Welcome back and
Happy New Year.
In keeping with
the custom of ending an old year beginning a new one, it was helpful to have
your thoughts, responses and questions generated from the staff survey as CHS Administration reflects on the past year and begins planning for next. Weather the thoughts about the past
year were good, bad or indifferent, it is our hope that we can enter the new
year wiser and stronger from our experiences and sincerely believe the best is yet to
come.
Wishing you a year
full of new opportunities…of love, wisdom, encouragement and new found joys of being
a teacher.
Please find below the
questions and answers generated from you all that were not specified in the
survey.
CHS Faculty Questions
1. How do we know what Pathways students are really
interested in?
We are somewhat limited to the
types of enrichment pathway options based on desire and availability of
teachers to design and teach pathways. However, we have a fair selection with variety of 21 pathways from which students can choose. Next year we would hope to have more Pathway options.
2. What are the consequences for upper classmen with attendance, grade or
behavior issues? Should they be
bigger than underclassmen?
Names of students with chronic absenteeism are
submitted to the Coconino County
Juvenile probation department and parents receive a truancy diversion letter
that defines the law (A.R.S. 8-201.15(B) and states the possible penalty of up
to 30 days in jail and/or a $500.00 fine.
The ultimate consequence for students who have chronic attendance issues
and or non-passing grades is ineligibility for a high school diploma and not
graduating. We are currently exploring the possibility of creating an
alternative schedule (For SY 2013-14) for students who can’t seem to conform to
the traditional school day schedule.
If you have an interest in exploring or participating in an alternative
schedule please let me know.
3. Can we create a more inviting teacher's lounge?
This would be a good summer project. Please let me know if you have ideas and would be interested in working on improving the teacher's lounge.
4. Would there be a possibility of exploring a standard
code of dress or uniforms for students?
There is most certainly a
possibility of exploring a standard code of dress or uniforms for CHS. If this
is of interest to you, please let me know and we will form an exploratory
action committee.
5. How can we improve communications so teachers are more aware of
disruptions in a more timely manner?
As Eric Freas would say “Boy howdy”. This is truly an area in need of
improvement. I think we all agree that valuable learning time is
often wasted due to unexpected as well as anticipated disruptions. We
do our best to limit announcements to the morning only. Thursday Pathway time was intended to
help decrease interruptions, but at this juncture I’m not sure if this has helped
or hindered classroom time. We are committed to continue to find ways to remedy
this problem.
6. Can we put a cap on class sizes?
The current student teacher ratio
for secondary schools in FUSD is 32:1.
Maintaining this average is a challenge and
requires a delicate balance between providing a comprehensive and appealing
course of study for our students and overall equality of class size. Singleton and
specialized classes can skew the average quite a bit. We do have to be careful
with what we offer and continue to strive to distribute our students as evenly
as possible. Another factor that plays into class size is teacher compensation.
FUSD Governing Board is working very hard to raise salaries for next school year. With this on the horizon we can
anticipate that our average class sizes will not decrease.
7. Can we not have PLCs or faculty meetings on the Wednesdays that grades
are due? Can one Wednesday a month
be a teacher work day?
Our early release Wednesdays are intended for
collaboration time however I will be more careful not to schedule meetings or
professional development sessions on those Wednesdays that grades are due.
8. When will we use PLCs to renew and work on common
assessments?
Collaboration time for second term
will be devoted to the question; How will we know students have learned what
we want them to know and be able to do?
This is where the assessments come into play. We need to ensure that
our classroom assessments are tightly aligned to the content in our classes.
Spring semester PLC time will be driven by this task.
9. What should “singleton” teachers do during PLCs?
Please see me if you are a
“Singleton” teacher and have not been participating on a collaborative team
this year.
10. Can PLCs be focused on single subject area
collaborative teams?
Ideally collaborative teams should
be structured for a single subject.
This works best when teachers teach a single subject, however at CHS we
have a number of teachers who teach more than one subject.
11. How do we plan to measure the success or benefits of modified block,
Enrichments and Interventions?
The ultimate measure of the success of the modified
block schedule is improved student achievement.
12. How can we fit vertical alignment in PLC time?
When the foundations of our work in our PLCs are strong and solid we will move to vertical alignment.
13. How will we know if PBIS is working?
The premise behind PBIS is that
positive behavior is recognized, rewarded and reinforced at every
opportunity. Instilling a strong
sense of responsibility and pride in doing the right things - Both students and
adults fulfill their responsibilities, not out of threat or fear, but because
they understand the importance of doing so. We are on the right path, but we’re
not there yet. In anticipation of positive results from a collective effort to
implement PBIS, we will know it is working when overall student behavior
improves. One measurement tool we have in place is the use of the minor
infraction forms. The data collected helps us gauge the success of PBIS.
14. Is the block schedule here to stay?
If the modified block schedule is
found to contribute to improved student achievement it will likely remain.
15. What do we know about the balanced calendar?
We know that the balanced calendar
will not be implemented for SY 2013-14, but is still a consideration for future
FUSD school calendar.
16. Would it be possible to allow students with A’s or B’s the choice to
leave school on Thursdays instead of Pathways?
Allowing upper classmen earning As and Bs the option
of leaving school early on Thursdays makes a lot of sense. Cris and I have proposed this idea to
central administration for a possibility for next school year. I’ll keep you
posted.
17. Is there a template for lesson plans?
During prep hour meetings on
Tuesday, January 15, I will share a sample lesson plan framework.
18. Can we just do study halls in classrooms instead of
sending students to interventions?
We are working toward making this
happen. For spring semester this
year we have created smaller subject area study halls.
19. Can ASP be better structured? Possibly a study time, content
specific?
Yes, ASP should be more
scripted. We will work with
department chairs to refine ASP for next year.
20. What is the absence policy for student athletes and
how is it enforced?
The simplified version of a complex
policy is in order for a student to play in a game they must be in attendance
at school in at least four of the six classes on the day of the game and, if
the student misses two classes the absence must be unavoidable and excused.
Implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the coach.
21. Are the new
common core standards going to require that we redo EIOs and COs?
No, but we might need to add to them.
Thank you for taking the time to generate the questions and responding to the mid-year survey. We will continue to focus our energy on all the things that matter most in order to stay true to the vision of creating a vibrant school community that exemplifies academic excellence and model citizenship.
PLC info for this week...
- Wednesday PLC time: In an effort for more autonomy during PLCs I will not ask you to complete a template for your collaborative team work. I do ask though, that you spend time this Wednesday 1/9 outlining your plan for collaboration time on Wednesdays for second term. Please include how your team will utilize your end of term common assessments to develop benchmark formative assessments. If your course does not yet have a common assessment, your team should address how you plan to create your common assessment. Please plan to meet this Wednesday in your PLCs between before 2:15PM at which time we will have a brief faculty meeting to discuss details about Thursday ASP, Interventions, Study Hall and Pathways.
Again, welcome back and have a great week!
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