2012-2013 Community School Annual Report

2012-2013 Community School Annual Report

Submitted by:

Dona L. Cardone

Executive Director

2222 Issaquah Street
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio44221
Phone: (330) 922-1966
Fax: (330) 945-4059

October 29, 2013

“Molding Our Students to be Insightful, Accepting, and Compassionate”

CommunitySchool Annual Report

2012-2013

Mission Statement

The Schnee Learning Center (SLC) will provide an environment where students are willing and supported to take risks. We value the unique abilities of each student and offer varied opportunities for individual growth, character development, and success.

Our goals are to further develop the academic standards and opportunities on campus, to operate economically and efficiently, to be responsive to the needs of our student body and parents, to reward excellence in instruction, to rise to the technology and the times in which we live, and to promote character and personal values in our students.

The SLC will strive to motivate, teach, and guide each student through personal educational growth and development. This will be accomplished by emphasizing the development of both academic and social skills. These skills will be developed and enhanced through researched programs and the use of the latest technology. Instruction will occur through an alternative approach to the regular school setting, designed to meet the student’s individual needs. Social and personal skills development will be an integral part of the student’s total school experience.

To reinforce the environment where students are supported to take risks, SLCcontinues tofollow ourMosaic (Molding Our Students to be Accepting, Insightful, and Compassionate) that is an integral part of the day-to-day operations. More importantly, SLC implemented its Positive Behavior Interventions Support (PBIS) program, a school-wide proactive, team-based framework for creating and sustaining a safe and effective environment. This program will increase consistency in recognizing when students do or do notmeet SLC’s behavior expectationsas described in the SHARK (Safety, Honesty, Accountability, Respect, Kindness) Code.

General School Information & Statistics

The SLC is a public conversion community school, sponsored by the Cuyahoga Falls City Schools District, in its eighth year of operationthat served 210students (65.2% males, 34.8% females compared to FY 12 62.5% males, 37.5% females) in the categories below.

The staff who served the students consistedof 7teachers,Student Services Specialist, 2Student Advocates, Office Advocate, 2 Intervention Specialists (who case managed 34 IEP students, 13 whograduated in FY13 making this the second largest group of IEP graduates in SLC’s history), Guidance Counselor/Case Manager, Part-time Administrative Secretary, Building Custodian, andExecutive Director.

SLC continues to serve 9th through 12th grade students (typically 14 to 22 years of age) who are interested in pursuing an alternative or non-traditional schooling option.

The school provides a continuum of comprehensive strategies to reduce truancy, absenteeism, disruptive behavior, dropouts, and juvenile crime, all of which define the “at-risk” student.

Student learning opportunities combine academics,life skills preparation, workplace training, leadership training, as well as personaland social growth programs. Students attend one four-hour session daily five days per week (720 hours). Three hours of every session are spent on academics, including the Ohio Graduate Testing program; the other hour is scheduled as a combination computer lab and traditional teacher-lead elective class. In addition, students must complete a minimum of 5.55 additional hours (199.5 hours) of extended learning opportunities each week that are staff approved, supervised, and documentedweekly. These learning opportunities include, but are not limited to, employment, vocational training, volunteering, enrichment classes (Project Love, YMCA), City of Cuyahoga Falls collaborative partner projects, and counseling. Full-time students will exceed the minimum number of hours (920) by participating in the learning opportunities previously described.

Schnee will not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, handicapping condition, or gender in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, or any other school practice.

Building Goals

Goal #1Implement systemic intervention protocols to increase student achievement for the 2012-2013 school year.

Tactic: Teach students strategies to use problem-solving strategies and critical thinking skills to increase motivation, time-on-task, and pro-social skills.

What are the indicators of successful attainment?

1. Provide PBIS professional development training for staff to successfully implement effective teaching/classroom management strategies.
2. Improvement in student achievement, reduction of office referrals, and/or positive classroom behavior as measured by Public School Works data.

Goal #1met with full implementation of PBIS and PSW. PSW data show a significant reduction of office referrals per quarter.

Goal #2Increase ADM on an annual attendance rate from 91.4% to 92-92.5% for the 2012-13 school year.

Tactic: Data Collection and Utilization—establish systems to ensure the Adequate Yearly

Progress measures are improving.

What are the indicators of successful attainment?

1. Monitor daily attendance
2. Meet with parents and students who violate the 5-day absent policy.
3. Continue the collaborative partnership with the Responder Program to proactively offer support/resources to reduce court referrals for attendance issues.

Goal #2 data not available from ODE due to redesign of the State Report Card.

Educational Performance Indicators

The Performance Index Scoreof 82.3 translatesto a.3 point increase from the 2011—2012 school year. However, ODE has redesigned the State Report Card for Dropout Prevention/Credit Recovery Schools, SLC being 1 out of 85 such schools in Ohio.

Ohio Graduation Tests Information. Even though SLC’s State Report Card has been redesigned, the Comparative Results from ODE’s State Indicators and Rating are listed below. Grade 10 results showed significant gains in 3 indicators, whereas the Grade 11 results, 1 indicator.

The new State Report Card evaluates Dropout Prevention/Credit Recovery Schools in the areas below. SLC’s ratings are stated below. Note the graphs comparing SLC to the Comparison Group are illustrated from ODE’s Report Card webpage.

1. High School Assessment Test Passage Rate—85.3% students passing all 5 State Tests.

Schnee

1. Graduation Rates—the number of students who graduate in 4, 5, or 6 years.

1. 65.4%--4 years
2. 75.8%--5 years
3. 66.7%-- 6 years

1. Annual Measure Objectives—66.7% indicates how well students are doing in reading, math, and graduation.

Accolades. OAPCS, Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, has determined through Ohio Department of Education’s Dropout Prevention/Credit Recovery School evaluation criteria that Schnee Learning Center earned the Charter School of the Year award for the 2012-2013 school year. SLC will be presented with this prestigious award at the OAPCS annual fall conference on November 15, 2013. Schnee was not only thedropout prevention/credit recovery school to score in all categories but also scored the highest in each of these respective categories.

Financial Information

The Annual Spending Plan SM-2 Report below reflects the SLC’s financial information for the2012-2013 school year. Note that the Total Revenue and Other Financing Sources decreased from $912,273in FY12 to $892,968in FY13—a loss of $19,305in revenue.

Evaluating these financial figures, the following major staffing reductions were made prior to the beginning of FY13 year: 1.5 teacher positions, 2 student advocates reduced to part-time.

Fiscal Audit Results

According to GAAP-basis financial statements compiled byJulian & Grube, Inc.,the Statement of Net Assets, the Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Assets, and the Statement of Cash Flows will be displayed on the following pages when received from the Sponsor.

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