The Reading MA school committee (SC) is meeting on Monday August 29, 2022 at the RMHS library at 7pm. The public can attend in person or watch via several options: via a broadcast on RCTV’s YouTube channel at this link or on the RCTV Education Channel (Xfinity ch 99, Verizon ch 32). There is no Zoom link for this meeting.
The packet for this meeting is here or the PDF below. As of 2:30 pm today, the full packet for this meeting was posted .
UPDATED 6:00PM
AGENDA OVERVIEW AND CORRESPONDING PACKET PAGES:
The agenda includes several items that are common to Reading SC meetings at the start of the year such as:
–Introduction of new school staff (many of whom of often attend the meeting)
–District updates for the coming year (which per p. 11 of the packet includes “a summary of the RPS COVID-19 protocols, an overview of the additional supports added through the FY23 budget process, a preview of the 2022-2023 district areas of focus, and an update of staffing vacancies”
–RMHS HANDBOOK: A review/preview of proposed changes to the Reading Memorial High School (RMHS) handbook for the year, including a summary memo at pages 16-17, a presentation on the changes at pages 18-22, and the actual handbook with changes at pages 23-167, in marked up mode including comment). Annual approval is required by state law but the agenda does not indicate that a vote will be taken at the 8/29/2022 meeting on this handbook, so that may be coming for a future meeting. It appears that most changes relate to attendance policy and disciplinary actions. The change memo and presentation provide the quickest summary of the changes.
–PARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL HANDBOOK: A presentation on changes to the Parker Middle School handbook (pages 168-177) that resulted from a two year “equity audit” of the Parker handbook, along with a copy of the handbook before changes (pages 178-229, with areas highlighted in yellow showing areas of change), a copy of the Parker handbook as proposed to be revised (pages 230-285, with areas in yellow showing changes made. It appears that most changes relate to the dress code, restorative discipline, inclusive language, and some changes to grading standard meanings and homework policies. The presentation is the quickest overview of the proposed changes.
Additionally, the SC meeting will include several unique agenda items for this year, including:
–TRACK VOTING: An SC vote to name the RMHS track after Hal Croft, who is a former RMHS teacher, former track coach, and former SC member and chair (see packet page 13).
–KILLAM SCHOOL PROJECT: An introduction to the Killam school project and related information on a fall town meeting warrant article (which is expected to ask town meeting members to vote to approve an appropriation of $2.2 million from the town’s free cash to fund a feasibility study for the school to replace Killam) – see packet pages 286-321
–NEW RPS WEBSITE: An overview of the new Reading Public Schools Website, which apparently is going to be launched TOMORROW (8/30/2022), per a memo in the packet at page 322.
