Members Present: Pamela Barker, Mary Cahill, Patricia Dow, Carol Heller, Linda Kissane, Gregory Kloepfer, Monika LaPlante, Susan Liucci, Susan Mellon, James Polunci, Carmen Ross, Bonnie Schmidt, Marybeth Tenne, Roger Wells. Absent: Nicole McGrath

Chairperson Roger Wells opened the meeting introduced new student member, Gregory Kloepfer.

Superintendent of Schools, Mary Cahill, was present to report on Middle States. She said she had received a year extension with next school year being designated as our reporting year. She also reported that Tammy Darby had resigned as Chairperson and that a new Chairperson needs to be appointed. Members should discuss this need with their constituents and ask that interested people should contact Interim Principal James Polunci or Superintendent Cahill. Tammy had selected members for each committee and Roger will check with her to see the status of the survey conducted last spring for committee selection. A steering committee and chairperson must be selected as soon as possible. Further discussion about the Middle States process followed.

Last year’s goals were discussed and updates will be added to our chart at the next meeting. Some thoughts and discussion:

Objective: More ‘in house’ options for staff.

Strategies –

Staff sharing of "what works" – is ongoing and may be continued at faculty meetings – person responsible – Jim Polunci

Understanding by Design – Members questioned about this goal which was to be worked on by Dave Eagle and Heather Fair-Sears. Roger will check with Heather to see what if anything has been done and to see what we need to do.

Regional Conference – Mary Cahill reported that this year’s regional conference will be held on October 19^th (Friday) at Saratoga High School. There will be a globalization speaker in the a.m. for large group. There would be rooms available for department meetings in the afternoon. Originally the afternoon was planned for Middle States work but another plan for the afternoon will be decided by administration and heads of departments.

Teacher Visitation and Exchange –

Strategies -

Any teacher interested in a visitation to another school district should see one of the administrators. Two teachers had planned on visiting schools doing Middle States assessment this fall, but have cancelled for this year. Anyone interested in a visitation for this school year should file a conference request for consideration. (Ongoing) (Individual Teacher)

Strategies – Since Middle States has been postponed for this year, departments should continue reviewing data and final review will be next year.

Grade-Quick – This program has been updated recently and will be accessible through the Internet so that teachers may post marks at any work station (or at home). As soon as the system is finalized a date will be set for teachers to learn the new system.

Blackboard – Mary reported that she recently met with Rich Strauss, BOCES computer teacher David Ashdown and Peggy Jones, Blackboard specialist, to start planning the December 7^th Staff Development, which will feature technology workshops (such as the ones held a couple years ago). Any other suggestions should be given to Jim Polunci or Mary Cahill.

Discussion of Objectives and Strategies:

Class size – some classes have over twenty students while others have very few students. How can we even out the numbers in class sizes easier?

Crossover teaching – teachers who teach both junior and senior high courses have scheduling problems between the two levels. For instance a teacher who may teach 7^th and 10^th grades cannot teach classes back to back since there may be a five or six minute overlap between the end of one class and the start of the other. This also creates a problem in room usage as the room would not be available for another class either (due to the overlap of time). There is no easy way to fix this problem other than adding another teacher or complete change of bell schedules. Ideas are welcome.

"Singleton classes" – we have added more singletons this year, such as Mandarin Chinese, several AP subjects, higher math, music and art classes, and others. The more choices we offer, the harder it is to build a master schedule that fits all. Students are very fortunate to have so many more choices now.

Lack of rooms – with so many "singleton" classes, AIS labs, science and math labs and study halls along with teachers without a "home-base", we have had more problems with room assignments this year.

AIS labs – We now have several teachers teaching AIS labs (math, social, English, science and foreign languages) and they have proven successful for students’ academic success. There are still problems in scheduling. Students who receive 1’s or 2’s on State assessments are required to receive AIS time. Students who receive higher marks do not have to be assigned to AIS time. Some parents have requested their students (who received a 3 or 4) be assigned to AIS time even though the State does not require it. It may be hard for teachers to teach both levels in the short-time of AIS lab.

Instruction Support Team (IST) and referral process to help students is in place. Referral forms may be picked up in the main or guidance office. Committee is headed by Rosemarie Earl and met several times last year. Constituents should be reminded to submit names any time to either Rosemarie or Jim.

Portfolio Assessment – Carmen gave a brief overview of portfolios. She urged staff to encourage 9^th and 10^th graders to begin building their portfolios. Presently all seniors must have a portfolio but if students started a couple years earlier, it would help students prepare for college or the job-world. Suggestion to hold a Career Day where students could get a taste of career opportunities. It could be a day where students visit a business or business people could be invited to set up "booths" for students to visit. Carmen volunteered to head a committee to explore the possibility of holding a career day, which would include various careers, internship programs and/or teaching assistant program. Patricia Dow, Roger Wells and Sue Mellon volunteered to help on the committee.

Alumni Day – It was suggested the alumni from the past two or three years be invited back to talk with seniors. Normally just alumni from the previous year are invited. It might be helpful for students to hear how college life or job world experiences change as the years go by. Also, it was suggested to have seniors fill out a survey about interests, major fields, colleges and other questions for alumni. It would also include personal address and e-mail address to be used for inviting this class to attend future alumni days.

 

Next meeting is Tuesday, October 9th and agenda will mainly be Goal issues. All members were asked to discuss goals with constituents and be ready to discuss and finalize our Goals.