Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes

Recording Secretary: Sarah Russell

Location of meeting: Dorothy M. Wallace COPE Center Media Center

Was a quorum established? Yes

Was the meeting advertised? Yes, 05/04/2005

Attendance

Topics Covered

The meeting was called to order at 4:07 p.m. The minutes of April 13, 2005 were approved with changes.

OLD BUSINESS: Mrs. King said Labor Relations said we can implement an evaluation tool for paraprofessionals. It will not be considered a waiver and cannot be used for disciplinary purposes.

NEW BUSINESS:

Mrs. King spoke about the School Improvement Plan (SIP) Conference. There may not be an end of year conference; the Region is waiting for a decision. We will modify the current SIP. The FCAT scores for 2005 have not been released yet. We do have the writing results. We would have done better if ESOL and ESE scores had been edited out.

Ms. Loring was at a meeting yesterday where they discussed the writing scores. We will have to do more writing to the prompt per Region VI. We must use state prompts, don’t write our own.

She also said regarding the School Reading Plan (2005-2006) we may not be using the Gates McGinity testing. We might only use the San Diego test.

Mrs. King said she was waiting to hear what the requirements are for reading from the state. Students can then be scheduled.

She found out last Thursday that the bill giving provision for grading alternative education did not pass. Alternative education will not be graded on the same criteria as everyone else.

Mrs. King said, regarding implementation of the reading plan next year, that Ms. Loring and Mrs. Bradman will offer ideas. She is looking at the possibility of some kind of ongoing inservice for reading.

Mrs. Bradman said we need to be able to give students strategies they can use in any test – understanding, modeling, scaffolding.

Mrs. King said we must use CRISS across the curriculum to improve students’ reading comprehension. Our job is to help teachers implement CRISS effectively. We can start with a refresher of CRISS.

Ms. Loring wondered how to get all teachers to have the same goal.

Ms. Allen suggested we might want to consider team teaching.

Mrs. King spoke of learning communities (to include action research, engagement of staff collaboration and sharing best practices). If we do more and more, staff will begin to embrace this concept. This is a state mandate.

The School Board approved a change to the opening and closing time next year (8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m). She sent a memo to Mr. Woodson requesting a change in the hours.

Mrs. Clarington said the purpose of action research is to look at data. Look to see what works and what doesn’t. Share concerns with colleagues. Self-reflection should be done by all.

This is the last meeting for this school year.

Team leaders need to go to secondary school reform meeting on May 23 and 24, 2005.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.