Minutes March 13, 2013

Date:

March 13, 2013

Time:

8:30 p.m.

Place:

Horace Greeley High School

Present:

Board of Education
Victoria Tipp, President
Karen Visser
Randall Katchis
Jeffrey Mester

Absent:

Alyson Gardner Kiesel, Vice President

Staff Members
Present:

Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent

Mr. Eric Byrne, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum

Mr. Andrew Selesnick, Assistant Superintendent for Leadership, and Instruction

Mr. John Chow, Assistant Superintendent for Business

Theresa Markley, District Clerk / Adm. Asst. to Superintendent

Visitors Present:

Representatives of the Chappaqua PTA, school PTAs, building administrators, faculty, and other interested citizens.

President Tipp called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Karen Visser moved to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of discussion of labor negotiations, employment history of a particular person, and legal settlement. Jeffrey Mester seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Jeffrey Mester moved to adjourn the executive session. Karen Visser seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Karen Visser moved to reconvene the public session at 8:30 p.m. Jeffrey Mester seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

President Tipp welcomed the community, students, and parents and turned the introduction of presentations to Superintendent Dr. Lyn McKay.

Dr. McKay noted that although our budget is tight, our programs are still strong. She asked Eric Byrne, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum to begin the Curriculum presentation and outline the budget.

Presentations:

Curriculum / Special Education / Athletics

Curriculum

Mr. Byrne began with the Strategic Question, "How can the District ensure that all students think deeply, support their thinking, apply problem-solving skills, and actively participate in their learning as they acquire content knowledge?" He explained that the district has gone beyond that by creating Thinking Standards. 1) They draw from both content knowledge and prior learning, students use supporting evidence to demonstrate creative and high-level thinking. 2) Students will be able to deepen understanding of content by applying a problem-solving process both individually and collaboratively. 3) Students will actively participate and take ownership of their learning.

He further defined each step to include examples.

The district has a number of ongoing curriculum projects including the APPR implementation, Common Core State Standards alignment, and the PISA school-based pilot. PISA is an international exam given every few years to 144 schools around the country. It allows the district to benchmark their work against the world. Eric was pleased that our students were in the top percentile.

District plans for 2013-14 include building on work of the Assessment Development Project; extend the elementary school day from 30 minutes to 6 hours 30 minutes (8:45 a.m.-3:15p.m.); and further develop the Chinese Partnership. Plans include a Summer Writers Camp for kids who like to write.

The curriculum budget is a zero increase from last year to this year. He broke down the individual components and noted the decreases and increases produce a flat budget overall. The final Curriculum Studies/Professional Development Budget remains at $260,124.

Special Education - Dr. Heidi McCarthy, Director of Special Education

Dr Heidi McCarthy noted that curriculum is the umbrella under which we all stand. The special education budget demonstrates the additional services that are available to special needs children in keeping with federal laws and regulations. The district has a commitment to inclusion and 84% of our special ed students are included in the regular school population. This benefits all students.

Dr. McCarthy reviewed the make up of the committees and their responsibilities to review evaluations, reports, other data and identify strengths and needs using the 13 classification categories. She went over the statistics and services that are provided to both preschool and regular classes The district provides support to student development in the least restrictive environment.

Dr. McCarthy reviewed the main components of the budget including a reduction of 1.5 FTE special education teacher based on enrollment. She explained the various line items that resulted in a budget reduction of -4.04%.

She reported on the New York State parent questionnaire on parent satisfaction for 2011-12. The state target was 90% satisfaction and the CCSD Positive Parental Response Rate of 94.7% for about one third parents' response was a statistically relevant sample. It speaks to the efforts of the programs, teachers, and students and the special education teachers who are also part of the professional development numbers.

Athletics
Peter Kuczma, Athletic Director
Interscholastic Education Program

He presented the sports offerings for boys and girls and noted it is in line with Title IX. He also showed the student participation rate by season. Boys in high and middle schools have a total of 37 teams and girls have 36 teams. We have 100 coaching positions including 11 volunteers.

Mr. Kuczma reviewed the achievements of this past year. for fall and winter and the program initiatives for 2012-13. He noted the district utilizes the bid process for purchasing athletic equipment and supplies. He reflected on his work with technology and nurses to improve communication to coaches about medical information. Mr. Kuczma set up a review with coach program development within each sport. His budget of $434,600 represents a 0.88% increase over the current year.

District initiatives for next year include revising the parent/student handbook and coaches handbook. He will review coaching evaluations; review program development by sport; implement the Impact program; use of technology and film study to improve teaching and learning; examine cost/benefit of programs to balance student/district participation in grades 7-12.

Physical education

From a teaching perspective, it is important to implement use of technology to improve teaching and learning. Fitness equipment must be reviewed in each school and how it is utilized in the physical education program. Investigate ways to evaluate student fitness levels which reflect our student body and how they should impact the curriculum. The district needs to further develop assessments that measure knowledge, skills and concepts in sport skills, fitness development, game rules and strategies, and personal social development.

1.

Information

Questions and Comments

2.

Organization

3.

Approvals

4.

Recommended Action: Personnel

Dr. McKay made the following recommendations.

5.

Recommended Action: Other

6.

Facilities

7.

Financials

Karen Visser moved to accept 7.1 and 7.2 financial reports. Jeffrey Mester seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

8.

President Tipp gave Notice of Future Meetings -

9.

Adjournment

Adjournment - Jeffrey Mester moved to adjourn. Randall Katchis seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 10:57 p.m.