BAMIT College and Career Readiness Council

BAMIT College and Career Readiness Council

November 5, 2014

4:30 – 6:30

Rockford Public Schools Administration Building – Lower Level

Purpose: Communicate successes and address needs and barriers of Academy Teams and Academy Support Teams

Present: Deb Eisfeller, Kris King, Derek Erwin, Tony Blaine, Debbie Kims, Timothy Bushaw, Shane Siner, Katy Haun, Mason Osbourne, Chris Magee, Karl Arvidson, Eric Blackwell, Lynn Buscemi, Marie Garcarz, Jennifer Polky, William Rose, James O’Hagan, Patrick Fox, Katie Wishowski-Wetzel, Judy Gustafson, Brandeis Lopez, Kari Neri, Nik Butenhoff, Marcus Lewis, Casey Ramas, Heidi Houy, David Carson, Sheila Schmitt

1.  Welcome and Introductions

2.  Update from Executive Director of College and Career Readiness

See the purpose above of this combined meeting of CCRC, AST, and Academy Teams at various schools. Last year a meeting was held where everyone realized that they were not clear of the various people involved and the roles in which they are involved. Meeting together will enhance the three “C’s”: Communication, Coordination, and Collaboration.

Highlighted some of the items in the newsletter

The process has changed as the Academies change and grow, so the procedures also need to change. Dr. Jarrett refers to the Academies an “Overnight Five Year Success”. The Academies have started; we need to continue to work on what can be done to make them a better experience for students.

RPS Academies have been recognized as part of the Next Generation Learning (NGL) Ford Community.

Dave Carson received nation recognition at the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC) conference in October. The award was “The Exemplary Academy Educator Award” which is given to an academy educator who has made a significant contribution to the success of a career academy.

These awards help us recognize that the academies are on the right path and what we are doing is commendable, but it is a work in process. One goal is that our academies receive Model Status through NGL. This will not be possible for another 2 to 3 years due to there needs to be at least one graduating class from the academies. Each academy can be recognized as an individual. There is a possibility of 22 total entries. The handout of National Standards of Practice (NSOP) is various standards for academies. Community involvement is mentioned in numbers 6 and 8 of these standards.

RPS has put together some benchmarks for student achievement. The four areas are; Literacy, Numeracy, College and Career Readiness, and Attainment. They have broken down the College and Career Readiness area by grade levels. This describes the experiences should each student have at each level. This will help provide ongoing progressive experiences for each student at RPS.

3.  Subcommittee Update

Communication Committee has been formed. This group has been formed with representatives from RPS Administration and each council. They are working on having an easy way to communicate within the academy, other academies, with sites, and between sites. They are looking at something like Facebook. The idea is to have something that we can communicate events, pictures, links, needs, questions, etc. They are open to suggestions of things to look at and see if it will meet the needs of all involved.

4.  School Academy Team Discussion

·  Academy Team Goals

·  Summer Site Visit/Planning Updates, Ongoing Collaboration

·  Courses & Projects; Development and Enhancements

Jefferson

·  Created an Academy Newsletter

·  Created an Academy Facebook Page

·  JHS BAMIT staff and possibly students will be at Barnes & Noble on Dec. 14 from 10am to 7pm. They will have an informational table set up and a portion of sales will go to JHS.

·  Working on a Project Based Learning project.

·  Sept 19, 2015 JHS staff and students will be part of the Relay for Life

·  Started a Student Advisory Board of approximately 20-25 students. This is an avenue to let the students have a voice.

·  Items were donated for student incentives and encouragement.

o  76 out of 307 students are on the A, B, and 1 C list

o  60 have positive attendance. Positive attendance is 0 tardies, 0 unexcused absences, and 0 out of school suspensions

·  Mandatory teacher tutoring is happening for all academies at Jefferson. BAMIT students are required to attend 3 out of 4 days.

·  New Pathways are: Journalism, Intro to Photography, Intro to Desktop Publishing, Graphic Design and Media Production

·  Yenitze is a new school counselor and is running several groups and working on keeping parents informed.

·  A video was produced about “Walking Hallway”. This is one of the major obstacles of students.

·  Created a Tardy Attack Team. Identify the top 3 – 5 students and they are being supported by other BAMIT students to get to class on time.

Guilford

·  Teachers are inviting AST members into classrooms to meet with students and some have hands on experiences with them.

·  They have produced a video advertising the academy

·  Internships and Job Shadow opportunities have been approved

·  Web Design class has made banners on site for the fire department

·  Working on soft skills

·  De 15 will be an open house for the community, approximately 5pm

·  Students have been working on Business Plans

·  Several opportunities have happened for students as a result of Summer Boot Camp

Auburn

·  A bulletin board has been created to incorporate words that apply to the academy

·  Working on having and “Exploration Day”. This would be a day where students get another chance to look at specific businesses/jobs and their requirements

·  AST members are coming in to meet with students

·  Would like to have a “Career Exploration Day” for teachers to also get a better idea of opportunities for students.

·  Working on mentoring and tutoring opportunities for students.

·  Auburn is hosting a Halloween Carnival for neighborhood children. BAMIT will have a booth

·  Working on ideas for recruitment of freshmen.

Roosevelt

·  An alternative school where students come and go.

·  BAMIT and EMITT are working together. The teachers meet as a group

·  Smart Goal is to have 85% of students have a hands on College & Career Readiness experience, site visit, internship, etc.

·  AST members are working on Career Week. During this time they will focus on soft skills and hold mock interviews for seniors

·  Partnered with 20 People We Should Know and Discovery Center

·  Working on resume writing

·  20 People We Should Know are mentoring students

·  Arts are very strong with students and is the focus

·  Ice Sculpture Project has been accepted

·  Hosting a Family Night as a winter project in which all areas will have a part

·  Media Production group produced a video about Roosevelt that was used as a part of the NCAC presentation

·  Items they can use help with:

o  How to involve more students

o  Artist of the year

o  Ideas of more ways that art is used in careers, other than being an artist

o  How to incorporate various arts in real world employment, other than graphic design

o  How to express to students the importance of a back-up plan without cutting down the excitement of art

East

·  BAMIT is the largest academy - 30 teachers and 350 students

·  Created a newsletter to keep parents informed

·  Star Fish students are the ones that need attention. The focus is having all BAMIT seniors graduate

·  They are having a T shirt contest. Design for academy

·  Teachers are very grateful for the summer visits. The connections that were made have been very helpful to know that someone in the field is there to discuss ideas.

·  Staff is working together as an academy regarding interacting subjects and the best way to help students

·  Newsletter for parents has been created

·  Working on Entrepreneur class.

·  Deaf & Hard of Hearing classes are working with various business to learn how they can help each other (customer service, interpreters, etc.)

5.  Other

AST team members are great resources. They are here to help the schools. Dream big and don’t be afraid to ask.

Unite – sign up and refer to them for ways that people are willing to help.

Need for all schools is teaching soft skills

Virtual Enterprise (EHS, AHS, GHS) needs financial support for students attending events. One event is the first state wide Trade Show in February. Cost is $500.00 per booth. One idea is to have a dinner and invite parents, district, and community and have their presentations there.

Need exposure of businesses to students

East is working on a presentation for the IL Business Plan Competition. They would like to present to community members for experience and feedback.

Mock Interviews will be happening. Some would like to have all freshmen have the experience and then again as a junior or senior to track the growth.

Some sites are working with students on completing applications, both on computer and hand written. They would like community feedback.

All sites would like real world examples of consequences of actions, minimum requirements for basic positions, starting salaries for entry level positions. Along with the businesses represented at the table tonight, but also places where the students work (McDonalds, Beef-A-Roo, Farm & Fleet, Subway, etc.). How to explain that things like internet, email, phone can be used a positive vs. negative in employment.

6.  Breakouts (as Needed)

Thank you all for attending and the great discussion!

Next Meeting: Jan. 21, 2015 – RPS Admin – 3rd floor Board Room – 4:30pm to 6:30pm