Unified School District
District Academic Council Meeting
April 29, 2015
Present: Kelly Gentry, Jean Johnson, Cynthia Schrader, Danielle Blue, Mike Estes, Shelia Eskeldson, Amber Jones, Valerie Woodell, Deb Andres, Mary Myers, Lori Pollock, Joyce Heilman, Tracie Schroeder, Lori Pollock, Rachel Tompkins, Angela Harris, Marita Bachura, Linda Pretzer, Vicki Stone and Kelly McDiffett
Members
not present: Galen Johnson, Doug Conwell and Kristen Gant,
Welcome: Kelly G. opened the meeting 8:00 a.m.
Prior minutes were approved as written
Subject Area
Committee Report:
Consumer and Personal Finance – Proposed new CGHS courses: Consumer & Personal Finance, Statistics, and French 2. DAC approved to send all to the BOE for approval to begin next year.
Long Range Plan – Proposal – Please see the handout with the changes that Kelly G proposed.
K-5 SAC – May 27-29, for ELA, Math and Social Studies.
6th Grade: ELA and math programs will stay the same as they are now, the same as grades 7-8.
Building Communication:
CGES – 12 more make-ups and will be done with assessments. 3rd grade celebrating 20th year of holding Space Camp. 3rd grade also received award for the Dental video.
PHES – Packing up, meetings every week. Carnival last Saturday was nice and very well attended.
PHMS – Moving classrooms, 6th grade visited Ag Museum, 7th – 8th career day and state assessment complete.
CGHS – FCCLA two kids going to nationals, FBLA five kids going to Chicago, FFA going to state, three cheerleaders going to Hawaii, Braves band 1 rating in state, pre-enrollment for 9th-11th and incoming 8th grade. Since the last day of school was changed, the End of School Celebration will be on Friday instead of graduation night.
Special Education, Title, ESOL – Finished State Assessments, making sure IEPs all aligned. We are looking to have 27 ESOL students next year (our highest number).
Information to/from Parents and Community – Great communication on scheduling. The Greater Morris County Development Council meets once a month and they are working on trying to get people/businesses to move to the community. Big changes in the Washunga Days event.
Instruction Initiatives
MTSS update – have had DPT training all year long with consultant, have had to do some changes. Curriculum Protocol (please view the handout), new materials/training, Para/Aide reading training planned for August.
Criteria established for Alternate Core placement – students who can’t function in the general education classroom. Huge discussion on this topic.
Math trainings in May for HS and MS – 1) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Algebra and 2) Transmath
Assessments
State Assessments administration has been successful for the most part; 99% complete had minor tech issues but the kids were prepared. Cut scores set this summer, data released in September, will not be first data for educator evaluations. SBAC and PARCC participants say be prepared for drops in scores.
AIMSweb Spring Benchmark opens May 1; next year the benchmark windows will be moved two weeks later for Fall and Winter.
Assessment Plan for USD 417 – Kelly G. handed out a DRAFT showing when each grade level takes what assessments.
AllofE Matrix - AllofE Solutions is a software development company based in Lawrence, Kan. We will be using their program Matrix. The Matrix “empowers school districts to improve student and teacher performance through data analysis to aid decision making and trend analysis comparisons. Matrix connects data from various sources (demographics, assessments, schedules, behavior, etc.) into intuitive, comprehensive reporting dashboards.”
New Accreditation System
2015-2016 Accrediation Recommendations – (Handout) This list shows the state’s recommendations for what each district should accomplish during the 15-16 school year. This will be part of our August PD days.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
Next Meeting Date September 16, 2015
Proposed Membership Changes to DAC due to changes in building configurations
Members whose terms are up in June 2015: Joyce Heilman, Galen Johnson, Lori Pollock, Rachel Tompkins.
Will need an additional CGES member
Thank you to Mr. Estes and Galen Johnson for their leadership and contributions to our district.