Um, you know, we had internal conversations when assigning an interim and there there were other issues there and I said to um Kevin when he was the interim, you're not that Jar there to just warm the chair. Um, there's a lot of work that has to be done with a great team of people over there. Um, and we think you'd be good at doing that. So, uh, he took the reigns and apparently fell in love with it and the faculty um and students and and uh families have reciprocated that uh after he mentioned to me that he was interested. We um I met with almost every single person of the 35 or so who served on committees um throughout the process, people who worked and attended Cheshure High School and a the parents who were on that committee and asked them about uh Kevin's candidacy and it was uniformly positive uh and and enthusiastically so.
And it's really worked really well for our group our for our special education students in the classroom because they're in groups. So they can still participate. They can still do pieces. They are a member of the group and they have learned. It's been great for our EL population because again they are teaming together. So it really helps with all populations at our site too. It's not me.
And so, um, we interviewed Kevin, um, internally, um, and then the board had the opportunity to interview him last Wednesday. And I think, um, you all quickly came away with the, uh, same positive vision for him at Cheshire High School that so many others shared. Um, of course you know Kevin from his, you know, time as the K through8 curriculum coordinator, uh, where he's done such great work. And so, uh, that kind of, you know, outlines the process that we undertook and the, uh, sharp right turn at the end. So, I'll pass it off to personnel for a nomination. Thank you, Dr. Solen. So, um there we do need to call for a motion. So, if um Amory, take it away. Recommendation that the Cheshire Board of Education appoints Mr. Kevin Hanland to the position of principal of Cheshure High School effective April 21st, 2025.
You have any questions? Thank you. Thank you very much, Julie. Thanks, Julie. So, thank you. Thank you. Hello, I'm Chris Roy, principal at Sunrise. Uh Aaron Francis is my assistant principal. He's with me. And Amy Morstead is our instructional coach. Um so here are some examples of student teaming up at Sunrise. Uh you can see some kindergarters when you go into the kindergarten classrooms now versus before it's it's a completely different experience. Um you have students uh in the one area they're talking actually and they're deciding um what heavier how many how many flat discs do they need to make it um how many pom poms do they need to make it even with a flat disc and they're uh talking about it. Um the discussion students are actually having is a completely different thing than that than we've seen in the past. Um you can see an example they were studying um civil rights leaders uh like Dr.
Further, that Mr. Hanland be compensated in accordance with the 2028 agreement between the Cheshire Board of Education and Cheshure Administrative Personnel. Is there a second for the motion that's on the floor? Mr. Grippo second discussion, comments, Mr. White and then Mr. Gerbal. I support Kevin Hanland 100%. Uh we had an interview process with him. We had an interview basically the board of ed a week ago and I asked one particular question um that I wanted an answer from and I very much appreciated his response. Um it was uh I felt it was potentially a difficult question to answer and he handled it I thought extremely well taking into account not just following rules and procedures but adding a human component to it and recognizing that what we're dealing with is adolesccents kids who are quickly transforming into adults But he he took I felt he he answered the question very well and like I said I'm happy to support Kevin for principal.
Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks and the students drew their favorite um uh person that they resonated with them the most and then talked in their group and they put together that those people were trying to bring people together. They're working on math creating their own math problems and they're discussing how they got those those answers. And so it's a it's a change in the in the way that uh kids are working. Some samples from second grade. Um students are working in math. They're having AP partners uh and solving math problems. Different different methods. One's drawing pictures. One's doing the um normal vertical method. And then they discuss if they got answers the same different what was going on um and talking about their answers. They're also uh summarizing uh the passages and then creating a final team summary together um as one uh team.
Thank you Mr. Gripple. you. Um firstly, is the length of contract determined this evening or is it is it um is it annual renewal or So the reason it says 2024 to 2028 is that's actually the agreement we're working from. So that's the union agreement. So it's, you know, his he's on an annual contract um with tenure, but uh just like, you know, our teachers other administrators are. Okay. But that's just referencing the actual So we're not agreeing to four year locked in contract. No. All right. It'd be nice. It's pretty impressive. I'm sure we'd love that, but that's not how it works. Yeah. That being said, I wholeheartedly will be supporting uh Kevin Hanland's uh uh tenure as uh principal for Cheshure High School. Um as with Tim, uh I asked uh Kevin a question near the end that I was very impressed with his answer.
Uh in third grade you can see uh the students are using the extended thinking guide in the upper right hand corner. So they're they're talking about something sharing an idea and then um based on that response from that student expanding their own thinking from that. Um and then uh students are also they're working comparing uh geometrical uh shapes and their parameters. Um so currently uh 82% of our teachers are implementing the desired effects of MOI 101 as measured by look and learn data. So that's that student teams are working together their assistance um with the assistance for the teacher and the participation is equal as students voice or student evidence is aligned to the learning targets. Our current focus is uh coaching teachers into further into 20 or 2011 where students then learn as a result of teaming where they're starting up they start that teams and they're learning as a result of teaming.
Um and that that gave me the uh uh the hope that uh that he will do very well as the next principal of Cher High School. So I very much support uh Kevin. Then we'll be voting in the affirmative. Mr. Perigini. Uh yeah, I echo Mr. Gripple. I I already support Kevin. I have had the um privilege of uh seeing Mr. Hanland in action what seven years now is it six? Feels longer, right? Um in a good way, but just through curriculum. So, so, so in a way I guess you know just uh just watching in action responding to board questions and curriculum and other and your interactions and so I we had a pretty good sense of the the professional that you are. So I I wholeheartly support this appointment as well and thank you for reconsidering the position. Yeah, I just want to offer my support as well.
Um the teachers are encouraging teams to take ownership of their own conversations and social problem solving and working towards um getting the teachers to put more owners responsibility back onto the students with readiness check world cards um and responsibilities and resources that students can use to affirm their thinking charts in the room. So, it's getting it's putting that learning back on the students because the brains that do the work do the learning and so getting the the out of the teachers mouths into the kids mouth and they're talking um so they get that uh learning happening on our look and learn data. So, as some of our result of our look and learns, we determined that um some of our implementation issues were skills that rather than real issues. We always look at are there skill problems or real problems? what's going on. And so, um, we've scheduled, uh, we've had to, uh, schedule planning.
I will be voting in favor of Kevin Hanland as the next principal at Cheshure High. Um, I really appreciated most of all your great enthusiasm in that interview and also just this idea that you really came across as having the big picture, the whole district picture in view and and what we can do at Cheshire High to further the whole district along in our goals. So, um, I will be enthusiastically firming your appointment. Thank you. I also want to add um that I also will be enthusiastically um supporting this recommendation. Um, I have to say we spent as a board maybe over an hour really um, grilling each other on the types of questions that we wanted to ask everything from, you know, finance to curriculum, etc., etc. And, um, you know, Kevin just sat there with a lot of grace, very calm, answered our questions even when we added some extra ones at the end.
Um, we've delivered, uh, uh, delivered, uh, feedback cycles with coaching with the instructional coach. The coaches, my coach implemented some daily uh, standups with teachers to have more rapid response to implementation cycles. Um, and we also developed a coaching board to be able to uh triangulate our team feedback, triangulate our team feedback as instructional team. And you'll see a graphical picture of that later. Um, our rigger walk data. That's what I, J, and Aaron does as we go through the classrooms. It took a dip in December. We had staff out. We were studying. We were sick. Um, so that dipped down. We're getting back up on up on going on that. Um, and we're planning Going forward, we're planning we're going to continue providing uh professional development for teachers, support them, refer them. Um, one of the nice new pieces of is the courses that teachers can go back and so we talk about various pieces that they can go back and learn and and watch a video clip of it and then we can have a conversation.
Um, and I think that's the kind of demeanor that I would be looking for in um, in an administrator, particularly at the high school level when we have lots of students going through lots of things, right? So, um, I wholeheartedly support this and um, congratulations. Any other Mr. Ek? Um, the thing that I took away from our interview last week, you know, the questions are the questions. But for me and my coaching background, the enthusiasm that you displayed and you're talking about your goals and your vision, what you can do at Chester High School, that's what fired me up and uh, you know, I'm excited to see what you do in this position. I'm very uh, very happy to support you. Thank you, Mr. Aki. First, thank you, Mrs. Hanlin. Okay, because we are thrilled for her input so that you reconsidered. Um, but no, I echo what my colleagues are saying up here.
They reflect on that video, what they're doing in their practice and have a conversation and keep going that way. Um, you want to continue to move them along that that continuum. So this is our site data. Uh um kindergarten we're at 45% proficiency. First grade is 38%, second grade 45, third grade 46 and uh fourth grade at 50%. Galileo we're definitely struggling. Um some of the some of it's first time computer aspect learning student you know actual computer. I don't like the trackpads. there's two figures about how to click and that kids know kids learning that piece of it. Um, and then we've also looked into those questions and and found that some of the questions are asking we're asking higher level than what we were actually teaching from the standards. And so looking at those things closer and determining that what we're going to be working on.
Um, you know, I'm grateful for the feedback that Dr. Solen gave us, especially from the staff. It was really comforting to know that you were wellreceived and the staff wants you there. Um, so congratulations. Personally, I'm pretty confident in your leadership. having, you know, the feedback from my colleagues and Tony seeing you in action as well for a while. So, I'm excited. Um, you've already had a positive impact on the district. Um, I'm looking forward to you, you know, prioritizing Cheshire High School. Um, and I did really in appreciate your comment about that. There's a lot of opportunity there to grow. Still, as successful as we are, there's still more um opportunity to grow. So, we're looking forward to working with you and and helping to support your continued success. So, I think you can probably um you know, guess what the votes will be this evening.
And so we're now working on reviewing that complexity levels for those questions and um making or finding tasks that match that complexity so that students have more opportunities to work through those problems as teams and then with their teacher for guidance. Um, we as ILT, the instructional leadership team, we're constantly looking at data and thinking about our data. And we're working on modifying some data systems to have more um midcycle and short cycle data available to make instructional decisions um quicker rather than waiting on that data from our benchmark data. Um, we don't want to ever be surprised by our benchmark data. So we're we're trying to dig in and progress dig into our progress monitoring data more to have that continuous cycle so we can hopefully see if we're doing a downward trend we're seeing it earlier and be able to uh make some changes to counteract that possible the negative trend.
Um but there is a section here for public comment. So, if you'd like to say something before we administer our vote, please do so. It's part of the job. Sorry. Yeah. First of all, thank you very much. um a little bit humbling to hear all that positive feedback. Uh and I think Dr. Solen uh describing falling in love with um kind of the environment and it's based on the investment that clearly the students, the families, the teachers, the staff, the administration has there and any opportunities to take next step are because coming into a place that um everybody is invested wholeheartedly in this building. So looking forward for the opportunity first of all thank you again for the comments really sincerely uh but looking forward the opportunity um to help in collaboration with the great people in this room and people not in this room uh to take Cheshure High School to the to the next level.
Um our teachers have been reflecting on their data, the current benchmark data. They've identified some students who uh they where they that they grew, fell, stayed the same, and then um pick some target students that we're going to work on. Um do some extra interventions and then in that three week cycle check back and see how they're doing and see how those interventions are are working. And through our CNA process, uh, we've just definitely decided we needed a better system to be become, it became more transparent that we needed a better data system because teachers saw a need to be able to speak better to their data and in a moreformed way, especially in math since we don't have a a progress monitoring like we do with dibbles for reading. So, we need something more for math. Um, and so we want to uh be able to monitor that rather than just waiting for this benchmark data.
Great. Thank you sir. All right we're going to get this right. Um all those in favor of the motion that is on the floor to appoint Mr. Hanland as principal of Cheshure High School effective April 21st, 2025. Um, please raise your hand. It is unanimous. Um, there's no abstensions or anything. Congratulations. Then photo up photo. Yes. [Applause] Kev, if you'll stick around for a quick photo, too, before we go. Say that again. You want to do it now, Jeff? Um, just so he could stick around for a minute. He probably wants to get out of here because we have PD at 7:30 tomorrow. But if we could do a quick picture, Vin. Yeah. Um, do you guys want to do it with the board or? Yeah. Okay. Come on up. We'll do a quick picture in front. Oh. Oh. Oh, it's Irish dance. Oh, yeah.
And um in reflective conversations as our our ILT and leadership teams, we've come to realize that many of our teachers have come to education throughout that are no longer teaching pedagogical things that we learned when college and they've gone through um so they have that tier one and tier two, tier three of knowledge of instruction and uh we need to help them on that journey part on that journey and through um co um there wasn't student teaching happening there right after co co we couldn't get kids into student teachers into classrooms and so some of our teachers are missing that and we've noticed that piece and are starting to try to plug those holes some cohort data um this is kindergarten um beginning of the year and mid of the year you can see um looking at our teachers digging into the data looking at it you know what obviously when your data doesn't go the way you want teachers start they take they they take that to heart and we're looking at it um and they're looking at the questions and and so uh for example this this kindergarten group um they looked at one of the standard is um the counting and cardality standards and really they're they count to 100 orally but they're only expected to write numbers to to 20 and from these questions had like 39 starting and so they realized that The testing is at a higher level than they the standard asked for that they were teaching.