Bristow Run Elementary School

Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

4 January 2007

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

Cheryl Weadon called the meeting to order at 6:39pm.  Those in attendance were Cindi Stephens, Neila Span, Kim Werle, Tim Stott, Andrew Buchheit, Tucker Ophof, Rebecca Keith, Vickie Boyer, Cheryl Weadon, Meredith Rice, Rebecca Demaree,  Minoru Komura,  Dee Wightman, Trish Ruckle, James Dickson, Kathi Hansen

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes were approved.   Motion made to approve by Neila Span.  Motion seconded by Rebecca Keith.

 

CITIZEN’S TIME:

  • Mr. Dickson asked that when the school flags are flying at half staff that the reason be announced to the students.
  • Mr. Dickson mentioned that there has been an instance of bullying at an elementary bus stop by middle school students.  This will be looked into.
  • Mr. Dickson brought up the issue of who raises the school flags.  The flags are raised by students that want to do it.  Opportunities are available for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.  A note will be in the newsletter for anyone that is interested in participating.
  • Mr. Dickson said that the Holiday Sing-a-long in December was a big hit.
  • Mr. Dickson asked if the NEA “No Child Left Behind” effort was working at BRES.  Mr. Buchheit said that it is hard to say.  That there are various factors that need to be looked at and considered.  Further discussion at the Prince William County Advisory level would be necessary.

 

GUEST SPEAKER – Mrs. Vaneman, Guidance Counselor

  • Mrs. Vaneman works with Ms. McCartney in the Guidance office. 
  • There are three units that Guidance focuses on; Work Hard, Be Kind and Do Your Best.  The Be Kind unit teaches no put downs, or bullying.  It includes skills that they can use when they are in various situations.  These units are rotated through each grade level every 5 weeks.
  • The Guidance office provides individual counsel and group lessons.  These sessions are held at lunch time and do not take from class time.
  • If a child goes to guidance with a serious situation the parents are contacted immediately.
  • Guidance is sponsoring a Family Heritage Night on Feb. 8.  A flyer will be sent out for families to sign up to represent their culture.

 

PTA UPDATE –Neila Span

  • The PTA is on task to meet budget goals and will not need to continue with the Family Photo and Square 1 Art fundraisers.  The PTA voted to cancel these fundraisers for this spring.  If families are interested in the Square 1 Art they can do so on the Square 1 Art website.
  • The two Spring fundraisers will be the Fun Fair and Golf in May.
  • Next year fundraisers will most likely be REACH in the Spring and Sally Foster in the Fall.
  • PTA used some budget money to purchase a recess ball for each class for 4 Square.
  • The PTA is looking for volunteers to run for PTA officers and committee 2007-2008.  Anyone interested contact Lisa Scott of Neila Span

 

PRINCIPAL’S TIME:  Mr. Buchheit

  • BRES Advisory council will need to begin strategic planning for 2007-2008.
  • Full day kindergarten is a priority for Mr. Watts but it is not definite yet.  Full day kindergarten does have a great impact on the student.
  • Two assistants were hired.  One will work in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes.  One will work in the 1st and 2nd grades.
  • Jump Rope for the Heart will rap up with an assembly on 19 January.
  • Milt Johns from the PWC School board will be at the next Advisory Council meeting.
  • PWC Advisory Council goals include; Literacy (Math/Language Arts), Inclusion (w/gifted students), Health & Wellness (Cafeterias).  The Council wants to promote Professional Learning Committees that discuss class helps and instructions that will help students in the classroom.
  • There has been positive response to the Math Investigations program.  It will take time to see results.  The county will be taking an assessment county wide.
  • SOL tests will begin in May and June.
  • The NAPE exam is administered by the Federal Government to randomly selected 4th grade students.  They are tested in the areas of math and reading.

 

SUPERINTENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL UPDATE  (from 9 Nov.06)

The agenda for the evening was changed; Student Achievement and Testing scheduled to be presented by Holly Hess, Director of Accountability, was moved to the January meeting as Ms. Hess was unable to attend the November 9 meeting.

 

The minutes were approved from the October 12, 2006 meeting.

 

The council members were seated by grade level (elementary, middle and high school) rather than by the areas they represented.

 

Pam Gauch, Associate Superintendent Student Learning and Accountability, presented information regarding PWCS Instructional Focus 2006-07. The mission of PWCS is to provide   a world-class education.    The current PWCS Strategic Plan is in effect from 2005-2009.  The Strategic Plan Goals cover 5 areas:

  1. Academics – students should meet high standards of performance
  2. Climate -  learning and working environment is safe and healthy
  3. Family and community – focused on improving student achievement
  4. Faculty and staff – are highly qualified and diverse
  5. Alignment – organizational system is aligned and equitable

 

Instructional Focus 2006-07 is in the following areas:

  1. Literacy – in all areas, not just English.
  2. Inclusion – special needs, gifted and ESOL students are provided access to the curriculum.
  3. Healthy and Safe Environment – partner with community assets to achieve this goal.
  4. Professional Learning Communities – how to best use time and resources to get each student to a standard of achievement.

 

Literacy:

Split into 3 different initiatives based on grade level.  At the elementary level the focus will be on math investigations, a new program for grades K-2 with a focus on manipulatives rather than memorization of math facts.  For the middle schools, the focus will be on academic vocabulary so that students understand the terms that are being used in the coursework.  At the high school level, the focus will be on SAT preparation with all 10th and 11th graders taking the PSATs.

 

Inclusion:

PWCS believe that all students have the right to learn in the least restrictive environment.  Inclusion practices will be implemented throughout the school system.  Co-teaching will be used when necessary.  The primary teacher will present the focus area while the secondary teacher will aid those who need academic, behavioral and/or physical assistance in the classroom.  Administrators will be provided training in inclusion as well.

 

One member of the council stated that she has taught inclusion and it had a profound effect on both her and her students.  Inclusion generated compassion among her students.  The “included” children were no longer viewed as “different”, but as members of the class.

 

Healthy and Safe Environment:

 

PWCS provides training in how to maintain safe schools. There is currently a 5 year plan to provide training in bullying underway at all schools.  Youth Court may be utilized at 2 high schools this year.

 

 

Professional Learning Communities:

 

A collaborative school culture is essential to sustained school improvement.

 

PWCS will be focusing its resources on the aforementioned 4 areas for the 2006-07 school year.  The 06/07 Instructional Focus mirrors what will be the topics of discussion at our SACI meetings   - Wellness in September; Inclusion in January; Safe and Equitable Schools in February.

 

There was a question regarding CMS testing.  CMS (Curriculum Management Services) testing is used to ensure that PWCS curriculum is aligned with the SOLs.

 

The council then broke into groups based on school level and was asked to spend approximately 20 minutes determining the 3 most important areas of interest/concern for each of the following topics to be discussed at subsequent SACI meetings:

1.     Focus on Inclusion (January)

a.     Special Education

b.     ESOL

c.      Gifted Education

2.     Safe and Equitable Schools (February)

a.     Multicultural Education

b.     School-wide Discipline

c.      Bullying Prevention

3.     PWCS Resources (March)

a.     Superintendent’s Proposed Budget

b.     Capital Improvement Plan

 

While the council was broken into groups, it was announced that there would be no December meeting.  A correction was also made; Pam Gauch noted that although the goal is inclusion for everyone, there will be some students for whom inclusion will not be feasible due to their IEPs (Individual Educational Plans).

 

The council members had the following concerns:

           

Middle Schools

    1.  Inclusion

a.   How are all students learning in a least restrictive environment, whether learning disabled or not?

b.     Will there be ESOL, special ed and gifted programs in all   schools?

    1. Safe and Equitable Schools

a.   Due to site based management, how is bullying being identified and enforced across the board?

      3.  PWCS Resources

a.  Now that Davis Ford Middle School has been nixed, where will students go?

b.     What is the real classroom teacher/student ratio?  How is it determined?

c.  How many students can physically fit in a classroom?

 

 

High Schools

With regard to student achievement testing, is there a consistency of grading policies across the high schools?

                       

1.     Inclusion

a.   How is PWCS dealing with rapid ESOL growth?

                        2.  Safe and Equitable Schools

a.  How is bullying being addressed?  Teachers need consistency in dealing with the issue so that there are not extremes in how discipline is being applied.

                        3.  PWCS Resources

a.   How is the county keeping up with technology?  What funding is there for technology?

           

 

            Elementary Schools – Group I

1.     Inclusion

a.     How are gifted students being included? 

b.     Why are gifted students being bused?

c.      Which schools are getting inclusion?

d.     Why is inclusion going so slowly?

e.     Why are there no foreign languages in elementary school?

2.     Safe and  Equitable Schools

a.     How are gangs being addressed?

3.     PWCS Resources

a.     What is the per pupil spending in relation to the surrounding school districts?

b.     Is the cost per pupil affecting test scores?

c.      Why are we emphasizing CMS testing when other counties are not?

d.     If there are budget cuts, how will this affect per pupil spending?

e.     What changes will be  made to the CIP with respect to building of new schools and modernizing existing schools?

 

Elementary Schools – Group II

1.     Inclusion

a.     How is the decision to have inclusion made?

b.     How are teachers trained to teach inclusion?

c.      How is the school district following up on whether inclusion is working?

d.     What are the regulations on inclusion?

2.     Safe and Equitable Schools

a.  Is school-wide discipline even across the board?

                        3. PWCS Resources

                                    a.  How does inclusion affect the budget?

                                    b.  How do substitutes affect the budget?

                                    c.  Is there a housing allowance for new teachers?

 

Holly Hess and her discussion of testing and assessment will be added to the January agenda.  In order to provide time for her presentation, the SACI meeting on January 11, 2007 will begin at 7:00 pm, not 7:30 pm as originally scheduled.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:53pm. .

 

The next meeting will be Thursday, February 15, 2007.