Welcome Agenda (Part Staff Mtg/Part School Improvement Team Mtg) in Attendance: Hauhuth

Morgan Elementary School School Improvement Team Meeting Tuesday, May 19, 2015 3:00 pm

 Welcome – Agenda (Part staff mtg/part school improvement team mtg) In attendance: Hauhuth, Meyers, Vaughn, Bodenheimer, Herrin, Hayes, S. Walker, Corley, Ingram, Coffield, Spencer, Coates, Logan and C. Frazier

**EOGs next week – Science EOG for fifth grade is Tuesday (5/26) , so no wireless usage (phone, laptops, ipads) all day, please.

 Supervision – we must maintain our expectations for mornings (7:25), hallway, cafeteria, bathroom, playground, etc.. Some classes are still not as orderly as they should be so please emphasize this over the last three weeks. Continue to emphasize how important order and supervision are to school safety. Every grade level should require the students to be quiet and controlled in the hallways, especially in the stairwells. Teachers are required to be in their classroom by 7:25 every morning. Children should never be in any area of the school without supervision. If you need a break, call the office and someone will come cover your class. Get your coffee, make all copies, etc. before 7:25.

 Paper usage/copies/copiers – We are at a critical point of the year where we are getting near the end of our budget for paper and copies. You need what you need, BUT do not be wasteful (300 copies of word search on printer). Please use the copier in Vickie’s office and Cathy Weiss’ room when possible because we still have copies that are paid for on those machines. **ActiveExpressions are a great way to go paperless. Do not use the printers to make multiple copies of documents or worksheets – print an original and then make copies on one of the copiers, preferably Vickie’s or Cathy’s.

 EVAAS roster verification clarification – This verifies “academic responsibility”. In some cases, academic responsibility is shared between more than one teacher (EC, ESL, AG, etc.). Mr. Hayes will do a final roster verification next week so don’t stress. Feel free to ask questions. EVAAS is a method for measuring teacher effectiveness and it is now available for K-2 as well as grades 3-5. Typically Mr. Hayes goes in and handles the rosters for K-2, but be sure to verify your roster for accuracy. Mr. Hayes will make adjustments to each roster for EC, LD, ESL and Speech time spent outside your classroom. Don’t stress over the roster, since Mr. Hayes will be reviewing and adjusting each roster anyway.

 FCAE Survey – Mostly good (even though I expected worse this year), #’s 29, 30, 31, 36, 37, 44, 45, 46 & 48 need more attention for next year. The SIT team will address these areas at the beginning of next year. Here are the areas targeted to get more attention: # 29 - persistent verbal interruption during instruction time # 30 – increased student tardiness # 31 – increased number of unexcused absences # 36 – increase in missing or incomplete classroom/homework assignments # 37 – students leaving school early # 44 – teachers have a role in deciding how the school budget is spent # 45 – teachers are centrally involved in decision making about important educational issues. # 46 – teachers assist in determining content of workshops/professional development programs at the school # 48 – teachers have time to collaborate productively with colleagues

 Technology purchases – more laptops, iPads, cases, etc. Before they are put into use we will have a plan in place in how they will be used/shared to provide access to everyone. We could set up systems to make sharing the laptop carts easier and encourage more usage/availability i.e. a posted schedule with name, time needed (including time needed to set up and return equipment). Having a sign out system would help with scheduling and knowing where the carts are. Need to discuss how to better manage the ipads because it takes a long time to for a student to sign on to an ipad they haven’t used before. There is a much shorter sign on time if the apparatus knows the user – the student has signed on to that particular machine before.

 2015-16 planning – “Pre-goals”: Improve K-5 literacy, Improve instruction to accommodate needs of all students, Improve “system” of interventions, Duty Free More narrow goals set for SIT going forward. Mr. Hayes wants to overhaul the K-5 literacy formats to increase guided reading time. The changes will better accommodate the special needs of children – interventions or enrichment. Increase staff involved in small groups (specialists perhaps). Second grade is concerned because the only time the teacher has time to remediate, the children who need remediation are already out for ESL, Speech or LD services.

- Re: PEPs – A PEP should be completed for any student who is performing below grade level in any area and is at risk of failing. It’s difficult to connect interventions and PEP info from one year to the next.

Re: overall student behavior – Jenn Bodenheimer is having a hard time with overall student behavior and needs teachers to work with her to improve student focus and class behavior during Science. The more interactive nature of Science can become hard to manage if the students aren’t well-behaved.

Duty Free – Money comes from the state for duty free lunch for teachers. Schools can decide how to spend those funds. Debbie was at a Curriculum Coordinator meeting recently where all the schools represented in her group didn’t have duty free lunch at all, instead they used those funds for additional personnel. Since we have the separate teacher tables at lunch now, could those funds be used to hire more assistants? Would that be a good compromise? The 20 minutes of guided reading time this year is not enough time to adequately spend with children in small reading groups. Mr. Hayes wants to boost the amount of guided reading time for grades 1-2. One way is to schedule later lunches, recess, and specials time for those two grades to make optimal use of the PRT’s time.

 Schedule possibilities – 40 minute specials to create more blocks of time in day (helps with specials, EC, ESL, intervention groups), specials coordinated with Guided Reading groups, more people scheduled to work with children 40 minute specials would increase instruction time for classroom teachers and we should start the specials rotation earlier each morning. We could extend instruction time by starting announcements earlier in the morning and leaving the room later at the end of the day (closer to the 2:25 dismissal time). Also considering using specialists and assistants more effectively to allow for increased opportunities for small groups. Suggestion was made to use the Social Studies/Science block for ESL/EC/Speech pullouts, which would add more time for those student groups. Also thinking about increasing the kindergarten assistants availability throughout the school. Mr. Hayes is working hard on the schedule for next year, but he isn’t ready to share it with us just yet. He may meet with the SIT team to discuss the changes prior to disbursement to staff.

 Please send grade level concerns to Mike via email