Education Committee Meeting - 9/12/05

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Proceedings of the Education Committee

School District #2 Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2 Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

 

September 12, 2005

 

 

The September 12, 2005 Education Committee meeting was called to order at 5:35 by Chair Conrad Stroebe. Attending the meeting were Margaret Aukshun, Shaun Harrington, Kathy Olson, Kyle Colling, Kip Farnum, and Karen Ziegler. Malcolm Goodrich and Sandy Mossman were present until 6:00 p.m. at which time they left for another meeting.

 

Members not in attendance at this meeting included Joe Burst, Patty Fain, Julie Sykes, Dee Decker, Karen Rice, and Dave Cobb.

 

Guests included Susan Plath, Charles Swarm, Koby Murray, Russ Clark, Marvin Forquer, Mark Venner, Courtney Hamblin.

 

August 8, 2005 Minutes Approval

Margaret motioned, Malcolm seconded and all members present voted in favor to approve the minutes of the August 8, 2005 meeting.

 

Smaller Learning Communities Grant Update

Grant Writer, Susan Plath was present to give an overview of this grant. Each school receiving a portion of this grant has a plan to fit their needs. The funding is based on the number of students. With the funding, the schools are able to hire a coordinator and are allowed funds for travel and consultants to provide training for staff members.

 

Charles Swarm from West High School presented an overview of the goals and plans for their school with the SLC grant funds. They plan to focus on Remediation/Recovery, Mentoring, Freshman Orientation and Staff Development. There have been numerous meetings with various staff and groups throughout the year covering many aspects of educational needs. Mr. Swarm was pleased with the success of the endeavors thus far and was looking forward to continued improvement and success in the programs.

 

Koby Murry from Senior High introduced their Leadership Development plan and Student Credit Recovery Program. The Credit Recovery Program was designed to help freshman who failed classes recover their credits, gain skills, and return to school in the fall on a level with their classmates. The end results of this program in the first year were 61 credits being recovered by freshman students. Staff and students were excited about the opportunities and outcomes with this program.

 

The Career Center was represented by Russ Clark and Marv Forquer. Dale Welliever was the Coordinator in 2004-05, Russ will be the coordinator in 2005-06. Focus was on student evaluation and assessment, advisory boards, pre and post test assessments, student advisory periods national conferences for staff and FASTA Night & Future Fair at the Career Center. The Career Center plans to revise, improve and build on their plan, while looking for ways to enhance the post-secondary opportunities for Career Center students.

 

The Crossroads Alternative School was represented by Courtney Hamblin for Principal, Carol Blades. Crossroads is now a fully accredited school and operating at capacity. The focus of the SLC grant will be to implement and maintain an Advisory Program. Academics, careers, post secondary planning, community service, and invigoration will be included in the plan. Objectives are listed on the board in every classroom each day. A “think tank” has been established for one on one instruction for failing students and the teachers are serving as mentors for the students. Positive results have been realized from the goals and everyone is looking forward to continued improvement.

 

Joan Quilico from Skyview was unable to attend this meeting but provided the written overview of their SLC grant. Goals outlined in the report included:

 

o Improve Academic Achievement and Standardized Test Scores for All Students

o Create Small Learning Environments Enabling Students and Teachers to Work Together for Greater Personalization

o Use Career Pathways to Guide Academic Decision and Help Students Meet Career Goals

 

Grant dollars will continue to fund the same areas this year and next, with the over-all goal of creating self-sustaining improvements.

 

A copy of these reports are attached to these minutes.

 

Susan encouraged everyone to think about the importance of these programs and how we will fund them once the grant expires as it is only a three year grant, 2005-06 being the second year.

 

Shaun noted how important it is to have a grant coordinator in the district and congratulated Susan on the phenomenal job she has done.

 

Kyle distributed copies of the “Drop Out Study” for everyone to review.

 

With no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

 

 

______________________________________

Conrad Stroebe, Education Committee Chair

 

 

______________________________

Donna Obie, Recorder