spmeeting Jan 27 2011 - Wilder School District #133

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Due to the issues facing Wilder, this is a high risk community. Ms. Anderson feels that every effort must be made to avoid having students drop out. Academic achievement is very important as the students must be ready for anything. Sonny Sarceda asked what can be done to help the students who leave and come back at different times throughout the year. How can you see that they don’t fall behind? He believes that currently those students are leaving to attend the COSSA Academy for credit recovery. Is there any way they could do that in our school? What can be done to retain the student in the District? Patricia Clagg feels that some of the students leave because of problems with the administration and the communication problems. Ms. Anderson recommends that it become a part of the District’s policies that an annual review is done of the Strategic Plan. By doing, this, it will outlast the current Board and progress will continue on the changing issues within the District. It is important that everyone be involved in the process. The community, students, staff and administration should all have input into the process. She recommends that the District narrow their focus and deal with a few items instead of having a vague plan as it stands now. A couple of the concerns are (1) mobility. Students coming and going during the year, causing them to get behind and (2) student achievement. The District needs to develop a system that allows us to know what the individual student is needing and be able to customize plans for the students based on that information. Ms. Anderson stressed that the plans must align within the District. When a student leaves the elementary and goes into the middle school, the transition should be seamless. The schools should work together as part of one District. Jeb Bechtel feels that the homework given should be age appropriate. A seventh grader should not be given the same amount of homework as a senior in high school. Ms. Anderson suggested that the Board request to look at the performance of the students annually at the very least. It is important to know where the District is and what changes should be made. Perhaps there are subjects that most students are struggling with. These may be the areas where more funding is needed. She would like to see the administration report to the board regularly on these issues. Ms. Anderson then went over the ideas the Board had discussed from an earlier Strategic Planning Session. She asked the questions, 1. Where are we going in the long run? 2. Where is our District now? 3. How well is our school District performing in the following areas? Student Achievement Student Preparedness Financial Capacity 2
Personnel Capacity It is important to ask the hard questions in order to make changes. There should be no fear of repercussions. Jeb Bechtel believes that every student graduates on their own achievements but it is up to the School District to motivate them. Ms. Anderson said that there is a trend for more personalization for students and their learning abilities. This can be difficult for the teachers to do individually. Jeb Bechtel reiterated that it is important to use words and ideas at a level that will be easy for everyone to understand when discussing the Strategic Planning. Patricia Clagg feels it is important that we be better at speaking our thoughts and in our communication with each other. Ms. Anderson said that after the Board and Administration input, it is necessary to look at what the other is saying and listen to each other’s ideas. Jeb Bechtel doesn’t see very much involvement with staff members after hours. He said it makes it difficult for a community to know and to support the staff if they never see them. Patricia Clagg feels that the negative perceptions are coming from adults more than from the children. She would be curious to hear what more children think. Ms. Anderson suggested doing a survey. This could be handled a number of ways. They could create a website with a survey on it. They could also do a newsletter or a handout with a survey. The surveys would be collected by Ms. Anderson or go directly to another address besides the District Office. The survey may bring to light issues that the District and the Board are currently unaware of. Ms. Anderson asked the Board to contact the missing Board members and update them on this meeting and to get ideas from them. Ms. Anderson asked “What strategic assets does Wilder School District currently have?” Some of the answers were, The Academic Decathlon; the improved retention rate; better student to teacher ratio due to the District size, and a staff that is very concentrated on learning new and better skills in order to help their students. Ms. Anderson asked, “What needs to change in order to excel in these areas?” It was determined that we must learn to motivate students. Jeb Bechtel feels that we need more electives such as band. By having more electives, he feels the students will want to stay, and in turn, will improve the funding for the District. Sonny Sarceda has heard of students leaving the District to play sports not offered here at other schools. 3
Page 1: WILDER SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER 133 M
Page 5: Chairperson Patricia Clagg adjourne

spmeeting Jan 27 2011 - Wilder School District #133

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?