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April Meeting Minutes
April 13, 2009 (Submitted by Constance Plager) In attendance: Lisa Pearlstein, Cynthia MacLeod, Jay Hoover, Dick Cherry, Constance Plager, Kathy Hunt, Michela McMahon TAG Survey Update A TAG parent meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st. Rachel Ryer and Lisa McCall will lead. Site Council discussed how to effectively share with parents at this meeting the results of the TAG Survey, as well as our analysis and conclusions. Since this information is posted in our March Site Council meeting minutes, we agreed that copies should be made available at Tuesday’s meeting for parents to review. Update on Differentiated Instruction Cynthia says professional development around differentiated instruction will continue into next year. How the staff will apply the concepts has yet to be decided. She discussed the need for accountability during the process of adapting any new techniques, and the importance of bringing results of any trials back to the staff for feedback. This needs to be a structured process. Jay asked about previously discussed plans to form a staff committee to examine the school schedule and look for ways to create academic blocks by grade. Cynthia explained that these plans are impeded by staffing uncertainty, but that the discussion will continue. But serious budget problems loom and any changes to the schedule can’t be considered without knowing our 2009/10 FTE (see below). Update Staffing for Next Year Cynthia shared updated staffing information (also presented at the April PTA meeting). Irvington will not receive Federal Title 1 funds next year and will move to fee for service kindergarten. At this time we are short .61 FTE and Cynthia has requested more from the district. She is waiting to hear back. Site council asked about classroom blends in middle school grades as a way to adjust FTE allocation. Cynthia said that the math and science curriculums make this difficult but this may be a possibility in literacy/social studies. We also do not have any transfer numbers yet. Eight Grade Transition to High School Cynthia reported on plans for the eighth grade promotion ceremony and activities. A ceremony will be held on the last day of school in the gym. The students will also have a dinner and dance the night before as weel as a special activity/field trip on the last day of school. We continued our discussion on how to follow-up with students and get their feedback about their transition to high school. We want to know, were they prepared? We considered ways to survey students. By mail In a group forum over pizza Phone survey Internet survey with Survey Monkey We also discussed the need for parental permission to talk with the students. Some of the questions we would like to ask include: What was the hardest thing about the transition to high school? How prepared were you in academic subjects? Did you have the organizational and study skills you needed? We need to let this year’s eighth graders know that we will be contacting them at the end of next year and that their feedback will help make Irvington even better. The site council agreed to make this project a priority and will continue working on it in the fall.
Last updated by jhoover on May 05, 2009 at 07:27 AM |
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