February 27, 2012

SIT Minutes

In Attendance: Mr. MacAninch, Lori Lashmit, Michele Fox, Eddie Venable, Noelle Shutt, Cheryl Smith, Enid Velez, Denise Perry, Melissa Merritt, Brenda Waugh, Debbie Harwood, Donna Walker, Gretchen Nicholson, Mrs. Debbie Brooks (from Central Office), Cathy Hughes, Jody Lee (parent representative), Amanda Snyder, Carey Smith,

Called to Order at 2:25 p.m.

Agenda Items:

  • Gretchen and Donna – reading committee update. They have invited high school students to MMS to work with struggling readers. Each 6th grade LA teacher is to submit list of 5/6 students who would benefit from working with a mentor. NJHS students from 8th grade will work with students too since there were not enough high school students to go around. Will come in T, W, and TH to work with buddy. They are working on assigning buddies to students. If you have a personal connection with a high school student who might be willing to come and participate then please let us know…it might be easier to get students if you can ask someone personally. Students are coming from Reagan and West…Tabor cadets were asked but were not interested. Hopefully it will grow to be able to incorporate struggling 7th and 8th grade students as well. (This relates directly to goal #1 – Student Growth)
  • Mid year goal review – divided into two groups; one group has one and three, the other has four and five. Discussion will occur within groups and then we will reconvene and discuss. (Goal #2 will not be discussed as it relates solely to Mr. Mac)

Goal 1 – Strategy 1 – continue individualizing, meeting with students to discuss data, student self-assessments. Maintain positive nature with all of this so that it does not become a deterrent

Goal 1 - Strategy 2 – Four rooms to be completed by end of school year. Teachers need refresher training on classroom technology. Teachers with technology in the district need to have sharing sessions regarding lesson plans, etc (we would like to somehow see this developed). Build shared files on our server to increase collaboration! PAM help session, power point is posted on line. More and more parents are accessing PAM. 8th grade teachers are developing a spread sheet of students with missing homework and administration is then contacting these parents.

Goal 1 - Strategy 3 – Essential time is being used to target instructional needs. Reading study sessions are being set up. PEP’s are being set up and utilized

Goal 3 – Strategy 1 – We have increased our socials this school year. Rachel’s Challenge groups have become involved in this. Spirit week builds social opportunities for kids. Clubs will need to create a tri-fold so that during 6th grade orientation night, students/parents of rising 6th grade students will be aware of what we offer.

Goal 3 - Strategy 2 – Mustang Mavericks, NJHS, ArtDepartment, etc.

Goal 3 - Strategy 3 – Team parents in place and asking these parents to help with tutoring. Drama club involves parents.

Goal 4 – Strategy 1 – We are doing well on this goal. PLC’s have specific meeting times, agendas, minutes, etc. Continue to work with what we have.

Goal 4 - Strategy 2 – Continue to work on designing common assessments…still needs to be worked on. Department meetings need to carry on conversations regarding common assessments and expectations. Common Assessments may have helped our scores to increase on Blue Diamond…more difficult classroom assessments (higher level thinking) will help better success on quarter tests because quarter tests may seem easier.

Goal 4 - Strategy 3 – Need to develop a better way to share best practices across content areas. We will have a way for faculty sharing by voluntary sharing. Working with other school is occurring through PLC’s and through Common Core training. Also, share across grade levels what are the pro’s and con’s we are seeing (vertical alignment)

Goal 5 – Strategy 1 – Continue Curriculum Night and using feedback to improve this. Some parents are not getting alert now messages – we need to send out a reminder in the Wednesday packet for parents to update their information.

Goal 5 - Strategy 2 – 6th grade orientation, drama club, Friends of Rachel, etc.

Goal 5 - Strategy 3 – Parent volunteers have increased…there are more applications being processed for parent volunteers. Mrs. Lee confirms that parents DO want to volunteer; they need to be asked and approached.

  • Mistake on Progress Report Dates! Should be March 7th instead of March 14th!
  • March 30th workday IS a day that we can be at school to work!

Meeting Adjourned at 3:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Michele Fox