Growing Minds in a Growing Community

COMMUNITY HOUSE MIDDLE SCHOOL ‘GROWING MINDS IN A GROWING COMMUNITY’

School Leadership Team (SLT) - Meeting Minutes April 29thOctober 28th, 2013

The meeting began at 5:00pm in the Media CenterRoom A3

In attendance

Jamie Brooks Jennifer Manning Jessica Burlamachi Julie Sanniota Rhonda Rivers Amy McNelis Erin McCullen Erv Nuemann Beth Wood Sara Bryan Smitesh Shah

Leadership Report – Jamie Brooks

 CMS Bond vote will occur on Nov 5 th . Part of the proposal does include a K-8 STEAM magnet that will impact our community. Funding for this bond will not impact local property taxes and the new school will help to alleviate overcrowding

 All teacher vacancies have been filled as of this week so CHMS is now considered fully staffed.

 MAP data letter went home with students on 10/28. Information includes the students score as well as examples of how to read the data. Additional data from this testing is also provided to teachers to help discern specific skills of students and what has been mastered vs. what skills need additional work. This information will help teachers with individual instruction on a go forward basis. Children who were identified as needing additional support in math or literacy will be offered additional instruction during Enrichment time. Parents of these impacted students were notified mid-October if this was the case.

 EOG scores from last year will be available in November. Per Ms. Brooks message in the Courier, the CHMS community should expect a drop in overall proficiency – as the testing and measurement is vastly different.

 Teens and Technology session #2 occurs this evening 10/28 @ 6:30pm. There is a new app that will be shared with parents called ‘Frankly’. Texts are delivered totally encrypted and once the recipient reads the text, it disappears after 10 seconds.

 Question was raised about how to handle ‘required reading’ – as there are always some parents who are dissatisfied with the quality and content of books. Decision was made that if a book would be considered ‘rated R’ in movie form, it would not be choosen for required reading. Parents who are concerned with the specific books or reading assignments for their children should contact their child’s teacher directly.

 Congratulations to Ms. Bryan – as she is getting married in November!

 Snacks being brought to SLT going forward. Parent SLT members are asked to sign up for a specific meeting to bring a snack to share.

 National Press for Teens and Technology visited CHMS to do a story on Teens and Technology. The story can be viewed on an upcoming episode of ‘America Now’ later this year.

1  Mentor/Tutoring opportunity between AKHS and CHMS being researched. This opportunity would include AKHS providing support/sending students over at the end of their school day to meet/tutor CHMS students.

 CHMS will be establishing a partnership with The Meat House. More information will be available at future meetings.

 CHMS will be developing a new brand – promoting our school as the ‘school to be at’ or the ‘school of choice’. Questions will be available in the Courier and responses can be sent to Elizabeth Mitcham by November 22 nd . The CHMS community is encouraged to respond to these questions.

 State testing begins early May. CHMS is in need of proctors to assist with EOY test process. Common Exams (science & social studies) as well as EOGs are state required and will measure a teachers ‘effectiveness rate’. This required state testing is putting logistical pressure on CHMS faculty and staff – and requires additional community support as well as parental understanding as this new test system implemented.

 Beginning this year, students in all grades will be tested in all subjects. Majority of the test is multiple choice, but there are a few questions that require a written response. These written response questions need to be manually reviewed and scored by 2 teachers certified in the subject. Level 4 volunteers are needed (for at least 2 days) to volunteer in science and social studies classrooms so teachers can be out of the class scoring all the tests.

 Between May 7th and EOY, all students will be on an amended schedule. May 21st, 22nd , 23rd & 28th will be the days that testing will occur. Students are encouraged to have a healthy breakfast and/or bring a snack to consume before the testing starts. Due to testing requirements, students are not allowed to eat or drink during testing – and lunch periods will not start for many until early afternoon.

 Parents who are interested in seeing examples of what the testing will look like, you can visit the north Carolina public education website (www.npi.com) for sample questions.

 Technology Update –CHMS faculty and staff continue to see increases in inappropriate use of technology. Pic Lock and Ask.FM are the newest sites being used inappropriately by students. Parent- Only Information sessions are underway to highlight this concern and provide parents with necessary information to help keep their children safe.

Next Meeting - May 20th, 2013 @ 5pm in the media center.December 9 th , 2013