001Thank you. This is one of my favorite nights. Dr. Rumpus, you're on. >> Thank you. Um hopefully it'll also be one of my favorite nights as well when by the time we're done. Um and I'm actually going to turn things over to Dr. Grana pretty quickly. But um board, we are excited to have our elementary school leadership teams here with us this evening to um talk about the work that exists in their strategic plans for this year by buildings. Uh in my short time in the district, I will tell you that I continue to be impressed with this incredible group of leaders. um not only their instructional knowledge, their ability to lead teaching and learning in their schools, but also their focus on meeting student social emotional needs and really a deep commitment to making
002sure that every one of their students and their staff members feel heard, seen, and valued in their schools. And uh when we talk about school leaders, we talk about wanting both sides of that and it's a hard to find that, but I believe we have 10 leaders with us here tonight who really exemplify that and we are lucky as a district to have them as part of our team. um they are focused on continuous improvement and tonight you're going to hear some of the details um of things that they have in place that are going well, some opportunities for improvement. Um they're incredibly reflective and so we will follow the same format as last year where there will be several slides that look at some of the key initiatives that our buildings have in common
003and that you would see in all five of our elementary schools and really in most of our schools and then each school is going to have an opportunity to talk about some of the specific details happening at their schools. So I'm going to turn things over to Dr. And do we also need to do introductions? I I don't want to assume that every board member has met all 10 of these administrators, but um maybe we'll start with President Motica and we'll just go around the circle and introduce yourselves to everybody. I'm Judy Mika. >> Liz Grana, assistant superintendent. >> Brian Painter, principal at Tilman. >> Max, Julie Harris, Westchester, Adrian Fox, assistant principal at Westchester. Laura Heepburn, board member. I'm doing this because we got complaints previously, so I just want to remind everyone to
004use the mics because apparently some people do watch these on YouTube. Steph Dedrick, chief communications officer. Nicole Sharn, >> Elizabeth Black, executive director of MTSS, >> Gene Marie Andrews, school board member, >> Laura Hinrich, board secretary, >> and Max, I will apologize that we have declared work sessions no tie zones, and we did not share that message with you this evening, but um you are welcome to leave it on or remove it as you as you feel comfortable. Brian did let me know uh right when I walked in, but I feel like it really ties my outfit together. Uh sort of balances out the unckempt look of my beard, so I feel like uh it kind of all comes out in the wash. >> Thanks, Max. We appreciate that. >> Good evening to everyone. So,
005I'm excited to introduce and share our elementary leaders and their plans for the 2526 school year. So tonight you'll notice strong themes of collaboration and a unified unwavering belief that every student can and will learn at high levels. Tonight you'll hear about the powerful work that's happening across our schools, the strength of windtime professional learning communities, learning labs, and our continued focus on literacy instruction. Through the link, you will hear about restorative practices, the idea lab, and our new math resource designed to enhance math instruction, support differentiation, and job embedded professional development for our teachers. Our ultimate goal is clear, and that is to ensure our youngest mathematicians have a cohesive and connected journey in math from kindergarten to high school graduation. You're also going to hear how our leaders create a culture of belonging
006and engagement in every elementary building across the district. We also know there are ongoing questions about the time throughout the day dedicated to recess, recess and movement breaks. And we're actively gathering feedback on current elementary schedules, looking closely at pacing, student experience, flexibility, collaboration time, and opportunities for future improvement. In addition to the schedule, we're reviewing the balance and use of technology as well in our elementary classrooms. and we believe that our new strategic plan will provide the perfect opportunity to reflect, align, and make thoughtful adjustments that best serve our students and teachers. Um, and he needs no introduction, but I am turning things over to Max Hoover. >> Hi everybody. Uh, thank you for having us here today. think it's important that we pause right here at the beginning and recognize that you guys
007as a board have a million different things you could be doing with your time, but the fact that you choose to come here and support this community, I think is very very important and and I think you deserve uh recognition for that. Uh we also enjoy uh this night. It's very fun for us to come and talk to you about the great things we are doing in our schools. Uh who is controlling the the >> Thank you. Great. It's like I'm I can riff for a little bit longer, but eventually I would like to get to our slides. There we go. Um, so uh this is our uh amazing team. Uh this picture represents a collective 213 years in education uh and 41 degrees and most of that's Brian. Um, so we're we are we
008are uh we really do I I think Liz said it best and one of the words I think that describes this team best is collaborative. Uh so whatever it is that we need I know there is someone on this team uh that we can go to and and we're really really excited to get to talk to you guys tonight about the work that that we are doing uh in our schools and uh like I said we all feel very very grateful to be a part of this this wonderful team and and we're excited tonight. So, with that, I will turn it over to Dr. P. >> Well, you're going to hear several themes. First of all, thank you again. Um, as as Mac said, we do appreciate you very much. Uh, you're going to hear
009several themes throughout the night before we get into our school specific uh topics. Uh, one that you will hear first one time. Um, you also heard about last year and I there's not a lot of new things to share about this. Um but I do think it's worth at least you know for the viewers at home to make sure that people know that when time is something that is happening consistently across our elementary schools. Um it is something that we use very much and it it's I think the uh third point on the left there. It is very much um it serves as a bridge between our multi-tered systems of support um which previously was known as RTI response to um instruction. Um it it serves as a bridge between our MTSS work, our universal
010instruction and the PLC structures that we have in our in our schools. And so um when time stands for what I need and it it happens in all of our schools at each of our grade levels for ELA typically for reading um and for math time and it is very intentional work. It is um all decisions are made through our PLC structures and so um our teachers at a grade level work very collaboratively and the goal is not to make a decision and have that student be in that in that setting in that win time uh group for the entire year. It very much is an expectation that we are gathering on a regular basis to review data, talk about kids and make decisions that are best in the best interest of each child. Um,
011and so I'm not going to go through all of these points here. You have the slides and and and you can certainly ask questions. Um, but I do think it's important just to say that this is something that's happening across our schools. We did have conversations last spring and this summer to um, fine-tune consistency and make sure that we had that consistency across our schools and across grade levels. Um and that has um I will say there's been some pain points probably um in some situations because it's new and it's different and it is it it does at times um lock us in if you will at certain at at certain times of the day. But I think include every one of our teachers who has said it's been challenging at times also will say
012but it's worth it because we see the evidence and we see what it's doing for our kids and it provides that structure for us to be having to provide targeted instruction u based on what the students in our classroom at that time need. So, I'll pass it off to I can't remember Alyssa. I believe >> Good evening. First, >> we are talking about PLC and learning labs. Um, again, kind of similar to wind time, PLC's are continuing, so there's not a lot of new things listed. Um, but PLC's are a collaborative time for our grade level teams to come together. It's student centered. So our conversations around student data, whether that be academic or SEAL. In those conversations, our grade levels meet every week. Um, but we do have uh set aside times for our
013counselors to join, our interventionist to join, that we're constantly looking at and evaluating that student data. We're using shared language between all teams, things like supplemental and intensive intervention. Um, so that we're always coming back to points to help our kids grow. Um, every decision that we make in those meetings is based on live evidence. So whether that's benchmarking or a common assessment that grade levels gave and they choose to team grade, it always comes back to what's best for students. So that time can be planning, but it's always centered around students and moving away from the silo mindset of each teachers doing their own thing. And this year, um I think last year every school did some sort of learning lab or double plan within their PLC process based on what teams need. This
014year it's more consistent across all five schools. um we're all instituting some sort of learning labs and our K1 learning labs and our two through five learning labs have different focuses this year and we're all consistent with those focuses. Uh the K1 learning labs have an emphasis on that shared reading, read alouds, narrative observations to really build foundational skills with our youngest learners at the elementary level. The same focus in the early learning labs and two through five is that we want books in children's hands rather than them looking at text on iPads. There's a place for that, but during reading we want physical books in kids' hands. The K1 learning labs have different strategies that they're looking at with our lit link coaches um using Jennifer Cavella's strategies. Both learning labs are looking at
015our FastBridge resource. So that's the the platform we use for our benchmarking, but using that data to help drive some interventions that teachers might use during that win time that Brian talked about earlier. Um, and that's the same in K1 and 25. And it might look different like learning lab times, but those are the focus in all of our buildings. We're all leaning into our lit link coaches for that work. And it's a great time for our PLC process, the collaboration between grade levels, and also time to get into classrooms and just see what their colleagues are doing. It's a really fun good time focused on student learning and building adult learning while we do it. All right, there we go. Hello again. I did the same thing last year, so next year I'll have
016it. So, uh, Jen and I, we're here, uh, to present on restorative practices. And so, um, we are a restorative practice school district. We like to share with our staff that restorative practices is not something that we do. It's really who we are. So, we don't do one thing. It's like, oh, that's restorative. It's really embedded into everything that we do. And in order to make that happen, we have to ensure that our staff um, have the knowledge base. And so, uh, this year we have our district, uh, led PD for certified staff, but we've also found some intentional opportunities for our teaching assistants to have PD as well. We know that they work with our students during the most unstructured times um, when things can get very fun and lively. And so, we want
017to make sure that that learning is not just for um, our teachers, but also for our support staff as well. And then we also have our coaches um that we utilize. We do share them amongst different buildings. Um but we do reach out to them whether it's coaching teachers if they have an issue that's going on in a class or if we are doing our walkthroughs and we see like hey this teacher may benefit from some additional support then we reach out to our coaches um to help with that. With restorative practices though we're looking at fostering and building those relationships. So K5, every classroom has a dedicated SEO time that's about 20 minutes per day. And of course, our teachers have the autonomy if something is going on like please stop, take care of
018that because we know that instruction cannot continue unless you take care of that specific um issue. Uh we make sure that there are opportunities for all staff to connect with students. um really um honing in on that support staff so that they have opportunities to build relationships so that when things happen they are able to go in and repair the harm and uh just really have intentional conversations um with our students and then in our buildings so classroom meetings um we're having restore the conversations and many times when we think of the word restore we're going back to the harm circle we're having those conversations when harm has been done but we're really pushing again this is something that we do all the time. So, even our community building um circles, those are restorative in
019nature. Um as well, our counseling team um they schedule monthly guidance lessons. That's really our universal curriculum uh for our SEAL. And so, making sure that we are teaching those skills and then if we need to follow up um we will. But all students have that um experience and they have that knowledge base and that's all based on what students need. Um there's a uh our counselor and team, they work together um to ensure that there's some type of continuity among all schools, but we do have the flexibility to give our students exactly um what they need. And then going back to our um TAs, our assistant principles in all buildings, they have regularly scheduled meetings um with our with them. Okay, Leah and I are going to talk to you about Idea Lab. Um,
020as you know, Kaiser's in their third year and the rest of us are in our second year. It was wildly popular and successful last year. Um, they started with a pre a pre-ervey uh about confidence and enjoyment around science. Um and then they did it um they did a postyear gosh my words are hard right now. Um an end of the year assessment same questions to to gauge um how much confidence or enjoyment students have. Um with that I would like to say that they are an incredibly collaborative bunch. um they meet for full days, four to five times a year and they really talk about what they are teaching and how it is um impacting student um student growth. And so um with that they have this year even um redistributed some of the
021units so that they can take on the work of the more hands-on um units of science um in order to free up some of that time for the classroom teachers. Um, wait, you're next, right? Sorry. >> Okay. So, I will bring the mic all the way over here. I was trying to avoid that. Um, so for programming, what we see in our elementary buildings is every elementary building hosts a steam night. um where along with their in-class learning students make real life connections through those experience they are having with their teachers as well as with their families at steam night. Um, idea lab along with the myai curriculum emphasizes um innovation and technology and challenges students to create um to problem solve, create and build something um that is a design challenge that an engineering
022challenge for students to do at the end of their learning. Um, and so our kids are really enjoying that aspect of having that more hands-on instead of just the open the book, read, take notes, and take a test. They really are enjoying Idea Lab because they go in, the teachers are enthusiastic because they collaborate so well with each other and lessons are ready, set to go, and kids are doing some dynamic learning in idea lab. The days that the classes spend in the idea lab allow them to go into a much deeper dive into the content. Um, it's very hands-on. They have all of those hands-on activities that Leah just mentioned. And the problem solving and collaboration that occurs in the classroom um is remarkable. you. It's very easy to walk by the idea labs
023in any of our buildings and hear oo and a or gleeful cheers um when they have completed a project or um made a robot move. Um the pictures I'd be remiss because I've seen the middle one, the erosion activity two, three times now and the kids, it's a second grade um unit and they get so excited that they've built or a model of land and their house doesn't get washed away. So it's it's just really fun to see them um be excited about learning. So thank you So Adrian and I are going to talk a little bit about Amplify Desmos Math, which is our new math resource. We had several teachers pilot it last year, and this year we're in year one of our full adoption. Um, this resource is grounded in inquiry and exploration.
024So, it is common to hear students just kind of talking about math. And every day they start the lessons with a warm-up in which they are asked to share their noticings and their wonderings. What do you notice and what do you wonder? Um to kind of launch their thinking that day about what's to happen in math. Um the structure is the same most days where the students will have an two activities. Um generally those two activities are with a partner or in a small group. Sometimes those activities are um in whole group but each activity is an opportunity for students to dig into that math to look at the math not through the lens of direct instruction but through that exploration. Um and so they come together and at the end of a 10 or
02515 minute period there should be a key takeaway which the teachers will help those kids to to come together to find. So there is the activity one where they do um one something in the area of math and they build on that in activity two and again at the at the end of each of those activities as a key takeaway. Following that activity too they do a syn a synthesis kind of come back together whole group where they look at those activities together and they determine as a class what did we learn here? What crystallized for us um as part of this lesson? And so this is where they find that key takeaway where they summarize that learning that happened during that period. Um following that there is one more piece. Um and depending on
026the grade level typically they will evil either have a center activity. um typically for our students in grades K one and sometimes two or they'll do a show what you know which is going to be independent where the students then get to take the learning and show for themselves what they have learned and the teacher can pull up those results and determine who really learned that um that skill that was being um introduced and practiced during that lesson and who didn't so that the teacher can then go back in and work with those students if there are gaps or holes or um if they're noticing that there was not the understanding that they had hoped to see. So that's the structure of the lesson and again most days it follows the same kind of uh
027pattern but there are also opportunities for students to learn beyond that lesson. Um and so you can see on the screen what some of those things are and basically what these beyond the lesson opportunities provide are opportunities for students who maybe didn't get the learning completely the first time through. So there's some reteing opportunities, there's some practice opportunities, but also for those students who have already mastered that work, there are some enrichment um opportunities for them as well. Fluency is a big thing in elementary education in the way of math. So there are also opportunities within this mod within the modules to do some fluency practice which teachers can also track as well. So this resource does provide opportunities for students to question and wonder and notice um but it also provides time and space
028for um clarity around what was the true learning here that happened in the way of summary um and key takeaways and then also the beyond the lesson pieces. So Adrian will talk a little bit about how teachers are trained in this work get over my initial shyness. Okay. So uh regarding the um professional development, our C and I team took some uh intentional steps to provide teachers with opportunities to do some early learning. So teachers were given the opportunity to attend initial trainings in May and August as well as uh throughout the summer if they wanted to. And then they also had some required trainings um just because knowing that a new piece of um curricular required them to have a little bit more um required attending days. And so teachers uh this last month,
029I can't believe it's already November, um participated in three hours of amplify decimal training uh with the amplify and um Miranda available to give them some other things that they could utilize um as they are utili using that um curriculum. And then as far as upcoming things that are uh happening, they'll have training tomorrow. So some of the teachers will go in the morning if I'm not mistaken and some will go in the afternoon. It's based on our schedule. Um and then there are also going to be opportunities throughout the year uh well second semester specifically where uh the CNI team will offer sort of similar to the literacy link kind of thought process where they can dig in specifically with things that the individual grade levels or individual be buildings need. And so that
030is sort of how the professional development has been built for uh teachers using this new curriculum resource. All right, it's me again and this time we are going to talk about Kaiser. So um this is just our initial slide. That's our mission. The bottom left is about 535 kids and all of our staff out there on the black top making a pink ribbon. So, um, and then there's our staff on the bottom right. That's opening day. There's like I don't know, you can't really feel it from the picture, but there's no excitement like opening day. We tried to capture it, but that is us this year. And we are very excited to talk to you about just like three highlights through like school improvement lens. Um, and the first one we're going to talk about
031is adult learning. Um, I think that we hold this true at Kaiser that when adults learn more, kids learn more. And so, um, this summer, well, actually last school year, we had the opportunity to, um, go to a joint conference. So, I threw it out there to the staff. And I traveled to Chicago this summer with seven teachers. Um, and all seven wanted to go take time away from their families and their lives over the summer to go to Chicago. We took the train. Robinson went to um, and we went to a joint conference for elementary literacy and mathematics. And so we spent two and a half days at the conference and you know we're there together for keynotes but then you pick your own sessions and we're out and learning. We're sharing on a
032Google doc taking the best nuggets that we want to return back with. We're getting validated in our own practices because there's presenters at a national conference sharing things like we do that we do that. One of our own presented Leah Thomas was up there sharing her amazing knowledge about writing and her passion. And so it was a great time for us to just be together and learn, validate, and also get excited about the upcoming school year. Um, one of the things that we took back was how we do our faculty meetings and how we do learning together. One thing that I walked away from a session was just like celebrating our greatness. We don't always have to look outside. A piece of feedback that we received last year was our faculty meetings were a little
033tight. Um we did a lot of learning in a really tight schedule. We only have an hour together. So this year based on somebody uh a presenter that shared um we switched it up. So we use a Google doc and staff can sign up to share. So Leah Thomas has she condensed but she presented about writing to our staff. Our librarian has presented to our staff. Um our social committee has presented. So I mean we're booked up to like March February of next the upcoming year. Um, but people are sharing out. Our gifted teacher is sharing out. So, the amazing things that are happening that their team knows about, right, is getting to the larger audience. We're sharing our greatness. We're getting great ideas and we're learning from each other during our faculty meetings so
034that we can do more with our kids and continue all the goodness at Kaiser. >> Then once a month, we also meet as a guiding coalition. So earlier we talked about PLC's. those are led by a team leader. So every grade level there's um a guiding coalition leader and then we also have a guiding coalition leader for our specialist areas and intervention and um so this is a time where we're building capacity within our teachers to be leaders because we don't run those um PLC's. It's teacher le like it's them creating the agendas and working with their teams. So, it's just taking that time to talk about what a collaborative team looks like and sounds like and how they can be leaders in that setting. Um, so that they're doing the very best for the
035kids. Uh, our next area is under belonging. So, we have a belonging committee um which is comprised of um teachers, one of our counselors. Uh we're a part of it as well. We actually just met today. But our belonging committee looks for ways for people to feel included and welcomed at uh Kaiser. And so that can look a variety of ways. On the last slide, there was a picture of our giant pink ribbon supporting one of our teachers that's battling breast cancer. That came from belonging committee um our belonging committee met today to start talking about Black History Month and how our students are going to be seen um during that month looking for leadership opportunities for kids. They've decided our theme days for the year. Um, another big thing that belonging committee is responsible
036for right under that is family groups. Um, so this is every staff member in the building. Um, both certified and non-certified have a family group that's comprised of kids from K through five. Um, really just to kind of bring that sense of belonging and community beyond just the kids in your grade level. Um, we call them our prides groups. Um, because we're Kaiser Pride stands for positive, respectful, inclusive, dependable, equitable, and safe. And every month we do a lesson around one of those words. So we've done positive, we've done respectful, we'll be moving to inclusive. Um, and that's also an opportunity for our teachers to be leaders. They create the lessons for the whole school to use. And then also a really great opportunity for our fifth graders because they really take on getting our
037kindergarters, bringing them to family groups, walking them back, checking in on them. Um, so it's just a great opportunity to build community. Yes, our fifth graders definitely they pick up the younger kids, they drop them off. They also uh the icebreaker that all of our Pride family groups do. The fifth grade does that in their class before we meet. We typically have met on Fridays, but leading up to that, they'll do the icebreaker in their classroom and then they help lead it out when we get together. So, a lot of leadership there. Um, another thing that we had heard last school year was more opportunities for our fifth grade. Um, so this year we put out a Google form very short to all fifth graders um, asking them what their interests are and we were
038able to kind of narrow it down and every fifth grader that wanted to participate in a leadership opportunity is doing so. Um, our spirit week is a group. I have a student advisory group that's very upset about sodium levels and hot sauce. Um, so we're working through that with Chartwells. It was taken away because it's sodium level restriction. Uh, soccer nutetss are another hot hot topic with our fifth grade student advisory group. Uh, we have a group of very passionate fifth graders about composting. So they let out how to compost at Kaiser during lunches. So they're teaching other kids. Um, so you get the idea of our fifth grade leadership group. They're very passionate. They're very excited and they are so incredibly capable of being leaders. And so really excited about the work we're doing
039with our fifth graders. And I'm sure um when they head to North next year, Dana and the team will will reap the benefits of their leadership for sure. Um the last thing that Daniel and I wanted to talk about was our climate and culture work. And I'm going to pass it back to him. Um, one of the things that we heard at the end of the year, um, was that teachers wanted more, you know, support and understanding of how to address bias and how to have those tough conversations in their classrooms. And one thing that research really supports is that it's hard to address it if you haven't done that internal work yourself. And so this year with our staff in the afternoons on professional development days, we're working on identity work and understanding their
040identity and how that contributes to their views of the world. Um thinking about their own privileges, their own biases so that we can kind of tackle that first because it's not just an overnight thing to be able to address some of the larger um problems in society. But starting with that internal work is where we're going to begin this year. We also are really leaning into our schoolwide celebrations to improve our climate and culture. And so a few things that our um belonging group and also the larger just group at Kaiser has come up with is our VIP Fridays which is something we started last year. It's kind of a nod to something we did years ago. Um where any Kaiser kid can have a very important person to them come in. This year we
041have two, one in first semester and one in second semester. And we also switched it up where we did um a later time. Last year we had VIP Fridays and they were both in the morning. And something that our staff considered was that not every very important person can come in the morning. So we had one in the afternoon and the feedback was that it was much smoother than either of the two from last year. So we're getting better and better. Um, and so that's just one way we're we're inviting our very important people in and celebrating all the amazing things happening at Kaiser. We have our Veterans Day assembly that's always a big hit at Kaiser. We have a second and fourth grade concert. Um, and we have lots of staff celebrations this school
042year and that's partly because of our amazing social committee which we meet with quite often to ensure that we're celebrating all of our staff, not just our certified staff. We've had um special days where we're celebrating. We've had a larger um social media impact to really highlight and celebrate every staff member. Um we do a treat trolley with our social or with our social committee. We've had special um lunches for all of our staff. Um and outside of school, we're getting together because we actually really like each other and want to spend even more time. And hopefully that is transferring over to the positive climate where Kaiser kids feel it and our our community feels it too. So there's lots of really great things happening at Kaiser and um I really enjoyed having time to
043write about it for you. Okay, we are excited to tell you about the things that we're doing at North Glendale. Um, just on this slide alone, I always say that Glendale, the city of Glendale is has the the most home like small town feel of any place I've been in um, in my career. And it is really fun to like see the front yard just filled with kids reading or a class doing a lesson on the front lawn on those nice days. And so we'll talk a little bit more about that, but I just wanted to highlight Miss Driscoll in her class who used um used some time outside to um do some activities. All right, next slide. Okay, that is our mission. We did um we spent last year reworking our mission and um
044with the staff and the students and um so our mission is at North Glendale, we create a community of kindness and belonging that encourages growth and a love for learning. after we do the process with the district strategic plan. Our plan at North Glendale is to start our vision work. So, I anticipate that happening next year, but we have a good start. Um, and we're starting to make sure that we look through this lens as we make decisions around kids and around each other. So the first one and I'm gonna we're gonna pivot just a little bit because of the microphone because we weren't thinking logistically. Um so I'm going to go ahead and cover connection and belonging and then PLC's and then Leah will come back to climate and culture. So connection and belonging.
045Um this is both for kids and adults. Um on that first slide for us you saw Olaf dancing. Um it was really hard to get a clear shot of him, but um we are on the Tilman musical train and so this is our second year to do a school musical and that was the assembly where it was announced. It's a big deal. Um last year I think we had around 80 students participate and this year they're feeling brave enough to get it up just over a hundred. Um, and so they just finished um, auditions and um, kids got their roles and so they're getting ready to start rehearsals. It's really fun. Um, I high I highly recommend coming to one of the shows. Um, fix it crew I really want to highlight as well. Last
046year some third graders approached our idea lab teacher Mr. Dussell and said or asked like how do things work? we want to find out, you know, could we could you help us um take apart something and like put it back together sort of thing. And he was like, "Sure, I have 15 minutes here and there, like we can we can meet." Um it became so wildly popular that um I mean they fixed everything from my robot vacuum, um a couple of curigs, two microwaves, a smoker, a TV. Um it it they are so jazzed about it. And so this year so far they have um fixed a bike. Um it had handlebar problems and brake problems and chain problems. They fixed it up and it was able to be presented to a student who learned
047how to ride a bike during bike rodeo this year. So not only are they loving what they're learning, but they are also loving to give back, which I think is remarkable. Um, our KESAC group, I would put them against anyone. It's led by Mrs. Hol, Miss Holt, Mrs. Johnson, and Mr. Trey. And they have really thought intentionally about how we can help um all of our staff feel connected. Um they have started this year a newsletter, a quarterly newsletter to kind of keep everybody informed of what happens at KTOK, but also um workshops or things that they can go to to visit to learn more about um the efforts. And I really appreciate how much they think about the entire staff so that we keep in mind that there's allyship within this work. And so
048um they are wonderful to work with. Another highlight that I want to mention is our our our interactive and diverse bulletin boards. We have um a teaching assistant who is very passionate about this work and is helping us um not only sh uh show people um who we are as a staff and as student population but also teaching them along the way. And so um when I mean interactive bulletin boards, there will be questions or there will be an opportunity for students to hypothesize or you know, use a post-it to add to um the bulletin board while they're learning. And they're all over the building. And so if you ever are in North Glendel, please make sure that you go upstairs, too, because they really are remarkable. And um she deserves every bit of the
049credit for um her work, but also the team's work that helps her out. Um okay, let's move over to PLC's. Um there's a couple different ways at North Glendale that we can um work collaboratively and learn from one another. The first one is our student support team. We meet weekly to problem solve around students both academically and behaviorally. Um it's a large team of people everywhere everywhere from school psych um SSD um counselors, admin, you name it. And um we either meet as a team and talk about what we're seeing with kids or we have teachers who sign up to come and talk specifically about a child. And so with that with those conversations, we're learning from each other and supporting our students. Um we are also doing the clarity for learning book study as
050a staff. Um Leah and I present um a chapter with our guiding coalition and then we've had one opportunity so far for our guiding coalition to then um present to our staff and it went really well. So we're going to continue that work. Um they get to make it their own after hearing how we present it. Um which um allows for more buy in. Um and so yeah, we're just we're we're doing a lot of learning from each other and um growing together. Excited for that. All right. So when we're thinking about climate and culture, it's important. Is this still on? Okay. Um it's important because it builds trust, which our teachers need when they are working together in PLC's and in guiding coalition. Um, but it also allows us to have some fun in
051the building with all the academic and behavior things that we're doing. And so, um, one of the things that we do is NG day of play. So, there's a global day of play in the f in the spring. And so, North Glendel has one in the fall and Chartwell jumped in and they're like, we have our um our food truck. And so everybody that day is eating hot dogs or cheeseburgers and and tater tots and just having a great time. Um not just playing with each other, but it also now includes all of the staff including um our cafeteria staff. Um, another thing that we started this year is the superstar day at the beginning of the year. And that was an opportunity for us to come together to learn schoolwide expectations. And so, yes,
052it's a lot of planning and it does take up a whole day, but um, there's some great things that come out of it. So, for instance, um, our idea lab teacher and one of our reading specialists were in charge of bathroom expectations. And so now the saying at the school is it's a potty not a party um when we're talking about what we're expecting kids to do um when they are about our when they're going about um our building. And so that was a fun day. At the end of it, everybody signed a um a big banner, a North Glendale banner um that says we are superstars. And um another thing we have is the NGTV news. And actually again we're pulling in not just teachers doing all this with sta with students. We actually
053have our building sub who is an Emmy awardwinning um producer. Um yes she belongs to North Glendel. We're proud of her. But she is handling our NGTV news. And so but the news is still student driven there. one of our recent broadcasts, there's a whole segment that is just in Spanish and our students who are um who have Spanish as their first language led that particular segment on that broadcast. Um and then we have staff celebrations and um I like what Alys Alisa Alyssa said about not just celebrating our certified staff but celebrating all our staff. So, when we get back to school on Wednesday, we're going to be celebrating one of our TAs who's getting married later on this month. And everybody jumped right in on board as excited about celebrating her upcoming nuptuals
054as we were for celebrating one of our kindergarten teachers who just recently had her first baby. Um, and so I will say that as a new member of the North Lindell family that that this atmosphere, this sense of belonging, this coming together and not just working together, but really celebrating together um has really warmed my heart and I'm loving every minute of it. Jen pushed a button for me this time so I didn't have to worry about it. All right, so Robinson um Elementary um there are just a few pictures up here just to celebrate who we are. Um there may be a few familiar faces that are up there, Dr. M. Um, and so really just I wanted to just highlight from just our youngest learners in preK up to our fifth graders just
055our school community. Um, the picture in the top right is from um the Green Tree Parade. And as far as student and family participation in the parade, I'm almost certain that we had the largest group. Um, so just wanted to throw that out there. I know other buildings win in some areas, but we definitely win in the green tree parade. But it really just shows just how much um our community, you know, we're not able to do all the things, but the things that we do, we do it very well. Um and will you go back? I just wanted to point out Cam's face um on the tricycle there. That's from our bike rodeo. Cam um is a student um at Robinson. And so as he looked like he's pushing through, like he's really pushing
056through that and was able to experience um success. But, you know, again, we celebrate um whether it's academic, social, uh things that are going on within a community. That is just who Robinson is. And so, at Robinson on this year, our theme is empowered by positivity, inspired by possibilities. And so, we are leading with joy, learning with purpose, and succeeding um together. And so, we're just going to highlight a few of the things um that we have done. And so we'll start with um just our staff and climate culture. This is Jen and I's second um year together. And coming in we knew that we had to do some work which is staff belonging um in itself. And so we're continuing that work for our um book study. We're um using the energy bus on
057John Gord Gordon. And so uh we build in opportunities just throughout whether it's the beginning of the year for opening day or different um staff meetings and then we tie it into our uh TA meetings. um as well. And so we're just really looking at like the positive um and seeing things from a different light. And yes, there's so many things that can happen, but what can we um control and let's focus um on that. Um a new initiative this year as well is our staff families. And so um instead of having our students in a family, we have our staff um in a family. And so that's all staff in the building, certified support staff. And then throughout the year we have different um competitions or different activities. And so we just finished up
058with our pumpkin decorating contest. And it's very easy for staff to get together in their um team group. So by grade level, but when you're having to come together with people that you don't interact with. Often it takes some intentional planning behind that. And so um yes, there are some lovely um submissions for our pumpkin decorating contest. and I'll have Jen share um more about what we are doing um as a staff. You have great notes over there. >> I really like staying behind the scenes. So um we have really been intentional and our staff has really come together to be intentional about the different opportunities that we are um forming together this year. We have staff members that have started like a walking club. They get to school at 7:30 in the morning and
059they all go walk together. Um it's starting to be out. So, now that we see them, the paths through the building. If you've never been in Robinson, we have lots of neat little nooks and crannies that you can go through. Um, they have planned a monthly outing and it spells Robinson. So, in um September they went to Rosalita's and then they went to Anestos and so they um forehands you can go from there. So, they have been planning outings that spell out Robinson. Uh, we had our pumpkin carving contest. Um, I think it was rigged and uh we had a a costume contest as well for our teams um that we had actually it was on Facebook and had um the community vote on. But there are just a lot of opportunities for everyone to
060get involved because we want to make sure that um everyone in our building is feeling included. And so we are continuing those initiatives with our student belonging. Um as well uh we have uh multiple opportunities just to really celebrate our students starting with our new uh to Robinson group and that's led by our counselors. So any student of first through fifth grade they meet with our counseling team. They meet about once um per month and that's really just a time for one our new students to interact with each other but also just a chance for our counseling team to check in with students to see how things are going. Um when we I read our panorama uh survey feedback um last year, one of the things that came out of it was like I don't
061know if um my student um has a relationship with the principal. And I really took that to heart. Now, this was a student that may not typically come in the principal's office, but we're like, you know what? We need to make sure that all students have an opportunity to connect. And so, this year, we have a principal's lunch bunch. It was a really great idea in July um when we were talking about it. And students love it. They're like, "When are we meeting with you?" But it's definitely a lot on the second and fourth Fridays. But that is an opportunity where we are meeting with every single student at Robinson kindergarten through fifth grade just to talk about um really anything. So we've gotten ideas about how to make the school better. One week I
062also received all of the fourth grade tea as they called it. So it was it was great for me. But you know uh but again it's you know just sitting there and some of the students you're like I don't know if I've ever heard you say a word. to see them come, you know, just come out of their shells in that moment. It's just a really great experience. So, we're pushing through. It is a great thing to do, but yes, it's it can be difficult sometimes. And then also celebrating our students um cultures. We just um finished uh or we wrapped up our Hispanic heritage um celebration. Um this year we have uh two students that were new to Robinson, but they're also Spanish speaking. And so we included them um on our announcements um
063every day. They uh helped lead the announcements, but they also taught students words um in Spanish. And these are students their parents would say, "I don't think they're going to speak." And I'm like, "You must not really know your child because they don't have a problem at all." But that's just, you know, one of the ways that we are involving um students. Um and then, you know, just finding those opportunities. We have another student on Friday. she had a hard time just coming in the building this year and so I was like, "Please come help me with the announcements." Well, she took that as every Friday I'm going to help you and and that's exactly what we're doing. Um so for adult learning this year, um we have several different things in place. Um, so
064we have our Ed Plus consultant and last year we weren't um exactly sure how to best use our Ed Plus consultant and so this year we were a lot more strategic and planning with how we work with her. Um, so she is coming in cycles where she's coming for um, a few weeks in a row to visit our PLC and provide feedback and then we are able to put those things into practice and then she comes back to kind of check in. And so that's been really helpful um for Lendra and I and for our teams to kind of hear from um an outside perspective. We are so lucky that we have Katie Wit, our literacy coach at Robinson, and working with her in conjunction with the link has been really helpful. Um Alyssa talked
065about learning labs earlier and so we just have a lot of um strong pieces in place to help support our teachers. We also went to the NCTTEN NCTM joint conference this year and we built in some time for our teachers that went to the conference this year. They came back in our opening week. They were able to present to our staff. They got to pick some different sessions that they went to. And so it was really nice to build um our teachers up to be the leaders within our staff. and we often tap into our SEAL coach in addition to Katie Wit. And we have been super thankful and lucky to have Miranda Dixs this year with the implementation of our new math program. Um she has been in our building several different times teams
066that are reaching out to her asking for her to come model um or to come watch and provide feedback. She's actually coming again on Wednesday, I believe, um to work with one of our teams. So, it's really nice that there are a lot of um people that we have in place to help support our staff. How are we doing on time? We're okay. Okay, good. Um motion to go in reverse alphabetical order next year. Uh these are uh pictures of of Tilman uh and and folks involved at Tilman. That's our uh that T you see there is our brand new uh cafeteria floor this year. And uh that is our our group of fifth graders that we had for our fifth grade leadership lockin. Uh and and you can see we I don't know, we
067just have every school would say they have the best kids and best teachers and best community, but you know, so we're going to say the same thing. Uh we we really do uh feel Brian and I feel very blessed to get to work with uh the staff and and kids and families uh that we get to work with every day at Telman. It's it's a really really fun uh place to be. Uh we're going to start by talking about adult learning. Uh and the reason I want to start there and and we wanted to start there is Brian and I recognize that that is the opportunity that we have to make the biggest difference on student learning. If we can help shape adult mindsets and adult ideas, those things will impact what happens in the
068classroom. So there are several pieces of adult learning we have in place here that we wanted to to talk to you about. What we also know is time is not infinite, right? So we have to be we have to be creative uh and and we have to be intentional with the time that we do have. Uh so one of the things we have happening this year at Tilman is uh an action research project. Each of our teams is taking on an action research project this year. They got to self- select an area of focus that they thought might improve student outcomes. Uh and they're getting to study and try things on that all year. We we we've led them like help them see it as if you're stuck as a PLC and you don't know
069what to have a discussion about this week or you don't necessarily have uh some new thing or you don't want to just give a common formative assessment for the sake of having something to talk about. This action research project is another thing that you can sort of have in your back pocket. Uh and so we have teams uh studying things that include uh executive functioning uh better data tracking and goal setting with kids uh outdoor learning and cross-curricular planning. Uh so when teachers when our teachers are not in uh a learning lab uh with the link uh they then go on a rotation of learning labs with with uh Brian and me and and we focus on that that action research and helping to to keep pushing them through that. And then at the end
070of the year, one of our last faculty meetings of the year, every team will present their work to the rest of the staff. Uh hoping the the idea our our idea is that maybe some of those things will now sort of take root and and become things that exist beyond just those teams. Uh another thing that that we study or are studying this year is we're using our faculty meeting time to talk about brainbased learning, right? And so while we know there is a lot of conversation about recess and movement and activity, uh so we had teachers study that this summer. what does the research tell us students need as far as movement? Uh, and it was a really really great study of about nine teachers uh who did and and Brian and me who
071did a online module with the with the company and and did some work uh and then came back together this summer to say how do we now how do we now put this out to the staff? What does the staff need to know? Uh, yes, we know kids need to move, but how frequently do they need to move to really be effective? Or or what does that movement need to look like to make sure that they are doing the best learning possible in their classroom? It's not just go outside and play at recess. That's that's not the answer, right? The the answer is how do you have an intentional movement that then sets them up to be successful on the next subject or or time that they are going to have in their class? When
072are the times throughout the day that it makes sense to have movement to get get the highest leverage? Uh and so when we talked about that with our staff and did some work uh in August, uh we then got to the idea that this needs we need to move beyond just how does movement impact the brain, but there are lots of other pieces of of how we learn that that is important for us to know as well. Uh so we've had sessions around uh cognitive load and and working memory and just again what does the brain tell us matters uh and what does what does research tell us the brain needs to have to be its most successful. Uh the other thing is we have a uh tech tech cadra kadra cadra uh we have
073a tech group uh we have a tech group uh vertical tech group that is uh studying uh with an Apple facilitator uh and the idea there is how do we make more active use of technology right we all know uh you know everyone's read the anxious generation at this point we all recognize that just putting an iPad in front of a child is not how you use it actively in a in a classroom that that does you no good Right? At that point, it's a glorified book or a glorified worksheet. That's not what we want. That's not the point of that technology. Uh so we have a facilitator who comes and and shows us some really active and engaging things we can do with that technology to get our students bought in, but also more
074importantly to help impact learning, right? Beyond just uh a babysitter, right? Beyond just uh using it as independent iPad time, right? Like how can we use our iPads uh to be more effective? The bottom line of all this adult learning though is Brian and I hope with all of this learning we do with our adults that we are modeling the teaching that we hope to see in our classrooms at Tilman. So teaching that is authentic, active, applicable, and abiding. >> I was worried that um our energy and enthusiasm and excitement wouldn't come across, but no problem. No problem. We're good. and and and and and that is that that is we we are incredibly fortunate um I think to work together but also to work with a fantastic staff at Tilman. Um we have terrific
075kids of course and we do um we have wonderful families and I I'm going to start there because the relationships that we have um are the are the foundation of the culture and climate of belonging. And I'm going to I'm going to extend it a little bit further than that. I think um we truly believe that we want our families to be a part of what we're doing. Um whether they are physically in the building or we are engaging with them in other ways. We want them to know that they they belong and this school is theirs as well. Um but we also want that for our kids and for our staff members. Um we we we think that everybody needs to not only feel like they belong, but they need to know that they're
076valued and that they matter. Um and those are things that are really important to us that we try to just model on a day-to-day basis. Um, we have kids across our entire school who have relationships with so many adults. Um, I'm sure that there are some that we are slipping through the cracks on a little on on a little bit, but um, I mean, our mornings are I mean, we have to like go to class, go to class. Well, I still have to go see so and so and so and so and so and so because they love these teachers. And I think that has been a byproduct of the PLC work and the win time and the the flexible groupings that we have because our I think our kids know not just the teachers
077that they are assigned to for home room but for the entire grade level and as they move through the system there are so many adults that know them and know them well and have those relationships. Um, and then throw in clubs that we have, throw in our fantastic um, affinity groups. And we have people all over the building that our kids can rely on, who know them, and they can go to if they need anything. And so that is something that we're very proud of and and something that I think all of us in all of our schools um, can say. Shared leadership is an important um, part of what we believe in as well. We want our our our adults in our school and for that matter I will say our families to know
078that they are part of our leadership team. Um and that they again that they value and that they are valued and and they matter and that is something that we model on a day-to-day basis. We have so many committees of teachers that we go to and we ask their opinions on things and if they come to us and we're like okay well how can we make this happen? I think we would like in all circumstances to have our default be yes, let's figure it out as opposed to no. Um because there are so many teachers in our district in in our school that have great ideas and know their kids and know how I think I truly believe know how to meet the needs of kids. And so if we can sometimes support them, but
079sometimes just get out of their way, um they're going to they're going to show us a path. Um and and I think that's really exciting. shared leadership does not just extend to the adults though. Um our third through fifth graders are the leaders. They are the three oldest grades in our sixth grade schools. Um and so I we we think it's really important that we start developing those leadership skills in our third, fourth, and fifth graders. And I will say our fifth grade um in my in my 327 years of experience, um I've I've I've learned that as goes the fifth grade, so goes the school. And so we put intentional effort into our fifth graders every year. Our fifth grade team of teachers are fantastic of developing the kids, having class um grade level
080meetings. Uh they do work with as with all the kids are on leadership squads. We do have our overnight um lock-in retreat in in August where we really teach into leadership skills um and help them understand that this is something this is a big deal being a fifth grader in an elementary school and it comes with a certain amount of responsibility as well. Um, and so, um, that that's an exciting thing for us. We have so many fantastic things that I that I hope and I truly believe are helping kids understand that they that they belong, they value, and and that they matter. >> And then we'll close with family engagement uh, and communication. We have a lot of events during the school day. Uh, and again, as Brian said, our our goal is to
081bring families in to those events, you know, and and uh, so we had fourth Fridays last year. Uh, and those were always in the morning. Uh and again as as Alyssa shared in talking about feedback she got at Kaiser, we got similar feedback at Tilman that that leads to inequities because there are some families that just cannot participate in a morning activity. Uh so we we worked and and reworked the schedule so that some of those are now uh in the morning and some are in the afternoon. What we also did is we recognized that at Tilman, one of one of the things I I I personally just feel most connected to and and value the most about Tilman Elementary is we have a group of dedicated teachers who run fantastic assemblies. Like they are
082they are a blast. They're a hot ticket. You you need to get there, right? Uh and so what we realize is those don't we don't need to make those two separate things. Why are we having a fourth Friday and then again later having an assembly two weeks, you know, two weeks after that? So, we've connected those two events so that Fourth Friday happens, parents go read or do math with their kids, and then the idea is anybody in the building is invited to come down and now attend the assembly. Uh, and so we had our first one of those uh recently and I'm not sure what the fire code is in our cafeteria. Uh, but we tiptoed very closely up up to the line. Uh, which was awesome that that parents came to Fourth Friday
083uh and and decided to to stay. Uh, and so we're excited to see how that works. we have our first uh when we have our first afternoon one to see if if you know how that impacts the attendance. But again, the idea hopefully we will see some new and different families that maybe aren't able to attend in the morning. Uh we're also being very intentional about our communication. So that means uh any communication that we are sending out is our school newsletter or teachers sending their individual newsletters. A lot of feedback we got is people like the information but they're not necessarily sure how to talk to their kids about what is in the newsletter. So we really tried to shift our thinking and and really help to guide parents to don't just ask your
084kid about how their day was. Here is exactly what they did in English class and here's a question that you could ask them to to discuss that. So just trying to make sure that families can feel like they are really involved in the education which also brings us to schooly as our last point on this. We've made a huge push to get every family at Tilman involved and active on Schooly because it does it provides them another layer that allows them to not only get uh streamlined communication, but also really kind of see what is happening in in class, right? It's it's one thing to be told this is this is, you know, this is how math is being taught right now versus here is an example of your child's math work. So you can
085see exactly what they are doing and and what that looks like and know kind of how to support them next. So that's that's Tilman. >> Now we will talk a little bit about Westchester. Uh we're really proud of Westchester. We're really proud of our community um and how we do come together as a community in lots of different ways. Um there's our beautiful staff um on opening day. It was really great. Um our tech specialist, Carlos Glenn, he took his drone out and had us stand there for a while and it was it was really great for us to come together for that photo. Um, the picture on the right of the school was taken by our school librarian. Um, I don't know how long ago was it a while ago. >> So, but it's
086a beautiful photo of our school. Um, and this really does capture um capture the feel of our school. It's warm. It's um inviting. Um, and that's what we have every day when we get to walk into Westchester. I love being there. Um, this is year two for me and year two for us as an admin team. And we're just loving every minute of it. So, we'll give you a little look into Westchester now. All right. So, for us, we focused um our portion of the presentation on things that are new at Westchester this year. And Adrian and I realized last year that we needed to help um our teachers to build their leadership capacity. And so, we really focused on that over the summer as we thought about what we wanted this school year to
087hold for our staff. And so, we created opportunities for shared leadership. The first of which is our guiding coalition cohorts. So every teacher um whether they're a classroom teachers, special area teacher, librarian, interventionist counselor, everyone will have a full quarter where they serve on the guiding coalition where they're bringing leadership to their particular area. We saw value in this because it's easy for people to sit back and let others lead and it's harder to be the leader. And so what we're doing through these guiding coalition cohorts is we're allowing everyone to get the opportunity to experience leadership. And what that looks like is they get to participate in different things. First quarter, that cohort got to look with us at the strategic plan for Westchester. They got to look at our school improvement plan and
088help us to think together around, you know, what do we want to work on this year? What are the things that we need to be focusing our attention on? Um, this second quarter cohort, um, one of the things that we're g that we had them do last week when we met was to look with us at the instructional minutes and to talk about the building schedule. It's something that we're paying attention to. Liz talked about that at the beginning and so that particular cohort got to weigh in on that um and to have conversations that are impacting the work that we will do moving forward at the district level. So bringing these cohorts together again provides opportunities for teachers to share their leadership. Some like it, others are like I'm not sure how I feel
089about this leadership thing. But everybody now as a leader for their team during their quarter will sit in that PLC and they will be the facilitator of that meeting. they will make sure that those agendas are tight and ready to go and they will make sure that the work of that learning group moves forward. And so it really is a great opportunity for us to help our teachers grow. Um Adrian's going to talk a little bit about shared leadership through the lens of our staff committees which we're really excited about. So something that is new at Westchester is staff committees and we have uh scheduled them to happen on the other opposite uh month. So we have uh staff staff meetings and so the next meeting would be a committee meeting. So we have um
090four committees. Um the we social committee which is all things to do with adults and getting together and um outside of uh the building and doing adult-like activities. Um the other committee we have is the Wii family and engagement. And one of the things that uh has been shared prior to my even joining Westchester is that we used to have family groups. And so one of the biggest things that we are um wait a minute I'm talking about the wrong one. We social sorry we school culture that's the one um family groups. And so one of the things that we're trying to get off and going this uh year is actual family groups where um all staff will have a group and we will do a shared activity. I know one of the things we're
091going to try to do uh in the second semester is something called ACES Day, which is uh basically like a all everybody move day. And um so we'll get together outside and do some type of dancing and things like that. So that's one of the things that we're trying to get off and going um in our school culture for we family and engagement. It really was taking stock in some of the things that we do at Westchester and making sure that we communicate that information out to families. Um, and we learned that one of the things is that families are often getting that uh weekly um newsletter from Julie, but also like layering that information into the classroom teachers uh newsletter is another way to sort of remind families what we're doing in our building.
092Um, the next one that I'll talk about is Wii Outdoors. That's pretty big because we do have the Wii Woods and we're definitely trying to get it back to its glory days where we had uh fifth graders come around and do sort of um the obstacle courses in there. We're not quite there yet because of all of the construction. So, we um one of our um committee members, Jenn uh Jenny Ono, has taken the lead on trying to get the um the weewoods back to its glory. And so that's a picture of uh some of the um instances where families have volunteered their time to come out and sort of clean and deweed and make it look nice so that we can get out there. Another thing that we've also got in there is our
093story walk. And so you can kind of see the picture there where there was a family who donated the the board and all of that and put it in. And then one of our committee members goes around week monthly and will change the story walk. And so that's just another opportunity for kids to get out um during throughout the day as well as for families on the weekends and after school to come around and um explore our woods. And then finally, we have did I do them, Mom? I do school culture. Yeah, I did school culture. Sorry, there's four of them. Got to make sure. We social adult. We family and engagement, we outdoors, and then school culture. Again, there you go. Got them all. All right. Um, another area of focus for us that
094came out of our climate survey was the need to do some work around trust. And so, um, we brought in last year, uh, Pay a Sample, who, um, does all kinds of wonderful things to help, um, communities of adults work together, collaborate, and to develop trust. So, we contracted with her and she started her work with us again this year in August. And she spent two hours with us um helping us to begin thinking about trust and how trust impacts our work with one another um because we all know that if we don't have trust in our teams, it's really hard to move forward. It's really hard to share kids during win time if I don't trust you as my colleague um with my students. it's really hard to um navigate relationships in a school
095relationships or we have to work together collaboratively if we don't trust each other whether it's on a grade level team or outside of the grade level. So, we have been really intentional about um our work around trust. And so, even after that first August meeting, you would hear people talk a little bit about trust um and say things like, "Yeah, we're we're developing our trust is I can do this now because I have more trust." And so, it really did catch fire with some people. Um we are also using this theme of trustbased teams and working on trust within our school environment um within our guiding coalition. So since everyone is going through the guiding coalition during one quarter, we decided that it would be really beneficial and helpful for us to do a book
096study around trust. And so um each quarter, Adrian and I are going to read the same book every quarter. Um which is really wonderful. We're getting better. Second quarter is already going better than the first. Um but the title of our book is The Thin Book of Trust. And it truly is a thin book. It is an easy easy read. Um and it focuses on four different aspects of trust which um those four aspects are care, sincerity, reliability and competence. And so when we have those conversations, we often talk about you know what is your what are your areas where you are um strongest in the area of trust? Is it care? Is it sincerity? Is it something else? And where do you have room to grow and room to work? And so um it
097will take the full year, right, for everyone to get through this work with us. Um, but it has been really beneficial and when we sit with the teams with the guiding coalition and we read through these pages and we discuss those pages, we have seen teachers really become vulnerable in those spaces sharing their experiences and opening themselves up to a group that maybe they're not that comfortable with yet. Um, our guiding coalition cohorts are made up of one teacher or maybe two from each team. And so when you come together for this meeting, you know, every couple of weeks, you are with people that you don't work with every single day in your spaces. And so to be vulnerable, to allow yourself to be open about what you're experiencing through the lens of trust has
098been a lot. Um so PA came in August. Um she will come and do another full um two-hour session with us in February, but each guiding coalition will also get one hour with her um during our final go guiding coalition meeting of the quarter. So we've done that with um the quarter one group and so we're really excited about the intentional time that we've built in to this work and it is already um showing itself in what we are experiencing in our PLC's with our guiding coalition meeting uh members leading our work around trust. So something else that's uh new is um the participation amount of teachers um in the restorative practices um uh PD that is offered um through Dr. Math and his team. Um last year we had uh a group of classroom
099teachers go plus myself, Julie and our counselors. And I believe that uh the reason that we have so many going this year is not because of me and Julie or our counselors. It's actually because of the classroom teachers talking to each other and really um sharing their positive experience and the information that they gained out of the professional development. And therefore this year we have 15 staff members all from different parts of our building whether it is on the specials team to individual grade levels. Some some of the grade levels will have most of their teachers that have attended or will attend that restorative practice PD. And so that is something that we are really really proud to share. And in the sense of sort of that Lendra um talked about it is not something
100you do on a one-off. It is something who we are. So we are really proud of our team for doing that. >> And this year more than last year at least maybe I don't remember last year it's kind of a blur. Um but we've we've had a lot of teachers ask us to lead restorative circles with them um to join with them to work through something challenging with their class. And it's been really great to partner with teachers in that work as we help students really um navigate hard things. Um and so people are truly leaning into this work and I can't wait to see where we are after these additional 15 staff members have gone through this training. Um I think it will be really really beneficial for our school community and how we
101navigate things that come up um amongst ourselves as adults and amongst the students in our classroom. So, um, we're really excited about our restorative practices work and what's yet to come for us. So, that is the end of the elementary presentation. Um, we would like to thank you so much for giving us the opportunity, the venue, the time, the space to share with you a little bit about what we're doing as a full um, elementary admin team, but also to highlight some of the things that we're doing in each of our individual buildings. So, thank you very much for the time. We enjoyed it. >> Thank you. This was great. Um I do want to go around and just see if people have comments. Okay, Lisa. >> Yeah, thanks. Um well, as the newest member
102of the board, um this is the first of these types of meetings that I've been to. So definitely understand why Judy commented this is one of her favorite meetings. So thanks so much for all your presentations and um sharing all the energy and excitement and the great work that you all are doing. Um my first question is really around the team environment. Um Dr. Dr. Grano, when you kind of introduced the team, you shared that this team seems to be working together um sharing ideas, sharing best practices, that type of thing. I'm curious what the forum is that you all have or kind of what are the opportunities that you have to partner together to share ideas. Do you have time carved out for that or how do you how do you do that? >>
103We do. We have a PK through five meeting um once a month and we also have a senior leadership team meeting as well where our district um and building leaders get together and then at the PK5 meeting this group gets together as well. We have a shared agenda so any topics that they would like to discuss um or items that come up we share that and we start with celebrations team building restorative practice um as well and then talk about celebrations and challenges that are happening in the building also. So lots of time to really collaborate. We also text quite a bit too, share ideas. Um, also and then I know this group also whenever um items come up. They are so uh collaborative and working together and sharing those ideas that they're having success
104with that they communicate quite a bit. >> That's wonderful. I'm sure it's nice to have someone to reach out to share ideas or maybe commiserate with on things that you're working through. Um, another thing that I'm curious about is with five different schools, I know there's a interest in providing consistency across the schools and you all have been working on things like schedules and other topics to make sure that our students across the district really feel like they have and the families across the district feel like they have some degree of kind of consistency or continuity. Um, but I also recognize that for each of our schools, there's clearly a different culture, different set of needs for our families and for our students. How do you balance that? I don't kind of for anybody who
105might be interested in jumping in. How do you balance that um need to provide a degree of consistency with the um desire and interest in really honoring the unique cultures and needs of the different students? You can start and then please jump in and and share as well. That common schedule across the buildings has really helped and a lot of what drives that um is the instruction around our math um ELA, our SEAL curriculum, social studies, science and also some of our special schedules as well. So there's a concrete um connection right there, our foundation with the building schedule and then also this the initiatives that are in the strategic plan drive some of that alignment as well. And then just as we would have teachers in the classroom differentiate their instruction for the students
106who are in front of them, our building leaders are doing very much the same thing, not only with students but also with their staff as well, trying to meet the needs of all um in in their communities. So let you guys jump in too and talk about that a little bit about how you meet I think it's an ongoing and every school district has this. It's an ongoing balance of cohesion versus autonomy, right? >> Um and I think every teacher wants to know what's expected of me, but they also want to be able to meet the needs of the kids in front of them on that given day. >> And so, um I think at the school level, it is it's it's knowing that these are the expectations, um of the district. And we and
107I think every single one of us believe and and agree with the the fact that we want our parents to know that no matter what school you're at, if it's in third grade, your child is going to have this high quality education. Um, but no matter what school you're at, there's a different group of kids in that classroom, and there are different teachers who have different talents that we want to make sure that they have a chance to show as well. Well, one thing I definitely heard through the conversation tonight was um that there's really been a drive to include families um and an intentionality around welcoming families into the buildings which I know has been um different. You know, five years ago we were in a totally different situation. So, um bringing that back
108I know has been a little bit more challenging. So really applaud you all for making an intentional effort to bring families back to engage them in the learning um because I really do feel like that helps the students know that they have a kind of cohort of people who are partnering together um for their best interest. So thanks for for doing that making that big effort. Um another question I had kind of on a different topic is we we heard a lot about PLC's and the value um that those are bringing. I know they've evolved over the last couple of years and being in the third year. Um, do you all feel like you've had the opportunity to really identify key metrics or goals and kind of setting those out for the PLC's to make
109sure that you're that the staff is getting the value from that engagement or is that still something you all are working on and kind of setting metrics for PLC's? I would say at the district level um we give a pre and a post um survey that really gathers feedback around um um DeFor's model for PLC's um and really captures um how impactful and what the learning is within the PLC as well and also what the needs are. Um there are also teams um in our buildings too where we see working really well and really collaboratively and I would say anecdotally we are looking at student achievement when we are seeing those teams and we are seeing some pretty strong correlations there when those PLC teams have lots of trust. They're talking about student uh work
110and student data and really using that to drive um their and differentiate their instruction as well. I know that takes additional PLC's or additional time. Um, and you all mentioned a lot of the programming that you've been doing. I don't know how you find all the time in the day, including for the staff finding the time in the day. Um, so I'm curious if there um is anything that we can think about or consider as a board for helping staff and you all as administrators with balancing that time. Um, knowing that there's a lot of instructional time needed, a lot of programming time needed, is there anything we should be thinking about or considering as we um, you know, kind of partnering together um, as it relates to time? Not to put you all on
111the spot. So, if no is the answer, that's fine. >> Yeah, I we all have different thoughts on it, but I think most importantly, we're all engaging in a process right now to talk to our teachers about that. And so that voice is going to be really strong in in whatever happens next. Like you said, there are certain things like instructional time based on resources, all of that. Um, but hearing from our teachers about how we can best meet all the needs with the constraints we have, I think will be really powerful. >> That's awesome. I'd love to hear the outcomes of some of those conversations, especially as they evolve and you guys work through, hey, what can we do? How can we support teachers and staff on that? Um, love to hear the results
112of those conversations. Thank you. Marie, daylight savings time has gotten me. Sorry. No, I know it. Um, it is always great to um see you guys and to hear about all the great things going on in your building. Um, one thing that I have a question about is the the learning labs. I'm kind of confused on what exactly the learning lab is. So, can someone explain that? >> Yeah. So, the and you guys can share more too. The literacy learning labs are and I uh shared these early on as well >> with lit. Yes. Okay. So, just remind me. >> Yes. It is just reinforcing you know those big five phmic awareness phonics fluency vocabulary comprehension and then we're really diving into three five more vocabulary and grammar and then our K12 has a strong
113focus on all of those five core. >> So is this when lit link comes to the school? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And it really is about those grade level teams getting that same learning at the same time. Great. >> Previously, we were doing a lot of one-on-one job embedded coaching, but this makes sure the learning is happening for the entire grade level and then they're having those conversations in the PLC as well. >> Okay. So essentially then what what it would look like um that a third grader at Tilman um and a third grader at Robinson would kind of be getting a similar looking reading writing instruction. >> Yes. >> Learning around literacy for the adults. >> Okay. Um thanks for I knew I had learning I know. Yeah. I'm like, okay, I just
114want to make sure. Um, and then the next thing, you know, I know that, um, this was kind of talked about by um, Miss Neman. Um, but the that Tilman has done some research on movement and that kind of thing. And I know it was just kind of answered that every you know we're asking our staff but at the end of after we've asked our staff and done the work will that then be a unified decision that is at like the same for all buildings or how does that >> I think we want to get that staff feedback first >> and then we will talk um you know together and collaborate around that feedback and that data and then >> the decision ision will probably be unified I would say but also want to make
115sure we're getting all that feedback before we make that decision. >> Okay. Okay. And then my last question is just around. Um so I heard several um things going on with um but I know at one point we had anal curriculum. I think it was um next steps >> second step next steps >> some kind of steps. Um is that are we still using that? >> Yes. Second step is our curriculum. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Keep up the good work and um take care of each other because this is hard work. So um I like that to hear that you guys are being a good team because it's hard work. So keep up the good work, Nicole. Okay. So, thank you guys for um being here and for presenting. I'm with Judy and everybody
116else. This is like one of the the best nights when we get to hear and see what's going on in the schools. Um loved hearing about the student engagement and just I believe that in every building you're creating spaces where students and teachers and staff and even parents feel like they belong. Um, I like the intentionality around the adult learning. I think everybody's doing a book study with their staff. Um, which gives every a chance for teachers to kind of reflect on their own practice and and and just collaborate on things that you don't necessarily have the chance to do within the classroom. So, great job with that. I did have a question for Brian. And I heard you mention a lock in retreat. Can you tell us more about that? >> Yes. Um I'm
117I'm happy to say something. I'm going to apologize to my colleagues right now because um it works. It is fantastic. It is basically all of our fifth graders who are able to be there um spend the night at school with us. And so we have um our fifth grade team leaves leads a number of um leadership challenges or leadership activities and conversations with kids. Um we meet at like 5:30 it's like usually it's the first or second week of August. Um and we do things throughout the evening and then about 10:30 or 11 it's windown time and at about three or four the last one falls asleep. Um but it is um I I give tons of credit to our fifth grade teachers um who do so much work and it is really a fantastic
118opportunity for the teachers to start building those relationships with the kids before school even starts. Um and um you know we we try to involve some fun movement or you know we have pizza and that sort of thing. Um but and and actually one year, two years ago, I guess it was, we went to the pool. Um and it's it's just a fantastic opportunity for kids to enjoy each other and kind of kick off before the school year starts. Um and um I', you know, it's again, I've been around for a long time, so this is the second school I've had the opportunity to do something like this at with kids. Um and it it doesn't work without committed teachers, and they are the they are the key to making this happen. Um, but it
119is something that I think reaps benefits throughout the entire year. >> Thank you. Good job, everybody. >> Laura, thank you. I actually have a friend who has a fifth grader at Tilman and she raves about the lock in and I have always thought that sounds like a lot of work. Um, so there were a couple themes throughout your guys schools that I just want to acknowledge. Um, everybody seems very focused on taking care of your staff and I love that. Whether it's trust or community building or, you know, continuing education, everything that you're doing, I just think that that's wonderful for our schools and our children or our community. So, I want to acknowledge that. Um, and then one of the other themes that, you know, maybe to a lesser degree, but is in there,
120um, was family engagement. And I just want to um echo back to something that Lisa said. I I think coming out of COVID, it's been hard to climb like claw our way back to families being more engaged with the schools and being in the buildings. And it's something that comes up in conversation for me. Um being an elementary school parent at this time, it comes up in conversation all the time. um it is something that builds community and it's hard to get back there and so I just want to acknowledge that um it's difficult to like figure out how to get back there but I really appreciate those efforts and it goes such a long way to building community and helping parents make friends with other parents and once they're friends it's easier to get
121them to volunteer for things you know it's just it's a whole thing so I just appreciate you know that we're on that path Um, so one thing that I just wanted to say for the future, um, going back to that you guys get together and you do these best practices sharing and this idea sharing, something that I just love in general from our cabinet, from our any staff, anyone that comes and presents, anything that we do for the district as we learn things or we get new ideas or we overcome a challenge, when we have those updates and we can bring that back to the community and show that kind of growth. I think that is really impactful. So I would just say um next year maybe like if there are any things that over
122the course of the year you guys share with each other that spreads and because somebody did something positive, I would love to hear those stories next year. I just think that is really impactful to hear, you know, those things that spread because they were so good. Um, so I just wanted to mention that. Hold on. My computer did the thing where it the screen went away and now it's frozen. Um, okay. So then I remember my other two questions. So, so my first question was around the wind time and this kind of builds on what I was just saying about the idea sharing. So, I know Brian, you were saying that, you know, it being a little bit newer, there's been some bumps in the road and some challenges. I was just gonna see if
123anyone wanted to give an example of a challenge that you guys overcame or like a change to something. I know it's kind of putting you on the spot. If you want to, we can skip it, but if there was something readily available or not, I can go to my next No, I I like I can I can jump in. I I think just sort of at Tilman when we we initially started talking about when time being a thing, there was an initial reticence to to to give up the students in your classroom to go to another classroom, right? I mean, our teachers uh for better or worse take they they love the students that are in their classroom and they and they don't want to just eat like, you know, readily give them away to
124other folks. like they they want to be responsible for their learning and their social emotional learning and academics and all of that. So, we had to have a lot of conversations around what that looks like and why why there was value in in giving that up. Uh and it it it's a testament to the PLC process. It's a testament to, you know, uh I think a culture that Brian has come in and instilled in Tilman. I I think there was a lot that is that has happened that got them there, but they are now more comfortable. Well, not only more comfortable, it it happens in all of our grade levels, all of our our teams. So, that's that's just the example that came to mind. >> No, that's great. And that probably ties into what,
125you know, Dr. Harris was saying about building trust with the other teachers and what a lot of you guys are doing. So, I think that's a great example. Um, my last question was about the learning labs and I've talked to you about this, Liz, but just since it was up there on the screen, the prioritiz prioritization of um reading out of physical books. We hear from our kids all the time about reading on the iPads. Is the physical books specific to like that hour? Like that's specific to that one lesson and then the other reading is like the other parts of the day. And I guess I guess I'm just wondering how if that's the prioritization and that's what we're hoping to do, how are we guiding teachers or where's the accountability or like how
126are we kind of reinforcing that that's the goal I guess or how are we trying to keep that and then like within that is also is that really the guideline for that specific ELA lesson and then outside of that not so much or I don't know if anyone can speak to or not this way. >> Yes. Um um it it I think it's I think it's across the board. I think at least at Tilman we talk about the fact that you have you have those just right books that are at your your growing level, I guess. Um but you also have comfort and fun books. And some of those comfort and fun books are easy for you and they're just things that you can you can get through and it's not really that challenging for
127you to read. And some of them may be a digital book. Um and and I'm going to be honest with you and say that probably twothirds maybe three4s of the time that our students are reading on an iPad, they're listening to it. Um which has its place. It absolutely does. Um, but there's a different different things happen in the brain when you're when you're reading on your own um and frankly when you're reading from a book um than than on an iPad. And so we talk with our kids about that and we tell them there's a place for this and we want our kids to know that it's not like you can't ever read on an iPad. But we do want our kids and I think we've come to realize that our reading stamina has
128changed over years. And we think some of that is because of the iPad, some of that is other things too. Um, but it's a lot easier for our kids to start flipping through um on an iPad or anything um digital than it is for them when they're supposed to be reading in a book. Now, don't get me wrong, kids have always been very good at having um well-developed avoidance strategies. Um but I we we want our kids to have that reading stamina and and I think at least right now we're saying let's let's spend a majority of our time in paper books. um reading those um and and then finding the time for the other books as well. >> That's great. And I have a follow-up question because I love what you said about um
129speaking to the kids and coaching them a little bit and helping them understand, hey, these these different methods of reading do different things for your brain. Is that something that comes out of the learning labs that that teachers are getting training on? Like that that's part of their lessons to pass on to kids as well? Like is that could we consistently say that most kids in our elementary schools are getting that part of the lesson of these are different types of reading and they do different types of things? >> I think we're getting better at that. >> Okay. All right. Yeah. Thank you. So, I'll wrap this up. Um, great questions everybody. This is my fourth elementary school presentation and every year I think it gets better. And one of the things that really struck
130me tonight is um the cohesion you have and the joy that you have at your schools. Um and that's leadership from Dr. Rumpus and Dr. Grana and all of you. So, thank you for that because that really matters to our kiddos. Um, one one request I would have of you is if you could include us in your weekly newsletters or monthly newsletters because I will hear about this great art show or this musical and I would love to see it and um so I'm you know I'm not coming to spy or anything. I'm coming to see the cool things you're doing. So, um, you know, musicals, art shows. I went to a couple of the Fourth Fridays last year and it was just a blast. So, if you can do that, I would appreciate it.
131Thank you, Dr. Rumpus. >> Yeah, I a lot of the comments you had in the celebrations are things I would have said. I I think one of the things that's so important and what makes this group amazing is that while each building had about 10 minutes to highlight, you know, two or three key things under each of those buckets, um those were a dozen or so of the hundreds of things that they have going on. You know, the strategic plans, as you have seen, are multi-page documents and there is no end to the work. And while they highlighted this and this itself could be a full-time job each and every day, um there were 75 other decisions they made this morning before breakfast was over. um that that are significant that are around teaching and
132learning that are around meeting all of our students needs. Um I I love because I believe it and I agree that in order to have those expectations of our students um you have to create the conditions for your staff to be successful first and I know that all five schools are doing that. Um the word intentionality came to mind over and over again and back to uh Miss Neman's question which is great and really I think is the the crux of the work but that idea of loose and tight. So what are those expectations that we have that should be consistent across all five elementary schools, all nine of our schools, and where are the opportunities that schools can differentiate and do things to really meet the needs of their students and staff? And that
133will continue to be a challenge as our demographics change, as the expectations on the school system changes, as leaders change, teachers change, our students. Um, but I know that we have the right leaders doing that work. And so thank you to the 10 of you. I know 811 to be at a board meeting is late for you. We get this privilege a couple times a month, but you only have to do it once a year. And I and I think it's important to say too, we forget because we get to do this often that um it's nerve-wracking to ask them to come and to have to speak in front of you. And I have no doubt that you could have asked them questions um detailed around specific data, specific students, and they know that because
134that's the work that they're doing each and every day. So, um, thank you to the 10 of you for being here and thank you board for providing us the time to come and share the great work happening at our elementary schools. >> Okay, we're almost done. Um, 3.01, future events. Election day is tomorrow, staff development day, no school for students. Um, November 10th, really important parent speaker series, suicide um or anxiety. November 11th is Veterans Day. November 19th, we have Kirkwood School's community conversations at Pioneer Bakery from 8 to 9:30. 8 to 10. Okay. Um, Turkey Day spirit week, Thanksgiving recess, and then 3.02, the notice of board candidate filing that starts in December. We have a couple seats that will be open. So if you know anybody um and our next meeting is on
135November 17th. It will be a business meeting and we are ajourned. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.