001first meeting since our students have returned. I think we're looking at the 10th day of school uh already. So, uh well into the school year and very excited. It's been a a great opening. We did welcome close to 30 new teachers uh to our team this school year and so we're we're very excited about the new talent that has come into the district and and the good things they're going to do for our families and students. Uh we're continuing to watch our enrollment as you know we uh have been a growing district for several years. Um Mrs. McGibney next week will give an update on enrollment and projections. So, I won't steal her thunder, but uh just know that we are continuing to watch that very closely as as we have um throughout the past.
002Moving forward this week, uh lot of excitement within the schools. All of our back- tochool nights are going to run uh the majority, I should say, are going to run this week and the next week. Uh our high school, I believe, ran last week. Uh but this week, you'll see Charles Town, General Wayne, and the middle school opening and welcoming families and parents to come in and get acquainted with the school. And then the following week, the week of the 15th, uh we'll see Sugartown, Katie Markley, and our 56 center hosting their uh back to school night. So, uh hopefully families will be able to take advantage. And I just want to say um thank you both to all the board members at the table for all of your support, uh all the the new
003positions, the attention to the budget. It really did make a difference as we welcomed our students back this year. I I do think we had a just a wonderful and and calm transition. And I really want to thank all of our team members too, the entire Great Valley team, especially our facilities team getting ready, seven buildings ready, the district office. Um, and I've mentioned before that, you know, we host hundreds of students throughout the summer. We never really are off. And uh as soon as those students leave uh our team rushes in, they tidy up our schools. They look great. And so really a nice shout out to our facilities team, but really everybody from everyone in the offices to those in the cafeterias just getting ready. It is a huge team effort and I'm
004just really excited about what this year holds in store. So um that'll be the part of my report. Um the second part is going to be Miss Marsen who's here. She's going to give an update to the board on our strategic communication planning and I know she has a slide deck that we're queuing up. So, Miss Marston, Thank you. Good evening, everyone. So, tonight I'm just going to go over a couple of uh communications updates for you all. First, it'll be kind of an update on just some of the recent efforts and then we're going to go over the communication survey results and then just talk about how that's going to inform some of the long-term planning for the year and the strategic plan. So, first I just want to give an update on parent
005square. So, as you know that was launched at the end of August. Uh, as of today we have over 3,700 parents who have registered their accounts and over 1,600 who have downloaded the mobile app. We've gotten really great feedback so far from both parents and staff about the use of the app. It's um really userfriendly. Um we have two information sessions coming up for families. One on September 25th here in the district office at 7 p.m. and one on October 7th at 7 p.m. in the district office for multilingual families. So that'll be an opportunity for families to kind of learn about the platform, have their questions answered. We can um maybe even troubleshoot some techn technology difficulties they may be having. Um, so we're really excited to kind of host them and get Parents
006Square more underway. And then just a couple of quick goals updates. Um, so I actually wanted to update you on the heart award because we uh launched that nomination application last week and we already have over 50 nominations. Um, and the nominees include teachers, bus drivers, really roles across the district. And the nominators are everyone from staff members to parents, a couple of community members. So, people must be sharing it out because I haven't sent it anywhere out in the community yet. Um, so we're really excited to see that there are so many nominations. Uh, the writeups about them are just really genuine and sweet. So, uh, we're excited to award those recipients with that later this month. The annual report and the staff newsletter are both district goals that are still on target to
007uh be published later this month with the annual report being digitally published with a postcard going to the community with a QR code to the full report and the staff newsletter more being an internal communication device that we haven't previously had. It'll be monthly updates on things like uh important updates at the district level, departments, things of that nature. And then website, we've been working on this summer just to uh kind of have minor enhancements to the website, but the real focus throughout the year will be on updating the departmental pages. So, the first one we're starting with is HR. We've already started working with our new supervisor of human resources to begin refreshing that web page. We have some good ideas for recruitment uh efforts there. So, that'll be kind of our first project
008as it relates to the website. Are there any questions about parents? for the goals updates before I move on to the communication survey. Teresa, you don't have to give a long update, but can you just maybe talk about two or three things that you updated on the website this summer just to help enhance the user experience and to grab some of that lowhanging fruit and make things better? Yeah. So, one of the main things was that on the homepage, the district calendar uh wasn't really easy to find. So, I put that in a place that was a little bit more accessible. And I also put instructions on how to filter the calendar by school because I know a lot of families weren't sure how you could do that and they'd see everything K to2 in
009all of our schools. So hopefully they're seeing that as the year starts they can filter by whatever school their child is in and that's a little bit easier to navigate. Um the other thing was that our absence reporting. Previously when you basically go to gvsd.org you would have to navigate to each school's page to find out how to report an absence for your child. Now, right on the homepage, there is an absence reporting button. So, when you click that, it takes you to the district absence reporting page where there from you where from there you can select which school your child's in and quickly send that email or report the absence. Um, so those are two kind of larger ones um that we just wanted to make sure that at the beginning of the year
010when things are a little bit chaotic, the calendar absence reporting, parents know where to find them. So, moving on to the communication survey. Um, just as a reminder, this survey was facilitated in late April. We had it open for families for two weeks. Um, and the goal was really to just inform long-term planning and give us a benchmark for where we stood so that as any progress would make was made, we could have something to reflect back on to see how far we'd come. We had 671 responses, which I was pretty happy with. Um, you know, as far as the time of year, I think that it was a busy time of year. We could potentially move that up to the earlier spring so that it's not coming against that month of May. Uh, but
011I was happy with the 671 responses that we received from parents. So, here's an overview of the results. There were 12 questions in the survey, and the first eight were focused on satisfaction levels related to overall communication, frequency, timeliness, transparency, clarity, and conciseness. uh communication about major goals and initiatives, two-way communication, and responsiveness. Um as you can see from the results, most of the respondents fell within the category of agree um as far as the majority of uh kind of where they landed. Um a lot of the responses between agree and strongly agree, the satisfaction level fell between 55 and 60ish%. Um so there were areas where uh there were some kind of disparity in the numbers but nothing was an egregious shortfall as far as one question kind of standing out from the rest.
012But I'll talk about some of the areas where we'll focus on as far as um those that with the lower numbers of satisfaction. Then there were questions uh related to preferred communication methods. So email, text message, phone call, the website. Um, that's pretty much in line with what I was expecting. The topics of interest that parents were most interested in were major district initiatives, safety and security, and curriculum and instructional updates. And then there was an opportunity at the end of the survey to provide an open-ended response to any improvements they'd like to see in communications from the district. Most parents just kind of reiterated some of the previously uh touched on topics like transparency, two-way communication, but some of the ones that I frequently saw that kind of weren't asked earlier in the survey
013were authenticity of messages, being a little bit more genuine in our messaging, uh inclusivity of different student populations, and consistency across the schools. parents wanted to see of when going from school to school with their child, the same methods of communications, the same frequency with communications so that when you transferred from building to building, it didn't feel like there was this big gap in communications. So, this is just kind of a summary. Those areas of strength where we saw some of the highest um satisfaction levels were the frequency, clar clarity, and timeliness of our messages. And some of the areas where we had that lower rate of uh satisfaction was the transparency 2-way channels and the responsiveness to questions or concerns. So once I kind of saw that those were the areas that we were
014receiving the lower scores, I tried to develop focus areas around those um as far as long-term planning for the strategic plan. So the way that I developed those focus areas was bucketing them into community engagement and partnership, building brand through exceptional service and digital connection and accessibility. So each of these would be kind of a core pillar for the strategic communication plan with multi-year action steps that uh flow into it over the course of the three years of the plan. So with the first one being community engagement and partnership, um I think that something that's really foundational to any communication work is developing a framework that has standardized protocols for major initiatives. So whether that's safety and security or an educational initiative operational like facilities, showing that we're prepared and consistent with the way that
015we engage with our community through just a standardized framework will ensure that we kind of build that community trust so that we're not just doing something differently every single time there's a new major initiative. Um, considering that was something that parents are really interested in as far as our major initiatives, I think having a framework for this will really set the foundation for improving those communications. I also want to make sure we prioritize two-way communication channels. I know these are methods that we're already utilizing or have utilized in the past, but I think the key word here is to prioritize and not just view it as checking something off a box to engage with the community. So, uh, engaging in those kinds of methods where we're seeking out that two-way communication, that's really thoughtful. And
016then as far as increasing community engagement and, uh, participation, being proactive about district challenges and successes, um, with the community, as well as developing standards and processes for community partnerships. Um I see that there can be some inconsistency about when we engage with certain groups whether it's um you know local organizations such as the library or PTO's and really trying to leverage those so that we all work together and it's not this um kind of we could do this then why can't we do it now type conversation. It's more of a mutual partnership. And then that second pillar is building the brand. And so I know I talked about this back in the spring, but the brand development I definitely want to focus on in the strategic planning. The first step of that would be
017to de develop that communication guide where there is established brand identity through things like font, logo, colors. Um even just messaging around, you know, when to use Great Valley School District versus GVSD. It sounds really small and silly, but um standardizing that so that people aren't just saying GB or GBSD and just using it interchangeably. There should be a defined difference. And then from there, we'd be sharing it out with our staff so that they have those resources and materials to actually utilize it. And a step further from that, actually training them on the proper use of uh brand guidelines as well as a customer service training just so that we kind of are all embodying what it means to be be a great valley employee, not so much just in our digital materials, but
018when we interact with um a parent or community member, all of that communication is viewed kind of from a linear lens of the the district. So, we want to make sure that it's not just using the proper logo and colors, but also how you interact with families in the community. And then the last piece of that would really be trying to expand um you know, the communications department is small but mighty, but it'd be great if we could get um some staff members who really interested in promoting their work. you know, I can't be in all seven buildings every day, but if teachers who want to highlight their classroom, want to be some kind of brand ambassador for the district. Um, it could be a great way to engage staff so that we can promote
019the work of a district at a broader level. And then building out community groups like alumni, um, parent square can be great to leverage that. We can build out that groups through that platform. So, that would be something that I definitely want to explore by year three of the plan. I know some teachers are using Instagram. Um, not open. You know, you have to be invited in depending on if your kids's in the class or or whatever is happening, but it's been a really neat way to watch what's happening in a classroom and engage that way a little bit from afar. But, um, so it's happening a little bit. So, to bring it all under one umbrella would be great. Yeah. And some teachers do a really great job of synthesizing what they're doing, whether
020it's through graphics or short video. So I think leveraging their creative skills too would be great. And then lastly is what I the pillar that I named was digital connection and accessibility. So the first one is related to ADA compliance. So if you're not familiar, all public websites have to be fully a ADA compliant by April 2027. Fortunately, um, Final Site, our website vendor does have accessibility checkers that keep us on track. But that said, it actually extends further than just our website. It's all digital materials, including social media. So, um, we have to make sure that all of our content is accessible. Um, and then what I'd like to do is create an accessibility guide for staff so that they know best practices when it comes to ADA accessibility. Um, an example I use
021a lot is fonts. So, Times New Roman is a serif font, which means it has little curls at the end. that's actually not recommended according to ADA compliance. Um something stand more of a block print is easier to read for those who who are visually impaired. So just best practices for staff um would be that guide and then enhancing our platform presence. So developing strategic campaigns through parent square and social media. So, kind of leveraging social media to our advantage for different ways to connect with families, a little bit of more structure and management of our accounts. Um, because like you said, there are some at the classroom level across groups and organizations within the district and making sure that we're kind of more of a cohesive unit when it comes to our platform presence.
022And then also utilizing LinkedIn, which we haven't explored much in the past, but as far as the promotion of our staff achievements and recruitment efforts, um I want to explore utilizing LinkedIn a little bit more frequently. And then the website user experience, this could probably be a 10-year plan, but um being a little bit more uh proactive about the user friendliness of our website. A lot of parents are seeking quick snippets of information. So, I'd rather they be able to find that than trying to put a really textheavy informational piece that parents just don't have time to read. Um, I know that, you know, when it comes to kind of updating a website, it's kind of a slow process, but I'd like to move forward with um kind of cutting back so that we're not
023putting more and more on the website, but rather it's just high quality content. Um, and that can be information portals. So, you're just getting those kind of snippet bullet point one pages and just overall enhancing that user friendly experience. So, next steps. Um, this, as you can see, some of these topics and action steps were a little broad. Um, but that's by design. It's because a lot of them will have to require some thoughtful consideration for the action steps. So, that's what I'll be doing this fall. In February of next year, I'll be presenting the full communications plan to the board um for feedback with finalization in the spring and then implementation would start for the uh July 26 uh school year for implementation through June of 2029. Any questions? First, I just wanna like
024what do they do when you're appreciating poetry or whatever? I I'm picking up everything you're putting down and I I love it. I I love to see this the vision and I think we've been waiting a long time to kind of um have somebody synthesize some sort of direction forward. Um so I I really appreciate that. I wanted to just circle back to the slide that you had with the spread um from the survey results and um just ask you whether this sort of a spread is um normal to see when you do these sort of survey results meaning you know are you expected to have your strengths be in the 30% range or are we mistaking just because that's the highest percentage we that that's a strength, but we should actually be better. In
025my experience, anywhere between, I would say, 55 and 65% is pretty on par with satisfaction levels. I admittedly think that the neutral category is kind of a hindrance here because it just allowed a lot of people to not say yes or no. So, that's something that we could reconsider for the next survey. Um, but yeah, in my experience, I think that a satisfaction level with the combined degree and strongly agree falling around 60% is a fairly good reading. Yeah. So, I'll did ditto Nha. I think it's fantastic to see this. Um, my question is is about crisis communication. So, I know like this this seems fantastic in terms of like day-to-day the nuts and bolts of like kind of the expected communication. Um, what about and it maybe it's baked into here already, but you
026know, you know, we have crises of like all different varieties. Um, and how how is there a plan kind of a separate plan for that or is that kind of included in this? Yeah, my intention was to include crisis communication in the uh initiative framework as part of part of that first pillar. So when it comes to crisis, I kind of identified as safety and security and then there can be kind of facilities and then there can be kind of personnel. So um I've kind of already started working through that this summer with Andrew Thirsten as far as the safety and security piece. Um but yes, kind of having a framework for all of those pockets and then of course there's always going to be something that doesn't fall into any of those, but um
027ensuring that we're prepared for that as far as uh the communications um channels. Um, I'm still challenged with trying to manage the flow of information that is coming into me. But I am loving Parent Square. I love my Daily Digest. I like the way the app updates me. I think it's working. Um, and I want to say thank you for the updates to the website because I think you hit some of the important things that parents need to see there and you've kind of added some clarity. So, I look forward to kind of seeing that evolution as well. it. I am like like Niha, I'm starting to get excited because I feel like we're heading in the right direction. Even though it's going to be a a process, I feel like we're at least um
028at an understanding of where we want things to go and and you're headed there. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um All right. Thank you so much, Teresa. I also a big square. I just delete my email. It's so nice. It's so satisfying. Um, all right. Moving on to section five program. Looks like we have some curriculum updates. Yes, those are going to be there for your consideration next week. Certainly let us know if you have any questions now. Um, I know Dr. Oul probably be the first line to answer your questions. My question Dr. tool is always looking at these. Um, I love seeing curriculum development. First of all, I find it so interesting. Um, when is this being implemented in the classroom? What's the time frame? I think when I
029clicked on some of these it was saying 2526. I may have missed further detail about it. Yes, some of them uh will indicate on the actual administrative content the implementation. So for example, 5.01 indicates November. Uh f 5.02 indicates January. And so they do have um as far as the advanced personal fitness uh some of those units are starting uh because that is a new course at the high school now. So that is something that uh uh is beginning this current school year depending on the cycle of when those classes are meeting. Um and then as as it relates to the English academic uh English curriculum, I I'd have to get back on to you on on it specifically. I think some of those are just some revisions that I know Dr. Beck shared tonight
030at the um instructional subcommittee that the teachers were working on those to begin the process of implementing those. So I'll have to get That's not brand new. The No, no, that's not No, the academic English curriculum is something that's happening during the school year. The data science are are our new that's a new course that we're implementing. Um so yeah, we'll we'll have to update as far as for next week the specific timeline. um you know some of these as we start implementing uh some you know knowing if it's November or if it will be specifically December by the time the teachers are implementing but we can we can get more specificity for next week. I mean I am interested in dystopian fiction at that 12th grade class. I may audit that but interested in
031the dystopian fiction. Oh yes yes feels very apppropo. Yeah. Um, thank you so much. Other questions? Steve, I have a question on this college essay narrative writing. That's new, right? Yes. Uh, well, college essay, Dr. Beck can speak more specifically to it. I know that our our English teachers have worked uh to continue to work with students so that they have applicable uh college essay experience. Uh, but I'll let Dr. Beck speak to that. It's it's not a new thing. The timing of when they do it, depending on the level of the course they take is new, but the way in which they approach it. The 12th grade English teachers actually have worked with our literacy coach to make those revisions based on feedback from students of prior years. When you say timing, what does
032that mean exactly? So, some of our English classes do do some work at the end of the junior year. And then what we found is that the 12th grade academic level students gave us feedback and we surveyed all of them actually to say coming back around to that draft and having some support to finish that at the beginning of the year was something that they wanted as a part of their writing process. Great. I love that. I I can also answer Mrs. Kos's question too. Each of these, all of this work was done primarily in the spring and the summer with the August board meeting being as early as it was much of the actual fine details of the typing up and the formalizing was not prepared. So all of these units will be implemented
033this year. The as um Dr. Oul spoke to the Spanish for heritage learners, you approved the first unit that has one teacher. He is working with one of our coaches and so he helped to develop that that will come forward and is in advance but he's working to write it and teaching it. The same is true for the advanced personal fitness. He did that work over the summer and then was still working in August. Again, we give teachers some flexibility. The 12th grade English as I shared not just the college essay writing and I spoke with that spoke about that at the instructional tech subcommittee. all of those their minor revisions based on all of the survey work that we did with the students and the two 12th grade English teachers who teach that course
034did made those revisions and they actually worked the week of August 12th so they didn't come to the board and then same is true for the data science and then the seventh and eighth grade math was that team of seventh grade teachers worked last year to try some things around instruction and then formalize that work this summer to come to the board and the eighth grade with the tweaking of units to align with the core resource. So, it's a unit adjustment of order, not necessarily changing the content. All right, moving on to facilities 601. What's happening with our facilities? We'll have a facilities committee meeting on September 18th. Okay. and 6.02 is the lead in the drinking water results. We did get back the results. All of our buildings uh had a nondetectable uh response
035uh which is great uh for uh our upcoming school year. And 6.03 is the facilities use report. All right. Transportation. Under transportation 7.01 01 is the first student contract renewal and 7.02 is the driver and monitor approvals uh for Norcross and first student first alt drivers and monitors. Uh the board approved the craft drivers last month of the August meeting. Got it. All right. Food service. I don't see anything there. I don't believe. Okay. Okay. And then technology section nine under technology. Uh 9.01 to 9.06 are renewals for your review. And 9.07 is the learning without tears quote. This is for kindergarten students to use for handwriting instruction. 9.08 is the FMX additional module. This is a pr-rated adjustment for uh the current uh system that we use, FMX. Uh it's a ticketing system uh
036that we utilize for staff to be able to put in like a help desk ticket. Um so we'll be adding a module for teaching and learning for the teaching and learning department. Moving on to financials. Um financials under 10.01. The finance committee meeting uh does not have a report. It will be meeting in November on November 3rd of this coming school year. 10.02 to 10.04 are also renewals for your review. 10.05 are the elementary field trips. Uh this is for the time frames of October through the beginning of November. Uh we're bringing the field trips to you slightly different based off of the board's recommendation. Uh we're utilizing a more streamlined and proactive approach to present the field trips to you ahead of the board meetings. 10.06 is advative learning support for AI strategic planning.
037Uh this is to enter an into an agreement beginning October 15th and it will end on June 30th. Uh this is to include guidance related to the benefits and risk of AI. 10.07 is an educational service contract with Learnwell Education. 10.08 is an educational service contract with Melmark School. 10.09 is an educational service contract with the Pathway School. And 10.10 is uh two educational service agreements. One is for the Royers Royer Graves School and the Vanguard School. 10.11 are the budget transfers from the 2425 school year. This is per section 687 of the school code to reallocate budget lines. 10.12 is the Charles Town Elementary School donation. Uh this is a $5,000 donation for partial reimbursement of the new sound system that was board approved back in January of this uh start of this year
038um in January of January 21st of the school year. That concludes the financial section. All right. Can I just ask a question on 10.06? Is that support meant for the administration or for students? Actually, it'll be for the administrators and we will be assembling a thick tank of 20 to 25 secondary teachers who will also work with the group. So, we'll be developing that teacher capacity and then also getting training for the administrators. All right. Um nothing under other um and I don't believe there are any other committee reports under 12. Uh draft agenda for next week which is a voting meeting um is there for everybody's review. Are there any public comments this evening? 1401. Come on down. Yeah. With 30 seconds left off. You'll hear an annoying beep. Please keep talking. Sherry Lawrence.
039Uh y'all know where I live. Um this is my annual plea to the board and to the district to re-examine the uh the situation at the middle school and the high school complex for the morning drop off. This was the first year where we did not receive any documentation or uh uh recommendations on how parents should enter the complex to drop off the children. So the uh freshman parents had no idea uh in my uh uh opinion on which lane they needed to be in or where they needed to go. Um and so you know we gave it a week. Um this week we've uh uh my daughter and I have witnessed a lot of uh fishtailing um into the high school complex where people just sort of create the train blocking off uh lanes
040of traffic trying to turn into the high school and with more and more construction vehicles on the road. Um we've seen dump trucks, we've seen larger tractor trailers, we've seen all sorts of vehicles not abiding by the 15 mph speed limit. Um and with the seniors getting to park there for the first time, um these are relatively new drivers and um we're just seeing a lot of inexperienced people um trying to do school drop offs. When I brought this to um Principal Capola's attention during back to school night, the recommendation was just leave earlier, as she tells families every year, just leave 15 minutes earlier and you'll avoid a lot of this. Some families can't do that. And with more and more construction going on in town, we've got what's going on on More Hall
041Road right now. Uh that's not slated to finish until spring if this is real wood. Um where in my neighborhood, we're going to be losing access to uh our main way to uh get onto Yellow Springs Road because of the high uh because of the highway construction. They're going to be blocking off um one of the bridges um and access to go underneath that bridge, which will tack on at least another 10 minutes of commute for us because we've got to do a longer uh commute around. Um more and more families are having this type of an issue. So the what I would like to see happen is uh um uh a better system in getting people onto the campus. I understand that there's a uh safety guard at the middle school, but the penalty
042for middle school students being late is far less than the penalty for high school students being late. And while the high school has been a little bit more generous in saying five late absences or rather late uh uh entries will land you a detention instead of three um seniors will now if you get so many will lose their parking privile paid for and sort of earned being a senior. Um, I would think that student safety would be at the forefront and that having students safely enter into the campus in a timely manner uh will be um uh should should take more of a precedent than just leave early. Leaving early isn't going to solve everything, but a better focus on getting students and families in and out of that complex uh Monday to Friday would
043be very beneficial. Thank you for your time. Oh, one other thing, cursive writing. My daughter's having to translate teacher notes for people because nobody can read cursive. So, the faster you can get this cursive training for the students, the better. So, thank you All right. The board met in executive session this evening and on September 3rd to discuss the potential purchase of property. Um and with that uh section 1502 we will adjourn until next week. Thanks everybody.