July 19, 2006                       Minutes of Board Retreat

                              Chesterfield School Board

                              34 West Street, 10:00 a.m.

 

Present:          Barbara Girs, Chair

                  Kristin McKeon, Board Member

                  Judy Idelkope, Board Member

                  Greg Blair, Board Member

                  Ege Cordell, Board Member

                  Wayne Woolridge, Assistant Superintendent

                  Michele Munson, Superintendent of Schools

                  Sharyn D’Eon, Principal

                  Christopher Morris, Assistant Principal

 

The meeting was called to order at 10:07 a.m.

 

What’s Working Well:

 

      Sense of Community

      Safety

      Dedicated committed staff

      Confident students

      In-depth knowledge of each child by staff and administration

      Involved parent base

      Numerous opportunities - enrichment

      Clean building

      Breath of ideas - expansive

      Inclusiveness

      Level of Understanding

      Great inclusiveness in lower grades

      School has great reputation

      Community great reputation

      Quality academic experience

 

Additional staff feedback:

 

      Full-day Kindergarten

      Involvement of Parents

      Kids Wellness and Staff Wellness

      Special Education

      Model of Teams

      Support Staff

      Laughter in hallways

      Ivan

      Transition of New Administration

      Guidance Department

Chesterfield School Board Retreat

July 19, 2006

Page 2

                       

 

What can we do better:

 

      Consistency especially following policies

      Accountability - grade level

      Transparency procedures - followed/reviewed

      Communication

      Bullying

      Academic Expectations - Performance including information/analysis

      Instructional Practice depth vs. breadth

      Math phobia

      Need more math coordination and professional development

      Clear expectations

      Need more student-teacher respect and teacher to student respect

      Consistency between grades and test scores

      Needs to raise academic expectations

      Meeting needs of gifted students

      Support for “different” learners

      Classroom management is inconsistent

      Noise level in classrooms

      Not taking good advantage of committee resources

      Sense of team - follow through for all students

      Audience concert behavior

 

Staff

      Internal communication - wall between middle school rest of school

      Substitute coverage

      Respect

      Testing schedule

      Expectations and consistency

      Time for collegiality

 

Administration Goals (Sharyn and Chris)

 

1.    Responsive classroom life

      Common language

      Developing a list of expectations

      Communicate list of expectations

      Clear procedures

      Enforcement strategies

 

 

Chesterfield School Board Retreat

July 19, 2006

Page 3

 

 

2.    Academics

      Use NWEA to improve consistency regarding instructional practices

      More after school workshops

      Textbook replacement cycle

      Enrichment - defined - analyzed - revised

      Reading focus

      Math focus

     

3.    Communication - Engagement

      Family Parent involvement Night (monthly)

      Home Visits

      Personal Invitations to Parent meetings

      School newsletter

      Revisions on web site

      SAU Goals - Ms. Munson shared the 2006-2007 SAU Goals.  Ms. McKeon asked for another SAU goal that included communication

 

Creation of Board Goals/Vision

 

      Move Chesterfield NECAP scores into the top 25% of all NH schools in 3-5 years

 

      Use data to support decision making - find opportunities to collect data.

 Incorporate data collection/analysis/surveys

 

      Analyze effectiveness of SPED program

 

      Develop an effective response and understanding of bullying at

Chesterfield

 

      Create an advisory for staff, parents, Board.

     

      Review last year’s goals

 

      Communication - between Community - survey issues, survey parents at spaghetti dinner and auction

 

      Review of past contracts

 

      The Board revised the list to take out goal 2 and 6.

      Goals 5 and 7 will be combined.  Goal 8 will be assigned to the facility committee.

 

 

Chesterfield School Board Retreat

July 19, 2006

Page 4     

 

      Wayne, Chris, Michele and Sharyn will work on action plan for Board.

 

Policy Review

 

      The Board discussed policy review.  They agreed to work on policy review at a monthly meeting scheduled separately from the regular monthly meeting.  The Board agreed to meet on four Saturdays and during four school days.

 

New Hampshire School Board Association

 

      Ms. Cordell made a motion to join the NHSBA for the 2006-2007 school year.  Ms. Girs seconded the motion.  Discussion ensued.  The vote was 5-0 in favor.

 

Plan Board/Staff Retreat

 

      Ms. D’Eon discussed a date for the staff/Board retreat - the goal would be communication.

 

      The Board asked to always put non-public on each agenda.

 

Elect District Attorney

 

      Ms. McKeon made a motion to elect Joe Hoppock as the district attorney.  Ms. Cordell seconded the motion,  Ms. Idelkope moved to hire Joe Hoppock on a  comparable pay scale with other towns in SAU 29.  Ms. Girs seconded the motion, the vote was 3 in favor, 2 against. 

 

      Ms. McKeon moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:00 p.m.  Ms. Girs seconded

the motion, 5-0 in favor.

 

 

 

 

Wayne Woolridge

Assistant Superintendent