District Leadership Team |
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District Leadership Team
Minutes for May 14 ,2007 Members Present: Linda Sirvio, Karen Teff, Matt Grose, Brent Colligan, Deanna Hron, Yvonne Wilson, Robert Bourman, Bobbi Jo Hemphill, Darren Sheldon, Sean Martinson Members Absent: Jim Peters, Kim Dolensek, Gerald White, Janet Florine, Laura Rudquist, Lacy Davidson, Matt Carlstrom Call to order at 3:40 at Deer River High School Agenda was approved Minutes from March 5th were approved. A. Business: Organizational Structure/Committees Each committee reported what they have done since the last DLT meeting: 1) Data and AYP: Karen Teff, Sean Martinson This committee has met 2 times and set some temporary goals for the 2007-2008 school year:
Specifics on how and when these goals will be met are not yet decided. However, Mr. Grose will contact Becky Smith about doing an in-service for teachers regarding MAP data. Also, the DATA team will make a recommendation to Mr.Grose regarding when the MAP testing windows will be open next school year. Initial MAP data for this Spring indicate very good progress and growth both in reading and math district wide. The AYP issues were not addressed by this committee since a different group had already written and submitted the district's AYP plan through the NE Service CO-OP. There were some minor corrections requested by the state and after those were made, the plan was submitted and accepted. The plan addresses the fact that the district, as a whole, did not make AYP for math special education. 2) School/District Safety: Mr. Colligan This committee has met several times and made significant progress with many goals. Mr. Colligan re-wrote the committee's charge and mission statement. Issues addressed have included:
3) Communication: BobbiJo Hemphill A mission statement for this committee has been drafted. The targeted audience this group will focus on is adults without children. They are still looking for someone to attend focus groups in the area and carry our messages forward. Polly Sheppard will be spending one hour of her school day next year working on communication issues. They are looking into the possibility of getting an intern from BSU to help with some of the required duties. 4) Curriculum and Assessment: Deanna Hron reporting for Janet Florine The math curriculum committees have met several times. The K-12 committee met with Becky Smith to discuss the IASC curriculum review cycle as well as to review state MCA scores and assess needs. The committee then broke into primary and intermediate groups. Each has been working on looking at the new state math standards and understanding the changes as well as looking at ways to have our curricula meet these new standards. 5) Staff Development: Deanna Hron This committee has been looking at previous goals and deciding which goals still need to be addressed and whether new goals need to be added. A draft of the mission for the group was made. Best practice grants were discussed. There were some applications, with some approvals and some denials. Those denied have been asked to make changes and resubmit. It was discussed that having a staff development calender for the year would be helpful for staff. The calender would indicate what topics would be discussed at each early-start as well as at all workshop days. This idea was very well received. B. Site Reports North: The week of May 21st-25th will be Environmental/Cultural week. The dance troop from Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig school will perform, there will be cultural stations for students to explore, and there will be an Artist in Residence (Drs. Ray and Mary Helen Pelton). Eagleview elementary will join the celebration. Yvonne Wilson will be taking some of her students to the Tribal College graduation. Students are beginning the study of the Great Lakes and fur trading. They will be taking a field trip to Duluth on May 30th. King: They will be meeting with Mr. Grose to discuss the budget for next year. Mr. Sheldon discussed the desire to possibly change the way King does recess to be more like North's model. High School/Student: The high school site team is trying to become more goal oriented and less "day-to-day-issue" focused. Also, the 7th graders went on a field trip to see Diary of Anne Frank and are currently doing an interdisciplinary unit on The Children of Willesden Lane. There will be a project fair during the last week of school to see the student's projects. Parent/Community: There were no real concerns, just a reminder that the North 50th reunion committee is working to get the reunion planned. Next Meeting : September Meeting adjourned @ 5:04 Respectfully submitted by Karen Teff, Secretary |
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District Leadership Team
Minutes for March 5th ,2007 Members Present: Janet Florine, Linda Sirvio (taking over for Lisa Box), Matt Carlstrom, Karen Teff, Matt Grose, Brent Colligan, Deanna Hron, Yvonne Wilson, Laura Rudquist, Robert Bourman, Bobbi Jo Hemphill, Lacy Davidson Members Absent: Jim Peters, Kim Dolensek, Darren Sheldon, Sean Martinson, Gerald White Call to order at 3:45 at Deer River High School Agenda was approved with a few additions. Minutes from February 5th were approved with a few minor changes. A DLT membership roster and committee sign-up sheet was passed around for members to verify that the information was correct. A finalized version will be handed out at the next meeting. Business: 1) Organizational Structure/Committees Matt Carlstrom, Janet Florine, Sean Martinson, and Deanna Hron reviewed the DLT handbook and made changes. The biggest question they had involved term lengths for DLT members. Matt Carlstrom recommended that DLT members stay on for a minimum of 3 years, so that there is some ownership in the policies, as well as some continuity from year to year. There was the suggestion made to rotate members off between 3 and 5 years, so the team is not all new at the same time. Matt Carlstrom will inquire about how long of a term each person is willing to serve. This issue will also be discussed at each building site team, because site team terms are not as long - which affects DLT members who are there because they represent their Site team. The issue will be re-discussed at the April meeting. 2) Best Practice Grants There were no applications for a best practice grant submitted for the 1st deadline. The issue of pay for Site team and DLT members has been resolved through a meeting with Mr. Grose and union representatives. It was decided that for this year only, Deanna Hron and Janet Florine will write a best practice grant to pay any members that wish to be paid. If the money is not all used, it will go back to the district. Next year, the union members will need to vote on whether or not staff development monies can/will be set aside to pay site team and DLT members. 3) Staff Development Multi-District Day Friday, March 9th is the multi-district day at Grand Rapids High School. Janet Florine and Karen Teff will hand out folders to Deer River teachers as they arrive. Janet requested another person from Deer River to serve on the multi-district planning committee. Karen Teff volunteered. March 23rd This day had been set aside for ½ day working in rooms, ½ day staff development. There is the hope that the curriculum committees will be able to meet that day. Some teachers may have elected to take ½ day off for comp time, so not everyone will be here. Committees All committees need to meet before the April 9th DLT meeting. Each committee will need to identify a point person (chair), a member list, and a meeting schedule. These will be reported at the next DLT meeting. Temporary point people were identified: Data and AYP - Sean Martinson School/District Safety - Mr. Colligan Communication - BobbiJo Hemphill Curriculum and Assessment - Janet Florine Staff Development - Deanna Hron Mr. Grose will send out a district wide e-mail inviting non-DLT members to join any of these committees. It will be up to these temporary point people to set up the 1st meeting date and time. 4) Curriculum Review Cycle All IASC schools are trying to "get on the same page", but it will take time. It may be 8-10 years until we are all on the same review cycle or have the same textbooks. 5) Communication The Warrior Express - there was a discussion about expanding this district wide. If this happens, the printing job may be sent to an outside printer instead of having Theresa Grossell do it, because she would not have time. This idea will be discussed at each Site team meeting. Other communication forms include local TV and the District Web Page. Several teachers are hosting blogs, which have been successful. There was a letter read from Polly Sheppard that communication/partnerships will only be successful if there is backing from the administration. 6) Site Reports North - There is a Spring Carnival coming up March 17th. Many businesses donate prizes for the carnival. It is their biggest fund raiser for the year. The Forest Committee has been meeting and wants to continue to improve their nature trail and make it accessible for all students. There will be a Forestry class at the high School next year, so perhaps there could be a partnership. The PTO will be making benches for the trail. The committee is looking at writing a grant. The week of May 21st-25th will be Environmental/Cultural week. The dance troop from Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig school will perform, there will be cultural stations for students to explore, and there will be an Artist in Residence (Drs. Ray and Mary Helen Pelton). Eagleview elementary will join the celebration. King - There is a reading celebration coming up March 19-30 called "Dive into Books". This will involve staff, students, parents and the community. High School/Student Report - Student council worked hard on Snowball, and it was very successful. Elections for next year's student council will be in April. FCCLA hosted an event at the school and Deer River students did very well, advancing on in the competition. The Junior High band and choir held a mass event that also went well. The choirs are now preparing for upcoming concerts. The Sr. High band concert will be March 18th. There will be a blood drive on March 27th. Zac Evans and Scott Mickle went to state for wrestling. Parent/Community - Robert Bourman expressed concern about the lack of communication between the elementary and high schools concerning the math requirements. He expressed that there seems to be a large gap in the sequence, having some students go from the 5th grade book to the 7th grade book. This was discussed at length, with the hope that once the curriculum committees start to meet, there will be better communication. Also, curriculum mapping will be required of all teachers, and the state standards will be driving what will be taught. 7) Next Meeting - April 9th @ 3:45 @ North School Meeting adjourned @ 5:10 Respectfully submitted by Karen Teff, Secretary |
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District Leadership Team
Minutes for February 5,2007 Members Present: Janet Florine, Lisa Box, Matt Carlstrom, Karen Teff, Kim Dolensek, Darren Sheldon, Matt Grose, Brent Colligan, Deanna Hron, Sean Martinson,Yvonne Wilson, Gerald White, Laura Rudquist Members Absent: Jim Peters, Robert Bourman, Bobbi Jo Hemphill Call to order at 4:00 at Deer River High School Agenda was approved with no further additions. Minutes from January 19th were approved with a few minor changes. Business: 1) Organizational Structure/Committees Janet Florine took the DLT handbook as it was written in June 2006 and separated out the Staff Development portion. This will be a separate committee, and they will look at the staff development plan. She also inserted the "Charge to Committees" description sheet that Mr. Grose had distributed at the January meeting. Copies of the new DLT handbook were passed out. Matt Carlstrom, Janet Florine, Sean Martinson, and Deanna Hron will meet before the March DLT meeting to review the handbook and make further change recommendations. There were many changes made to the DLT map that was handed out in January. The DLT will be a group that other groups will report to. The other groups will be as follows: Data and AYP School/District Safety Technology Communication Curriculum and Assessment Staff Development There is a lot of overlap between these groups, but the heads of each group will meet periodically to discuss progress and common issues. Each committee head will also report to Mr.Grose about system accountability. Mr.Grose will be presenting a recommendation to the school board to request late starts next year so that committees have time to meet. All present DLT members expressed on which committee(s) they are interested in serving. 2) Best Practice Grants Janet Florine, Sean Martinson and Deanna Hron wrote a rubric for accepting Best Practice Grant applications. The rubric requires those requesting a grant to research on the need for the proposed project, how it fits into staff development goals, how it will affect students, and how its effectiveness will be evaluated. The rubric will be used to assign applicants points. If an applicant does not receive enough points to be given the grant, the application will be returned and the applicant will have the opportunity to resubmit after further research. The staff development team would be the ones to approve the applications, and report their actions to the DLT. This plan was accepted by the DLT with only a date change for applications for this year only. 3) Budget Due to an increased number of students in the recent months, Mr.Grose was able to share that he anticipates the cuts for next year to not be as deep as in the past. However, there are still many variables that will affect the final budget (legislature, contract, retirements, etc). 4) Curriculum Review Cycle A copy of the IASC model and District 317's model were handed out. Our goal is to match the IASC model within the next few years (as best as possible). This could be a very difficult task with the elementary schools and High School on different cycles as well as changes mandated by the State. Matt Carlstrom, Janet Florine and Mr. Sheldon will gather information from the various schools about where each department is at in the cycle, what is being done to meet AYP goals and who the lead person for each department will be. 5) Partnerships Bobbi Jo Hemphill did a lot of good work with communication and partnerships last year. Before making any changes or recommendations, Matt Carlstrom will touch base with Bobbi Jo at the High School Site Team meeting to see what has been done. It was expressed that perhaps the Warrior Express should also include information from the elementary schools, have more participation from the High School, and have a student opinion page. These issues will be further discussed in March. 6) Site Reports North - They are still feeling a lack of communication between schools and also a lack of leadership. Special Ed services are still a need and they feel the need to re-instate services at North. Mr. Sheldon has done research and submitted it to Mr. Grose. Yvonne Wilson reported that the Leech Lake Headstart may be canceling its programs at Eagleview and in Inger. It would then be taken over by North. This would be a positive thing for North School. Gerald White reported that at a community meeting, there seemed to be support for this plan. King - They will continue to look at building goals. High School - The schedule continues to be one of the biggest issues at the high school. Parent/Community - Gerald White reported that there is no currently active parent committee, and in order to receive Title VII an Title IX monies, there needs to be one. There needs to be teacher representatives on it as well. Matt Carlstrom reported that he and Mark Drotts had been on that committee in the past. Student - Laura Rudquist reported that she is happy that the DLT is back up and running. Also reported on upcoming Snowball activities and FCCLA preparing for STAR Events. Also, Joe Keezer (7th grader) was the Spelling Bee Champion. The leech Lake Honor Guard will be sponsoring 2 11th grade native Students to go to Boys State. Teachers should send nominations to Gerald White. 7) Next Meeting - March 5th 3:45 @ High School Meeting adjourned @ 6:45 Respectfully submitted by Karen Teff, Secretary |