Notes+4.29.08

April 29, 2008

Meeting Notes Present: Margaret Anderson, Emily Davison, Lorrie King, Claire Evrard, Chris Hill, Julie Hutchinson, Jodi McGuire, Suzanne Hamilton, Brenda Michaelsen, Tom McDowell, Ted Hall, Amy Bongard.

Note taker: Suzanne

•Julie had a question about step-up day for incoming freshmen. Margaret reported that she has put together all the end-of-year schedules and she will be distributing them at the beginning of next week. •Rick Biskup had raised questions about required parent feedback in the portfolio process, which were addressed by Ted in an email reply. •The upstairs lounge is in place, mostly. Still to come (according to Nancy Shaw) are a trash can, art on the walls, a plant (artificial) and benches. •A few classes seemed to have assignments over vacation. We need to keep our homework-free vacation policy in mind. •Alice made a suggestion for collecting laptops at the end of the year that will involve advisors taking on more responsibility. Alice will work out the details and bring a final plan to the leadership team. Ted distributed a draft of a document outlining the 'roles and skills' of members of the leadership team. We discussed several points in the lists. We decided to combine 'roles' and 'skills' in one list, to combine several of the separate points as appropriate, and to get another draft out to the faculty for feedback. Ted introduced an article about grading ("The case against the zero," by Douglas B. Reeves. Phi Delta Kappan; Dec. 2004) and several grading scenarios. We discussed the discrepancies that arise in our school around grading. The varieties of grading systems can become particularly problematical when seniors are in danger of failing. Grading really does reflect what we believe about what is important about student learning. The group decided that it would be useful to have this discussion as a whole faculty in mixed groups.
 * 1. Items brought by staff members for the leadership team to consider:**
 * 2. Review document outlining leadership roles and responsibilities**
 * 3. Discussion of grading practices using an exercise and an article (40 min)**