St. Tammany Parish School Board Covington, LA COMMITTEE AS A WHOLE (HUMAN RESOURCES AND EDUCATION) February 16, 2012 The St. Tammany Parish School Board met as a Committee As A Whole on February 16, 2012, at the C. J. Schoen Administrative Complex in Covington, Louisiana. There were present: Elizabeth B. Heintz, Chairperson, Neal M. Hennegan, Michael J. Dirmann, Stephen J. “Jack” Loup, III, Charles T. Harrell, Roanne V. Tipton, Peggy H. Seeley, Robin P. Mullett, Ronald “Ron” Bettencourtt, Robert R. “Bob” Womack, John C. Lamarque, Ray A. Alfred, and Mary K. Bellisario. Absent: Willie B. Jeter, and James “Ronnie” Panks, Sr. Invocation was led by Mrs. Heintz, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Mrs. Heintz called on Bryan Haley, senior at Covington High School and 2011-2012 State FFA Parliamentarian who had requested time on the agenda. Mr. Haley addressed the Board and introduced Mr. Cobey Hendry, senior at Sumner High School and State FFA Vice President from Area IV. Mr. Haley spoke on National FFA week, February 18-24, 2012, which brought focus to all FFA organizations. The FFA organizations in St. Tammany Parish were located at Covington High, Northshore High, Pearl River High, Lakeshore High, Fontainebleau High, Fontainebleau Jr. High, Lee Road Jr. High, Fifth Ward Jr. High, Folsom Jr. High and Monteleone Jr. High. Mr. Haley thanked the Board for supporting FFA. Mrs. Heintz thanked Mr. Haley for his remarks. Mr. Folse recognized Ms. Mizell, the Assistant Principal from Covington High School. The minutes from the Committee As A Whole meeting held on January 19, 2012, were approved as presented. Mrs. Heintz called on Mrs. Arabie for the report on the District Strategic Plan. Mrs. Arabie presented the mid-year report on the District Strategic Plan. Mrs. Arabie highlighted the 4 Core Task Areas and gave a brief update on each Core Task. Core Task 1 was Cultivating Community Relationship and Shared Understanding with focus activity to evaluate the development and sustainment of collaborative activities, both internal to the district and with external stakeholder groups. Some of those areas were: STAR Business Partners, Community Outreach, Legislative Video Updates, School News Online, Facebook, Twitter, and Propositions 1, 2, and 3 Presentations. Mrs. Arabie showed a map of the locations of all the STAR business partners and growth over the past three years. The map also showed void areas where future emphasis would be placed to contact more business owners in those areas. Mrs. Arabie showed the Community network for outreach meetings and presentations. Another activity was School News Online where anyone could access the website, select a school and view current activities, photos and important information for the school. Mrs. Arabie stated Proposition Presentation meetings for Propositions 1, 2 and 3 were given at each school and satellite facility to ensure all employees were knowledgeable of the propositions. Mrs. Arabie stated recently the district developed a Facebook and Twitter page which were great outreaches to “Spread the News” to the community. The newest and latest tool to communicate district activities for our Legislatures was developing Legislative Snapshot Video Updates of approximately two minutes of information presented at Committee As A Whole meetings. Those videos were sent to the Louisiana Legislatures to help keep them knowledgeable of current activities in St. Tammany Parish. Mrs. Arabie highlighted Core Task 2, Producing Experiences and Results for Customers with the focus activity of implementing quality assurance measures that support reflection and feedback regarding levels of student engagement and the quality of work provided to students. Those activities were Deep Curriculum Alignment of Common Core Standards, Guaranteed Curriculum and the Data Warehouse. Mrs. Arabie stated the district ACT scores ranked #1 in the state and above the state and national average. The District Performance Score ranked #4 in the state with a growth of 1.6 as well as #1 in districts with more than 20,000 students. Mrs. Arabie reminded the board of the roll out for the Common Core State Standards and how they replaced the GLEs in the Guaranteed Curriculum. Mrs. Arabie showed the Board how the CCSS were referenced in the Guaranteed Curriculum for the teachers to use. The next item was the Data Warehouse where information was stored in a centralized data system for easy access. Some of the 1 data pieces were: state-wide enrollment, test results integration and analysis, early at-risk detection, career path planning and tracking, and customized reporting tools. Core Task 3 was sustaining a learning community and leading for improvement with focus activity of increase opportunities to those committed to the common direction of the district/school to participate in systemic collaboration and professional learning. Mrs. Arabie stated the activities were Board member CLUs, Schlechty Center Regional Seminar and School Design Teams. Mrs. Arabie was pleased to show the number of Board member CLUs and the commitment of Board members for professional development. St. Tammany hosted its first national conference with the Schlechty Center at the Treen Technology Center. Mrs. Arabie stated there were 120 attendees from St. Tammany, out of parish and out of state. The panels used to share with the attendees were teachers and some principals in the district. The topic of “What Was a School Design Team?” was discussed with the teachers on the panels who shared comments and ideas. Mrs. Arabie showed a short video of some of the teachers’ and school leaders’ comments. Mrs. Arabie stated Core Task 4 was refining access to resources, support, and technology with emphasis on response to intervention and DIBELS. Channel 13 had done a great job in assisting with providing professional development for the district. The three tiers of intervention with focus activity in academic as well as behavioral were: Individualized strategies Effective strategic interventions and strategies, progress monitoring Research based core programs, universal screening, and identification of students with greater needs. The three tiers responded to the needs of all students. Mrs. Arabie stated DIBELS Shadow Scoring was a district assessment in K through 3rd grade. Strong emphasis was given to professional development to allow the students to receive the training in schools without the teachers leaving the classrooms and schools for training. Mrs. Arabie showed a Channel 13 professional development video which was used in the schools. There were no comments or questions. Mrs. Heintz called on Ms. Parker for the ProStart Program report. Ms. Parker highlighted the career technical area called ProStart and introduced Angie Drago and her students from Fontainebleau High School. Mrs. Drago stated ProStart was developed by the National Restaurant Association and adopted by Louisiana in 1999. ProStart was a nationwide one-to-two year program for juniors and seniors at least 16 years of age or older because there was a work component in the curriculum. Mrs. Drago stated other parts of the ProStart Curriculum were: Marketing Cost Control Accounting Nutrition Lodging Tourism Retail Industry Sustainability Customer Service There were currently over 17,000 food and beverage establishments in the state which made it the largest retail employer in Louisiana. The industry was a viable employment option for ProStart students. Mrs. Drago stated the skills gained in ProStart were: safety and sanitation, knife skills, menu development, costing, and restaurant management skills. Classroom activities included ServSafe preparation and practice, food lab projects, management projects, field trips, guest speakers, community service, and program fundraising projects. Mrs. Drago stated some of the opportunities for the ProStart students were internships, scholarships, competition experience, dual enrollment/articulated credit, community service, networking, industry certifications and comprehensive, transferable skills set. Mrs. Drago introduced Jonathan Guidroz, a senior at Fontainebleau High School and Graham Roth, a junior at Fontainebleau High School and a member of the culinary competition team. They highlighted their experiences in the ProStart Program and the skills they had developed. Mrs. Drago stated the national competition this year was scheduled to be held in Maryland. The ProStart students served the Board members pieces of King Cake they had prepared. Mrs. Drago stated the program sold King Cakes as a fundraiser and had been told they were some of the best on the market. Mr. Hennegan asked who developed the curriculum for ProStart. Mrs. Drago replied the National Restaurant Association which was adopted by the Louisiana Restaurant Association in 1999. The Louisiana Restaurant Association also monitored the industry to ensure an adequate number of internships were available for ProStart students. Mr. Hennegan asked Mrs. Drago what her background was. 2 Mrs. Drago stated she had a degree in family and consumer science and had done professional development twice a year for the teachers of the forty-seven programs in the state which represented 1,200 students statewide. Mrs. Drago stated she also attended the National Summer Institute of Atlanta which included an internship to complete her secondary certification as a food service educator as well as a ServSafe certification required to teach the ProStart Program. Mr. Hennegan asked how many students St. Tammany Parish had in the ProStart Program. Mrs. Drago stated she did not know parishwide but had thirty students at Fontainebleau High School. Mrs. Heintz stated there was a representative of the Louisiana Restaurant Association at the West Chamber luncheon to view the students who served at the luncheon. Mrs. Heintz stated she was very impressed with the depth of the program. Mr. Dirmann stated the desserts served at the luncheon were fabulous. Mrs. Drago stated the professional conduct of the students at the luncheon exceeded her expectations. Mrs. Tipton stated her son was in Mrs. Drago’s class and was pleased with his progress and skills developed in the class. Mrs. Tipton voiced her approval of the program.