Lomond View Elementary School Community Council
Minutes for meeting on: September 30, 2019
Present: Justin Skeen, Lisa Johnson, Dawneen Baker, Emily Mangum, Emily Hall, Britt Peterson, Brittany McConkie, Amanda McKay, Jen Fife, Jaclyn Wintle
Welcome/Introductions: Jaclyn welcomed the group and introductions were made.
Future Meeting Dates: Monday was decided as the best day to meet and the following dates were selected for meeting. We will meet in our MakerSpace room #9 at 3:30 for our meetings.
November 18
January 13
February 3
February 27
April 20
*The time was turned over to Mr. Skeen for comments and sharing of information.
Principal comments: Our school website is being redone. The Community Council page will have agendas, minutes, members, plans. The agendas will be posted 7 days before the meeting. A funding summary as well as assessments from last year will be posted before Oct. 20 on the website. We lost about 170 kids this year due to the new school being built and boundary changes. This will impact the Trustlands and TSSA money that we get.
Overview of Trustlands Funds and Training: Mr. Skeen gave a summary of what Trustlands is and what our roles are. Funding is the Community Councils main priority - where should the Trustlands funds go and how best can it be utilized for our students. School safety is another component of the council’s discussions. Justin will email Jaclyn a link to a training video that she will forward to the council - this video must be watched before our next meeting. A link will also be shared for the Trustlands website that members can use for other resource information. We receive approximately $65,000 from Trustlands.
Overview of 2019-2020 Trustlands Plan: See the school website for the detailed plan. Below are just a few highlights and comments on each goal for the plan.
We have 3 main goals for our Trustlands Plan –
#1 - 3% increase in students proficient in reading measured by end of level testing. The older grades use RISE (there was an issue with testing this past year so results may not be available). Grade K-3 use DIBELS as the data measure assessment. The Chromebooks are going well. This year Lomond View students each have a Chromebook that they are assigned to and can work on throughout the day as seen fit by the teacher. Dawneen mentioned spending 45 minutes total on the Chromebooks this day doing math (no worksheets, has cut paper use/cost). They use NearPod (bought with Trustlands). The students saw the lesson on computers slides, there was an interactive activity every other slide and quick video responses. This website builds lessons on any subject that can be student or teacher led, very interactive/ The 2nd grade had a few issues but are resolved now. The SAMR model is used to integrate technology. Lessons are designed around core content and best practices. Aides have been hired that lend support for intervention and extension. They meet with students at other times and NOT during grade level content teaching time. Mr. Skeen didn’t use all of charging cart money because the junior high and high school donated carts. Projectors are still going out and need to be updated. The decision now is: projectors vs. interactive TV screens.
#2 – 40% growth in student growth assessments in math. Every class takes a benchmark test at the beginning, middle and end of year. The last group of teachers are going to the PLC conferences at the end of October. Computer software has been purchased. Computer/music/PE is done during PLC days. This is where teachers meet and collaborate about students and instruction how can they help, subs are provided.
#3 – Students will have a 25% increase in their typing.
Overview of TSSA Plan: This plan will also be posted soon on the school website. The TSSA (Teacher Student Success Act) is another funding source from the state. We will keep the same goals for both plans for now. Focusing on academic growth. This plan goes to local District board and there are no extra state hoops to jump through. The school wants parent input for this plan. The plans for this will be due in the Spring but exact dates aren’t known yet. Some highlights from this year’s plan are:
- Reading Horizons (phonics program) – training for teachers (intervention – learn how to attack the word) Reading Horizons isn’t used exclusively, Justin believes in pulling all resources to meet the need of the students; not just following one program
- 30% difference in goal #2 – done by class
- PLTW – Project Lead The Way launch will be this year. Soft skills are needed – people say students are not ready for the workforce. STEM approach provides opportunities for students to think and work through a problem. The first module will begin this year. Teachers will begin training this week – for lead teachers in each grade. In October there will be training for all teachers for PLTW.
Data Sharing (DIBELS) by Emily Mangum:
Emily Mangum is our reading specialist, she presented this information. The reading goal for the state is to have 60% of students on grade level. DIBELS tests phonemic awareness. Testing has been moved to December instead of January this year. This will allow the aides to jump into interventions in January instead of spending all of January testing. DAZE tests for comprehension. Emily wants to put the “bubble kids” with STAR reading tutors. She is looking for as many tutors as she can find. These tutors will read with students in grades 1-3 (possibly Kindergarten).
Terms listed above:
FSF – first sound fluency
PSF – phoneme sound fluency
NWF - nonsense word fluency
WWR - whole word read
Community concerns/comments:
- Brit asked if extension activities will be provided at our school.
Mr. Skeen mentioned that technology would be one way that teachers can extend activities for students ready for a challenge. Mrs. Baker mentioned how she can do this easily in her class using Google Classroom (for Science, Math and History). She has her students sign off on 37 extensions each semester. They also do 5 projects. Before school clubs were also mentioned as extension opportunities. As well as PTLW. There are people at the district who are in charge of extensions - Mr. Skeen and the teachers can check on this and see what else is available.
- Brittany asked if IXL was being used and if so, was it for assignments. Mr. Skeen said that IXL is used as a support for the lessons, not as the only source of assignments.