Minutes - October 23, 2012

Dr. Ellis gave an update on QSCB – Qualified School Construction Bonds – we will see changes most immediately at middle schools – new roofs. Last November, ¼ cent sales tax referendum was passed and we were able to get an interest-free loan to do construction projects – in excess of 3 million dollars.  Money will be paid back over time with proceeds from ¼ cent sales tax.  About half will be used for roofs.  Every school will get a piece of the money. Various projects will be completed – HVAC systems, replacing carpets, etc.  QSCB will take care of short-term needs. 

Next, Dr. Ellis led an activity to see the group’s agreement with the mission, vision and core values (MVV) and he received feedback on ways to make our MVV better – on a scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being total disagreement and 10 being total agreement.

Feedback for Mission: For the most part, everyone is in agreement with the current mission statement for the district (mostly 9 and 10 ratings). Here is a suggestion for a new mission: MCS will graduate life-long learners by engaging in rigorous educational experiences by building positive relationships and strong partnerships within their schools and communities

Feedback for Vision: For the most part, everyone is in agreement with the current vision statement for the district (mostly 8 and 9 ratings).

Feedback for Core Values: Here is a suggestion for a core values: Partnership of parents to prepare the total child for the future. Mostly ratings of (7-8); two groups rated it at 4. However, the majority still agree with the core values.

Next, Dr. Ellis received feedback on policy changes (attendance, uniform, etc.).  He posed the question of whether or not the attendance policy is working effectively and also asked for feedback on the uniform policy.

Feedback on Attendance Policy: Parents are checking out kids too early, attendance policy at the high school is okay – needs to continue to be enforced, the new policy has been helpful – holds parent accountable (2), the last hour of school is just as important as the first – add something to the policy that will discourage parents from checking students out early repeatedly, no changes are needed (3).

Feedback on Uniform Policy: Enforce the policy as is – no uniforms in the high schools, keep the uniforms and perhaps lessen policy about labels and brands, enforce the dress code and do away with uniforms (2), this policy needs a change, MCS needs to make securing uniforms easier – possibly partner with a company to provide them.

At the end of the meeting, Dr. Ellis addressed questions from the advisory group:

Does the testing coordinator need to be certified?

Preferably, but there isn’t a legal requirement. 

How does the 15 minutes, which has been added at the end of the day to compensate for the extra 5 days, affect sick days? Are we being charged 15 minutes extra when we take a sick leave day?

In that case, work with principal and bookkeeper if you’re sick; just make it up.  For those who miss days every now and then, it shouldn’t be a problem.  The whole goal is to give teachers the extra 5 no days. 

 

Is it possible to have a scope and sequence or pacing guide for elementary schools? If we could just pace each quarter, it would be beneficial. With us teaching reading, math, writing, science and social studies, teachers want to be sure they are effectively covering all the standards for student achievement. If you started on a lengthy journey and just had a road map but no time lines would you reach your destination?

We have the road map; the instructional guide is the road map. We’re not going to do a specific pacing guide because all students are different and learn differently.  Students are different in each class and some may need more or less time.  As far as the order and the sequence, this is determined at the PLC level based upon the data.

 

Is the county going to send anyone to the meetings that the state is having about the new testing?  I do think it would be nice if we had at least a representative from every school to go to these meetings in Raleigh so they can report back to their schools on at least the percents of what the new test is going to include.

That would be great, but due to many frequent changes, we feel it is best for our Director of Testing and Accountability to keep us abreast of the many and frequent changes with testing – he usually attends the meetings.  We try our best to communicate any changes from DPI that we receive.

 

There is a concern at the K-2 level about benchmarks not being systemic.  Each school has to come up with their own benchmarks and so they’re not consistent across the county.  It wasn’t like this in the past. What about students that move to other schools in the county in the middle of the year?  Shouldn’t we be on the same page throughout the system?  Shouldn’t this have been worked on during CRW?  It seems as if most of this work is now being placed on the shoulders of teachers.

Yes, this should have been worked on at CRW.  This will be shared with the curriculum team.

 

What is our Board Policy on spouses working together in the same building/location/department?

There is no board policy against this as long as a person is not in direct supervision of his/her spouse.

 

Is it possible to get phones in our classrooms with additional lines (at the middle school level)?

This is a budget item; this will be taken to Maintenance Director Bill Mingin to ascertain the cost and feasibility.

There is a need for more instructional supplies.  Sometimes it seems as if we’re in a recession, but at other times it seems as if we have money for certain things.  Can we get more instructional supply money at the elementary level?

At the beginning of the year, each school was given an allotment and it was up to the school improvement team to decide how to spend the money. We understand there is always a need for more instructional supplies.  We’ll see if there is a way to get more funds to the school level for instructional supplies.

It seems as if CO staff members are being taken care of as far as salary increases.  Do you know when this trend will trickle down to teachers in the form of increased teacher supplements?

We don’t know when; however, the number one item that we’ll look at over the next couple of years is teacher supplements – we want it to move to a percentage based scale and would like it to increase over time; so the longer you’re with the system, the higher the supplement. When the budget gets better, this is one of the first things we’ll deal with.

 

Is there any existing research for the PDSA model? Also, another concern is the redundancy of the PDSA materials (i.e. data reflection for personal, grade level content area, content area).

PDSA is another name for the scientific method; which is proven to work. Also, PDSA is based on the work of W. Edward Deming. There is some redundancy, to make sure the questions are thoroughly answered; the purpose isn’t to create extra work, but just to make sure those rich conversations are taking place.  The data reflection may not be long-term once everyone gets into the habit of going through the PDSA process. Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland is a school system that uses PDSA as well. It is researched based. It may be new for educators, but the process has been used for years in the business world.

 

Schools of Excellence – Middle school teachers need to visit Middle Schools (i.e. Integrating STEM activities and more hands-on for science and math costs money.) Are there funds available?

Right now the funds we have are used for supplies. We don’t have a lot of staff development funds at this point. We will revisit this during the mid-year review.

 

A concern is the lack of work days for teachers – teachers need more time in their rooms to work on their curriculum materials.

Amen! This information will be shared with the calendar committee.

For High Schools – the “no days" are right before the change of the semester and teachers will be there any way, so it won’t really be a “no day."

This will be shared with the calendar committee as well.

In the future, all questions should be submitted through the advisory representatives at each school. Some anonymous questions were answered at this meeting, but in the future, this will not be the case.

Certified Staff Advisory members present: Shirley Collins, Pebble Byrd, Janet Blackmon, Laura Dawkins, Ashley Williams, Jennifer Pieczyski, Ericka Shaw, Darrell Stevenson and Rikki Baldwin.

Central Office Staff present: Dr. Dale Ellis and Lindsay Whitley