Lexington (MA) High School Senate

LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-FACULTY SENATE

2005-2006

Moderator Peter Lubershane, Assistant Moderator Sam Kafrissen, Secretary Peter Kim

DATE: 1-25-06

Today's Agenda: Announcements

Open Comments

Committee Reports

Median Grade Reporting Bill

New Business

Minutes from Meeting: 1-18-06

I. Call to Order: Meeting is called to order at 7:50 by Moderator Lubershane

II. Approval of Minutes: Minutes Approved

III. Approval of Agenda: Agenda Approved.

IV. Announcements: 1) There is a wrestling showdown between Arlington and Lexington this Friday.

V. Open Comments: 1) Guidance is currently using X block for anyone who missed the sophomore orientation. There is a senator who is actually there now.

VI. Committee Reports: 1) Communications met last week and sent messages informing people about the open seats in Senate. We also made a sign that says Senate Meets Here.

2) Policy met yesterday and drafted a revised Median Grade Reporting Bill.

3) Executive committee will meet after school on Friday with Dr. Jones. We will talk about the two resolutions regarding substitutes and misuse of X-block.

VII. Median Grade 1) Motion to substitute a rewrite of the bill from the Policy Committee.

a) Besides simplifying the bill, there are two major changes. Any mention of transcripts was removed. Dr. Jones said he was looking into how transcripts could be improved and it would be unwise to amend the transcript without consulting with him on this separate issue. Also, the current computer program cannot generate the median. The old bill is included on the back page. The item 1 and 2 takes into account the quarter v. end of the year reporting debate we have had.

b) Senator Colarusso agrees that this revised version maintains the spirit of the bill.

c) Motion passes unanimously.

2) It seems like the bill requires posting on the website. This is a new outcome of the revision. Do we want that?

3) Original bill also allowed online publishing. And the system is inspired by the Cornell system.

4) Comment about student motivation for learning is made.

5) Teachers notice that students feel that they are doing worse than they are doing. Students think that doing average is bad.

6) There were an unheralded number of course changes for seniors this year. Kids were trying to switch into level 1 physics. The reality is that parents and the community feel that doing average is not good enough.

7) Does the bill help people who fall below the average?

8) To parents, it will show that half the class is not doing so well. It won't improve the relationships.

9) This bill will add to the current madness by drawing an arbitrary line in the class. Cornell is a university but LHS is a high school and therefore, there should be a different way of dealing with grade inflation. The bill tries to make the C an average when reality of LHS is that B is an average.

10) Who's going to do all of this reporting? It is not part of the Senate jurisdiction to impose stuff upon teachers. What if teachers don't want to do it?

11) The bill, as opposed to student ranking, recognizes the balance between accuracy of grades and their precision. Grading is not entirely arbitrary. It seems like many people are afraid to find out they may be doing average in their classes.

12) This bill is beneficial for those who struggle. LHS continues to delete level 2 classes and add honors classes. The bill can be used to deal with parent's and kids' anxiety.

13) Median grades are helpful but comments on report cards are also helpful.

14) The bill increases the amount of information, which is good. Teachers may not have the information at hand or know from previous years what the median might be because there are too many classes and sections.

15) It removes grade inflation and shows how much work you are putting in.

16) Motion to strike "from their teachers" from the first section. There are plenty of ways kids can get their information.

a) Teachers can put the information into perspective with additional comments.

b) The amendment doesn't say students can't get it from teachers. We shouldn't force teachers to do something in the bill.

c) The amendment leaves it open as an option.

d) Where would they get their info? This has to be clarified.

e) Motion passes 26 to 8.

17) Amendment to replace "of more than 10 students" in section one and two with "with more than 1 section".

List of Senators Absent from Senate meeting: *Denotes excused/notified absence.

Sewell* Weiser* Gokhale Chaulet* Kalsow-Ramos* Perlman Saveriano

Miake-Lye Wilson Bogart Harper* Normile Richardson Sher

Serrano Tall