Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger, Lisa Stone, Bethany Little, Stephanie Berger, Chris Cebryznski
- Staffing Update
- For next year, Murch has 7 staff moving positions. Of the 21 open positions, there are 10 offers out.
- The HSA is committing to fund two additional instructional aides next year, but will be hiring no lunch or recess aides. Teachers will cover lunch 3 days and recess 2 days a week. Additional coverage will be provided by instructional aides and support staff.
- Space for 2014--‐15
- DGS will be installing 8 new trailers with water/bathrooms on the parking lot. The will be removing the art/music and Ben 3/4 trailers.
- Even with the extra space the school is still short a classroom for World Geography.
- Will need a flexible computer lab space for ST Math testing, etc.
- The SIT is looking into parking options for staff next year.
- Renovation
- DGS Interim Project Manager assigned.
- DGS has identified a contractor to work on the Ed Specs.
- Current anticipated schedule.
- First draft of Ed Specs is expected to be done by end of June.
- June/July --‐ DGS doing a feasibility study.
- DGS plans to solicit for architect in September (with proposals due in October).
- Possibility of getting additional money in FY 2015 budget.
- School Operating Budget
- Catania is advocating that the at--‐risk funds should be "additive" and should not cause schools to lose funding next year.
- Parent Information night
- Proposed date: Thursday June 5, 6:00--‐7:30, open house style.
- Subject: Things to do over the summer with your child. Skills your child should have to hit the ground running at the beginning of next year.
- Reading [DC Library summer reading program rep?]
- Writing
- Math [Does ST math work over summer?]
- Science
- Assignments
- Sabrina to get a volunteer from each grade level
- Martha to coordinate childcare/promotion with the HSA
- If there are things you want to suggest to next year's LSAT, post on Basecamp and/or send them to Martha/Sabrina. Some ideas mentioned during the meeting:
- PARCC assessment
- How do we prepare students for the technology necessary to succeed on this test?
- Keyboarding/Technology
- World Language requirements
- Volunteer school/HSA collaboration
- Behavior management
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger, Lisa Stone, Vicki Otten, Bethany Little
- Renovation/Facility Update
- DGS has identified a contact for the Murch renovation who plans to attend the May SIT meeting.
- Mayor Grey's budget both increased overall funding for the renovation and accelerated some funding. There may be an opportunity for Murch to receive more money in FY 2015 if we can show we are ready to go.
- DGS came in and made some critical repairs including functional fire alarms and swipe card access to the building (not yet activated).
- DGS plans to add more temporary space for next year in the parking lot. Goal is to consolidate all temporary trailers in the parking lot and to ensure they have water/bathrooms.
- Item for May meeting agenda --‐ Ask Mr. C to report on plan for space utilization for next year.
- Trailers will displace all existing school parking. Martha plans to set up meet with Mary Cheh's staff. School parking is a bigger problem than just Murch and may be difficult to solve. There is not enough space on school properties for adequate parking and no existing rules allow teachers to receive permit parking for street parking.
- Preliminary analysis by the SIT suggests it will be a challenge to build a school for 750--‐800 students on the Murch site that maintains plenty of green space and provides parking. This means that planning will have to be creative and the use of the National Park Service land may be required.
- Chancellor's letter on budget process
- The Chancellor released a letter on school budgets which Martha will separately circulate.
- Her stated focus for next year's budget will be on high schools.
- The Chancellor's letter noted that although DCPS stuck with the staffing plan model for budget structures this year, the at--‐risk student legislation will require use of a different model next year. If they had used the at--‐risk weight this year, Ward 3 schools would have received alot less money.
- This is likely to be an important issue for next year's LSAT to watch and possible advocate for a process that adequately funds high--‐performing schools like Murch by maintaining a minimum per pupil allocation.
- Issues for the Remainder of the Year
- PWP grant
- Murch plans to expand extra--‐curricular offerings next year. Lisa will work with Mary Eckstein to poll teachers and students for specific topics.
- It was noted that Playworks offers good recess games/activities and could be a possible resource for some of the grant money.
- Aides
- Teachers agree that one instructional aide cannot adequately cover five sections of students. For next year this will be most critical in first grade where students are less able to work independently, but is also an issue for second grade.
- One or more clerical aides would add value. Ideally would have more than one per school, but even a part--‐time aide to run a copy center (mornings or afternoons) would be very helpful.
- Parent Information Session
- The LSAT will schedule one more parent information session this year in early June to address getting ready for next year. It will be hosted by the LSAT and Martha will coordinate planning with Sabrina. The LSAT will ask the HSA to provide babysitting.
- Parents suggested the school establish a more formal summer reading program (for upper grades), as well as a summer journal program.
- We discussed the importance of next year's LSAT holding a second back to school night on curriculum issues in early Fall. The regular Back to School night tends to focus on logistics (such as the daily schedule and how to communicate with the teacher) as opposed to curriculum. The goal of the second event would be to inform parents of what your student will be learning this year.
- PWP grant
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Lauren Miller, Beth Ward, Stefanie Berger, Valerie Mallett, Lisa Stone, Sabrina Finberg, Vicki Otten, Avis McCoy, Chris Cebrzynski, Bethany Little (by phone) Guest: Karissa Kovner
- Housekeeping
- Minutes from meetings earlier this year had been posted to website, but link to the minutes had not been working. The link has been corrected and all minutes are now available.
- Family Outreach
- Valerie Mallett presented an article from The Washington Post about home visits through the DCPS Family Engagement Partnership (FEP) as an effective intervention tool.
- C reported it's an interesting idea, but that Murch is not eligible for FEP due to school demographics.
- On a related note, the budget information to be presented later in the meeting suggests increasing the school social worker to full--‐time as a means of trying to address the same issue --‐ outreach to families who need it the most.
- Not practical for Murch to do home visits for each student, but also would want to approach the topic in a way that does not make people feel targeted.
- Out of boundary students often have difficulty socially because it is hard for them to engage in after school activities at Murch. Also, weekend activities like sports are often geographic based. Although many leagues (Stoddert, Cap City) are increasingly opening up to the school populations, the travel time alone makes participation impractical for many OOB families.
- School faculty interested in trying to reach out to OOB families in their own neighborhoods. One option would be to host a neighborhood coffee or playground dates where one or more faculty members would attend. It would help families find others in their neighborhood. Martha McIntosh noted the HSA has information on where families live.
- C reported it's an interesting idea, but that Murch is not eligible for FEP due to school demographics.
- Valerie Mallett presented an article from The Washington Post about home visits through the DCPS Family Engagement Partnership (FEP) as an effective intervention tool.
- Enrollment Project Update
- Official projected enrollment for Murch for next year is 680.
- DCPS has no policy under which they can tell us we don't have to take OOB kids. Individual placements still happen. If class size is really low, we may have to take additional kids.
- DCPS has confirmed no spots are being made available in lottery.
- Chancellor Henderson, Mary Cheh, and other public officials are visiting Murch for Read Across America on March 3. This is good exposure for Murch. Best advocacy for the school is for officials to witness the current conditions in the school first hand.
- Budget Update
- Results of the meeting with the Chancellor
- Anticipated budget process and schedule (all likely to occur within the same week)
- March 3 --‐ Mayor's State of the District speech
- After that the Chancellor will give a speech
- After that the LSATs will receive budget info
- Chancellor advised LSATs to "think big" --‐ what would you do with 10% budget increase? Murch anticipates that the increased funds may not be distributed evenly so we may not receive a full 10% increase. To be best prepared, Mr. C is planning for three possible scenarios:
- Plan A: Even if district per pupil funding to Murch is the same, Murch will get approximately $690,000 increased budget due to increased enrollment (based on last year's funding figures).
- Plan B: additional 5% increase in budget overall.
- Plan C: additional 10% increase in budget overall
- C reviewed the following possible additions/changes to the Murch budget from last year's staffing. The below list identifies each new possible addition to the staff if Murch were to receive the maximum amount of additional funding that has been identified. Real budget figures are likely to be more limited and will require the school to prioritize among the following options.
- Increase one class section in K, 1 and 2. Critical issue is finding space to house the classrooms. Options include library, additional trailers and/or swap out existing trailers for better trailers.
- Special Ed:
- Add a Special Ed coordinator position.
- Additional Special Ed and ELL aides --‐ Would be key to continuing learning when teacher not in the room. Question whether this is a half time job, with other half being in the classroom?
- Behavior Technician
- Help implement Responsive Classroom throughout the school. Would act as an "RC Coach."
- This position could also complete the SSTs (Student Support Team) and collect data in classrooms for difficult students.
- Technology coach
- Essentially an instructional coach focusing on technology. Would have a dual function, both coaching teachers and directly teaching students space permitting. Realistically probably would not directly teach students until after renovation.
- This position is in part planning for the school's post--‐renovation future
- Enrichment specialist.
- This position would plan lessons with staff, gather resources and prepare space for lessons. Could also lead small groups. Could be available to work directly with groups of top students as well (top 3%).
- DCPS is adopting a school wide enrichment model. Initial thought was that District would only fund a half time position for Murch. However, District also planning pilot program next year in four schools, which may include Murch. In which case the District might fully fund this position for Murch next year outside our budget.
- Math Specialist
- This position could be helpful for ensuring students get experiential learning opportunities.
- Teachers believe that with Math, the teachers already know how to use manipulatives, etc. The greater need is for intervention support. For kids who are struggling with math, at this point you need a specialist to do the intervention. An instructional aide can't do it. Frankly, the teacher has already exhausted her knowledge base.
- Even in 4th and 5th grade you have kids needing intense intervention. Math teacher doesn't have bandwidth.
- Classroom teachers do not have the time to do the level of intervention needed.
- Science Specialist
- This position would ensure kids get experiential learning opportunities in science.
- DC adopted new science standards Next Generation Science. How are we going to get ready?
- Most elementary school teachers are not science experts and they were not taught how to teach science in school. They need training and materials.
- One person to support science throughout the school seems manageable. [As compared to math, where it seems that a school this size might really require two specialists.]
- Parent Coordinator/Project Manager
- Plan would be to hire the school's current project manager (currently an HSA employee) under DCPS.
- Registrar
- Plan is to add an individual to the front office to free up some bandwidth for current staff. Location to be determined.
- Head Custodian
- School needs one Head Custodian to fill district requirements, including attending District meetings, trainings, etc.
- Pre--‐K teacher
- Plan would be to increase our current Pre--‐K resource teacher to full time to help with in classroom.
- Priorities: After initial discussion, we discussed the following positions being of the highest priority:
- classroom teachers + K aide
- Special Ed Coordinator
- Anticipated budget process and schedule (all likely to occur within the same week)
- Results of the meeting with the Chancellor
- Autism Program:
- All current students within the self--‐contained autism classroom at Murch will graduate this year.
- The District is indicating that Murch may be receiving a Pre--‐School (age 3) autism program as a substitute. If so, Mr. C likely would house this classroom in Kaufman.
- C has indicated to the District that we do not have the space to accept this program at this time, although the school may have no choice.
- Aides
- The group had a further discussion on a topic that has been raised previously: should classroom aides (especially in grades 1--‐5) be designated as clerical or instructional in order to maximize skill set and value?
- Teachers noted that both classroom aides and instructional specialists require a lot of teacher collaboration. Classroom teachers are ultimately responsible for the students in their classroom
- Consistency and reliability is key.
- It was noted that if aides are to be delinked from a single grade, it would be best for them to work with a limited group of teachers. Having the ability to get to know a limited set of teachers and students well would maximize their effectiveness.
- Assigning an aide to two grade levels could have an advantage of adding consistency with students as they progress from year--‐to--‐year.
- Non--‐Personnel spending
- Part of budget planning must include a discussion of the non--‐personnel spending line.
- We ran out of time during this meeting to address it.
- Martha to circulate survey information from staff on non--‐personnel spending and we will include it in our discussions next meeting.
- Teachers helping other teachers in the classroom
- Several years ago teachers could volunteer to spend one planning period a week helping in another teacher's classroom.
- It was a good program and successful in both supporting teachers with intervention, as well as cross--‐ pollinating teaching styles. Now Murch teachers are siloed in their classrooms.
- Program was volunteer only. It was not required.
- Program happened when the HSA paid for recess aide and teachers had additional planning time free during the day. Not likely teachers would volunteer to do this today because they have so little free time during the day
- Options for Adding Classroom Space at Murch Next Year
- world geography room
- trailer for ELL
- library
- additional trailers
- autism room
- Interim Space Improvement Priorities (possibly to be addressed during spring break or summer break)
- Functioning Wi--‐Fi
- Locks on classroom doors
- Electronic key access to the building
- thorough cleaning of the building
- permit parking for staff in the neighborhood (to free up parking lot to use for trailers)
- Next Steps
- C. to circulate job descriptions for possible new positions to LSAT.
- C to circulate staffing models to teachers and schedule meeting with staff on March 4 for discussion.
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Vicki Otten, Avis McCoy, Bethany Little, Lisa Stone, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger, Emma Stewart, Valerie Mallett, Chris Cebrzynski, and Michael Scherger
- Enrollment Projections
- Murch must submit our projection by Jan. 21.
- DCPS proposed enrollment for Murch for next year: 642 (16 higher than this year's enrollment); our projection is likely to be more like 38--‐42 higher --‐ 9% would be ).
- Growth last year 9%; year before 3;%, year before 6%.
- Janney: estimated 647 for this year; actual is 628. Murch estimated 601 and exceeded it (629). Equalization never happened. As a result Janney received about $400,000 more from DCPS this year despite having almost the same number of students.
- Murch thought we would get another K teacher this year due to higher enrollment. Mr. C inquired about enrollment and was told that the district does teacher allocations by grade level, not by raw numbers. Therefore, to get another K teacher, Murch would have had to have 30 students in each K class.
- Mr C to submit his project for Murch next week.
- If different from the DCPS numbers he must submit justification.
- LSAT to prepare list of bullet rationales to support higher enrollment through Basecamp that Mr. C can review for his submission.
- Advocacy
- There was a general discussion about the need for the Murch community to speak up and advocate for Murch's needs (budget and renovation).
- The LSAT and HSA leaders have a letter regarding enrollment projects in draft form. Letter will be sent to Chancellor Henderson, Mayor Grey, and Councilmen Cheh (representing Ward 3) and Catania (Chairman of Education Committee).
- The SIT has another letter in draft regarding urgency of renovation (timing and budget). Also scheduled for delivery tomorrow. The SIT letter will be sent to Henderson, grey, Cheh, Catania, as well as some additional members of the Council
- Letters going in tomorrow. Martha to hand deliver the LSAT/HSA letter tomorrow at Wilson building.
- Some of the reasons why Murch should expect higher enrollment than what DCPS projects:
- more flexible housing stock;
- as other NW schools become overcrowded and there is less option to go out of boundary, Murch offers one of the remaining options with our rental base.
- Mr C to submit his project for Murch next week.
- Murch must submit our projection by Jan. 21.
- Budget discussions
- Special Ed --‐ open budget issues
- All students currently in the autism program are going to middle school next year.
- DCPS is proposing a pre--‐k and K autism program here. Murch may have space to do at most one of these programs, but not both.
- ELL --‐ projections difficult. Murch ELL population grows during the year due to schedules of international population.
- DCPS timeline:
- Training on budget for LSAT members anticipated for late Jan/early Feb. In recent years this training has been helpful for identifying new information (such as the new world culture/world georgraphy requirement last year).
- DCPS is currently anticipating releasing draft school budgets the first week of March, with a 1 week turn around.
- Healthy Schools Act --‐ big unknown about how will that affect next year's schedule and staffing.
- Special Ed --‐ open budget issues
- Parent Information Night
- This event is being postponed until Spring.
- We anticipate a parent forum on renovation/budget in next few weeks and do not want to crowd the calendar.
- Open question regarding whether it would be more useful in September. Would not want to have a useful event that parents wishes had occurred earlier in the year.
- We may wish to rethink the beginning of the year and back to school night format and content.
- Renovation update
- Renovation now scheduled for summer 2015. There are concerns that it will be pushed back again, due to DGS' lack of communication with the school. Also, 2014 is an election year in DC, which in the past has caused a realignment of priorities.
- The SIT, working with the HSA and LSAT are organizing a campaign to advocate for the school with elected officials (see letters discussed above). There will also be a grass roots element.
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Sabrina Finberg, Vicki Otten, Avis McCoy, Bethany Little, Valerie Mallett, Lisa Stone, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger, Michael Scherger, Emma Stewart
Guests: Linda Zirkelbach, John See and JoAnna Graham, John See
- Introductions – The LSAT members and guests introduced themselves, including introduction of new LSAT Community Rep. member Emma Stewart.
- Parent Information Night
- Tentatively scheduled for January 29, 2014. A snow date will also be scheduled.
- General topic: curriculum, what your child should know by the end of the year.
- Subcommittee planning committee: Sabrina Finberg, Bethany Little, and Vicki Otten
- Budget
- David Catania passed legislation providing additional funding to schools for at--‐risk students. May require LSAT to separately designate how these funds will be spent.
- Martha McIntosh posted previous two years budgets on Basecamp.
- School/office supply line.
- A concern has been raised by parents that office supplies are not sufficient and teachers are buying office supplies with own money. During discussion, the following possible causes were identified:
- October budget gap --‐ each year DCPS can be slow to release funds at the start of the District’s fiscal year, which starts October 1.
- Sequester made it worse
- Printer Ink: HSA historically has purchased some supplies for equipment it has purchased and donated to the school (i.e., printer ink and laminator paper) but they were not purchased this fall. This was due to a miscommunication that has been resolved the HSA will order ink.
- HSA Printers – Lisa Stone will work with HSA to get ink cartridges ordered.
- DCPS printers – Martha to investigate.
- Paper: Each teacher was given a case of paper at the beginning of the year but that ran out quickly.
- At beginning of year some expected curriculum was not available. Teachers were copying resources to fill in the caps, causing the initial case of paper to go very quickly.
- Resupply happened in past couple of weeks and now classroom teachers have paper.
- One issue may be how to most fairly distribute supplies based on varying needs.
- Money/sources available to teachers
- School funds
- DCPS --‐ $200 office depot card at beginning of year
- HSA --‐ $200 at beginning of year per teacher
- Parent purchased school supplies
- HSA teachers grants
- Questions:
- Did the school spend down the full supply budget the past 2 years?
- How much paper and supplies do teachers use each year?
- Did non--‐classroom teachers (such as special ed) get a resupply of paper?
- Is current paper allocation by grade appropriate?
- Need to review purchasing system (ordering and distribution) and determine what is not working – Martha to research
- Parent comment: If ordering system isn’t working for Murch, parents want to be informed and want to be able to intervene.
- A concern has been raised by parents that office supplies are not sufficient and teachers are buying office supplies with own money. During discussion, the following possible causes were identified:
- School renovation
- Murch already has been pushed back one year.
- Janney is going ahead with a $5 million expansion even though Janney already has twice the space of Murch with the same enrollment.
- DCGS has been difficult to communicate with and is not providing required information.
- Murch SIT has identified possible problem with rebuilding where Kaufman stands, which is on National Park Service land. Original agreement to build Kaufman took long--‐term negotiations and includes clause that if Kaufman is knocked down the space will return to green space.
- LSAT agreed to sent joint letter with HSA to DC Council and others expressing concern about the status of the renovation. Martha McIntosh to draft letter.
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Sabrina Finberg, Vicki Otten, Beth Ward, Chris Cebrzynski, Avis McCoy, Bethany Little, Valerie Mallett, Lisa Stone, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger Members
Absent: Michael Scherger
- Community Rep – Lisa Stone proposed that we invite Emma Stewart to be the Community Rep to the LSAT. Ms. Stewart is a former Murch parent and currently has children enrolled at Deal and Wilson. She also is the Assistant Director to CCBC Children’s Center. No objections were raised and several members commented that she sounds like an ideal candidate. Lisa Stone agreed to reach out to Ms. Stewart and invite her to our December meeting.
- Extended Planning – Faculty and staff requested to discuss this issue first with Mr. C. so issue was tabled until next meeting. Mr. C reported that a survey was circulated to teachers and Mr. C will circulate responses to the staff tomorrow. Mr. C plans to discuss extended planning with the faculty before the December meeting.
- Parent Information Nights
- October night on assessment was successful.
- About 30 parents in attendance.
- Good vehicle for addressing issues with parents that come up every so often , (i.e. keyboarding, common core, curriculum, what parents can be doing at home, report card night, responsive classroom)
- General consensus that a curriculum night is the most important one to complete this year. Goal is to teach parents what classroom lessons look like and what they should know by the end of the year. Tentatively planned for last week in January. We discussed the importance of targeting the information as specific as possible to students (i.e., grade by grade).
- October night on assessment was successful.
- Budget Preview
- The LSAT all agreed the importance of discussion difficult budget issues before the actual budget process so that the LSAT can give Mr. C well thought out advise.
- Mr. C reported that the school anticipates another 4% growth this year which will bring Murch’s estimated enrollment to 650 for next year. This would mean two classroom teachers in addition to what we have now. Unclear how to deploy these teachers, especially with space limits of current building.
- Autonomous school status gives Murch some flexibility on staffing models.
- A question was raised about how non--‐staff instructional resources like specialized programs and curriculums fit into the budget process.
- DCPS makes purchasing difficult by being very unpredictable in their curriculum supplies.
- All agreed this is an important topic to consider and advise Mr. C on.
- Vicki Otten will work with Mary Eckstein to conduct a survey of teachers about what they want and organize the information.
- Goal is to complete the survey during December. Teachers will gather info, align along grade and subject matter lines and ready to present to LSAT at Jan. meeting.
- Mary working on a parent volunteer program to roll out soon.
- Auction Paddles Up – Mr. C would like LSAT to advise on the Paddles Up ask this year.
- December meeting – Mr. C will share the 2013--‐14 year’s budget with the LSAT at the December meeting for background purposes.
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Sabrina Finberg, Vicki Otten, Beth Ward, Chris Cebrzynski, Sally George, Avis McCoy, Bethany Little, Valerie Mallett, Lisa Stone, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger, Michael Scherger
Members Absent: Valerie Mallett
- Principal’s Report (Mr. C. gave the following report and then left the meeting to prepare for tonight’s Parent Information Session on Assessments)
- ___
- Enrollment:
- Community Rep: LSAT did not have one last year but agree this position could provide valuable perspective. Possible ideas that were floated were a teacher at another school (either elementary, or middle school), or a teacher at a preschool that feeds into Murch.
- General Discussion on Topics for LSAT to Tackle this Year
- Intervention
- Need information on what the current program is; need training for general ed teachers on how to support the intervention in the classroom.
- Limited numbers being pulled now. There is greater need and teachers would like to expand the groups.
- How are we addressing math deficits?
- iReady training tomorrow. DC purchased system for K--‐8
- Additional support options, such as after school? What are the additional gaps?
- Teacher training/collaboration time
- Next week trying new schedule that will allow each grade a half day.
- On days with no recess that will be long days; change in schedules are very difficult.
- Some teachers using this week to do nontraditional instructional things such as parent--‐let art instruction.
- Teachers getting vague/conflicting information on how they will be able to use the 3 hour block.
- Tremendous demands on teachers time this year. Makes it difficult to appreciate and maximize this opportunity. Would be much better appreciated if it didn’t replace other planning time. Also should we look at other scheduling items to free up more teacher time, like not covering recess every day.
- Instructional Coaches
- How is this investment working this year? What are their responsibilities.
- Technology
- How will Murch embrace/respond to the technology challenges coming our way?
- Intervention
- Parent Information Night on Assessments: Following LSAT meeting, the school hosted a parent information night on assessments.
Attendees: Martha McIntosh, Sabrina Finberg, Vicki Otten, Beth Ward, Chris Cebrzynski, Sally George, Avis McCoy, Bethany Little, Valerie Mallett, Lisa Stone, Lauren Miller, Stefanie Berger Members
Absent: Michael Scherger
- Housekeeping Issues
- Introductions: All attendees introduced themselves.
- Secretary and Meeting Minutes: Lisa Stone volunteered to take minutes for the first meeting. After that we may rotate taking minutes.
- Meeting Schedule: Anticipate meetings to occur on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 5:30 and to last 90 minutes. In case of a scheduling conflict meeting will be pushed a week. Actual schedule posted on handout. We will plan to meet every other month without Mr. C in order to facilitate open discussion, but Mr. C will keep all meetings on his calendar in case his attendance is requested.
- Sponsoring a Parent Information Night on Assessments: Mr. C has asked the LSAT to sponsor a parent information night on assessments. The objective of the event is to educate parents on what assessments the school does, what they really involve in the classroom (i.e. how much time) and how the school uses them. Event will cover all standardized assessments, including a discussion of the results of last year’s DC--‐CAS. The plain is to use live PIA data to show what they see and how teachers use the data. LSAT will ask the HSA to pay for babysitting. Event is tentatively scheduled for October 17 at 7:00 following LSAT meeting. Mr. C asked LSAT to send him any suggestions for items to address. Instructional coaches will do the “heavy lifting” on the presentation. LSAT will communicate to parents the importance of participating in testing and how it adds value to school.
- Community Rep: LSAT did not have one last year but agree this position could provide valuable perspective. We will try using Basecamp as method to share ideas on community rep (and other LSAT business).
- Enrollment Update: In DC registration system we have 621 students, but we actually have 626 students in the school. Janney has 628. Last year’s enrollment project for this year was 601. Mr. C asking his instructional superintendent how many students we need to get an additional staff position, but it is likely we have already met that number.
- Rough enrollment by grade: 5th (80--‐82), 4th (96), 3rd (95), 2nd (82), 1st (97), k (103), Prek (60).
- If Murch gets another staff position, it most likely would be deployed in kindergarten, however, Mr. C will come back to the LSAT for advice on how to best utilize and introduce a new teacher. One option is to create a new kindergarten classroom. Another option would be to use a new teacher as a floater between the three current classrooms to assist in group work with students. If the school created a new kindergarten classroom (along with a district--‐paid aide), the logistics for integrating the new teacher would likely be as follows:
- Classroom options include the new library media room, room 100 (and move geography), Ben 3, or Ben 8. Mr. C’s preference is for any K classroom to be in the main building and not in a portable classroom.
- Possible process for introducing new staff member: After hiring teacher, school will offer meet and greet to all K parents, followed by two--‐week transition period during which new teacher is in existing classrooms and getting to know the students. Finally, the school would solicit volunteers. We had an open discussion regarding whether current teachers should play a role in reassignment without any resolution. If Murch is assigned a new teacher, Mr. C will come back to LSAT for advice on how to best utilize and introduce the new teacher.
- Comprehensive School Plan: On Monday, September 30, Mr. C meets with Chancellor Henderson about Murch’s goals for the year: a. Based on input from school leadership team, data, and other sources, Mr. C is proposing the following four goals for Murch this year:
- Improve student performance in ELA to 86% proficient or above
- Improve student performance in Math to 86% proficient or above
- Improve student achievement for math and reading by reducing failure rate of subgroups by 15%
- Create inclusive child--‐centered environment for students who are not regular ed students. These include special ed, ELL, FARM, and former special ed or EEL students. b. Strategies for achieving these goals
- Significant focus on differentiation in instruction throughout all classrooms this year. Some teachers attended special training and will be differentiation teacher coaches.
- Establish confidential data wall for individual students that track progress throughout the year.
- DC--‐CAS. We had a lengthy discussion of Murch’s DC--‐CAS scores from last year. Among other things, the following points were touched upon.
- Data from last year’s test revealed the existence of a group of regular ed students that didn’t pass (in addition to subgroups) and we don’t know why. School is directing intervention to identified students, using data wall to track progress.
- Possible factors contributing to lower scores:
- 5th grade has 6 days of testing in a row. Really long and they tire by the end. Scores may suffer by day 6.
- DC--‐CAS is not aligned to common core. Teachers did not learn that fact until March 2013 and then had a few weeks to “catch up” and teach non--‐common core standards that would be on the CAS.
- Discussion about whether there are additional kids who are passing the CAS as proficient but are getting additional support outside the school.
- Additional possible steps school could take to respond to scores:
- Grade--‐level after school teacher support – homework help. (After 3:30 must be voluntary under union contract.) Teachers on LSAT should be activists in supporting the School Improvement Plan.
- ELL plans to have a parent evening for those families in order to establish and strengthen the school--‐home connection.
- Should LSAT host evenings to educate parents on what they can do to support their kids?
- Teachers could establish plan early in year for kids who need support (but not identified for intervention) and meet with parents before first conference to discuss plan.
- How do we support families where parents can’t help? New ipads and chrome books may help.
- Raw Second Grade CAS results: a total of 96 students tested
- ELA: advanced (26); proficient (49); basic (11); below basic (6)
- Math: advanced (38); proficient (42); basic (14); below basic (2)
- Special Note on DC--‐CAS scores: DC Council had a hearing today on DC--‐CAS scores. OSSE calculated scores this year in a manner that is more favorable. OSSE agreed to release new data early next week.