School Accountability Committee Meeting Agenda
November 4 @ 5-6:30 PM
Gold Mine Room
The following members were in attendance:
Jenny Brown - Principal
Libby Bergner – Assistant Principal
Lauren Rayens – Teacher Representative
Bruce Martin – Parent Representative
Melissa Buttler – Parent Representative
Sandra Milligan – Parent Representative
Stephanie Zimmerman – PTO Representative
Allison Provence – Non Voting Parent Representative
Gary Cooly – Community Member
Time / Agenda Item / Meeting Minutes5:00-5:05 / Welcome & approve meeting minutes / Introductions were made and minutes were approved.
5:05-5:15 / Old Business
• Update on overpass
• Update on Jenny’s mat / 1) Jenny shared update on the overpass. At his time the school does not have an official timeline, but the goal is to complete the overpass while they widen the road. Bruce shared a concern about students having to cross Chambers during the construction.
2) Jenny shared that Patti Magby will be covering her maternity leave. She has been a principal for 20 years and in the district for 10.
5:15-5:25 / DAC Update / Sandra shared that the fall forum was cancelled. The chair person, teacher representative, and parent representative resigned. The primary area of focus would be recommendations around the budget, assessment and evaluations. Fourth priority is increasing parental involvement. Agenda will align to areas of focus.
Elections were held for their officers. A new role of communications officer was added. This person would take the lead in being the communicator for DAC. They would also like to have two liaisons for each committee. Gary shared that the CAC might challenge the elementary teacher be reconsidered because of lack of experience of the current member.
They gave an update for Parent University. Sandra will look into getting a poster that parents can get information specific to Gold Rush. Parent University is a resource for parents around many different topics/issues. They partner with Sky Ridge.
Choice Fair is coming up next week on November 12 from 6:00-8:00. This is an opportunity to share information about our school.
Bruce asked about open enrollment. Jenny shared they have true up students in January. Numbers could be adjusted in January depending on numbers. Jenny shared that she has talked to families who want to attend Gold Rush next year. We anticipate
Sandra shared that if we have feedback, give that to her and she can take it back to DAC.
5:25-5:30 / PTO Update / Digger Dash Update
Stephanie shared that Digger Dash has raised $24,575 so far.
Shade Structure
Jenny reached out to Brendan at the district. He will put out for three bids and we can supplement the cost with other funds. There is a picture of the shade structure on the PTO website. Bruce suggested putting out to parents that we have not reached our goal yet. He recommended using the thermometer visual. Jenny will put a reminder in her blog.
Book Fair
Book fair will be the 9th-13th. The fall Book Fair is the most successful book fair. Volunteers are still needed.
5:35-5:35 / Safety / Student Safety
• Libby shared that staff was trained around keeping students safe. Warning signs of suicide and threatening behaviors were shared with staff. We are up to date on all drills.
• Jenny shared that we still have the marshal program. Officers will be asked to be present during morning drop off.
• We do have new signs are along car loop.
Additional Comments
Gary shared that the CAC’s purpose is to give schools a voice for the district. He would like people to be able to get the SAC information as community members. He shared the SAC schedule for all schools and brought up that all schools meet monthly. Gary asked for the website to be updated.
Gary added that we are here to empower schools and to work with building leadership. Allison added that committee should create a mission statement. Jenny suggested this be added to the minutes for the next meeting.
5:35-5:45 / Teacher Report / Lauren shared that one of our goals was to create a performance- based assessment. She explained the different PBA models and how we used one to demonstrate learning around the new EPRs during our PLC day on November 3rd.
Lauren shared the fifth grade performance-based assessment around the Digger Dash. Students needed to determine how much money each student would need to raise to reach the $30,000 goal. Students then created a poster demonstrating their thinking.
Jenny shared that it is more around the application of learning. The Digger Dash example was how students could demonstrate their understanding around multiplication and division.
Jamie shared her kindergartener example of how they go for the gold. Students created a video explaining their understanding for their parents.
Jenny explained the difference between the K example and the 1st grade example. Allison shared that her daughter understood how to be a good citizen.
Bruce shared that he was a guest speaker for a classroom of students and asked if that would be a possibility here. Lauren explained that she tries to connect all content to the real world.
5:45-6:15 / Principal Report
• Review/Discuss & Approve GRE’s Unified Improvement Plan
• review the new Report Card and Identify Additional Parent Resources
• / Unified Improvement Plan
Jenny shared that we do not have current state data. We have not received PARCC data and
it was advised to use data from last year. Last year we had written school based goals looking primarily at academic achievement. We used DRA data to identify students who are on a READ Plan.
Jenny explained that Growth Gaps look at subgroups of students. Our data looked primarily at catch up and special education students.
Celebrations:
• Reduced READ Act students by 10%.
• 100% of catch up students made math goal (Using school based data)
Areas of growth:
• 54% of Special Ed students
Jenny shared the difference between a SRD and READ plan. She then shared our current goals.
Current Goals:
Achievement:
10% of students who qualify as having a significant reading deficit under the READ Act will move from SRD plan to READ plan.
Growth (CITE 6):
• 65% of students will make one year’s growth on the DRA reading assessment.
• 65% of students will make one year’s growth on Lucy Calkin’s units of Study Assessment.
Growth Gaps:
• 60% of special education students will grow at least one year on the DRA levels.
• 56% of special education students will grow at least one year on Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study.
Jenny shared we will meet these goals by targeting individual students’ needs and providing instruction to meet students’ goals. An increase in rigor and relevancy in literacy will also improve literacy. Goal is to get students to understand how they are going to use the information they are learning in a real world scenario.
New Report Card
Jenny shared that parents will log in to InspirED to view their students’ EPRs.
The language for this report card is: Does not meet, approaching, meets, or exceeds expectations. Parents expressed that they will relate that language to the 1-4 scale.
Sandra expressed the concern of all community members understanding the language in the EPR. Jenny shared that she would share that information in her blog.
Middle schools and high schools are not required to report out on all elements of the GVC this year.
Calendar Options
Jenny shared that the Legend feeder is looking at calendar options for next year. The split modified does not work well at the high school level due to AP classes and sports. Teachers have completed a survey to determine interest in switching calendars. Data will be reviewed at Principals’ meeting.
Jenny shared the two options and that SAC would have to approve the new calendar. Jenny explained the changes within the calendars:
• Two weeks of spring break vs. the school year ending a week earlier. Fall break, Thanksgiving, and winter break remain the same. All schools in the feeder want to remain on the same schedule.
6:10-6:20 / New Business
• Capital Improvement Projects / Capital Improvement Projects
Jenny spoke with Richard Cosgrove and we are not slated for any capital improvement projects. We had monitors replaced as well as some of the cameras.
6:20-6:30 / Open Forum
* 2 minutes per speaker / Additional Discussion Topics
Allison proposed we meet more often. Other parents agreed. A meeting is slated for January to discuss new report card.
New business – communicate with middle school and high school