Good Morning,

The links below are to three documents related to the RMHS Youth Risk Behavior Survey.  The first link is the presentation that RCASA Executive Director Erica McNamara made to the School Committee on October 19th.  The second and third documents are dashboard documents that compare the current results with past RMHS, state, and national results.

Over the next few months, the RMHS staff will be analyzing the data with RCASA to see what areas in our programs and policies need to be strengthened.  The middle school YRBS results will be presented to the School Committee on November 23rd.

If you have any questions, please contact RCASA Executive Director Erica McNamara at emcnamara@ci.reading.ma.us.

Final SC 2015 HS YRBS

Final 2015 Main YRBS Dashboard 1

Final 2015 Main YRBS Dashboard 2 Substance Use

Background: Reading parents have voiced a desire for educational parenting programs that are easily accessible online. We researched ACTIVE PARENTING OF TEENS: FAMILIES IN ACTION, a comprehensive parenting class for parenting teenagers and ‘tweens’.

Program: This program teaches parents the skills they will need to communicate effectively with their pre-teens and teens, encourage better behavior, use positive discipline techniques and teach responsibility. It includes teen developmental issues and active problem-solving techniques. The program, now in its third edition, was given awards in excellence from the Association of Educational Publishers and is included in SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices. To learn more, visit http://www.activeparenting.com/APOG_Teens.

Pilot: In the spring of 2015, local parents participated in the pilot program and felt the material was helpful.

What’s involved? Parents must be willing to commit 2 hours per week for 8 weeks to complete the interactive modules.  In addition to the online program, parents will also receive a hard copy of the program manual for their reference and a certificate of completion.

• Topics? The Active Parent-Winning Cooperation-: Responsibility & Discipline- Building Courage, Redirecting Misbehavior- Drugs, Sexuality, Violence (Part I)- Drugs, Sexuality, Violence (Part II)
• Cost? Free, sponsored by RCASA, a $90 value per person (75 spots available)
• Where? ONLINE at your convenience

Sign up: Please sign up here at http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ebpup8urifxwiwio/start

If you have questions, please email jdeangelis@ci.reading.ma.us

The 75 scholarships are first come, first serve and we will close registration on October 27, 2015.

The next cycle of the program will begin on November 1, 2015

Below is the Teen Panel on Social Media that was conducted by Reading Public School staff and students at the Joshua Eaton Elementary School on October 15th.

Good Morning, Reading Public School Families,
It is with great sadness that I share with you that recently retired Coolidge Middle School Teacher, John McCarthy, passed away yesterday afternoon following his courageous battle with cancer.  John was a Science Teacher and Science Olympiad Team Coach at Coolidge Middle School for over 20 years and touched the lives of hundreds of children as well as numbers of colleagues, both at Coolidge and also in his early years as an educator at Austin Prep.  Especially for those of you whose older children might have known or had John at Coolidge, and surely for those on the Science Olympiad Team, you know what an amazing spirit he had and how passionately he shared his love of science and teaching with all of his students, the parents, and staff.

We do not know the service arrangements at this time and we will provide more information once it becomes available.

Although this is a sad time for all of,us John’s strong spirit and inspiration will be with us forever.  Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.  Also, please keep the Coolidge staff and Coolidge and High School students, as well as alumni in your thoughts as they have just lost a colleague, a mentor, a friend, and a teacher.

Last Thursday, a group of selected High School Students participated in a panel discussion where they shared their digital lives with parents across the district.  Over 75 parents attended this outstanding session.  This was a great opportunity for parents of students of all ages to learn firsthand what to expect and how to support their children throughout the coming years.  Special thanks to our technology integration specialists, Marcia Grant, Kathy Santilli, Meg Powers, and Janet Dee, and our teen panelists for their thoughtful and candid comments.

The presentation that occurred last Thursday is the kickoff to a year long focus by our technology integration specialists to work with a Common Sense Education program called Connecting Families. Common Sense is the nation’s leading independent non-profit organization dedicated to empowering kids to thrive in a world of media and technology. We feel it is important for parents to be aware of what’s going on and/or what’s to come in their children’s digital lives and to help support them in discussing how to make good digital choices.  This program is well designed with lots of support from Common Sense Education and has been successful in many districts.

The program will continue throughout the year with a series of Conversation Cases for small groups of parents with topics such as Cyberbullying, Digital Footprints and Photo Sharing, and many more relevant topics.

Listed below are several links that will be useful as parent resources on this important topic.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s building principal or technology integration specialist.

Common sense media links

Connecting Families -From cyberbullying and photo sharing to digital footprints and online safety, the Connecting Families program helps parents and kids address important topics and have meaningful conversations about making great choices in their digital lives.

Family Toolbox–And, we have even more resources in the FAMILY TOOLBOX to further support the home-school connection. Pick from and share the following resources (printed or electronically) throughout the year to help parents continue authentic conversations at home with their children.

Parent concern center–Kids of all ages are swiping and scrolling, totally transfixed by screens of all sizes. Welcome to the new frontier of parenting. If you have questions on how to take control of the technology in your kids’ lives, you came to the right place.

Video & movie rating –From animated comedies for the whole family to much-anticipated series installments for teens, get the buzz on which movies will — and won’t — be on your wish list.

CNN Resources

#being13 link–Check out this CNN Special Report on the Secret Lives of Teens

ways to help your child-New York Times Article on 7 ways that you can help your 13 year old start their social media life off on the right foot

Over the last few weeks, the Reading Public Schools has made presentations on the results and findings from last Spring’s Community Forums and other connected data.  The purpose of these presentations have been to report out to the parent community and staff the data from a variety of sources that give a picture of our school district.  This data and the findings from the data help us understand the strengths and areas to strengthen in our school district.  Our schools and the district will be using this data for our school and district improvement plans, as well as prepare for the FY17 budget.  It will also help us answer the questions, What do we want our schools to look like in the next two years and beyond?

The presentations have focused on the feedback and data from the following sources:

• Community Forums (May/June)
  • 4 Forums (Barrows, Birch Meadow, Coolidge, RMHS)
    • 110 Participants
    • Barrows-15
    • Birch Meadow-23
    • Coolidge-30
    • RMHS-42
  • Staff Forums (May/June)
    • 9 Forums (Each school, including RISE Preschool)
    • 215 participants
• Walker Associates Special Education Report (March-June)
• RPS Student Survey (Administered in February/March)
• RPS Staff Survey (Administered in January)
• 2015 MCAS Data
• Staff Exit Interview Information
• Some YRBS Data (Full Presentation on October 19th)
• District “Rankings” from Other Publications
• Other Documents and Presentations

The complete presentation is attached below.  Over the next several weeks, we will hold additional presentations to staff and the community to keep all stakeholders informed of our direction as a school district.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask a question on this blog or email/call the Reading Public Schools Administration Offices.

Community and Staff Forum Presentation

Good Morning, Reading Public School Community,

We hope that you are enjoying this beautiful weekend.  The link below is the latest edition of the Pathways Newsletter.  This edition has some interesting articles on students connecting and belonging in schools and how to and how not to foster a growth mindset in students.  We also have several photos and stories from our October 13th Professional Development Day, the Teen Panel on Social Media, and the RMHS Volleyball Team Dig Pink Fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research.

Pathways Newsletter V2N7

This Monday, October 19th, the Reading School Committee will be meeting at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the High School Results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).  You can access a copy of the 2015 High School YRBS results here.  Erica McNamara from the Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse will be presenting the findings which will include this year’s results, as well as, comparative results from previous years.  The Middle School YRBS Presentation  will be at the November 23rd meeting.

Have a great day and week ahead!

Good Afternoon,

We hope all is well and you are having an enjoying week.  There will be a meeting of the Reading Public Schools Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) on Monday, October 26th, at 7:00 p.m.in the Reading Public Schools Administrative Offices, 62 Oakland Road, Reading, Massachusetts.  All parents are invited to attend.

If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Learning and Teaching at 781-944-8200 or by email at Carolyn.Wilson@reading.k12.ma.us.

Below is an updated calendar of School Committee topics for the 2015-16 School Year.  Due to the timing of some presentations, we have had to rearrange some topics since the previous calendar was released.  For example, at the School Committee Meeting on Monday evening, there will be a presentation on the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and a presentation on the School Department Revolving Accounts.  The RMHS presentation and the RMHS Guidance Presentation that was originally scheduled for October 19th has been rescheduled to November 2nd.  The Joshua Eaton Level 3 Presentation has been moved to December 7th.

Date                                    Topic (s)                                       Group                                            Presenters