O’Rourke Middle School Building Council Retreat Minutes

Friday, June 27, 2008 – 8:00-2:00 PM – Library Classroom 

Attendance:  Don Germain, Nancy Pearse, Robin Gawrys, Judy Brinkman, Kevin Ahern, Patty Rakvica, Robbie Paine, Karen Shipston, Kate Kilmer, Lori Moore, Amy Clarke, Suzanne Rayome, Janet Bianchi, Valerie Wadsworth, Penny McDonnell 

1. Welcome and Introduction of New Members:  All members were introduced and new members were welcomed to the Council, including new parent member Patty Rakvica and new Council Co-Chair Valerie Wadsworth.  Outgoing members were praised for their dedication and service to the children and community, particularly Penny McDonnell for her exceptional work as Co-Chair for the past two years, Kate Kilmer, as outgoing parent rep. and Robbie Paine on her retirement and many years of exceptional Council and teaching service.
2. Review of Shared Decision Making Protocols and Mandated SDM Checklist:  An extensive overview of the history, process, and expectations for shared decision making by the Council was completed by the Co-Chairs.  Emphasis was placed on procedures, consensus building, decision making for the best interest of children, communication with constituents, ground rules, and other operating principles.  Questions were fielded regarding the decision making hierarchy, goal setting, and long range planning.  The shared decision making flow chart and Visionary Framework for Planning were also discussed as a part of this process.
3. Membership:  The membership history chart was reviewed and member terms discussed.  CSEA membership will remain with Amy Clark until an official election for a new representative can be completed in the fall.  This process has been started with the solicitation of candidates by CSEA leadership.
4. Standing Committee Reports:
   1. Class Night:  The awards program and dance were a great success.  However, the ceremony was extremely crowded and a new venue needs to be considered for the future.  The following suggestions were made for committee review in the fall:

·        Update the letter sent to parents regarding the guidelines for the awards ceremony…

·        Review the rewards protocols and criteria in detail…

·        Determine a process for approving new awards…

·        Keep the ceremonies combined for the future in a similar format as this year…

·        Utilize the high school gymnasium in the future to host the event…

·        Improve the logistics of the event: parking, chaperones, audio…

2. American Education Week:  The implementation of American Education Week activities went very smoothly again this year.  Improved communication through the use of the web and an interim report insert letter helped to provide information to parents about the events.  Embedded grade level activities throughout the year have given parents more opportunities to immerse themselves in the day to day happenings of the school.  The committee members will continue to look at more ways to engage parents in the day to day events of their children through school functions.
3. Academic and Personal Excellence:  The Committee for Academic and Personal Excellence set goals for next year to develop a rubric for the Personal Development Average that will provide more consistency in its application, while further defining student performance in the affective domain in more concrete terms.  They also will look at aligning summer school grading policies and practices with those of the high school to provide more continuity across the grade levels.  The Committee refined the report card comments this year, implementing the new comment sheet in the fall of 2008.  Council members requested a staff development forum on grading practices for the fall of 2008.  They also had a lengthy discussion regarding student placement, retention, and summer school policies and practices.
4. Health and Safety:  The Health and Safety Committee has been extremely active this year overseeing drills and emergency exercises, managing day to day operational issues, refining safety procedures and protocols, and upgrading emergency response information and practices.  Future items that will continue to be addressed will be updating emergency flip charts, reviewing traffic flow and safety options, upgrading emergency equipment such as security cameras, and improving emergency response.
5. Social Committee:  The Social Committee continues to develop and sponsor events that build community and foster teamwork amongst the staff, while engaging students in wholesome school spirit initiatives.
6. Character Education:  The Character Education Committee has been extremely active this year sponsoring events and organizing initiatives to improve our school climate.  Forty staff members have been trained to utilize the Capturing Kids Hearts principles to support student growth.  The District has supported the building’s efforts to implement this program and will continue to prioritize this work for the next school year.  Many character education initiatives have been embedded into the curriculum across all disciplines.  An extensive rewards and incentives program has been established with a Breakfast of Celebration added this year to reward students who have raised their overall average 3.5 points or better each quarter.  An evaluation of our data shows significant improvements in student conduct, Personal Development Averages, and attendance, to name a few.  The modeling of expectations and improved communications has also contributed to this trend, although there is a need to continue to target our efforts toward more improvements in this area for the future.
7. SASI:  This committee has continued to oversee the use of the SASI information management system.  The teacher manual will be upgraded this summer.  The issues of calculating grades and standardized grading procedures were briefly addressed.
8. Transition Committee:  Although this committee did not officially meet this year, various departments and teams continued to carry on the work of the committee.  Numerous transition activities have been established across the grade levels for students and staff.  The Crossing Over Route 50 program was created and implemented this year with great success by the combined guidance departments of the two secondary buildings.  Articulation meetings continue and have been expanded.  Information from these meetings is utilized to improve student placement, modify instruction and curriculum, and upgrade programming to meet the needs of the individual students.  A historical document of transition initiatives is being created to be used as the foundation for the committee’s work for the next school year.
9. Sunshine Committee:  This committee, overseen by the staff, provides support for individuals and families throughout the year.
10. Technology Committee:  This committee oversees all aspects of the infusion of technology into our school program.  This year the committee decided to supervise the purchase of a video monitoring and messaging system for the cafeteria to be utilized to improve communication with students, support special events, and alleviate the burden of regular classroom announcements.  The Council members agreed that this committee should take a more active role in procuring and managing equipment, overseeing training, and infusing more technology into our classrooms.
11. Connecting Disconnected Kids:  This committee was formed in the summer of 2006 to develop the Student Assistance Program.  The Council agreed that it should continue its work in a different light focusing on strategies to help disconnected students, getting parents involved to oversee programs, research the creation of a peer leadership program similar to the high school’s, and focus more efforts on getting kids engaged in learning. 
12. Scheduling Committee:  The Scheduling Committee was charged in the fall to investigate ways of modifying the existing schedule to support the implementation of the Accelerated Science Program, among other things.  They recommended a modification in the instructional day to meet that need, but could not resolve some of the other issues at this time.
13. PAT:  The Pupil assistance Team was restructured this year to improve its delivery of service to students and staff, while streamlining its procedures utilizing Pyramid of Intervention strategies.  Although meeting with frustration in the beginning of the redevelopment process, the collective knowledge and wisdom of the members helped to resolve many issues in order to support the efficient and effective functioning of the committee.  An electronic referral system was created and improved documentation measures supported these changes.  Although it is still in its defining stages, the PAT has operated to the benefit of students.  Further refinements will take place in the fall upon receipt of a clearer direction from the District Pyramid of Intervention Committee.
14. Staff Development:  Staff development initiatives were discussed throughout the meeting as part of the dialog on other ventures.  The need to continue to provide effective, concrete, and aligned staff development offerings was encouraged by the members.
15. Safe Routes Grant:  An update was given on the status of the Safe Routes Grant written by building and district personnel to help to improve traffic flow in and around the school.  This grant was denied, but the committee agreed that this topic should be an ongoing priority for the school in the future.   
4. Update on Building and District Initiatives:  Updates we covered as part of other reports.
5. Evaluation of 2007-08 Goal Achievement: 
   1. Goal #1 – Scheduling:  The history and process of the scheduling committee was reviewed in light of the recent charge to implement changes to introduce the Accelerated Science program.  The committee came back together in September and over the course of 12 meetings, through December, discussed the options to: resolve the Accelerated Science scheduling concerns, improve the delivery of Chorus 8, minimize costs to the District, and implement any other warranted changes that would benefit the students of the school.  The committee made a recommendation to the Principal in December to modify the instructional day to accommodate the need to service the mandates for the Accelerated Science class, more specifically the lab.  Since that time, work has been completed with the TA (contractual modification in the instructional day) and Cabinet members to implement the proposed change.  The Council members agreed that the schedule and the process to implement change in that work should be evaluated for the future.  They also recommended that when changes of this magnitude are considered for the future, the logistics of that change should be considered before a decision is rendered to implement the change. 
   2. Goal # 2 – Communication:  Efforts continue to improve internal and external communications with all constituent groups.  The website has been upgraded to provide a wealth of information for the greater learning community.  It has been sited as an exemplar for school based websites.  More teachers are utilizing personal websites to communicate with students and parents.  A new messaging system will be utilized in the fall to improve internal communication with students and minimize distractions to the educational climate.  Council and committee members have made a more concerted effort to communicate with their constituency on all matters.  Minutes are published for all team and committee meetings and shared with all parties.  Sub-committee, District and Cabinet reports have become a regular practice at Council meetings.  The selection of summer curriculum projects now has a presentation component for applying members.  Weekly and monthly newsletters are regularly used by the Principal, PTA, and other groups.  Parent Teas, Forums and immersion activities bring the community into the school on a regular basis.  Other events of this nature, such as team meetings with parents, have helped to open lines of communication.  Articulation meetings between and across schools and grade levels have helped to better service students needs.  The Council has fostered this change through a commitment to open and honest dialog.  The members suggested looking at a Middle School messaging system through an e-mail merge as a potential way of improving communication for the future.
   3. Goal # 3 – Response to Intervention:  The Council’s efforts to look at Response to Intervention strategies as a way to improve the direct delivery of service to students in the classroom through embedded Pyramid of Intervention strategies took on a life of its own as it developed throughout the year.  This led to the establishment of a district wide committee to look at the principles behind the implementation of this model.  The building changed its course of action with regard to RTI, focusing its efforts more on the restructuring of the PAT team and applying Pyramid of Intervention Strategies in the classroom and through team student support initiatives.  The reorganization of the PAT team has been a fruitful cause with improved overall intervention services, a more streamlined process, better ways to collect, utilize, and disseminate data, an improved screening process, and more embedded classroom intervention and prevention strategies.  Although this is a work in progress, great strides have been made to improve all related services under the umbrella of the PAT team.  Future considerations for PAT improvements are:  utilizing the SASI system to actively flag PAT students, improve the communication of information to and from the teaching teams, improve the staff review of student folders in their evaluation process, improve screening measures and data evaluation, and provide more training for all staff on innovative practices that lead to improved use of Pyramid strategies.
6. Evaluation of Building SMART Goal Achievement: The preliminary evaluation of multiple sources of data indicates that the building has met or exceeded their SMART Goal parameters in both the affective and cognitive domains.  The Council will do a comprehensive evaluation in the fall of this body of work and make recommendations for revised building wide goals for the future.  Teaching teams, during an extended workshop this spring, established their own embedded goal parameters for the 2008-09 school year that target student growth and development.  The overall success of our goal achievement is due to the collective efforts of the staff, students, and community to provide for a well balanced educational program that targets initiatives toward all aspects of student growth and development and sustains those efforts through sound research based practices and principles of education.
7. Recommendation and Prioritization of Council Goals for the 2008-09 School Year:  The Council had a lengthy deliberation about the recommendation and prioritization of potential goals for the 2008-09 school calendar year.  Each constituent representative presented potential goals to the members for review.  These items were discussed, evaluated for their merit, and clustered into common webs.  Once the webs were established, three well defined goal statements were written targeting the areas of Culture, Team, and Data.    The following recommendations were made from the members on potential goal parameters:

·        Create a Personal Development Average Rubric…

·        Align the Summer School Grading Policy with that of the High School…

·        Continue to Improve All Areas of Student Transition…

·        Research the Implementation of Smaller Learning Communities, Teaching Teams at the 7/8 Grade Levels…

·        Evaluate and Update the Visionary Framework…

·        Reorganize the Class Night Awards Protocols and Ceremony Logistics…

·        Continue to Improve the Overall Performance of Targeted, Disconnected Kids…

·        Create a Better Vehicle to Keep Special Area Teachers Informed and to Address Their Specific Concerns…

·        Evaluate Homework Policies and Practices…

·        Address Further the Organization and Study Skill Needs of Students…

·        Continue to Build Upon Character Education Initiatives…

·        Continue to Improve All Vehicles for Effective Communication…

·        Review the Student Agenda, the Code of Conduct Specific to Electronic Devices…

·        Continue to Develop Our Knowledge Base, Practices, and Principles Regarding the Concepts of RTI and the Pyramid of Interventions… 

Clustered items resulted in the development of the following goal statements for the 2008-09 school year: 

1. Goal #1 – Culture:  To improve the cultural climate of the O’Rourke Middle School, the Building Council will take the following initiatives: 

v     Facilitate grade level transitions

v     Engage disconnected kids

v     Promote character education

v     Continue to improve open lines of communication with all constituent groups

v     Update student agenda protocols with regard to technology 

2. Goal #2 – Team:  To further foster the growth and facilitation of teaming at O’Rourke Middle School, the Building Council will: 

v     Increase the involvement of special area staff in the team process

v     Support the teams in their efforts to improve students’ organizational, study and test taking skills

v     Investigate the creation of interdisciplinary teaching teams at the 7^th and 8^th grade levels

v     Support furthering the understanding of PLC’s through staff development 

3. Goal #3 – Data:  To continue to improve the growth and development of O’Rourke Middle School students, the Building Council will utilize data to evaluate the following items:

v     A PDA Rubric

v     O’Rourke Middle School SMART Goals

v     Summer School Grading Policies

v     Homework Practices

v     Visionary Framework

v     Pyramid of Intervention Strategies 

9. Open Agenda:  The following items were addressed under the open agenda portion of the meeting:
   1. Nutrition:  It was reported that the cafeteria service provider will support the Council’s efforts to continue to infuse healthy choices of food for students, as they continue to balance wellness needs of children, with sound fiscal management.
   2. Communication Council:  The District continues to refine the role of the Communication Council with regard to the decision making process of our schools. Meeting three times a year, the representatives of the collective Building Councils dialog on pertinent educational issues and work together toward equitable resolution.
   3. Cabinet:  The addition of a Cabinet report to Council this year has helped to keep the members informed about important curriculum and instruction initiatives that have taken place at the school, while tapping the collective wisdom of the Cabinet members to support the decision making process. 

The O’Rourke Middle School Building Council continues to grow as it supports the diverse needs of the middle level community.  The dedication of the members, reflective practices, honest and open dialog, and the sense of community have fostered progressive, effective and consistent growth for our school.  The members are to be praised for the outstanding vision and achievement they have help to foster and sustain over time.