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PEACHAM
SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD
OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING
Monday,
August 18, 2014
Peacham
School Library
UNAPPROVED
PRESENT:
Board:
Mark Clough, Jenny Land Mackenzie, Wynne Browne
Administration:
Judy Ross, Mat Forest
Staff:
Cheryl Stevenson
Public:
Neil Monteith
1.
Meeting called to order at 6:10PM.
2.
Minutes of June 18 and July 15 approved as written.
3.
Open meeting law review-- Attorney Rick Scholes unable to
attend-- this will happen next meeting.
4.
Board of Civil Authority-- Neil Monteith is the town
emergency management coordinator. The subject of
the installation and maintenance of a generator not now in existence
was discussed and Neil will follow up with the School on this issue.
5.
Public input-- none.
6.
Administrative reports
A.
Principal’s Report
--Academic
Excellence Goal-- PES is preparing to implement STAR Reading
and STAR Math online adaptive assessments for students in grades 1-6;
data will be used to create individualized instruction plans
delivered through a multi-tiered system of supports to help students
develop mastery of Common Core standards. PES will be embedding
a daily period of remediation/enrichment for all students; these
6-week periods (called LEAP-- Learn, Explore, Assess, Progress)
will be facilitated by staff with specific skills or interests and
may be multi-aged small or large groups, beginning in mid-September.
A multi-tiered system of behavioral supports (MTSS-B) will be
implemented for teaching and sustaining school-wide expectations to
enable focused academic and social success. PES staff will have
training in both systems and have the opportunity to customize them
to our specific student and school needs. 2014 NECAP AYP
results have been released to VT schools. No school in the state
including PES, met AYP goals for either Literacy or Math. Secretary
Holcombe has released statements to acknowledge the incongruity in
this data and the actual progress VT schools are making.
--Effective
Leadership Goal-- Judy has attended several summer professional
conferences, with staff members and alone, including the VPA 3-day
conference focusing on supervision and evaluation of implementation
of the CCSS and Next Generation Standards for Science, the 3-day
MTSS-B conference to plan roll-out of the new behavior system; a
day-day 21st Century technology skills conference with the new tech
integration/library person, Jen Williams. Judy and Cheryl
worked together closely to plan and review progress on building work;
the building will be ready for students on August 25.
Interviews are being scheduled for filling the PES 21C site
coordinator position, working with Donna Gaston, the new CCSU 21C
district coordinator. Liz Ruffner is returning as 2nd in
command.
--School
Climate and Social Education-- MTSS-B will be implemented with
direct instruction as part of the Responsive Classroom platform
during the first 6 weeks of school. Students and staff will
develop whole-school expectations for common areas (playground,
hallways, bathrooms, cafeteria, bus, and specials. Each
classroom teacher will develop their specific classroom systems of
expectations and outcomes.
--Community
Building Goal-- The 2014-15 Back to School Potluck Picnic will
by 5:30-7:30 on Fri., Aug 22. Work continues on the Outdoor
Space using local contractors whenever possible. Instructional
units are being developed to emphasize community connections through
place-based application of standards in all content areas. PES
will partner again this year with Becky Jensen and the town library
to plan student and family events and learning opportunities. Sean
Markey will be assisting with an upgrade to the website to improve
communication.
--Professional
Community Goals-- Janice Brisco and Hanna Galinat are committed
to working together as the Humanities and STEM content specialists
for grades 3-6 to provide a vigorous academic program collaborating
with Jen Williams, the new tech integrationist. Judy,
Hanna, Sarah Parker and Jen Williams spent a day collaborating on
curriculum planning in early August supported by stipends. Paid
summer curriculum work will be added to next year’s PD budget to
acknowledge the professional contributions of the staff. Teacher
in-service are planned for August 21 with the entire CCSU staff at
Barnet and for the 22nd at PES. The focus will be reviewing and
fine-tuning systems to ensure student safety and supervision at all
times.
--Arts
and Languages Goal-- Ruth Kaldor will collaborate with
classroom teachers to find meaningful connections between her program
and curriculum goals. The school is updating the
environment and arrangement of the multi-purpose room.
--Other
items-- PK-K enrollment is now 15 students, which is capacity.
Whole school enrollment is at about 48 with the addition of two
previously homeschooled children in the 3 and 5-year group. The
school always welcomes back other homeschooled students for any and
all parts of its program.
B.
Superintendent’s Report
--Administrative
Retreat-- the Administrative Team met on August 11 and 12 at
Springfield College Campus, planning opening day activities for the
faculty and staff on October 21 and 22, and the role of the SU goals.
The goal is to have the bulk of curriculum work completed by
March.
--Curriculum
Team-- A CCSU curriculum team has been established to create
units of study and common formative assessments in humanities and
STEM. This team will meet monthly.
--The
next CCSU board meeting will be on August 27.
--Caledonia
Record-- Mat met with Todd Smith on August 5 after hearing from
various board members throughout the SU about their concerns with
negative press. The meeting was productive and positive.
7.
Old Business
--School
engineering/energy efficient upgrade-- should collect input
from townspeople giving all of the options before laying out a final
proposal. A building upgrade will cost money. We need
input into how the town wants to use the building long term, and the
variety of uses it may have. There is a lot of energy waste
from the building, and if it is going to be used, it will need an
investment. The board will call a special meeting this fall to
go over information.
8.
New Business
--
Marketing Committee. Sean Markey is updating the website. Mark
proposed setting up a committee to work on promoting the school, and
will make calls to set that up. All info collected will be
shared at the regularly scheduled public meeting.
--Mark
shared info from the School and Municipal Leadership Conference on
Education Property Tax and Funding Reform (August 14 in South
Burlington). Among other topics, there was a focus on towns
structuring schools around K-6 local and 7-12 regionalized (as
Peacham does). Towns need common structure (school buildings
become multi-purpose for other community uses). There was a
discussion about making more efficient state-wide teacher contracts.
There was a discussion about cost drivers in education, local
board control, and Act 68-Funding.
--Building
Report-- Cheryl reported that there are now blinds and shades
in all windows for a lockdown situation. There is a new floor
in the entryway, and some new painting will happen soon. The
grounds are being made safer and more open for better supervision--
the big play structure is down, with the two towers saved for
play areas. Sand is the correct depth under the swings. The
bushes are cut back, and there was additional trimming and
bush-hogging. There will be further long-term plans for the
playground. Allen Thresher and his crew have helped so much
with the work to date. Raised beds and the shed are still in
progress. Permits for the shed should come soon. The shed
needs to be erected soon for storage purposes.
9.
The board entered executive session at 8:02PM for a legal
discussion and to approve a negotiated teacher contract.
10.
The board exited executive session at 8:35PM. There was a
unanimous decision for Mark to sign the negotiated teacher contract.
11.
Meeting adjourned at 8:37PM. Next meeting will be on
Monday, September 8 at 6pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Jenny
Land Mackenzie
