School Improvement Meeting 1.5.2011

Minutes

Present: Joe Tibaldi, Brigit Sheeran,, Beth DeNoyer, Jennifer Bishop, Carrie Inglis, Jessie Houghton, Kate Heydylauff, Ryan Ranger, Kate Kelly, Diana Lyon-Schumacher, Pam Kaiser, Stephanie Long

1.  New courses:

  1. Grammar – now on schedules for students to choose for 2011-2012
  2. Publishing – piloted in 2010, now full-fledged class for both West and Central
  3. Robotics – 19 in pilot class, over 40 in the club; J.C. Penny underwriting half the cost, the class raising the remaining funds; not sure if it’s best to run it as a club or class; can be an extension of the Lego league at the middle school level; they need a space
  4. An agenda item for next meeting – overtly recruit kids to our programs
  5. Potential for FFA agriscience program here at West

2.  Staff concerns:

  1. Leadership Team takes the place of the former school improvement team
  2. SLC structure supports distributive leadership vs. old school improvement model
  3. Question: How is the neighborhood, small communities working?
  4. Common prep for teachers to meet
  5. Students in common – we can discuss and figure things out for kids
  6. We have a deeper knowledge of what’s going on with our students
  7. Kids see the teams as helpful
  8. Depends on age of student and grade level what answer you’ll get
  9. Depends on how on staff you ask
  10. Joe reported on failures—much lower = seems to be working; parent commented on highest failure rates in SS and ENG which suggests that we have undiagnosed reading/lang learning and processing issues
  11. Fewer discipline issues with students in teams
  12. TASC process is going to go to teams vs. former TASC team
  13. AP scores – don’t reflect the increase in number of students taking exams (close to 300 more kids in the last five years). More kids taking classes now than ever and higher scores now than in the past. How do we encourage more kids to take AP.
  14. Now qualify to be ranked in National rankings for AP participation in US News and World Report Best High Schools edition
  1. Summit at WMS on Jan 19th to plan our future

3.  Parent-teacher conferences – heard parents concerns on student survey. Will address the issue of time for 9th and 10th grade teachers. Will put four core in one room with five minute limit.

4.  Mom – I would be more than happy to come to a student-led conference, but now I don’t because they are meaningless (I wait too long, they give me grades I already know, my kid is not accountable, and teachers and parents ramble on.)

5.  Other major initiative – on campus college class through Ferris State. Calculus III class.

6.  Other: Suggestion for improvement. Increasing traffic problem off Herkner, N. Long Lake, and out of school during evening events is dangerous. Need the lights to fully rotate all day and not blink at all. Make it weighted like at Copper Ridge.

Next School Improvement Meeting: February 9th. Parents and students invited.