Exeter Region Cooperative School Board Retreat Minutes
June 24, 2006 – 8:00 AM
SST Culinary Arts Dining Room
PRESENT:
Greg Kann, Lucy Cushman, Patty Lovejoy, Robin Scott, Kim Casey, Ray Trueman
Sally Oxnard, Townley Chisholm and Kris Magnusson
ADMINISTRATION:
Arthur Hanson, Nathan Lunney, Peter Stackhouse, Victor Sokul and
Tom O’Malley
GUESTS: Arthur Baillargeon and John Hazekamp (taping the meeting)
1. CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Chair called the meeting to order at 8:02 AM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC INPUT: Board member Sally Oxnard questioned the chair regarding the Monday, June 19th CMS staff in-service day and if video clips of the June 13, 2006 board meeting had been shown to staff members. Superintendent responded to her queries taking responsibility for knowing the video clips had been shown to the CMS staff.
3. CHAIR’S REPORT
3.1 Appointment of ERCSD Clerk 1 Year Term: Motion by Patty Lovejoy, seconded by Sally Oxnard to appoint Sue Bendroth to a one year term as clerk of the Exeter Region Cooperative School District. Discussion if it was a paid position and if there was any conflict of interest. Lucy responded that she abstains on this vote as she had done in the past as Sue Bendroth is her sister. Nathan noted it carries a $1000 year stipend. Since no further discussion, chair called for a vote: 8-0-1 (Cushman abstained).
3.2 Introduction and Overview of the Retreat: Chair noted that everyone received in their board packet the revised agenda we will be using today.
4. EHS TRANSITION COMMITTEE – Next Steps – Vic Sokul: Victor discussed his five year plan for the high school, noting he had just completed year one. He discussed his 6/23/06 memo to EHS Faculty and his goals; his plan to achieve those goals (July 2005 through June 2010). He asked for board feedback on his August 06 to June 07 timeline; would like to delay use of new auditorium by public until we have time to settle in (not use until 2nd semester 2006-07 year); reviewed his assessment projects – 2 hours a day using data and have shared this directive to EHS faculty and passed around to board some of the projects teachers did using this directive, noting they did a nice job; read through remainder items under this timeline. Briefly reviewed August 07 to June 08 goals. Further explained that he has heard from many parents who want to be involved in the new school, as well as many of the EHS Transition Committee members being interested in continuing their work, and he plans to utilize them for continued transition activities. Discussion on the new facility and superintendent reminded everyone that we currently have policies on usage for the fields, building and classroom use, but we may need to determine if those policies need to be updated for the new high school. Vic shared that he will be giving the board a year end update on this first year with the math and lit labs to determine their effectiveness. Last year, the two labs had 7 teachers, but going forward will one teacher will cover all the math labs and one will cover all the lit labs for more consistency and feels we will see better results. Superintendent thanked Mr. Sokul for the many hats he wore very successfully this year.
5. 2005-2006 REPORT FROM ERCSD COMMITTEE CHAIRS:
A. Curriculum and Philosophy – Sally Oxnard: Passed out progress her committee made; will get back up information for goals per Kris’ request; reviewed and discussed her goals: 1)implement SINI/DINI plan; 2) transition plan for EHS; 3) improve personalization of educational programs; 4) continued implementation and improvement of high academic, civic and social expectations; and 5) data driven decision making, noting that Mr. Sokul’s report on the projects teachers did with data is part of this goal; committee had a lot to work on but sees some of goals needing to be continued on to next year; if anyone wants to tweak the information Sally passed out, please let her know and she will be glad to update her copy. Chair noted that going forward, all school board motions, agenda items, etc. should be related to a specific goal.
B. Facilities – Lucy Cushman: Shared her goal worksheet information noting their goals were: 1) Future space needs CMS; 2) Linden Street warrant article; 3) work with United Methodist church on possible subdivision of Pickard property; 4) Identify occupants of retained property on Linden Street (Tuck Learning Center); 5) Maintenance plan; and 6) EHS Security Plan. Did address goal #1 in November at the committee level; Lucy explained Pickard property is property with house on corner that gives us access to Rt. 27 (about 10 acres); explained that there will be cameras inside and outside of building; Walter is expecting to hear from state in next month or so if they will approve the light at the intersection; no camera at this time that will watch the school’s entrance. She noted that she passed the goals out to the committee in June for their feedback and received none.
C. Finance – Patty Lovejoy: Passed out and discussed her goals: 1) Continue progress with GASB 34 Five year plan; 2) successful completion of the teacher negotiations; 3) successful completion of the paraprofessional negotiations; and 4) determine the cost of the HS transition.
D. PP&C – Kris Magnusson: Passed out and discussed her goals: 1) Video streaming full board meetings starting with December 2005 meeting through February 2006 including Special meeting on January 31, 2006 and Deliberative Session in February as approved by Finance Committee on trial basis and review at end of February 2006 based on data usage; 2) Conduct teacher communication audit survey annually for three consecutive years to be administered in April with results presented to full board at June 2006 meeting; 3) Post on SAU 16 website school board and subcommittee agenda 48 hours in advance of meeting starting by December 2005; 4) Present completion document or status of all committee goals by June 2006 board meeting to be used in goal setting retreat; 5) To communicate with all parents of the Coop via en e-mail communication plan by January 31, 2006. Superintendent reminded Kris that board was to make decision on going forward with continuing or not continuing goal #1. Discussion on CMS/EHS communication survey and maybe giving out in late fall since end of year is too busy and returns were low – less than 30%; find better ways to handle who is surveyed. Regarding goal #5, noted that administration never received a communication plan, which should come from PP&C, and should put on agenda for fall.
Superintendent passed out a copy of the SAU 16 2006-2007 Goals for board:
- To revise the five (5) year Professional Development Master Plan that expires in June of 2007.
- To improve student achievement by ensuring that 21st Century Learning Tools and Digital Portfolios are implemented across all curriculums and grade levels.
- To renovate classroom spaces in the Tuck Learning Campus (old Exeter High School) and to move the following entities to that campus by August 2007; SAU 16 Offices, Great Bay eLearning Charter School, Flexeter (HS Alternative School), Adult Education, Seacoast Professional Development Center, SAU Information Technology Staff and Special Education Offices.
- Provide each district with appropriate information and work sessions so all SAU 16 schools proceed towards the Data Driven Decision Making Model.
6. 2006-2007 committee discussion: Chair Kann noted we have four subcommittees that meet once a month as does the school board. These committees pick their own times to meet and some members have problems with the times of the meetings, and if all meeting were at 7:00 PM, that might be best for board, but tough for administration that has to attend. Chair further noted the current internal board issues and lack of trust, etc., and is proposing that we have board meetings twice a month on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM with no subcommittee meetings. One board meeting will have two subcommittees on the agenda and the other meeting would have the other two subcommittees on the agenda. Discussion by board on how this would occur. Public discussion could occur at beginning and at end of board meeting possibly. Awards could be done prior to start of meeting. Student board reps would only be expected at one board meeting where EHS reported and CMS would report at a second meeting. Second Tuesday would have EHS, Curriculum and Philosophy and Finance on the agenda and the 4th Tuesday of the month (second meeting) would have CMS, Facilities and PP&C on the agenda. Motion by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Sally Oxnard to accept the chair’s recommendation for two board meetings a month with subcommittees to become a part of the board meetings and that board can make amendments to this schedule as needed. Discussion that this is just a guideline to set the agenda. Superintendent noted that Ray Trueman’s recommendation to start student recognition at 6:45 PM prior to the start of the board meetings is excellent. Lucy worried about losing discussion that goes on in subcommittees, but if administration would like to go forward with this, then she is fine with it. Since no further discussion, Chair called for a vote: 8-1 (Casey).
7. PROTOCOL FOR REQUEST OF INFORMATION: Superintendent noted this may be a moot point if we do not have subcommittees. It was noted that administration will gather any information for the full board and if an individual board member wants additional information, that person would need to go to the board chair. Concern is that administration needs opportunity to let board know what their staff currently has on its plate, before any staff member is asked to provide additional information to board versus accusing administration of holding out information.
Break 10:30 – 10:45 AM.
8. NWEA Reports: CMS teachers Tony Baldasaro (science, but proctored reading for his team with NWEA), Karen Whitemore (English), Patty Glennon (Reading) and Deb Merrill (math) were introduced by Tom O’Malley
8.1 Teachers’ Perspective Using NWEA Tests: The four CMS teachers shared the following thoughts on NWEA: how in each of their classrooms they used the NWEA test data; why you have to be careful using that score; how they use it for skill instruction; that NWEA is just one piece of input on a student’s growth; did see parallel in scoring between NWEA and NECAP; NWEA is good information to have at beginning of year as it gives you a general idea of where to place a student;; post NWEA is nice to see growth or not, but finds testing time is big; also sees end of year testing, students are not as excited with testing; if you teach testing strategies, it is harder to use strategies on computerized tests as you would on a written test; all these are factors to consider why students might be scoring one way or another; love having fall scores and having a “feel” for students; math department really liked the break-up of various areas in math so can look at RIT scores and determine how they did with respect of spring to spring; how they test to all levels of students in their classes and group and re-group at various times as appropriate; NWEA testing at end of year works well for placement going forward when combined with NECAP, quarterly grades and informal and formal assessment in classroom; discussed how taking a test on the computer is very different for many students; believes in it as a diagnostic tool but has concerns with it as an evaluative tool.
8.2 Discussion of Reports Issued by NWEA for spring 2006 Test: Peter passed our NWEA information that is really “raw” data: School Overview; District Summary Report by School – spring 2006; and 2005 Normative Data for the board’s information.
9. SETTING OF GOALS FOR 2006-2007 (Overview) – Greg
9.1 Identify Challenges for 2006-2007: Greg led the board through “Goal Setting 101” which is a presentation that he has offered in years past. He reminded the board that we seek “outcome goals” in general as opposed to “activity goals.” He urged that goals should be SMART: S – specific; M – measurable; A – achievable and aggressive; R – relevant; and T – time bound. He urged the board to use appropriate “goal grammar (language).” The board then conducted a brief brainstorming session to identify a broad range of challenges facing the district as potential topics for outcome goals.
9.2 Develop Outcome Goals by ERCSD – All working on this during lunch; came up with nine main goals and the board was broken into groups of three with three goals each to define more specifically:
- Protocol to advise teacher prior to items becoming policy or brought to board
- Evaluate the impact of reading and math labs at CMS and EHS (DINI/SINI) – staffing additions
- CMS Space needs
- School Board Facilitation – improve trust; including evaluation
- Drop out rate reduction
- Continue evaluation communicate to parents re: Mixed ability grouping
- Middle School/HS Transition
- CMS – Space Needs to be completed by December
Committee #1: Ray Trueman, Patty Lovejoy and Robin Scott
1. Middle School/HS Transition
A. Evaluation and improvement of Freshman Advisory
B. Learning Skills/Freshman orientation – summer program 1 week (2 sessions)
C. Begin 8th grade-HS Transition program at beginning of 3rd quarter (involve parents; course info and Career Technical education)
2. Continue evaluation about mixed ability grouping
A. Letters to parents using email and attach to grade reports
B. Teachers’ forum on Channel 22 (tough questions; questions submitted by community; 3 times – end of each quarter)
C. Presentation on Channel 22
D. Results of NWEA and NECAP
Committee #2: Lucy Cushman, Kris Magnusson and Townley Chisholm
1. By November 15, 2006, develop and implement a protocol to use in teacher communications regarding board decisions.
2. EHS: On-going evaluation process to measure the effectiveness of ready and math labs with two reports due to board by October 31, 2006 and march 30, 2007 respectively.
CMS: On-going evaluation process to measure effectiveness of additional reading, curricula and staff with two reports due to board by October 31, 2006 and March 30, 2007 respectively.
3. Discussion of the needs for an addition of two pods to CMS including: a) public information and communication avenues; b) teacher and administrative input; c) architectural analysis and costs; and d) thorough board discussion.
Committee #3: Sally Oxnard, Robin Scott and Greg Kann
1. School Board facilitation/evaluation
A. Abide by and honor the NH State School Board meeting protocols and boardsmanship standards and courtesies
B. Conduct effective meetings (over by 10, everyone gets to speak and feels listened to, no- one gets interrupted)
C. behave as a board which treats each other and the public with respect and courtesy
2. Drop Out Reduction
Greg reminded everyone that in August, the board will have two meetings with first meeting as a regular school board meeting and second meeting to finish the goals. September or October - will move the meetings to the new high school.
Chair discussed the need to encumber funds due to the uncertainty of the high school fields, the transportation and custodial costs, supervisory costs, etc. to bus the athletes to the TLC and PEA fields. Motion by Sally Oxnard and seconded by Robin Scott to encumber funds up to $75,000 for use of the new high school transition. Discussion followed concerning cleaning up old locker rooms at TLC (old EHS) for use by outside teams since we will be using these fields. Since no further discussion, Chair called for a vote: 9-0.
10. NON-PUBLIC SESSION: RSA 91-A:3II, d: On a motion by Lucy Cushman, seconded by Sally Oxnard and to go into non-public session under RSA 91-A:3II,d at 1:45 PM. Roll call vote with all members voting in the affirmative.
11. ADJOURNMENT: Board returned from non-public session having sealed the minutes. On a motion by Sally Oxnard, seconded by Lucy Cushman and unanimously voted with no discussion to adjourn at 2:06 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Boyd, Secretary