CRLS SCHOOL COUNCIL MINUTES

May 19, 2009

Attending: C. Saheed, B. Tynes, S. Best, D. Galef, J. Ackman, V. Alleyne, P. Massey, H. Mockovak, , L.Campbell, A. O’Connor, A. Nabweteme, J. Daniels, L. Mansour, C. Gillard

Joanne Ackman announced the School Council’s two new parent representatives: Pamela Massey, Learning Community S, and Jessica Daniels, Learning Community R. They will each serve 2-year terms. Mary Sutula will continue next year as a FOCA rep.

CRLS decals: Will be reordered due to a successful first printing. Joanne Ackman will price magnetic decals. We’ll decide at a future School Council meeting whether to distribute them to families for free or give them to a school group (e.g. Student Government) to sell for a modest cost to raise funds

Friends of CRLS and Friends of Cambridge Athletics (FoCRLS, FOCA) recognized four teachers this year as well as awarded grants up to $1,000 to another group of teachers for innovative classroom projects and gave out 16 unsung hero awards each semester to students, who do great things but are not otherwise recognized. FOCA will be presenting awards to athletes during an evening celebration on June 1.

Hiring panels: With six teachers retiring and a few others not returning, the school is looking for parents to serve on hiring committees. Anyone who is interested should contact Donna Daniels at ddaniels@cpsd.us or 617-349-6632.

Harvard accepted 12 students this year, out of a graduating class of less than 400—a significant accomplishment for the school. CRLS and Boston Latin School are among the top 5 public high schools in the country with highest admission rates to Harvard.

Guidance is being streamlined. Two guidance counselors will be leaving their positions - Gordy Axtman is retiring and Yvonne Lamour has become teacher-in-charge of the international center. Neither will be replaced. Instead of 10 counselors there will now be 8 – 2 for each Learning Community - with about 180 students each (well under the national average). Lynn Williams, Coordinator of Guidance, will be the counselor assigned to the 100 AVID students. The school is creating a position for a CRLS registrar (the current registrar at the Family Resource Center services the entire school district) who will support guidance as a “super clerk” and electronic record keeper in handling enrollment, transfers, transcripts, elements of the college process, including the electronic matching of students with colleges based on GPAs and test scores. Counselors, now organized by Learning Community homerooms and grade levels, visit each grade level on specific days to deliver materials and information and keep students on task with the college application process, standardized test dates, test preparation opportunities, etc.

Renovation—Bobby Tynes reports teachers have been purging their classrooms, and filling and labeling thousands of orange crates in preparation for the two to three moves they will make over the next two years. Save for administrators, the entire campus will be closed this summer for renovation work. (The old Graham and Parks building will host the summer school.) The new cafeteria, Teachers’ Resource Center and library should be functional by the fall start of school. Learning Community offices C, L and S will be centralized vertically on the Broadway side of the building. RSTA, which has already been renovated, will see minimal work—windows and HVAC. Photo labs will go digital for two years. The science department will receive 18 new lab/classroom combos. The Longfellow is being readied as a 9^th grade campus, to be run by LC L Deans Allan Gehant and Filomena Silva. LC L students in grades 10-12 will be affiliated with the other three Learning Communities for two years—10^th with C, 11^th with R and 12^th with S.

The CRLS Visual & Performing Arts Dept. will perform at the Cambridge River festival, June 13, 12-6 pm. Parent volunteers are needed throughout the afternoon. Call 617-349-6788/6789 to sign up.

Next meeting: Tuesday, June 9, 6-8 pm in the Principal’s Conference Room