Superintendent’s Advisory Council on Instruction Minutes
November 10, 2022
7 p.m. - Meeting Called to order. Welcome - Vanessa Olson, Chair.
- Minutes from last meeting were emailed out today. Had trouble getting them approved and posted. Please let Ms. Olson know if didn’t receive an email. Thanks for patience. Work heavy meeting.
- No changes or amendments needed for minutes. Minutes approved
Family and communication piece. Commitment 3: Family and community engagement.
Presentation on Aquatics Center. Alan Dunn, Aquatics Manager.
Elementary Learn to Swim program water safety school. Drowning is an epidemic. Socioeconomic status and race affect swimming ability. Provide second-grade students with instruction in swimming and water safety. Five day and one day programs. Provide some type of swimming instruction to all second graders. Swimming instruction and water safety instruction. Use curriculum from the American Red Cross. All instructors certified by American Red Cross. At the end of this year, will have put more than 17,000 students through program. Average 3,000-4,000 students through program per year. 25% of students have never been in swim lessons. No barriers to entry for program. Open to the public. Swim practice and meets for high schools. School teams pay less than public swim teams. CPR classes to teachers. 6,000 swim lessons. Employee discounts. Full week camps. “I Can Swim” program provides adaptive swim lessons. Seasonal events. Special swim in the evening for children with Autism. Took questions: 1) One about “epidemic” 2) comment about birthday parties 3) swimsuit donation question 4) when the swim program takes place 5) parent comment about efficiency of swim program 6) parent comment/question about targeting program toward those students cannot swim 7) question about time parents will hear from schools about programs 8) question about students who missed program during pandemic 9) question about school teams being charged to use the facility 10) question about whether there is a collaboration with the Freedom Center 11) During the summer, is info provided to schools about summer programs for students who would benefit most 12) question about language support the facility might have 13) Question about equity and exposure to summer programs; is there a system in place to encourage families or offset costs for families that don’t have access otherwise. Ms Olson closed the presentation as we were a little over time. She suggested anyone who still had questions to email Allen Dunn.
Family and Communicty Engagement Presentation. Kenneth Basset, Director of Student Learning.
Problems best solved at the point closest to the problem. Trying to build a culture that solves problems at the lowest, closest level, want to be intentional in collecting data. School advisory councils have their roots in that idea. Spoke about funding and funding parameters. Gave an example of trying to improve math scores with adaptive software or tutor; the idea is that the community has an opportunity to have a say. Defunct advisory council might be because of the principal, because of misunderstandings about the advisory councils. Pointed out copies of the strategic plan on the tables. Hone in on “engaging families as authentic partners in education to support academic progress.” Goal is to support and bolster parents’ confidence as partners in child’s education. Described what “Title I” means. Title I school identification is different in different districts.Q&A
- Does socioeconomic data just come from free/reduced lunch applications. CEP data is used. Measures social services being provided within the community like SNAP use. No monolithic, common definition of what Title I Means.
- Is it a federal or state designation? Title I is the name of a federal grant.
- Does the school have to apply to the district for funds? There is a central office employee who works on identifying Title I schools.
- Thought Title I was only at elementary level. There is a point at which upper level schools should be funded. Family engagement component: Have a theory of action; betting that if they provide targeted engagement opportunities then parents will engage more in their child’s education. Family engagement is a cornerstone to the strategic plan.
Break until 8:08 p.m.
- Came back together at 8:08 p.m. Internet is not cooperating. Using paper and sticky notes.
- A couple of people asked about Family Engagement Series mentioned earlier. Mr. Bassett showed group how to find it on the PWCS website. A lot of people work to put the engagement series together. Specialty programs are the focus right now. Colgan’s deadline for the speciality program is early. December 13th rather than February. Governor’s School, pre-Gov, and Colgan are merit-based.
Work Sessions. Groups should work to answer the following questions.
- How might this council help the Division to:
- Host regular family engagement events with targeted families?
- Expand the role of parents on advisory councils?
- Provide resources that are accessible to families in their home languages?
- What do you think defines a “high-functioning” advisory council. What are its attributes?
- What are the characteristics or attributes of Councils that are “low functioning”?
- What does it look like and sound like when you are involved with a high-functioning council?
- What training do families need to support the development of high quality councils?
- Question: Where are we on the metrics listed on the slide (Family event attendance, parent liaisons, parent/school communication)? Not sure we have baseline data on all those projected numbers.
- Scan through the provided report for a few minutes. Meet and speak in your groups to figure out how to address the following questions. We want to know everybody’s opinion. Everyone write down your own, individual thoughts. When stickies are finished, put them on the large papers. We will looks for patterns and group the stickies. May not have answer as an an individual.