 8, 2021 the Curriculum Subcommittee held its regular meeting using the Zoom on-line meeting platform. Members In Attendance: Dr. Pangallo and Ms. Campbell Others in Attendance: Assistant Superintendent: Kate Carbone Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: Amy Richardson Principal of Salem Early Childhood Center: Leanne Smith Interim Principal of Witchcraft Heights Elementary School: Susan Carmona Call of Meeting to Order Meeting was called to order at 5:09 pm Approval of Minutes Dr. Pangallo requested a motion to approve the minutes of the May 17, 2021 Curriculum Subcommittee meeting. Ms. Campbell made the motion. The motion was seconded by Dr. Pangallo. A roll call vote was taken. Ms. Campbell Yes Dr. Pangallo Yes Motion carries 2-0 Dr. Pangallo opens the meeting for the district to begin the discussion of the Pre-K Curriculum. Ms. Carbone requests to discuss topics out of order to respect Ms. Carmona’s time. Dr. Pangallo approves this request. Pre-K Curriculum Ms. Carbone shares an overview of the expansion of Pre-K with three community based programs along with four additional classrooms at HMLS and Bates, and expansion of full-time spots at ECC. Having access to high quality curriculum at the Pre-K level required a team of teachers to explore options and begin the training. Ms. Richardson shares a presentation of the new curriculum: Savvas, Three Cheers for Pre-K. Ms. Smith aligns district priorities with the need for quality curriculum at the early learning level. The curriculum will support the teachers in implementation and support the children to be successful as they transition to Kindergarten. Three Cheers for Pre-K is a standards-aligned 9.8.21 Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Minutes Page 1 curriculum that will provide a clear scope and sequence to instruction and bring a how and why to the learning. Ms. Richardson shares four programs that were reviewed by a literacy team over the summer. Three Cheers for Pre-K was chosen based on the consistency it provides to instructing and learning. It’s also a precursor to the K-5 curriculum: Savvas, MyView. Ms. Richardson shares the downside to other contenders that were not chosen. Information on the curriculum professional development opportunity on August 25th is shared, which included all SPS and partner teachers. Ms. Richardson reviews nine components of what supported the final choice of Savvas, Three Cheers for Pre-K. She opens for questions. Ms. Campbell shares that Pre-K is not her area of expertise and wonders about EEC standards and the DESE standards and which ones we focus on being that we are a public Pre-K program partnering with early childcare centers. Ms. Richardson shares that the Pre-K core content is similar to the upper grades but is tailored to the Pre-K level. Ms. Smith supports Ms. Richardson’s response and shares it is an interesting situation due to partnering with the childcare centers in the city. The district is toggling between both sets of standards in terms of curriculum and protocol as there is a difference in guidance for partners versus district Pre-K classrooms. Ms. Richardson shares that both sets of standards are available on the Atlas Curriculum maps and the intent is to blend them throughout this year. Ms. Campbell shares it’ll be interesting to check in throughout the school year to see how the blending of two education departments is going and offers support of the committee as needed. Ms. Carbone adds that it’s a challenge and an opportunity. For the content areas, historically, the district has defaulted to the Pre-K standards from DESE, but it’s now an opportunity to explore Kindergarten readiness and what should that look like across the domains aside from core content. Ms. Smith shares a map of what the curriculum looks like on a daily basis. Ms. Smith runs through the core content provided by the curriculum along with other learning areas, snack time, and play time. Ms. Richardson shares some of the materials provided to aid in transitions throughout the day. Dr. Pangallo raises a question regarding the note of outdoor play listed at twenty minutes, she hopes that there will be better use of outdoor time as young learners benefit from that outdoor time and hopes that there are more outdoor opportunities available. Ms. Smith confirms the variety of outdoor learning experiences beyond the identified 25 minutes. Ms. Smith shares the opportunity for family engagement with the curriculum, including a digital library of books supporting the classroom curriculum in over forty different languages read by native speakers with English text. The curriculum includes a family newsletter that teachers can use for classroom communication as well. 9.8.21 Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Minutes Page 2 Ms. Campbell raises a question surrounding the mention of books representing diverse characters and is requesting elaboration on the diversity mentioned. Ms. Campbell mentions a notion that diversity in Pre-K classrooms from her knowledge typically showcases race and cultural diversity but wondering if this curriculum represents family composition, LGBTQ diversity, religious diversity and representation. Ms. Richardson shares from the example of a family book on screen the family composition is blended and represents the LGBTQ community. Ms. Richardson shares that not all the books have been read but from looking at the menu of books, she is sure there is a diversity included. Dr. Pangallo suggests as teachers are getting more familiar with the book titles, to be more cognizant of the variety and diversity of the books based on representation across. Ms. Smith shares supplemental book orders with diversity and representation are being made to stock the Pre-K classrooms. Ms. Carbone calls out appreciation of the conversation mentioning the materials of what teachers are using and what children have access to, allowing opportunity to ensure the district gets more familiar with the materials. Ms. Richardson and Ms. Campbell discuss the statistics of publishers and how they highlight the main characters in books and how that unfolds to our urban community. Ms. Campbell makes mention that the committee would support funding to supplement diverse texts if needed and to revisit the conversation in the future if needed. Ms. Richardson continues the presentation and shares that Shawna Erps is a new coach available to the new PreK Classrooms in the district and a support to the partner programs. Ongoing professional development opportunities are available including district and partner opportunities on early release days. Ms. Smith shares this year will include unpacking the curriculum and planning ahead because the curriculum is new to all. Ms. Richardson shares information on the assessment process for the Pre-K level with the use of myIGDIs. Along with content assessment, other components of the assessment include SEL, arts, physical assessment and language assessment. The assessment is embedded in the classroom routine where students will be assessed during routine activities and play. All assessments are recorded digitally and can rollover into STAR assessments (K-5 assessments) as it’s the same company. Dr. Pangallo questions how the district will assess the effectiveness of the curriculum program. Ms. Richardson shares that if we are not seeing growth with students, we have to wonder if the program is hindering growth. Ms. Carbone identifies regular classroom observations as well. A combination of student outcome data and growth and feedback from teachers can identify the program’s effectiveness. Dr. Pangallo mentions the New Jersey guidelines she received from a colleague and questions if the curriculum program provides methods for inclusion for SWD. Ms. Smith confirms the curriculum supports both ELL and SWD. 9.8.21 Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Minutes Page 3 Dr. Pangallo references materials shared from Dr. Murphy (SSU professor/consultant) emphasizes early literacy and wonders if some early literacy resources and guidance will be incorporated into the intent of instruction. Ms. Richardson shares that the district will help develop a scope and sequence that will work to incorporate letter and word learning with whatever the students are learning about. Ms. Carbone shares that the curriculum is structured but meets the child’s needs in the middle. The teachers felt the Three Cheers program was structured, provided a clear scope and sequence, but is not a highly narrative program requiring specific instruction. It provides creativity and flexibility for instruction and to customize the curriculum to learning spaces and student needs. There are no further questions or comments and Dr. Pangallo continues with the agenda. Scheduling of other topics for the Committee’s review this school year Dr. Pangallo shares that this topic will be reviewed at a future meeting due to time and the meeting coming to a close. Discarding of outdated instructional supplies Ms. Carmona informs the committee that a major purge happening at the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School resulted in a surplus of materials no longer used and notes a request for disposal of the following Instructional Materials: - Everyday Math Teacher Manuals and Student Workbooks - SuperKids Magazines, EasyReaders, Big Books - Hofflin-Mifflin Student Books - Old Guided Reading Sets - Lucy Calkins K-2 Materials (Wonders if perhaps these should be transferred to another school?) - Computer Lab Headphones (Suggesting sending them to IT) - Student Encyclopedias Ms. Richardson follows Ms. Carmona’s requests in stating the Lucy Calkins materials will no longer be used at the K-2 level. There is a lot of wear and tear on the materials and missing pieces in many of the kits. Ms. Richardson also shares that there are many boxes of Eureka Math workbooks that were ordered last year and never used due to the pandemic. She states the boxes need to be removed from the schools due to a transition to a newer version of Eureka Math with more student accessibility. Ms. Richardson proposes a variety of options for these items of value including: selling them, posting them some place, donating them. Dr. Pangallo requests clarity on the list provided from Ms. Carmona regarding the state of the items for possible donation. Ms. Carmona confirms the items are not in condition to be donated. Dr. Pangallo asks if the headphones have worth being in the state of virtual instruction and learning or if they are old and outdated. Ms. Carmona shares that they are ancient and do not have the right hook-ups for devices. 9.8.21 Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Minutes Page 4 Ms. Carbone shares that Superkids was on its way out when Kate arrived to the district and WHES was one of the final schools using the materials. She also shares the history of Hofflin-Mifflin books that precedes her role in the district and are ready for disposal. The Lucy Calkins materials were loved and used for many years but a more teacher- and student-friendly material set was purchased to replace those materials and are no longer needed. Ms. Carbone suggests that based on publication of the encyclopedias and trusts that they can be considered ancient per Ms. Carmona’s assessment. Lastly, the guided reading sets are used often and are often needed to be replaced and/or discarded. With new sets purchased, this provides opportunity for clean-up to make room for new materials. Ms. Campbell shares she has no problem with the removal but questions in terms of procedure and process, if the subcommittee needs to vote on disposal due to never coming across the agenda topic in a Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting and asks if there is a specific policy stating this needs to happen. Ms. Carbone provides clarity that there is a policy because she requested Building and Grounds to remove the items from the school and was directed to clear this disposal with the committee. She shares that the materials are purchased with funds approved by SC and the disposal should be reviewed by SC as well. Conversation around the process of materials being removed from HMLS and Bowditch occur. Ms. Richardson shares that she worked with Joanne O’Keefe formerly regarding encyclopedias who shared that encyclopedias are only good for the year in which they are published and are not the best resource due to the virtual resources available. Ms. Campbell revisits the process to approve this request of disposal and questions to Dr. Pangallo if this is something to report out. She suggests the Policy Subcommittee should review the policy and provide clarity on the process eliminating a lengthy process for final disposal. Ms. Richardson identifies the new Eureka Math books have thousands of dollars worth of value. She requests if it is okay to work with Ms. DeLai to figure out a process for recouping the district’s investment in the unused materials. Dr. Pangallo shares it sounds like a good plan. Dr. Pangallo requested a motion to approve the discarding of outdated instructional supplies of the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School. Ms. Campbell made the motion. The motion was seconded by Dr. Pangallo. A roll call vote was taken. Ms. Campbell Yes Dr. Pangallo Yes Motion carries 2-0 Subcommittee authorizes the disposal of property to go forward pending the issue to be reviewed by the full committee, and a flag that textbooks and materials should be exempt 9.8.21 Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Minutes Page 5 because it could happen often. Potential review of policy 3205. Dr. Pangallo also shares that she will gather clarity from the full committee on the Eureka Math materials for Ms. Richardson Dr. Pangallo suggested an adaptation to the agenda to revisit scheduling at a future meeting and requested a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:18 pm. Ms. Campbell made the motion. The motion was seconded by Dr. Pangallo. A roll call vote was made. Ms. Campbell Yes Dr. Pangallo Yes Motion carries 2-0 Respectfully submitted by, Jensen Frost Executive Assistant to the Assistant Superintendent 9.8.21 Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Minutes Page 6