School Leadership Team (SLT):9/13/17

On September 12, 2017, the School Leadership Team (SLT) met to discuss important issues and opportunities for Grand Oak Elementary School.

Attendees:

Amy Cyrus

Brittany Viehmann

Michelle Joyce

Tamara Allison

Ashley Walker

Heidi Marrelli

Cindy Utzinger

Ryan Holt

Catherine Royster

Leslie Olmstead

Cindy Davis

Eleanor Reese

Lynette Farmer

Alicia Waters

Jennifer Kershaw

Stacey Tate

Ray Giovanelli

Welcome and Updates (Mr. G):

Weather Delay: Mr. Giovanelli apologized for the way CMS handled the communication regarding the 2-hour weather delay and the way it was communicated to families. This is not how GOE would normally handle this type of communication, and he expressed concern for the people who were not properly informed.

Unexpected Class Sizes: There are excessive class sizes in two grades this year due to growth from families moving in to our community. These numbers could not have been predicted over the summer. Mr. Giovanelli is aware of the challenges as a result, and is working on solutions.The school will be testing where the support staff is needed for the first 20 days, and Mr. Giovanelli. will assess moving forward.

Bus Transportation: The new school hours are not a change made by Grand Oak; this change occurs at the district level. Please communicate this to any parent who asks or questions the change. Buses have been slow to arrive at time of dismissal, but the process is improving every day.

Incorporating Movement into Curriculum: There is movement now on a regular basis in the classrooms, per the new initiative at Grand Oak. Science shows that activity throughout the day helps increase attention, focus, and learning.Student feedback has been overall positive. Surveys have gone home to parents and will be assessed. The goal is that when “kids start to get wiggly”, the teachers should recognize that and respond.Teachers will be able to recognize what their students need at any time. Mr. Giovanelli has been sharing support materials to reinforce the science behind the movement initiative.Teachers should also speak positively and “sell it” to the kids, so they have buy in and support the new initiative. Moments of movement do no equate to a “crazy dance party”.

Improved score for GOE: Mr. Giovanelli talked about the most up to date End of Grade testing data from the 2016-17 school year. He was proud to announce that our overall proficiency rate as a school improved for the 3rd straight year (number of students at levels 3, 4, and 5) and we moved from an A to an A+ state report card rating. We are only 1 of 2 schools in the northern part of the county with this designation. We also made expected growth (1 year of growth for students). We had been at the “exceeded growth” level the past 3 years (students made more than 1 years growth) and this will be an area of focus for the 2017-18 school year. We also saw our number of struggling students continue to drop over the past 4 school years as well. This year we will continue that strong support in all grades and will also look at ways to push and challenge our students that are achieving at higher academic levels

Bullying / Title IX Lessons: GOE will follow the same process as last year; incorporating lessons to bring awareness to students about how to react and report bullying or discrimination they see. The goal for younger children is to “make sure you tell someone” when you see a child being bullied.

Self-Evaluation of GOE: The SLT and staff rate the school every year in a variety of areas. Each member was asked to complete the survey as a starting point for this school year.

School Improvement Plan:Improvements and recommendations for students’ academic progress will be more prescribed this year; more specific for the student. (Ex: If a child is a poor reader; the teachers will create an intervention to help support that child, and their progress will be monitored.)

Required as part of the School Improvement Plan: Duty free lunch, planning time, school climate and culture, and Grand Oak 90-day Plan focus

SLT may also identify and create other areas of improvement (if needed) for the School Improvement Plan, and work toward improving those items.

Proposed School Bond: It is important for people to be educated about why to vote for bonds and how they work. Currently in CMS, 78% of our schools are over capacity.There is a push from Huntersville to turn it down (since this particular bond does not offer many new items for our area of town.) The hard truth, however, is that if this bon does not pass, the items for this bond will get pushed to the next one – thus delaying any new items for us for the future.

Additional points regarding the bond:

  • Our district has 176 schools that serve over 148,000 students. We serve children from 160+ countries.
  • We continue to have great teachers in our district, but we need to make sure that staff and students have the right facilities and spaces to be able to help children feel safe and grow.
  • This bond package (922 million) will help the system address some of the 2.2 billion dollar capital needs that the district has. At this time 78% of our schools are over capacity and 78 schools are more than 50 years old!
  • This bond would pay for 17 new or replacement schools and 12 renovations or additions. It would fund 20,000 additional seats (4,000 of those being in magnet schools).
  • The key thing to communicate to our families is to get out and vote on November 7th!

Mr. Giovanelli will be contacting Rhonda Lennon (our school board rep.), for additional information on how Grand Oak and Hough were funded.

Our next SLT meeting will be on Tuesday, November 14, 2017.