To: Michael Green
From: John Shoup
CC: School Board members
Date: 10.07.13
Re: September Review
Here is an overview of the key activities we worked on in relation to teaching and learning this month.
Monday’s: We had four Monday’s this year in September to work together. One of the Monday’s was designated for the all district meeting in which we worked on district priorities. Of the other three Monday’s, we used two of them to begin the work to revamp once again our advisory time. These were good meetings in which high school staff identified the key lessons we believed students need to learn, but were not being systematically delivered by our high school core curriculum. Ideas such as budgeting/financial management, post secondary planning and life skills were highlighted. We will have a small committee of about 7 staff members working to figure out how to infuse these skills within our regular school day. The final Monday was used for an overview of the FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures and equipment) process.
Other information: Our class sizes look good, with a few exceptions. Our master schedule appears to be working quite well. As we have come to expect, it has been a very smooth re-opening to the school year. As mentioned above, we have begun the process of working with our ESD consultant, Suz Garthwaite, on furnishing the new high school. You can surely feel the excitement as we get closer and closer to moving into a new building. A special thanks to Cindy Hadaller who worked very hard to schedule substitutes to cover for teachers to attend these FF&E meetings over a three day period. We have also launched our new program to recognize students who put in extra effort by volunteering their time to our community. This is a direct result of the board policy 2414. This has been pretty well received by the students.