SIT meeting Monday November 28, 2011

SIT meeting--Monday, November 28, 2011

Discussion items from the last SIT meeting--Paper verses non paper progress reports

Feedback from the different grade-levels:

• 6^th grade only had one person that wanted paper, they felt like ESL students still  need a hard copy.
• 7^th grade—consensus was to go paper-less. But, people wanted something in written form from administration showing support if we do go paperless.
• 8^th grade expressed concern mainly about a  parent who might comes back at week 7 or 8 of the quarter and say they had no idea of their student’s grade.  It comes down to student and parent responsibility.

What are the possibilities for paperless progress reports?

• Perhaps just one time per quarter? continue to send paper copies—when encore sends home their copies?
• Deb Neal: Was not here at the last meeting, but what about a letter to parents to opt out on this plan? (To still receive paper copies?) Issue with that-- 4 or 5 opt outs for each class—takes almost as much time as printing the entire class L
• Maxcy:  This is a sign of the times…going paperless.  Teachers have had to do it with pay stubs, banks are doing it with statements, etc.  Also, this is not the first year of school for middle school students, so they should be able to adapt. 
• What about a computer station in the office that is available to allow parents who don’t have computer access? 
• Susie has a station in her office they might be able to use.
• Lisa Turner said there is a place in the Media Center as well
• We could have even have some kind of sign in sheet next to computer to fill out to request a conference.
• Gentry:  This needs to be voted on by the staff.  Encore had a little bit of a different take on it, and we need their feedback too.

Concerns: 

• How to phase out paper copies ?
• How to publicize?
• alert nows (phone and email) , Wednesdays folders, Team newsletters, etc.

What choices do we give staff for the phase in process?

• Should we phase in so that core issues a progress report one time per quarter  like encore does now? 
• Do we eliminate paper progress reports completely?
• Discussions will need to continue to take place when students are failing.
• Elkins:  We discussed the idea of mini conference with students who have D’s and F’s at your computer showing students missing tasks, perhaps at the start of class on designated days?
• It was suggested that perhaps students could  sign off on a computer conference check sheet –something to the effect:  “I am aware that I have a D or an F”.
• What about starting this second semester? End of January?
• Consensus was for Core and Encore to go down to one paper copy on the same date
• We will need to get Cindy Wilkes on “alert” that parents maybe deluging her with requests for parent assist information
• We will publicize the computer station, for parents without any access to computers
• We can re-evaluate after going down to one progress report per quarter

Another issue raised:  Up until now, progress report time was the “ultimatum” for teachers to get grades entered—what will “push that now?”

• For one, there is already is board policy on teachers entering grades in a timely manner:
• AR 5124 Grade Reporting Regulations:  “teachers shall have one (1) week to assess and post student grades, unless otherwise communicated to parents.”
• We will also discuss specific issues/strategies at a future staff meeting

Concern: 
We do need to be gentle with the approach of this transition to the staff, We are trying to lighten the load not add more to teachers' plates. 
We do need to make the point that teachers discussing grades with students and parents still need to continue including making students aware of missing tasks.

This whole transition could be a very positive change in how we communicate between students/teachers/parents

Horn: to summarize:

• Starting in the 3^rd quarter, core teachers will issue only one paper copy of student progress reports.
• Right before Christmas, we can start the publicizing
• Take home packet for second semester is not printed yet so we will change the dates and possibly even have a reminder notification.

Update on Instant Recess:

• We have had some glitches with the structure and we are still working through it. 

Feedback on how tutoring is going:

• Overall it has been very positive.
• 8^th grade Feedback--Maxcy: Reading people are very happy, it’s not an extra prep, the lessons provided have been very good
• Math still waiting on that on-line program:  So there are some issues with who is creating and what exactly is the curriculum
• 7^th grade feedback-- Elkins:  Math folks are not sure what they are supposed to do, and they see that reading has been provided for, so there is a bit of a discrepancy there.
• The license for the math program is tied to the computer, and you can rotate computers and generate lessons for now…Deb Neal will be checking with Susie on license issue
• Encore Feedback In terms of encore and students missing classes, How’s it going?
• Some students they are only seeing once per week, and that makes it difficult.
• It is a lot  to keep in mind when planning--not to cover new concepts on Wednesday and Thursdays for example.
• We do have to keep in mind the overall goal which is literacy.
• Some parents have taken the “opt out" option (students taken out of tutoring) 
• 6^th grade feedback:  It worked well, smaller groups are helping and truly getting to know students needs in these small groups
• Student response?  So far seems pretty good too
• Anything to tell Math People?:  waiting on approval from budget from downtown,  Stephanie will check into that license issue and talk to Susie.

Review of School Improvement Plan

• 76% reading proficiency
• Goal is to get up to 83%
• this goal is lofty but attainable?
• Quarter test scores are in:
• Math:   
• All grade levels are above county average, we are about 4th or 5th in the system
• Reading:  
• Two grade levels above county average,  one grade level is at the county average.  Stephanie wants to talk to other schools for additional suggestions and we need to look and see if tutoring helps?
• Quarter tests are only one indicator of progress, but overall, we seem to be doing okay.

Miscellaneous Issues:

Morale concerns from all over…time is a huge factor.  People are tired sooner in the year than in the past it seems.  The office is especially hectic with Chris leaving.  Morale is an issue everywhere. 

What are some things we can do?

Maybe a faculty meeting with nothing on the agenda but positive things and food. (Encore may bring popcorn)

What’s causing the Morale issues?

• ALC: time issues? 
• Tutoring and less time for planning
• Economic issues…more is expected with less (no pay raise in four years)
• Deb—our staff is so conscientious so perhaps some stress is self-imposed.

What can we do to make people feel appreciated since financial is not an option?

• We need to look at what we can do here
• It was suggested that as a staff and administration/office need to be careful of “nit-picky” things—“copy sign" was sighted as one of those “things”
• Consensus was that when there is a problem with staff behavior (not monitoring in halls for example) that admins should speak to the people who are the offenders, not issue blanket statements-- Identify and address the people who are offending not general email to everyone.
• People not on duty is a security issue--negativity can build from these types of situations. 
  

Encore? 

Can another microwave be purchased?  Yes, we are getting a new microwave :)

Breakfast concern? We can not take away breakfast as a punishment for messes that are being left.

Ms. Gentry will consider options for students who do this.

ALC “alternative learning center”:  Issue with students leaving ALC?

• Will talk to Mr. Griffin

Dara Hedgecock:  Field Trip issues with 8^th grade--has this been resolved?

• This is a procedural issues with students no longer on teams.
• Everyone will have to be flexible when a teacher in 8th grade takes a trip.

Lackey:  change of class issues? 

• There have been some problems at class change recently with students being disruptive.  
• Admins have been made more aware of this just recently and will  try and beef up the monitoring.

Availability of office? 

• People calling and not getting an answer--admin availability is stretched to the limit and this is tough one to solve completely. 
• Parent volunteers are hard to get in the front office.
• Stephanie will get a prioritized list of people to call first.

Next scheduled SIT meeting not until February 20^th  -- We will try and meet instead on Tuesday, January 17^th

October 17, 2011

Laura Horn Items for this weeks Agenda--4 things on our list for today

• Updated School Improvement Plan
• Instant Recess
• Final Discussion on Tutoring
• Issue of Printing progress reports vs Parent Assist

School Improvement Plan:

• We need to go back to each section and look at the data, and see if there is anything we need to change
• For example, EOG reading scores--we did not target certain areas, and some other areas that we targeted we might need to tweak a little.  Also, some other subgroups have popped up that may need targeting--Gentry and Neal have been adding data
• New district requirement for a school safety plan--yellow copy of safety plan for the school
• Blue copy is also something new that is required--school wide discipline plan--we are at a bit of an advantage  because we already had some of this in place--was in the staff handbook. We did not have to start from scratch
• We have added  a section on ALC
• Also added a section on bullying and positive intervention (those seem to be working very well)
• ISS attendance has been way down--some suspensions have actually been OSS as opposed to ISS--showing students we are serious about things like bullying
• Maxcy--positive reinforcement--maybe include parent contact log that teachers are doing?
• bully patrol survey is way down, a couple were pranks, only 4/5 that were legit...maybe more willing to come forward with concerns openly now that bullying is so well publicized?
• SIP has to be submitted to downtown soon.
• Look through in the next week, and see if anything needs to be changed or edited and let Gentry know.

Grade level proposals  for "instant recess": Part of the NC Healthy Schools...
The following are the current proposals brought forward from grade level reps--these may still be tweaked.

6th Grade Proposal-

• Propose to go into gym every day 10 minutes before lunch, during encore planning.
• Groups will overlap by about five minutes, and no more than two groups in there at one time. 
• Starts at ~ 11:25, and the  last group goes through ~ 12:00

7th grade Proposal-

• They would like to do it by team...
• Everyone will use the videos that were offered to us--brain busters,  teams will determine which videos and mostly last ten minutes before they go to electives.  Downs expressed a concern about streaming all those videos at the same time, possible to download.  Gentry to send Downs the link

8th grade Proposal:

• Go outside and walk the track 
• Ten minutes built into lunch time
• One teacher doesn't want to do that,  rainy and cold issues?  
• Horn is thinking about bouncing around the idea of the brain buster videos on the web for the bad weather day concerns
• Walking the track should not conflict with 6th grade in the gym since 8th grade would be outside
• Gentry--we can always try and if we run into bottle necks, then we will adjust
• Concern--Hall door locked at end--can we take a look at that?  Gentry will look into options for that
• 8th grade lunch group starts at 10:45, and last group ends ~11:45.

Tutoring during planning periods--final discussion--are we all clear?

• We made some decisions here at the last SIT meeting
• Grade levels sounded a little wishy washy...
• We need to clear up the decisions we made here on SIT--those plans are still in effect
• Deb and Gentry are working on the groups and final details of the plan, groups, schedule, etc.
• Will be organized in a way so that students will not miss the same encore course all the time
• Will be as simple as possible, and will be available on-line
• Days will be Wednesday-Thursday
• Curriculum information (Neal  is sick today)  
• Deb was working on lessons,
• She wants to work with reps around the building to get some consistency with lessons
• Should be able to reuse some of the material since your groups will rotate.
• All information will be in writing.
• We are targeting our non proficient kids so there should also be some consistent goals there.
• Issues?
• Possible conflicts on parent conferences? 
• Can they be focused on Mondays and Fridays?
• Maxcy--could we say as a rule of thumb that they be consistently scheduled from Guidance on those days where ever possible?
• Issues with 504's and IEP's because of the sheer volume of those meetings. 
• Worrell--Can we double up Math and Science, and LA and Social Studies for example?  Problems...some will tag team, one teaches while one goes and makes copies.
• Professionalism issue...need to stick behind the pairings with both teachers being in there teaching. 
• What about Sub days?
• Should subs be doing tutoring sessions as a general rule?
• If a sub is there--go onto encore class?  Or tag team again with the remaining team teacher or other teacher in 8th grade?
• It was agreed that subs should be able to help the other teacher who is paired for tutoring.

Printing of Progress Reports/Downs brought this issue up

• At last Technology meeting there was a long discussion about the printing of progress reports in light of the new printer management program (each print out is costing us almost a penny per page)
• With 1200 students and 70 + teachers printing 100-300 pages each time we are talking hundreds of dollars and also wear and tear on the printers. 
• Betty Weycker's position was that schools should be using Parent Assist and not printing progress reports.

 Concerns:

• With a large free and reduced lunch population--how much Internet access is there?  Maxcy said that Mandy Durrenece said that an extensive survey done at Flat Rock (60% free and reduced) had over 90% with access to Internet
• What about Singling out issue?  handing out paper copies to individuals why do some get paper copies and not others?
• What about parents with language issues who don't understand parent assist?
• Should we wean parents off paper copies (like employees were with e-docs)?
• Should we target the 8th grade? (probably not, probably do all or none)
• Cut paper copies  back to once a quarter?  Again, probably not, probably all electronic or none
• When does the child see it/How does student see his grade?  
• Brendan--teachers could conference individually with students on progress report days --Teacher would still have an obligation to the student--can't just say have your parents look on parent assists
• Mathematically how do the students have a handle on their grade without seeing their progress report
• Lackey--as parent representative--What about a student who sees a blank on a progress report--identifying a mistake?
• Gentry--has No problems rolling it out...there is definitely a need for parent accountability, but teachers still need to have conversations with students. There would be a period of parents having to be added to parent assist and a publicity campaign (Sunday messages, alert now emails, team pack notifications, etc. )
• We need to take a closer look at it--Have discussions with your constituents and bring back report to Monday November 28th meeting:
• If we decide this, Gentry to look at time table--give teachers a menu of what to do...encore and core may have a difference...in numbers
• Downs to talk to other tech facilitators and find out how other schools have rolled this out.
• Either or?--a school decision to move forward or not...conference with kids during tutoring?

SIT Minutes September 12, 2011

Voting--New Members and chairperson:
New slate: 

• 6th Grade--Kristen Thorne, Brian Graham
• Encore: Dedria Davis-King, Kay Hoag
• 8th Grade:  Tonia Maxcy
• Classified--TBA
• EC/Parent Rep: Portia Lakey

All in favor, none opposed to new representatives.

Election of Chairperson:

• Ms. Gentry explained that she should not be "running the meetings". 
• Chairperson should facilitate meetings similar to single school culture meetings.
• Maxcy nominated Laura Horn
• Neal, second, all were in favor, none were opposed

SIT Meetings:

• Meetings will be approximately every 6 weeks
• Next scheduled meeting will be October 17th
• Meetings can be called in between
• First three meetings on the staff calendar:  Nov 28, Feb 20

SIT Plan:

• We are in a "follow-up" year
• We have to examine the data
• Ms. Gentry will input the data, and get all members a copy
• Members will review and see if there is anything we need to tweak
• Plan is due in the middle of October
• We also have to attach a School wide behavior plan
• We were able to adjust section of the staff handbook adding a section on ALC and hall behavior

Instant Recess:

• NC State Law says that WS/FCS is ~ an hour short in providing students with Physical fitness activity
• Each school must find ~ 10 minutes per day
• We will have to document in some way
• We don't have to do the "instant recess" videos
• Here is a site with on-line physical activity videos/clips that might be used:
• http://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/Energizers/Middle.html
• Maxcy--8th grade has discussed walking after lunch around the track (would work since Encore is at lunch during that time)
• 6th and 7th grade can be flexible about when they might do it so as not to interfere with team schedules
• One suggestion was to do it during the morning encore morning break when PE would not be outside (~ 30 minutes from 9:15-9:45)
• Teams would have to stick to their times so as not to overlap and have tons of students outside at once
• Would have to have a "back-up weather plan" on inclement weather days
• Deb Neal threw out the idea of each subject taking a quarter and handling it that way?
• The whole grade level does not have to agree on one plan as long as there is agreement to stagger times outside and not to interfere with PE.
• There was a suggestion that perhaps a team or grade level could do the whole week's worth in one day?
• concerns expressed about a lack of supervision during those times. 
• Don't want it to become recess with students handed a ball to play.
• Must be structured activities
• Outside options are:
• Field to the left
• Track to the right
• Top of the hill too
• SIT members will go back and discuss with their constituents.

Tutoring Plan:

• No certain start date on this, but sooner rather than later.
• There are two decisions to be made
• Days of the week (needs to be two separate days)
• Which groups of students/what type of tutoring
• There also needs to be a clear and simple method of communication (master calendar) so that encore, core and students all know who, when and where students will be.
• Tutoring should not be "make-up work" sessions
• Does not have to be the same group of students both days
• Maxcy said 8th grade teachers didn't like the idea of Mondays--if tutoring is done the way it should be, its something that has to be planned. 
• They suggested Wednesdays & Thursdays and everyone seemed to agree with these two days  with some rotation so that students would not miss the same encore class all the time.
• Duration of tutoring?  Gentry likes the idea of quarter long.
• Question? Offer some flexibility in teachers choosing who would be tutored?
• After school tutoring could target one group (bubble 2's?)
• Day time for low 2's and 1's?
• Suggestion to have the same "lesson" for both days
• Because of 8th grade not having teams, some teachers may have to tutor some students of other teachers--that may also be the case with 6th and 7th grade because of the configuration of students on different teams.
• Most seem to indicate they would rather have students picked for teachers for both days--predetermined by EOG scores
• Encore said students should probably be exempt from encore work when they are at tutoring
• If students are in after-school tutoring (and attending), then they would not have to go to day time tutoring

DEB Neal:  quick review of numbers:

• Reading
• 6th grade, 110 1's and 2's
• 7th grade, 58-1's, 64-2's
• 8th grade, 49-1's, 103-2's
• Math:
• 6th grade, 9-1's, 55-2's
• 7th grade, 13-1's, 82-2's
• 8th grade, 15-1's, 80-2's

• Everything about tutoring plan will be in writing
• Deb Neal to develop specific lessons (she wants input and consistency)
• Letter will go home to parents (some parents may opt out)
• Questions: 
• Can students be added to tutoring?  Probably not after groups are predetermined
• Can students be "exited"?  Could be for discipline issues--tutoring is a privilege and not a punishment