Chester Township Board of Education

Curriculum Committee

February 4, 2003

 

Attendance:

Erica Taterka, Chair

Janet Hoven

Rob Agree

Russ Nordmark

Superintendent Michael Roth

 

  1. Kindergarten program:  At this time, we will be offering only full day kindergarten for next year.  At registration, however, parents may indicate if they are interested in a shortened day.  Depending on numbers we may have to look at a shortened day but as of this meeting, we are intending to have full day only.

 

  1. Enrichment at Dickerson School:  There was discussion regarding a 1 hour/week for 6 weeks Gifted and Talented course to be offered to Dickerson second graders. Selection for the 16 students will be made through a lottery.

 

  1. YMCA After school Program:  Mr. Messina, a parent, has gotten the YMCA to propose an after school child care program at BRMS.  The letter of proposal was shared with the committee and if the board approves it, the program could start in March.

 

  1. Policies:

5136 Fund Raising activities.  The line “No political or religious fundraising shall be allowed.” was removed because all of the fundraisers have to be approved anyway.  A typo in “D” was fixed: “my” to “may.”

 

6154 Homework/Makeup work.  A line was added to the Guidelines: “No homework or long term project should require participation in a group.”  Also the time recommendations for grades 4 and 5 were amended to be 20 minutes for math and 25 minutes for “Spelling practice, study for tests…”

 

6160 Instructional Services and Resources.  In the second paragraph, the word “equivalence” was changed to “equitable.”

 

6161-1 Guidelines for Evaluation and Selection of Instructional Materials.  The first Line B was changed to “Does it help pupils develop abilities in reading, writing and thinking.”  The second line C the phrase “recommended text” was changed to “materials being considered.”

 

6161-2 Complaints regarding instructional Materials.  The name of this policy was changed to Requests, Suggestions and Complaints Regarding…”

            5. There followed discussion regarding the following issues:

A.  The Alliance, an organization which provides education about substance abuse, is interested in having us pay them $500 to give a presentation (s?) to the district.  Mr. Roth is looking into this.

B.     What is the policy about teaching/ using Cursive writing?  Some inconsistency has been noted.  Mr. Roth will follow up.  Also computer keyboarding/touch typing was asked about.

C.     An examination of the effectiveness of the Johns Hopkins math program was requested.

D.     The committee discussed the format of report cards and whether they give enough information about children.  This will be discussed with the principals.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Erica Taterka