Curriculum & Instruction: NCC & SAC Info

NCC Minutes...

...January 4, 2007

January 29, 2007

The NCC held the January meeting at the Franklin Community Center on January 4, 2007, at 11:55 A.M. Seventeen members were present along with Curriculum Leadership Institute (CLI) consultant, Kelly Gentry. Patricia McKee was absent.

Each member present received a copy of the November 3rd minutes, an agenda for the meeting, a Math SAC Membership list (which was amended to read, 5th Stephanie Underwood instead of Shari Miller), a new copy of Appendix A, under NCC/SAC members, listing the terms of office, and an official copy of the Long-Range Plan which was approved at the November 3rd meeting.

The minutes from the November 3, 2006, meeting were read. An amendment was made to state that, Linda Roberts, not Linda Underwood, would be serving a one year term on the NCC. The minutes were then approved by consensus.

Lengthy discussion took place concerning what grade level Spanish should be introduced. High school Spanish curriculum will need to be written based on whether all students have been exposed to Spanish before high school or only some students-if Spanish is adopted as an elective at the junior high.

The normal flow in math sequence was reported by High school staff, followed by changes to the math curriculum that has already been put into place. Freshmen and sophomores in the 2006-2007 school year will be required to take three years of math, versus the two years that juniors and seniors are required to have. Discussion followed as to what changes may still be needed.

Work ethic in the school district, which is within the scope of the NCC, was discussed. A change in the timing for Parent-Teacher Conferences was discussed. Staff recommended changing them to earlier in the year, prior to grade cards rather than after the fact.

Break from 1:05-1:20 P.M.

Changes were made to the SAC Timeline, Section II, CLI notebook, page 2. Year 1: September changed to January, October to February, November to March, December to April, January to May, and February thru June will be in the summer timeline.

NCC reviewed the CLI notebook, page 10, on what SAC members will be doing. Everything in the curriculum must be measurable, therefore, wording is critical. Curriculum will show what is expected of students and if those expectations have been met. There will be no gray areas. Assessments will be used to measure both high and low levels. Staff Development reports were presented by each building principal to the NCC. Superintendent, Randy Rivers presented a district wide report and stated a need to have a follow-up/refresher in-service on the Research of Ruby Payne. This would also be an opportunity to introduce new staff to the “culture of poverty.”

Fall 2007, will be the implementation and validation of the math curriculum, it will be a staff development year. SAC will make recommendations.

NCC reviewed CLI notebook page three, letters H, I, J.

Instructional Planning Decisions sheets were passed out to be inserted into the CLI notebook in the front of Section IV, followed by an overview of this section. Principals and the Superintendent will be responsible for checking that the curriculum is being followed.

At the end of summer, the Math SAC should have a binder with the curriculum written for every math course at each level.

The Building/Site Council gave a report to the NCC.

The Board of Education gave a report. Copies of the Board’s Philosophy of Education, Mission Statement, and the USD 246, Northeast Long Range Educational Plan, December, 2005, were passed out to each member of the NCC to be placed in their NCC binder under Mission Statement.

Public relations were discussed. Superintendent, Randy Rivers will be in charge of getting information out to the community. This will be accomplished through the Morning Sun newspaper, the district wide school web site, a Principal’s newsletter included with grade cards, and newsletters mailed throughout the school year.

Goals: Members were requested to read Section VI, in the LCI notebook, and also chapters three and four in the book, Results Now, handed out at the November 3rd meeting, before the January 31st meeting.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 12:00 P.M., at the Franklin Community Center in Franklin, Kansas.

Items on the agenda include: Implementation on Instructional Planning Decisions, Teacher evaluations-are they implementing, Criteria, and the Math SAC wall.

Meeting adjourned at 3:00 P.M.

Submitted by Debbie Hencey, Secretary