Minutes November 30, 2010

Date:

November 30, 2010

Time:

8:15 p.m.

Place:

Horace Greeley Commons

Present:

Board of Education
Janet Benton, President
Gregg Bresner, Vice President
Alyson Kiesel
Jeffrey Mester
Randall Katchis

Staff Members
Present:

Mr. John Chambers, Interim Superintendent

Dr. Lyn McKay, Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Mr. Thomas Cardellichio, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources

Mr. John Chow, Assistant Superintendent for Business

Theresa Markley, District Clerk

Visitors Present:

Representatives of the Chappaqua PTA, school PTAs, building administrators, faculty, Bruce Dennis, Deborah Raizes consultants with Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, and other interested citizens.

President Janet Benton convened the public session at 7:30 p.m. Janet Benton moved to reconvene to Executive session to discuss negotiations, litigation, personnel and real property. Gregg Bresner seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

At 8:30 p.m. Jeffrey Mester moved to adjourn the Executive Session and reconvene the public session. Alyson Kiesel seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

President Benton welcomed everyone.

She turned the meeting over to Interim Superintendent John Chambers and Deputy Superintendent Lyn McKay to introduce the latest release of Classroom Clips.

Presentation:

1. Classroom Clips: Kindergarten Conversations

   Dr. McKay introduced Kindergarten Conversations at Grafflin School with teachers Lisa Ultan and Beth Leventhal. John Chambers and Dr. McKay expressed particular delight in this clip as kindergarten children learn to discuss books. They listen to each other, talk, give evidence, and respectfully disagree on topics in the early stages of critical and independent thinking skills.

2. Response to Intervention (RtI) - academic strategies

   District Staff Developer Mary Ford explained the RtI mandate that requires districts to provide multiple levels of instructional support before identifying a student as learning disabled in the area of reading. New York State regulations define RtI as a school district's process to determine if a student responds to scientific, research-based instruction. Effective July 1, 2012, all school districts in New York State must have an RtI program in place as part of its evaluation process to determine if a student in grades K-4 is a student with a learning disability in the area of reading (NYSED, 2009). We currently have a very strong program in place and have reduced the number of students requiring services from 18% to 12% because of our assessments. An RtI model will eventually replace current Academic Intervention Services (AIS) model, although many of the components and structures are similar and in place. Our goal is to eventually have a process for K-8, literacy and mathematics.

3. Elementary Principals' Goals

   Elementary principals Jim Skoog from Westorchard, Dr. Michael Kirsch from Grafflin and Eric Byrne from Roaring Brook discussed building goals that are tied to the Board's strategic question regarding student learning.

   Jim Skoog noted that at the elementary level classrooms are focused on meeting individual needs of learners that vary within the school and within the individual classroom. A video clip illustrated the work of a professional staff developer sharing an assessment and observational data to provide a "prescription" for a particular student. Faculty and grade level meetings have been focused on collecting data on individual students. They will then analyze and assess this data, share it with each other to adapt instructional strategies that will support each other.

   Mike Kirsch shared goals at Grafflin, including literacy work to expand offerings for older students and training teachers to utilize Smartboards more effectively. He pointed out that the district expects all children to meet or exceed grade level benchmarks as determined by universal assessments. Mike and Assistant Principal Debbie Alspach have begun working with a classroom teacher on each grade level and one of the reading teachers to track student progress or need for more assistance. This is in preparation to implement a more formal response to an intervention program.

   Eric Byrne reported that in line with the staff development work last spring, every grade level came up with a goal of supporting individual learners in differentiated classroom. Since finding time for completing some of the topics suggested by teachers is a challenge in itself, it was decided to restructure some of their faculty meetings to utilize the time more effectively. Teachers identified five different topics such as using technology across all student needs in a classroom, supporting critical thinking using inquiry circles, etc. and were provided baskets of resource materials and a revamped professional library identifying materials and online resources to support their research.

4. Elementary Report Card Changes

   Dr. McKay explained that the Elementary Report Card Committee was formed in the winter of 2009-2010 and includes teachers from each school and grade-level, building administrators, parents and staff developers. Three major concerns were identified: 1) Existing report cards do not reflect the current literacy and math programs; 2) Report cards are inconsistent between grade levels and between schools; and 3) Reports cards need to more effectively communicate student progress and be formatted to be transmitted electronically using Infinite Campus. If the revised format is adopted for this school year, it will be used for the first report card, distributed in early February (possibly in electronic form). The report card distribution has also been revised to provide two report cards instead of three with a report conference in November. Dr. Mckay explained some issues with the template format available via Infinite Campus that need to be tweaked to make print and online copies look the same and promised a look at the final document for a future meeting.

Questions and Comments on Presentation - there was one comment.

1.

Information Business Affairs

Question and Comments on Report Items

2.

Organization

3.

Approvals

4.

Recommended Action: Personnel

Interim Superintendent John Chambers made the following recommendations:

5.

Recommended Action: Other

6.

Facilities

7.

Financials

Questions and Comments

8.

President Benton gave Notice of Future Meetings -

9.

Adjournment

At 11:04 p.m. President Benton asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Alyson Kiesel moved to adjourn the meeting. Randall Katchis seconded. The motion passed unanimously.