Wyomissing Area School Board: November 17, 2025

001I will call the school director of business meeting to order. Um, is there anyone recording? >> Um, we'll go with roll caller. >> Mrs. Senza >> here. >> Mr. Hershey here. >> Mrs. >> here. >> Mrs. Phillips Miss Rodriguez >> here. >> Mr. Shippers >> here. Mrs. Taylor >> here. >> Mrs. Torres >> here. >> Mrs. Dinsky >> here. >> Eight members. The join me 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. >> I just want to welcome um visitors um to the meeting tonight. I am filling in for Mrs. Taylor, so bear with me. Um she is actually on Zoom this evening. So um we do have some upcoming meeting dates. We have our

002schoolboard reorganization meeting on December 2nd at 6:00 and that'll be in this room. And then the following night, December 3rd, we have a curriculum workshop which will all will be at 5:00 p.m. in this room. Um, tonight we have Ellie Divine with us as our um student representative. And so I'm going to turn it over to Ellie and give us our student report. >> Okay. So um Leah wasn't able to make it. She wasn't feeling well. But >> so November it's always a little bit slower than October with homecoming and everything. So to start off, the drama club alumni fall thing was um or is this Saturday um and it's under the guidance of YSN graduates Heather Troxel, Megan um Flenigan Falloon and Liz Tuo and over 40 current and former members of the Wild

003Drama family will gather to celebrate the recent history of the program. Tickets will be available at the door for $10 or could be purchased online on the Yodrama website. And um student council also began a new initiative last week. Each month, a member of the student council will meet with the home room during the home room time and ask for their thoughts, concerns, or suggestions for the building itself. and um we'll we're going to try and find common themes and meet with the building administration to address all the info we find. And then on to athletics. Girls tennis enjoyed a fabulous season. Last month, the ladies enjoyed early success in the state tournament and they um finished in the state quarterfinals, losing a tight match against Quaker Valley. Girls water polo qualified for the state

004tournament um this weekend. And um after districts for cross country, senior Jace Carwell and freshman Vivian Cohen um both are in student council were invited to the state race. Um congratulations to them on a fantastic season. And then um golf finished with a six and seven record. The team included three varsity senior starters, eight county qualifiers, and two district qualifiers. Well done to golf. And then our field hockey team wrapped up their season 16 and4 last month in a heartbreaking loss to our rival Burks Catholic in the county tournament. And um mini thong a coffee truck will come on the last day before break during our everyone's ELA classes but for grades 9 through 12. And um all the proceeds will go to Miniathon. I think it's like for every um for every coffee coffee

005it's like a dollar to Mini Thon. So, and then um Minthon will also hold its annual kickoff assembly this Friday for grades 9 through 12. And following on that, winter sports began Friday with practices preparing for the season. And another training, this goes into academics. Hope Squad and Peer Mediation had their first training sessions of the year. And I'm actually part of HubSpot and we plan planned like a little a breakfast with like kind of icebreaker games that we all kind of did and then we got into we have like a full day training for HubSpot and then um also model UN's their first training they've had a a meeting a get together meeting but their first real training will be this Thursday and then um last month Mr. Chris's 12th grade academic stats class

006went over to Wet to gather data with um Mrs. Wojo's fourth grade class and Mrs. Florentino's second grade class. The students gathered in trios um one student from Mr. Crick's class each to clean out and carve pumpkins and the number of seeds, weights, circumferences, and more were measured and gathered into data sets. The insights were then delivered to Mrs. Mitchell to bake into muffins and the seeds went to um Mrs. Koopisk's sorry to be grown with her students at Wreck and also um a group of the STEM students over a little bit before Halloween. They went over to um West Shredding and we helped them build um aquaponics for the um I think it was just the fifth graders or the sixth graders, but um we like had them switch out groups and we were

007like showing them the different steps. They were able to look up the different plants and yeah, it was lots of fun. But that's what we have so far. >> Great. Thank you. Thanks for doing double duty. Appreciate that. Sorry to have a lot of thought. >> No, no, that was great. Do we have any questions for Ellie? >> Great job. >> Excellent job. And you're welcome to say you're welcome to go. So, [laughter] >> and also um if you guys have anything you would like us cuz as we're going to the different home rooms, if you guys have anything you want us to ask, maybe >> that would be >> you could let Mr. or I know. >> We could maybe circle up and then let Dr. know. Yeah. Cuz I would love to hear

008the feedback just on certain things. That would be great. Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Have a good night. >> You too. >> Okay. So, we are moving on to our presentation from W. So, >> I'd like to start talking. Thank you everyone for inviting us here tonight. Um, I do before we start, I do want to u apologize. Um, I know you're going to be listening and talking to us and not our fourth grade students. Um, I know that was a big hit last year and it was a great opportunity for them, but we're just forming those groups. Um, so they weren't ready for tonight, but I do promise that if we are invited back in the spring, um, we will bring them along to kind of update you

009on all of the happenings um, of the school year. So tonight um what we want to do is kind of highlight um how at WAC we really wanted to focus on providing our students with some meaningful opportunities to explore leadership um to grow as individuals um by discovering and learning new things and creating a positive impact um by giving back to the community. some of those examples um that we have planned for this year or already have started our one of the examples is we already had our first club day um that's that was a kind of a huge hit um so it was at the end of October where students were able to pick from different clubs or activities that interest them and then during the day we shut down classes for about a

010hour and a half and and kids went to the clubs where they they worked together and they they collaborated they created they had fun they learned um K to four were all mixed together um they were led by some teachers Um, Mrs. Kurskowski did a great job of leading that. It was definitely not a small task. We had a lot of help from volunteers. Um, the PTA came out and helped out as well. And it was just a really cool event to see where at the end the fourth graders were walking kindergarten students back to class. Um, staff and students really love it. Um, we have that event coming up again in March. So, if anyone's interested in coming out to see that, please let me know. I can give you the time and date.

011Um, and if you're brave and actually want to take part in a club or actually run a club, I could probably make that happen, too. Um, another event that we are doing in the spring is remake learning day. It's something that we have done every single year since I've been there and kind of evolved over the years. It's an event that we do during the day for the students and then we invite our families and community back at night for an evening event. Um, this year we're really focusing on service. Um, we're looking at trying to coordinate with some of our community partners at each grade level. We'll complete a service or project so that they can create something and then in return give it back to the community to make that positive impact. We

012also have our climate committee that meets every month and kind of every month we try to give something to to charity um or to a cause such as um with mini time when when that is going on. We do PJs for pediatric cancer. We donate to the animal shelters, canned goods. Um but we also want to give that opportunity for students to learn the importance of giving back and that positive impact. And of course the last one and and what we're here to talk about today is our student council. It's that last five, fourth grade opportunity to have that formal leadership role where they come together and plan activities and really become true representatives of their peers. Mrs. Smson has been spearheading that now for the last two years. >> This is year three. >>

013This will be year three coming in there. So, she kind of is here to kind of update you on kind of what we did last year and how that group came to an end with a kind of a culminating project, kind of the changes we've made over the course of the summer into this year and some of the fun opportunities that we have for our group this year. So, I'll turn over to Spenc. >> Thank you. Um, so like Dr. Roby said, my name is Mrs. Smson. I'm the third and fourth grade school counselor and this is our third year. And it's been neat to see the way student council has evolved. Um, from what I understand, it did exist pre-COVID. Um, and then when I started, we kind of got the ground up running

014um, with Dr. AK support. So, just looking back at what we did last year, if you remember, they some of them did come and present. We did not put the water park in like some of their ideas were. U, but they did kind of have long-term goals and short-term goals. Those short-term goals were assisting um with thank you cards to businesses that helped support our assemblies. It was announcements for um Ramax kindness week. Just little things that they could get involved with involved in. But then there was this overarching long-term goal. So group one surveyed students and staff members using suggestion boxes. So they spent a long time creating them for each grade level, introducing it, doing presentations in all 30 classrooms. Um and then they started checking them. So group two then kind of

015started going through them and the mountains were very very large and seeing themes a lot of it having to do with recess improvements or lunch improvements or those water parks things like that. Um so we kind of went through okay what is realistic what is something that benefits the whole school not just themselves or one grade level. Um and so the main themes were that breakfast lunch options as well as recess improvements. So then we transitioned into group three and their job was to take action on these main improvements. Um so the first action step they took was they actually met with Mr. Boyer and Mrs. Holt and talked with them about the lunch and breakfast suggestions and questions that students had. Um so that was really insightful. Things like they would like strawberry milk,

016more confidence, uh Chick-fil-A pizza, some different options there. looking at what does it take when someone has allergies? Can they just purchase lunch or what does that look like? So, they also have to understand the process behind it. Um, some students advocating for kosher meals, things like that. Um, so it was really just amazing to watch and listen to their meeting and just being a spectator on that. Um, you go to the next slide, Dr. Little of our meeting there. We uh totally packed that conference room with all of those students. >> Mr. Yeah, Mr. Boyer's all the way in the back there. And so that was a really good experience um for those students and they walked away I think going okay we felt our voices were heard but also this is really cool

017and um so hopefully we left it in their hands. So that was kind of the action step check. Um then you can go to the next slide which is where they started making a change. So the recess improvements um so using like a sky view there in that picture we have two black tops in the back of the recess area and a lot of that is kind of wasted space and the students recognized that and said it's a little boring where yeah we're playing on the equipment but sometimes we just walk around we don't know what to do what can we use that space for um so they got to work and we met with another staff member Mr. Captain Sally and he had some really great questions for them and said, "Let's talk about

018it. What changes can we make?" We also talked about some considerations that maybe if we have a lot of equipment, we also have to make sure it gets cleaned up and taking responsibility. And so we really were kind of brainstorming. Um so if you go to the next slide, this the last few days of school, right before they said goodbye to their building and headed on to fifth grade, they came up with this plan. um they spent their last few lunches instead of with friends in the conference room coming up with this plan. Um so the first image there is they wanted to create some kind of um chess checkerboard but also a sensory pathway. And you'll see a lot of these things integrate not only play and fun but academic standards because they surveyed

019all their teachers and went how can we use these outdoor spaces for academics as well as fun and learning and recess. Um, so they created sensory pathways. They came up with four square. They came up with circles that could be used for art or I can put 1 + 1 equals 2 and do math equations in these circles. I could use that circle and create a clock. Down on the lower level, we could have a hundreds chart. It can be used for all different things, not just a hundred's chart. A kickball area where the bases are shapes and the pathways to each of those bases are colors. the alphabet, numbering, things like that. So again, it has multi-uses. Um, and then they noticed that the one basketball court that was on the upper end, it

020may have not been the best place. So we thought about moving and utilizing that in the lower box. So they spent a lot of time and work in a short amount of time before they left us to go to fifth grade. And so that brings us to what happens now. Um, so you can go to the next slide. So looking ahead at this year's student council, um we still did have student applications like we've done in the past. We had many many that a committee read through and it was just too hard to really judge just what they wrote on paper. So by the suggestion of Dr. we started to interview them and was that fun. So we interviewed anybody that applied. We had three questions and a bonus question. We really scared them on

021the bonus question. Dr. They said this question you're going to get no matter what interview you go on. The kids are like white. They got do you have any questions for us? They were so relieved that that was that big last question. Um but they had a chance to not only show us what they why they wanted to be on this committee and this team, but also verbally share their ideas and have them work through that as well. Um so about 5 10 minutes um we interviewed all the students and then we took the top 30 um and split them into two groups. So the first group meets this Wednesday after school which is also new this year. So that's going to be an afterchool club. Um and then what they will do is meet

022the first half of the year and then they will transition to doing things during the school day more like passive independent tasks while the other half meets in person the second half of the year. So if you go on to our next slide just what our first meeting is going to look like. We're going to talk about their goals. This is a new student council. what is their short-term goals, their long-term goals, what ideas they have. Um the short-term goal that we will be starting with is our giving tree that we do every year. We typically were doing um a food drive for helping harvest. This year we're doing a food drive for our Spartan station. Um and so I have Dr. Lango coming and talking to the students at the meeting on Wednesday and

023explaining what this resource is and also their involvement and how we can do to support that. So they'll work on creating the boxes, emptying the boxes, monitoring that, spreading the word out, um as well as then trying to finish that recess project that last year student council um kind of spearheaded. So that is what we're looking at. I think that might be the last slide, Dr. Warner. >> Yes. And that is all of them from last year. It's very hard to get them all in one picture, [laughter] but just thank you for your support. Um it's been really really fun watching this leadership. They're so excited. They keep saying November 19th. You never mind November 19th. I'm like, "What's November 19th?" They're like, "The me?" I'm like, "Oh, that's right. You know your calendar better

024than I do." They're so excited and proud to wear that student council badge. Um, and I'm so excited to see what this year's group does. Thank you. >> Any questions for Dr. Redky or Mrs. Stanota? This is absolutely fantastic. get so exciting to see kids like at that age already, you know, talking through those decisions and making, you know, meeting goals and making measurable outcomes that they can they can reach. So, thank you for >> another thing we're looking at doing is is with the project, looking at kind of finding parallels with the with the junior senior high school. I reached out to Mrs. Watt to see if any of the art students can come and help with this project. Um and then also just listening to um her talk about student council, finding ways

025to maybe coordinate student council coming down with with our student council to see how that kind of moves up into the high school area too. So there is also opportunities that that we will find out throughout the year that just naturally come into place um that we kind of will run with as well. >> Yeah, it sounds like it's working well having junior senior high kids go down to the elementary and working with the pumpkin thing. It just sounds like that's definitely working really well. So, >> is there anything that we or Mr. Capelli can do to help some of that project come to fruition or is it Mr. Capelli already on that? >> He is. He's we're working through it. Just the the the month the winter months right now and stuff like that.

026So, we're looking at a good time to be able to start working with that, but we also want to coordinate some of the junior junior high school, what they can do, what they cannot do, and then kind of backfill what we we need to do as a group. >> I just want to say thank you very much again. It's really exciting to see and to teach students to give back to their very local community as well as the broader community. I think you're doing a nice job balancing that. So, I appreciate that. And I was also going to highlight um just the collaboration and the crossgrade level crosscontent work that has been done between some of our high school students and staff and some of our elementary teachers and students. Um it's been some of

027the more the most exciting um you know for everyone involved. Um mentioned I I spoke with a a high school teacher um who was part of the second connection. So that was family and consumer science with uh second grade science talking about recipes and they were doing some things with ingredients and um a couple students who typically don't come to school on certain days of the week were present. Um our high schoolers that day. They said they weren't going to miss that opportunity. And um it just shows how motivating school can be um and just those connections can be. And when some students who typically aren't the born leaders um have opportunities to showcase their leadership and their collaboration and connection with other students, it really makes a big deal. It means a big deal.

028It makes a big difference. and um that's just neat to watch. So, thank you and kudos to our staff for for making that happen. >> Thank you so much. Thanks for coming tonight. >> Time out of your schedule. We appreciate it. >> Okay. Um moving on to um liaison reports um county intermediate unit. Mr. Hershey. >> Yes. Well, we have not actually had a meeting since my last report. Our meeting is this coming Thursday, but I did have the opportunity to visit uh and observe the invention convention which was this last Tuesday. Uh and I didn't really know what to expect, but I knew there were some Y missing kids, including one that lives in my house, uh who were taking part in it. So, I was like, I'm on the board. Might as well

029see if I can go. I asked Dr. Richards if they would love to have me. And when I got there, they were divided into elementary room. There was a junior high room and a senior high room. And I [clears throat] went into the junior high room. It was like all white missing kid. It was like half white missing kids. So shout out to Mrs. Show for having a great representation. Um it was really fun to walk around to see all the different inventions. Dr. Lisky's group that was here about a month ago was also there in the high school room. Uh so I walked around all three of the rooms, got to talk to some of the kids, hear their presentations, not just the Y missing kids, but um kids from other schools. It was

030also neat to see uh like some of the kids I think from exit who had a similar project who were in senior high had a similar project. One of our junior high kids. It was interesting to see um some of the interactions between the kids. Uh so I observed that I went home and then later in the day I and I miss a joke joke that with half of the kids in junior high somebody from Y missing had to win. And I was delighted to learn that one of the Y missing kids did win um first place and it was Eli's group. So that was pretty cool parent moment too. Um so they get to go to states in February. It's um Lucas Ty, Jacob Paris, Reese Spangler, and Eli Hershey. And I said that

031it might be nice if they came to the board meeting and practiced their presentation maybe in January. They said that it kind of fell apart in the bus mills. They have to go back to work on it. >> Um [laughter] but it was really neat to just see the whole group and to have some Y missing representation at states in Hershey in February. I didn't know there was a space for the invention convention, but apparently there is. So, it was just really neat experience to be able to see that both as obviously as a parent, but also as a board member, see what's going on there. So, >> what was their project or convention? >> Uh, it was some kind of like composting device where it kind of as it composts, the composted stuff trickles

032down, so there's like different levels. I honestly had no idea what it was till I got there. [laughter] >> Well, they're going to rebuild it. for all the YC kids. I mean, they as I was walking around, a lot of them knew me, but it was really cool. They just shared their presentation. It was they did a really good job. Like all the kids really good job. Really cool. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> And congrats. Very exciting. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Hershey. Um, Mrs. Torres, I know you did your BCTC report at our committee meeting. I don't know if you have anything yet. Um, I don't think there's there's not a meeting in November, but December 3rd organization. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, let's see. the Burks EIT report. >> No report.

033Next meeting is December. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Uh Mrs. Sabinsky um for WA. Thank you. Waif met today at noon and it was a somewhat short meeting. The plans for the blue and white party are underway. That's this is a busy time of year for planning for that event. The annual report um is at the printer and should be getting mailed out shortly in the coming weeks and it will be followed by the annual appeal. Um donations to wave have been coming in and are good and on track. I didn't make note of this but I had mentioned it before. The New York trip, the bus trip, um I think it's the Saturday after Thanksgiving still has some spaces available if anyone wants to get on that. Um they talked a little bit about

034senior day which does have some application to us that discussion because there's a student committee that raises the funds or some of the funds to support that day the food and I think there's a ice cream truck or a Kona ice truck or something like that. And so they're trying to have the students raise some of that money. PTA is going to again donate a portion of that money. They did that last year I think for the first time. And then there's another little portion that they're they were thinking about coming to ask the school to provide heads up on that one. And um what else? The next meeting is Monday, December 15th at 6:30. And that's it. Thank you, Mrs. Great. Uh Mr. Hershey, back to you for legislative report. >> I don't have

035anything to report. I mean, I think Everybody's aware that there is a state budget and the federal shutdown has ended, but that's >> great. Thank you. Um, and Mrs. Phillips is not here, but she did send me her PTA report. Um, so I'm going to read that. Um, they did not PTA did not have a meeting in November. Um, but they did host um a very successful career day on November 6th and I think Dr. Ward had mentioned that. Um they will be hosting the annual holiday shop on Saturday, December 13th. Um and the next PTA meeting is December 3rd at 9:30 a.m. at the Hills Building. That's the report from the PTA. Um moving on to public comment. Um I will read the public [clears throat] comment information. Uh public comment will be welcomed

036during this time in the meeting as indicated on the agenda pursuant to section 710.1 of the Sunshine Act. Members of the public wishing to speak during public comment will be asked to state their full name and address as stated in schoolboard policy 9003. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. No participant may address or question individual board members, district employees, students, or community members. The public comment agenda item is not a time for dialogue with the board. Although the board president may respond or request another board member or administrator to respond, generally the board will simply listen to comments and thereafter determine when and how to address such comments as deemed appropriate. Participants are permitted three minutes to address the board. That being said, is there any public comment for tonight? We want

037to routine approvals then. Okay. So, routine approvals. It is recommended that the board of school directors approve the following. The October 27th, 2025 school board meeting minutes and the payment of bills for the month of October 2025 as listed in the financial packet. And this will be by voice vote. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. Great. Okay, we are moving on to the superintendent report. So, I will turn it over to Dr. Ward. >> Well, good evening everyone. Uh before we get into the grading uh practices update, I just wanted to um mention a couple of items. You may have seen on social media over the weekend. Uh one of our posts, the Y missing area students participated in the

038Special Olympics Pennsylvania Youth Leadership Summit at Ktown University. Uh Austin Lecher and Nicholas Reese proudly presented in front of the whole group sharing how Hawaiian Missing Area fosters inclusion through the Best Buddies program and the club and also unified activities. Students collaborated with peers from other schools building leadership skills and brainstorming ways to enhance the unified best buddies club and the botchi ball team. We're proud of our students for representing Y missing area and promoting inclusion in our school and our community. So that was exciting to see. Um and um in addition to that, we've brought a new program to the district called WO Wishes. This is very similar to the Salvation Army's Angel Tree uh where you take a tag and you can shop for a child, a family or an elderly person in

039need. The difference being that why wishes um is for the benefit of our very own why missing area school district students. So we've allowed families to self-identify that they could use a little extra help this holiday season and submit wishes on behalf of their children. Each family was able to submit three wishes and was asked to keep each one under $50. We also collected student shirt and pant sizes. When families pick up their gifts on December 16th at West Reading Elementary Center, we'll also have food and other necessities from our Spartan Station available to meet the additional needs of our community. So, if your family can give um a little bit this holiday season, we welcome your participation in our Wild Wishes program. We will have a limited number of ornament tags to give to

040our community members who would like to shop for a student that will be given out on a first come first serve basis. If you don't want to shop but would like to donate, we would welcome that to help us supplement what our staff purchases and to buy wrapping paper and supplies for families. Checks can be made out to WD and given to Dr. Langel at the district office. If you have any questions about the program or would like to request a tag, please reach out to dr langle um j langel yo area.org. So mentioning that to our greater community as well. Um we certainly thank you for your help in supporting our y missing area school district community. We are stronger together. We're excited to be able to to offer this. Um, we have had

041requests for about 100 students through 75 families. So, this is our first year. So, it's been a tremendous um first year so far. So, we're excited to be able to gather um those holiday supplies and and gifts for for families um right here in our own community. So, in addition, um this is another way that we're getting the word out about our Spartan station, which I think is important, too. Um just because, you know, again, through word of mouth, we're expecting it to grow. Um and we did just get an extra-large delivery about a week ago or so. So, we are you know, we are servicing and and supplying some some goods for um our local families as well. Okay. So, um, I want to say congratulations to all of our fall student athletes and

042also good luck as the winter sports season has now just begun. So, it's amazing that we're that far into the school year already. Um, and uh that that's exciting. So, and again, congratulations to all of our students who participated in the invention convention. It was neat to see us represented so well. Um, you know, at the county level, believe it or not, there's a state level. There's even a national level to invention convention. So um see how those creative minds work. Um good luck to them. Uh so I wanted to share those bits of information um before we actually get started into our rating um practices uh presentation and Dr. Hal um is here to help me. Uh so let me steal the screen mirror ring again. So momentarily there all righty. So obviously we've

043been talking quite a bit about grading practices and um we promised a couple of weeks ago that we would come with more data uh as the first quarter has officially closed. Um we are believe it or not a couple weeks into second quarter already. Um so we were able to gather some additional hard data and also some survey data as well. So wanted to bring this to you know to the community's attention as well. Um so this evening we're going to share just a little bit of background again um some stakeholder input some of the teacher feedback that I shared before um that I've received as well as Dr. Dr. House received um some information from student surveys and parent surveys as well as examples from grade books um and historical quarter one data and

044compare it to um current quarter one data as well. Okay. So with the background um yeah did I say I was starting [laughter] I forget which which slides I'm doing. Um this part this is the comp plan. >> Okay. So the comp plan here um we wanted to make sure to go back um to kind of the what what initiated this and this was the work through some of the comprehensive plan development that we completed last year um in preparation for the submission and the approval in March of 2025. So, it's a three-year plan and there is a measurable goal statement in the comp plan that says that we will develop and implement a uniform grading practice that's adopted by all teachers. The practice will ensure consistency in grading practices, aligning assessments with learning standards,

045and providing clear and equitable measures of student progress. We're going to be monitoring the um effectiveness through quarterly teacher feedback and student performance data. So this does have the connection to the comprehensive plan uh that was board approved last February March um and submitted to Pennsylvania Department of Education. So just kind of that's part of the background of all of this as well. So this work started about uh 2023 here um and it culminated at the end of last year. So, um I can speak to what we did last year. Um and it was 24 members of the faculty um that it was open to anybody. So, anybody that wanted could be on the grading committee. Um all of our um departments were represented as well as all four of our guidance counselors at the

046time were also on the grading committee. And so, I know we've talked about this before. So, just kind of a just an overview again of what we did. So, we reviewed our current, well, not current this year, but at the time, current grade books. Um, and we looked through what our homework practices were. Um, you know, did we grade homework? Did we not grade homework? Was it graded on, you know, completion? Was it graded for whether, you know, it was correct or not? Um, we looked at how frequently we're adding grades into our grade books. Um, you know, did we wait did we wait through a point system? Did we wait through a percentage um categories? um and do we have any common category needs? And so this was really all over the place. Um

047I know right now there's a lot of concerns about consistency. Um but given where we were last year at this point, um there was zero consistency um across the board on any of these things. Uh from there we moved to uh into research. Um we talked about that a little bit before too. We also looked at what are other schools doing um not just schools local to us but schools across the state you know what what is what is going what is current you know where are schools moving in terms of their grading practices and we completed a notice and wonders activity um with the teachers of the committee from that point uh we went to identifying what best practices um in all of these things that we were looking at um what did we

048feel um were best practices that we could turn into our guidelines, our practices and guidelines. And so those are some of the things um that we worked on from that point forward, gaining some consistency with these thoughts. Um and then we would take what we were doing back to departments and talk about it there and then come back together again and kind of see where we were. Um and that was sort of how the whole process uh worked over the last it was two years. It was actually the year before I came on and then um finished up last last year then as well. And then um when we came back in August, we had some staff development in August. Um we did some schooly training so that we could sync our gradebooks between schooly

049and powers school. Uh we had faculty meetings. We dedicated a day in October, our inservice day in October to more discussions and trainings on the topic. um communication to students went out through um individual classes and um the grade level meetings, communication to parents uh was the back to school night and then we recently released the FAQ at par uh parent square and um recently well teacher feedback has kind of been ongoing as we've been going through the process and then just last week we sent out the parent and student survey. So this is an example um kind of as we go into some of the stuff of what we're saying when we talk about our grading practices really wanting grades to reflect learning. So this is one example and I credit this to Dr.

050Jones because he has amazing records over the years. He could probably pull this from you know 2015 and have all of these things uh for us. So um you know giving all the credit to him um this is something that we looked at and this is just a math course and this um to be honest this was across the board. It's not just math. Um he has records like this from every from every you know um different department ac across courses. So what we're looking at here is an example of a math course and the 21 kids and their grades in the math course um quarter one grades and quarter two grades. um the two that are highlighted, they went into the semester break with um larger higher than 100%. That's what that plus stands

051for. So um both of those kids, student number four and student number eight, had over 100% in their math class. Um going into that we know is midterms. And so um the next part here will show you what their midterm exam scores were. So when we talk about grades reflecting learning, um this is sort of what we're talking about. um looking at how students then performed on the midterm exam um versus what their grades were reflecting um ahead of time. And um again, this is this is something that we were noticing across the board that our grades were um not a clear indicator of what students know in the classroom. So um again stakeholder input um back I think last February as part of the committee the teacher committee was asked um and faculty members

052were asked to review their grade books and provide input as to how a 7030 framework would look. So 70% um you know sumitative or or demonstrating knowledge compared to 30% building knowledge or more formative in nature. Um so they reviewed their grade books and these were comments that were provided to um the junior senior high administration at the time. Uh most of us feel we're around these percentages when it comes to our grading policies. Most teachers feel like their current gradebook fits within the 7030 table. Um, most of us feel like a 7030 split works well for academic courses, though many believe an 8020 split would be more appropriate for honors and AP classes. Um, it seem when you look at demonstrating versus building knowledge activities, it seems like the majority of our grades are

053in the demonstrating knowledge category. And then, um, we've also observed a wide range in how homework is treated. some grade books assign it significant weight like 50% uh of the quarter grade while others don't grade it at all. So again the committee themselves you know when asked kind of really saw different things across the board. Um so that those were comments and that I did not that we did not share earlier. Um but this wasn't specific to just gathering thoughts and that gradebook review last year. this year. Um I know I shared these in in a previous statement. Um just getting teacher input. Um currently um several teachers responded kind of in general that they've not noticed significant differences that they always had used a weighted system for grading in the past. Um another commented

054that they feel the grades are reflective of student understanding of content. Um, if you recall, uh, I found this approach when paired with retake opportunities and, uh, competency based grading structure creates a much clearer picture of student learning. They really grades really do reflect more of what students know and can do relative to learning expectations rather than that blend of understanding, effort, and compliance. And then the last one, there certainly were faculty members who shared concerns related to that bell schedule. um you know because that end of the day opportunity to seek help and support from teachers, the ability to um engage in retakes or test corrections was more limited. Um so that did come up with the teacher input as well. Some some students have had to come to a particular teacher's classroom multiple

055days in a row so that they could finish an assignment and that's kind of disjointed especially if there's another place they want to go to to get support. So again, concerns that were brought up that we're like, okay, how do we address these moving forward? Um, so some positives and some challenges to to um hopefully resolve soon. Um, so as far as student survey participation, so again, this was we we intentionally waited to administer the survey until the students received the report cards. wanted to make sure they saw the grades on, you know, that they actually received. Um, shouldn't be new because they can access Schooly and Power School daily, but we wanted to make sure we were, you know, just make all in the same level playing field. Here's your report card. You feel

056free to take a survey. So, you'll see that we only had 21% of the student population who responded. The large bulk of those respondents were sophomores, juniors, and seniors. probably again I could infer that um grades mean more to them at the high school level 10th grade 11th grade and 12th grade than to seventh eighth and nth grade or seventh and eighth where you know GPA really hasn't been factored in too much class rank those things at that middle level ninth it's still early on they're just getting acclimated to that situation so again keep in mind 21% um most heavily represented by seniors um and upper classmen Um when they were asked just a few questions, we tried to keep it fairly simple. Uh when the current grading practices were first introduced, how would you

057describe your level of stress or worry? Um as you can see, extremely stressed or worried um was nearly 45%. Followed closely by quite stressed or worried at 28.7%. So, you know, almost about 75% of the students are saying this really had me, you know, concerned and worked up and it was something different early on. I was curious to see if they'd report after they got their grades would that change? Um, before we find that out, um, we asked specifically of these items on the left, what contributed most to your level of stress or worry? you know, was it not understanding the grading system or how could it affect my my GPA or um this is just different from how I was graded before? Um expectations by peers or parents. So, as you can see, um

058differences from how I was graded before and worry about how grades would affect my GPA and college applications in that process seem to be more popular choices. They could check more than one. All right. Um that said, some of them may perceive that their calculations of grades was vastly different, but many of the teachers reported they were following similar grading practices as before because they had already weighed um that might not have been known to students per se. So, you know, that's kind of perceptions. Um but it obviously impacted them based on the results of the student survey there. Um, so here's the question I was curious about. After completing the first quarter, how would you describe your comfort level with the grading practices? Now, we're about half and half still 51%, you know, are

059saying they're not at all comfortable. They're they're they're, you know, nervous and worried. Um, I will say that I did go visit lunch um and and talk to some students. And I didn't ask for names. I just literally went up to a table, found a seat, and started asking kids um to to engage in conversation with me. Um and I went to all sorts of students, ninth, mostly 9th grade, 10th grade, and 11th grade. I I was at the hills. I was a little late for seventh and eighth grade lunch. So, I missed talking to the middle schoolers, um to be honest. But, um again, based on the survey results, they weren't as concerned at the moment. Uh so, I wanted to make sure that I hit some some high school lunches. Um, and it

060just so happened as I, you know, would sit at a table and I I sat with some girls, I sat with some boys, I sat with some mixed, you know, um, gender tables, I sat with, you know, kids who go to BCTC, I sat with kids who are in APs. I just tried to go just move over um, and and asked for their um, their thoughts and feelings about the grading practices. And interestingly, you know, I see this and it looks like a lot of their thoughts didn't really change from the beginning of the school year. And I wanted to flush that out a little bit more, too. Um, so student focused discussions, one word to describe your first reaction to the new grading practices. Those are the words I I heard. Uncertain, confused, nervous,

061surprised, angry, didn't care. U you know, so across the board. But that's all right. This is this is why you talk to kids. And um so what part of the grading practices made you feel most unsure or stressed? And here's where they started talking. Um some felt like the tests are disproportionate or demonstrating knowledge is worth too much. And we talked about demonstrating knowledge. And and I said, you know, are we talking that those are just tests? No, they're not just tests, but I still feel that weight of of that. Um you know, they're making the connection of tests being a lot of the demonstrating knowledge. Um, one student said, "You can do well without doing much for the building knowledge because it's not worth as much." Um, which I thought was an interesting take

062on it. Um, one student said, "First day, no one knew what to expect or how it would play out." Um, and you know, wondering how it would look in some classes. So, they're feeling, you know, they they shared that they were feeling uncertain really. they backed up that uncertain and confused um kind of piece with some of those those responses. How well do you understand the grading practices now? I'm less confused, slightly better. I understand much better. So, it kind of, you know, varies a little bit. Um and I just trended them. I, you know, I asked more than three kids, but these are just some of kind of what I heard. How do your grades compare with last year last year's quarter one grades? because this is what I think people were nervous and

063and worried and and angry and that their grades were going to really falter, that they were really going to decline. Um, no noticeable differences, did about the same. One kiddo says I exceeded my usual performance. And I said, well, that's interesting. Um, and then one said I did a little worse. Um, one kiddo said to me, last year at this time I had mostly A's and a couple B's. this quarter I had mostly B's and a couple A's. She said, "But I I still do pretty well and my classes are a little harder, so maybe it's just whatever." So, but that was pretty good way of looking at it. Um, but then I I you know, what is one thing the school could do to make the grading practices clearer or less stressful for students?

064So, again, out of the mouths of babes, but some teachers should make building knowledge assignments more points. So they want to see those worth a little bit more um more opportunities for demonstrating knowledge and that is one thing we have seen that in classes where there are limited opportunities for demonstrating knowledge typically the grades are lower. So the more opportunities you give for students to show what they know normally the grades do improve. Um so they want opportunities to show what they know. Um, and this one I thought I heard over and over and over again. More universal test corrections plan. Not always stated quite like that, but many of them said, you know, one teacher gives a quarter point for test corrections, one gives me the full point, one gives averages this, like that,

065you know, and so they're like, it would be nice if we had more consistency with test corrections. So thought that was again very helpful and and so >> is the policy that every test needs to have an opportunity for retake. >> So help me with that >> every end of unit as long as it's not an essay something that has been throughout the course of the quarter um like a long project that ended that you've had feedback on checkpoints throughout the year. Um the other exception is um AP courses. So AP courses, projects um long-term projects and essays are the the things that are the exception. >> So they don't have mandatory retakes for AP courses. >> That is up to the teacher discretion. >> Okay. >> Is it an actual retake or is it

066just the opportunity to >> it's the opportunity to improve the opportunity to improve. So um again and a little bit on this why that is inconsistent is because this was an overhaul for us mostly to um look into all of these things. So this was supposed to be sort of a phase roll out so we're not doing everything new all at once. um let's start with the waiting and make sure we're providing those opportunities to improve grades and then as we go through this year continue the discussions uh work together as a staff see what works well what doesn't work well and how we can improve the consistency then on the retake or retest policy practice. Um so that's sort of what our rollout plan was is to continue these conversations as we go. Um,

067so that's a little bit of why there's still some inconsistencies in that. Um, because we don't know what the best method is in that yet until we really come together and talk about that. But, um, it took us two years to get to the point where we are now. Um, trying to throw all that in and make sure everybody's on the same page with everything all at once is a little overwhelming. So, um, that's the reason that, um, the universal plan has not been in place yet. >> Are the retakes work the same? So, are they all onetoone or our teachers grading differently? >> That's what we're that's what we're talking about. So, each teacher has a different way of doing it. Some teachers prefer um to to have a completely different test and they

068they retake the whole test. Some teachers section it and kids can choose, well, I did well on this part, but not well in this part, so I'm just going to retake this. Um some teachers just allow test corrections and you get some points back. So, there's um a lot of different methods of getting those points back, which is why we worded it an opportunity to improve your score. Um not necessarily a retake or um a retest at that point for corrections. So, that's why there is inconsistency in that piece. >> So, are you saying that it it might still be developed that AP classes also have the requirements >> that our plan was to look at all of that this year as >> that's not that's not that that could still happen. that's not off

069the table at this point if we do look towards um you know coming up with that universal sort of outlook on um but again that's us getting back together and meeting again and so our next inservice day is January so we have some time um until we would be able to come back together and look into things like that >> so I think that's where some of the stress that I'm hearing from some of the kids is the inconsistency with the retakes and the um test corrections Whereas one teacher is doing it one way so that kid is like, "Okay, great. I know I'm going to do better and then another teacher is doing it, like you said, is only doing so many points and then the kid's going in there and they're kind of

070like, well, why am I even going to do this if I'm only going to get a quarter of a point up?" Like, you know, and that's that's where I'm hearing a lot of stress coming back from the kids. >> No, no doubt. I heard that today. You know, a couple classes, you know, if I only get a quarter point and it's a larger point assessment, it's not going to make that much of a difference if I >> But I do really appreciate that you took the time >> to go and talk to a lot of these kids at lunch. Um, but I will say I did have some kids come to me and say, "I did notice a difference this quarter and I did not do as well." So, >> well, we do have some

071some grades, some concrete data for you, too, because I I think that's important to see, you know, um >> they didn't do terribly bad. They they were those A's that went down to BB's. >> There may have been. And like I said, that that girl I thought was spot on with with her, you know, she was kind of an AB kiddo, was like more A's and now she's a little bit more B's. Um so, you know, we'll continue to take a look at it. I I share I want to share the parent survey, too. And so, again, we asked pretty brief questions. how well you understand um the new grading practices. So you can see um we had about a third of the parents say very well like I I I understand doesn't mean I

072agree with it but I understand. So um how confident are you that your child's grades accurately reflect their learning and understanding. Um it's kind of all over the board here. I don't know what the baseline would have been either. Like and I think that's the tricky part because I'm not saying that this is better or worse. We we don't know. Um, we never asked or I I haven't asked. So, um, you can see that pie is very color, multicolored. Um, since the new grading practices were introduced, how has your child's attitude toward learning and assessment changed? Um, you know, we have much less positive about third of our parents reported. Um, and I should say 122 responses for parents when we gathered this. So, we left it open for several days and it was quick,

073quick, quick and then it kind of leveled off and then closed it over the weekend. So, just so you're aware, 122 parents. I I should have said that earlier. So, again, certainly not everyone. Um, but at least some some sort of a a respondent population. Um, how would you describe the level of worry or stress you've observed in your child as they've navigated the new grading practices? So um 37% say much higher than before and and 32% say somewhat higher than before. So when you look at that that's like 70% or so you know that's a little concerning to me um that you know they are more worried about that. And then um how effective do you believe you know the these new practices are in promoting student growth and accountability? again um you know

074we have 10% saying very effective and and another you know 11 and a half% or so saying somewhat effective um a lot of people saying neutral so it kind of turns into like 50/50 really when you look at it um but I don't know what it would have been in my last year or the year before either um so you know I think it's important you try to gather data that [clears throat] is you know quantitative and data that is quality ative and so we try to do a combination of both. >> And you had some open-ended questions on both the parents and the students which I suspect are hard to compile but >> yeah trends would be interesting. Yeah, >> I can tell you trends um you know just were my kid is [clears

075throat] more worried and worked up and mental health and and you know concerned. Um time I'm not sure they had enough time to be able to make up their you know test corrections and just worried about that schedule. um didn't even realize that a change was needed or warranted. So, I kind of heard that, too. Like, why why mess with a good thing? It it came across from a parent perspective. Um and from the students, it was kind of more more of the same like um just you know, again, how is this going to affect me down the road? Um and um you know, I'm spending a lot of time. I am studying more. I a few parents did say I see my my children at home doing you know um engaged in more studying

076um and engaged in work and so they weren't all negative. I I will say there were several parents who have said actually I think this is a real a good thing for kids to get them ready for um some of the grading that might be done postsecary. um you know, a a couple kids mentioned, um gosh, my homework isn't really worth anything anymore. What's the point of doing it? And then other parents say it's actually good for them to realize because when you go to college, you're not getting credit for the homework that you, you know, you're told to do, but that practice and reinforcement will prepare you to do better on the demonstrating knowledge pieces. So, um that was kind of all over the board like kids should get credit for um doing their

077homework or finishing a class assignment or you know um and then others were kind of on the opposite of you just need to do the work to prepare you to be a better student. So, um I think you know we probably and and I spoke to Mrs. Quinn live and I saw her in the cafeteria today, too. And she's like, "Yeah, I'm seeing kind of a lot of different stuff." And I keep telling students as they're preparing for college, you know, you could be in a class where you get four grades the whole semester. And um everything is on your, you know, responsibility to figure that out and and prepare. And she said, "So again, I don't expect we are working at a college. That's not what we're doing. We're just trying to, you know,

078again, prepare students how to n manage time and and what's important and and these assignments are important to do. Just because they're worth building knowledge or in that category, that doesn't mean they're not worth that much. They shouldn't do them. I don't agree with that. Like I'm like, "No, we want you to do the practice and the reinforcement." So, we've got a little bit of work to do with with helping our students understand the value of practice and reinforcement and how that can help you do better when it really counts. So, that's some kind of my next steps actually. and education at the end of the presentation. So, so I gathered, you know, things were all over the board though when you ask open open-ended items. So, >> can I ask a question towards that

079one? >> Um, why for people that don't understand why would it be more appropriate for AP to have an 8020? I don't understand that fundamentally. Um, so because their courses, you're taking the AP test at the end then. So their their content is more driven towards that AP test score at the end which is all based on assessment knowledge those kinds of things like what have you learned? What have you what can you show us? So um preparing them for that course. I just had a quick question too just and just in thinking about it. Um the one slide where you showed like the the midterm grade and you first look at that and you think, "Oh my word, you're right. They don't know anything." But then I'm thinking back to my own kids taking

080midterms and correct me if I'm wrong, but the midterm exam doesn't really count as much towards your final grade. >> The midterm exam is 10% of the overall grade, >> right? So, I'm just I just want to put that little caveat in there because I'm I know my own children would be very worried about their quarter grade, but not as much worried about their midterm grades. Do you know like I could see them being like, well, it's not going to affect my final grade. So, I'll just be curious if that because I imagine this is something we'll look at again, >> correct? >> And see how that works out. But I and this could just be my own children just trying to cut corners, but you know, less interested in, you know what I mean?

081like less interested in that midterm grade. >> Maybe it isn't reflective of what maybe it is. I don't know. But just want to throw that out there, you know, they learned it and they're not preparing for it as seriously as they would prepared for something else. If they know it, they're going to do well. You know, if they know it enough to have over 100% all the way up through, >> right, >> they probably don't need to prepare as much at the [clears throat] end. But that snapshot is that consistent like do we see that the year before and the year before that >> is that pretty much >> across different content areas across different grade levels across so it's not just a math issue it's not just a 24 >> now I'm not saying

082that it happens in every class but I'm saying this isn't the only time this happens Dr. Jones like here's a great example. I can pull it right up. But this has been a a problem for a long time. So, >> and we're reading articles, you know, today I I just had a teacher share an article with me that I I passed on to Dr. ordered as well um from the um post-secary side um saying that kids are coming in with these inflated GPA um but the GPA is not a good indicator anymore as good an indicator as first year GPA in college because uh high school GPA are so inflated right now. Um so they're saying ACTs and SATs are a better indicator of firstear GPA in college now. Um and so we're seeing this

083kind of coming at us also from from the secondary the postsecary side as well. So I can share this article I can share that article with you on the Friday update and and I think most specifically >> since co right >> right that's the piece where grading has definitely changed and you could say that inflation has been greater and and again I'm not saying it why I'm saying here I'm saying across the board that's not the first article that that we've seen over the past couple of weeks that has contributed to this and you know >> which is interesting because for a while there we went test optional Mhm. >> You know, in the SAT and the ACT, you know, you're like, you don't even have to submit it. So, and then you were so

084reliant on >> and now it's coming back. You just wonder if it's like that backlash of >> Yes. Yeah. >> So, I know um you know, specifically Ivy League schools, they were all test optional. This year about half of them are back to required tests and I believe next year more like every year more of of those types of schools are requiring them because they realize what's happening with with high school grades. Um so this is an example um just to show you a little bit about um what you might see in a typical grade book. Um this is is different types of demonstrating knowledge that you might see um and different types of building knowledge. Um and again you know this was in in the frequently asked questions that we sent out. Um a

085quiz in my class might be in building knowledge because that's how I'm using that tool. I might be using it as something to build knowledge whereas in in another class in another department a quiz might be demonstrating knowledge depending on how that teacher is using that quiz. So I think people want that consistency of oh quiz always has to be demonstrating because that's an assessment and that's not how we're viewing this. Um it's how are you using that assessment? Are you using it for students to build knowledge and kind of gain an understanding? um or is this a a point where you want them to demonstrate what they know? So, it could look different um depending on the reason for that quiz. So, in this teacher's grade book, um the quiz is a building knowledge

086category. Um but you can see there's definitely um there's labs in there, there's FRQs in there, um there's tests in there. So, demonstrating knowledge is not just one assessment or two assessments. Um, and this is sort of what we're still working through and talking through. I mean, um, as a group to make sure that we're providing all of these different opportunities. And here's a second one. Um, and this is from a social studies class. So, you can see the different types of demonstrating knowledge assignments that are in there. Um, as well as the building knowledge categories as well. So, we promised that we would take a look at some historical grade uh distributions specific to quarter 1. So, this school year 2526 last year and the year prior. Our next one even is larger, but

087um this is just a s more simple table to look at. um just because there are always different numbers of students which equate to different numbers of grades, we thought it best to include the numbers, the raw numbers, but then also turn them into percentages. Um because it's a little easier then to compare the percentages. Please know we did some rounding. So most things come up to 100, but some might be 99 just the way they were rounded. Um, but you'll see that this first quarter when you take a look at all of the grades that were earned by our 7th through 12th grade students this year, that's 38. That's a total of 6,931 grades. 55% of them were eighths. Okay. across the building. That compares to 58% last year first quarter, but compares to

08855% the year before. You'll notice that we have 26% of those grades being B's compared to the 23% the years prior. And um actually because of the rounding, the 3% with the Fs is actually like 2.8%. So it's um you know even even more um of a discrepancy which is a good thing. That means less failures than we've had in the past. So that's a three-year look at it, a cursory look at it. Um here is a 10-year average um compared to 2526. So again, that 55% of the grades in the building this year for first quarter were A's over 10 years, 52.8%. Um B's 25.8% compared to a 10-year average of 26.3%. So you can see not a lot has drastically changed in the way students are earning the grades. And I think a

089lot of us were expecting based, you know, on the level of concern and worry that they were going to really decline. Um, and we we just really don't see that um across the board there. Now, we have and thank you to Mr. Arn who has done some [laughter] calculating and as only he can. Uh, so I'll give credit to him. Let me explain to you what you're going to see here because you're going to see a slew of slides like this. Um the upper right saying enrollment, that's the enrollment in that particular class, academic English 7 over the course of the past five years, 2020. 1 2 3 4 5. Okay. Um so every slide you're going to see that's like this. That's the enrollment. You'll see how it es and flows. the average grade

090distribution percentage to the left of that is if I took a look at all those years those five years or so um and I say the percent of A's is 32% okay of the whole enrollment over all of those and then down below we've broken that down you can see by each year each bar is a year what was the percentage of A's earned in academic English for quarter one, what was the percentage of B's earned for academic English and quarter 1 in U and then C's onward. Um, so you're going to see that yes, it's true there were 34% of the grades this year that were A's, quarter 1. That's a little lower than last year's quarter 1. Okay, but it's it's higher than 22, 23, I'm sorry, the year 2022, 2021, and 2020.

091Um, and but then you'll see the percentage of bees was greater this year than last year. So, I'm not going to go through every data point, but I wanted you just I want to explain that. And then we took a look at academic courses, honors courses, and AP courses across 7 to 12 just randomly. So again, there's academic life science. That's a seventh grade course. You'll see again the enrollment percent of A's across the multi-year span. And then looking at this year, first quarter, we're a little lower again. Um and uh quite a bit lower in in in fees as well compared to last year, but higher than those other years. Um, the other thing that I want to point out as you're looking at this is keep an eye on the failures because in

092many of these classes there are fewer failures than we've had. And part of that reason is there are students who in the past historically haven't done their homework um who don't submit things you know and that had affected them in a very negative way. They may have known the content but they didn't submit some homework or didn't submit some classwork and so therefore their grades fell. So, if they know their content, they're going to to do well um because we're taking some of that um that homework piece out of there as worth quite a bit. And if you remember, the teachers in in their cursory look at the um grade books found that some people weighted homework 50%. So, if some kids aren't doing it, that's going to really have an impact on their their

093grades. Doesn't show what they know. So, just keep an eye on that as we kind of go through here. Accelerated algebra 1, this year's seven uh this year's not seventh grade, this year's quarter grade as far as a um is far higher um compared to last year and in years past. Um academic America in the modern world, um social studies class, again, you're going to see um some some good achievement in A's and B's there across the board. honors biology. Okay. Say um Keystone course, right? That's take the Keystone exam at the end of the year. Um I'm I'm hopeful. This is good news uh because we've got 94% of our students who earned A's uh this first quarter. Um so, and that's considerably more than in the past. So, we're going to hope that,

094you know, that trend continues and the achievement on our Keystone at the end of the year will be very solid. Honors English 12, we're a little lower than we have been over the past several years as far as earning A's, um, higher in earning B's. So, you know, take a look at that a little more closely, you know, as as we look and and we'll talk to the teachers just honors English 11 were higher um by quite a bit as far as earning A's there um comparatively speaking um to last year and the year before and much closer to where we were several years ago. AP promised you a few AP classes. Here's AP chemistry. Um we had a really high group last year, first quarter, um with that 80% of the grades being A's.

095Um but this year's 56.3% in quarter 1 is a little bit more indicative of kind of where we have been in the past. But again, a good amount of students if they didn't earn A's were have earned B's. So that's good. And then AP statistics, I had to give this to the statistics kids to figure out. uh some of some of this as well. Um so you're going to see uh kind of all over the board but much increased over the past couple of years. Um so just again interesting as you dive into it. It's kind of hard to to to break away. You can just keep looking at it but there's AP lit and composition. Um so we're we're pretty kind of steady with the 77% covering the earned A's this year. And remember

096also look at the enrollment you know because in some of these we have 60 70 80 90 kids and others we have 20 year or just depending on the the course itself. All right so I won't bore you with any more data and statistics but I do want to thank um Mr. Arts because he really figured out a way to get into some of the power school data and help um put together in a in a really understandable way. So um but as far as action steps, you know, I think it's important that we educate students about the weight system and clarify misconceptions. Increase parent engagement on the use of Power School to monitor student progress. Continue to work with teachers to examine assignment categorization. Explore more deeply reporting progress twice per year. We talked

097about the quarterly versus the semester. um develop a consistent procedure for retakes or again best practice for test corrections as far as the value of those and then also creating a flex period during the school day for increased access to work with teachers. We talked a lot about that with you know after the school day are kids staying some are still limited time. How could we look at that where we're figuring out an intervention period for our seventh and eighth graders? How can we extend that to 9 through 12? I'm I'm here to say that our comp plan is a three-year plan. We can't do all of this in three months, six months. It's going to take some time. But I think looking at action steps to address some of those concerns that have been

098brought up by students, parents, faculty. Um I think this kind of sums it up pretty well. that is trying to tackle it a couple different ways. Um so you know this is where we'd like to go um to move this forward. Um I don't know Dr. Howard, if you have anything to share. >> Yeah, we've already started these conversations through our department chair meetings. We've talked about um you know December faculty meeting they're coming back to us with ideas from their departments. Um because as a faculty we we want to make this work. blessing. Um the faculty is is seeing positives out of this. They're seeing um increased engagement in classrooms and um kids coming to them wanting to learn the content and the material. And I just think to wrap it up, I think

099it's so important that we remember that this is about grades reflecting learning. It's not about us wanting to bring grades up, bring grades down. You know, we're focused on that, but it's really we want grades to be reflective of what is learning. uh with the learning that is happening in our classrooms. And so to continue looking at these things and having conversations is what we plan to do as a faculty and staff. >> Is there a plan to work on decreasing the stress that the kids are feeling and the anxieties that they're feeling and for parents to like ease their is there a plan for that? >> I think part of that is that educating of students. I think the more we talk about it um the more they have a chance to ask questions.

100I think it all happened so fast. I'm not sure they knew what questions to ask. I'm not sure we knew as faculty what questions to prepare for, you know, what answers to provide to them. So, I think we want to make sure that that we're giving them an outlet to be able to have those discussions. So, um, you know, and that's I don't want to say that's exactly what I spoke with with Mrs. Liban, but she's like, we have we want to do more education. We want to, you know, really help these kids understand this. So I think the more you educate the stress level and the worry will come down. Um so it's it's we have to have those venues to allow that to happen. >> Well and if the data is accurate which

101I believe it to be they'll start to live it which may decrease their their stress. >> Right. That's the thing. I think it's hard to say when your grades really didn't change much over the past, you know, and this was one quarter and so we have to see it another, you know, because that's a small sample size. It's a lot of grades, but it's a small sample size of of one quarter. So, and you know, I wasn't so sure. I I know you know another school locally does that semester reporting and I was like do you think that's going to be okay and and widely accepted in the community and um and will we have any issues from you know post-secary and so I I' I've you know spoken to Mrs. Quinn as well and

102and she said in her experiences she hasn't you know as as a parent seen any you know issues or heard of any interest issues I've spoken to um Dr. cricket at Wilson and superintendent hat and parent hat. He hasn't had any issues with it. He has seen um you know his own daughter less stressed because of that you know duration of time. Um so I do think that's something that we really want to again explore more deeply. Um, so I I I'm not going to say here today that that's what we're doing, but I think it's really pertinent that we do dive in and have those conversations as far as do we think that will help. It's not going to change this year. Like we have to continue the quarterly reporting out because there are

103some things that need to be altered. that I think I shared with you. It's there's kind of a connection to board policy and reporting to parents and there's, you know, some things that I think we may need to even addend um the programmer studies which you'd be voting on tonight. We can make those changes, you know, once we decide whether or not we want to go down that path. But I think that that may help down the road as well um to alleviate some of that stress >> and adding the flex time in as well if we can figure that out with the schedule so the kids have more time um and access to teachers um to to relearn content and things like that. If the goal is for the grades to reflect the learning

104and you're finding that the grades are in many of these classes the same, what is the means then for really getting at whether they've learned more in that class? >> Well, I think that's >> what's the definition of success? >> Well, I think that's where we rely on, you know, our assessments haven't changed for the most part. Um, so we look at assessment data and has that changed over the the past couple years? We look at state standardized test, um, which I know a negative word, but it's also the standards that we have to teach. Um, we look at um AP scores, we look at SAT scores, we look at all of those scores um that do reflect actual learning from content and see how this is evened out. Um, so we do have several

105course assessments quarterly unit that we administer year after year after year. um obviously the midterms that also you know so we'll be able to take a look to see our students perform better on those assessments we started looking at some benchmark [snorts] data um but again we only have a small snapshot given first quarter but I think it's definitely worth looking at is that going to continue and it looks like there's you know less below basic scores more proficient scores so the the more we get into the year I feel solidly assured that that means that learning is greater there. You just got to see more of it. >> If there was so much inconsistency before with how teachers graded, I still see that there's a lot of inconsistencies now. It's just different inconsistencies. And

106the teacher is like grading tests a certain way and or allowing for test corrections a certain way, but another teacher is not. Is the goal there to kind of average out the way that it's grades are reflected or tests are being given and corrected? Is there room for more consistency to even >> and that that's a good question and that's a tough question because at at some point we have to stop making everything exactly the same you know so we have to allow teachers to have autonomy in their classrooms and that's one thing that I know is always in the back of my mind because I'm only two years three years removed from teaching so um having that freedom and every content is different which is what is so hard to make a blanket policy

107for zed teachers are way different than what we see in science classrooms and um what we see in special ed classrooms and I mean across the board. So, we really have to be careful that we're not pigeon holing everybody into one blanket policy that doesn't fit. Um, but continuing those conversations um so that it is a little bit u more I don't want to use keep using the word consistent but um that maybe we have two options instead of 50 options um things like that. But the other thing I I always fall back on too as we talk about this is again up until this year we had if I had um eight different periods a day I had eight different grading policies and I had eight different retake policies and so as a parent

108prior to if this is confusing I can't imagine what it was like in years past you probably just didn't know and didn't ask questions. So, um, now that we are kind of out in the forefront and saying this is where we're seeing, you know, that confusion, but it's so much more consistent than what it was prior to. And so, having continuing to have these conversations and building the practices and strengthening them is really what we aim to do. >> Um, especially when we know things >> need to be streamlined a little bit more without taking the autonomy away with from the classroom teachers. I only asked that question because it seems like that specifically is what is related to the stress of the kids and the parents that that portion of the inconsistency and how

109things are graded and >> sure and that's what we're I mean we are hearing that I'm I'm not downplaying that we are hearing that so we just need time to meet as a staff and to talk about um what works best you know maybe as a department we can come to you know some some consistencies in departments versus as a whole school. Um, so we can continue to look at that and have those conversations. Um, but if you're asking if we're ever going to get to something that's across the board, in my professional opinion, I don't think that's the best practice. >> So, we had all these surveys go out. How how do you plan on sharing kind of the results with the community about because that's a lot. And first of all, let me

110just say I really appreciate the amount of work you guys did in getting to this point. That was when you first said the quarter's coming to an end. Hopefully we can have all the data by then. >> That was her and definitely kudos to Mr. Ellen sort of being able to pull that all together. It's it's remarkable. >> But now that I went to survey, they're going to be like, >> what are the results? How how do you condense all that? Because a lot of that still is, >> yeah, it's >> uh what is the plan from here? Well, this is step one. Give me a chance to figure out step two and um and you know, we'll put this out on the web. But um I I think to trying to put it into

111almost like a little second FAQ or something with maybe, you know, just limited um graphs and charts and stuff because it is it is a lot. I um and I think we >> I don't know. I mean, we have to work with the staff, too. Like this is an ongoing process. I I I can't say this is this is where where we are and this is where you know we're going to be in in in six months because it is obviously an evolving situation. Um but I do want to make sure that we get some information out there that is um explainable and hopefully this helped you all understand a little bit as we continue these conversations. But maybe just flesh it out to a couple of key points to get that out into a

112notification, you know, a communication to our our families. Um, I think that's that's important. And I think too it's important that we acknowledge, you know, for the students what they gave to us. We should be, you know, and and I would like to sit and talk with the student council. I know they're working with the home rooms, so I think this would be an excellent opportunity to sit and meet with them. Um, you know, so just getting pieces together. I just felt like >> that wasn't my first um stop was I'm pulling in student council kids. I wanted a breath of of kids across 7 to 12 and and to be represented, but now, you know, let's let's go and talk and and try to have a deepen understanding of of where we are and

113where we need to go. So, I don't have a a terrific on the spot answer for you, Mr. Shippers, except the fact that we can scale this down, get some information out. This obviously will be posted to our website. Um hopefully people are watching or or will get out there and and see this video, but I know it's it's a lot overwhelming. So if we can just kind of condense it to a couple of the the biggest points um and you know go move move forward from here. So and I and again and it's a lot of of work to stand too. So >> and I think I'll just say I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned here too in this. I mean, you've taken the firing line [clears throat] on all

114of this to know that this has been going on since 2023. >> Um, you know, it's been unfair that you've taken most of the the slings and arrows on this. And I I will say say that I just felt like there was never the case was never built for this. >> We never built the case. We never built the case with the board. We never built the case with the community. whenever we build a case with the students ahead of time to say there is an issue and we need to fix this issue and here's how we think we're going to address this issue and we've got this committee and we've been studying it since 2023 and we're about to roll it out and >> it was one meet the parent or whatever it was

115night where we just sort of dropped the bomb and now we're kind of playing catchup and so hindsight is definitely 2020 but I think going forward lessons learned on communications plans and roll out and buying and I mean ironically we met with our fourth grade city student council and got all these amazing idea roundts about the like can you imagine if we met with our student council ahead of time got their buy in got their feedback and then when kids were like this is crazy what we're doing it's like wow we did meet with your student council >> and they had concerns but you know they understand where we're going with I just think something this seismic going forward we need to really be circumspect about how we have proper rules of of ways of

116communication and then from here going forward once and that's totally fair everything you said once we have our act together I think we need to be circumspect about how we roll out the data because it will be very confusing and still very scary how do we boil that and consens condense that down to the easest digestible form >> so not a criticism but more of a >> lesson I stand behind that as well it was a roll out issue as well >> but thank you all for, you know, your questions, your dialogue, and your discussion. We appreciate it. Um, so I guess if that's okay, we'll move forward. >> Thank you so much for coming on that. >> Okay. So, we're going to move forward. Um, and uh, as part of the curriculum and technology

117um, section here as my of my report, it's recommended that the board of school directors approve and ratify the following curriculum and technology items. And that would be number one, the approval of the junior senior high school program of studies for the 2627 school year. Salute. Mr. Hershey, >> yes. >> Mrs. SC, >> yes. >> Mrs. Phillips, >> yes. >> Miss Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Shippers, >> yes. >> Mrs. Taylor, >> yes. >> Mrs. Torres, >> yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Moving on to the finance and facilities items. It's recommended that the board of school directors approve and ratify the following finance and facilities items. Those would be numbers one through six. >> I'll make a motion. >> Any discussion? >> I just wanted to make a comment that um

118just to show you know appreciation for those who make the donations to the Spartan pantry. That was really nice and and uh will make a real difference. So just wanted to add that. Any other comments or discussions? Mr. >> Mrs. Sk. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Phillips. >> Yes. >> M. Rodriguez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shippers. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Zinsky. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hershey. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Moving on to personnel and policy. It's recommended that the board of school directors approve and ratify the following personnel and policy items as presented. numbers one through >> one through that >> one through five and number seven. >> We're just going to pull out the volunteer portion of that. Um this is store is

119on the volunteer list. So it would be a conflict of interest to her. So we're going to pull out number six and vote on that separately. So we're voting on one through five and also number seven. >> Second Any discussion? Discussion. Okay. >> Mrs. Phelps. >> Yes. >> M. Rodriguez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shippers. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Zitzky. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hershey. >> Yes. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Item number six. Item number six. Volunteers. >> Yes. So we'll have a motion for item number six under personnel and policy which is the volunteers motion. Any discussion? >> Okay. Welcome Mr. >> M. Rodriguez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shakers. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Mrs. Sabinsky.

120>> Yes. Mr. Hershey, >> yes. >> Mrs. >> yes. >> Mrs. Phelps, >> yes. >> Motion passes 70. >> And that completes my report. Great. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Um, is there any old business? >> I was wondering Oh, excuse me. Go ahead. >> I was wondering if there how things have been going since we released the no e scooters and all that. Right. I can tell you the first few days we were zero e scooters. So I on premises so I haven't heard otherwise. So I'm hoping we're still zero. Mr. Capelli, >> it's been consistent. Yes. I think the weather has helped but [laughter] >> and no phone calls about it or >> none to my knowledge. Um we had tagged the e scooters that were on premises before um giving them

121ample warning plus with the communication that went out and um they did for the most part decrease leading to the first day when it went effective and it's been zero since. So >> thank you thank you to everybody who's been working with us. >> We still have bikes. >> Do we have we still have ebikes um and bikes here? Uh and the reason we separated it between scoot e scooters and ebikes is because ebikes would be allowed if they are 16 years of age. Therefore, we would have to go through a registration process to see who's riding who is 16 and above versus not. So, we thought the first let's take a look at just e- scooters and get those off since those are technically illegal on um on on road services anyway. So that's

122what that was step one. So we were we were good with step one. So I'm not sure when we're going to try step two. That's going to again require some more coordination. Um we'd almost have to register like students who drive register their cars and and such. So we'll have to figure that out. >> Do we know that there might be underage kids riding the ebikes? For me, it's a concern if it would be a liability and heaven forbid they are riding the ebike on our property and something should happen. >> I'm not sure. Mr. >> My understanding is there's at least one >> I can say pick up and drop off has been significantly better. A >> lot [laughter] less scoop. >> It has. It has been. Even regardless of that, there's kids out

123there I see after >> on them. But >> it every single day, the amount of caution you have to turn on a road that you know what I mean? It was it was really every every move I made around a car was >> wondering who's flying down that street. But it has been so much better. >> What about the playground? Any complaints or incident since we closed it? No, it's been pretty quiet. >> Uh we're monitoring it remotely and there's been no entry after hours since we closed it. >> It's been pretty quiet. >> At this present time, we don't have our date for reopening. Um we may wait too soon through the winter months. I'm not sure, you know, u but our goal is still to reopen at some point in time uh for

124the community, but we also have to make sure that we are being heating our property as well. So it's a balance right now. >> Oh yeah. Uh just to kind of build on some of the comments on communication earlier, uh I know I think we discussed this before as well, but I would just love to see us in 2026. Um and I maybe by us I mean Dr. Woodard put out some sort of like >> what happened at the P not PC at the YMC board meetings on parent square because I just whether it's hearing rumors where people were like oh the board was I'm like that didn't happen or people just you know when did that get discussed? I think it would just I don't know. I'd rather be accused of overcommunicating than not.

125I know and I know the agenda is on the website, but it's very hard to find. Um, so just for the people that want it, it's it's there. Whatever that looks like. >> We do have one for staff that we put out within the past couple, you know, a few days after the the board meeting. So, um, again, it's not very very detailed, but at least it, you know, it welcomes our new folks and it, you know, it goes through the the main agenda items. So we could definitely shoot that out on parent square. Um and if people find it helpful, you know, we can continue to do that. So >> even just like a bullet point, >> it's a graphic of we discussed this this and this. That would be really great. >> Only

126because I've had a few parents reach out to me. I can't help them now because Scott, this is not against you. You've done a really good job with the website. But I will say I used to know the old platform so well and everybody would shoot me a text. I can't find this and I would be able to find it really quickly. Whereas right now even I'm having a hard time finding certain certain things. So um I will say it's difficult to get to our minutes and some of our minutes are not even up there. >> So it would like I agree with what um she is saying. It would be nice to do like a bullet point thing in parent square for all of our meetings just like a rundown because you can never

127be too transparent. I'll work with Miss Pivot and Mr. Arn because again that document is usually done you know definitely by Friday sometimes Thursday of the you know the week so we could shoot that out via parent square at least to get that process started. Um I know the minutes have to be approved before they be put on. Um, so it does that almost feels like it's too delayed an event until people can actually see that. >> So yeah, >> perfect. >> How soon after it means does the can you get the recording? Can you access the video >> Immediately after you click by. >> So I mean people have the ability after reading the bullet points to be able to go back and drill down deeper. Now, the videos are only accessible for what?

128Is it up until the the minutes are approved and then approved? Yes. >> We we could, but again, once the minutes are approved, then that goes away. So, it's not fair. >> Is that rationale for that from a legal perspective? >> I think from a legal perspective. Yes. Because it didn't used to be like that, but then we were advised to do that. But it's also I think with the with how much we're putting on our system holding the video because I think they had how many years of No, >> it's all on YouTube. >> Let's ask the experts. [laughter] >> It's a big cloud. [snorts] >> I can confirm that. But I I know legally we were told. >> But is it is it just the video or is it the actual minutes itself?

129The minutes are on. Minutes remain, but the video is taken off once the minutes have been approved. >> But we could just send out an unofficial approved minutes though. Correct. >> We could just share what we've been sharing with the staff. Just these were the items. >> I'm just saying some school districts, they'll have written big lettering at the top unapproved minutes. I believe Wilson knows that. Okay. So >> we just wait to showcase the movements until they've been approved and then put them on the website. So >> any other business? Any new business? Uh right to know requests. That one we had one that was up there. Um any updates from any organizations? Nobody from WA. >> Well, I'm in here. >> Yes. [laughter] >> But you have no comment. Not today. >> Well,

130thank you for being >> um if that's it. Um we can >> motion to >> Thank you. >> All those in favor that one down. Meeting a journ. Thank you everybody.