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January Minutes
Site Council Minutes - January 12, 2009 Submitted by Constance Plager In attendance: Lisa Pearlstein, Jay Hoover, Cynthia MacCloud, Richard Cherry, Kathy Hunt, Constance Plager, Brett Hutwagner, Michela McMahon, Bobbie Manne, and Irma Murauskas Fifth to Sixth Grade Student Retention Cynthia MacCloud gave an update on informational events for fifth grade students and their families. A parent info night will be held on January 14th. Cynthia and staff will attend. An 8th grade parent will also be there to share her Irvington Middle School experience. Parents will learn about the 6-8 program and get a sample class schedule for sixth grade. Parents have been informed through email and also a written invitation. Last week the fifth graders had an opportunity to meet and ask questions of the sixth grade staff, as well as a group of current sixth grade student. Brett Hutwagner and Cynthia reported that the fifth graders seemed to really enjoy this event. We considered the district’s transfer deadlines (opens 1/30 and closes 3/13) , and discussed other action we might take with in this time frame to help retain students. We agreed that shadowing opportunities should be available if individual parents request it, but will not be offered generally. Brett suggested that the Science Fair (2/26/09) will be an excellent opportunity for families to see more of what the middle school offers, and everyone agreed. Brett will make sure the 5th graders are invited. Eight Grade Transition to High School Cynthia reported that information about all PPS high school open house dates was already sent to eighth grade families, as well as details about shadowing opportunities at Grant. A representative from Benson will be coming to Irvington to talk to 8th graders about opportunities there. The high school transfer period opens 1/23 and closes 2/27. The Site Council agreed that Irvington must follow-up with our alumni students to know how successful their transition to high school is. We discussed at length how we might contact former students, through surveys, focus groups or other means, to determine how well we are preparing our students to succeed. As part of this process it will be important to define what is typical problem stuff for all students transitioning into HS, and what is K-8 specific. Cynthia can look into what, if anything, other K-8 schools are considering around this issue. She will try to bring it up at the next K-8 meeting she attends, if the agenda allows. Site Council will revisit this in April. Differentiated Instruction We continued our discussion on differentiated instruction. Cynthia presented notes from the Staff meeting at which Teachers worked in small groups to identify and consider the strengths and weakness of instructional strategies currently in place. Results were similar for all grade levels. Math and literacy instruction were considered separately. Cynthia was interested to find in this data how much differentiated instruction is already taking place within our current structure. Next steps: Staff will combine this data with test scores to more clearly understand which student groups are being well served by this structure. Then will considers steps to improve instruction so that all students needs are met. A staff committee will also begin examining our school schedule, and may consider a schedule that creates “blocks” in which whole or multiple grade levels work on core subjects at the same time. This could make way for differentiated instruction via a “walk to read/math” model, which our current schedule, and multiple enrichment activities, does not allow. Cynthia reminded the group that, while the discussion around differentiated instruction began in response to language in the District’s TAG corrective action plan, the goal is to improve instruction for ALL of our students. Irma Murauskas wanted us to know that there is a great deal of concern and angst within the TAG parent community. The group discussed this at length and agreed that parents need more information and better communication about TAG services. A date was set, 2/18/09, for a TAG family forum where parents can get question answered and express their concerns. Site Council’s Role and Relationship to PTA The new Parent Reps asked for some clarification about the Site Council’s role. We briefly discussed this. The Council considers school culture, curriculum and instruction. Cynthia is usually available to report Site Council information to the PTA. Site Council Parent Reps are elected by the school parents, not only parents who are PTA members.
Last updated by jhoover on Jan 28, 2009 at 12:01 AM |
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