Jamestown Schools: A School-Community Partnership
"SCAN," issued by the Superintendent’s Office in conjunction with the School Committee, is designed to inform staff members and interested others of matters discussed and actions taken by the Jamestown School Committee at its most recent meeting. SCAN does not represent meeting minutes.
Workshop Discussion Topics
Discussion of Joint School Committee-Town Council Meeting: Superintendent Lukon shared the tentative date, October 30, for the school committee-town council meeting (which awaits confirmation of council availability). Discussing possible agenda items, Ms. Kaiser reiterated the school committee’s understanding that the proposed RIPEC review of opportunities for increased efficiencies would focus on both school and town departments. The committee agreed that the agenda should include an update on student enrollment and a report by the superintendent on the Jamestown proposal to accommodate NK students in the event that the NK School Committee closes an elementary school.
Discussion of Class Size, Classroom Space: The superintendent reported current class sizes as well as the maximum class sizes recommended by the administrative team. The school committee supported the maximum class size recommendations as part of a plan to accommodate students from North Kingstown. The superintendent also shared building maps identifying rooms that could be recaptured as grade-level classroom space.
Discussion of RIDE Curriculum Initiative: Ms. Kaiser reported on a presentation by RIDE Director of Curriculum Mary Ann Snider at the quarterly meeting of school committee chairs. Ms. Snider spoke about RIDE’s plans to provide vision and leadership in the search for ways communities can collaborate on curriculum. RIDE is working with the Dana Center in Austin, Texas, to look at RI standards and the need for greater consistency between grade-level expectations. On November 17, RIDE will host the Dana Center Director Uri Treisman to address superintendents and school personnel on how to build a common curriculum among communities. RIASC will coordinate with RIDE to bring Mr. Treisman in over the weekend to address school committee members.
The next business meeting of the Jamestown School Committee will be on October 16; the next workshop meeting will be on November 6. All meetings are held at 7 p.m. in the Lawn School Library.