January 10, 2018

“To develop and support a partnership which provides a positive climate encouraging all people in the Newfane School and Community to grow toward their highest potential.”

Agenda

Committee Updates

2016-2018 District Goals

Status towards attainment

Brainstorming New Goals/ Goal Areas

OutcomesBy the end of the meeting, we will:

Identify information to be shared with the Board of Education regarding the our progress towards achieving our goals.

Be able to identify general focus areas for future goal development.

Have an understanding of what the standing committees are working on.

Our Focus as a Team

Goals

Communication

Our Job-as the DPT

Building Planning

TeamsTask Force

Standing Committees

District Planning Team

Board of Education

Board of Education

District Planning Team

The core responsibility of the DPT is to develop, recommend to the BOE,

implement and then assess identified District goals.

Elementary

Building Planning Team Chair: Bldg. Principal & 1 faculty member

The core responsibility of the BLT is to

develop, implement and assess building goals.

Middle School

Building Planning Team

Chair: Bldg. Principal & 1 faculty member

The core responsibility of the BLT is to

develop, implement and assess building goals.

High School

Building Planning Team Chair: Bldg. Principal & 1 faculty member

The core responsibility of the BLT is to

develop, implement and assess building goals.

Curriculum

Committee

Facilities

Committee

Technology

Committee

Health & Wellness

Committee

Student Safety

Committee

Responsible for:

Review of new

course offerings;

Identifying and

approving

appropriate

professional

development

opportunities;

Providing feedback

and input on

curricular changes.

Membership to

include CFs and

representatives from

BLTs: parents,

teachers, students;

BOE rep; co-chaired

by Curriculum

Director and (1) CF.

(2017 Chair- Pete

Young & TBA)

Responsible for:

Ensuring compliance

with all appropriate

regulations;

Reviewing Building

Condition Survey and

using that to identify

potential areas to be

addressed through

capital outlay and/or

capital improvement

projects; addressing

energy conservation

and recycling issues.

Member ship to

include

representatives from

BLTs; parents;

students; facilities

workers; BOE rep;

co-chaired by

Director of Facilities

and School Business

Official.

2017 Chair- Bart

Schuler and George

Noon

Responsible for:

Monitoring and

implementation of

Smart Schools

investment plan;

recommends

potential

upgrades/changes to

technological

infrastructure;

Implementation of

new technologies.

Membership

includes building and

community

representatives

(parents, students,

community

members, faculty,

staff, etc); BOE rep.

Chaired by

Coordinator of

Technology and

Curriculum Director.

2017 Chair- Pete

Young & Jeff Anstett

Responsible for:

Monitoring, updating

and implementation of

District Wellness Plan;

provides input and

feedback to Food

Service Program;

identifies potential

activities to promote

and model wellness

throughout the District.

Membership includes

building and

community

representatives

(parents, students,

faculty, staff, etc); BOE

rep. Chaired by the

Director of Food

Service and (1) school

nurse.

2017 Chair- Joanne

Huntington and Jen

Bower

Responsible for:

Monitoring, review

and updating of the

Code of Conduct and

the Attendance Plan;

recommends

potential activities to

promote a safe

environment;

Membership

includes

representatives from

the BLTs, PTA and

secondary students;

BOE rep. Chaired by

the High School

Assistant Principal

and (1) secondary

faculty member.

2017 Chair- Danielle

Hawkins and TBA

DPT Membership:

Superintendent, HS, MS, Elem Principals;

Directors: Spec Ed, Curriculum, Facilities

2 BOE members, Business Official

2 El. Teachers, 2 MS teachers

2 HS teachers

2 MS students; 2 HS students

2 Parent Reps, 2 CSEA reps

1 Community Member

1 Rep from Higher Ed

DPT meets 5x per year:

Summer- Goals Planning

October- Committee, goal updates

January- Mid-year goal updates

March- Committee updates

May- Goal Updates

DLT presents to BOE 3x per year:

September- present District Goals

February- mid-year goal update

June- end of year goal status update

Committee Updates:

Middle School Planning Team

Implementing last year’s goals; preparing students for HS through social emotional awareness; 6th grade focus on study skills; 7th and 8th grade focus on suicide awareness and prevention (lifelines curriculum); 8th

graders are mentoring 5th graders; creation of unity groups (adults teamed with small groups of students).

High School Planning Team

Developing ideas/ initiatives to support goals; i.e. potential new courses (like a journalism course to support a school paper; business courses that could support a school store, etc.

Committee Updates:

Elementary School Planning Team

Focus has been on the culture of the cafeteria, both from an emotional and a sensory needs perspective., and the readiness for learning after spending time in an unstructured environment (cafeteria).

Facilities/Building Safety Committee

Shared information relevant to the Building Condition Survey, which has to be done every 5 years; the BCS identifies conditions of the physical plant of the District that need to be addressed, and prioritizes those needs. The BCS is done by the architectural firm hired by the district and is used extensively to plan capital projects.

Committee Updates:

Curriculum Committee

At last meeting the high school guidance department updated the group on college and AP course offerings and the process for identifying/selecting/including/ notifying students of those options.

They reviewed planning for Superintendent’s Conference Day in March

Constant monitoring of the Eureka math pilot at the El/MS.

Health and Safety Committee

Currently reviewing the food standards and nutritional guidelines that must be followed; are looking for ways to get more student input into menu choices.

Committee Updates:

Technology Committee

Introduced new Coordinator of Technology (Jeff Anstett) and continue to work on developing implementation plans for the eventual move to wireless computing and 1:1 technology once Smart Schools money is made available to the District.

Student Safety Committee

Focus is on the review and updating of the Code of Conduct.

Our Job-as the DPT

Understand the District Goals Assess our

progress in meeting those

goals

Identify focus areas for future

goals

Review information/

data pertinent to those areas

Revise current goals/finalize

new goals.

J

a

n

u

a

r

y

May

District Goals Technology- Develop a comprehensive multiyear plan, utilizing the smart schools monies as

a primary resource, to create a technological infrastructure within our district and community that better prepares our students with a solid technological knowledge base for the future.

Professional Development- Establish a thoughtful, articulated and well planned professional development program focused on identified District and building level curricular and instructional needs based upon student performance and District initiatives.

Fiscal Management- Initiate activities to review the budget development and implementation process in order to ensure a multi-year approach and the involvement of all internal stakeholders.

Communication & Community Involvement- Establish a framework for District and building level shared decision making and leadership development; and to establish structures that will strengthen both communication and involvement of employees, families and community members in District shared decision making.

Student Achievement- Initiate activities to increase the percentage of students who take and pass the third year of

Regents level mathematics (Algebra 2) prior to graduation from the 2015-2016 level of 37% to 45%.

Initiate activities to ensure that 85% of our students will participate in a college-level (Advanced Placement or local college-articulated) course prior to graduation.

Technology- Develop a comprehensive multiyear plan, utilizing the smart schools monies as a primary resource, to create a

technological infrastructure within our district and community

that better prepares our students with a solid technological

knowledge base for the future.

Goal has been achieved; plan has been written and submitted to SED for approval. Going on 12 months of waiting for SED action/approval.

Now that the planning goal is met, the next logical step is to look at developing an implementation goal.

Professional Development- Establish a thoughtful, articulated and well

planned professional development program focused on identified District and building

level curricular and instructional needs based upon student performance and District

initiatives. Goal has not been achieved, although we have made significant advances in our professional

development program Agreement across the board that PD becomes more and more critical in the face of changing

standards and state requirements. In some areas (ELA/Math) the PD is pretty solid, with intense training in multi-day “summer

institutes” with planned follow through during the school year. In other areas PD opportunities through the District have not been as good (remedial, non-core areas, social studies and science).

People can still self-identify opportunities (through the teachers center or other venues) for professional growth.

Before we can say we have achieved this goal, we need to make sure our plan addresses the needs of all the professionals in the District.

With our current focus on math/ELA, it may be to everyone’s benefit to look at a focus on applicability of the PD in those areas to other content areas; i.e., a focus on how the PD we are offering in Math can be applied in the science or technology classroom; how the PD in ELA can lead to greater student achievement in social studies (essay writing and DBQs, etc).

Fiscal Management- Initiate activities to review the budget development and implementation process in order to ensure a

multi-year approach and the involvement of all internal

stakeholders.

We have begun the budget development process earlier than ever.

Administrators have a bigger role in the budget development process.

We still need to find more and better ways to solicit community support/input into the budget process.

Budget presentations and cover letter inviting response are posted on website. Publicize through building facebook posts?

Communication & Community Involvement- Establish a framework for

District and building level shared decision making and leadership development; and to

establish structures that will strengthen both communication and involvement of

employees, families and community members in District shared decision making.

Part of the framework is in place (district standing committees and building planning teams are up and running and functional)

Leadership development opportunities exist (curriculum facilitators, faculty led professional development, administrative internship opportunities) for those who want to take advantage of them.

Communication with and community involvement is still lacking; suggestions on next slide:

Communication & Community Involvement- Suggestions for imp[roving

communication:

Reinstitute doing a district calendar for all in the community with important information and events;

Continue to use electronic means (facebook, e-alerts, twitter, etc) BUT make efforts to ensure that 1. the community knows we are using that (“follow us online at…. notices on hard copies of things) and be cognizant that there are still areas where internet accessibility is an issue- we are not in a position to eliminate printed materials.

Look into sending out one-pagers with progress reports, etc. Have to exercise caution, however- inundating people with communication often

results in them tuning us out. Find the proper balance- what do they need/want to know?

Take advantage of our relationships with “outside” organizations- PTSA, library, boosters, etc.

Use local radio, newspapers as much as possible.

Student Achievement: (a) Initiate activities to increase the percentage of students who take

and pass the third year of Regents level mathematics (Algebra 2) prior to

graduation from the 2015-2016 level of 37% to 45%.

(b) Initiate activities to ensure that 85% of our students will participate in a

college-level (Advanced Placement or local college-articulated) course

prior to graduation.

Mr. Bedette distributed the current “numbers” of students in these measures to give the group a feel fro where we stand currently in terms of reaching the measures outlined in this goal.

Then the building leaders shared what efforts and focuses were going on in their buildings that they felt would provide direct and indirect support for these achievement goals (see next few slides)

Student Achievement: Elementary

Work with AccessMathematics and the full implementation of Eureka Math in September is building consistency in instruction and practice, as well as teacher confidence in mathematics.

Writers workshop is adding a consistent writing instruction across genres in all classrooms as well as creating opportunities for students to celebrate their work.

Interim assessments are being given and the information provided through those assessments is being used to focus and drive instruction moving forward.

Student Achievement: Middle School

Utilizing scheduling flexibility to provide 60 minute instructional blocks in Math and ELA at the 5th and 6th grade levels.

Implementing Eureka Math

Providing and encouraging opportunities for collegial observations within the building.

Continued focus on social emotional well being and coping skills of our students through instruction counseling program.

Future Goals………“To develop and support a partnership which provides a positive climate

encouraging all people in the Newfane School and Community to grow toward their highest potential.”

Our next steps are to begin developing goals for 2018-2019. These can be brand new focus areas, or continuations (or the next step) of our current goals. The next couple of slides give an outline of what we need to articulate in a goal, with the example of one of the Board’s goals from last year.

All team members were emailed a goal development template (seen on the next few slides) to use to begin thinking about possible goals and what we would need to do to achieve them.

Future Goals………“To develop and support a partnership which provides a positive climate

encouraging all people in the Newfane School and Community to grow toward their highest potential.”

General Area

Specific Action

Success Indicators

Activities to get us there

Who’s going to do it?

What will it cost?

Goal Activities Timelines Those Involved Success Indicators CostProgress by:

November 2018

Progress by:

January 2019

Progress by:

March 2019

Progress by:

June 2019Next Steps

2018-2019 Newfane District Goals

1.     

Board Goal #2 General Area- SCHOOL BOARD POLICY REVIEW

Specific Action- “Complete a comprehensive review and update of the Newfane Central School District Policy Manual”

Success Indicators- All policies are updated; current; personalized to the needs of our District; consistent and compliant with all laws and regulations.

Activities to get us there- Hire BOCES service to review current policies; identify policies to be updated; create a schedule for policy review by section and specific identified policy; solicit input on policy revisions from appropriate staff members; provide board members with draft revised policies for their review; provide final drafts of policies to the Board for their approval at BOE meetings.

Who’s going to do it? BOCES staff; board clerk, superintendent, additional staff as deemed necessary per specific policy

What will it cost? BOCES service cost $6000; all other work done as part of usual work day.

Meeting DatesDistrict Planning Team meetings for this year are scheduled for:

Wednesday, November 8, 4:00-5:430pm

Wednesday, January 10, 4:00-5:430pm

Wednesday, March 7, 4:00-5:30PM

Wednesday, May 9, 4:00-5:30PM

and a summer 1/2 day planning meeting TBD