001Yeah. All right, it's uh 7 o'clock. I'd like to call the meeting to order. I will please stand for pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> All right. Can we have a roll call? Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Krauss, >> here. Miss Jalal >> here. >> Mrs. Halibal >> here. >> Mr. Lady >> present. >> Mr. Leic >> here. >> Mrs. Plank >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Walmer >> here. >> Miss Young >> here. >> Mr. Wigle >> here. >> Thank you. >> We did have an executive session on 811 2022 regarding personnel. Um do we have an appro recommend approval and
002a motion for approval of the of tonight's agenda? So moved. Second. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Krauss. >> Yes. >> Miss Jalal. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hollow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lady. >> Hi. >> Mr. Listic. >> So, uh, yes. >> Mrs. Plank. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walmer. >> Yes. >> Miss Young. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wigle. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Do we have a recommend recommendation of approval of a minutes uh from the curriculum and extracurricular committee meeting on A5205, business and operations committee meeting on A5 2025 board meeting A5 2025 and the policy committee meeting on 87 2025 moved >> second. >> Roll call. >> Miss Jalal. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hollow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lady. >> Hi. Mr. Leic, >> yes. >> Mrs. Plank, >> yes. >>
003Mr. Walmer, >> yes. >> Miss Junkr, >> yes. >> Mrs. Krauss, >> yes. >> Mr. Wigle, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. We do not have um a recognition of delegation for student um student representative tonight. Um no public comment tonight. Um moving on to core respondents. Uh we do have one from PSBA. Um, and I will get this and I will read this and enter the letter into um the minutes. Um, from PSBA, it's honoral school board service. Uh the governing body of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association proudly presents a certificate of appreciation to James Lady Upper Adam School District in recognition of ongoing schoolboard service and the long-term contributions of individuals who bring their energy, talent, and values to the guidance of youth and public education in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
004Uh congratulations, Jim, and thank you for your years of service. >> Thank you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] All right. Uh, moving on to reports. Um, Dr. Desong, looks like LU there was not a July meeting. So, we have no reports for LIU. Uh, federal programs. Mr. Albert. >> Yes. Good evening everyone. Uh, for federal programs this evening, if you pull up your report, finally, yes, the rumors are true. Finally, we got uh confirmation from the Department of Federal Programs at the Pennsylvania State level that uh titles 2, three, and four are released. So, uh they only went up or down about a hundred between 100 and $500. It was not uh it didn't impact us greatly. There were other school districts I think that that received a greater impact, but all those were resubmitted and approved.
005Dr. Sham signed off, we submitted them. So, uh it looks like we're we're moving forward with those. So, great news with that. Uh the second item on the uh my report has to do with the title one meeting at Vicerville Elementary with Mrs. Nouse um and her crew of the reading specialist with Mrs. Spence and Mrs. Howery. We met with them last Tuesday and reviewed the upcoming year and all the title one uh changes and the programming that we're going to do for this year. We also set a date for the fall parent breakfast of Wednesday, November 5th. Uh so all of you are invited to that as well if you want to hear all about title one and all the good things we do uh with that program at Bigville Elementary. Uh last but
006not least, we had a virtual update with the federal programs network at the Lincoln Intermediate Unit. Uh we have those monthly and we just get uh new updates from the federal government or the state level in regards to grant guidance or uh expenditures and questions. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Robin. >> Cameron Perry, Miss Krauss, >> good evening. Um, I I'm pleased to report that next Monday, um, August 25th, uh, Cumberland Perry will actually have a groundbreaking at 4:00 and that would be to celebrate the final start of the renovation in addition to the property. That's it. >> Thank you. That's exciting to to see that actually to that point. So, thank you for the report. >> Uh Caner Foundation, uh Miss Halibal. >> Uh good evening everyone from sunny Ocean
007City, Maryland, where beaches are closed due to rip tides. Um I've had a lot of time for reading. Um my news maybe is not quite as exciting as Mr. Albins's but uh regarding the T Can T Can T Can T Can T Can T Can T Can T Can T Can T Can Tanner Educational Foundation um as you know Mr. Wilson um has been working very hard with Amanda Marco and the committee regarding application for our 501c3 status from the IRS. Uh we did receive approval uh nearly 4 months earlier than we had expected. So we're very very excited about that. Um we are still waiting for the PA charity certification and our state sales tax tax exemption but those should follow very soon. Um the uh 501c3 status uh as far as the federal
008government is concerned means we can accept donations and the donors can do so with as a tax deduction. Um it's truly a win-win. Um at this year's giving spree, we will be listed as the Caner Educational Foundation um as opposed to Caner funds um where people can allocate money both for today and or uh forever. So this is very exciting news for us and uh we're excited to see where it will take us. That is my report, Mr. President. >> Thank you. And that's exciting that we have the 501c3 and I believe checking account now as well, right? I think that's what Mr. Wilson said yesterday. >> Yes, that is correct. Yep. [Music] >> All right, moving on. Administrative reports. So, um, congratulations to all the administrators. They made it to the first day of
009school tomorrow. So, um, because it is the first day of school tomorrow, they are not here tonight. Um, but their reports are here. So, we have any um I guess comments or questions and maybe Dr. Deshawn can get those maybe tomorrow, but um or Mr. Alburn. Um but the reports are here from the administrators um for our review. >> Good luck to all administrators. Hope you have a good year. All right, moving on to uh treasur's report. Mr. Wmer, >> thank you, Mr. President. Three quick items here. >> Hello, Mr. Wr. I missed the superintendent report. >> Sorry. Yeah, we we did the admin reports. That's it. No. Yeah, let me >> Dr. Dong and the superintendent report. Sorry about that. >> I appreciate that. No. Hey, uh thanks everybody. Thanks, Mr. Wag. I appreciate
010it. Uh we want to welcome everyone back as preparations have been made for the 2526 school year uh to officially begin with our students tomorrow. Uh big kudos to all who have made tomorrow's opening ready to go. Armark for getting our buildings and grounds physically ready. Our support and secretarial staff for getting paperwork, enrollment, and records in order for the start. The tech department and summer student workers who got all the iPads ready along with all the other program support such as Raptor and P school. the administrators who are prepared for instruction and academics, professional learning and beginning of the year meetings with teachers and families, as well as leading our new teachers through opening induction meetings and getting all those buses, vans, and transportation routes in order. Mrs. Hobbs, uh, our teachers who have
011planned NJC, uh, our teachers who have planned engaging instruction, prepared their rooms to welcome learners back for a wonderful year ahead. We also want to express appreciation to our athletic department and coaches for getting all the fall sports kicked off to a great start. I had the opportunity to join many of our fall teams and athletes on a spirit run last Friday uh where everyone gathered in a spirit of unity and cander pride for a run down to the fire hall and back. Furthermore, we want to thank Chartwells for an amazing breakfast Monday morning. Uh it was very nice spread and they even had bacon. You know, bacon makes everything better, right, Mr. Lost? >> Absolutely correct. >> That's right. And I'll tell you something, Mr. uh Walmart, I think that they uh could give
012uh Cracker Barrel a run for their money. I I really do. Uh the spread we had was fantastic. So, uh we also want to thank the newly formed Caner Foundation as Miss Holl shared uh for sponsoring the breakfast along with many uh the grants they issued out to teachers in the district uh at our opening ceremony. And last but not least, we want to thank all the families for all the school shopping and uh just getting their kids all ready and entrusting them to us as they uh send them our way tomorrow. Um I've attended back to school uh nights and meet the teacher times at each of the schools thus far with more planned in the upcoming days. It's always an exciting time to engage with learners, families, teachers, and principles. The past two
013days have been the start for our teachers as we kicked off Monday morning with a robust and competitive all faculty, staff and uh staff rock paper scissors tournament uh followed by welcoming all new faculty and staff uh presentation updates from our various departments. had a Caner Foundation presentation as well as a talk on the emphasis of the use of upper atoms. Unified, united, uncompromising, understanding, uplifting, upbeat, uncommon, unique, unstoppable, and upward were a few of the U words that were tied in to what makes us another u word, upper atoms. Um, I can do that for you guys if you want sometime. Didn't know so many U words were out there, did you, Mrs. Flang? And there's there's actually more. There's actually more. Uh we are in the process of preparing information for all of
014you in regards uh to the September 2nd committee meeting presentation and discussion pertaining to the pros and cons of a dean of students or assistant principal. Uh we'd also like to welcome Mr. Brett Hayes to Caner Nation as our new SSO through GeForce. And believe it or not, Mr. Hayes as the new guy uh he actually emerged as the rock paper scissors champion uh that morning. So, we're glad he is on board as uh we acclimate him to our buildings and the district. Uh exciting news, as Mr. Krauss mentioned, at 4:00 on Monday, there is a groundbreaking ceremony at the Cland Perry Bote Tech. And uh last but not least, we are excited and looking forward to the incredible instructional and learning adventure ahead in 2526 and having our halls and rooms filled with smiling
015students and the anticipation of great things ahead. Thank you, Dr. Desan. Any comments, any questions? I think everybody's looking forward to tomorrow, so we can hurry up and end this meeting. That's good. Um, all right. Now, the treasur report. Mr. Walmer. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Three items uh to get approval for here. the financial report, the food service fund statement and operations report, and the student activities fund ending July 31st, 2025. And I'll make a motion to approve that those items. >> Second. >> Any comments and questions for Mr. Walmer? >> All right, we have roll call. >> Mrs. Hollow. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lady, >> I. >> Mr. Lustik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Plank. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walmer. >> Yes. >> Miss Junkr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Krauss. >> Yes. >> Miss
016Jalal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wel. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Almer. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to the consent agenda. Um, anything to be pulled from the consent agenda for tonight? All right. Do we need a motion and a second on the consent agenda? >> Some move. >> So, second. >> Any comments? Any questions? >> All right. Uh, roll call. >> Mr. Lady, >> I. >> Mr. Lustig? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Plank? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walmer? >> Yes. >> Miss Cover? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cross. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jal, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hollow, >> yes. >> Mr. Wel, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on to committee reports. Uh, Mr. Walmer, finance. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have three more
017items on my list here. Number one item is for the approval of my school bucks. It's a fee waiver for those who intend to pay for student lunches online and past years that's come out of the cafeteria fund. And this is to approve that uh for this upcoming uh school year. Uh and I'll just ask for an um approval for all three three of these items at once. Uh also the the next items the next item is for the woods contract and this is for special education services with wood services. Third item is a physician agreement with Wellspan Medical Group. Uh this is a year-over-year agreement uh for their consultation services as needed. So I'll make a motion to approve all three of those items. >> Second. We have a second. Any comments? Any questions
018for uh Mr. Walmer? >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Leic? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Plank? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walmer? >> Yes. >> Miss Young Cobber? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Krauss? >> Yes. >> Miss Jal? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hollow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lady? >> I. >> Mr. Wigel? >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Walmer. Uh, moving on to personnel. Mr. Lustik. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, turning our attention to 14.2, uh, personnel. Uh, I would, um, uh, suggest that we just follow along as we look at our computers to the following. Then, uh, down to number two, professional. Uh 2 A, resend employment for Carter Klein, previously approved on April 15, 2025, effective August 13, 2025. And 2B, Ashley Saunders, elementary school counselor, Upper Adams
019uh Intermediate School. Uh those two um are uh or the second one I should say uh relates to the replacing of Courtney Kramer and is pending uh required paperwork. Uh moving down to uh item five, supplemental contracts. You'll notice uh five items there, 5 A through 5e. Then turning our attention to uh uh educational contracts 5F uh as per the attached document. If you have that document uh pulled up, you can see that there are uh 20 uh people listed there with a variety of responsibilities. As we turn our attention to item six, other contracted and volunteer services, I'm always pleased to see that there are additional volunteers coming forward to help us uh here at Upper Adams uh school district. And you see uh three people so listed. Appreciate their service. In 6B, Kelly
020educational listings. Uh if you look at uh the attached document for number one, which is TE teacher substitutes, uh you'll notice 44 uh people listed there. Uh Kelly educational uh listings uh item two, substitute staff or excuse me, supper support staff substitutes. We see 14 people uh listed there. And uh item three, permanent staff. Uh you will see 28 people um listed there. Uh that brings us to uh item 6C which is our mark. Notice our uh two uh custodians that are listed there. And uh I would make a motion to approve all of the above. Uh and uh that concludes my report. I'll second the motion. >> Okay. Any comments? Any questions on Mr. Dustic's report? >> Pretty straightforward. All right. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Plank, >> yes. >> Mr. Walmer, >> yes.
021>> Miss John Coover, >> yes. >> Mrs. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Jal, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hollow, >> yes. >> Mr. Lady, I >> Mr. Listic. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wel, >> yes. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rustic. Uh, moving on. I don't see anything under property. Uh, transportation. Mr. Lady. >> Yes. Uh, just to recommend approval of the following uh the well, there's two items here. So, one is to recommend the 20 2025 26 bus routes. And then there's a couple additions to the uh Jacobe drivers list. They're listed in your in your report. So, I'll make a motion to make that approval. >> Second. >> Any comments on any questions? >> All right. Roll. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Walmer. >> Yes. >> Miss Youngr, >> yes. >> Mrs.
022Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Jal, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hollow, >> yes. >> Mr. Lady, hi. >> Mr. Lustik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Plank, >> yes. >> Mr. Wel, >> yes. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lady, for the report. Um, moving on to committee reports with curriculum extracurricular committee. Uh, Miss Hollow. >> Uh, yes. Thank you. Um, Mr. Alban has a presentation for us at this time. >> Thank you, Mrs. Holl. And good evening again, everyone. Uh, this shouldn't take more than an hour, hour and a half. So, we'll get Just kidding. Okay, we'll give you Mrs. playing with not so happy. >> Well, I'm trying to I'm trying to make Mr. Ladies time from the other week. So, >> we'll get we'll get moving here. Now, we had a request uh from a
023couple board members from time to time about the observation process and what does it look like uh when a teacher gets observed? What's that process look like? Um and just have some background information so you know what the principles are doing, what the assistant principles are doing when they go in there and what steps they have to go through. So, if you want to pull up your presentation, I also will be uh projecting it on the screen here. I'm going to walk you through briefly uh the the process and then I'll take any questions that you may have. So, first and foremost, our process is based off of researcher Charlotte Danielson and all of our new teachers that come to us are given this book as a reference. Uh many have it from other districts
024as well because many many districts use her framework. This is promoted uh or not promoted supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as a uh researchbased model in evaluation. It's a basically an instrument a framework that principles and assistant principles evaluators can go in and observe a teacher objectively as much as possible. So this book has the framework laid out in it. We go over it at orientation in depth and they have it for reference uh throughout their career here at Upper Adams or if they uh happen to move on um it stays with them because many districts again use this and um will continue to um use the model for their observations. So the first screen uh shows you the four main areas in the Charlotte Danielson framework. So you'll see you have planning
025and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities. So if we start on the left side, you look you see planning and preparation and professional responsibilities. As educators, we will call these offstage. These are things that happen when the teachers are not directly in front of the classroom instructing students more than likely. and the classroom environment and instruction pieces off to the the 4:00 area of the circle there. Those are what we consider on stage. The these are two pieces that we observe directly when the students are teaching or working uh with students and providing interventions or other types of instructional strategies. So we have onstage and offstage for those and we have the four main areas which we call domains. maybe well there it goes. So the next area it breaks out these four domains
026for you. So you can see we have the planning preparation again the classroom environment instruction and professional responsibilities. We have domain one 2 three and four. They are called those broad they're not called categories they're called domains. And under each domain we have different components. So there are four to six components under each domain that we have to worry about. So when we go into observe a teacher, we're looking at all those different components in each domain and we are citing evidence and putting evidence in there. We can put as much or as little evidence as we want. Sometimes a component has a lot. Sometimes it has minimal. Sometimes the evidence is text. It's just us typing what we see, what we hear. Other times it might be a picture of a bulletin board or
027maybe it's an upload of a lesson plan. Maybe it's an assessment that the teacher created. Maybe it's a newsletter that a teacher sent home. They want to upload in professional responsibilities communicating with families. Whatever the teacher and observer want to upload as evidence to support the lesson that's being observed, that's what we're going to put in there. So that that's all the the pieces there. So you can see all the different components. you can already see the the time commitment uh behind that. So before we go further to the evaluation piece at the end, let's talk more about the observation process. So our process is called differentiated supervision, which means everyone depending where they are in their career and their experience here at Upper Adams has different expectations. If you're a new teacher here, you're
028getting observed four times year one. Four observations once a quarter. Second year you're here, you're getting observed three times. Basically, a fall, winter, spring, if you want to think of it like that. Third year you're here, you get observed twice. A fall and a spring. Semester 1, semester 2. After that, there's some flexibility with our differentiated model. teachers or administrators can requ. And some teachers do do that. Uh they request that. Um because the other option is a self-directed model. And a a good way to think of that is they're setting some type of goal or goals for themselves with the approval of their principal. And they're working on those goals throughout the year. And at the end of the year, they check in with their principles and they provide evidence whether they met that
029goal or didn't meet that goal. And there's usually a mid-year checkpoint as well with the principles. Some teachers say, you know what, that's great, but just come to observe me. I don't need, you know, I'm that's not for me. And they have that option after year three. They can do the self-directed or they can request an observation. No matter what, every teacher must get observed once every three years. So they can only be self-directed twice. That third year they have to get observed whether they want to or not. Some teachers don't want to be observed. You know, they have that anxiety about that and they rather go the self-directed route when they can, but they're always going to get to get observed once every 3 years. That's part of the differentiated process. So what does
030it look like when we go into observe? I'll take it from my my uh experience. I will share with the teachers. I'll say I need to come in uh you're on my November list. Can you give me some dates and times in November that work? Uh, I ask them for a minimum of 45 minutes. If it's elementary, many times I get 90 because they're reading blocks or or math blocks are longer at that level. Um, but we work out a date and time. And then we have a pre-observation conference. So, I go out before the lesson, a couple days before the lesson, and we talk about what what's the goal of the lesson, what's their classroom makeup like, are there any uh gifted students, struggling students, what accommodations have you made, what do you want
031me to look for in this lesson, how can I help you grow as a teacher? Uh do you have any concerns going into the lesson? What do you think the lesson's going to go well? All those types of questions and and discussions happen. Takes usually about 45 minutes. uh we go out meet with a teacher for a pre-observation conference. Next step we go in and do the actual observation. So the pre-conference we're really talking about the off stage if you refer back to uh the graphic. So we're talking about planning, preparation, professional responsibilities, a little bit about what they're going to plan to do for instruction in their classroom environment. uh but we want to know what they're doing the prep and the teachers have an opportunity right before the observation to go in and
032add on the components there different pieces of evidence for planning and preparation and professional responsibilities as well. So that's their opportunity to highlight themselves too. So the observation we go in the observer is really going to focus on on stage two and three classroom environment instruction. So what's a classroom feel like? Do they are the kids um meshing well? Is are their classroom procedures? Is student behavior being taken care of? Is the organization of the classroom uh acceptable for physical space? Domain three isn't it is that's where the rubber meets the road. That's all about instruction. How's the questioning? How's the communicating? How's the technology? How are the assessments? uh are we having flexibility with students that are going faster than other students, slower than other students, need remediation or enrichment, all those types of
033things. And as the observer sitting there, we have to collect all this evidence. And usually on onstage things, for the most part, it's all text. So it's what I'm seeing, what I'm hearing, what I'm viewing. I might walk around, I might talk to students, get their feedback, document that. And I got to figure out while I'm while I'm observing which component all these things are going to fall into during the observation. Again, observations can take 45 minutes to 90 minutes. Uh depending on the class, what we're obser what we're exactly observing. You know, if it's a guided reading group, um or a reading lesson, it might be a whole group. Then they split up in the guided reading group, self- selected. Then they come back, they do another text or session, or they might have
034centers that they go around. um some of those elementary um blocks take a lot of time. So, we're there for that whole whole period. We leave the classroom and then the teacher has an opportunity to go into domains two and three just like she did for one and four and put in her evidence or his evidence. What did they feel? What they get to see what we put in, but they can add to it and reflect on what we what we did. So, they basically do a self-reflection of themselves with two and three. So at that time now we have all the teacher evidence, we have all my evidence as as an observer and then we schedule a post observation conference. So I go out again, we meet again about 45 minutes or so and
035we go through the all the the entire observation, all the components. Um if you take a look at this page here, if you are on Zoom, it is a second attachment. You can pull that up. If you are here in person, it is in your folders. You can take a look at it. Um, I think it's easier to see uh on in paper, but you certainly can page through it in Zoom. The copier didn't do uh as nice a job as I hoped with the small print, but you can still get the gist. So, this is what I use for teachers and we go through each component and rate them. So, we look at the evidence. I look at the evidence and I have to determine. So, I look at all the evidence say for
036one a demonstrating knowledge of content and pedigogy. I look at all my evidence, look at all the teachers evidence and I have to come up with a rating and you can see the descriptors for that rating. And I have to do that for each and every component in domain one, domain two, domain three and domain four. And what we do is sometimes the teacher and the observer will disagree. Say, "Hey, you gave me a needs improvement, but I really think I was proficient. here's why. Here's my evidence. So, it's designed to be objective, to take the feeling out of it, and if they have evidence to support their claims that matches what's in here. And that's why this book's important because this gives examples, specific examples of what it looks like to be distinguished, what
037it looks like to be proficient, why someone would be in needs improvement, and observers can use this as well uh to back up their evidence, too. So we sit down, we go through all the components and we evaluate based on the the four criteria there and then we come to a satisfactory or not satisfactory um way of the as an end result for the observation. At the end we both sign it and it becomes part of the teacher record. So if you're looking at a total time period, you could be looking anywhere from three to five hours per teacher per OB the entire observation uh process. And that includes time for the teacher self-reflection as well as the time for the evaluator to go in and look at their evidence and make those determinations before
038meetings happen in preparation. And last but not least, if you uh the last slide, and I'm projecting it uh right now for the folks on Zoom, if you're wondering how this all figures in because observation, I tell this to the teachers all the time, observations and evaluations are different. Yes, an observation can be an evaluation, but that is not what we use to determine their overall evaluation at the end of the year. It's a piece. So, if you look up here, the 70% the differentiated observation 70% of their total score at the end of the year is based on their observations depending how many they have. Then you have 10% is based on their test data from their students if they're in a tested subject. 10% is based on a student learning objective which is
039uh in essence you can think of it as a goal. they have to come up with a goal for their students or for themselves um and monitor that throughout the year with the help of their principal and 10% is what we call a building score and that's issued by the department of education usually in the fall of every year and then from there we get their overall satisfactory or unsatisfactory rating. So the observations although a piece are not the sole uh determination for the evaluations and I will say this is for the professional staff. We also have support staff. So uh principles assistant principles myself as needed will go in and u depending on the support staff instructional aids and so forth we will observe them as well. It is not, we do not utilize
040this type of a process for them necessarily, but we do uh take the time to go in and collect evidence on the sports staff as well. So, this was just to give you a glimpse of some background information on the framework that we use, but also what does the process look like, how long does it take, what's involved, so you have that background information um moving forward. >> And Mr. stronger. If I could just interject, >> this this is actually the when I say minimum, not to not to take away from the fact that this is a lot. >> Yeah. >> But this is the minimum that is required. >> Can you talk a little bit about walkthroughs and what the value of that is and how we want our administrators actually in classrooms more
041than just the required amount? Yeah. is really over time and you can speak this in a minute but over time you stop in a classroom once or twice a week for five minutes another week for 5 10 minutes another week that builds up and I think in that sense you get a very much truer sense of a classroom overall over time so I don't know if you can speak to that >> yeah we would call these formal observations what I just explained to you it's a formal observation process always principles are in and out of classrooms doing a variety of things and what Dr. Dong was talking about. I know some folks, some uh districts call them 5x5s. Some districts call them I've had a district call them flybys. I've had a district call dropins.
042Uh basically, it's when you go in about 10 15 minutes and you sit and you usually have a maybe a half slip of paper and you sit and just observe. You're not evaluating. There's no rubric or anything like that. You're just sitting and taking it all in, maybe talking to a couple kids, and then jotting your immediate thoughts down. You know, great job today. I like this lesson or I see you changed uh um the room around. I like the seating arrangement. You know, you you give some immediate feedback and you go in, like I said, 10 15 minutes. You can knock out, you know, five 10 classrooms over a period of an hour or two and get into those classrooms more often. uh you don't do the formal observation process with that obviously would
043take an immense amount of time but the the 5x5s or the walkthroughs um that folks call them they happen continuously and >> if I could just interject one more time Mr. Alvin the the the value in that is I think you said the word feedback in order for our students and learners to grow as well as our teachers and one another actually even as adults wherever we're working at is to give feedback which is direct specific clear um you know we all need that like that a boy good job kind of thing but we also want to give very much directed timely uh feedback and the more feedback we give and and we get from one another is that's how we grow and that's how we get better. That's how we improve. So that's why
044it's very valuable for I believe administrators to be in classrooms more so than just the again the minimum you know you know just the required times of those former observations. That's why the walk the classroom visits are very valuable and important to give feedback and to support teachers and and just just something too I want to this is not at all and we've talked about this this isn't about a gotcha but this is like we got you we we're supporting this is this is how we grow and we get better for one another in the whole process even Mr. Alvin, myself or principles going into the classrooms, we learn so much and helps us to be better observers. Not only does it help us better observers, but it also helps us be better educators also.
045So, we get to grow, we get to be a part of these uh instructional conversations, which really that's what school's all about and for our learners is to have strong instructions and academics. So, thanks Mr. and part of the 5x5s. What's neat about those, if you're going in saying, "I'm going to do second grade today." Chances are you may see a similar lesson in all the second grades, if you're going in at the same reading time, because some many times the curriculum is is like that. Uh, and you walk in, you might see something great in one classroom that you observe something in another classroom saying, "Hey, they could really probably use that or they might benefit from observing that." You can set up like a peer observation for them. Or you can set up
046time for those two to meet. Or you can go crossgrade level. Maybe there's something a first grade teacher can learn from a third grade teacher. But as an when you go in through those walkthroughs, those are the types of things that you can see and reflect on as an observer, you can figure out where the strengths are, where the needs are, match them up, figure out creative ways to provide that professional development in your building um with the resources that you have um based on what you're seeing. >> And piggybacking on what you just shared, Mr. All regarding the peer observations, the power of peer observations and team observations or department or content observing one another and providing feedback to each other is extremely powerful because now it's coming from them and then the team
047and again but that that requires time for administrators or team to set those uh set those types of things up and to create that type of professional learning and that type of environment uh for our teachers. So thank you for that. Uh yes. >> Any questions on the process, the framework, how we observe any any of that? >> Mr. Go ahead. >> Oh, thank you. Uh Mr. Kim, Mr. Alvin, I have two questions for you. And first of all, thank you for doing this presentation. Um my first question uh just just to add this to what you said. There are times when some individuals may need some more help and are assigned to an improvement plan. Can you tell me um how much time is in addition to what you've already talked about when when
048you need to work with individuals to move them from needs help to satisfactory? >> Yeah, there have been times in my career where we at part of the the instrument provides goals and we call them areas of growth. Uh I know uh Dr. Desawn likes to use blows and grows types of things. So the grow area is something where we can set goals. So if a teacher's really struggling, I might come up with one or two, three goals. And if they continue to not meet those and we need to get them in, they're still in that needs improvement after monitoring, then we want to come up with a different type of plan. And that plan has the goals, has specific action steps, specific deadlines for those action steps. Uh and we go forward from there.
049that can I've I I've seen plans from two pages to five pages. I' I've seen uh interventions such as observation observations once a week, observations twice a week. Um, I've seen a time that principles and assistant principles will meet with teachers after school, before school, during their planning time to brainstorm, help them write lessons, brainstorm ways to write better assessments, use data better to drive their instruction. All those uh instructional activities can be embedded in a teacher improvement plan depending on what the needs are and directed by the principal and assist principal. again it it yeah it as Mrs. Krauss said it takes time um to do that to prepare for it to conduct it and to monitor it. >> I have a second question but I'll I'll hold off on it till Mrs. Jalal
050is done. It it's it's in a little different direction from where we were right here. So I can hold off on it. Go ahead. >> Thanks Mr. Gra. That was a really great question. I just had a quick question. Um, you use the term five by five5 and I just was wondering what that stands for, Mr. Alvin. >> Yeah, that is a like a a five walkthroughs five times a day. That is like a principal's expectation. So, we do 5x5s. That means I'm going to be out in the building. I'm going to do five walkthrough. That's my goal. I could do more, but we the teachers refer to them and we refer to them some districts refer to them as a 5x5. We do not use that term here. Or it could be a 4x4.
051>> It could be a 4x4 3x3. Yeah, I've heard I've heard 5x5 in in several different districts. I think that is a a model that the um learning focus schools and Charlotte Danielson has has put in place, but that's not something that's not what we refer to it as here. We call them walkthroughs. >> Mr. Alban, I I had a question about the history of the Danielson model. Oh, it's my understanding that it's been used for about 20 years. Is that is that about right? It's been in effect for 20 or so years. >> It's been around for quite some time. It's gone through a variety of of versions and uh revisions. Uh and it still remains one of the gold standards. Uh there are there's one or two other ones that some districts use,
052but this seems to be the one that uh districts really find benefit >> and and it's not necessarily mandated by the state. You can use other models but these observations are mandated in one form or another. >> Correct? Even if you didn't use this model, you would still use the process. So you still have to have a tool. So you still have the pre-observation, the observation, post observation. You would have some kind of a rubric or a framework. It just wouldn't necessarily be the Charlotte Danielson one. It could be uh Warrenzano for instance or something like that. And so so up until 20 years ago, uh was it a similar process with teachers? Was it less, uh cumbersome or involved for administrators to >> I could tell you in 20 2005 as a principal in
053Hanover at Clearby Elementary School, my observations, I would schedule a time of class period, go in and basically it was a narrative. I started typing the minute I got in and I went through and I was collecting evidence, but I I was basically almost like a transcriptionist of the whole lesson. And then we would talk about the lesson in general, not necessarily component-wise, but we say, "How do you think your lesson go? What now? Tell me about your assessment. Tell me about your planning. Tell me." So we hit some of the components, but it was not necessarily broken out like this. Still had suggestions or recommendations at the end. uh had resources and they would turn in their lesson plans to me ahead of time but it was it was basically a word document with
054just a narrative >> a lot less cumbersome a lot less detailed >> and Mr. Walmart if I could and correct me if I'm wrong. Uh I believe it was past fell. It was we we have four C we have four categories now with all the four domains with all the various aspects under each of them. >> It was that back the old system was just it was either pass or fail. >> Yeah. >> That's evaluation. Yes. >> Well, my followup to those questions is about the mechanics behind these observations and specifically the reporting to the state. Is it a box you have to check to say that that the teacher this teacher was observed or the these groups of teachers were observed? What are the mechanics behind that in your reporting >> or state reporting?
055>> Yeah, >> state reporting happens usually in January or February and is a list of all of our staff members and we simply mark if they were proficient or satisfactory or unsatisfactory. >> I knew you would know these details, Mr. I appreciate it. And the last um question in the mechanics of it. So you do observations, principles do observations, assistant principles do observations, superintendents do observations. What is it? How do you divide and conquer among your among your group? Is it is it a high school teacher does the high school, middle school does the middle school, you sub in? How does that work? >> I can tell you Vermont what I help with I do all first year. I do one observation for every first year teacher and then I will help out with second
056and third year teachers as the principles and assistant principles need to as far as how they're divided out is building base. So each building is responsible for their own uh observations. So at the high school um would be Beth, Mr. Mummer and that it moment the two um principal and assistant principal there. Mr. Brewer at the uh middle school Mrs. Buckley and Mr. Gerber at the intermediate school and Mrs. Nelson and Mr. would do everybody at the elementary school and they keep track. They have their own internal tracking of who's that third year and when they get to that third year they have to have an observation who wants an observation instead of self-directed who's on self-directed and then I usually I I send out a chart of the first three years of teachers because
057they're not tendered yet and I so they know if they need four, three or two observations that year. And about how many new teachers do we have this year? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15. 16. >> I had 16 at orientations. We have since got uh you approved tonight a school counselor. So we're at 17. >> So that's 64ish 68 69 somewhere in there observations you have to do this year for the new teachers. >> It's a lot. Thank you for that. >> Mr. Alman, if I if I could ask another question. Um I mean I know the answer to this but um differentiated supervision uh that still even though you're doing differential supervision that still requires beginning of the year meeting with the teacher to review the plan and the goal. There's a midyear
058also which you need to schedule a meeting for them to check on their progress of their goals and then there's an end of year also even with the differentiated supervision folks too. >> Yep. they all follow the the entire formal observation process when they when they're getting observed. >> So if a teacher struggling, you know, needs some improvement, um what's what are the like time frame as far as what you're looking for? Like how much help do you give them? I mean, I guess I'm wondering like is there like a three strikes, you're out kind of thing or how does how do you make that determination that progress is being made? I guess. >> Well, you would go back and you would schedule another observation. So, definitely if they're in now, if they have one
059or two needs improvement because the state will say when they train us, they want folks to be in the proficient category. And I preach this to my um new teachers all the time. We're trained. If you're a great teacher, you're doing exactly what you're supposed to do, you're going to be improficient. That's what it's designed for. You will visit distinguished and needs improvement depending on the lesson. And again, that's what I I share with them the book here. My advice to them because they all think they all want to be distinguished. They want to say I said I can never be distinguished in every category. And I used the example of the organizational space. I think it's two. It's the last one in domain 2 2e I think it is. I said I don't know
060anyone that can get distinguished in that category the way it's explained unless you have the students decide where they're going to sit, why they're going to sit that way and have a plan for why the room's designed the way it is. What teacher has time and in in a focus for that particular domain. So what I my recommendation is when you have a lesson in front of you that you're getting observed in, pick one or two categories, components that you want to be distinguished in, use the book, look at the examples and plan your lesson and see if you can get there and by doing different activities, doing different instructional strategies and use that as your evidence and you'll get into distinguished. Your goal is not I want, you know, I need to be in
061distin I need straight distinguish. You're that's not realistic. That is not what this tool was designed for. Same with needs improvement. Maybe something just didn't click, something didn't go right. So, we have one or two things that needs improvement. We have a serious issue in a classroom, then we would schedule a follow-up observation, maybe give them a mentor, uh a peer coach, >> uh send them to professional development, um do some other interventions with them, uh and continue on. And if it they continue to struggle or not make any improvement, then we look at o overall evaluation ratings at the end of the year and and see what our goal is always to try to help the teachers. Uh but uh it could eventually impact evaluation if progress just starts not being made or continues,
062lack of progress uh continues. >> So Mr. Robin, can I ask my second question now? >> Sure. >> Okay. It piggybacks off what Mr. Walmer asked you earlier. Um, I know you said you help out and usually do at least one observation per new teacher, one of those four. Um, as an assistant superintendent, I I don't think you answered this part. Um, as an assistant superintendent, who else are you responsible for evaluating and observing? >> Yeah, I now work with the um principles and assistant principles here in the district. So we meet we'll meet three times a year here once in beginning middle of the year end of the year as well as various times throughout the year of course in in v in various sessions to talk about their goals their data in their
063building student growth student achievement communication. We want to tie that all back to the comprehensive plan and the goals that are there. That's my ult ultimate goal with the principles. we want to support those um goals in the comprehensive plan and write their goals to um make progress with that. >> Okay. Thank you. And then just to clarify or finish up since we've taken care of the teachers and the administration um the superintendent would be responsible for observing or evaluating which individuals >> me. Go ahead. Joe, you're on a roll. You're on a roll there. superintendent would uh do the director of student services, director of business operations, myself as the assistant superintendent. So, district office folks. So, if you can think back to that organizational chart that you folks approved not too long ago,
064see the superintendent at the top, you saw the what we call what call cabinet, this district cabinet. That's the level that the superintendent would uh supervise. And then under me it would be the the principles and the system principles uh with dotted lines to the various individuals. >> I'd like to ask the question also if I could. Uh thank you for this report Mr. Alen. Very interesting. >> Can you tell me who would uh observe and help the uh school security officer? >> That's me. Okay. So today I uh helped on board him and brought him up to speed on district policies and and practices and and as well as just acclimating him. Now as far as the school safety component that is going to be Mrs. Nelson. So Mrs. Nelson is our school safety
065coordinator. So he will work directly with her uh on all the school safety uh meetings, mandates, uh working uh on the school safety plans, monitoring fire drills, uh all all those components. So she would be the safety coordinator working with him and I would do the the district level uh connection liaison for him. >> Yes. Thank you very much. So, prior to you becoming assistant superintendent, did the superintendent do the evaluations of the principles and the assistant principles or did you do that as director? >> Yes, that was under the superintendent. >> Mr. Alin, this seems like an incredibly um labor intensive uh journey that you have just described. Is this usually met with positive vibes from the teachers? Do they look forward to having this evaluation or is this a a dreaded thing that
066has to happen? >> I think it depends on the individual. Uh some teachers are very comfortable with observations. Some teachers would rather have a root canal than have someone come in and sit there and watch watch and be evaluate them and basically judge them. But it's something we all have to get through. I remember my first observation when I was at Spring Grove. Uh my first observer was uh assistant superintendent down there and I I was I didn't sleep the night before. I barely ate breakfast and uh you know how that goes. So it turned out okay in the end, but I was a complete nervous wreck and uh uh I you know you get accustomed to that down the road and so forth. So, but I would say when we have the post observation,
067once all the the nervousness is over with and the actual observation happens, the post observation is the very meaningful because that's when you can connect with this the teacher. They know you're not there to like Dr. Tong said, this isn't a gotcha. We're here to help. What do you need from me? Here's what I saw. What do you can you tell me more? You know, what's your next steps? Those are the types of conversations I like to have. I think they're very meaningful to teachers and I think they appreciate the feedback and the majority of the teachers um are get used to this model and expect you know expect it moving forward and I I think they're all appreciative of of that and they all want to grow. They all want to u continue to
068grow and learn. >> Well and I think it's probably valuable coming from someone in you know in your position. You were a teacher before >> so you have that experience you have that knowledge. I would think they would be more receptive >> to that. >> I'm sure after the first year for a new hire, it comes easier because they're getting evaluated four times. Exactly. One year and it >> becomes old after a while. >> After that, it's kind of gets okay. No big deal. >> That's there are still teachers that they've been teaching 20 plus years and you say, "I'm going to come in for an observation." And they look at your hair. Oh my god. It's like it'll be fine. It'll be okay. >> And Mr. Hollow, why can you share too? I think
069it really is about just about relationship and connection too. I mean it's it's about uh it's about growth and and it's really I think it's a reciprocal thing also. >> Um I I I think we uh we certainly want feedback from our our teachers and I think we need to be open to that and and I think it's a reciprocal thing and again it's about being visible. It's about being out there and I believe in our administrators are doing that uh and not um I mean there's so many rules and tasks that we already have but I think this is the most valuable one is to be be out in classrooms being visible in the hallways not just with teachers but really ultimately it's all about what's best for kids. We're doing this because we
070want to do our very best for the students and the learners to sit in our classrooms every single day and we don't want to become stagnant. We want to all continue to grow um and and and improve in our trade and our craft that we're doing. We have a lot of great people. You know, I've said this before, the enemy of good is the enemy of good is the enemy of great is good. You know, we just don't want to settle just for being good enough. But we want to continue to strive to be great. And that that is a that is a habit, a a dayto-day thing that you need to practice, rehearse, and do over time. It doesn't happen overnight. And literally, that's really what the whole process is all about. Again, it's
071about a really, hey, we got you. We want to do the right things. We want to do the best things for kids and for one another because we want to be an outstanding educational organization. So, you know, I've been in districts that do not allow do not announce when formal observations are necessarily. So, they have a slightly different mod. They don't they the pre-observation is not as formal as what we have here. Um but they just show up and I and I make sure our teachers know that to that doesn't happen here. Like we we don't it's not a gotcha. This is a learning opportunity. The walkthroughs may be a surprise but we're you know they know we're going to just pop in. They know what they're for. We give them a heads up that
072if we come in this is what we're doing. But the formal observations we want them to succeed. So, I always give the teachers principles to when do you want me to come in? What because I want to see them at their best. Um, and I want to see what they what they're bringing uh to our students. >> Mr. Alb and Dr. Deshawn, you both answered that question the way I thought you would that everyone would handle it differently. But I think yet again, a benefit of a smaller school district is that our faculty know you. You walk the halls, you see them, you greet them. um you're not strangers sitting in an office that that it is a gotcha. No, you're you're in the same court looking out for the students and um thank you
073Mr. Albin for this report. I I had no idea the uh intensity that went into these um evaluations. Um and I appreciate very much what you do and I appreciate this report tonight. >> Thank you. You know, when I was in high school, I don't remember seeing any principles in any room or any superintendent. So, it's it's interesting how things have changed significantly. >> Any other questions for Mr. Alban? Anything closing, Mr. Alen? >> Hopefully. So, if no one has any other questions, thank you the opportunity to bring this to you. If you have any other questions or want followup, please reach out to me. I'd be happy to help you. There's much more we can talk about. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you for keeping it under an hour and
074a half also. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. Robin. >> All right. Uh we have nothing under athletics. Um other student activities. We have nothing for Miss Hollow. >> No. Um, moving on to policy review. We have no policies. Is that correct, Miss Miss Krauss? >> That's correct. >> First read or a second read? >> That's right. >> Uh, nothing under miscellaneous agenda items. Uh, can we have a motion u, and a second for the payment of the bills? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any comments? Any questions on the bills? >> My usual comment uh, starting out the new school year uh with our payments of charter schools $26,67762. >> Thank you, Mr. Lady. Any other comments, questions? All right, we have a roll call. >> Miss Young, >> yes. >> Mrs. Krauss,
075>> yes. >> Miss Jal, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hollow, >> yes. >> Mr. Lady, >> hi. >> Mr. Lustic. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Plank. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wmer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wiggle. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Nothing under old business. Nothing under new business. >> Can I Can I throw something under new business? It's just something quick. Um I'm not sure if most of you are aware, but like federal law mandates that if you get federal funds, um you teach I believe it's I don't know if it's specifically eth graders, but I think that's what you do here. You teach eth graders about the constitution. And a lot of times that happens on Constitution Day, which is 9:17. And I don't I'm not I can't remember if it was last
076year or the year before that. But I had donated um pocket constitutions on behalf of the 917 society and I want to do that again this year. So I have 130 pocket constitutions that I would like to give to Mr. Brewer for the eighth graders to I mean the teachers can use as a resource when they're teaching the constitution this year. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Miss Per. >> All right. Items of general information. Uh school board committee meetings. Curriculum extra committee will be on 92 2025 at 6:30. Business operations committee 92 2025 upon completion of the curriculum extracurricular committee meeting policy committee meeting will be on 94 2025 at 9:00 a.m. And then the regular school board meeting will be on 9:16 2025 at 7 p.m. And we
077are adjourned. Oh, motion. We have a motion. >> Move. >> We are out of here. Thank you. Have a great night. Thank you all. Good night.