District Advisory Council Meeting

DISTRICT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING October 11, 2011 Administration Building Board Room

Welcome Superintendent Chavez welcomed DAC representatives. The meeting began at 4:15 p.m.

Members present: Len Bryan, Linann Ward, Valerie Taylor, Philip Clayton, Robert Costello, Kim Midkiff, Liz Delagarza, Stephen Teal, CDFMS, Jane Bohne, RMS, Camille Perez, Sharon Donahue, Martha Kuhl, Tanya Bishop, Krista Peake, Laura Trellue, Jean Riggins, Erika O’Neil, Amber Velasquez, Kathy Williams, Lisa Juarez, Kelly Perch, Angela Long, ShaCrista Rideaux, Katie Yoder, Rebecca Aclin, Chris Koenig, Stephen Stewart, Pam Jackson, Kelly Bradford, Jessica Kamphaus, Ann Laffere, Jessica Marshall, Karrie Troccoli, Kathleen Pinson, Tasha Maggart, Randy Lamby, Neal Tipton, and Jackie Marple.

Members absent: Daryl Wetzel, Tim Houston, SPHS, SUCCESS, GMS, Aimee Swann, AMES, BBES, CHES, Wendy Lee.

Mission/Purpose The District Advisory Council (DAC) shall advise the superintendent or its designee in establishing and reviewing educational goals, objectives, and major district-wide classroom instructional programs.

Accessing the DAC Database Ed Zaiontz gave an overview on how to access the DAC Discussion Database.

DAC Members’ Role and Responsibility Dr. Chavez gave an overview on the purpose of the DAC Committee. He asked the committee members to please send a person in their place if they are going to be absent from a meeting. Minutes will be emailed to the DAC Committee within 7 days after the meeting.

Challenges and Obstacles in the use of Technology in the Classrooms Elementary School Level:  Dell contract limits use of Apple technologies  District website is not user friendly  Slow laptops  Wireless connectivity can be weak  Time limits – not enough time to integrate all the technology  Difficult to transfer data from other sources into our system (i.e. gradespeed)  Gradespeed can be difficult to manage, especially with large number of students  Power limits – batteries discharge quickly  Technology can be unreliable  Copiers  Encore can only be accessed on-campus  Need full-time technology professionals  Accessibility – rotating schedules  Hardware maintenance  Unequal district-wide access  Specials/SPED doesn’t have equal access  Can’t access Encore at home  Unequal portable access  Projectors installed in places so that teachers can’t have smartboards  Lack of training  ITS spread too thin  Our stuff is out-dated compared to home stuff  No campus technology funds this budget  Out-of-date technology  K-1 usernames too difficult for access  Lotus notes out-dated  Old computers/long to boot up  Software different years – teachers hard to teach  Printer access Middle School Level:  Google Docs  Need more network drops per classroom  More PD on tools we already have  Modified or ready to use for SPED? Is compass learning available everywhere?  Current technology on email – Lotus notes is a dinosaur – remote access problems  Student and faculty access to shared drives from home  Netbooks have 24, most classes have more than 24 students  Still not enough netbooks/laptops for all classes/students who need access  Equitable access to all technology from campus-to-campus across district  Teacher-issued laptops  Time to integrate technology into my classroom and my lessons  Encore access remote from home  Eschool plus access for teachers  Can we get a program for teachers to monitor laptop screens from teacher computer?  IPad not integrating math apps  Access to Adobe for teachers to edit PDF’s  Other software needs – inkscape  Enable scanners capability on school copiers High School Level:  Turning point – out-dated  Badly implemented programs and software – no training  TI (Texas Instruments) needs to do calculator training  District technology committee made up of teachers, ITS, etc. – evaluate software and hardware prior to purchase  Inequity in students’ technology knowledge  Paperless!

Positives Elementary School Level:  Makes it easier to display documents  Increases accountability  Laptops can be used as work stations  Moodle (yay!)  First in math subscription provides extra resources  Interactive w/ promethean boards  Netbooks are more user friendly  Ease of searching for resources using the library database  Accessibility to educational websites  Meaningful data for teachers and students (instant feedback)  Assign targeted homework and assignments to meet students’ specific needs  District purchased programs (augmentative communication)  Encore  Gradespeed  Portal (easily access data)  Increased communication between teachers and parents  Less paper usage  Quia (on-line resource)  Read 180 program  STEMscopes  Reading A-Z  Newly adopted textbooks have many on-line resources  Home Access Center  Students bring Nooks, Kindles, IPads  Document cameras  Projectors  Netbooks  Laptops  Prometheum boards  Active slates  Subscriptions to databases/accounts  Rosetta Stone  Skyping  Remote access/login  Teacher portal  ITS people  Video streaming  Accessibility campus related  Teacher web  New school-wide digital clocks  Itune access Middle School Level:  Google docs  Moodle  Smartboards/active panels – some schools, some classrooms  PD 360 – professional development – some schools use/know about this  STEMscopes – polleveryone.com  Eduphoria – paper saver  Skype – class-to-artist and author-students  Netbook carts  Turning point student response  Sketchpad in geometry  Gizmos  Brain pop  Learning.com  Document cameras/data projectors  Student-brought ereaders  We have come a long way!  Flip cameras High School Level:  LCD Projectors  Doc cams  Laptop carts  Moodle/Quia  On-line newspapers  Bandwidth  Access to web-based resources  More shared drives – access from all campuses  Library databases High School Technology Suggestions:  District license: Turnitin.com and Polleverywhere.com  1:1 with BYO – paperless!! RTI, Mods, etc.  Google apps for education  RRISD apps  Technology professional  Development (led by experts)

Future Topics  Technology  Standard Based Grading (SBG)  Fluidity of ARRC – the next generation  How do we get Real World business examples in our district?  Balance of instruction to testing (how can we be more efficient?)  How can we bring best practices to all campuses?  Start of the year Staff Development planning – balance and meaningfulness  More effective ways of closing the achievement gap  RTI across the district and grade levels  More programs need to be spread around all campuses  District changes programs that are accessible to teachers, so it’s difficult to master programs/resources  Netbook screens are too long  Boot-up time takes up learning time

Budget Dr. Chavez gave a short overview on the school budget.

Next Meeting The next meeting will be held on November 8, 2011, at 4:15 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Old Hopewell Meeting Room.

Adjournment With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.