Kellis and members of cabinet continuing this evening with our recognitions and celebrations I'd like to formally introduce the governing board to our new director of communication and public relations Renee Ryan who will introduce the next item good evening madam president governing board members dr. Kellis and cabinet members tonight I have the honor of presenting the district district champions of the middle level soccer season to you we will begin our recognitions with the girls soccer champions Luke elementary school and coach Susan Lawler players and coaches from Luke elementary will you please come to the platform to be recognized and governing more members if you wouldn't mind stepping forward that would be great thank you [Applause] continuing with our recognitions sorry I am proud to present the boys soccer champions Riverview elementary school and coach Cohen players and coaches from Riverview please comes platform congratulations to all the players and coaches for a great season and Madam President that concludes our recognitions and celebrations for the evening Madam President may I say something real quick absolutely I just want to welcome Rene to the district we didn't get the opportunity at the last board meeting but welcome and we've heard a lot of great things about you and so we're looking forward to working with you in future so welcome next we'll move to public comment those addressing the governing board mr.
Lancaster second grade classes for reading all twenty monarch Award nominees they will receive a certificate to hang outside of the door voting will be in March and now we all deserve a brief period of silence to reflect on the anticipated activities of the day we stand for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all have a frosty Friday remember kindness counts every day everywhere thanks for watching cut
Leonard we don't have anybody this evening we'll move to agenda item a motion to approve consent agenda items documentation concerning these items has been provided to all board members and the public in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review this time I would entertain a motion all motion to approve the consent agenda items is presented motion made by J Leonard seconded by Jennifer Tanner please cast your votes motion carries to move to information items g1 policy governance board monitoring of adopted policy section 9 instruction sections nine point two five to nine point four nine dr. Califf thank you madam president in our ongoing review of policy governance this evening we present to you another portion of the same policy just the latter many sections in the first last governing board meeting we did a first read for the first half and listening we're doing the second half and mr.
Dean will introduce this madam president members the governing board dr. Kelsey there was a cabinet this evening we present to you the second half of policy section nine as the board's ongoing yearly review of policy administration has no recommended recommended changes I just had a couple questions for clarification on policy 9.46 regarding ceremonies I can pull up the exact wear a badge a nine point four six in regard to k-8 having or in regard to the opportunity to say the Pledge daily is that just k-8 is that all schools I don't know that occurs in high school is that Madam President the answer to your question is that it typically occurs with announcements in the morning elementary schools typically will have their announcements first thing in the morning high schools will typically have them somewhere between second and third period but to my understanding I'm looking to our high school principals that is a daily component in your in your announcements correct the Pledge of Allegiance yes so students have the opportunity to stand for the Pledge yes yeah it's just not done first thing in the morning it's done during their announcement period which is usually 2nd or 3rd period okay and then regard to the reciting of the Declaration of Independence grades four through six is that just at some point during those years they will learn to recite that madam president typically the answer to that question is following the Pledge of Allegiance is when they recite the the the opening part of the Declaration of Independence I know that happens something Madam President supposed to be happening okay yes and then also just curious a nine point four nine a policy for the board to consider about CPR training but it was going to be provided to the pupils throughout the year and I would I wasn't aware of that yes madam president that is a new law that was passed last year and and we have opportunity to phase it in beginning this next year so does something that we were working on and as part of that new law interesting so then the students will receive just as if you were to take CPR certification at a health care sent setting you would they would get that certification that to be fully certified then it would be it would be similar there are primers in law about how it's done and that there are hands on portion but it also can be you know some video and other training portions of that and that's how that would be for for our students for that starting this year that's a starting this school year okay okay and then the only other question I had is I noticed in some of our policies it specifically speaks to executive limitations is it typical that we may not list them in every policy just certain ones if they're you maybe don't call for a specific an example like I believe in the so in 9.2 3 regarding library materials selection adoption it specifically says the superintendent should not fail to establish procedures so removal of books and other material from the library but then for an example in the final and the final policy the instruction training cardiopulmonary resuscitation there aren't any executive limitations listed so there's various one where sometimes we list executive limitations and our policies and sometimes we don't I don't know if that bird needs to should have consider it or needs to consider for all policies or just when it someone feels that's warranted Madam President it's a great question many of the policies comes direct from statute as dr.
point just mentioned about the cardiopulmonary policy that was just recently passed and so some of that language in some of these throughout but not pervasive but some of them it is direct language from Arizona statute which doesn't obviously incorporate the died cert policy format which focuses much more on executive limitations is that something the board needs to consider just to be in a line of policy governance or is that just up to discretion of the board if they want to include those in each policy madam president is something that we could look at and work with our attorney to see if the language has to be exact as a state's and statute or if there's flexibility to reword it and put it in - Dicer dies it basically and to also governments format any other board members have any questions no madam president but I want to echo your your thoughts regarding CPR I am an instructor of CPR and I think that this was a great law that is going into effect this year so I fully support that I would agree with that being a fellow instructor it's pretty important that we equip everybody that possibly has an opportunity should have an opportunity I'm glad to see that that's a part of what we're doing Madam President I could just add as a side note I don't know that our administrators know this because it's a little bit further in advance but for our district leadership team meetings we meet once a month and we call it DLT meetings I believe it is in March or April we have on the agenda for CPR training for all administrators so while this applies to students we also acknowledge that that's something that as many adults as possible should be receiving so we will be using our district in district certified staff who are the certified teachers of CPR to provide that training added measure of safety of our students because the more people that are certified in CPR on campuses more likely somebody would be able to step in even an emergency absolutely okay I just had a quick question on nine point two six so it's the use of technology resources and instruction and it just has to deal with like that our internet filtering systems and safety I know like students always have ways of bypassing certain issues so I didn't know if like how is the district so this may be more procedural than policy but how the district continually monitors that or stays on top of that with you know all the tricks and trades of getting around some of those filters Madame president member tantra to your question is that kids are very savvy - yeah in a technological world and so you know we certainly have our filters in place you know we ask that our students connect to our Wi-Fi when they're in class when they're using our devices and when they're using their own devices as well however just like your own phone and my phone I can turn that I can turn the Wi-Fi up and use you know go to my own data and and bypass all filters at that point in time our IT department has done a great job of locking our filters in a manner that as long as they're on our network you know we feel very secure at that point in time but certainly acknowledging that our students know how to how to get around and pieces occasionally and you know they we continue to try to keep up with the latest in the field of how they're getting around how students are using technology to get around our filters as well so in other words it's a constant it's a constant battle for us our IT department does a great job of continually updating pieces and keeping our filter ready to to go out in a daily basis but you know I certainly will be honest with you can tell you that students are my main concern is just with our network making sure that you know and we're very we're very comfortable on our network yes do you know if our IT department is doing anything about the fact that students apparently have figured out how to just log in through like a VPN so bypasses everything good Madame president you are correct students can use VPN we we work very diligently to try to identify that when we can however it's not always identifiable you know our teachers are certainly the first observers in that conversation and and you know we work with them to not be sitting at their desk to be actively involved with students with instruction and so certainly the intent is that they would have eyes on that and that that would help to mediate that but but certainly our students know what VPN is and and they occasionally use it and I will also state that they will also occasionally use it just to increase their speed of you know of data and and so when you have a class full of 25 high school students all using our own devices you know on our Wi-Fi while the speed is appropriate and fast they may want it faster and are used to a faster and so they'll use their own devices even within a VPN setting to speed that data up and technically that's not encouraged that's not yeah so the point the point is more yeah the point is more aligned to that the use of VPN is not always for nefarious reasons they may be using it to their advantage as well well and the way the policy reads any ways students can access whatever websites the teachers have allowed them to access criminal class so teacher may say you can go ahead and access the VPN right it's very possible comes back to supervision like you were saying percent any other questions comments Madam President can make one more clarification the policy on CPR the way the law is stated is that it can be for certification but it does not have to be and and currently we're putting a process in place that does not involve student certification but gives them exposure and hands-on assessment with the CPR the policy now though it doesn't read that it's providing there will provide it's in the form and the fourth paragraph that says it it can be a certified process but it's on how oh I see as far as the card so I just clarifying that we're not certifying every single one of our students in CPR but we are giving them hands-on experience and training I'm training in CPR okay thank you alright next we'll move on to information item g2 revision of policy 10.2 open enrollment first reading dr.
Calais thank you madam president mr. Dean will introduce this item madam president members of the governing board dr. Kellis and members of cabinet this evening we bring policy 10.12 to the governing board for first read for a couple of changes the greatest change involves adding a section to the open enrollment policy related to compliance with rules certainly we expect all of our students to comply with school rules but we did not have any section in our governing board policy related to open enrollment and students expectation of complying compliance with school rules in order to maintain their status as an open enrolled student this policy is similar to other policies that come from ASBA and so we're presenting to the policy this evening to the garden board for first read I like to say I'm really happy nobody put this in here because when we and it was in the community talking about the new traditional school it's opening and I know that that was going to be part of it as those really clearly defined expectations for behavior and continued enrollment and I had several parents say well why can't that be across the board so it's great to hear that we're implementing that are we going to make sure whether it be through I kind of like we do in the beginning the year with a student handbook that students they're being if they're an open a role student they're acknowledging okay these are conditions of your open enrollment and parents as well so it's transparent there's no surprises if there is a concern at some point during the year Madam President as part of the open enrollment acknowledgment that they are accepted for open enrollment on a yearly basis parents will receive the information that they are also expected to adhere to the school rules additionally we are working to put together a procedure to finalize a procedure matter of fact tomorrow we will be meeting with our school administrators on the procedure for what occurs if students do not open enrolled students do not meet the school criteria the school expectations just as you speak about expectations of the traditional Academy we are we have those same expectations throughout the district at all of our schools not only for our boundary students but for our open enrollment students as well and so they will they will acknowledge that there are expectations that they must be aware of the process that will be utilized for open enrollment revocation should we need to get there is quite extensive and will involve our schools meeting with parents and students multiple times throughout the year so that is never surprised and additionally will also require our schools to be working with our families and students with intervention plans academically behaviorally or through attendance as well so the plan will be extensive and hopefully we curb any issues with this thank you and Madam President I could also add that as part of the acceptance process families will have to provide documentation on grades attendance discipline but as part of the ongoing year-to-year every family who's on open enrollment will receive a letter verifying their status for the following year and a reminder will be included in that letter what the conditions are for continued open enrollment any of their questions or comments from the governing board thank you we'll move on to information item three information on school data doctor Kellis thank you madam president members of the board and members of cabinet this evening dr.
Pauline will present and information about our most recent student performance data Kadena Madam President members of the board dr. Kellis and cabinet we're excited to see being present school level data as well as what we're learning from the data and how we're following up I'm going to introduce Dana Kay our director of k-8 curriculum instruction assessment and she will begin perfect can you hear now okay that my teacher voice is gonna be okay for you so first we'll start with AZ merit and then I'll kind of move over to benchmark because I want to explain a little bit about how we're doing that so right here you'll see our AZ merit you can see third through eighth grade the percentages are based on the average of all of our 19 schools I mean you can see if you look over time we have going to the left is most recent you can see that we have made some some gains in reading in third grade we over the course of the three years we have moved up five points in third grade three points and fifth grade four points in seventh grade and seven points in eighth grade over the three years so we're happy with the growth but not satisfied with that growth we obviously want a lot more growth some of the things that we have put into place so that we can really continue to hope to get to see the more growth is we are really focused on tier 1 and tier 2 reading Adriel and I and some of our 21st century specialists are going in and out of the classrooms we're giving specific feedback to teachers as well as administration's and providing supports where needed whether that's more coaching opportunities or really directly doing professional development on campuses with different grade levels and different teachers that need it some of the other things that we've put into place this year our district our district curriculum days and these district curriculum days are done by grade levels and really focused on specific standards and strategies that week put into place to help our teachers be successful with our students and continue to mass the master the standards we also have a big focus on fourth and fifth grade reading so at k3 especially in the non-title schools we do have reading intervention s and we do have reading coaches and we have lots of materials that have really helped our teachers learn how to teach that phonics to our primer our primary levels on 4th grade we don't have all of those resources so we spent a lot of time teaching our fourth grade teachers what are the resources they can put in place to help our students build some of the skills that they're lacking as well as professional development fourth grade has been an area of passion for me and we have gone into every school and done professional development for each fourth grade team and really asked them what they needed to help them be more successful and tailored all of our presentations to exactly what they needed so we're listening the teachers we're meeting with the teachers and gathering that feedback to help them be more successful looking over on the other column to benchmark I just kind of wanted to give you an overview of what this looks like and sounds like two years ago we really wanted to make sure that we had a common assessment on all of our campuses so we've been using our Galileo assessments we gathered our teachers together two years ago and really we knew there's so many standards to teach so we really wanted to look at what are the priorities what are the ones that are going to give us the biggest bang for our buck aligned to the AZ merit blueprint to make sure that we are hitting the standards that we needed to the hardest however hitting all standards so these benchmark assessments are given three times in the year first quarter we give the first one based on the first quarter standards the second benchmark which we gave right before Christmas we it covered first quarter and second quarter so we have made curriculum maps that outline the standards that need to be taught so that we can continue to stay on pace and our third benchmark which we will be giving at the end of February beginning of March will cover everything for the school year we did that very purposeful so that teachers can see what is it that are my students haven't learned yet and they have still some time before AZ merit to go back and reteach those standards when you're looking at the data here from benchmark to last year to benchmark to this year I do want to preface that they are two different tests we have updated which priority standards we focused on we recreate different tests so you're you're looking at two different tests and two different grade levels so I just I mean two different cohorts of groups because we did it by just the grade level so I just wanted you to know that that they are different assessments with that as well if you turn to the next slide I'm going to move on to math again looking at our AC merits data you can see that in some grade levels we've made some great gains in third grade we are up ten and fifth grade we were up six sixth grade we were up five and seventh grade we were up four we've really focused this year on all grade levels again with our district curriculum P DS but also six through eighth grade we really wanted to help our teachers really be able to differentiate for our different students so during our district curriculum days they were grouped together and we've now divided throughout by three level and we even have some of our own administrators facilitating some of that PD so that we can make sure that it is hitting all of the needs of our teachers and listening to what is it that they need so that the next district curriculum day can be focused on exactly what they need in the classroom and then after that is over our facilitators of our district curriculum days are staying afterward to meet with teachers plan with teachers and whatever we hear from them that they need we are also going back and going into schools and meeting with teachers and providing that professional development whether that be our 21st century specialists or any of our facilitators that have led those discussions moving on to K 2 math last year our well we've our K 2 teachers have been using our journeys HMH test for reading that was common so that they can look across the different schools and see how they've done but we never had anything in math so last year our k2 teachers got together and they said you know we want to do something as well using a TI just like we do in third through eighth grade especially second grade so they can prepare the kids for third grade and we created again those priority standards and then these tests the k2 math the k2 teachers decided they they wanted them to be quarterly so the first one is just over what they taught first quarter the second one is only what they taught second quarter third one same thing and then the fourth one is cumulative they'll give it at the beginning of May and so that will give them a few weeks before they leave that grade level to continue to work on making sure that they've mastered those standards yes there is a little bit of a drop in the first grade from benchmark one to benchmark two and what we realized in that one is when we went back to the scope and sequence we definitely put too much in the second quarter one and realized that our teachers were not on pace they couldn't get through the concepts so we have readjusted and rethought about that for next school year I'm going to pass it on to a drill to talk about the reading and then we'll go to Shelley and then we'll take any questions good evening madam president governing board members dr.
Kellis so we put k3 dibbles reading up here this also is a benchmark that's given three times a year for our new folks I've been up here before for dibbles but dibbles is dynamic indicator of basic early literacy skills we know and research tells us quite explicitly that we have to lay the foundation so thinking of the big five of reading starting at Vinnie Mac awareness all the way through phonics to vocabulary fluency and then comprehension the reason we read is to make meaning of what we're reading dibbles is a great indicator it throws that red flag kind of like we go to for a physical and our blood pressure's up a red flag is thrown it tells teachers we need to investigate this so there's different measures and dibbles that the teachers give so we give it first quarter second quarter and then at the very end of the year April May and looking at the data here kindergarten is the big measure if you will the checkup for our kinder kids and from first quarter to second quarter they grew from 31% to 59% first grade nonsense word fluency is the big measure that we look at to see if they're on their way to be readers and that we grew 49 percent to 72 percent as the district holds first grade second grade you get the oral reading accuracy that's where they're actually reading passages and making sure that they are reading them fluently and there's a retail or a kind of if you will talk to me about what you just read so that we can make sure that they are comprehending so second grade went from 59% to 67 and third grade 63 to 67 I will tell you third grade is the toughest to make the gains but we are projected up and hoping to be in the 78 plus percentile by the end of the year third grades where they put all those big five skills together have to read a passage text and then make meaning of it and answer questions like uneasy merit there's many passages to get through so we have made gains in all those big measures okay and now I'll turn it to Shelley good evening madam president members of the board and cab dr.
Callison cabinet I am very excited always to talk about our high schools and I want to share two data points that actually aren't in your slides this was the first year in Dysart history that all of our high schools received to be label we were very excited that being said bobbie lockhart got a cake for her staff and she said congratulations on the be now on our way to an a and that's really our philosophy that we're doing a better job but we know we can always be better tomorrow than today the second data point that is not on here that I want to share that talks to school success is the celebration that mr. Hawkins and his staff have today they got a call that they passed the pet first round of eight plus and so shadow Ridge is well on their way there and we anticipate another call for another high school tomorrow we're hoping getting into our data I want to really take a minute to set in context for you the data because just looking at the numbers on the sheet we're gonna have it can be bumpy so I want to talk about the difference between our high school benchmark and the mly which is the middle of the Year test our benchmarks at high school we don't give three times a year like hey do we give our benchmarks twice a year we give them in October and that's really like if I'm driving in a car it's looking in the rearview mirror it's how well did the kids get what I think I taught if I didn't get through all my curriculum and might it's not gonna be reflected in my scores I know that I have to go back and our high school administrators do a great job of working with our teachers having doubted Chad's holding all of their teachers accountable for their data but also problem-solving and saying hey our kids the 36 doesn't matter so much what matters is that we have 36 kids - missed our l1 and how are we going to go back and how are we going to reteach that that being said I'm sorry where I'm math that was an example or l1 is an English standard with this data for our benchmarks you can see from 17 18 - 18 19 our algebra data declined we had an average of 47 percent of kids set to pass AZ merit last year this year 42% right now are projected to pass which would put us over where we were last year when I look at data I always ask why why did the data go down there my hypothesis is and I have to decide it by kids but we have a new program last year where eighth graders were able to take algebra in 1718 all of our freshmen came in taking algebra at the high school level in 1819 lots of our freshmen came in taking geometry because they had taken algebra in 8th grade so you're taking a hundred and twenty of the top kids off the top which would account for that decline perhaps you see our scores in geometry and algebra 34 are higher than last year we think some of that has to do with our teachers are more accustomed to the resources they are using this year was the second year we used HMH home mifflin algebra geometry algebra 3 4 which was a new resource for us last year we also have had better professional development through district mondays Dana taught you a little bit about we've been able to really do content professional development and the standards on those Mondays which has helped the mid-year data the last two columns to kind of set that in context for you that's what you and I would call a final I'm not sure why we call the mid-year but it's the middle of the year final and it's really reflective you will notice our data decreases the higher the grade gets our freshman data on the mid-year is higher our geometry decreases a little in our junior data on mid-year final is lower I was trying to think of why that might be and tell my daughter googled what do I need on my final to pass a class if I have a 98% she needed a 22 on her final um you know with that it's good to see the mid-year data increase we would hope it would increase from year to year however we do have the problem the older kids get the more they figure out that final does it matter so I don't know how good a reflection it is all the time that kids took the final seriously and we know exactly what they know we can talk about that in a little a few months with our ela we had better gains in ela and you'll see once again the data kind of decreases the older we get with the seriousness of the test we had really good games our Pearson Creek resource that we're using is a great resource when we brought it in last year we heard from freshmen and sophomores and especially juniors this is hard and it was hard because the Lexile level contained in pearson is higher than the Lexile they were used to reading from so we've increased the rigor in ela and we're happy to see that our students are rising to that challenge the last slide has to do with great distribution and I do want to preface this with the 1718 data was pulled after extension was done we have two campuses that are doing an extension and what extension is is a way to really make sure that learnings not the variable the time is for example on belly's campus or Dicers campus if I got a D in December I can attend a two-week to three-week session after in the new semester to raise my grade because we know not every kid gets it in the same amount of time so the 1718 data was pulled after the extension the 1819 data was pulled prior to the extension being done our grades it was it was very interesting I thought our EPS would decrease because we've gone to a sixty percent passing rate ahrefs actually stayed the same exactly at each school from 17 18 - 18 19 we had some increase in DS what could account for that could be the kids haven't finished extension yet and that's something we're gonna be talking more with the high school principals about tomorrow you have some questions that's actually just because you're both I'm gonna ask you about the extension explain that again extension extensions our high schools run they give the kids in additional two weeks to bring up if I fail to class and the reason we do that the extra two weeks is you have two weeks in our high in our procedures to change the grade we know that not all kids get it in the same amount of time we might be learning a linear equation you might pick it up on that very day I might need an extra five days to really cement that knowledge so instead of having kids go back and repeat the whole class they have two weeks to show proficiency in the standards at which time we can change that from a failing grade I say okay do you mind if I if I start with you doctor side just since you're here I'm here go ahead okay thank you all very much for the thorough presentation thank you dr.
Kellis for providing all this data and actually going back three years with a lot of it I really appreciate being able to see the difference so with high school in regard to la it seems that the freshmen who let me find it the freshmen right now are reflective the best score so far as a 75 mm-hmm which is awesome especially coming in as freshmen I think that's that's great because I've always for years struggled with I'd like to see Dysart's scores be a little bit a lot higher actually in English but in President Richard I want to caution you with the major data that's not predictive same 75% of our kids will pass AZ merit the benchmarks doing the prediction rate the mid-year is an average percent yeah I'm just commenting on okay just that percent I don't want you to think it was better than it was right thank you so that's great but I'm wondering though because our seniors at least at this point aren't doing as well alright their scores aren't as reflective I thought that seniors on here hold on I'm sorry 11 what are we it's concerning that again as they get closer to graduation they're getting closer to perhaps college level or just going out into whatever trade or career they're going into that English piece is just really so important and I'm I'm concerned that and I want to make sure that as they progress through their high school years with English that we're meeting their need are you are you concerned with the scores as are reflected now through the 10th and 11th grade specifically with the LA I believe that we all we always have room for improvement you know I look at these scores and our high school administration our teachers are working very hard I would be happy to be in the 80s and 90s right now as I'm sure we all would I the mid-year test does not concern me as much as perhaps the benchmark or AZ merit would and again that's because I think our sophomores and juniors really catch on to that game that I don't have to get a 70 or 80% to pass that I can still maintain my a and I can get a 20% on that final so when you look at the mid-year data of 60 Patti could have gotten a hundred someone else could have gotten to 50 that's going to be a 75 average so you have to remember those are averages of all kids in the school that took that Pinal and if you have a kid like my daughter who said okay li News the 22 percent that's pulling the average down to the other end without reflecting necessarily what she knows in the class and I think that's a good point but just and the students defense I know just as far as like a strategy for a student anxiety could be okay I know this is all I have to get likely I'm gonna definitely I'm not gonna fail this test because this is all I really have to get so I'm gonna take that edge off and I'm just gonna do the best I can i I hate to think that all of our students I know you're not suggesting that all of our students have that mindset but I think there's some other areas that maybe can contribute to those lower scores that maybe there's things that we can all be doing too and so I think it's important when we look at those scores we do triangulate it with other data points so what you don't see is one of the sheets we work with we run the standards every question on the test is hooked to a standard so after benchmark we say 35 percent mastered Oh a 5 and then we triangulate that we look at the mid-year data in any course data to see if our kids are getting really mastering that standard over time on multiple assessments I said we have some standards that were a lot weaker and than others that would affect that average - okay and then again in regard to that final assessment grade you had mentioned earlier in your presentation regarding if maybe the the teacher didn't get through all the curriculum and I've heard that before even through students first part of the question is how often does that happen and why would that happen as far as because I you never want you for the teachers sake or for the students sake to be in a crunch like all this to teach and there's just no time left so what are we doing to address that piece of it and so two years ago when I came into this position we really made sure we firmed up our curriculum maps they hadn't been revised for awhile we also made sure that we established common finals again not every school had the same common final so those two things are really helpful because teachers know now here's the target that I have to get to in a specific amount of time you always have the tension of joy slow down and wait for everybody to get it do I keep going we've really been working with the high schools and our 21st century specialists have been supporting how do I pull small group in high school we know from elementary that small group moves kids we've had a very successful partnership at shadow Ridge with some of their math teachers so going through the scope and sequence making sure we get through it but that we use the data to go back and pinpoint kids who don't necessarily master it in that given timeframe because what I'm concerned about to the other the other part of that question is is there a possibility that our assessments aren't aligning with instruction and I'm just going throw that out there because it's a possibility just as the mindset of a student saying I'm not gonna try excelling the twenty is a possibility but what I get concerned with is students who can have straight A's and then all of a sudden they get you know a poor score on a final is that because I haven't tried or is that because maybe there's something else we can be doing to make sure it's aligned I don't believe that's the case with math and English and my answer is based on this with math and English the district provides the final review so we know that all kids are getting a final review that's been vetted by teachers and 21st century specialists so we know the review that students are provided is very aligned to the final we also do walkthroughs off-site how Amy Hartson she has the maps on her desk when she goes into classrooms she is looking going okay it's March you should be in Pearson unit five and she actually all of our high school administrators are great about if teachers aren't where they need to be meeting with their PLC's during that common prep and adjusting their maps saying what's the you know is there any fluff that we can get rid of and how can we go back and how can we catch up how can we curriculum compact that's being done in math and English especially we're getting there and science and social studies because we're just implementing new standards we need to remap those courses but I'm fairly confident saying in English and math that I believe the curriculum is being covered in a timely manner I'm glad to hear that cuz my biggest pet peeve even in our elementary levels if a student is getting an A in a class how can you complete how can you not meet you know the standards the same with high school you're in straight A's getting great grades on your coursework and then the final comes and you completely fail it and we're very optimistic especially with with a new with having the great enhancement phrasing merit now that will get true AZ merit data showing what our students actually know do you know if there's anything that we can do or like again in elementary school there's always intervention groups there's always things to help catch kids up or they can go in and get actually help if they need it and it seems like in high school sometimes reflected than our scores they're not as high as they need to be but again these are our last final years with these these students before they go out to the real world and wanting to build them up with as many skills and to be as successful as I can do do high schools offer that same level of intervention and opportunity so they can feel just as prepared to go out in the real world as we're preparing our elementary students to go into a high school currently the only intervention structure we really have we have the extension we also have small groups you're talking about an intervention period like built into the day we currently don't have that it is the best practice if you look at the advanced ed framework if you look at some districts around us they do have those and it's definitely something that we could look at so comparable districts districts around our neighboring districts offer that some of our neighboring districts do it and they do it in various ways some it's built into the schedule every day some they extend a bail period one day a week so those are all things we could examine to provide that if that's something we're looking we've thought about dr.
colors Madame president yes and as we continue to look at all of the data it's something that is I mean there's 50 variables that go into any one of these scores and while we could look at all those different variables the things that we have control over and the things that really we can identify okay this one probably is a more impactful variable than the others it's something that it's an ongoing process it's a journey but overall as we look at the scores these are data points from a test on a day if we look at the end of course final exam grades as we look at the the benchmarks we take that data and we want to have conversations about it but in the end what are all the other as as shall I mentioned what are all the other data points that we can bring in to look at the full story so this is one point what are the other five assessment or eval have variables that we can bring into the students academic history to say okay this is a trend that we're seeing across multiple measures and this is a concern or if the students passing all of the quizzes and unit tests and and project grades are high and everything else is demonstrating that the students being successful but the final exam it's 20% I don't know that we would say that that would raise a huge red flag if and what we're saying is that they are that particularly in math and English language arts that the assessments are aligned to the scope and sequence or the maps which I was talking about so we continue to monitor these there are interventions the professional learning communities the PLC's that I have each Monday is where those conversations happen many of those conversations happen with an administrator present so that they're guiding them through the process as we're looking to the future the seating will present some additional information on some additional supports in the district restructuring that will also help support what schools will have in their toolbox to assist teachers with data and what to do with the data identifying individual students and their needs and the interventions do you think we'll consider though what our neighboring districts are doing as far as building and that intervention time for high school students again intervention time may be one of those variables but there are many variables to look at and we want to look at those that are the most impactful and if we look at the supports they're being provided well those supports be high value supports I've worked in high school where we have had the intervention time and I've seen where it's been very valuable for those students who need it but then you have a very large other group of students who you put them in an intervention time and it's not quality instructional time for their school day or for their school experience so to make a decision that every student would have that my not be the highest value intervention where as we look at what are the students needs on an individual basis the teachers use their PLC time to identify those students on the interventions and supports and then we are more of a laser-like target focus on those needs and not a global everybody gets intervention time does anyone have questions for dr.
sighs and she's I I do first off yeah it's always kudos about the the grades being a B for all the high schools and that was all our high school administrators and their hard-working teams they do wonderful work it was and I like miss la Kurtz you know response that you know I'm gonna get to an a but I also appreciate what you said earlier about learning is not the variable time is so with that respect you were talking about the mindset of our students how can we change that mindset of our students as far as you know I only need to get the 22 percent and what PD are we providing teachers to help change that mindset so I'm gonna start with a PD with the PD we've embedded lots of information on growth mindset that's peppered across both our district days and broken out in our middle school leadership training teams and some teachers have really flown with it we have plans to continue with that next year the idea of I'm not there yet the idea that any 13 year old is bad at math is ludicrous they just haven't maybe had a great teacher at some point in time obviously at another district but thank you for saying that thank you or they might have had a long term stuff there's lots of variables that can affect math efficacy so really working on that efficacy we are targeting like Dana said at the sixth seventh and eighth grade levels on district many Monday's mr.
st. Germain mr. Kerr are actually leading those groups and how do we really break the math down and make it easy to understand for students and that way they come in with a better mindset and really fostering that growth mindset I'm sorry I forgot the first part of the question how can we tell you some mindset of our students I think we're doing some good things to change their mindset I think you know giving them an incentive to pass AZ merit that the board passed that's a great incentive to really show what you know because we if we don't have that you know I might do well I might not what if I'm a teenager I need some incentive sometimes other things I had on the tip of my tongue I'm so sorry stick your tongue out let me see if I can see it I think there's a myriad of things that you can we we've explored in other districts that we could think of doing if you I mean if you want great middle of the Year data there are districts that say if you pass the final you can pass the class we've never really explored that it could be something worth exploring we would have to look at the data on that in other districts and is it a you know is it a good policy the next year is it a bad policy do kids cram for the test and do they retain that I'm not familiar with the research on how that pans out I know that is something that they've done to help the kids take the tests more seriously but before I would say yes this is something we should do I would really want to dig into that research thank you thank you dr.
sight and then I just had a couple comments and questions for Miss K and Miss grace Hebert mainly comment the kindergarten my goodness between the math going up ten percent between benchmark one and two this year and then dibbles twenty eight percent increase right that's amazing our kindergarteners are doing so well that's wonderful Madam President members of the board dr. Kellis and cabinet thank you miss Pritchard I will be quite honest and say we have jumps like that every year phonemic awareness because it's the ground level of the foundational skills is the easiest to move so that's why the kinder data looks not great not that I'm not feeling tutors to your schools our teachers our students they're working hard but I did want to recognize yeah the phonemic awareness is just hearing sounds so that's once the kids know the sounds they can better identify the we move into the phonics part and when you put it to print that's when it gets a little more difficult and then when you get to the comprehension level like I said it's second third grade that's when it's harder to me but we appreciate the thank you and then miss Kay I had a few questions for you but you you clarified a lot of them because I was I was concerned about in regard to the the reading the three eighth especially third grade that the 22% drop so I was glad to hear you explain that there are two different tests which would explain a lot but just in general though it's still good data there was there's still a lot to be learned from those assessments so what would you say attributed to that drop even though I know that the change of the test was one and but then also what interventions I know you mentioned professional development but what are we doing specifically like for our students to really pinpoint where they're struggling and how we can specifically individualize the end of interventions riveting so I'm gonna take that question first so are our teachers so just like dr.
SIA was saying when we get our data back on any assessment whether that's our journeys assessment whether that's our dibbles assessment whether that's our benchmark assessment our teachers and our principals have done an amazing job really working together to look at the data and within Galileo it's broken down by standard by kid what they missed and our teachers have really looked at that data and been able to look at which standard which kid and and like we talked about they're great at pulling small group of instruction we have so many resources in this district that helped teachers teach it a different way if they didn't get it the first time so our teachers are doing a lot of that and also working together in our PLC's as dr. Kellis spoke about working together as PLC's and saying okay you know what I have five kids that didn't get this and you had to let's bring your two over and let's work together our teachers are really in our schools I feel like are really working together it isn't like I want to be better than you these are all of our kids and we all need to work for this and I'm seeing that more and more when I walk in the schools that our principals are really spending time with their PLC's and and their teachers are seeing that hey if we all work together we can actually move kids quicker so that would be what I would say third grade I don't always know sometimes it's hard you know we go from k2 there's there some weird grade levels right you have k2 and then third grade and then we feel like fourth grade kind of gets left alone and so third grade it's just a new test it's building that stamina with the kids to take the test also they're not used to that long period of sitting with lots of different passages and questions and but our again our teachers are getting our kids on the the technology quicker and second and third grade especially to make sure that they have that time to use the computers get used to how to read online how to highlight how to look back scroll back up or scroll down and be able to really analyze their data see and then the board and this might be a dr.
Kellis question received some some extra data on the schools and things the schools that are struggling I'm in some areas below even the district average do we have district level supports or extra added resources that we're putting into those schools so they can get what they need for their students and staff to help bring those you want to share well if you would like to I'd be happy Madam President members of the board again it goes back to yes we are looking at all of the data when we identify as an area where there's some opportunities there then we will direct additional research and again as we're looking later in and the agenda we're going to be introducing some some supports that we hope will provide assistance for every school but it is much more customized and individualized for the school's needs yeah I just worry when some schools are below even the district average it's just as an indicator that there's anything actually we can be doing to help those students just to piggyback off of that though principals have reached out to us and we are meeting I mean when they come to us and tell me hey my 6th grade math is struggling what can we do we sit down and we've been going in to certain schools and working with them drafting a plan that works for them of whether that's walkthrough visits whether that's a professional development whether that's sitting with them and lesson planning so our schools are reaching out and we are providing the supports that they need and know that they have that proactive mindset - yeah that's good great job thank you so much any other questions from the board I did have a couple from this journey so the documentation that was sitting up here for us board you're familiar with the the k-8 reading the school's everything I just see it in front of me but yes I'd open that data so I had just was looking really at the I just picked the grades fifth through six and just looking from the 5th to the 6th grade and KDKA reading I see that 17 school had dipped in their benchmarks one remained the same and one increased what do you think that attribute it to I mean was it something from 5th through 6th grade that made him 17 schools dip and then a couple of the other schools had dipped even further going to 7th and 8th grade so that that's one and looked on the k-8 math and I just looked at the same grades again 5th or 6 and 14 had dipped one remain the same and for increased so what is it with 5th and 6th graders that they don't want to come up with everybody else that's Madam President members of the board dr.
Kellison cabinet I can speak to even the 3rd grade question that madam Pritchard had asked about our standards were revised and updated so that meant that our curriculum guides and our priority standards changed from last year to this year so especially in third grade because I'm k3 literacy coordinator I'm mining that data quite often and I'm noticing noticing this also like in four five six data the standards were revised so we changed our priority standards and focused more time and effort instructionally on those standards so we had a little bit of a shift they trying to match the blueprint if you will to the is demerit kind of looking at what priority or preference standards to really focus on we still teach all the standards but we do know there was a shift there and that could be a component also speaking from the third grade we transitioned and I know four five six used to give also we have the HMH houghton mifflin harcourt journeys series and in third grade they were giving six tests they were giving three district benchmarks on a TI Galileo three on three from the actual programs series so we combined those and now they only take three tests and we combined the standards taught in the HMH looking at our district prior priority standards that a TI galileo test on and we combined and we're working that's a work in progress same with our four five six they used to give the HMH they did also give the a TI Galileo so it's just that's another factor looking at revised updated standards more concrete more specific for our teachers so that's a good thing for the students so they know where to focus and how to keep up with their pasting curriculum guides so that in my opinion especially speaking for the third grade question that madam Pritchard asked that would definitely affect it's the change that you see madam president governing board members the other thing that we noticed when we spoke with our teachers is in the math especially when we did our curriculum apps we probably put a few too many concepts in the second benchmark tests and so many of our students didn't get to some of the concepts that were heavily taught so they know that they have to still cover that and reteach that for the third benchmark then a president number starts Miguel we also have ongoing discussions with principals monthly we're meeting with administration principal assistant principals and in cases after benchmark looking at data and discussing what are we doing and those are ongoing discussions and so in terms of response we're looking at you know how can we support like specifically support schools and one of your needs but then how are we reacting to using the data to follow up teaching for students thank you all so much for all your detailed information appreciate it thank you next we'll move on to information item for board self-evaluation report and discussion dr.
Calais thank you madam president members of the board this evening we have the distinguished pleasure of having dr. Tommy Andres here and it would just add the premise that the isert has been so fortunate over we were just counting I think we're up to 12 years now enjoying the service of dr. janitor says he has assisted the board through the policy governance model part of that process is a board self evaluation and this evening dr. Jan dress is here to help the board with this next stage as we continue through our journey so doctor genders thank you madam president members of the board dr. Kellis members of the cabinet it's a pleasure to be with you especially considering the weather in Chicago I called my wife and said that I would be staying here through May so if any of you have a spare bedroom I'm in it's a pleasure to be with you and it was exciting for me to watch the wonderful presentation on the academic achievement for the most part I think the news is very good and so having been here for so long now to see the results of the work being reflected in the data in that way I want to commend the board also for your attention to the data we know that in school districts that work data is paid attention to so congratulations for that it's wonderful the news on your evaluations is good you know we've been at this seven years now out of the 12 that I've been working with the district we're in the seventh year of policy governance congratulations for sticking it out I know it's not always fun and it's sometimes provocative but that's a remarkable achievement I was meeting earlier today with your newest board member and we were chatting about policy governance we're now up to almost 370 school districts in America engaged in policy governance which is an increase of about 70 in the last two years so we're excited about that it's not perfect for every school district but I think it's been valuable to this school district and so congratulations for that long commitment part of that commitment of course is self-evaluation this is among one of the harder responsibilities of a commitment to policy governance because it requires self-reflection and it requires public commentary on your performance and that's something that is not always comfortable but again there's some really good news in the report this time around I will say there's a little bit of bad news too you know we had a wonderful increase in the participation by our district observers that was reported in July that participation is down 45% for the last six months so I've asked mr.
Dean and the other staff to see if we can't build that fire back up a little bit for next time around so that we can count on having valid and reliable data to make sure so the district observers are down a little bit I have to though commend the board because you're responsive and this this last six months has been phenomenal really really high the highest in all the seven years we've been working so thank you for being so diligent in that it really does help to produce high quality data and I'm grateful for it we'll look at a few things if we could have the next slide just by way of summary you've got the reports I think in oh I've got the clicker is this gonna work there we go I want to look at the group process items not in detail because you have the reports in front of you and I won't insult you by reading them to you but I do have some comments I know that will be a surprise to you one of the things that I want to comment on are really the first three items these first three the agenda evidence is focus the ends are monitored and discussions of means are limited only to board means both your own evaluations of your performance in this area and the district observers evaluations of your performance in this area are very high in the range that we find desirable between four point five and five is the target and for a couple of these especially monitoring the ends and the means you know those are items that we've struggled with a little bit in the past so congratulations on bringing those up to higher levels I want to we don't have time today for a complete refresher on the ends and the means but I want to do I do want to remind the board a little bit about these things because I have sense from some of the comments on your evaluations that there may be some confusion so if you'll bear with me for a second I want to just give you a quick update reminder refresher and this business about ends and means because it is so critical to the process you know the the the the sources of the ends the board's ends think of these as the things you want to achieve on behalf of the children and the owners of the school district those are the ends and the board has generally speaking for sources for identifying its ends and these are the things that you should be assessing yourself on relative to your own achievement and of course building the performance evaluation of your superintendent around these things as well and the source of these ends really our first and foremost board policy those things that you have adopted with the weight of law that established certain ends that you desire to achieve the next is of course through your strategic plan and this is probably the richest source of identifying the ends for the district and this is something that's adapted and to which the board commits the third is the budget of course you adopt the budget and the budget establishes certain standards by which the fiscal matters of the district they're to be conducted and those provide ends as well and the final one is that you have ends that are written into I'm assuming the superintendent's evaluation and those are the four areas that provide the greatest sources of the ends for the district's to use as its own targets measuring the overall achievement of the school district on a regular basis the board means those means that the board will commit to using on its own to achieve its ends really are contained in policy and that's why it is so essential for the board to stay familiar on an ongoing basis with its own policy and to be able to call it out when it's necessary and attend to it in your discussions and I'll talk about that just a little bit further in a few minutes and then finally there are these things that I think confused some of us more often than that which are called limitations and means and the limitations on means really are the the policies that the board adopts policies that the board adopts that limit the superintendent's ability to do certain things limitations on means and they are adopted in policy and they are also established in the superintendent's evaluation those are the two sources of limitations on the meet and the means in policy governments the concept of limitations on the means is that it is a hopeless task for any organization to try to tell administration what it must do why because it's a it's a universal infinite challenge to identify all those myriads of things that have to be done to operate and hold accountable the school district so in the concept of policy governance the board does not tell the administration what it should do it only tells the administration what it may not do limitations on means and those are adapted into policy and that's what gives the board control if you want to think of it that way so that's just a brief reminder about these things called ends and means and limitations on the means and at some point if we want to delve into that further in a deeper reflection and professional development experience we can do that but I thought that might be helpful just to remind you how what those things are the so one two and three excellent excellent results the agendas are wonderful congratulations to the superintendent and to your wonderful board secretary for the job that's done for all of your input into the agendas they're really well done this has been consistent for seven years that's that's pretty remarkable very high and of course without the agenda the you know the the agenda is the roadmap for the fulfillment of policy in any school district you know if you don't know where you're going any road will get you there well you know where you're going every time you meet because you've got these wonderfully crafted agendas so congratulations then I that relative to your ends item number two dens are monitored and referenced good performance it's improved performance over last time so congratulations you get to stay after and clean the erasers and is that old fashioned or what how many of you remember being rewarded by cleaning the eraser and and and it's positive trend data so everything everything is good with regard to that right now let's keep after it let's watch it very carefully good performance good improvement and positive trend data what more could you ask for so congratulations same thing relevance to discussions of means are limited only to board means you remember this is something we tripped over a lot of times over the years and I'm so pleased to see that some of you are even smiling because you remember the battles um this is just excellent and I'm thrilled you could tell just from my tone of voice that these scores are so high that we've got good inter-rater reliability between the board members and the district observers and this and and that the important the performance is improved and trending positively wow really good very exciting stuff adherence to written policies of course is the next one that we want to look at number four and again we've got excellent and still high performance in fact this is one of your higher areas of performance again in the four point five to five range the only thing that sort of takes the glow off of this is that there's a little bit of disparity between the board's view of your performance against this in the district observers view of this not too bad but it's greater than we could count for in terms of the standard deviation so we want to watch this one a little bit and make sure that that we are citing policy as we address issues publicly and that we are conscious of the need to adhere to our policies and not deviate too far off adherence to policies but again it's well done it's down a little bit but we'll continue to work on that the issues of monitoring policies are the sort of the same implementing policies and referencing policies and I want to talk about number six which has been sticky over the last what two years three years seven years I don't know but showing evidence of reflecting on your own conduct your scores are up a little bit at 3.6 but look at where your district observers are so we've got a little but a room to still grow there III I mentioned the dawn a little bit earlier today as I was talking with her about policy governance this is the hardest thing for a board to do to lovingly and supportively criticize itself and each other as it relates to talking about and acting on your reflection in public session I know it's hard but what a wonderful example it sets for the organization when you can do that do we ask our teachers and staff to be reflective practitioners do we ask them to talk with each other about the results of their reflection it's important for the board to monitor that it is also reflecting and it's holding itself accountable to that same standard and so this is something I want to continue to lovingly not you about and to try to bridge the gap a little bit I'd like to see a smaller differentiation there and greater interrelated in a greater reliability there then we see talk about the individual contributions for just a minute the members of board of the board participating in discussion we went down a little bit here I'm not alarmed by that because the score is above average but I want to watch this please be conscious of engaging as much as you are able in participation of discussion I was watching closely today as you were looking at the academic performance data and we had pretty good participation across several of our board members I understand that there are personality differences and interest differences and those kinds of things but the more over the course of an extended period of time we can make sure that we have relatively equal participation and comments by board members the better it will be and so let's continue to focus on that as we're able to move forward individual policy versus district policy this is another one that we have had trouble with over the years the board rated itself at 2.7 here and the district observers 4.1 well if we're gonna have a disparity that's the kind of disparity I want yeah the fact that that our district observers have not been observing the unhelpful commenting that reflect the possibility of personal agendas is a really good thing the I don't have an explanation for you about why this big disparity between yourselves and your district observers except that maybe you're being too hard on yourselves maybe I've beat you up so much over this over the years that you're now at the point where you're really being hard on yourself okay and that's a good thing because in fact it's a probably of all of the items that we look at this is the most insidious and potentially destructive behavior of a good functioning highly functioning board that we can engage in so congratulations on the second score let's see what happens over the next six months in relationship to your own view of this now that I've let you off the hook a little bit let's see we'll see that how that works so it's our score the two point seven yes okay so but that would indicate unless I'm reading it wrong that the board does not think that our instances of members advancing their own agendas but the district observers do think that we're advancing our personal agenda just the opposite what this what this suggests is that the that the board thinks that there is some occasion of reflecting personalized agendas and district observers are not seeing it and just to be clear with the board if there are if if there aren't any instances of those advances then they would rate a one your not area know if there are instances know are not are not know then then you would rate a five oh no okay well so that the problem could be you put you watch your figure and the disparity and I know so you know we've kind of gone back and forth about this I didn't know if we could suggest even just a wording change in this because like I know some one of the things that's confusing is like on the top of that its percentage of board members mhm and as you go down it goes instances number and I think that can lead us to go well do we do a specific number because if there are no instances of it it says a1 equals not done right so let's let's give the benefit of the doubt and say that you've put your finger on something important there miss Pritchard I'm sure you did and what I will do is I will go back to the office I'll write a clarification of this will share it with you see if it makes sense and if it's necessary will revise it because I was like yeah I'd like to see like this just the same language throughout like if we like percentage of board members who that participated then let's leave it percentage of references or quotes on board policies you don't keep that language consistent because I think that will help us to know exactly what we're looking at I get you what you're saying the the interesting part of this is in many other districts they like to have several different words describing the same thing because then then they understand it better so but I get your point and I will try to I'll try to clarify it and we'll share it with you and if you like it will recommend the change ok thank you thank you for that I appreciate it miss Pritchard very much so I probably skewed the whole no mark the same thing ok we'll have you know actually if it works we'll have much better inter-rater reliability which is a good thing and you're right it could explain the disparity that we have here ok thanks because most of mine all the way down if it didn't happen it's a one for none that's how I answer all of them ok we'll work on it ok thank you good evidence of support for consensus authority your scores are very high here and so there is good evidence and good inter-rater reliability and so congratulations on this consider you know the only authority the board has is when is when it acts based on majority and so clearly there is realization of that and you're doing well here references specific quotation of board policy this is something I would still like to see a little bit more of the the the reason for this again is that you know this as you know you know I'm preaching to the choir here but you know board policy is the are the governing rules of the school district adopted into law adapted into law by the board I know that many of you stay up late night at night reading your board policy manuals and and and therefore it's important that you'd be able to make reference to them one of the reasons for this is because it grounds the board's discussion in its guiding document its fundamental principles it's like going to church and skipping a reference to the scripture you know you you gotta you gotta be able to to reference where the veracity of what it is that you're trying to accomplish is from and it gives great comfort and assurance to your constituents that in fact you know understand and can and can quote your policy so I had encouraged you to think a little bit about that and and work on it did I say that gently enough now everybody run home and memorize board policy I know you know it but having the ability and the courage once in a while to reference it would be a really good thing so that would be great a number of suggested changes clarification of board policies average scores in fact I heard a couple of comments earlier today about some suggestion changes to board policy maybe that's a really good thing my heart was beating fast so I was grateful to miss Pritchard for doing that um certainly in the many many many board meetings I've attended here this is something that traditionally and historically the dice trade board doesn't do frequently enough and so suggesting changes to policy at least for review even if the policy that never gets changed is an important thing questioning board policy the board policy is dynamic not static just as the Nate needs of your children changed and they NEADS of this district and the needs of the community change over time your policy has to change over time and so more frequent discussion of possible modifications of policy as long as they're not legislated are really good things and I would suggest that you do it perhaps on a more regular basis you understand the issue of clarifying policy governance I addressed that a few minutes ago please feel free and more comfortable to do that in individually and collectively in a public session and then this business of reflection again the this was the largest general improvement on individual board behaviors and so I think that we want to encourage the board to engage in contributing to board process that is the result of board reflection that's a really good thing do it in open session though that that will be helpful you know the board has no authority when it does not act in session and so having an opportunity to be able to publicly talk about these things in open session is evidence of your reflection make sense Thanks so in summary a couple things good progress focusing on board topics and that staff topics really really good I'm sure superintendent is grateful for that growing understanding of policy governance got some positive trend data the question mark is there because I hope we can continue to see positive trend data they're really really good performance on focusing on board ends and means I would add improved discussions among board members we got some positive trend data there some interesting reflection on opportunities for improving board conduct in your meetings I would encourage you to continue your focus on board means it ends more discussion on board policy and and reflection again as I've talked to you about times I would say to you that again repeats to you that there are some limitations on the report this time around and those limitations are a consequence of a forty five percent drop in district observer participation if I don't have the numbers I don't have good Villette validity and so even some of these disparities that we're talking about could be the result of the fact that we don't have a high enough n so you know we've got pretty small samples to begin with and so if we suffer erosion in one of those samples then I have less confidence in what I'm helping you with here so overall this is a really really really good report I can't tell you how pleased I am with the progress you have made as a board with your willingness to stick with us I know not everybody in in Arizona agrees with policy governance but I your commitment to it is commendable and I congratulate you for it any further questions of me I just appreciate you being here and all the guidance you've provided all these years I really appreciate it well thanks just-just-just just one point of sentiment if you don't you know you know me I wear my heart on my sleeve this 2019 is my 50th year in education and well thanks you know but the reason I mentioned that is because some of those best years have occurred here what's happened in this district the transformation of this board the wonderful cabinet and faculty and staff I just commend you for that and thanks for being such a big part of over over a tenth of my or no over twenty percent of my career so thank you thank you very much appreciate being here dr.
Callas what are your thoughts are or what can we do to improve our district representative participation I know that's been an issue in the past as well and I thought we kind of overcame it and we're back madam president we will find out why that's happening and we'll jump on it thank you any other questions for the board [Music] okay next we move to action discussion items h1 recommendation for approval of a district reorganization plan dr. Califf thank you madam president members of the board and members of cabinet I'd like to take a couple of minutes and just talk about this item personally as we consider the purpose of the Dyson Unified School District one of the things that we take very seriously is the charge of our community to educate their children and we see that as our primary purpose our objective set of before us the reason why we exist and if we can't do that job than we probably shouldn't exist so we acknowledge our responsibility to be not just okay or good at teaching and learning but that we are extraordinarily excellent at teaching and learning that's why parents send their kids to our schools that's why we hire the best educators and professionals because we take that charge very seriously we also as I have mentioned before as we focus on the three A's academics arts and athletics we also want to provide a quality student experience so we have other focuses on arts and a cadet and athletics but that doesn't take away from or diminish our primary responsibilities and that is academics as we have considered this charge and this responsibility early on in the summer recently that pretty soon after I was employed by the district we embarked upon an initiative evaluation of all the initiatives that we have in the district to identify what initiatives support student learning and active and the academics of the district that primary goal or are there things that might be distracting us from from that primary purpose and we made some significant changes throughout the district as a result of that initiative survey in the early fall some of the staff members a member of the cabinet held focus groups and talk to various stakeholder groups about what are the needs what are the real needs of schools of teachers and how can the district help support those needs focusing on the academics and the academic supports so the question very clearly was what academic supports do you need and then from that there was a lot of further conversation but based on those conversations based on broad input and conversation we as cabinet have identified some opportunities to shift the role of the district office from being a district of direction to a district of supports where each individual school has the the leadership capacity to to be successful for their students and as I give this example it's I believe it's there's guy it's a company called gem genomics trance trance is a tional genomics anyway it's downtown third job their task it's a very scientific laboratory who takes the human genome and breaks it down and identifies the very specific needs of the patient if you have a hundred people with a headache you don't give a hundred people one aspirin and expect that that aspirin the Wolves will address the headaches for a hundred people but if you have a DNA sample and you can target exactly what every one of those 100 people's needs are you can and what this company does is they create a prescriptive medication based on that individual person's needs having that model it is difficult for a district to say every school needs the exact same solution across the board as we looked at the data just recently the board acknowledged that schools have different based on their results and to push out the exact same supports academic supports is is not a reasonable expectation that it is customizable and laser-like focused targeted on what those specific needs are so we look at what are the academic needs of each school and what are the resources that those schools need and this evening you will hear some recommended changes that are being made to to do exactly that to provide the schools as they take on that responsibility of and that opportunity for leadership in their own school sites that the district is providing those supports and that every school has the the resources that they need and that those resources are individualized and specific to to each school so with that I would ask dr.