Harpursville Central School District
Shared Decision Making District Plan
2012-2015
First Reading: 1/9/12; adoption 1/23/12
Amendment: 7/9/12; adoption 8/20/12
Amendment: 10/22/12; adoption 11/19/12
Amendment: 12/4/14; adoption 1/12/15Mission Statement
The mission of Harpursville Central School is to provide a nurturing learning environment that challenges students to reach their highest potential. Through the efforts of the entire community, we will seek to help students become self-confident, healthy, responsible and productive citizens.
Note: A nurturing learning environment includes preparing students to meet local and state expectations; thus the focus is on academic and social well being.
Vision Statement
The Vision of the Harpursville Central School is to be a District where high achievement is expected and where the focus of all stakeholders is meeting those high expectations.
Statements of Philosophy
a. All staff members must feel ownership of student achievement scores, not just individuals administering exams.
b. Statements of student expectations are insufficient. The belief of the District is that our scores can improve and all of our students can achieve at high levels.
c. All staff must focus on improving achievement (measured learning) which must include more students reaching mastery. As such, all members of the school community are directly involved including but not limited to having meals served before tests and having the custodial staff aware of and arrange work around testing schedules.
d. Connectivity results in higher scores, lower drop-out rates and graduates who are adequately prepared for further education and training.
e. Achievement should be significantly improved through a focus on standards, the embedding of test objectives in the curriculum and the interdisciplinary work of teachers.
f. Focusing the curriculum on tests helps to ensure that priority objectives are taught consistently and thoroughly.
g. After test objectives are embedded in the curriculum, other objectives can and should be included.
h. All students in a given subject area at a given grade level should receive the same basic education in terms of content and skill objectives.
i. Emphasis on health and wellness is a critical link to students achieving their highest potential.
1. What educational issues do you think should be subject to cooperative planning and shared decision making at the school level?
A. The educational issues which will be subject to cooperative planning and shared decision making at the school level will include the following:
· District Communication – review of the district web page, newsletter, collaborative time and like methods of communication internally and externally
· Cultural and Program Transitions for WA Olmsted and Junior Senior High School Building
· Review of procedures, practices, educational programming, and policies in regard to bullying (using Olweus as the research based tool)
· Review of discipline protocol
· Sustained Silent Reading (Jr./Sr. High School Building)
· Maintain a graduation rate of, at least, 90% annually
· 75% of students will take, at least, one college level class prior to graduation
· Reduce the number of course failures at quarterly intervals by 10 students per grade
· 95% of students will read at or above grade level
· State Testing (3-8 & Regents): Raise proficiency rates by 10% from baseline
B. Other topics can be explored and can be offered to the district level team by an administrator or through the school level planning teams.
C. In developing plans to address identified educational issues, it is recognized that the School Board and the Superintendent of Schools retain legal authority for the overall operation of the school district. Decisions which are not subject to school level decision making may include the following:
Issues directly related to educational law, statutes, or regulations.
Issues covered by collective bargaining agreements.
2. How should all parties be involved in the issues subject to shared decision making?
There will be a school level planning team at the elementary level and junior senior high school level.
Formal training may be provided for the school level planning teams on an annual or bi-annual basis depending upon the needs of the teams.
The school level team will establish a rotating system of membership on the school level teams to provide for new membership on the team.
The school level team may consist of the principal, representatives from the faculty, representatives from the support staff, a Board member, and parents.
The school level team will develop a schedule of meeting dates and times and will meet at least four times or more during a school year. Meetings will take place with the members that attend each meeting.
The roles of Chair and Recorder will be rotated each meeting.
Ad Hoc committees will be encouraged to continue and will report matters related to issues subject to cooperative planning and shared decision making to the school level planning team.
Decisions by the school level team will be reached through consensus.
3. How will the evaluation of student achievement be determined with regard to the issues subject to shared decision making?
The district level team will establish criteria for building level teams.
Goals will need to be defined. Differentiate from other plans such as the District Improvement Plan.
Staff will be educated on requirements.
School level teams may review and analyze data, such as test scores, graduation rate, attendance, academic eligibility, discipline reports, student surveys, etc., to determine needs to be addressed. The teams will emphasize meeting or exceeding State requirements.
4. How will all parties involved in shared decision-making be held accountable for any decision made?
Indicators prohibiting student achievement/progress will be identified.
Decisions will be data driven with documentation.
Minutes of school level team meetings will be sent out to stakeholders by all means possible.
School level teams will be asked to submit annual reports to the district level Team, who will ultimately report directly to the Board of Education and the administrative team.
5. What procedures will be used to resolve any disputes resulting from the educational issues being decided at the local level?
If consensus cannot be reached, it must be reported back to the entity that charged the group with the task before them initially. The task can be redesigned, reworded or removed.
At any time, the school level teams can seek clarification or more information to help in resolving disputes.
6. How will state and federal requirements for the involvement of
parents in planning and decision making be coordinated with and met by the overall plan?
It is recognized that an active PTO can play an integral role in the district, and parents from the PTO will be encouraged to serve on the district wide team.
To secure interested volunteers from the PTO as well as from all respective groups, a job description along with a term of serving and number of meetings will be advertised by all reasonable means. In addition, people will be “tapped” on the shoulder to help encourage people to serve who might not see themselves in this role otherwise.
The composition of the district wide team will not exceed three administrators, three PTO appointed members, three support staff members, three teachers, a Board of Education member and the Superintendent. Where there is multiple representation, each member within that group will serve on a one, two or three year term initially; and then each subsequent member will serve a two year term.
The district level team will minimally meet four times per year and report back to the Board of Education and the administrative team.
District Shared Decision Planning Committee:
Kathleen M. Wood, Superintendent
Cathy Dopko, Dir. of Special Education
Pam Nelson, Elementary Teacher
Nick Pianella, High School Teacher
Melissa Anderson, PTO Representative
Heather Medovich, PTO President
Theresa Matts, Parent Member
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