March 16, 2022 – Minutes

In attendance: Principal Yule, Megan Gutierrez, Brooke Zimmerman, Christine Wirthlin, Alexis Rife, Cassidy Merrell, Kaydee McMahaon, DeeAnna Smith. (Shanda Antuna and Denise White were at a professional development conference).

1. Approved minutes from February Meeting, Cassidy moved to approve, Brooke moved to 2nd.
2. Discussed cell tower fund.
   1. This year’s allotted amount is $2833.
   2. Principal Yule discussed possible uses for principal discretionary fund to pay for teacher recognition and extra morale boosters for teachers like luncheons and small non-class related gifts.
      Other uses could be for books or other school materials, however Principal Yule discussed that there are other funds to purchase these items from, where there are limited options for teacher gifts and luncheons, etc.
   3. Megan suggested that all of the $2833 be given to the principal discretionary fund to support and show appreciation to teachers. All present agreed. Brooke motioned to allot the full $2833 to the principal discretionary fund and Alexis seconded the motion. All present were in favor.
3. Land Trust Proposed Goals (See attached Proposal)
   1. Principle Yule discussed the ELA goals for the 2023 year that were proposed by the Building Leadership Team (BLT). The BLT felt it was important to follow the goals set by the district to support their vision.
   2. Last year the kindergarten goal was not reached, they believe d/t challenges presented by COVID. Feel more confident about the 4% goal for the next year.
   3. The 1st grade goal is much lower than the districts 22% goal, because our school generally starts at a higher beginning of year percentage, leaving less need for such intense growth. The 10% will be an appropriate challenge considering our starting point.
   4. The 75% goal for 1,2,3rd grade levels, looks at the child’s individual growth instead of those on benchmark, so as to not exclude the growth of those children who may not be capable of reaching benchmark levels, but have improved at an appropriate rate for their individual level.
      1. Regarding this goal Miss Merrell discussed the challenge of differentiating learning, especially with COVID learning discrepancies. She discussed the importance of making sure equal resources are given to those children who are advanced so they can also see growth, and not just to those that are struggling. Level based learning groups were an option presented.
      2. Miss Yule said the school has restructured how they use reading interventionists so they can pull out advanced students to work on work with them at their level, while the highly trained teachers can work with those who are behind.
      3. Miss Yule also said that they do some level-based groups, moving to different classrooms to be with those of like academic level in a specific subject, but have only done so within the individual grades. She said there may be an opportunity to talk about extending level-based learning to include students across various grades.
   5. The 70% goal for 4th and 5th is the same goal as last year.
   6. Miss Yule discussed that the districts emphasis is on reading in the K-3 grades because state levels of on benchmark reading by 3rd grade are less than 50%. Miss Merrell asked what the benchmark reading levels are for our individual school and Miss Yule said she would look in to that information.
   7. Miss Merrell asked if any of the funds can be used towards training for teachers to increase their use of hands on, tech-free learning experiences. Miss Yule said the district is supporting a building fact fluency hands-on-learning kit for all teachers. All teachers have been made aware of the available program and are able to request a kit for their class, which include several hands-on manipulatives for math learning as well as including training on how to best utilize the kits. Miss Yule said approximately half of the teachers at Willow Springs had signed up for the program because they felt like it was something they could utilize in their classroom.
4. TSSP Proposed goals
   1. Principal Yule reviewed the proposed spending for TSSP goals, goals are the same as land trust, but include a climate goal – which has $3000 spending allotted for calming activities, children’s books that support learning about social interactions, etc.
   2. The BLT also would like to add a STEM booster for the coming year to allow for 5 boosters. Principal Yule discussed how this will make scheduling easier so that all 5 classes within a grade level are able to attend a booster with their class. It will also allow for the class sizes to be a little smaller, helping with classroom management.
   3. Kaydee McMahon noted the importance of brain boosters for ACC students specifically because it is one place they can participate on grade level with their peers. DeeAnna Smith and Brooke Zimmerman both said brain boosters are one of their student’s favorite part of school and they are very excited about the addition of STEM. Cassidy Merrell also noted that the STEM booster teacher could become a good resource for providing extended learning experiences for advanced students.
   4. A portion of the spending will be allocated to increasing the behavioral specialist to a full-time role. Julie Edwards is well-respected by the teachers and students and is currently doing great in that role. She will continue to full-time next year. Behavior assistant program is intended to be short term – providing daily check-ins over a 4- week period until student has gained more tools to help with appropriate behavior and behaviors have improved.
   5. Goals to this point were reviewed by entire committee – all present were asked if they had any comments or concerns. None did, all felt good about the plan, but Miss Merrell did want to discuss the additional funds section.
   6. Additional allocated funds proposal was reviewed by Miss Yule. She tried to include all possible areas of spending that we might want to invest in for the coming year. Miss Merrell shared that she felt uncomfortable leaving an open door for technology spending would not allow the council to be aware of how and why more funds were being spent on technology. Miss Gutierrez presented that an addition be made that no decision on tech spending would be made until first discussed with the council. Miss Yule and the council agreed to that addition.
5. Positive Behavior Plan was not reviewed at this meeting because it had been talked about extensively at the previous meeting.
6. All council members agreed to sign the proposal in person by Friday 3/18/22
7. Miss Wirthlin presented research that she and the Achievement Coaches had done regarding technology programs available for the teachers, based on teacher requests for such resources and a push from the district to do so. After much research they decided the two best options which they would like to purchase for the coming year are, Brain Pop and Mystery Science. These resources she explained are to help with lesson planning. She discussed that the purpose of technology is to augment, not replace. She shared the SAMR curriculum map that discusses the different levels of technology integration. These curriculum maps can be found on the district website. She has a power point about these two programs that she will be sharing with the council.
   1. Miss Yule noted that part of the obs reviews done for each teacher includes questions about how well they are integrating technology in to their classroom. Miss Yule noted that even using the neck microphones is a great way to utilize technology in the classroom.
8. There was no remaining time to discuss the balance of tech use in the classroom. The council scheduled a future 1 hour meeting for that topic to be held Monday the 21st at 12pm.
   1. Council members were asked to prepare for this meeting by researching about the topic as well as reaching out to other parents and teachers to get a feel for how technology is being used in the classrooms.
   2. Principal Yule and her team will prepare a list of all the apps and programs currently being used and the amount of time daily that students utilize them.
9. Miss Zimmerman moved to adjourn the meeting; 2nd was given by Principal Yule. All were in favor.