Staff Advisory Minutes
Central
Good News:
1. Shout out to Dr. Gretz for being recognized as superintendent of the year.
2. Shout out to all of transportation who do a great job of moving athletes to and from their events!
3. Shout out to CKLA! Lots of growth in reading!
4. Another shoutout for CKLA, especially the growth in second grade writing.
These are wonderful shout-outs - thank you for sharing such inspiring news!
Staff Questions:
1. Could we rethink the calendar and have the Monday after Easter off or even the Friday before.
Yes, this needs to be brought up during the calendar development process, which is done by a committee led by Gemma Soares. Because ours is a short calendar and there are only so many instructional days to draw from, I suspect that adding days off will need to be reflected by adding instructional time elsewhere - but this can absolutely be considered by that committee.
2. We need a writing program. One where we follow the stages of writing and teach from there. The report card needs to reflect this as well. In kindergarten the first nine weeks the only item listed is writing first name. That’s not writing.
Within our adopted Amplify CKLA literacy curriculum, there is a specific writing instruction component, "Writing Studio". Given the extraordinary lift for our teachers this year to implement new Literacy SOLs, curriculum and VALLSS assessments - teams decided to pause this year on exploring the Writing Studio within Amplify, as well as the writing instruction embedded in the Knowledge strand. This year the focus has been on learning and implementing "skills", and then next year our goal is to strengthen writing instruction.
During last week’s PLC at Central, planning discussions took place regarding exploring additional supplemental writing resources, as well as dedicating time to better understand and utilize the writing instruction resources within our new literacy curriculum. Adding another resource/program before we’ve fully absorbed the materials we currently have would likely be overwhelming to many. There was also a writing focused PLC recently to support best instructional practices in which resources from the state literacy conference were shared. Please reach out to Ms. Stringer if you were unable to attend and would like support with those resources, or additional instructional support for writing in your classroom.
Standards based report cards reflect our Standards of Learning, and each year we review those skills identified for each nine weeks. K-2 teams are meeting this week to discuss report card standards for next year and any needed changes. We welcome anyone who would like to join us in this review for possible updates to reach out to Hillary Pleasants/Jessie Stringer.
3. Since team leads and PLC leads do not receive compensation, and they do a fair amount of work, is there anyway they can receive points for their time?
Yes, I absolutely support that. Dr. Stribling will work to develop a consistent approach across the schools.
4. If IAs have to sub for classes, can they be compensated? Is there a differential?
This is certainly something we can consider and discuss with staff. In most cases the IA’s rate of pay is higher than that of the daily teacher sub rate so this change would not be beneficial.
5. Have meeting minutes from last month been shared?
They have and can be accessed here: March Minutes
6. Concern about confidentiality. There’s a concern that if a staff member has a concern regarding another staff member, it might be talked about to others with names being used. This goes for talking about students as well.
Confidentiality is a critical issue. It involves trust, which is a key component of our shared values as expressed in our new strategic plan. I don’t know how to address this specific concern without more detail, and I would need to know if this is a school concern that has already been addressed with the principal - or a division-wide concern. I encourage the submitter to provide more information.
7. Love the bonus, where did the $ come from?
The bonus was included in the state budget language that was just approved, and had to be done this (current) fiscal year and paid out by June. As is always the case with state bonuses/raises, the state provided Fluvanna with .60 cents of every dollar needed to give the bonus to the SOQ-funded positions (about 60% of our staff). The remaining money needed to give the entire bonus to all full time and contracted PT staff is coming from anticipated unspent funds from the current budget, most of which are due to vacant positions which either weren’t filled this year or have been vacated mid-year (and not filled since)
8. The bus drivers need more sick days, please.
Thank you for this feedback. We will review our current leave policy with comparability to other local divisions.
Carysbrook
Good News:
Thank you for our bonus! Much appreciated!
Thankful for our high school students volunteering time to work with our students.
This is great news - thank you for sharing!
Staff Questions:
FMS
Good News:
~A huge thank you for the bonus! It is timely and deeply appreciated.
Wonderful! Thank you!
Staff Questions:
When will we hear about the outcome for next year's budget...salary raise, insurance, new positions?
The county voted on its budget, which includes the schools budget, on Wednesday, April 23rd. Now that the state has approved its budget, we will begin calculating the impact for FCPS and hope to make final adjustments during the May 14 school board meeting.
Is next year the right time for restructuring the school board office (higher up) positions?
Given that we have very few leadership positions in Fluvanna and one of them is being vacated, it’s not only the right time but it’s the necessary time. We will need to fill a position that has served two critical roles, both of which need to be reflected in our leadership structure but cannot be done using the structure that has been in place.
How and when will we receive the funds (card) from the Wellness Program? I thought I read it was to be sent out quarterly, but I have not received anything as of yet.
Sentara has informed us that the cards will be issued to our employees during the week of May 11th.
FCHS
Good News:
FCHS Plant sale is going on and is doing amazing. This program is such a wonderful way to bring beauty to both our school and our community!
April is National School Library Month and FCHS Library is helping our students finish up strong. With new books, help for students on end of the year projects, and maker space stations that spark creativity, our library is a busy hub of learning and fun!
This is wonderful - thank you for sharing the great news!
Staff Questions:
Can homebound students who are still on our class rosters be given a special code so that subs and covers do not mark them absent? We have been told with homebound students not to mark them absent, even though they are not present in our class.
Great question! Attendance coding for homebound is double-checked and corrected for accuracy prior to state reporting, so teachers can be assured there won’t be errors and they don’t need to do anything extra. Regarding “Meeting Attendance”, we will take a look this summer to determine if there can be an additional code available. This late in the year it would not be effective to introduce a change like that - but we’ll review it over the summer.
There seems to be a lack of storage for bulky furniture type items that are not being used. Random things get placed in department book closets, preventing our access to things we store there. There was even a hospital bed left in a locker bay at one point. I don't know if the custodians just don't have a place to store things and they put them wherever they can, or what the reason is. I know that when I have asked Ms. Bruce about the items, she has tried to get them moved, but things always seem to come back eventually. I'm not sure what the solution is, but maybe we need an alternative storage location that would not create a fire hazard in the closets.
Mrs. Bruce is working with Dr. Stribling to go through the necessary steps to declare unneeded items as surplus and remove them.
We look at local school systems policies when we are creating or changing one of our own policies...which seems to make perfect sense. However, just looking at one single policy under a microscope doesn’t always tell the whole story and can be misleading. Our sick bank policy is being re-evaluated and other school systems sick bank policies are being looked at as examples. Why are we not mentioning that some of those school systems still have policies allowing staff members to donate days to each other IN ADDITION to their sick bank policy?
There are a couple of questions in here:
We have looked at multiple policies, not just one, as evidenced by the presentation slides that were used in the last board meeting.
We aren’t entertaining a return to a policy that allows transfer of leave, so we have not used other divisions’ transfer policies in our evaluation of sick leave bank policy comparisons. If employees find sample policies in other divisions they think should serve as models we’d be happy to consider those as we develop the FCPS policy.