CRIN 590 ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

Becca Heck + Brittany Hopkins

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School Profile: Part II (Supports Obj. # 4, 5, 6) (Due 3/17; 10%)

Networks of Supports → information was found from the New Kent Elementary School website initially ( , which led to teacher’s individual web pages, parent handbooks, and additional websites that directed us towards more support networks

Primary Support→ almost all of these primary supports are located in the building and accessible on a daily basis, whenever needed. All of these people provide primary support in any way possible either it is through a face-to-face conversation, a phone call, or an email. Some of the people who fall into the primary support category also fall into other support categories.

  • Student’s families
  • Reachable by phone and email, all parents are adequately involved in their child’s progress
  • Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO)
  • President Stephanie Ripchick
  • Secretary DwanaGrech
  • Vice-President Lori Hill
  • Treasurer TonyiaVeloso
  • Student families are also given this handbook (can be accessible online as well) which gives more details about supports at each grade level
  • Grade-level/departmental teams
  • 5th grade team
  • Cathy Bruner
  • Jamie Johnston
  • Kim Beasley
  • Jessica Stewart
  • Sandy Spangler
  • Matt Proffitt
  • Paraeducators
  • Professional learning communities
  • Coaches and mentors
  • Cathy Anderson (Math Specialist)
  • Melissa Dalton and Jodi Bailey (Title I Teacher)
  • Rita Carreras and Jenny John (School Counselors)
  • ACE Program
  • Gifted resource teachers
  • Angela Estis
  • Rechele Gregory
  • Debbie Fox-Valdez
  • Administrators and supervisors
  • Principal - John Moncrief
  • Assistant Principal - David Baum
  • Professional associations
  • Front Office Ladies
  • Laura Beech
  • Holli Perez
  • Donna Harris
  • Beth Kappus – ITRT
  • Monica Starkweather and Roni Iwanski – ESL
  • Kim Holloway and Penny Pugh (Library)
  • Clinic - School Nurse: Jane Walsh, Clinic Aide: Donna Harris
  • Susan Vick (Art Teacher)
  • Denielle Resnick (Music Teacher)
  • Robert Smith (Computer Technology Teacher)
  • Kelly Slate and Alex Noctor (Physical Education Teachers)

Special Needs Support

  • Multitiered systems of support (RTI)
  • Collaborative consultants
  • School Psychologist
  • Nancy Mollner
  • Robin McClaine
  • School Social Worker
  • Emily Emmons
  • Physical Therapist
  • Barbara Riley
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Jennifer Milby
  • Speech Pathologists
  • Marie Owens and Heidi Dellert
  • SPED Teachers
  • Suzanne Cashin - 4th grade special education
  • Elaine Dye
  • Melissa George - autism specialist
  • Steven Goodsky-Hertig
  • Elaine Greer
  • Matt Proffitt - 5th grade special education
  • Co-teachers
  • Mrs. Cashin and Mr. Proffitt both co-teach in the 4th and 5th grade level
  • Paraprofessionals (for 5th grade)
  • Katie Craig
  • Amy Pike

CENTRAL OFFICE PERSONNEL

  • Dr. David Myers - Superintendent
  • HaynieMorgheim - Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations
  • Dr. Byron Bishop - Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction
  • Ross Miller - Director of Instructional Technology, Testing, and Accountability
  • Cynthia Pitts - Executive Director of Administration
  • Dr. Diane Pollard - Director of Special Education
  • Leslie Smith -Food Service Director
  • Stephen King - Transportation Director
  • Tim Pollock - Maintenance Supervisor
  • Don Clark - Transportation Service Manager

Special Education Support

  • Child study teams
  • Principal - John Moncrief + Assistant Principal - David Baum
  • SPED - Matt Proffitt
  • General education teacher (CT) - Sandy Spangler or Jessica Stewart
  • Can include any of the collaborative consultants depending on the nature of the child study
  • IEP teams
  • Principal - John Moncrief + Assistant Principal - David Baum
  • SPED - Matt Proffitt
  • General education teacher (CT) - Sandy Spangler or Jessica Stewart
  • Can include any of the collaborative consultants depending on the nature of the IEP
  • Resource and technical assistance centers

Interagency/Community Support (vary on case)

  • Early intervention teams
  • Comprehensive service teams
  • social services - (see above for social services person for New Kent)
  • Transition teams
  • Partnerships
  • Full-service schools

This school profile focuses primarily on 5th grade resources since we are both placed in a 5th grade classroom. The majority of these resources can easily be accessed by a phone call inside the teacher’s classroom. Each classroom has a phone and a book with a list of phone numbers to other rooms in the school. For the resource not available by phone, teachers can email the personnel directly. Strengths include special education teachers for each grade level, other special education teachers, title 1 teachers, mentors, and a well staffed office. The only weakness could be needed more special education teachers. One special education per grade level is not a lot but more than one is often difficult for a school to fund. There are supports for teachers at each level. The primary support includes families and PTO. New Kent Elementary is a close community and parents are involved whenever possible. The 5th grade team works together during planning periods and also meets informally before and after school. There is a team leader for each grade level, the fifth grade team leader is Kim Beasley. This teacher acts as the liaison between the 5th grade teachers and the principal. They are open to share resources for lessons and provide advice for students and different units. They do not group plan but they have a pacing guide created at the beginning of the school year and they discuss where they are for each subject. The coaches and mentors specialize in a specific subject and provide even more resources to teachers. The reading teacher helps out teachers in a variety of ways including sharing google docs with teachers that include various ideas for lessons. The math coach comes in once a week to each of the five fifth grade teams to provide additional support in teaching. The school counselors come in and provide mini lessons periodically. Teachers can supplement services available on site with other services such as online teacher resources that have lessons and activities for various grade levels, teaching styles, and learning styles. The advancement in technology today makes easier than ever to acquire knowledge and resources outside of the school services if needed.

Brittany’s Reflection

I found this assignment to be particularly useful because it allowed me to see New Kent in a whole new light. I was aware of several of the supports listed above due to my daily interactions in the school, my involvement in reviewing my students IEPs and attending IEP meetings, and from asking my cooperating teacher questions. However, I was unaware of just how many levels of support are available. I am in a classroom that has eight special education students, so I was more familiar with the levels of support for special education, Title I reading, and the school counselor. Beyond the things that my grade level team does to support me, such as sharing resources, behavior management techniques, and overall advice; I have learned more specifically about the upper-level supports such as central office workers and the collaborative consultants who work between the two elementary schools in New Kent. This has enriched my student teaching experience because it has made me more aware of the current support structure and more in-touch which my available supports. One surprise to me was that we had an ACE program, which is specially for gifted education. This was a surprise to me because none of the students in my class get pulled out for this level of support so I was unaware it even existed. This assignment allowed me to see the school as a larger whole.

As a student teacher, a lot of my support would come from the primary level of support especially since my CT is my go-to, first layer of support; she provides such great support to me on a daily basis. My CT is just one of the layers of support that I have had the pleasure of gaining more knowledge about through this assignment. In conclusion, New Kent as several levels of support, some of which overlap and provide information on how to reach other levels of support. I think that moving forward in my student teaching this support map will definitely prove to me helpful. My only comment is that I wish I had done this earlier, so that I could have a better understanding of New Kent before! With that said, I think that this would be a very effective to do when doing a job search because it would allow me to see exactly what resources and supports would be in place for me in my first year of teaching. With the increased access to the internet and public information, finding these levels of support has never been easier.

Becca Heck’s Reflection:

This assignment made me look further into New Kent Elementary’s school resources than I have ever done before at my placement. While being placed there I have tried to take advantage of various resources in my placement. I have talked to different resources such as the math specialist and the special education teacher. This assignment has enriched my student teaching experience because it made me more aware of the different resources available. I now know of more options to look to and ask for help when needed. I have always known about the various resource teachers (art, PE, library, computer lab, music) because every week my class goes to a resource a day. The only thing that really surprised me was the school social worker. I knew we had one as of last week. I knew my school had a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech pathologist, and a school psychologist. Creating this list was helpful just to show an outline of an overview of everyone at the staff that is available and their specialty. It helped me reflect and see that there a good amount of people working to help this school run and provided individualized help and enrichment to students who need it.

My classroom placement has students that receive various services. I have students that are pulled out of the class to go to special education, autism specialist, Title 1, math specialist, reading specialist, social skills, and occupational therapy. Since I am placed in such a diverse classroom, I have been able to have a better understanding of how many services there are available to students. During a job search, I will definitely want to know what services they have available. I would also want to find out what the school collaboration style is and how teachers work together. Last year I was in a 4th grade classroom down in Blacksburg, Virginia. This school was a private school and was run by the school’s kindergarten teacher. This school had no front office, no cafeteria, and no custodial staff. The students ate outside and parents cleaned the school. I found one of the hardest parts was that there was no nurse. This school was very small, it was grades K-6 with about 20 kids per grade. However, being placed in that school and now being placed in this school, I have had the chance to see what a difference specialized support does for children. I cannot imagine what it would be like in my classroom if my students were not pulled out for their services. Even teachers greatly benefit from having other teachers in their specific grade level. I use my cooperating teacher as a resource, but I have also used teachers in the grade level to provide me with resources and activities for lessons. One thing I have found that my teacher often does is she uses Google drive to share resources and see other teachers’ resources. Collaborating really helps lower the stress level for the teacher and working together creates the best activities and lesson possible for students.