March 16, 2026 (Minutes)
FHS SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
Monday, March 16, 2026 ~ 3:30 pm ~ Falmouth High School Conference Room
Attendance: Betsy Boze, Paula Carlson Cahill, Jolie Drury, Emma Floyd, Alan Harris, Bridget
McLane, Nora McManamon, Tom McManamon and Alexis Murray.
Dr. Harris welcomed us & we introduced ourselves.
We unanimously approved today’s Agenda
We unanimously approved the January 2026 meeting Minutes
Our student voting team for today’s meeting consisted of Emma, Bridget and Nora.
Dr. Harris introduced NEASC, talked about what NEASC is, what it does, and Mr. McManamon
talked us through the ten-year NEASC ongoing cycle for accreditation. NEASC is a self-study of
standards and indicators - where we’ve been, what we’re working on, and what we will do to
improve which aligns with our school improvement plan. We submitted our three-year report last
Spring (linked in the agenda) showing where we are in our areas of growth, and we are now in
year four of our cycle. Their response to our three-year report is the Notification Letter (linked in
the agenda). Mr. Mac described this current cycle as authentic, echoing our work, and said they
noticed/agreed that we’re working hard to define excellence, and to consider equity within that
excellence. The commendations were heartening and they encouraged us to continue our work.
Next comes our six-year report. Then the Decennial Visit to FHS: a NEASC time will come
here, assess our report, see how it matches to our “in-person” reality and make recommendations
on where we can grow/improve.
Mrs. Murray discussed our Student/Parent/Guardian Handbook (linked in the agenda). Our
Faculty Council meets monthly and has been diving into the missing work/absences section
highlighted on page 22. Please review the goals and see the edits in red from the Faculty
Council, and add your suggestions by commenting. We talked about how we had to prioritize
health/safety during covid, so absences were excused and now how tricky it is to bring it back;
about what is an excused absence vs unexcused and what those affect: sports, credit, accepted
work. Suggestions were:
● change absences to include up to 3 consecutive days excused by parent/guardian note,
perhaps with a cap of 5 per quarter
● tighten language around college visits: 3 days or 3 visits and whether travel days are
included - perhaps to be approved in advance by the Assistant Principal.
Students/parents said it would be helpful if they didn’t have to go to the doctor for an excuse
note every time they are ill - it is time for the adult to take off, and sometimes the student is sick
but not quite sick enough for a doctor visit. Bridget said Mashpee took parent/guardian notes as
excuses. Mr. Mac suggested reaching out to Cape colleagues to see how other high schools work
with this. The Faculty Council had been focusing on the longer absences associated with travel
absences.
We were asked to add your comments to the Handbook prior to our May 4th meeting. Then we
send our updated handbook to the district in mid May.
The Blizzard adjustment to our school calendar pushes Q3 back one week & grades will be
published April 24 is now May 1. Underclass finals will be held the last week of school. The last
day of school is June 26. Seniors’ last day & graduation dates will remain as planned - so they
ended up having one week less of school.
(continued)
Page 2 FHS School Council minutes, March 16, 2026
Future Meetings & Agenda Items
a. May 4, 2026 @ 3:30 pm at FHS Library
i. Agenda item: finalize Handbook updates
The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 pm.