Friday, February 29, 2008

Notes from Board Work Session, 2/29/08

This meeting wil be re-broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 9:00 am and Sundays at 2:00 pm.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

The board had a work session with a MABE facilitator, Ms. Kitty Blumsack, to discuss priorities for the coming year. We reviewed our priorities from last year...viewed here, discussed our progress, and which priorities still need to be addressed.

  • Code 8140, Board Code of Behavior, will be reviewed at a future meeting.
  • Abell - requested a complete calendar of all tests given system-wide
  • Pedersen - requested a report on % of new teachers and what is a good %
  • Current teachers being used to recruit in their home areas
  • 100 - 150 teachers needed for next year
  • Richmond - possibility of hiring some CSM professors to teach higher level classes
  • Evening classes and Saturday classes to acccomodate student scheduling. Use of technology
In addition each board member and the superintendent was instructed to list their two priorities for the coming year.


Richmond

  • Budget 09,10,11
  • Opening new high school and operating budget

Bailey

  • Dual enrollment; AA degree by 12th grade
  • School Capacity
  • Teacher training through CSM

Pedersen

  • Encourage rigor and depth in learning
  • Continue open communication with community

Cook

  • Alternative funding
  • Teacher retention

Wise

  • Get students interested in careers in teaching
  • Show case programs available to students

Wade

  • JROTC Joint Ball
  • Strategic planning (personnel; staff)

Carrington

  • Recruit more minority teachers
  • Showcase 3 year old program

Abell

  • Alternative funding for school construction (overcrowding; developer built; state legislation)
  • Academic Rigor (Qualified teachers in higher level classes; dual enrollment; etc.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now we are talking.
Jennifer, if you have ANYTHING to do with hiring more qualified teachers to teacher higher level classes, KUDOS to you!

Most of the chemistry, physics, and math classes need a major league triage. How about if we hire some professors from UMD, or, some engineers that actually know this material?
I think that it's a major step forward to even think about it, as this practice of academic fraud has gone on for way too long. Consistently having scores between 1.6 and 2.0 year after year deserves expert intervention.

Anonymous said...

Please cowboy, share with all us the benefit of your vast teaching experience.

I'm being sincere. I would jump at the opportunity to learn at the feet of the master. Since you obviously have all the answers who better to learn from?

Anonymous said...

Edit previous post to say "all of us"

Anonymous said...

Cowboy, I'm curious to know what you do besides criticize the system. I'm serious. Are you involved in any other way that is constructive? I share many of the frustrations you blog about. However, I have come to realization that the easy thing to do is point fingers. The more difficult piece is to get involved. Are you involved?