001Welcome hot dogs to the September Community Schools of Frankfurt Town Hall. I am your host Matt Rooda, the proud superintendent community schools of Frankfurt. The superintendent town hall focuses on programs uh and people who are moving the academic, behavioral, staff, student retention, athletic, and facilities needle. In the community schools of Frankfurt, we have three pillars of excellence that guide us in achieving excellence in these affformentioned areas. The first is the pillar of literacy. The second is the pillar of community. And the third is the pillar of post-secondary expectations. town hall will bring you, the hot dog viewers, stories and messages that set the community schools of Frankfurt apart from area school districts as well as brickandmortar school districts around the state and around the nation. This month, I wanted to invite our assistant superintendent, Mr.
002Eric Farley, and director of student achievement, Mrs. Lesie Miller. Mr. Farley and Mrs. Miller will share with you how teachers and students are moving the pillar of literacy, that academic needle in the community schools of Frankfurt. Mr. Farley and Mrs. Miller, welcome to the September town hall. Great to have you guys today. >> Thank you. >> Mrs. Miller, can you just share with the viewers kind of what your professional background is and what your role is here in the community schools of Frankfurt? >> I began my teaching career in Richmond, Indiana, which is my hometown. Um I taught there for uh quite a few years and then moved to Lafayette when I married my husband and been taught there for many years in the primary grades. Following that worked for Purdue University in the center
003for literacy education and research and then um came here to Frankfurt. I've been here now 16 years. >> 16 years. Time flies when you're having fun, does it? >> Sure does. Especially as a hot dog. >> Mr. Farley, how about you? Can you share with the viewers your professional background and your role here in the Community Schools of Frankfurt? >> Sure. Well, after graduating from high school here at the Community Schools of Frankfurt, I I went to college in Iowa and had my first teaching job in Houston, Texas, where I was a special education teacher and became an assistant principal after that, the elementary level, and then a director of special education for a couple years. Met down there. It took a while to convince a Texan to move to Indiana, but we we did
004that. And I've been here at Community Schools of Frankfurt for the past 12 years, 10 of those servicing as our director of special education and the last two here as the assistant superintendent. >> All right. Well, great to have both of you today and I know we'll save to the end just some great the great things that are are happening here that we'll share that. But Mr. Farley, can you share with the viewers how and why we selected the three pillars that I just listed off here at the beginning of the show? >> Yeah, sure. About four years ago, we did a book study here as a leadership team and and it was called districts that succeed. And this book uh primarily focused on five school districts around the nation that was able to really
005close that gap between race, poverty, and achievement. And identified several elements that did that. And um three of those that really stuck out out to us was leadership. Having high quality leadership that's able to retain families and students and teachers. Um and then just having that laser-like focus on instruction, specifically literacy, and then making sure kids had a plan when they left here. as far as a post-secondary outcome for kids. We really took to that and realized that a lot of those similarities resonated with us here in this district and and put a plan in place and uh it it one of the statements in the books is systems beat averages. And so it talked a lot about systems and and we we hung on to that. And and another thing that resonated me out
006of this book that I I feel like we carry with us every day is >> great plans um that's not why businesses fail. It's the it's the lack of persistence of why they fail. So being persistent with our mission and our vision here for for our kids and students here has continued to drive that and those pillars are kind of at the forefront of that. >> You said laser-like focus. We've had a laser-like focus on those three pillars, created systems to be able to uh you know put those plans into place and be persistent with them. So as they're up and down. Well, Mrs. Miller before uh I I said you you know that we look back a few years can you take the viewers back about 3 four years ago where our early literacy
007scores were at that time and I read scores uh just so the viewers kind of know where we've been and later you can share where we are now. >> Literacy has changed a lot in the past five or six years. legislation in Indiana has um changed some pieces that have required us to put some more parameters into place in our primary literacy and with that we were able to ensure a system for our students that made sure we were checking on all of the skills that students needed. about four or five years ago if you look at the data um we would have been in the 70% passing range for um I read we would have if you took our data from those early foundations we would be anywhere between the 60 70% passing rate
008at the end of a grade level so we were there a in an average stance but we had so many kids that really still needed a lot of reading support >> what I've shared is that three or four years ago too that we, you know, less than 50% of our kids were at grade level reading in our early grades. And so that's kind of where >> Less than 50%. Yeah, absolutely. >> Very much so. Well, uh, at this time, we're going to take a little commercial break and, uh, you will watch a great episode of Eric Farley, Mr. Farley, and Farley's Frankfurt fun facts. Enjoy this episode. Welcome back to another episode of Farley Frankfurt funfacts hot dogs. Today I'm here with legendary Steve Mullen. Many of you know that we have our aquatic center
009that's named after Mr. Mullen. So Mr. Mullen, welcome to Farley's Fun factfacts. Appreciate being here. >> Mr. Mullen, if you'd just share with everyone just a number of years you taught here at Frankfurt and and especially the number of years you coached as well. >> Okay. Well, I began my uh career uh after graduating from Shelbyville High School. I went to Ball State University, graduated from Ball State in 1968. uh we moved to Frankfurt or not I'm sorry Rinselier and I taught 10 years at Renelier and in 1978 I came to Frankfurt uh high school and taught here for 30 years and uh enjoyed my time both at Winsler and at Frankfurt. >> So 30 years here at Frankfurt and and coaching the swim team as well and I know I remember you as my
010PE teacher when I was here back in 1990s. Uh, so I know recently you were inducted in the hot dog hall of fame as an honorary member. So talk to us a little bit about that. Yeah, that was an extreme joy on my part and my family's part and of course I enjoyed the time uh with the uh swimmers that came back and those that many that weren't able to come back during that presentation sent me notes and uh some uh videos and so forth and enjoyed that time immensely. >> Yeah. Uh well, one of the things I also wanted to talk to you about is we're here with with some students and Mr. CI's broadcasting class is a pathway we offer here at Frankfurt High School and and every month I do a fact
011and I thought you had a real interesting fact to share with our with our viewers and and it has something to do with broadcasting. So, would you like to share that fact with them? >> Sure. As part of my uh education at Ball State, I was in the Sigmakai fraternity and one of my brothers uh was David Letterman. Wow. and David I was a a pledge trainer for David's uh class pledge class and uh also became you know friends there on campus and uh we did several things together uh as a lot of college students we weren't the calmst of individuals at that time uh so several of the stories that I could tell I won't share but uh David was an individual and became a very good broadcaster and of course is quite famous
012and uh uh we enjoyed our time together. >> Yeah, that's great to hear. I know they have the Ball State Communications Center, David Letterman Center that where he had donated and if you've if you ever been there, it's kind of designed like the city of New York a little bit inside. So, I appreciate you sharing the facts. So, Frankfurt Hot Dogs, legendary Steve Mullen here for another episode of Frankfurt uh Farley's Fun facts. Have a great day, hot dogs. >> Welcome back, hot dogs. I hope you enjoyed uh Frankfurt's Farley fun facts or Farley's Frankfurt fun facts. It's a little tongue twister, isn't it? Today, I'm talking to assistant superintendent, Mr. Eric Farley, and director of student achievement, Mrs. Lesie Miller, about how the community schools of Frankfurt is moving the academic needle. Mrs. Miller,
013please share. We just before we left for commercial break, we talked about where we where we were three or four years ago. Kind of please share just the great news that you shared with the community schools of Frankfurt school board just recently at the school board meeting about our our K3 pillar of literacy where we are and on our iLearn on our I read. Uh just a great news that we've had so far this year. Well, I would say even before that, if I can back up even a little bit more, the early literacy areas that we really needed to target were in phonics and phonological awareness. And by putting some pieces into place there, we were able to get to where we wanted for iD. So, um, currently our I read for pass rate
014last year, just last school year, was at 90% passage rate. >> Okay, that's awesome. That's amazing. So that's up about 20 percentage points from where it was about >> 76% the year before, 77% the year prior to that. So make quite a game. >> That's amazing. Kudos. Kudos to the the whole system and all the uh adults and kids involved, you know, in those early grades. Yes. What else? So in those early foundations, we knew we were on the right track because in kindergarten and first grade, we were really checking to see how well those students were getting their early skills and phonological awareness, the ability to hear sounds, use sounds correctly, phonics, the ability to then write those pieces. Um, we had typically been ranging in the 50 to 60% pass rate at the
015end of a year. we were starting to see our students at 87 89% pass rate um in those categories at the end of each grade level. So we knew at the end of kindergarten a few like about three years ago that we were in the right path. >> Um and then last year took um I read two as well and we gained 10% of our um students in in grade two. So that was a great gain as well, which means it'll help our students as they go to third grade and we can be even more targeted with those that need our support. >> That's awesome. So going from 50% on those early literacy scores to uh above 85% for the most part, right? So of being at grade level reading in those early grades. That's
016just that's just amazing. How about our third grade uh Green Meadows that I learned last year? You want to share that? that that uh just a great example of how that ilearn needle can move. >> So the iLearn for third grade um the 64th percentile is where we landed >> at the end for literacy and that's up from 61 the 61st percentile um and that's well above the state average. So we we really made some major gains there. >> Oh that's that's great to hear. All back to what you said Mr. Farley uh system putting systems in place and people being persistent with those. So >> absolutely >> thank you for sharing that great news, Miss Miller. Mr. Farley, I'd like to quote uh Mr. Carl Boyd, former English teacher and uh the public schools
017of Chicago. He said, "Where you place your emphasis is where you derive your excellence." Um what is our pillar of literacy uh emphasis in terms of goals for K12 this academic school year? >> Yeah. while I'll even back up to our prek and making sure, you know, early intervention we know is a key to to a lot of of literacy instruction and and we we want to make sure that 85% of our prek students are mastering some of those kindergarten ready assessment standards and getting them prepped for kindergarten. Uh for our K2 students, they take something called the NWA reading fluency. Really focuses on those foundational skills, phonics and phmic awareness. We want I'm sorry, that's the 85% backing up. Sorry, not the not the prek. Yeah. But um and then also for K2 looking
018at the NWA map which is primarily comprehension getting our kids 80% of our kids to the 61st percentile in that and then when you look at three through eight uh Mrs. Miller mentioned I learn scores we want to increase that achievement by 5%. I think what's nice is that we had a high priority on growth and making sure kids were able to kind of lack of better terms catch up. Um but we're seeing that so now we're really focused on really mastering those skills and being proficient. So having that emphasis on achievement itself is is nice to get to that point. Um and then our high school looking at our SAT scores in the areas of reading and writing specifically and really inching towards that state average to beat out state averages across the across
019the state. >> Okay. Well, you and we you had mentioned that the early literacy our our goal was at 80% getting 80% of our kids at grade level. Now it we've had to bump it up to 85% because we're doing so well in those early grades and then that just trickles to all grades all the way through high school. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah. Well, Hot Dog Nation, I hope you enjoyed learning more about the Community Schools of Frankfurt and how we are moving the academic needle for hot dog students. Thank you, Mr. Farley and Mrs. Miller for uh just what you do in this district to invest in our kids and thank you for uh your time here and everything you invest into the systems here in the community schools of Frankfurt. Uh signing
020off from the hot dog town hall at Frankfurt High School. Uh hope all of you have a wonderful day and enjoy this next segment of Roaming with Roa. Welcome to this September roaming with RHD. I'm at Frankfurt Middle School. I'm going to be sitting in here in the sixth grade lunch to talk to kids about how they uh how they feel about the house system here at Frankfurt Middle School. how uh it it helps kids to feel like they belong to something and uh just want to hear from the kids' mouths what uh this system means to them uh as they are Frankfurt Middle School students. So enjoy this session of roaming with Roto with our sixth graders here at Frankfurt Middle School. What is your name? >> Birch. >> And uh can you tell
021me what house you're in? >> Isabendy. And can you tell me what your favorite thing about the house system is here at the middle school? >> Um, I love how you could just open up an envelope and choose and get a house. >> Open up a envelope and the house chooses you, right? All right. Thank you. Hey, Jaden. Uh, what house are you in here at the middle school? >> Is it Bendy? And what's your favorite thing about the house system here at the middle school? You know, you guys are sixth graders, so you're just learning about it. What's your favorite thing so far? I like how um how some of your friends are in the same house and you can hang out them when uh like somebody calls you down when somebody calls your
022house group down and then you can like hang out with your friends. >> Alex, uh what house are you in? >> Silvari. >> Savari. And what is your favorite thing about the house system here at the middle school? >> Um >> we get to dress up every Thursday. >> Jace, what is your what house are you in? River. >> And what is your favorite thing about the house system here at the middle school? >> Uh, meeting new people and making new friends. >> Meeting new people and making new friends. All right. Thank you. What house are you in? >> Protos. >> And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> Earning points or things. >> Earning points. How do you get to earn points? What do you earn points for? >> Um, good deeds
023and like some other stuff. I think >> good deeds and leadership. Okay. I'm sure you get a lot of good deed points. You seem like a great kid. Yes. All right. What house are you in? >> Protos. And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> Um, earning points. >> Earning points. What do you earn points? What do you get to earn points for? What what have you earned points for so far? >> For orchestra, I do my cello right. And then if I get like the the notes right, then I got a point. >> Macy, what house are you in? >> Altruismo. >> And altruismo. That's my house. Look, I'm wearing my black today. Right. What is your favorite thing about the health system here at the middle school? >> Uh the points.
024>> The points. And what have you earned points for so far? >> Uh help people. >> Help people. Aubrey, what house are you in? >> River. And what is your favorite thing about the health system? >> Um building friendships with the people in your house. >> And what house? And you're in what house? >> Altern. >> Just like me. Thank you. What is your favorite thing about the health system here? >> Uh that we're all one dog pack. We're all one dog pack. I love that. Nice. Mr. Hickey Asa, what house are you in here at the middle school? >> Solivari, is that the red house? >> The yellow house. >> Yellow house. Okay. What is your favorite thing about the house system? >> Um, all the cool names. >> Britney, what house are you
025in? >> Uh, River. >> Ravier. And what's your favorite thing uh about the house system at the middle school? >> Uh, the people there. >> What house are you in? Is it Bendy? >> Is it Bendy? What's your favorite thing about the house system here at the middle school? >> Um, uh, you can dress in your colors like every Thursday. >> Abel, what house are you in? >> Amastad. And what is your favorite thing to do about the house system? >> Uh, where if you get points, you can buy stuff. >> What uh house are you in? >> I'm in. >> What's your favorite thing about the house system? >> The people in it. >> Will, what's your favorite thing about the house system here? >> Um, the house points. >> The house points. And
026what house are you in? Salivari. >> Salivari. And have you earned some house points so far? What for? What did you get house points for? >> Participating in science. >> Oh, I love it. Thank you very much. Hatley, what house are you in? >> Altern. >> Just like me, right? And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> Probably the house points. >> The house points. What have you earned house points for so far? >> Probably in uh orchestra. >> Orchestra. All right. Okay. All right. Arabella, beautiful name. And what house are you in? Protos. >> Protos. And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> Uh, all of it's amazing. >> Gives people a place to belong. Really? >> Thank you very much. Appreciate you. Isabella, I like that name. >> Uh,
027what house are you in? >> Isabendi. >> Isab Isabella's and Isabendi. That's really good. That's like an alliteration. Hey, Isabella, what's your favorite thing to do? What What's your favorite thing about the house system? that we get to meet new people in the house and hang out with our old friends. >> All right. Thank you, Isabella. What house are you in here at the middle school? >> Protos. And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> Um that you get to be in a group with other people. >> What house are you in? >> Protos. And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> That uh we're the house of success. >> We're the house of success. Aiden. And what um house are you in? >> Is it Bendy? What's your favorite thing
028about the house system? >> Probably also the house points. >> The house points. What have you earned points for so far? >> Uh perfect scores on tests. >> Nice. Way to go. Keep up the good work. Can you tell me what house you're in? >> Protos. And what's your favorite thing about the house system? >> That we're in the lead. >> That you're in the lead. Okay. Congratulations. Hope you keep it. >> Okay. So yesterday as I was playing my bangers jam, the Macarena came on and there were a ton of you out dancing and I told Dr. Ra, our superintendent about that and he's an elementary guy. You guys are from sixth grade. So like you're out having fun being crazy kind of like fifth graders were. Sixth graders, I'm okay with you guys
029dancing. But he's like, I want to dance to Macarena with him. >> So if you're wanting to get up and dance, please get up and dance. Hey Macarina, [Music] >> watch this. [Music] Ready? >> Yeah. >> Like this. >> Okay. [Music] All right. Now we got One more. [Music] >> There we go. [Applause] >> All right. I hope you enjoyed that session of Roaming with Roa, hearing from our sixth grade middle school students about what they love about the middle school house system. Uh, one one of the students talked about how uh she feels like she belongs. They talked about being all one together. That's great. And that's hearing that from sixth grade kids. So, hope you enjoyed it. I'm trying to catch my breath from that macarina. I need to get a little more
030exercise in, but I hope you enjoyed that extra segment, too. Have a great day.