PRESCOTT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
146 South Granite Street
Prescott, Arizona 86303
August
26, 2004
Minutes of the Governing
Board Planning Session of Thursday, August 26, 2004, beginning at 8:00 a.m. at
the Mountain Club Clubhouse.
Governing Board Members
Present:
President Dee Navarro
Mr. Steve Campbell
Dr. Joan Fleming
Mr. Gordon Maddux
Dr. Andy Newton (absent)
Also Present:
Mr. Kevin J. Kapp,
Superintendent
Dr. Chris Reynolds,
Assistant Superintendent
Mrs. Renee Raskin,
Business Manager
Mrs. Andi Mayer, Assistant
to the Governing Board
Others Present:
Totsy
McCraley Mary Ann Kapp Marianne Brooks
Tom
Staley Arn Lavington Jay Collier
Frank
Lawhead Judy Paris Colleen Ludwig
Kelton
Aker Jim Williams Bill Munson
Cindy
Brown Nancy Martinez Dorrean Walker
Ed
Yeager Joe Howard Mike
Harlan
Bob
Williams Tom O’Halleran Lt. Cabbel
Victoria
Witt SRO Larry Klempner SRO Dave Fuller
Bill Monroe
CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME
Breakfast took place from
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. President Dee Navarro welcomed everyone, called the
meeting to order at 8:43 a.m. and led member of the retreat in the Pledge
of Allegiance.
PLANNING SESSION:
SITE COUNCILS
Dr. Joan Fleming stated
that she wanted all site councils to be on the same page as far as how
they operate and serving as advisory board for the administration and
school.
President Navarro noted
that all site councils must be in compliance with the open meeting laws.
-
All schools must have a
functioning site council aligned with Board policy.
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Principals: Give Kevin
a summary of site council status, schedule of meetings, etc. by
October
1st, 2004.
CRITERIA FOR TRY-OUTS
FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL SPORTS TEAMS
Dr. Fleming reported that
she had listened to a hysterical parent regarding 50 7th grade
girls who had tried out for volleyball at the middle school level with 18
not being accepted on the team. She noted that she had later found out
that students have the option of taking volleyball in 6th grade
to obtain the basic skills.
Mr. Tom Staley suggested
allowing those students to practice if they have an interest. Mr. Joe
Howard pointed out that there is a “pay to play” fee those students would
be required to pay.
Dr. Fleming stated that
she and Gordon Maddux felt that PE should be offered daily for all levels
of students. Mr. Mike Harlan stated that his school has developmental
teams, but that they can put a strain on facility usage.
GOAL SETTING FOR
2004-2005 SCHOOL YEAR
Mr. Kevin Kapp reviewed
the list of possible goals that had been developed the day before, as well
as the actual goals set for last year.
President Navarro
clarified that the wording “track standards” would be used rather than
“document.”
Mr. Kapp noted that in
looking at the recent AIMS scores from this year, there were some
concerns.
Mr. Gordon Maddux stated
that the district should look at the scores and use that data to figure
out why they are where they are.
Mr. Harlan stated that
they have been looking at data to give to teachers to use as tools for
better instruction.
Mr. Maddux asked if that
pinpointed the needs. Mr. Harlan responded, yes, at Granite Mountain we
pinpointed needs through measuring and statistical analysis and that in
Math they had found that it was students taking pre-algebra that had
missed some of the curriculum that had brought some of the math scores
down and that the appropriate changes have been made this year to correct
that problem.
Dr. Fleming noted that the
rationale in the past for some of the sophomore scores on the AIMS was
because those students had not yet had some of the curriculum or
standards. She asked if that was still true. Mrs. Totsy McCraley
responded that some of the high school teachers have taken the tests with
the students to see what the expectations are and had felt that there were
concepts within AIMS that were difficult for them, much less students.
She noted that there are new standards in science.
Mr. Maddux asked if she
felt they were valid or superfluous. Mrs. McCraley responded that she
felt they were good changes and that there were some classes offered that
needed to be looked at that did not have some of the standards.
Mrs. Mary Anne Kapp noted
that with Title I the district will need on-going assessments using the
new Odyssey program to build an assessment. She noted that with younger
students teachers felt the standards were too tough. She stated that we
need to look at our curriculum and make sure we’re meeting all areas.
Mrs. McCraley noted that
ELL and special needs students needed to be considered and that teachers
needed to be well-versed in different strategies to help those students.
Mr. Harlan noted that when
looking at the sophomore AIMS scores, one should realize that AIMS is an
exit level test designed for grades 10-12, with the expectation that
seniors will pass the test. He noted that some of our sophomores have
already passed the test, which speaks well of our teaching.
Mr. Kapp stated that
student achievement should be one of the goals every year. He noted that
the article in The Arizona Republic reported that 61% of sophomores
did not pass the AIMS test, when they should have focused on the 39% who
did pass an exit test two years ahead of time.
Mrs. McCraley stated that
they have already had calls from parents that reacted to that newspaper
article and the number of students that did not pass.
Mr. Harlan noted that
teachers have the capability of pulling up AIMS and Stanford 9 data from
their desk and that the goal is for them to be able to pull it up just for
their students.
Mrs. Kapp noted that they
had recently done a test regarding rank/order where an entire school can
be done by grade, which can be used for AIMS. Principals will receive a
list of that rank/order for their entire school.
During the break,
President Navarro introduced Mr. Tom O’Halleran who addressed the group
during the break regarding some of the main issues of public education in
the legislature.
President Navarro recapped
some of the possible goals:
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Community outreach means
instead of bring businesses in to the schools, we need to be going out
to businesses and trying to get their support.
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Look at making a task
force to do a 5 year plan and address class size.
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Student nutrition and
health – we really need to look at that regarding obesity, daily P.E.
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Maximize salaries
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Track remediation
DUTY TO REPORT LAWS AND
PROCEDURES
President Navarro
introduced the guests regarding this agenda item. Ms. Victoria Witt
reported that this group needed to talk about the juvenile program and
when to refer students. She noted that during an in-service an attorney
had told the district that every fight should be reported and student
referred and that some staff began to overreact. She stated that usually
the school district can deal more effectively with those types of
situations and that some times the situations get worse when the student
is referred to the juvenile authorities. She stated that she did not
agree with what that attorney had said and that there are many programs
through grants that can offer help to those students.
Mr. Kapp noted that at the
in-service a liability attorney is the one who said that school employees
should report every fight to avoid liability. Ms. Witt stated that the
statutes that attorney had been alluding to were regarding child abuse.
Lt. Mike Cabbel stated
that regarding reporting fights, the intent has to be looked at and if a
criminal act is involved, then it probably needs to be reported, but
unless you can show the intent of a criminal act, the school should handle
it. He noted that after that in-service the SRO’s were overwhelmed by
calls from administrators and teachers. He stated that by having SRO’s in
the schools, it has helped out by freeing up things for patrol units on
the streets. He encouraged the school to do like they have been doing and
deal with those types of issue in house.
SRO Dave Fuller agreed
with what Lt. Cabbel suggested and noted that after the in-service they
were flooded with calls due to “knee jerk” reactions. He stated that he
would like to continue the way we have and that he thought there was a
good working relationship between the schools and the police department.
SRO Larry Klempner noted
that in the past, this wasn’t a problem until that in-service attorney
made it a problem.
Mr. Kapp asked for input
from the principals. They all agreed that they have a good relationship
with the police department, that SRO’s are beneficial and really
appreciated, and that people needed to use common sense. Mr. Kapp noted
that there was consensus on using common sense and that this information
needed to be shared by the principals with their staff.
Mrs. Kapp noted that the
district has 4.0 FTE police officers in the schools, which the city pays
for. She discussed some of the programs funded by grants such as D.A.R.E.,
Project Alert, We the People, etc. She noted that a social responsibility
training program will be implemented at the high school and middle school
level and that they were looking at peer mediation for those levels also.
She acknowledged that there is a pull between instruction and these extra
programs, because teachers want to protect their teaching time.
Ms. Witt noted that she’d
like to work with some school personnel, as well as Paul Street’s office,
to look at the possibility of writing a grant for a program that would
help some of these problems, such as conflict resolution or a diversion
program.
Lt. Cabbel stated that
he’d like to see something long term – not just a one year grant and
suggested looking at some of the programs other school district have
already implemented.
Mrs. Kapp stated that she
would definitely help with the research, since what we are getting from
the Police Department and the city if incredible.
Joe Howard, Bob Williams,
Don German, Joan Fleming, Dee Navarro and Mary Anne Kapp all volunteered
to help with this endeavor.
PROFESSIONAL ATTIRE
Mr. Kapp noted that he has
observed somewhat of an erosion of professional dress within the
district. He asked the principals and directors to raise awareness of
this at their sites and also noted that they have the authority to request
staff to dress professionally.
President Navarro stated
that she felt that professional attire reflects on the students and they
react accordingly.
Mr. Lawhead noted that
some casual attire could be due to certain activities such as “casual
Friday.”
Mrs. Walker suggested that
the administrators should pull those individuals aside who are not dressed
professionally and talk to them. She stated that she did not see a lot of
people abusing it.
Mr. Staley stated that he
felt it was very subjective and that proper attire comes from the
leadership down. He also noted that he’d rather have a casually dressed
master teacher, than a well-dressed mediocre teacher.
Mr. Aker suggested having
an article in “Let’s Talk.” Mr. Kapp offered to write an article
regarding professional attire.
PARENT CONFERENCES –
NIGHTS – SATURDAYS
Mr. Kapp stated that he
felt this was a part of the community/business outreach program – on their
terms – not our terms. He asked if all schools were offering night
conferences, or even weekend conferences. He noted that instead of
expecting parents to “make it work” – lets try to accommodate them.
Mr. Kapp asked how many
schools offered parent conferences during non-working hours. It was noted
that the high school and middle schools did.
Mr. Kapp stated that he
would really like to explore how all the schools do parent conferences.
He noted that most of them are done in three and a half days and that the
Board was concerned about the number of half-days and the loss of
instructional time. He stated that he’d like to work with developing
parent conferences through a community outreach program.
Mrs. Walker suggested that
if night conferences were being considered, to do it at the end of the
week, rather than the beginning of the week. Mr. Kapp noted that they
could even look at Friday conferences.
Mr. Kapp stated that he
wanted to know if conferences were easy for parents to arrange.
Mr. Munson reported that
at Abia Judd, for those parents who can’t make it during the scheduled
time, the teacher accommodates them and will meet with them at anytime.
Mr. Kapp noted that
schools needed to make sure they weren’t making it too difficult for
working parents to be involved with the schools.
Mr. Howard noted that
Prescott Mile High Middle School has a 70% average attendance for night
conferences.
Mr. Harlan noted that they
schedule for the most challenging children at night to meet with those
parents.
Mrs. McCraley reported
that the high school had just had a Monday night open house and that some
teachers saw between 50-60 parents and that special education teachers saw
some parents they have never seen before. She noted that it seems to be a
better draw if you have other activities in conjunction with the
conferences. She also stated that it was her observation that parents of
the kids who are really doing well are those that attend parent
conferences, rather than those parents who you really need to visit with.
Dr. Fleming stated that
she did not understand the rationale for not just having one night for
parent conferences.
Mr. Kapp stated that he
liked Frank Lawhead’s idea of giving the teachers a two-week period with
the requirement that they contact all of their parents through
conferences. He stated that he’d like to explore that, as well as some
other options.
Mr. Williams noted that at
most of the elementary conferences, everyone is available for parents –
not just the teachers, i.e. cafeteria workers, psychologists, social
workers, etc.
Mrs. Walker noted that
with all day conferences, there is a “fatigue factor” for teachers near
the end of the day.
Mr. Munson stated that he
liked the idea of giving teachers a two-week period to contract their
parents.
Parent Conferences/Half
Days:
LUNCH BREAK
GOAL SETTING FOR
2004-2005 SCHOOL YEAR
Mr. Kapp reviewed the
other topics from yesterday.
Mr. Munson observed that
we set goals every year, but we must keep in mind that some of these goals
take more than one year -- like character counts. He noted that it takes
three years for something to become a part of the school’s culture and you
only have so much time to implement new ideas or goals. He stated that
you can’t keep adding new goals every year, but should continue to focus
on goals from previous years. He remarked that he felt the schools had
lost focus regarding the character counts program.
Mr. Williams agreed,
noting that it’s called “diluting the focus.” He reported that Miller
Valley was focusing on language arts and that he was hesitant to take back
too many other goals.
PRESENTATION:
TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP
Mr. Habeck decided to have
a discussion regarding how schools use technology to communicate with
parents, rather than the presentation. He stated that he’d like to see a
more interactive website.
Mr. Harlan noted that
because 80-90 percent of his parents have e-mail addresses, Granite
Mountain has started to send home a daily bulletin for parents and that
the parents really appreciate that communication.
Mr. Campbell reported that
being able to access student grades is wonderful, as is communicating with
teachers through e-mails.
FINALIZE 2004-2005
GOALS, SET UP COMMITTEES AND PRELIMINARY ACTION PLANS
Goals were finalized to:
-
Food and Fitness
-
Character Education
-
District Growth
-
Academic Achievement
After the goals were
finalized, DLT members volunteered to serve on the different committees,
met for a short time to elect a chairperson, develop some action plans and
summarize those plans for the Board.
FOOD AND FITNESS
COMMITTEE
Chair: Jim Wahlstrom
Members: Chris Reynolds,
Renee Raskin, Arn Lavington, Dr. Andy Newton
1. Develop mission
statement
2. Nutrition
Education
3. Parent
Involvement
4. P.E.
CHARACTER EDUCATION
COMMITTEE
Chair: Joe Howard
Members: Kelton Aker,
Bill Munson, Tom Staley
1. Character Counts
for Students
2. Develop Parent
Resources
3. Community
·
Law Enforcement
(SRO Grant)
·
City-wide Program
DISTRICT GROWTH
COMMITTEE
Chair: “Program” – Phase
I – Bob Williams
“Facilities” –
Phase II – Jay Collier
Members: Dee Navarro,
Steve Campbell, Judy Paris, Frank Lawhead, Buddy Habeck, Bob Williams,
Cindy Brown, Nancy Martinez, Colleen Ludwig, Dorrean Walker, Jay Collier
First Meeting:
September 21st @ 3:30 p.m. @ D.O.
1. Immediate Needs
·
Assess and identify
needs
·
Facility impact
(class size)
·
Staffing Impact
(class size)
·
Funding
·
Community
Involvement
·
Level Reps
·
Special Programs
-
Technology
-
Early Childhood
-
ELL
-
Parent Programs
-
Special Education
2. Short Term
3. Future Long Term
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
COMMITTEE
Chair: Totsy McCraley
Members: Marianne Brooks,
Joan Fleming, Mike Harlan, Ed Yeager, Mary Anne Kapp
1. Tracking State
Standards
a. Publish
state standards on district website
b. Publish
posters of state standards for classrooms
c. Track
standards on daily lesson plans (talk to Kevin)
2. Data Driven
Decision-Making
a. IT
Department puts data at teachers’ desktops
b.
Implement action plans
3. Enrichment
Programs
4. Remediation
Programs
5. On-Going Staff
Development
a. Long
Range Financial Plan
6. SCI Training
7. Develop Separate
Academic Achievement Sub-Committees
Mr. Kapp noted that these
committee agendas must be posted in order to be in compliance with the
open meeting law. He stated that he would do a blitz e-mail to invite
staff to join these committees and will put on the website. (Board to
approve goals in Sept/Oct.)
Mr. Kapp noted that the
Retreat dates for next year are as follows:
Governing Board Retreat –
June 8th
Governing Board/DLT
Retreat – June 9th
DLT Retreat – to be
determined
Mr. Kapp also announced
that he needs a School Fair Chairman and that the School Fair is scheduled
for February 26th.
ADJOURNMENT
Hearing no objection,
President Dee Navarro adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p.m.
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