001ready to roll. >> Good evening everybody. It's our favorite night of the year. Yeah. Um couple of We don't normally have these but a couple of announcements and then we do have an action item. First of all, um Miss Hay's um third grade boss at Orchard Hill made some cards for the board. Oh, >> there's there's five cards here. So, I'll pass some out and everybody can kind of look at them and maybe we can keep them at the district office or something, Denise. But, um there's a little message little messages in there and all the kids signed it. So, >> it's really my kids my kid signed it too. I didn't put even put her up to that. >> Yeah, this there's cute stuff right there. Yeah. >> Um and then we do have
002a action item. We have a board member development funds request. Um, and in case you're wondering, we have $13,000 left in our travel our board development fund for this year still. So, we're doing pretty good on that. So, >> how much do we have? Sorry. >> 13,000. >> Is that for school year or for >> for this school year? >> Yeah. >> What's the total total amount? I think what do we what's the budgeted amount? >> I think we increased it to like 25,000. >> Yeah, that includes OSBA. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> we'll probably use some of that for summer board if there summer later though. >> Oh, true. Yeah. >> The national conference, it's too late to do DC, but the national conference is in San Antonio. Okay. >> If anyone's interested in that,
003I don't know what the cost is. Um, there's also a PACE day coming up. >> Um, those are the only two that are popping in my head, but >> I will probably know more after I go to OSBA this weekend. I'll make some notes. >> Great. >> Yeah, it's the national. >> It's the national conference and it's really good. >> Great. >> All right. So, do I have a motion for this um request? >> I never saw that. I down I apologize. I downloaded four books. I did not the >> Okay. Does anybody need a copy of you request? It was in board book, but >> I saw it. >> No, you're I didn't for some reason I didn't see it in board book. I apologize. >> No problem. >> It says >> it probably
004is. Sometimes I download before it's a bottom core book or something. So my apologies. I would make a motion. I move to approve the board de development funds request. >> I'll second the queue. Diana and Rick uh discussion. >> Excited to hear back. >> I know you attended last year. I don't know if you wanted to speak about it at all. Nancy >> Oala is the Oregon Administrator Leadership Association. No, Latino Association. Oh my gosh, them all. What is it called? I have so many acronyms in my little brain here. Um, it's an opportunity for Latino administrators to get together and learn and have a focus. There's a lot of actually there's not very many opportunities for um this particular population to get together and learn and share and share about the very similar experiences
005that people experience as a person of color in leadership especially in school systems. So it's a wonderful way to get together, support, grow, learn. there's usually um really inspiring speakers and there's opportunities for networking and connecting and I think it's really critical especially in these times that we're seeing an increased attack in our immigrant populations within the school systems >> you any questions >> yes >> I have same >> yes >> okay >> yes Yes. >> Yes. >> I vote yes. >> I don't need I don't need to hang that. Okay. Just looking for opportunities. Um we're gonna move to our presentations. Let's give the introduction. Are you doing the introduction? >> Sure. Okay. Great. >> Okay. Brent, take it away. >> You bet. Um Taran Gamble, this is obviously an annual event for uh
006our administrative team. um and our partners at Armadillo uh to kind of share uh information and with the board and um it's one of the best meetings of the year to really kind of dig in and uh show some data and show things that are going in our school uh and and dig uh dive deeper into kind of the operations of the school. So uh excited for the presentations today and uh our team is ready. So, >> um, whenever you want to get started, great. We'll get started now with Armadillo. >> Is a microphone. >> No, you Well, actually, you're not one of those microphones. Yeah. Which one? >> It's just for the It's just for the folks on Zoom so they can hear you. >> You want to click it? >> All the folks
007on >> Yeah. We typically go viral after the fact. I think I'm one of the few that you listen to random school board meetings online. >> Yes. and tell how far >> airing tonight on channel 400 from 2 a.m. >> out there. Here we are community charter school formerly API going on three years ACCS now still called ATI all right our main focus has not changed since I've been here or before that it's creating a sense of safety significance and belonging for all our students as you can see we do that with spirit days and our students even bring surfboards they carry those to every single class throughout the pretty impressive. >> All right, so here are some stats for y'all. Um, so some great things. Our um general ADM is staying pretty current, pretty
008pretty steady there um in the mid70s. We're actually uh going up to uh 78 um as of Tuesday. We'll have some more students. So, this is a little outdated. Um so far, I just did some updated numbers today, too. So far, instead of 92 unique students through the door, we've seen 100 unique students. 47% of those are returning students to us. And 5% are from Phoenix High School. 30 of those 100 are from the Phoenix Talent School District. So, we're actually pulling most of our students not from Y. Awesome. because that's our main goal is to get out of the valley out of Phoenix and get the rest of the valley to know that we're here then and not take your kiddos because you're doing awesome at Phoenix High School. We don't want that. All
009right. Okay, I wanted to give a grade level breakdown. Not a break, a breakdown. Um because we are getting more you can't see a lot of that. This 21% is our fresh no 16% is our freshmen. Um which is higher than we've ever had before. Um we've gone from one to three to 11 to now 17 freshmen that we are currently enrolling which is very fast. cut off or something. >> No, I don't know what happens. You know, technology. >> We have 21% are our sophomores and then of course our junior seniors still remain our highest amounts with 66%. Um 84% of our students have been at ACCS less than two years, meaning they enrolled within the last two terms of last year or have enrolled this year for the first time. On that note,
010I was on a graduation rate. >> Yes. Not when I've done this to you. >> All right. So, our 2023 reported that was reported for 2425 graduation rates, they went down. I'm not going to lie to you. We did a experiment with having students on a flex program where we didn't see them very often. We saw them once a week and we kind of let them do their own thing. That did not work for our demographic as we can see here. However, it did work for our fifth year graduates. We got up to 76%. So what we are reporting what will be reported this next year is a 68% on time graduation which really helps um Jen who will not get up here with me but is responsible for keeping all of our students under
011our credit retrieval really pushing those graduations making sure this this human can get students to do things that no one else can and so we are going to see 68% graduation on time. In our next recording, our fifth years are 33% because we actually had a few less fifth years in six years than we had in previous years. And have another stat on that one. >> This year we have 31 possible graduates all together. Um, two of those uh two of two of three of our six years have already graduated for this year. So they are completers. One of our two fifth years has already graduated. And then we actually have one of two early graduates who are um have already finished. So I'll have two 11th graders who are off to uh beauty school.
012Actually both of them have decided to beauty school this year. I don't know where I am. Sorry. >> I'm gonna pull up point. I'd say there's a PD. Maybe that's probably >> the >> No worries. It's >> a good question. >> Um, can you tell us a little bit about how you calculate those? So, how should we think about that? You know, difference between the fouryear and the fiveyear. >> A good question. >> Yeah. So, everyone that's enrolled, >> everyone that is enrolled um as in their freshman cohort year gets calculated as a total student. So, unless they transfer to a different school, >> if they are ours, like if they do a 10day drop, they're still counted towards our graduation rates at the end of the at the end of their fourth year. >>
013Okay? >> So, that's the on-time graduation fourth year. Then they do fifth year and sixth year are kind of grouped together as completers. >> So I like to pull them out because I want to know >> like how long it took them, what took them so long, when did we get them. >> Yeah. >> Um so of our of our students who graduated. Last year we had 14 that counted as drops for us that we just could not find. Um but of those we had >> and then like I said we were trying a new program in that 23 24 school year. So um the fifth our our on-time graduates >> were doing the one year you know they were trying the flex program showing up once a once a week doing a lot of
014phone calls with the person in charge of that program. They just like they weren't pushed to finish. >> Yeah. However, a lot of them were on our GED program. And so those fifth and sixth years, that graduation rate that went up the next year for the completers, that 33% were students who actually went on to diplomas because we got rid of our GED and so we switched them over to diplomas, which is better for them. We were able to get them at RCC after that and move forward in a different path. >> So it's representative of the percentage of students who are are go for a fifth year. Yeah. How many what percentage of those complete? >> Right. Got it. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. >> It's not just >> I have a question I
015can add. >> Um, sorry. So, you mentioned earlier, I'm not exactly sure. I think it was something like 40% returning. >> Yeah. >> Did where I'm assuming some of them completed something. Can you tell a little bit more about like did a lot of them complete something or where did they go? >> Tell me more. >> Complete. >> Well, you said something about we have 40% returning. >> Oh, so that's of our freshman through through junior like our entire population that moved like moved forward. >> So they count as ours unless they um transferred to another school, >> but 60% left somewhere, >> right? So, they either graduated or they transferred out. Okay. Right. >> And of the the of our students that are on our roster this year, 42% are Thank you. Great. Yeah.
016>> Thank you for clarifying that. I was a little >> like what happened to them? >> Yeah. >> They came back. No, the ones that were supposed to come back came back. >> Okay. >> Great question. I have a question. >> The program that you said they were only meeting with them once. Yeah. >> When you changed it, how many times are they meeting now? >> They come on campus um four days a week. So, we switch them back to four days a week. And then we also give our students um the option to earn more asynchronous days. So, we give students who have 80% or higher attendance throughout the month and are passing all their classes with a B or an A. We give them the opportunity to stay home and work from home
017two more days a week. Now, they can earn this once a month, they can lose it immediately. So, we're always checking. So, each of our students has a team leader who's in charge of them. And then Jen and I are also always checking. And so, like I said, we check once a month to see if they've met this requirement. Let them and their parent know, has to be a parent decision as well. And then we check once a week at the end of the week to see if they're keeping up. And we say, "If you're not keeping up, we want to see you again because this isn't working." And it's actually been quite successful. Surprisingly, a lot of the students that have earned it have not taken it. They still show up four days a
018week, which is great. How many are enrolled with you but also do some on campus here? Oh, some classes. >> We don't have any students currently that come to PHS. >> Oh, that is not true. Sorry. Our sped students come on Monday to meet Mindy um the sped liaison sped special down um here for their uh service minutes on Monday. So, our IEP students come and get their services on Mondays here, but they're not enrolled in any of the PHS classes. >> What about extracurricular sports or drama or >> We haven't had any students take us up on that um for that one. And because most of our students are out of district, they actually have to do sports um with their home district. So, we do have one that wrestle used to he doesn't
019anymore. He used to wrestle for Ashley because he lives in Ashlin district. So, we used to do that when he was chose not to do that this year. I chose to focus back into school a little bit. >> It's okay. I can explain it. Can explain the purple. >> I apologize for the purple. Um, okay. One giant change that we made this year was our entire staff over the summer took um PBL, which is project based learning through PBL works. And so we have big project crossular project blocks uh twice a week that last for three hours in the mornings. Um they are like I said crossular. They're hands-on. They are based in real world issues. The first one we did was a humongous success with our students. It was where they had to pick
020a social justic just justice topic. They had to write a persuasive essay on why it was important including research and citations. They had to build a box or a frame. One of them got creative, built a frame instead. They had to light that with LED lights. So, they had to figure out the electricity and work through that. And then they also had to create a personalized one-of-a-kind artwork to symbolize why their thing was important. Um, as you can see, they did everything from cutting the boxes, nailing them together, and this frame over here. Actually, that student chose to make their own um stain and actually stained it with oak well stain. >> So, it's like a three-hour exploratory awesome time where they just get to delve deep into something that's important to them. Second term
021that they are just wrapped up today was a food truck process. So they actually had to develop a food truck, write a business plan, do all the financials for it, and then pitch their idea to their teachers. And we had a few people from the restaurant industry actually come in and judge them as well. So really cool. All right, some initiatives that we've started, some other ones besides PBLO. We are doing a dual enrollment with RCC. So, that's where a lot of our students, not a lot, four so far, who have taken up the task, are getting their um extras. Right now, we have three that are taking Psych 101. Super fun to hear that. And then we have one who um wants to be a coder, so he's doing some coding. Um it's really
022great to have this happen um because we have a very flexible schedule. So, our students are able to get on the bus, go down to classes, and still get back to work. This is the first year that our students have taken us up on it. We've had this offering, but this first year they've taken us up. Um, we do what is called organ and fly ability skills rubric. It's embedded in every class. I brought it, so I'll hand it out to you. You want us to see it? Start over here. I brought you a copy. Our teachers were having trouble trying to relate to high schoolers why it was important that they show up and why they have a good attitude and why they join in class discussion. And so they came up with this
023rubric um that is based on the Oregon employability skills that we can show students. They grade themselves and teachers grade them as well. And it really lets us all pile back into we're preparing you for the future. Like you're doing this so you're better for tomorrow. And this has helped all of our classes come together to really tell our our students why they need to show up in a in a appropriate way. and full time. We have a lot of internships going on. We have three students with the pollinator projects who are getting paid for their time in the community doing awesome things like that. We are working with all kinds of outdoor repairarian restoration. Really just trying to get the kids out of the classroom and get them into the community and let them
024know it's here so they have awesome opportunities and know that it's it's here for them and they don't have to leave. And then, as we all know, attendance is a thing, especially in high school, because it's really hard to get that 17-year-old up in the morning and tell them why they need to go. So, we've actually um have been working with Saurin uh as a data team, really delving into the story of our attendance and how we can do better. >> All right. Uh the Southern Oregon Career Center. Um, I just heard two days ago it's not continuing for a second year. Um, which sucks because we make up 75% of their program right now. Our students don't really have this opportunity anywhere else. And so they were really excited. But our three 11th graders
025who are in the program, we are working with RCC right now and Linica to see if we can kind of continue that for them in a different way. However, all seven of our students will leave this year of phabbotomy certification any credit towards RCC. So, we were excited for this. If anybody knows another program, we will take you up on it. >> Why was it cancelled? Was a funding cut. >> They lost funding. >> Yeah. >> And we come back. >> I just wanted to post how much we like to get our kiddos out of the classroom. Really, really into it. When they were doing their food food truck project, we took them down to the Rogue Valley Growers Market. They had to go talk to food truck professionals who agreed to talk to us
026ahead of time. We get them out to Pacifica. Um, one of our students actually got to booze the uh fire blow torch gun. Hilarious pictures. Um, pride parade pollinator project on campus. Just a good off the campus. All right. As I said, 84% of our students are brand new to us in the last two years. 66% are juniors and seniors. So, we can't always focus on our state numbers. Yes, they're important. Our state report card's important, but we really, really want to focus on our growth at Armadillo because it tells a story that the state report card doesn't. So, as you can see, these are our we use Edenum. So when a student comes in, we give them these three tests and we tell them at the end of the year you're going to test
027again and all you have to do is beat yourself. Well, my gosh, did they beat themselves and they continue to grow every year because they're awesome and we are pushing them but not too hard. But we really want to focus on this growth within our student. On that note, we haven't made that. Um, I did want to let you guys know in the 2425 school year. So, last year when students started with us, 61% of them started off track. When we ended our year last year, 31 or 37% were off track. However, 15 of those 25 students enrolled over halfway through the year. So, if we had gotten those students sooner, we would have gotten them back on track sooner as well. This year we're starting the year 63% off track. But again, 66% of
028them are junior seniors. 84% of them are new. So focus on the one giant campaign that we are running this year, which I talked about last year during our job session was that Armadillo really needs a new way of the community looking at us. We're already getting out there. That's why our numbers for Phoenix talent are going down and we're getting more from outside. But we've been running what we call a misconception correction campaign. So when a parent comes in or student comes in or we're in the community and we hear something, we put it up as a misconception and we correct it. And we ask our students too what's going on. They actually treat you like you're an actual person. Our students said that. Great. Love that. And if you're interested, there's an amazing
029article that the Ashley Chronicle wrote about Armadillo. The last line of it is a student saying, "Before Armadillo, I always thought I was going to only be a bride cook. Now I'm going to three colleges." Applying to three colleges. That's awesome. And then I just asked the students to tell us why we matter. Why do we matter? Can't read all these. However, I do really want to point out these two little graphs. Every quarter, we give our students a survey that asked some very simple questions about safety, significance, and belonging to make sure we're doing what we need to do. Not a single student said that they didn't feel safe at school. Not a single student said the staff didn't care about them. That's awesome. And the last thing, this is from Jen. I asked
030Jen the other day how she has made it 15 years at Armadillo and she said, we can't read it. The best things about Armadillo are the intangible things. And my gosh, she's right. >> That's it. >> Thank you. >> More questions. >> I have a question. in in the write up that we have it talked about profic proficiency based grading and now you've moved to the project which you mentioned here um why did you make that change >> tell us a little bit about that >> yeah so we are still using the proficiency based grading in all of our classes so the project block is just one block and they use a rubric as well in that to make sure that students know exactly how they're going to be graded from top to bottom and
031it's kind of making sure that students know the end goal and it's not just task after task after task. The proficiency grading we still do. Students love that to make sure that they can show us, do you know the thing? Then great, move on to the next thing because you know how to do that thing. We're still doing that. It's how we do our credit retrieval still. Um Jen actually just kind of put this in the write up. Jen gave me a list. We've in the first two quarters our students have credit retrieved over 80 credits. So, we have students coming in who know the thing and they can show us they know the thing by doing a mastery test on it. They just weren't showing up to school to show anybody else that they
032knew it. So, the proficiency grading is how our students and still graduate on time. >> Thank you so much. >> Thanks, Rachel. Appreciate >> it. Okay, next is uh PT. >> All right, cool. Okay. So, my goal with this presentation is just so that you guys have a sense of what we do because it feels like PT kind of runs in the background. Um, because it does. So, I want to be able to for you guys to have a good enough sense that if somebody in the community asks you what does PT do, how does it work? Answer those questions. So, that's kind of what this is about along with our data and so forth. Um, so just generally our school structure. Um, we've got two teachers, an elementary teacher and a middle school teacher.
033uh one classified by first person myself K to 5 6 to 8 um we're at Orchard Hill this year which has been great um it's been a nice move for us and uh we have some virtual elements and some inerson elements so I'm not going to go over all those we'll talk about more of those as we go through but um that's kind of the outline so mostly online some inerson stuff here's our enrollment numbers currently like this is as of I think well 120 so a couple days ago Um, overall 35 kids right now. I think we started the year at maybe 23 or something. This is the time of year when we start getting a lot more kids. In fact, we have intake meetings scheduled for five additional kids next week. So, and
034we just had two today. So, this is the time of year kids start coming over to us. So, that's what it looks like. That's kind of class breakdown and then middle school and um elementary breakdown. And this is what it looks like year-over-year going back a few years. And you can see the pattern kind of holds the same. Uh we start fairly low, start in the 20s typically, end typically in the 40s or 50s. Generally, we have more kids in elementary school to start the year and we have more kids in the middle schooling grades at the end of the year. Our elementary uh students stay fairly consistent. We'll add a few middle school. We really get influx of kids as the year goes on. Um so that's kind of the background of that. Um,
035why do people want to join PT? It's a lot of things. Um, some folks it is travel and lifestyle. They're they're out of town a lot. They're bringing their kids with them. This works best for them. Um, some of them it's they really want to control what their kids are learning and how they're learning it. Um, and then we've also got social and behavioral challenges. We got kids who um having a lot of kids with anxiety and other other social um situations, especially at the middle school level, but even in fourth and fifth grade, we start to see that. Uh but generally, elementary levels, it's kids whose parents really want to homeschool them, but they want additional support. Middle school, it's it's kids who have something else going on. Um whether that's mental or uh
036physical, mental, emotional health issues or uh travel situations. Um the elementary program it's it's been fairly consistent. We've kind of operated the same way for several years. This is Maddie MSAS. She's our teacher K through five. They have um daily in-person meets. She alternates between math and reading. It's 30 minutes per class. Uh and so she meets with every class K through five, 30 minutes each. And so she again alternates between math and reading. Um on Fridays we have an inerson activity. For example, tomorrow we're having a field trip to Rogue Gallery, which is going to be very cool. But a lot of times on Fridays we have an inerson uh art or science activity. The kids and families come in. So we'll generally have uh as many as 15 kids and almost as many
037adults in there. So that's kind of our connection time with our students. Um teach also provides one-on-one support for kids. So, she's teaching for about 5 hours and then she's scheduling one-on-one sessions online with students to help support or parents even parents want help with how to teach their kid a certain thing. She does that remotely as well. They also have access to PE uh music and library. And I have to say Kent's not here, but Orchard Hill has been great as far as fitting us in. The PE teacher at Orchard Hill actually schedules our kids um this year, which is really cool. They're excited about that. and we have access to the library and the library media manager does some work with our kids too. So it's worked out really well. Um so the
038teacher as I mentioned teaches directly reading and math. She also has science some social studies activities and science activities. Um and uh we follow all the same curriculum as the rest of our district schools. Amplify for reading ready math you know math. Um, but all of that stuff is done with again half hour a day of direct instruction, but most of it is the parents delivering the instruction at home in those other areas. Um, in the middle school, this it's a little different. This is our new teacher, by the way, Shannon Harley. She's been spectacular. Um, I don't know if you guys had a chance to meet her at all, but um, she's been really great. We got her most recently from she was most recently in Tucson, but has been a great addition to
039our school and our district. Um, so she meets with the whole middle school online once per week. That's our ball meetings we call it. And that's kind of a logistical meeting. And then she meets with each kid one-on-one once a week as well. >> Um, she provides support academically. U, she provides one-on-one appointments again with students um, even outside of the one-on-one meet with uh, kids if they have additional questions. She's there to help them with that. And then students have access to extracurriculars through TMS. And we do have kids take advantage of those. Uh whether it's band or basketball or whatever, kids kind of come and go into those programs. All of our instruction is in Edmonton on uh the middle school side. So that's the same program that a almost called you guys
040ATI. >> We'll take it. >> ACCS, but uh same program they use uh it's a pretty decent online education platform. Um kids are going to take the same classes and they would in person uh with the exception of electives. I've talked about electives before. We are starting a Talmaker City elective next Thursday by the way which is cool. Um but we have tons of online elective options which is really neat uh for our kids. Um the electives go for one semester long and the rest of the classes are year long obviously and we have an advisory class and that's where that's the all meet class and that's where we do our instruction. We do use wayfinder elementary and middle school just like all the rest of our schools do. This is our um this is
041our uh state report from last year. It's really interesting when you've got you know 20-ish kids who take a test which your percentages can do year to year. So I think if you look at this our class size was down seven. Um regular tenders was up 23% increase right? So that doesn't mean a lot because there's only a few kids. So one or two kids changing swings those percentages a lot. And the same thing for English language arts and math. um scores. You can see we're down 27% in English language arts, up 11% in math. Again, that's one or two kids difference in each of those. So, I'm not sure how valuable that is, but they put it out, so I figured I'd show it to you guys. Plus, everyone else is going to show
042you this, too. So, I didn't want you to think I was covering it up. Um, are I ready? So, I ready is actually, I think, a little bit better indicator for us. And so this is uh where our students are uh in terms of their high reading placement. And you this looks very similar to almost every year. We have about a third of our kids who are on grade level or above. And this happens to be reading. You'll see math next. And about a third who are below grade level. Um so or two or more I should say below grade level. So it's really interesting. We get some really high achievers and some really struggling kids. And this looks different than what you're going to see I think from our other schools. you'll see a
043more um a more varied pattern than than this. And in math, same kind of look. So um but it looks similar year after year in terms of our math and reading already placement. Our goals and these goals are developed jointly with our entire staff of four people. So I don't want to say I just made these goals. This is our staff's goals. And so what we try to do is we look at where are our strengths and weaknesses from last year. What do we want to work on this year? This these are the things that we identified for this year. So building community and sense of place of belonging that we have every year because it's such a difficult thing for us to do as a remote school is to try to build community and
044a sense of belonging. So we work on that uh every month. We talk about this in our staff meetings too. Our attendance just as part of our general schoolwide and districtwide attendance push. We want to be great when it comes to attendance. And so those are things that we do. And then math, I think math is something that all of our schools can point to as an area that we want to get better. So that's an area that we are also trying to get better. And so here's some of the things that we do with that. So that is it for PT. I'm happy to entertain two questions. >> Go ahead. Do you have mental? >> I do. >> Yeah. >> Um, can you go back to the previous slide, please? >> Maybe two. >>
045Thank you. Okay. Thank you. So, these goals are they they're made up by the four of you. >> Yep. >> I love that. Do you have do you get input from families, previous families that will kind of give you some sort of strategy or pathway to create some sort of goals that are >> Yes, you do. For sure. >> So, that community one. >> Thank you. We we survey our families and then we have follow-ups for those surveys to try to try to find out what can we do. This is our idea. These are our ideas. What can we do? We get feedback from families and we try to implement some of those things. I've talked about those some of those things in the past and some have been more successful than others. But yeah,
046we do reach out to families specifically to that one. Attendance and math I are less so because those are just things that we're doing in the district. Um but for sure we reach out to families every year a couple times a year about that to see what are your ideas, how are we doing. >> And how do these goals how are they in parody with the strategic goals of the district? >> With the what? >> Strategic goals of the district. >> Well, math and attendance directly, right? Those are in our strategic plan. Um the the top one well actually the top one is kind of related to a lot about what you're going to hear in our elementary presentation. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily in our strategic plan. certainly part of what we talk
047about all the time in the district. >> Okay. >> But but specific to our school, it's just a little different. >> Erin, what what drives what reasons are people coming to PT throughout the year that that causes your enrollment to to have that pattern that it has. And then kind of along with that, >> talk to me about the grade distribution. Is it is it pretty evenly spread throughout K through eight or what does that look like? >> No. So after doing this for five years, we we're really clear about what drives it. So for for elementary, it's strictly driven by um uh family moving who pass. Okay. People who come in who maybe were in a homeschool environment or we're in some kind of thing like OAS or whatever >> in another area, they
048want something like that. >> That's what drives elementary. We don't get generally, I don't want to say exclusively, but generally we don't get students who were in one of our elementary schools coming over >> to us. Now, >> as it happens, we had one today that did that, but it's not common. Yeah. >> Um whereas at the secondary level, it's >> almost exclusively kids from TMS and it's things happening at >> the end of right before winter break, for example. You know, things have been maybe they've been struggling a little bit and right before a break, family says, "Let's try something different." As we get right now to the end of semester 1, like I said, we've got in the last last week and next week, last week, this week, and next week, I think
049we've had seven meetings, intake meetings for middle school kids. And it's it's usually, hey, we've done this for a whole semester. Things are not working, whether it's academically, socially, whatever. But that's the big driver. So, you get to an inflection point where end of semester, big freight coming up. Same things happens every year right before spring break. So we see it before winter break, end of semester one, right before spring break. And it's when families are kind of doing an assessment. How are we doing? >> Do we want to make a change? This is a good time to do it. So that's when we see those and those are middle school jumps typically. >> Yeah. Is that typically families making that decision or is that us helping people make that decision? >> Um I think
050it's a combination of both. We also have a compass program which is our alternative ed program that middle school can actually jump into. Well, so it's not just BT and there's options there. >> Yeah, they work with the administrators and say, "Hey, this is this is whether it's an attendance challenge or a social challenge or whatever, right? Out of the 35 students, how many of those students are already our students like didn't come from outside of >> that live in district right now? >> 33. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we have two out of district that are on interd district trans but one more maybe next week. Two more actually. Two more. >> So, might be a board next week. And I think that's an important thing for the board to understand is it's not a
051school of choice. You have to live within the boundaries of our district. Correct. Or we could do interdic transfers just like any other school. >> You have you have to do it on a transfer. It's not >> it's not Yeah. It's not it's not like a logos or >> and here's what uh we do in Aaron and send out a note every year or two. we know a list of people that are doing homeschool or other online charters or things of that nature and send them uh letters to say, "Hey, come and see us and see this is what we offer. We feel like we offer a great online environment for our families." Some of some of them have different um you know, I think guidelines or some I think we talked about it before.
052There's virtual charters that don't have to follow vision 22 standards that are that PARS does. So, um but but we feel like that's an opportunity there if we can get them into our door that they'll stay. Um it's just a matter of, you know, really reaching out and welcoming them and having them come in. So, >> yeah, that's one of our goals every year. Not one of our school goals, but one of my goals every year and our office managers to make sure we make contact with every family in our district who is not coming to our district. >> Um and make sure they know we are here. There's what we do. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> come talk to us. >> And what what point do you have to start? What what's the capacity at
053current staffing levels enrollment wise, would you say? >> Oh, we could easily Well, depending on the the breakdown >> if it if we continue to accelerate in uh secondary, we can we can accept many more secondary kids than elementary kids, but elementary she could easily serve 30. secondary she could serve 40 45 and she's only a halftime teacher. >> Yeah, she's she's only she's not a full-time FTE. She's half time. So it's 1.5 teachers per Kirect. >> I should have made that comment earlier, but yeah, she's halftime. So Okay. >> Um >> but but because she's not doing direct instruction, Yeah. she's just man kind of case managing, she can handle more kids. >> Got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. >> Can you explain the difference between the compass? I'm new here. So,
054what how does that different? >> Yeah, Compass is kind of our alternative setting. We have is and when uh Rachel was saying that's where our uh her special ed students get their special designed instruction, that's kind of our alternative ed setting at the high school, but it's a 6 through 12 program. So, so middle schoolers can access that as well. So, they could um and that's an in-person environment as well for for their kids. So, if it's not working out in the middle school, but they still wanted in-person meeting time with families more, then that could be an option. If they can handle that um instruction and uh workload in a virtual environment, then that's an option as well. >> And campus or compass is the choice for that. >> Yeah, that in person here
055at PHS, they've got a teacher mini who does that here >> with compass. >> Okay. Or into the high school. >> Yeah. and middle school kids as well. I don't know how middle school teach it's typically like that. It's not a ton, but it's an option for those kids. >> What are some of the intervention strategies for those students that are not attending or might be falling behind? Like how do the students or kiddos or the families kids the same students and families how are they getting re-engaged when they fall behind? I mean, I was looking at your >> kids who are in our school right now. >> So, we have we have goals and minimums for about five different metrics that we track monthly. And so, if for the middle school kids, that's time
056on task and adventum. It's time on task and I'm ready on both reading and math. Um, in ter also um diagnostics, also PE, they have to do log PE minutes. There's also attendance goals. And these are all goals and minimums. If a kid doesn't meet a minimum in any of those in a month, then we reach out to that family immediately and we're going to set up an intervention right away to get to the minimum at at minimum um for the bond. If they don't meet that minimum in the second month, then we're going to have a meeting and say, is this the best place for your kid? And that and we've had that happen. Middle school kids who spend two hours in Advent the whole month. You can't pass classes like that. >> So
057then we're going to say, look, >> this is not working. If there's a, you know, if there's a a logistical hurdle, we're going to try to solve it. But if it's just I'm in the work all day, my kid just sleeps in or plays games, I can't get him to work, maybe going back to TMS is the best thing for >> I have questions. Um, on the attendance you talked about, so a couple things like how do you track that? I I I heard you say about the elementary schools are coming in during the week. Um but also they're working at home. So h how do you track attendance? >> Attendance is interesting in a remote school. So we we kind of waffled around the first two years trying to figure out and working with
058the state to say how does attendance get properly counted in a remote school and we had leftover rules from COVID or distance learning rules, right? Those don't apply anymore. So, without getting too deeply in the weeds, a student has to have contact with their teacher every day in order to get attendance. And that contact has to be two-way. And it has to be meaningful. It can't just be, "Hey," you know, like a quick email like, "Hey, what's up?" There needs to be some level of interaction between those the teacher and the student. And so, we have lots of ways that we can have them do that. There's the elementary kids, they have online classes every every day. So, that's simple. They show up to their class online. they're in attendance. If they don't, there's other
059ways they can become in attendance, and that's through um some mechanisms we have in the Google classroom. Secondary, they do have three opportunities to see their teacher each week. Uh well, technically more, but at least three. Um beyond that, they have some check-in forms and some activities that they have to do every day to be in attendance. So, um I don't know if that answered your question. Great. But it's there are things they have to do to be considered present and if they don't do those, they get knocked out. >> Okay. And like was Heather full-time and then we went to half >> No, she so she was 6. >> Okay. >> Last several years and then when she retired and we looked at that program, you know, Brent said, "Hey, how do you think
060we should structure it or can we do something different maybe?" and I said, "Yeah, we could go to halftime." And we removed some of the duties associated with that for that extra point one. >> So, there are some things now that the elementary teacher does that Heather was doing last year. >> Um, so yes. >> And how has that changed the dynamic do you think of having I don't know just that shift in the teacher situation? >> Not at all really. Um, our new teacher Shannon is awesome. She works way more than halftime every day. I constantly tell her to stop emailing me like at 4 in the afternoon. Like, you don't you're not working right now. Stop it. Um, but so so there's no >> no drop off. >> All right. >> Diana has
061another question. >> I'm just wondering is there still truency laws and a truency officer that goes out because aren't in school? don't even have that in in schools in our in our county. >> Try court doesn't exist anymore. >> We don't enforce those those statutes. So all those things about buying kids $180 a day if they're not coming, those are >> if you miss a certain number of days of school in a row, then >> they'll be dropped. If you don't attend 10 consecutive days, you'll be dropped for right >> enrollment. Yeah. And that's true with us, too. Although we've never had a kid in that. >> Are you enforcing the cell phone policy? >> There is reference to that. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> You got like 10 >> each. showing up looking
062at people's >> window. I know. >> Well, good evening everybody. First before we start, I do want to say happy board appreciation month because I was not at the last do my statistics. >> Thank you for what you put in the box. >> You're welcome. >> I was like super. >> We appreciate you furthering your education, >> especially in stats. It's going to come in handy and skipping today. >> I did skip tonight just so you know, which is going to bite me in the bow. >> Well, right. >> You wouldn't think. >> All right, we'll get started. It's funny because Shannon and I were just uh talking about the different themes we've had over the years to kind of share where we are and they all are really rooted in collaboration. I think it's
063just one of our north stars. Uh obviously we would die without each other and without kid you know just being this group of three people running these beautiful buildings. um we really rely on each other and you know over the years have built up these systems that really kind of allow everybody to collaborate as much as possible in meaningful ways. That's kind of our vision. And so um we've been working a lot on our systems over the years um because we know that when we're our systems are working the kids are going to do well. And so this year's theme was coherence through collaboration because I think we're getting there. We're getting really close to some really coherent systems that ser serve the kiddos the best way that we know research. >> Great. >> That
064feels weird. So, um we're going to give you some quick data updates, you know, share this year's demo data like what our buildings are looking like. Um talk a little bit more about this notion. All of our students, it's all of our work. everybody who interfaces with the school in any capacity. It's their job. It's our job. And uh we'll talk a little bit about our inclusive classrooms this year. Um guided by inclusive learning communities and thinking about what we do exposing that. Then we'll talk about getting our targets focused on those systems. Sean's going to talk about that and then how we can include you in some of our stuff a little bit more meaningful and deeper. So, um, our data updates, this will be really quick. Um, so here we are. This is
065where we're sitting this year, um, with our kiddos. You can see that we were looking at last year's data table and it's quite similar, um, in many ways. I will say that, you know, Shauna's bed population did go up pretty pretty significantly. Ours I found was a a little tiny bit, but they're pretty three distinct po student populations that we serve in this little area of the valley. So >> I'll say too, one of our indicators that that changed drastically was our MKB. If you remember last year, it was like at I can't remember exactly, but it was pretty high and we're only at 2% right now. So our quite >> Can you break down some of these? Um >> Yeah, sure. Yeah. Bipod would be, you know, can you can you give me some
066abbreviations what they stand? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Black indigenous people of color bipod. So non-white population of students. LEAP stands for limited English proficiency. So our students who are learning English as a second language who we serve through our EL services. SPED is special education services. Migrant are students who come from families who um are migrant workers or work in seasonal work. It could be in works. It could be forestry. So they have some qualifications to make that little marker. And then MKB is the McKenna Bento Act. So those are our homeless students or unhoused students or doubled up. So those are like Shauna pointed out we see that number go down stable house. So um we these are our you know years past uh smarter balance in attendance rates at the end of the
067year and then where we're kind of trending right now in our I Ready in this year's JAV meeting landed a little bit sooner than last year. So we haven't had very much time this month to bust out this assessment. So, we're saying trending because I'm not sure how far along Orchard Hill was. Not very far. Yeah. So, it's trending in that, you know, there's only a small certain percentage of that Orchard Hill who's done with their assessments just because there just hasn't been a lot of time the way the calendar worked. You know, they've been back to school two and a half weeks, right? Y and then there was MLK on Monday. So, uh the teachers are still busting those out, but that's kind of where we're trending. Um, and you can see, uh, things
068are looking up. Here's Shauna's school. Oh, and I will go back. Sorry. Uh, these numbers on the bottom, these are our building level targets. So, for Orchard Hill, his target is 80% in attendance, 55 in reading, and 45 in math based upon the scores over the years aligned to our strategic plan. So, we all kind of have different little goal areas depending on where we start, right? >> Yeah. So, Sha. So, as you can see, like we like each year we've kind of got we've progressed in each of the subject areas except for ELA for us last year, which we knew we would kind of take a little bit of pit, but we're trending in the right direction with our current um I Ready. And this is the column that I'm talking about right now.
069Um with math, we're only 70% of the way through this assessment. So, even though it says 18%, I suspect that that's going to go up. And then with attendance, we've grown significantly over the last few years. um our 80 3030 is what we're calling our goals this year. Um we're trending above 80% the whole and have been for the whole year. So we're we're doing well with attendance which is really good. >> And for talent um this is kind of our trends. You can see that things are looking up as well especially um we're really really proud of the big jump we did make in our math scores last year. So, I'm really hopeful, you know, that as we get more more coherent in our instructional routines in math that we're going to keep seeing
070that bump because we have a pretty high target of 55 in both reading and math and 85 in our uh attendance. And this the funny thing about the attendance, how we measure it and we obsessively check it is it goes up and down like two to three to 4% and we're like every day we might lose our mind. not lying. We're like, jeez, why are we so obsessive about it? But we are, as you can probably tell. We do weird things like wrap ourselves in wrapping paper and just whatever it takes. Right now, we're on a Mustang buck at my school and, you know, we had the hot cocoa thing recently. So, just whatever it takes to really motivate those kids and get them excited to feel like, oh yeah, it's cool there. You know,
071my daughter had her uh dentist appointment this morning and she was like, "Oh my god, we won't get 100%." And I'm like, "They're just gonna be tardy an hour." You'll be okay. You'll get your Mustang buck. Um so they know it's a big deal. We talk about it all the time. Um so, you know, as we were like, "Oh, what do we want to share that's kind of new and different?" You know, we went to full inclusion classrooms this year, which has been beautiful. Um, but then really we're like, "Oh, yeah. We're it's all of our students and all of our work." When we say all of our kids or all of our kids all over and over again because I don't know, it's a human condition to try to categorize and start people. We
072do that, right? And we talk about kids, oh, that's a tier three kid. No, tier three is a service, an extra intervention that children get. And so we've been really trying to change our uh how we talk about it, you know, because we want to ensure that all of our kids are all of our kids and it's all of our work to try and continuing to message that not just in our buildings but in families and with the greater community at large. So um first um all means all. We say this a lot and we really do mean that. All means all. and when when hard things happen, we have to message that to families, too. Um, so we'll talk a little bit more about our inclusion efforts to have fully included classrooms. We'll talk
073about how all means all in our our district level PLC's and then of course in family engagement. Um, when we were kind of planning for this meeting, um, Kent said, you know, he's like, you know, it's so weird. It's not been that long that we've gone full inclusion, but we TLC is almost not in our lexicon anymore. We don't even talk about it, you know. And so TLC was our transitional learning center classrooms, which were those sightbased classrooms where we had some of our kids with more significant needs. And it's so amazing how just, you know, a few months into this year that we don't even talk about TLC, right? It's not even not even a thing. And so this is really what we're aiming to say, you know, where we're trying to go in
074our district and we know that um inclusive education has really become embedded in our culture when we don't even have to say it. It doesn't have to mention it's it's what it is, right? So that's kind of our pie in the sky. But these are and I know I don't know when we're going to share some of the outcomes that Brent asked if we need to pull, but this is also in line what with what we experience every day with our kiddos. Um when we have all of our kids pushed into our general uh classrooms, we have positive peer models, which is a big deal. Um what we know about neurology and neuron neurons and how brains work and especially really sensitive kids, pure modeling is a big deal. And we'll share that data with
075you later on about um fewer behavioral incidents, fewer referrals, fewer fewer suspensions, fewer staff injuries and stuff because kids have models to look at and emulate. So it's been beautiful. Um and they're making friends. It's really cute. Um >> also important the whole mission of education, right? We're going to try to teach them and so they're getting access to um grade level content in ways that they hadn't. Um, and this is a little old little quote from one of my kiddos who I've just been like so proud to see. I'm a smart boy. I can feel my brain working. This is a fifth grader who's learning multiplication and he's like, "Wow, they can actually do it." You know, like he's grappling with grade level content in ways that he hadn't been before. So, I just
076feel so proud and and watch and I'm really really excited. that I folks have been like kind of nerding out about just tracking the data over time about how much growth they can make when they are pushed into a gened classroom. So, it's just been so fun. I'm like, "Can we pull it now?" She's like, "It's only been a few months." Let's go parents because I just believe the proof is in the hooding. Yeah. >> We can sit the numbers don't fly. We feel it anecdotally dayto day when you see the kids interacting see them you know working alongside their peers and doing the grade level you're like oh god it is working holy cow but their data will be beautiful and so excited so it's three cheers for her for all of her leadership
077um and then of course when we belong when we know we're part of a team we're going to show up for our teams and um the attendance data for this population is pretty incredible And as a district and elementary, you can see we're up all over the boards. So when we create the sense of belonging, that all means all, really, you want to be there because who doesn't want to be part of the fun? Um, and when we talk about all means all for our um elementary teacher teams this year, we did do a a slight shift. Um, and we were like, gosh, what's our next step in our PLC journey? PLC's are professional learning communities. I am sorry. I know >> with these things. I could probably write a manuscript on them. Um so
078teachers participate in professional learning communities which traditionally were grade level teams at elementary within a building. Um and so last year whatever the last six years we've been working on resetting some really procedures and protocols and systems with that. And so this year we took a lead. Um last year we were working on some unit planning stuff in our buildings teams and this year we said you know what we're going to shift it. Um so now we have weekly virtual meetings districtwide with grade levels. It's really um I was I was kind of nervous because I'm like oh are they going to take it seriously because we're meeting virtually is different you know just a different kind of feel to it. Um but they love it the teachers love it. Um, and so what they're
079working on was those unit plannings in language arts and math. And so, you know, we have some really rich programs and they so they're going through the process of looking at their units together, planning together. Um, some of them if they're new to the grade level are learning the whole unit the first time. If they've taught it before, then they're offering guidance and mentorship to one another. Um, another beautiful thing that's come out of it is they're giving each other, they're holding each other accountable for pacing updates. And so what I mean is that, you know, our curriculum is designed for a year and it's easy to get behind. And if you get behind, the students are not exposed to the entire program. They're missing a piece of how high, right? And so every week
080they talk about where are you at? Are we on pace with our pacing guides? And so they're holding each other accountable in really um professional ways that hadn't been happening before when it was just building level. Um and then they're talking about common assess with um administration so that we know that we're measuring in the same way. So it's an more of an equity issue. Um I think I can't remember what grade level I was in. Gosh. Um but we get to pop in these two. By the way, it's way easier virtually than in person because you get really stuck. But when when all the teachers are all online at the same time meeting, we have the ability to, you know, be able to jump into those meetings and kind of listen in and try
081to see how we can better support them. But part of their process and their unit planning is a reflection piece, which is really cool to hear because that's when teachers are learning how to do it better and they're sharing it with one another. And they really um side effect that I don't know why I didn't anticipate but they really are holding each other to that higher professional standard because it's new people right especially I don't know talent has a really stable teaching you know course that we don't have a lot of turnover just a lot of people have been there for a while so you get kind of laps when you're around the same buddy you know oh we've been teaching together 20 years it just gets a little bit you know relaxed which it
082is nice to have relaxation and you know feel that comfort but when you have a little bit of kind of rub where you're like oh there's a new person here I want to you know it's just really leveled up the professionalism which I just think is beautiful. >> Um and then we started some district-wide core reviews. So we'll have all of our third grade teachers looking at third grade data as a district because all means all right of these kids are all of our kids and we do get them bouncing around our building. So that has been excellent. Um, and we're still working on family engagement. This is what I call the now predictable framework because we've been doing it for several years. Um, you know, when we invite our families in and Rebecca gets
083to experience this. We always try to have a connection building activity. We share our data transparently. We work on capacity building. How can we support learning at home with our families? And then we set some goals. Um, this little picture on the oops should be the wrong buttons where up here this is a little tea chart from one of the evenings. What information is helpful to receive at these family nights? Um, kids I don't know. I don't know. You know what the kids know? But that that's important because it's for the families is upcoming upcoming events, child participation, school year goals, child social skills. um discussing ways to improve uh attendance, future events, progress goals, progress monitoring, and a progress report. Those are what people are saying to us about what they want to do,
084which is great, right? This is kind of You want to share about this? >> She's going to hand this out. Um >> well this was just when Heather and I were in um New Orleans presenting about our uh our family engagement work. We decided we were going to go to this other presentation by the ESD and because it was Tanya Fzendall and she's part of our ESD and she's been supporting our family engagement work here. And so we show up and then all of a sudden there's this huge report and they like it's a case study on us and we're like we're going to like talk about our engagement but this is a good report on our our family engagement assessment work that we've done for in 2022 and then again in 2025. And so
085it was like oh and we were like all of a sudden like the stars of the presentation and we didn't even know that that was going to happen. So I'm like thankfully we wait to this session. Um, but then then she gave us all of the extra copies and I'm like, "What you going to do with these?" I was like, "Wow, you guys want to look at that?" So, for your reading pleasure tonight or, you know, or you know, whenever feel free. >> It was really funny. We were like, "Oh, that's us." >> So funny. But it's a great report and so we're like, we'll get to share those out. So this year with family engagement, you know, one some of the refining steps that we're taking in this work is thinking about how to
086integrate families better, more uh uh intentionally with the curriculum resources that our students are accessing. So we're working on integrating those into our family nights. As I said, they're obsessed with attendance. Um there's a cute picture of some of the kids having hot purple on a cold day because we get 90% um as a school. And um the next thing we're kind of scheming up in the near near future are these family learning walks and it's a strategy that uh Sean and I learned about when we were in New Orleans this fall. So basically just getting families in the buildings to learn a little bit more to get a little bit more familiar with like how does the school system work. It's changed a lot since our parents have been in school. Obviously if you've
087looked at math anytime in the last I don't know 10 years people are like what is this? So it it'll be a really really exciting um thing to start. There you go. So the next thing that I want to talk about just like hitting the target and so our um we have like really is we we've talked over the years around our leadership teams within our schools. So each school has different leadership teams that we have. So we're moving more toward district level leadership teams. And so we are using our Wednesdays where we're gathering people from all three schools to look at these curricular decisions around implementation of curriculum implement implementation of strategies. So our first one was called Dilt and that's the district implementation leadership team. We then didn't realize that a year later
088we were going to do a math one. So this is our ELA team basically. And so that what we're doing in those teams we meet once a month but they're taking a deep dive into the standards of practice on how you teach reading. all of the really finite components of it and becoming very crystal clear about how that should be done, what's the best instructional strategies, the best engagement strategies, how they build on one another. So, we're really becoming clear and targeted about what everybody person should be doing at different grades to help support reading and literacy in our schools. With that, we have the help of Oregon RTI, which stands for Oregon Response to Intervention and Instruction. So they're a group that we are part of the 12 cohort. So we've been working with
089them over the last three years and basically they're helping us really look at our our system which is our core instruction, our interventions when our core instruction need when kids need more support and then our individualized supports that kids might need in all areas. So this could be in reading, this could be in math or this could be in behavior and so or even in attendance. So, so when you hear s things like MTSS or organ RTI, MTSS stands for our multi-tered systems of support. So, it's just like the overarching category of all of the things that are education. Um, so what we're doing right now is we're refining our handbook. So, we haven't done a handbook in probably 15 years. I think was the last time we did our ebis handbook is what we
090used to call it. So we're really getting clear crystal clear about what are our decision rules about how well kids are doing and when we should do supports and interventions and things like that. So this guilt team is working on that. And then the last thing that they're doing as they're meeting is that they're really figuring out what is it that our teachers need, what kind of professional learning and what kind of professional development. So, Javier and Karing Calhoun, our um our our literacy coach, do a lot of work around how do we then continue to support our teachers to learn more information about how to do the the standards of practice. So, they're doing a lot of professional development for teachers. So, that's our team. And then we also have a milk team that
091was formerly led by Jamar Boy. um she due to budget cuts, she's now in the classroom, but she's still leading a lot of this work for our math implementation leadership team. So, our team this year for math is focusing on two standards of practice. We really want our teachers getting really good about posing purposeful questions and we really want them to engage kids in student in discourse. So, getting kids talking about math. So engagement strategies around think pair. It used to be think pair share. And now that's just not enough. We are doing structured partner talks. You're an A. You're a B. You're an A. You're a B. A. Say to B. Hm. B. You're going to revoice and say this. So we're getting really technical with our skills around how we are increasing engagement
092so that kids we know when they're talking about math, they're going to be learning more math. So we're doing a lot of work around that. The mill team is also working on a uh we a few years ago did a program called SEKs where we had teachers observing each other. So we're creating our own kind of version of that again where teachers are learning from each other. So when they go into classrooms it's really for the benefit of the observer not the person being observed. So when we do instructional walks we're observing teachers and then giving them feedback. This is the opposite of that. It's teachers walking in and gleaning what can I learn from these teachers with respect to these two specific um outcomes that we would like or standards of practice. And then
093again this team is also doing a lot around professional development and helping kids teachers learn about we're focusing a lot on assessment right now getting ready for the smarter balance. And when we say that, the thing that we're really refraraming is that we used to talk about Smarter Balance Prep, the test, but what we really kind of miss when we say things like that is that we're really measuring essential skills. The Smarter Balanced Assessment is measuring the essential skills that we know kids need in order to be successful moving forward. And so sometimes I think we get a little um what's the word where you get a little like test focused, but the test is a really important measure of how kids are doing with these essential skills that we know they need. So we're
094really embracing that and and trying to do a lot to prepare students to be successful on this test. And then in our upcoming family engagement meetings, we're going to be doing a lot of support around helping families know what these essential skills look like. So, for example, like this week, last week, we had our K12 teachers and we gave them the third grade reading assessment. And then we said, okay, what in this do you think is that what building blocks do kids need in order to be successful on this assessment? The crazy thing is is if you were to take the third grade reading assessment, and I think we're going to actually have you do it at some point in the future, is there like they have to like read the instructions and then read
095two very long passages twice. they have to read it twice and then they have to pull out information and be able to write a pretty coherent paragraph in third grade. So it it's just really important that we know we all know that and that families know that and that teachers are preparing kids for that. So that's a lot of what both the melt and adults team are working on and then along with that so we have two targeted district teams and then we're doing a lot of targeted feedback towards these skills. So when we as administrators walk into classrooms, we're doing a lot of individual observations, but we're doing even more co-observations than we've done in the past. We've we've in our ad team meetings, we've met at different buildings, and then we are in
096teachers classrooms a lot more giving really specific feedback on these specific things that we're looking for, especially when it comes to engagement and then curriculum implementation. So we're getting really targeted those I think. >> So our final slide you are included. First of all I I love this and all means all and that means you too. So trust grows when people are welcomed into the process not just the outcomes. So I know what we at these meetings share with you a lot is a lot of the outcomes and who we are and then also a little bit of the process work. I feel so grateful. We I'm speaking for everybody here. We have the world's best board. You come to events all of the time. You are present. You are curious. We appreciate that. And
097if you want even more, we want you to feel free to join in. If you want to come to a Tuesday uh PLC meeting, they're every Tuesday from 2:55 to 3:45. You can just give Heather, I or Kent a call, and we will zoom you in and patch you in. They're really incredible to watch >> and you and I I they're open. These teachers are they're working really hard and they're really collaborating. It's really cool to see. We have PL So we have PLC meetings. We have Wednesday early releases, something that the board has supported for a really long time. We invite you to come check out some of the professional learning. We've been really intentional about utilizing that time wisely because we know it's a gift. We're taking that learning away from students because
098we know teachers need time to do professional development. So, you're welcome to any of that. We do four reviews three times a year where we look at our all of the data that we are just sharing with you and we review it and then we make strategies and plans based on that. So, if you want to join in on that, you're welcome. And then we will be doing some uh we do instructional walkthroughs and then we'll be doing some learning walks, which I think that that might be a better place for you to come in is doing when we do our family learning walks. Um, but I just want you to know you're you're free. Feel free to join. Every year you always ask what can we do? Like you're already doing a lot. So,
099but feel free to join in those things. And then, uh, we just want to say thank you so much. Uh, leadership is not about being in charge. It's about taking care of those who are in in your charge. And I feel like all of us leaders up here feel that you do just that. We feel really taken care of by you. Um, so, thank you for just doing your work, your role, and and trusting us to help lead these schools. So, do you have any questions? >> Can you explain the family learning walks a little bit more? >> Yeah. >> Wow. So, we really want families to be more embedded in our, you know, what it means because I think >> Whoa. And we're working on our kind of observation protocol so that it doesn't
100feel like a judgy kind of thing. Yeah. Right. As a teacher, you're like, what am I doing? >> So, it's them, but physically they're coming into the classroom. >> Yeah. wrote a protocol to like kind of further what we're doing in our family nights to be like, you know, like when we say this, this is what it means because eventually the pie in the sky is that families are leading those training sessions for one another because they know so well how to be successful in our schools that they say, "Hey, it's fine now. I got this." >> Um, we've seen that, right? You bet. Did you get to go to San Diego >> back in the day when we got to see some of that? We've seen some models across the country where families are
101really really poised to take some of this on to help us and it's so powerful when families are learning from one another and it happens organically in our family meetings when we invite them on. We'll be like what's working for you and you know we'll have those conversations but for them to be able to eventually take some of this on would be really cool. That's what our way of their goal is. >> Yeah. And I think the continuum is thinking about this idea of we call it family engagement, but we really want is family partnership. And so that partnership can look differently. And I know when families are going to come in, they're going to be looking through the lens of what is how does this benefit my child because I think that most people
102think through that. And so we know that they're the experts of their like lives at home and so how can what they see here be translated to what things they can be doing at home to support learning that way or you know there's lots of endless possibilities and stuff. But it's really on our continuum to move from just involvement to engagement to true family partnership is what we're >> and empowerment. Yeah. >> What does that look like specifically for your school with the bilingual population being a little higher there? >> Say that again. >> What does that look like in your school where you have a higher a higher group of Spanish speaking students? >> Like just in terms of what partnership would look like? I think right now we have a really like a
103solid like you know like a core group of like well not even just a core group like we are our our doors are open in terms of like making sure we're being responsive to what famil family's needs are and their and their desires but also it's it rests on the school to help build the capacity because we're kind of experts in the educational part of it. And so what we need through these partnerships is kind of like doing kind of uh creating relationships by being in relationship with families and then also like through our family nights having families connect with each other. I mean that's a big part of what we're doing in the work there and then just having a better understanding of what what our standards are and what are we like being
104measured on and so how can we work together to to make that happen. So that answer your question. >> Yeah. I would love for you to share with Denise those dates or times or whatever and so we can have those so I can calendar them and be there. >> We would love it. >> We're just working on our our protocol. We're, you know, I've drafted some stuff, gotten feedback from Shauna, gotten feedback from one of our consultants. Next step, teacher feedback because we're not doing it without their input, >> right? But I'm talking about like all those ways that we can Yeah. Absolutely. I think too just being real clear with our staff, you know, that you've invited the board and what our what we're showing up to do and what we're not showing up
105to do. Um, but that's wonderful. >> Thank you. Your guys's reputation precedes you in the best way possible. >> Everybody trusts you and knows that like your interest is to support them. There's, you know, the purpose in you. Everybody trusts you guys. I wish you'd be here. >> I don't think your presence would make any feel threatening at all. I think it would just be like, oh, they're here. But we would absolutely heads up. Yeah, >> correct. >> It's perfect. >> I have a few questions. >> Yeah. >> Thank you both so much for such an incredible and robust and very lively presentation. Like I love the PowerPoint. I love that it just was very bright and concise. Um, so thank you for that. And in your invitation of having us be more engaged, um
106I have made a request of the schools to ensure that there's language accessibility for all of the um events that we have and it's something that I still see that we can absolutely improve upon. So in your commitment to be more inclusive and create spaces of belonging and kind of tying the question that Paulie asked that I really love like how do parents know and sometimes I love that we have a very diverse population and sometimes we have well not sometimes we absolutely have leadership that doesn't necessarily represent the communities that we serve. So there's gaps in how to better support our families. So, um, with that, I really believe in language accessibility to ensure that we are truly doing what we're professing that we do. And I do think that you're absolutely right. We
107have a really beautiful reputation for a lot of different things and there's still a lot of growth for us to do. So, my hope continues. Not my hope, my request. My absolute dire request. And I say that with a lot of um emotion and pain. We need to create spaces where people feel safe, where people know that they can come here and be supported. And I know that, you know, this is a really beautiful school district and I'm so proud when I hear all over the community how much people love and respect the district and we still have so much growth. So my hope is that we do um without having people asking us can you provide interpretation that it is just an miraculous and I continue to say that I extend myself to support
108folks on how to do um interpretation how to make things more accessible how to engage families. I get excited about this concept of family walking tours. That's not what you call it. You call it something else. Um, but how do we really engage and co-create with these families? And it isn't an afterthought because for so long, for too long, this continues, this inclusion piece continues to be an afterthought. Like, oh, we forgot. I'm grateful that we now have um more um our social media now is more bilingual. I love love love that. Thank you. And it must be something that we do um family nights, not graduations, um but transition from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school. Um my request is that and um and I and I hear the heart and
109I still see, you know, there's there's these both things that are happening. like I acknowledge it's 7:00 and you're here and you have beautiful families at home that love you and need you and there's a lot to do and my hope is not to be an extra burden but to really be more thoughtful and inclusive of the families that we get to support because once those families truly see that they are this is a place for them to feel I heard you say not just involved and engaged but it's a partnership and an empowerment then people will show up in really beautiful ways and I mean we have such a large diverse population. Thank God for that and um we can do better. So I'm happy to schedule times with any and all of you
110to ensure that this is something that we continue to do for the families. Some families don't ever come because language because they might not understand civic engagement or engagement within their kids school period. Um, so how can we create pathways inspired to mitigate those gaps better? So that's my question. Nancy, do you have a because you're talking to the elementary group, do you have a specific elementary specific something that you've seen or heard about recently that feedback and I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but you know, I think you have a lot of good general feedback there, but for for the elementary group, like what's something specifically that you see as a big gap right now in terms of accessibility access? Like >> I mean I think that when there's family nights
111unless it's specific I will highlight LA. She's phenomenal. She has worked in this district for so long. Has the trust of the community. People go to LA. They might not go to Shauna. They might not go to any of the other administrators um because they don't have a connection or relationship with them. I'm not saying they don't. I'm just saying in general when really deep things happen they don't always know where to go at the middle school when Blanca was there. Oh my gosh, I love Blanca and I miss her. Um, but she really engaged folks at the middle school and she had such a robust opportunity to like engage and people were a lot more involved. Um but at the high school I know that it has made a huge difference having Erica and
112it's not that um >> I know I'm talking specifically elementary. >> Yes. >> What what do you see as the biggest gap for language accessibility right now? >> What is it? Promotion and family nights. >> So just events having >> interpretation that there's Yeah. And even like what are the goals? How do people know that these are their this is their road mapap? Like how does that go? >> The cool thing about is that technology translates everything into the language of preference. So like anytime we send communication home and invitation >> not for me. >> They're doing a great job like that. >> Poor J. you know, like we invite people in to come in, but we're kind of living in a little bubble, our bilingual program. And so we have so many bilingual staff
113and so our family nights are held in those bilingual classrooms with our students who have, you know, so like we're kind of living in like, oh, of course we have translation because everybody speaks Spanish, you know, like half of our schools are speaking Spanish. And so it's kind of like, >> but I know what you're saying. There's especially now creating safe spaces where they feel built that deep sense of belonging and that we can you know >> it's a very scary time. I mean I am a US citizen but I can't tell you how many times I walk into spaces where I go how am I perceived here and I have layers upon layers upon layers of privilege and I feel that I mean I felt that every day. I feel it every day. There's
114resources that I know of that I can, you know, reach out to. There's also families that don't have that. So rather than the waiting like, well, we have that, it's really about providing that without the ask. Well, and what I'm hearing you say is having trusted staff members at our schools who can connect with families is is so vital, too. But um yeah, thank you. How much is there both English and Spanish and Bridian written like the menus, school menus or signs in the hallway? All those >> and my hope is that yes, the elementary just presented, but this is really in general for the high school and the middle school and you know just in general, not not just that. So if I did not make that >> I have a question. So when
115it's been a long time, my boys are now adult, but when the boys went to town elementary, the assemblies were in English and Spanish. >> Are they still in English and Spanish? >> Uh, okay. >> My my kids went through the school district and they were never in English and Spanish. Well, I know that I remember that there was a time that they were in English and Spanish and some parents came up to me and complained that they were English and Spanish and I said, "Well, everyone should learn and so they walked away." But so I know that one year, at least one year, the assemblies and the parent night. I remember um being at the barbecue with the firefighters and it was spoken in in English and it was spoken in Spanish. So, I'm
116guessing that's not happening anymore. I did my best with my Spanish. I sucked so bad. But like at the fifth grade promotion, I'll trans like translate my speech. I didn't go back and forth >> because it it's sounds horrible, but it's worth it. >> When the boys were there, it was a Spanish speaking person that spoke. >> Yeah. And we have that too available. Like, >> but you're not doing it every single assembly and every single parent night. >> We don't have a lot of families coming to our assemblies. We do monthly assemblies and so when we think about kind of just our our language model, there's times when we would when we want to do bilingual and times when we want to be monolingual because that's the language. So last year when we had
117Christian as our behavior manager, he definitely did a lot of translation for that for the students. Um when we have like you know fifth grade graduation, we're using the translation devices. So we have somebody a translator speaking into a microphone that then gives that. Um but like thinking about just yesterday our winter perform per performance we did not have a translator for the introduction of that. So thinking about those things I think we definitely I hear you loud and clear that we have lots of room to increase and grow >> and knowing that like it's not just about having the one person how to create a culture where people feel like they have access the agency to affect change or to influence decision making things like that. So that's always the aim and you know
118like what are the strategies that we're going to do to ensure that that happens is is still always a work in progress and we're feel like we've done a lot of experimenting over the last few years with like when we did um appreciative inquiry cycles like like most the only people that showed up were our Hispanic families to that and so like that let like Laura Mlette that basically just translated all of the work and we got a lot of information from that around what their concerns were and at that time we were doing it on attendance, but their biggest concern was where are the teachers? My child is saying that my teachers are gone all the time. And we've had we've grown a lot in both our student attendance, but our teacher attendance has
119also increased significantly. So just, you know, as we've kind of dealt with with issues over time, they surface themselves. But what I hear you saying is that the onus should be on us. I said that our job is to help build capacity for families. So, it's our job to ensure that we have spaces and to reach out and not to just make sure they're asking. >> Thank you. Thank you for the call back. >> Well, I think as as as wonderful as the staff connections are, >> when we are dependent upon individuals >> and it's not necessarily ubiquitous culturally or systematically, that's where we can have these es and flows. We we Nancy and I were talking about a committee that we started last year focused on a very specific topic that just kind of
120fell off and you know we need to restart that again but you know when it's dependent on individuals that it can be you know things can can um be inconsistent and so >> thank you Michael and speaking about that inconsistency like it it is really hard and I mean a lot of people say say oh you're on the board and the board kind of comes comes with a lot of power and influence. I don't feel that way because even when I ask for things like, you know, there's I don't necessarily feel like I have all that power and influence. Um, and I kind of do and I still feel like, oh, let me tippy toe around asking for this question. Can you imagine the families that feel completely different that don't have a relationship? I
121feel that I am an English speaker. I've been on this board for five years and I still feel that. So, it's incredibly hard. And rather than putting that responsibility and onus on the families, >> how can we, as you're saying, systematically and just simple dignity and respect, >> create systems where people can know that they feel fully welcomed, fully accepted, fully whole to show up however they show up because we're asking them to support their kiddos. We're asking them to help us. We're asking them to be partners with us. And it's really hard when people don't feel like they actually have something to off. And if there's already that power dynamic that is shifted and it isn't there, it's really difficult. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Um we are uh I'm going to give us
122five minute a five minute break um or six minute break. Let's reconvene at 7:15. We're running a little behind. I want to try to get everybody out of here as close to our end time as possible, but we are going to run over real quick. So, we'll see you at 7:15. >> Thank you. Okay. >> I know. I'm getting old. All right. Uh good evening everybody. Uh thank you for um yeah just giving this opportunity to share about Talent Middle School. um as kind of we get in I think uh really for me and I've said it a lot being able to go into year two um has been uh just very grateful to be in year two and what that has entailed knowing systems knowing kids knowing families um and so excited to share
123about talent middle school um I did and I shared this I think early on in the year and I kind of share this now not only is like middle school such a you know people always say it's such a tumultuous time for kids and it and um for families, but I also think um just the reality of the world that we live in right now um and uh whether it's uh yeah the constant negative information that we are constantly getting of beginning uh with hope um and I think uh for many of our kids families staff uh we all come from you know different backgrounds different things and I think relying on this thing of hope and hoping for a better future for our kids for our community and so I did this activity with
124staff and our first meeting together during Indian service and it was really answering the question what is your hope for our students um I also did the same activity with our first family night and answering the same questions um because again I think there's one thing of us of our individual hope but how do we come together with our collective hope I'm not going to read all of them u but this one that's uh right here um so I hope students know they're capable of doing hard things they belong they are loved and they feel safe. I think for a lot of uh kids that we work with um things get hard and that like grit and perseverance to kind of keep pushing forward and keep moving. Um and so I think that capable and
125then also feeling that belonging, feeling safe and I think for me wanting to create a school environment, culture um where that is reality, knowing that we have so much work to do but something that we're striving for each and every day. I'm going to cough throughout this and I'm sorry. Um, uh, just some of the highlights. I think another thing again like I really want our students to leave middle school as a good experience. I don't know how many adults I talked to every middle school was not the brightest years of photograph. Um, and so I think creating opportunities of joy um, for our students and all that. A couple of the pictures I'm going to share and I'm going to talk about this program. So the these are our eighth grade beers which is
126web which is where everyone belongs uh doing cookie decorating with our sixth graders and creating a more uh welcome environment for our sixth graders transitioning from elementary school. So thank you. Um, and then I have to point this out because I am competitive and I will always be competitive, but we do at our assemblies, we usually do a staff student challenge and this bulldog here on the other side it does say students win if they win. Um, but we won the last dodgeball competition. Um, and just hope that. But again, just us being able to laugh together. Um, I think it's important for our kids to see us doing group things and all that. So, um I'm helpful and that we want support. Um here is a breakdown of our student population. Um again, I
127think as the other um schools have talked about, I'm just grateful for um our student body um where they come from, different backgrounds, different abilities um and all of them have uh a voice um and it's important for me in that. And I think tying it to it like anytime looking at data and all those like and looking at um just numbers and realizing that each one of those numbers is a kid. Um and so just this quote every child deserves a champion an adult who will never give up on them who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they possibly can be. And I think something that transition for middle school for me is just is that you have insisting that they become the best. And it takes
128persistence. Um, and it takes maybe being cussed at a time or two. Um, but not giving up. Um, and continuing to show up. Um, and just knowing again each one of those kids, um, is a, uh, needs this. Um, and so, uh, this is something, and I know I talked about this last year too, like where we are at. These this is our beginning of year diagnostics. So, this is showing our students who are on grade level at the beginning of year. Um, so it would make sense that these numbers are lower. Um, if we came in and every one of our students were at grade level at their very first assessment, um, there'd be some, uh, it might not be the most appropriate spot that they would be. And so looking at where they
129are at now, as the elementary and other schools have mentioned, um, our students are in the middle of doing the diagnostic, the second one right now. Um, and so I have some of those numbers, but there hasn't been enough of our students to take them to be able to show. Um, one of the things I wanted to zoom in on, uh, tying it to our strategic plan and eighth grade math, and this was like just an area that I'm continuing to keep an eye on and look at. And so the the fall diagnostics, the first diagnostic, last year, our eighth graders were at 5% at or above grade level. This year, they're at 12%. Again, I mean that is an increase something that we're keeping an eye on, intrigued to see that impact as they
130continue on and see where they are at. Um, so far the second diagnostic for math about half of our students have taken it. Um, and we are at instead of 14, they're at 22. Um, but again, it's only half so it's hard to really kind of know where they're going to end up. Um, go um attendance wise. Uh so something that in this 90 to 100 so our regular attender rate uh that's something that we're measured by uh by the state students that show up 90% of the time currently with 73% of our students. Last year at this time it was like about 71. So we've stayed pretty uh similar with our with um our focus and our attendance teams and I'll get into that in a little bit. We're really um focusing on obviously
131all the groups like these groups that are below 80% that's where we're really sitting down with individual families but what uh specifically about 85 to 89% like what are those students that were can build in incentives to move them past that 90%. And so that's spent a lot of our time identifying those kids, building relationship with those kids, trying to figure out what barriers are in the way to get them uh to become a regular attendant. Um so with this reality again and I um it's something that you know thinking about Nancy what you said as well of like we can always get better um and we are need to get better and something that uh going back to you know these data points and these percentage um this book that I read last summer
132I have this quote written on my board but I will not let you move through this school and be forgotten in the book it's it's t it's a basketball coach talks about the gym, but I think for me thinking about each of our kids um each of our staff um and knowing them and so for me uh building time building relationships because I think that's how in the end game really impacting some of those other uh data points and then wanting to be motivated to show up and do what they need to do. Um so supporting this reality, I talk about our counselors a lot um because they deserve it. Um they do amazing work in our schools each and every day. Um not only like I just want to like crisis support in general
133like the amount that they are dropping everything for a kid who is going through um the crisis trauma name it um and how they carry that um is something that is uh monumental for our school. Uh but something that I've been working a lot with them this year in particular is around looking at our different tiered supports and what we are doing the supporting all kids supporting kind of that middle ground and then supporting our tier three as well. Um so they are doing a lot more support around academics in particular um this year and so they're doing these uh different academic workshops for our students who have failed science or math. And so that is uh something that they're meeting um creating goals and all of that. Um and then also just looking at
134how um this idea of why do grades matter? Those are questions that I get a lot and so trying to build in more um whether it's incentives uh motivation around grades and so this overall systems and support around academics um and the counselors are playing a huge role in that. um sources of strength. Uh this is a suicide prevention uh curriculum program that they are pushing within classes um to talk to students on. Uh we'll we do a first generation college day um for that to not only be able to see maybe staff or adults that are in the building and they're first generation college students, but also um them being able to look ahead and connect to future goals and all that. And then web um it stands for where everybody belongs and it's
135our eighth grade leadership group. Um that is incredible. It's about 45 kids. Um they have to apply, they get interviewed, it's a whole thing. um and the work that they do with our sixth grade students. Not only just being there um at the beginning, but um continuing to if a sixth grader is having a hard time, we connect them to their web leader um because they're connected with the same kid all throughout um and many many times that web leader is way more impactful than I can be. Um and so using students and that peer support and that leadership um and growing them and it just is a really special group. So just want to highlight them. Um, as you know, we talked about our academic data and we need that. It's definitely an area
136that uh I uh lose sleep over and thinking about different ways to be able to support our students and our staff. Um, but just some of these looking at um, you know, using our DOC curriculum, this observations and intentional feedback again like my role going in classrooms, what is working well, what is not, and being able to give actionable steps to teachers to be able to impact their practice. Um, we have a class built in, it's called Bulldog Block that is math intervention in particular. Um, and so we have a number of students that that's built into their schedule to get intervention support. Um, we've been more intentional this year with that class um, with it just being math teachers who are teaching it and then also leveling out. And so we have like our
137students that are close to getting to grade level, they might be in the class and our students who need more um support. We've made those classes smaller so that way those students can get um more individualized support as well. um focus on rewriting the foundational reading skills looking at really crosscurricular how is writing be involved whether it's in our um our CTE classes and things like that as we prepare for the state test um and how big writing is the component of that and so students are being exposed to different writing skills in there and then as I mentioned building motivation on grades attendance um and something this year um just tying more things to that so we just had an eighth grade dance the first time we did that, which I went into very
138hesitant um because it's a middle school dance. Um but uh and it was kids had to be passing all their classes and could and had to have a certain uh benchmark on uh tardies because we were dealing with a bunch of tardy issues. Um and uh yeah, so it was just I mean we got to celebrate the kids who earned it and it it was a good opportunity to be able to do that. And then we also we do a thing called pause at usually at the end of every quarter just to celebrate that we have made it through that quarter. But we've changed that in a way of now instead of it being usually it will be tomorrow the last day of the quarter it's going to be next week. Um and students have
139to be passing all their classes to participate. Um and just trying to add more meat motivation um to breaks. Um just want to talk a little bit about just a student schedule again as they transition from the elementary to the middle school and what that entails. So they have eight classes over two-day rotation. You can see our core um subject classes and I think really this being the main point the math and ELA are the only classes that meet every day. um all the other classes meet every other day and that's um again trying uh targeting those things and building systems that um you know will support our math and ELA grow um this time that 60 minutes uh each and every day. So this full on block math intervention. So we have 233 students
140currently enrolled and that was another when we built it last year um I think obviously we have good intentions but we went into this year just a lot more intentional around so it's all the same period and so we that gives us more flexibility and if a student um has shown the growth that they need we take them out of that class so it's not like a class that they're stuck in just to stay stuck in. Um, and so that's another one that, uh, again, uh, just trying to provide more, uh, intervention support for our kids. And then, uh, new to us this year is we do have an algebra one class, uh, which has been great. Uh, and I know Trish's really trying to partner with the high school and how we transition our
141kids and um, our kids that are ready and being able to leave our school potentially with algebra credit already. Um I think it's been a great opportunity and already seeing kind of some of the motivation as our younger kids are seeing if that's an option and having conversations around um you know that and really what they need to do to get there. >> Casey, how many kids have taken algebra one? >> 28. >> I was going to say 26. 28. >> 20. Yeah. >> So assuming they all pass, you'll have 28 kids with a >> credit and I'll do one. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. Cool. >> Um, yeah, we do have some seventh graders in there as well. Um, and so that's something that as we, you know, we were, so last year we
142were busing kids over to the high school for algebra and so going into next year the possibility of busting kids over for geometry. Um, very cool. >> Kind of building that up. So, >> very cool. >> Super cool. >> Um, enrichment. And so we talked about the core classes, but really um, you know, looking at kind of these pieces that kids want to be and want to show up in. And so we've had our one of the things that I want to like we did not have choir last year >> and that's been such an awesome addition uh this year we have 22 one group um I think it started with like single digits um and so like just the reality that like we were like we're going to have a section of it regardless
143how many we'll just see and so it's like grown to 22 um and I just Kelly case our new teacher I know she kind of popped over and met some of you like is incredible and the things that she's doing with her kids. Um, also new this career technical exploration um is uh our kids love it and our kids that are not in it are mad that they're not in it. And I think uh just doing handson from cooking to building to um just technical skills that they're building in that class I was in there the other day and their saw like doing using the saw um and all that and so that just has been really fun. uh community leadership. I talked about this community 101 grants at one of the meetings, but we're
144continuing in that uh the $7,500 grant that we have other businesses right now that are applying um that our students will be able to give out which uh has been a really cool opportunity for our kids. Um part of our TWWI program and college and culture um that our students are taking. We also have the beginning Spanish yearbook advanced PE and STEM was new to us this year um for in our science classes where that's a build an elective for our science classes. >> All right. Um I mentioned music. Um so this is we have 111 kids in band 23 um in our new choir program. Um, and I think like just again Kelly Casease and her just getting her kids involved and doing it. She sent me a video today of her kids um,
145playing instruments. Um, you saw down there the students that were doing the color guard. Those were all middle school students. Um, and so like them they can't compete and I meant but they can they'll participate at um, games and everything like that. And so just seeing that grow um, and our students participating in that. Rogue Valley Symphony has already been on a couple different times working with our students. Um, and this was something that uh they came to me on which I'm super excited about. But again, like how we're collaborating crosscurricular and so our CTE class and our general music class which our sixth graders take um are going to be building instruments together within there. So um uh yeah, cool opportunity there. I was told that the teacher many of the teacher probably will
146be upset because some of the instruments will be loud that they're making but it'll be fun. Um yeah. Um and then I think like going back to just getting kids involved like not only clubs but also just our athletics. Um Derek and I spent a lot of time together at the beginning of this year um because we were hosted all of our coaching positions. um did a lot of interviews. Um got some great uh humans and people in um uh you can see 150 athletes, 25 of those through sport. Um and I just I mean this is really just a shout out to Derek um Robman and him jumping in and I know he's done the role before, but um it's been awesome working with him um in this role and us doing some of
147this work together. Um these are just some of our different clubs uh that our students uh can be a part of and they can participate in and all of them are uh well attended things that they're excited about a teacher stepping in and taking on um some of the advisor roles. Um, and I think uh again just exposing our kids more not it's not just uh you know sitting in the classroom but what are those other things that can help build belonging and get them in the door. Um and a lot of these clubs are can be that missing link. So grateful for um our different people who stepped in to those. >> Uh I know elementary school talk about family engagement. I'll be very transparent and like one of this is an area that
148I know um I want to work more on and I have work to do on. Um I think like these are just some of the things that you know thinking about how we're engaging families right now. Um but I think it's just like another area of um yeah of improvement for for me as I'm engaging families and thinking about what that looks like. um the MTSS multi-ter system of support student and SST student uh support team or student study team. Um I want to shout that out. I Allison and I kind of started trying to build a better system last year and I think thinking about from last year to this year and the meetings that we're having talking about kids and talking about families and um really just kids not falling through the crack.
149So their SST if kids are having a hard time or extend a hard time or a parent might request evaluation for special education whatever it might be we'll send them to the SST team um and have intentional conversations with teachers and staff um around around how to support and so it just this year has just felt like we've actually had a system going which feels very good. Um, ASAP is our afterchool academic program. Um, and that's really just after school tutoring. Uh, we do that three days a week. Um, and it definitely is thinking about again last year to this year like it's a much better system. We have more kids engaged in it that are getting help and support and getting work from teachers where they can work and get that help. um because
150it's uh you know I think in a lot of our families that we'll meet with of just um might not know how to help some of the academics and uh might not be the and that's not a judgment but might not be the best person to help them and so what are after school opportunities that we can provide um for our kids and so that's one um and then our attendance team and then we have a new attendance system that uh the high school and us um are using and um that has just been uh you know, it's we have these tools and all that that um can help do a lot of the work for us. And so um whether it's sending out positive postcards because a student is showing up all the time
151or they're not showing up and automatically sending those things. And so that's been a huge um I'd say lift uh for our team and doing a lot of that work. And then our attendance team just having intentional conversations around how we're engaging kids um and continuing to try to increase that um this kind of getting towards the end, but um really just a thank you to all of you. Like I um I am thinking about like different ways that like you guys can help and be involved and I think you guys have been uh you know again year two for me but way more involved than uh I'm used to which I has been amazing. Um, but I think like thinking about different, you know, some of the different um, opportunities or or things like
152that. Um, and I know that like there's many of you that like just check in with me to see how I'm doing, which is like I always appreciate. Um, these are some opportunities that I know like just coming and honestly like having lunch with kids, helping supervise, like all of those. Um, you already like the presence at events and then like really like and I see this in how you guys go about your work, but just champions for our school district. um on just doing those things is definitely a huge um lift for all of us. And then this is the so um if you've not seen Ted Lasso, I uh recommend it. Um but uh I just this video is something that I showed to staff as well and I think as I'm like
153was preparing this and like looking at our data and all of that um I just came back to this video. except wanted to show this short clip. And if it doesn't work, you know what I want to mess around with? The belief that I'm at, you know, regardless of what I do or don't achieve, or the belief that we all deserve to be loved, whether we hurt, maybe we hurt somebody else, what about leave? Yeah, that's what I want. believing that things can get better, that I can get better, that we will get better. Believe in yourself, believe in one another, man, that's that's fundamental in being alive. >> Um, yeah. So I think I I mean just ending with that again belief of hope and um really this like belief in this school that
154I believe knowing that we can get better and knowing that we get better um and that we have work to do. Um but I think it's like that's the journey and excitement and struggle and all of things together. So thank you and any questions? Awesome. I have a question. Um, when you do the after school program, so >> talk a little bit about what happens there and how are we getting kids to that or home from that or how is that? >> So, transportation provided for any student that needs it to answer that part >> by our bus system. Okay. >> Yep. Um, and I mean really how we initially looked at it, I mean, was really kind of support around math just because so many of our students were struggling learning in math. And
155so, um, really kind of teaming up with our math teachers around um, meeting the work and what are the missing things or like what are the standards that they're missing that we can hit on within that time. Um, and so students come, uh, we feed them. Um, and, uh, really it's kind of twofold where some students will come and it's just kind of like I would say like independently they're working. Um, and I think for families it's kind of like well they're not going to work at home so like that kind of that time. Um but then uh others it's just kind of workshop based so where they're sitting at the table going over work uh going over quizzes that they may need to retake and just trying to kind of and I think the
156part about it is getting it sometimes from a different teacher and different perspective I've seen for some of our kids makes a difference. Um yeah I know that >> so are are you rotating that with the different teachers and staff or who >> Yeah not currently. So, we have one certified teacher. Um, she's actually our EL teacher, but she uh with the math and science background, too, which I'm very uh helpful. Um, and then we have two of our instructional assistants that are there as well. >> Like, how many kids are coming to that? >> So, that it ranges. I mean before break we were like around 18 to 20 and like now we've kind of dwindled back down but I like I want to just send it's kind of I don't know if it's
157like a forgotten thing so I just need to send more communication on it. >> Um but I mean we have and that's what because it's not the same kids who will come every day. Um I think on our uh that we have like confirmed from family because we make sure that that happens first. We have like 52 kids um that are on our confirmed list, but it just fluctuates of who comes uh those days. >> Question. Yeah. >> Sports are which one's a little more popular? >> Sure. Um trying to think >> volleyball. That's what came included. Yeah. >> Cross country. >> Yeah. cross country's baby volleyball is what first came to mind. Um and I think I mean and I was it track probably will be but >> yeah in spring. >> Um yeah
158and I like I feel like and that's something like thinking the last couple years I feel like our numbers in my mind should be higher. So that's just something that I'm thinking in all sport like thinking of basketball um and football and all of that in particular. Um that was something that surprised me, our numbers to be honest when I first came here and it's so something that um cuz I just know again like just kids being a part of something more um and how important that can be. So that's I would say an area that I would love to see our numbers increase um for sure. >> Yeah, >> thank you Casey. >> Yeah, appreciate it. It >> will. Thank you. We're getting >> good evening. >> Good. >> Um, Erica and James are
159passing a couple things out. I'll give you some instructions around that here shortly. >> Go ahead. >> Congratulations. >> All right. As Erica and James are passing out the props, it's okay. You can eat your drink. That's allowed. >> Um, I'd first just want to ask you to grab the index card that they are giving to you and you can use the blind side or not. Um, and I would just like to ask that you would please just take a second to um, jot down your thoughts around what equity and education means to you. It could be bullet points, could be sentences, but the prompt is, "What does equity and education mean to you?" So, I'll just give you a few seconds to answer that while Kenyon pulls up the slides. I think there's a
160clicker, but I'm not talented at these, so >> I don't know how to work it. >> Yeah, perfect. Um, and for the sake of time, while you're still jotting down, I can talk a little bit. Don't worry, you're not going to miss much on my slides, but um, I'll just move forward a little bit. Um, so while you think about that, um, I wanted to kind of recap some of the work that has been done up to this point. It's been a year since I've stood in front of you and I know we have new board members, but I am breaking this down in in phases kind of. So the first phase um is I would say probably from 2022 to uh 2023 we were focused on belonging stability and access around all all things.
161Um and then we moved into phase two which I would say was probably 2023 until even into this fall 2025. We were really focused on alignment systems and building adult capacity around those systems and that alignment. And now we've kind of entered into this what I would call phase three of um the work that we identified needed to happen when I first came on board. And that um I would say I'm predicting it happens till 2027, but these things sometimes take longer than I think they do. And we're really going to be focusing on implementation and refinement. That will make more sense as I talk through um more of this presentation. So as you know we have district aligned strategic priorities especially around uh attendance and engagement on track progress or graduation on time graduation
162um instructional coherence which is kind of just um uh kind of alluded to in all of these other goals and then also the just making sure that we're aligned to those that strategic plan. So, I wanted to first call out one of the things I'm most proud of at Phoenix High School, and I think um alumni would also say this is something that they are really proud of, but we have done a phenomenal job, especially over the last several years, of being very intentional about building student engagement, voice, and belonging. Some of the ways we've done that is through student leadership, school spirit, and student choice, and ownership of things. Um I thought about showing you a couple videos. Um but instead I uh just thought I could tell you a little bit about how
163we've done this super intentionally. So we have invested in growing student leaders beyond just in a student leadership class capacity. Um a lot of our clubs, a lot of our um sports all have leadership programs within those. Our CTE programs have leadership programs within them. So you don't have to necessarily be the ASB elected person to have leadership opportunities. You see this with DECA, you see this with LSU, right? And so because of those opportunities, our students are being able to participate in a variety of networking opportunities. One of the most recent is we were invited by the Namis Foundation to do a symposium at um over at SOOU. And it was such an amazing opportunity for our students to connect with college students who are involved in leadership opportunities. They were able to get
164really um targeted instruction on leadership where sometimes in a high school a lot of our leadership experience comes from tasks, right, and put on an assembly. But then instead what happened, we were talking about those clear um characteristics that we're working on um like the networking, like being vulnerable. And so we've really invested in those opportunities. We also have a presence among leaders across the state. We've participated in the OASC um uh conference that happens over in Seaside and that's where um student leaders from the state go and not only have we gone and attended but we have presented and had most of the some of the most well-attended sessions in that. and we went from zero participation in that to just being a huge presence. We have increased um participation in clubs, athletics, and
165activities. This fall we had about 184 students participate in athletics. Um guard and band we had 32 students and then we've seen that really continue in our winter. Um and I'm really proud to boast that our theater program has grown significantly and we have 23 active students in that group. group. I know that seems like a low number, but that's coming from like um almost single digits sometimes and a lot of our participants in the past being from ACCS, but now we have a good combo of students from PHS as well. Um I could go on and on about that, but um I'll keep going. If you have questions about that, I'd love to talk more about um another huge focus, as you all are aware, is on attendance. Um and so I wanted to
166give you a little bit of an update of the current state and system responses. As you know, this was an area of growth for us um since last year. We weren't super proud of uh where we we landed last year and so we've been very intentional and strategic about how we would um fix this. So overall, our attendance is up. Our attendance rate is sitting at 73.36% which is up about almost 12% um from this time last year. You can see a little bit um of a breakdown here, but our student levels have increased in attendance. Ninth grade is up um 11.27%. 10th grade is up 6.6%. 11th grade is up 9.27% and um probably the most celebratory is our senior significant increase of 21.23%. Um and that's like I said, these things don't happen.
167What um you pay attention to is what grows. And so we've increased parent communication through I know Casey mentioned our new intervention system. Um, we have actually sent 16,993 texts through that program since we launched it in October. And so just that increased one- on-one communication with parents in a way that's super accessible to them. Can't always answer a phone call, but I can like sneak a text, right? Um, not kids, but adults, right? Um, we've partnered with Southern Oregon ESD uh to do listening sessions with our students. We were very intentional about that and this has been become our site council focus. Um we have done a lot of incentives. We when you pull into our parking lot you'll see a punctual pirate parking. All the kids want to park in the staff lot.
168So we've you know leveraged that. We um have been doing awards. Uh seniors will get medals and tassels depending on their attendance. So just a lot of trying to honor that. Um being present is super important. Um up in the corner of this slide, you'll see um a tool called a sextant. If you aren't familiar with that, a sex is used to navigate the sea. They can calculate a ship's position based on celestial like stars or the moon and um nearby land. And so we have been using data as our sex this year. And it's kind of the symbol for what we launched into this year. um we are using this data to show us where we're at towards our go our goal. And so because data isn't necessarily feelings based, it allows us to
169see what students need, which is a real focus on equity, right? And so we've been doing core reviews and so um quarterly, which is new. We're doing uh we're looking at I Ready data from 8th grade. We're looking at we're looking at grade distribution, all of those things. And so this helps us and this helps inform our nth grade on track. As you know, our goal is to have every student at the end of nth grade have having six or more credits. Right now um we have 177 students or we did at the end of first quarter and we had a 92% um on track rate. What we were able to do because of this focus on data was actually figure out what the most failed forces are for nth grade students have targeted conversations
170with teachers to try and figure out, hey, what's happening in this class? How can we help support you to ensure that students are getting where they need to get. Our teachers were phenomenal. That can sometimes be a defensive. We could kind sometimes be defensive about that, but they were great. We've also done u targeted interventions moving forward. So any students who failed a course, any freshman students who failed a course first quarter were then enrolled in Wednesday school so that we would ensure that they didn't lose credit. Um for second quarter we do grad coach check-ins. Um we're already looking at spring break school for fer credit recovery. We have parent meetings and then that incentive is that honor roll. It's really the honor roll cookie and I can give you a sample of those
171at some point but you have to put your order in early. Um our next uh on track graduation data point is 12th grade. We want 96% of all students to graduate with a regular or modified diploma within full year four years. We really want 100% of students. Let's be right. But um at the end of first quarter we had 150 students in the class of 2026. Um we were looking at about 91%. Um at that time we again just hit those interventions right away with Wednesday school already talking about spring break school. Um credit retrieval is available to um upper classmen. So we load we load that up as soon as we can. Um ASAP is an afterchool intervention that students are enrolled in for having parent meetings um more often to ensure that parents
172know where they're at. and we're utilizing some of our other um credit um credit recovery options which I'll touch on a little bit more. Um so at the end of quarter two is tomorrow. So we'll have more updated data at that point. Um but just a little bit of a kind of statistic of where we're at. So now that we um have talked a little bit about um the signal or the the data point um what are we doing about those things? And I talked specifically about 9th and 12th grade, but I I kind of want to talk more systems. What we're doing um right now is utilizing all available graduation pathways and supports. So what we did this summer um at the end of last year we got a little bit of glimpse of
173data that we weren't super excited about and so we went back to what we have been doing. We re-evaluated. We wanted to see what um credit opportunities exist in the state of Oregon that we might not be utilizing as a high school to ensure that students in Phoenix are getting equitable access to credit options like um students are in other schools across the state. And so, um, what we were able to do is to get creative in some of our credit options and, um, give some more options available to students through maybe some of our online platforms, maybe utilizing alternative ed if needed, and again, opening conversations with teachers about how um, credit um, is awarded in their classes. We're doing this more systematically. So, you can see earlier tier 2 intervention thresholds. I'll explain
174tier 2 and tier one here in just a second. Um, and we are having more coordinated intervention structures. Before we were relying more on like, oh, you know, oh, have you seen this kid? What do you think about this? And instead now we're using data, right? And so we're not missing students um because we have those systematic approaches and we're really learning those systems. So to um jump on something that you've already heard a couple of times, uh MTSS or multi-tered systems of support is something we've been focusing on over the last few years at the high school, but because of where we're at in our phases that I explained before, we're able to do this um much more strategically. Tier one um refers to core instruction. It's what what is available um and accessible
175to all students. So what do all students get? um and we are ensuring that all students are getting um the same thing that's equity, right? So, elementary reference did this, the middle school did as well, but our instructional leadership team and school counselors are working really hard to make sure we're all very clear on what that core instruction is. So, we're doing that by looking at what is OSASP measuring, right? So, what what are students being tested on at the state level? Then we are kind of doing a a cross a crosswalk with what does our board adopted curriculum cover and then are there any gaps that we might need to supplement in those things to make sure that students leave PHS ready for their next step and that's how we're getting clear on what
176tier one core instruction should be. Before it was kind of just whatever the teacher thought in the classroom it should be right and tied to some standards but we're getting very clear about this. um clear is kind. And so then when we um are measuring tier one, we're able to see where are lagging skills to give us that tier two, which is targeted timebound supports for students. So those are group interventions like Wednesday school. Those might be um group sessions and then that also allows us to do tier three intensive supports for qualified students for special services like special education, maybe ELD, possibly 504s. And so again, just getting really clear on what supports are available for what students and also holding staff accountable to what we say we are going to do for all
177kids, which is equity. A couple of years ago, we got together to talk about what good teaching and learning is. And we came up with our anchors um or what how we say we're anchored in learning. These are the six things that we focus on. And this year what we really leaned on is this idea of collective efficacy. Um, collective efficacy is a shared belief among staff that their combined actions um can positively impact student outcomes exceeding the influence of of everything else, right? And so kind of referencing a little bit what Casey said, it's that belief, right? And so this is a principle um made popular by John Hadtie's research. And so, um, this is helping us focus on, uh, creating an instructional playbook, uh, at Phoenix High School to ensure that all teachers
178are using high leverage strategies, um, or strategies that yield the most engagement, the best student outcomes. And so, these are some of the focuses that we're working on. Student discourse or that talk like Shauna and Heather were talking about, um, that intentional way we're getting students to talk about what they're learning. SCAP strategies um are they are proven research proven strategies that help um well what they're advertised for is students who are learning English but they're actually best practices for all students. Every teacher at PHS is SCOP trained. That's a a promise I make to my staff and to my kids. And then this year we focused on writing across the curriculum. Um we tell kids like we can't open your brain and look at what you know. So you have to talk about it
179and then write about it. And when they're writing about it, then we're know we are able to articulate better and they're able to articulate what they know. And then checking on what they know formatively. So rather than waiting for the grade to come out, a student got an F, we're able to do uh checks across or during the journey so that we can um change paths if we need to. So um one of the biggest well the biggest factor most influential school-based factor in student success is actually um teachers. Teachers are the most influential. And so building adult capacity around these systems and these beliefs is a lot of what administrators are tasked with and coaches are tasked with. Um this is a chart of our instructional coach um or our curriculum and engagement specialists
180um jobs at Phoenix High School. And we were a little bit behind the ball in having instructional coaches at the high school, but this is essential work because it's building adult capacity. So you can see um student outcomes like data and data protocols, the MTSS system, assessment alignment. I mean, I could talk about each of these things for forever, but this this is the work. If we're in investing in the adults that are investing in the students, we're going to see those student outcomes. And we've been able to make so much of these systematic shifts because of the work of our instructional coach um and that partnership as the instructional leader in the building um to partner with her to do that. So, what do all these things mean for students? They mean predictability. students
181know what they're learning, why they're learning it. They know what support is going to come and that it's going to come earlier, right? We're not doing autopsies. We're doing formative checks. There are clear expectations around um what those learnings are and engaging in support. And we're seeing increased student voice and choice because we're investing in student leaders um to advocate for their peers and for students to advocate for themselves. So, um, you know, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'll be real with you. What are the ongoing challenges? Adult capacity is challenging, especially, um, coming from PHS where we've had wonderful data. We've been doing great things for kids for years, right? And so, it's hard when we've been doing great things for kids for years to feel like we need to make changes.
182Um, but it's true. We grow when we um are constantly evaluating and reflecting. Growth can be really uncomfortable because of that. And systems take time and they take trust. Um instead of playing whack-a-ole or trying to do things on our own, we have to trust that the system is going to um take us where we need to go. And that can be difficult and implementation takes a while. So what's next? We're refining these systems. We are having conversations about how this is uncomfortable. Um and we're working on our alignment. this is the really clear continuation of the last three years of work. Really leaning on that trust like hey we've built these relationships. Uh that's kind of the benefit of paying the administrator like you've known me for the last four years so we can
183do this together. Um and that's really important. What I would ask of you or what the the uh three of us really would ask of you is just curiosity. Um, if you're hearing or seeing things that you have questions about, if you can remain curious, give us a call, come on over. Love to have coffee with you. Love to show you what magic is happening in classrooms um, and beyond classrooms, right? Um, and to continue that policy alliance support that you all do so well. Um, our cell phone uh, journey has been such a great uh, demonstration of that. I really appreciate all of the conversations ears. I'm sorry about that. But everyone else, I'm very thankful for those and just again your continued presence um is just so supportive. Um I'm going to read
184this to you. This if you're looking for a good read, this book is called Ruthless Ruthless Equity. It's by a man named Ken Williams. It's got some great a great Facebook presence, but um this book is really good. Will you close your eyes? I used to do this in my English class. Will you close your eyes? Thank you. >> When I refer to starting with the crown, the crown represents the essential learning outcomes every student must master. The crown identifies that place where all students must go in a particular content area. Teachers hold the crown above the head of their students and grow each student tall enough to wear the crown. Some students will grow to the crown. Others will grow through the crown. But we cannot settle for students falling short of wearing the
185crown. >> You can open your eyes. I like to think of the crown actually um as a graduation cat. Um but this is the work that we're doing is ensuring that we are not moving the position of the crown, but instead we are ensuring that students are growing to and through the crown. And so um if you have any questions about what that looks like, I'm open right now or we can set a meeting because I could talk for forever. Any questions? >> You have such a gift for connecting concepts to work and connecting the concepts to your other beautiful peer colleagues. I think I mean that is just such a truly a gift. And um Ken Williams actually was the keynote speaker last year at Oregon Association of Latino Administrators and he is wonderful.
186I mean he talks about like being ruthless in believing in teachers and believing in the you know we were talking about adult capacity. I think about um the things that he shared at that and people felt really inspired and kind of like it shifted the script. It wasn't about I mean talks about equity but it he uses the example of like a Chick-fil-A. You can go to any Chick-fil-A. You can go to a Chick-fil-A here. You can go to a Chick-fil-A in New York. You can go to a Chick-fil-A in LA. You can go to Chick-fil-A in Texas. And the reason why the Chick-fil-As are always successful in all of those places. People could attribute that to place, zip codes, um, demographics, but he talks about you put this, you built and you nurture the
187people who are doing this work and that's how you get incredibly successful students. So, thank you for reading that. I was just reminded of how good he was when he presented. >> Erica gave this quote to me after she attended that. on the subject of adult capacity. Yes. Um I think one of the things that is so important to that work is adults truly understanding the why. >> And so I wondered if you could briefly speak to just, you know, I know one of the biggest things we talk about in education is having time with our staff to >> um talk about development. And so I wonder um you know, how does it look like for you to communicate the why? And then um how do you assess whether or not you know the buyin
188is there on your staff to build that capacity? >> Yeah. Um I think um one culture shift that's happened um over the last couple of years is that um the Wednesday PD time is so valuable. Um actually I had to tell Jessica like I'm Jessica this pace guy cannot come to my staff meetings. I'm using every single minute on Wednesdays, but she convinced me that Facebook time is a good idea. Um, right. But that time Yes. Yes. Um, but they we are utilizing that time. Um, because it's true we don't get a lot of time together and then um we have talked since I have come aboard on clear is kind and anything that isn't there there's a lot of really good things we can do, right? But um if you do too much then
189none of it is good. And so um just getting really clear on what it is we're doing and only dedicating time to that. So one of the things I was just talking about is we're looking at OSAS right and board adopted curriculum. And I use the example of like you know what everybody loves a butterfly unit. Like we love to teach about butterflies. We could spend 12 weeks doing it. There's great art projects around it. It's so fun. There's great videos, right? 12 weeks we could do it. And the truth is um actually the butterfly unit isn't a high school standard. You could probably cover it in two lessons and you know like we just need to be real about that. And so it's it's it's about having those real conversations. I feel really lucky
190to have our instructional leadership team to like grapple with those difficult conversations and and it's a give and take, right? like, okay, well, I might think it takes only two periods, but my teacher is building classroom community. So, actually, can she have three lessons to do it? Because that activity builds community. So, that feedback and again to bring up our coach, coach is able to have conversations with staff members in a way that's not evaluative. I can try and be as nice and as possible, but I'm still the boss, right? And so leaning into that relationship with a coach so then the coach can tell me like, "Hey, yeah, you put this, you know, on the docket, but people are really feeling this way. So, can we move that?" So, even though I have the
191relationship with the leadership team, um, being able to utilize that coach to adjust those things. Um, does that answer your question? Okay. Perfect. >> Thank you for talking about that um that in between space. We often times we we think in such binary ways often times, right? It can either be this 12 weeks or two days. >> The reality is it's the both end. >> And I love that you're building these relationships or you're leaning into the relationships of the coach to really think about >> and discern what is the best way for this. Um, and I love this idea of also giving like the example you're using like there's so there's so much fruit in even the pieces that get don't always get included. So that's thank you. It just allows us. I will
192say too, I think that um the other thing is like it's okay that if we don't agree like right and so I think it's just that honoring of the relationship like even when people are like yeah this isn't for me or hey I see the direction you're going I'm not sure if that's like what I'm here for we can still honor that relationship right because um >> yeah because there are there are so many good things so people might decide to invest in another good thing and that's okay >> that's really wise Anything else? >> Um, thank you all. >> Thank you for your time. Um, I I want to give you um opportunity to close us out. Brent, I just want to say um the the heart for our students is very evident in
193everything that we heard tonight and I want to thank you all for that. And and the little ways that shows up is really moving to me. Like when we see um talking about belief and when we see language, when we talk about students that you know students receiving special ed services um they're not sped students. Um, so thank you. Thank you for your heart for our students um and for each other and um for another wonderful chat session. >> Kaylin, what do you want us to do with you? >> Oh, >> um I I'd like you to keep those so that you so you have Sorry, you have the crown and the index card for your reference. >> I appreciate it. >> There you go. I don't know if I've arrived yet, but >> I
194got this. >> I I'll just wrap it up. And there was a time actually not too long ago where we had jab meetings that didn't feel connected as a district. And I think what you heard tonight and and from these amazing leaders is is there's a district uh strategic plan and you heard a lot in their job reports and and and I'm just proud of this team and feel really grateful for that. Um it was mentioned about some of the data that um is coming out of our new practices at the uh K5. So when March first meeting in March, I think we have Tiffany on the docket. Thank you. To share some of that data, which is which is incredible over four few short months. Um I think more than we even anticipated on
195what on on transitioning to that model. Um, but just thank you uh to the board for continuing this practice, continuing to listen and show up, continue to ask questions, continue to show up. Um, just really grateful. Thank you. Awesome. >> I have one last question. How does um like I love the the cohesion with all the three elementary schools. I think it's really beautiful this teamwork and and you model it so beautifully. and then the middle school and the high school. How does the language of like the objectives or the goals or the the the things that you're aspiring to, how do they translate from one school to the next? >> We meet every Tuesday, talk about it. Yeah. >> Sure. Yeah, >> I I will also say Javier is not here. He had to
196fly back to Spain to be with his dad for some help challenges, but he's a really big connector in a lot of this as well. um in in the role he has played. Um really have um kind of the elementary has been the leader in some of all of these systems as far as family engagement and then um MTSS fits a little bit better in elementary and you have to be a little more creative in the secondary. Um but those using the same type of language and the same vocabulary, the same systems um is something that we're building. So >> and al from middle school to high school in particular I think is something that Katie learned and I um yeah it just like want to try more and just in conversations I mean we're
197in a like curriculum adoption right now for 61 having conversations around that and so just >> I was just thinking of like it's interventions right like if we're seeing something at the middle school how do we make sure that we're >> providing some sort intervention from elementary to minimize those calls and then you know as we're moving forward and also like I think it is a really beautiful system. It takes a lot of work to be able to coordinate all of that all of those was just curious and it might have been just my understanding question. >> All right, thank you all. Thank you.